"Excuse Me," or an Old Country Trip

"Excuse Me," or an Old Country TripAuthor(s): Michael BarracloughSource: Folk Music Journal, Vol. 3, No. 4 (1978), pp. 343-358Published by: English Folk Dance + Song SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4522034 .

Accessed: 09/06/2014 16:36

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

English Folk Dance + Song Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to FolkMusic Journal.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.148 on Mon, 9 Jun 2014 16:36:12 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=efdss

http://www.jstor.org/stable/4522034?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


"Excuse Me," or An Old Country Trip

MICHAEL BARRACLOUGH

Riv. Come Gentlemen shall we try our footing, here am I. Fly. And here am I. Wild. And if this Gentleman please, here I'le be. Sir Rev. Vould all mine heart Monsieur. Bella. I cannot dance believe me Sir. Fly. Nor I, we'l onely practise. Mrs. Light. Excuse me Sir, indeed I cannot dance. Wild. Excuse me Sir, indeed I cannot dance? You shall not dance excuse me then, that Country trip is old, we'l have some novelty.

Act. 2. Scene 1. THE WALKS OF ISLINGTON AND HOGSDON 1657

Was Excuse Me one of the most popular country dances of the late seventeeth and early eighteenth centuries? The evidence available sug- gests that it was. Of the 100 plus dances which I have discovered in more than one contemporary source, Excuse Me is the one which oc- curs most often with six mentions in five of the eight sources researched so far. This multiplicity of sources is probably a much bet- ter guide to popularity than longevity of appearance in any one source. Inertia on the part of the publisher, or continuing payment by the Dancing Master who supplied the dance may well have resulted in publication continuing after performance had ceased and indeed, publication is no proof of performance. Further evidence of the dance's popularity or at least its notoriety is the reference to it quoted above. Confirmation that this is not an unreasonable construction to put on the exchange of words comes from a passage in the Dancing School by Ned Ward (1700) which talks of "leading up Greensleeves and Pudding Pies like birds upon a Valentines Day." Both these dances rate five mentions in the different sources and it seems to be more than coincidence that those dances which make most ap- pearances are also those to which literary reference is made.

What of the dance itself? For one which was apparently so popular it contains little of obvious appeal. The dance is largely symetrical, a hallmark of dances of this period, but it is unusual in that the second couple plays an equal part with that of the first. Quite possibly it is the tune which provided the popularity. In its form of an eight bar A music, a four bar B music and an eight bar C music it is reminiscent of earlier dances and it has certainly appealed to all the musicians to whom I have shown it. From the researcher's point of view, there are

343



several lessons to be learnt. First and foremost, comparisons of dances which appear in more than one source, of which Excuse Me is a prime example, demonstrate that there is no "correct" way to do the dance in terms of the track which the dancers are to follow. From this it fol- lows that those who are seeking authenticity in performance of country dances of this period need to be far more concerned with the "correctness" of the music, costume, technique and social setting, than with the actual interpretation of the dance instruction. Secondly, there is clear illustration of the danger involved in drawing conclusions about the equivalence of the terminology used in different sources where only two versions are being compared. A good example of this error is in merely using the comparison between Smith's Rant in the Dancing Master and Le Pistolet in Feuillet's Reciieil de Contredances to assert that the term "siding" means a straight, forward and back type of movement without quoting anything else in support.

THE DANCES

i. NEW ACADEMY OF COMPLIMENTS

First couple cross over and ring hands round; second Couple do the same: first Man and second Woman set and turn single; second Man and first Woman do the same; first Couple cross over and figure in, the second Couple do the double figure.

ii. NEW ACADEMY OF COMPLIMENTS

First Couple cross over, and turn round two or three times, second Couple do the like; first Man set to the second Woman, and turn single; second Man and first Woman the same; first Couple cross over, and figure in, and the second Couple go the double figure. Thus ends the Dance.

iii. WILLIAM WOOLBALL

The 1 Couple cross over And turn hands The 2 Couple do ye Same the 1 Man Set to ye 2d Women and turn Sing the 2d Man and 1 Woman do the Same ye 1 Couple Cross over and Sing figure thro ye 2d Couple ye 2d Couple go ye whole figure thro the first.

344



iv. DANCING MASTER

Longways for as many as will

lpb2i ji r |f a - mIi r ii..

u r f-- -r

First Man and I.Wo. cross over and pass into the 2.cu. place, then take hands and turn round till the I.Man is in the 2.Man's place and the I.Wo. in the 2.Wo's place, then the 2.cu. do this over as the l.cu. did, the rest doing the same. This to thefirst Strain played twice.

Then the l.Man and 2.Wo. meet and fall back, and turn S. and the 1.Wo. and 2.Man meet and fall back, and turn S. This to the second Strain played twice.

Then the l.cu. cast off and go down on the outside of the 2.cu. and go the whole Figure, till the 1.Wo. comes into the 2.Wo. place. and the l.Man into the 2.Man's place, then the 2.cu. cast off and go the whole Figure of 8. between the l.cu. Till they come into the 3.cu. place, and slip up in the middle till they come to their places again, the rest do the like. This to the third Strain played twice.

