The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Vol 1 of 2): With Tunes, Singing-Rhymes and Methods of Playing etc.Gomme, Alice Bertha
History
The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Vol 1 of 2): With Tunes, Singing-Rhymes and Methods of Playing etc.
Gomme, Alice Bertha
Folklore -- Great Britain; Games -- Great Britain
The dancing then proceeded, and the lady, on reaching her choice (a
gentleman, of necessity), placed the cushion at his feet. He put money
in the horn and knelt. They kissed and rose, he taking the cushion and
his place in front of the lady, heading the next dance round, the lady
taking him by the coat-tails, the first gentleman behind the lady, with
the horn-bearer in the rear. In this way the dance went on till all
present, alternately a lady and gentleman, had taken part in the
ceremony. The dance concluded with a romp in file round the room to the
quickening music of the fiddler, who at the close received the whole of
the money collected by the horn-bearer.
At Charminster the dance is begun by a single person (either man or
woman), who dances about the room with a cushion in his hand, and at the
end of the tune stops and sings:—
Man: This dance it will no further go.
Musician: I pray you, good sir, why say you so?
Man: Because Joan Sanderson will not come to.
Musician: She must come to, and she shall come to,
And she must come whether she will or no.
Then the following words are sung as in the first example:—
Man: Welcome, Joan Sanderson, welcome, welcome.
Both: Prinkum-prankum is a fine dance,
And shall we go dance it once again,
And once again,
And shall we go dance it once again?
Woman: This dance it will no further go.
Musician: I pray you, madam, why say you so?
Woman: Because John Sanderson will not come to.
Musician: He must come to, and he shall come to,
And he must come whether he will or no.
And so she lays down the cushion before a man, who, kneeling upon it,
salutes her, she singing—
Welcome, John Sanderson, &c.
Then, he taking up the cushion, they take hands and dance round singing
as before; and this they do till the whole company is taken into the
ring. Then the cushion is laid down before the first man, the woman
singing, “This dance,” &c., as before, only instead of “come to,” they
sing “go fro,” and instead of “Welcome, John Sanderson,” &c., they sing
“Farewell, John Sanderson, farewell,” &c., and so they go out one by
one as they came in.—Charminster (_Notes and Queries_, ii. 517, 518).
This description is almost the same as a seventeenth century version.
The dance is begun by a single person (either man or woman), who, taking
a cushion in his hand, dances about the room, and at the end of the tune
he stops and sings:—
This dance it will no further go.
The Musician answers:
I pray you, good sir, why say you so?
Man: Because Joan Sanderson will not come to.
Musician: She must come to, and she shall come to,
And she must come whether she will or no.
Then he lays down the cushion before a woman, on which she kneels, and
he kisses her, singing—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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