Annotation:Miss Meynell

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MISS MEYNELL. AKA – “Miss Meynell’s Reel.” English, Scottish; Reel or Strathspey. C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCCDD. John Glen (1891) finds the earliest appearance of this tune in print in Robert Ross's 1780 collection (p. 12), although it had earlier appeared in Charles and Samuel Thompson’s third country dance collection (London, 1773). The melody appears as "The Meynell, A Quick March" on a piece of sheet music from the Third Regiment of Foot.

"Miss Meynell" may have been related to the 'Mrs. Meynell' who was a member of the 'The Female Coterie', the title given to a group of "ladies of quality" which met at Almack's Assembly Rooms in 18th century London. Horace Walpole wrote to Mr. G. Montagu, May 6, 1770:--"There is a new Institution that begins to make, and if it proceeds, will make a considerable noise. It is a club of both sexes to be erected at Almack's, on the model of that of the men of White's. Mrs. Fitzroy, Lady Pembroke, Mrs. Meynell, Lady Molyneux, Miss Pelham and Miss Loyd, are the foundresses." Mrs. Meynell was the spouse of Hugo Meynell, sportsman, race-horse owner, and master of the fox hounds in Leicestershire in the second half of the 18th century.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Jones [Ed.] (Complete Tutor Violin), c. 1815; p. 3. Robert Ross (Choice Collection of Scots Reels or Country Dances & Strathspeys), Edinburgh, 1780; p. 12. Thompson (Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 3), 1773; No. 11.

Recorded sources:

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