345



v. FEUILLET

i UU

0

U -'3a

34









vi. LORIN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

:w/f h-Iff I I 1= fa 19 F I w'r. I , _I I l

b. b. b. b. v. .V. So.x.

P. p. P. p. P. P. p. cp. d. p;So

135

350



3 4

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

4

3

351



COMPARISON OF THE DANCES

'A' music first time through

Dancing First Man and I.Wo. cross over and pass into the Master: 2.cu. place, then take hands and turn round till the

I.Man is in the 2.Man's place, and the I.Wo. in the 2.wo's place

Woolball: The 1 Couple cross over And turn hands

New Academy First couple cross over and ring hands round; of Compliments:

New Academy First Couple cross over, and turn round two or three of times. Compliments: Feuillet:

Fig. lere Fig. 2e

Lo5n:2

352



'A' music second time through

Dancing then the 2.cu. do this over as the l.cu. did, Master:

Woolball: The 2 Couple do ye Same

New Academy second Couple do the same: of Compliments:

New Academy second Couple do the like; of Compliments: Feuillet:

Fig. 3e Fig. 4

Lorin:

353



'B' music first time through

Dancing Then the I.Man and 2.Wo. meet and fall back, and Master: turn S.

Woolball: the 1 Man Set to ye 2d Woman and turn Sing

New Academy first Man and second Woman set and turn single; of Compliments:

New Academy first Man set to second Woman, and turn single; of Compliments: Feuillet:

Fig. 5

Lorin:

IS\

354



'B' music second time through

Dancing and the 1.Wo. and 2.Man meet and fall back, and Master: turn S.

Woolball: the 2d Man and 1 Woman do the Same

New Academy second Man and first Woman do the same; of Compliments:

New Academy second Man and first Woman the same; of Compliments:

Feuillet:

jI I FI

Fig. 6e

Lorin:

Is~~~~~~~~2

355



'C' music first time through

Dancing Then the l.cu. cast off and go down on the outside of Master: the 2.cu. and go the whole Figure, till the I.Wo.

comes into the 2.Wo. place and the l.Man into the 2.Man's place,

Woolball: ye 1 Couple Cross over and Sing figure thro ye 2d Couple

New Academy first Couple cross over and figure in, of Compliments:

New Academy first Couple cross over, and figure in, of Compliments:

Feuillet: _ ___ __ _F_l_r_____I_3 _____ __

Lorin:

356



'C' music second time through

Dancing then the 2.cu. cast off and go the whole Figure of 8. Master: between the l.cu. Till they come into the 3.cu. place,

and slip up the middle till they come to their own places again,

Woolball: ye 2d Couple go ye whole figure thro the first.

New Academy the second Couple do the double Figure. of Compliments:

New Academy and the second Couple go the double Figure. of Compliments:

Feuillet:

Lorin:

357



NOTES ON THE SOURCES

1 A New ACADEMY of COMPLIMENTS; OR, The Lovers Secretary. Being Wit and Mirth improv'd, by the most elegant Expressions us'd in the Art of Courtship ... The Significance of MOLES, and the Interpretation of DREAMS. A never-failing Method for Women to get good Husbands ... With plain Instructions for Dancing. Printed for C. Bates, in Giltspur-Street, and A. Bettesworth on London-Bridge, 1715. (4th edition). 2 William Woolball Notebook 1719. A hand written notebook containing descrip- tions of 44 country dances. Exported to the Department of Music, Harvard Univer- sity. I The DANCING MASTER: Or. Directions for Dancing COUNTRY DANCES, with the Tunes to each Dance, for the Treble-Violin. The Sixteenth Edition, containing 358 of the Choicest Old and New Tunes used at Court, and other Public Places. Printed by W. Pearson, and sold by John Young, Musical-Instrument-Maker, at the Dolphin and Crown at the West End of St. Paul's Church 1716.

Excuse Me first appeared in the 7th edition of the First Volume of the Dancing Master, published in 1686, and continued to be included until the final edition post 1728.

..

RECUEIL DE CONTREDANCES mises en Choregraphie, d'une maniere si aisee, que toutes personnes peuvent facilement les apprendre sans secours d'aucunr maitre et meme sans avoir eu aucune connoissance de la choregraphie. PAR M FEUILLET. Maitre et Compositeur de Dance. Avec Priviledge du Roy 1706. 5 Livre De Contredance presente Au Roy par Andre Lorin Academicien de sa Ma- jeste pour la Dance. Manuscript in the Biblioteque Nationale, Paris. Undated but believed to have been written in 1685. 6 My thanks are due to Freda Burford for the loan of her microfilm of the Andre Lorin manuscript, to Miss Higgins at the British Library for her help in connection with the William Woolball Notebook and to Joy van Cleef for pointing out to me the ex- istence of the dances in the New Academy of Compliments.

358



Documents

"Excuse Me," or an Old Country Trip