Annotation:I Am a Brisk and Sprightly Lad

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 I AM A BRISK AND SPRIGHTLY LAD. English, Air (cut time). F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. The melody appears in a few minor publications and musicians' manuscripts of the early 19th century (see EASMES site for more).  Source for notated version: The 1800-1802 music manuscript collection of ship's fiddler William Litten, about whom, unfortunately, little is known. Litten sailed with the East India Fleet on their voyage to China and the Orient from 1800-1802, berthing on the return voyage on the H.M.S. Gorgon (he mentions a stop of that vessel at St. Helena on June 3rd, 1802). The manuscript ended up on the island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, having been brought there by a sailor, Allen Coffin, in the early 19th century. How Coffin came into possession of the ms. is unknown [Huntington].  Printed sources: Huntington (William Litton's Fiddle Tunes), 1977; p. 27.  Recorded sources:

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