Annotation:Pursuit (2) (The)

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PURSUIT [2], THE. AKA and see "Epsom New Wells (1)." English, Country Dance Tune (cut time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody and dance instructions ("Longways for as many as will") appear in all four editions of The Second Volume of the Dancing Master (1718-1728), printed in London by John Young, heir to the Playford publishing concerns. The dance and tune were also included in John Walsh's Second Book of the Compleat Country Dancing-Master (1718). Thomas D'Urfey wrote a song to the melody and printed it in his first volume of Wit and Mirth; or, Pills to Purge Melancholy (1698) where it can be found under the title "The Scotch Cuckold, A New Song to a Northern Tune," indicating he thought the melody to be from northern England or the Scottish Borders region.

Early 20th century country dance collector Cecil Sharp was not shy of rearranging dances and publishing them to different tunes (a confusion for later researchers to sort out). This tune is one such, printed in Sharp's Country Dance Book, Part IV (1916) to the unrelated dance Epsom New Wells (1).

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Christian (A Playford Assembly), 2015; p. 91.

Recorded sources:

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