Annotation:Amarillis

Chappell set the tune in E flat major although most modern versions are in 'G'. Standard tuning. The tune appears in many works, including Porter's play The Villain (1663), Merry Drollery Complete (1670), The New Academy of Compliments; and Playford's Dancing Master (1665), Musick's Delight on the Cithern (1666), and Apollo's Banquet (1670). A popular tune, it was used following the convention of the period as the vehicle for numerous 18th century ballads, according to Chappell (1859), including "The Coy Shepherdess; or Phillis and Amintas" (Roxburghe Collection) {from which title the ballad was sometime known as "Phillis (or Amintas) on the new-made hay"}; "'Love in the blossom' or 'Fancy in the bud'" (Roxburghe); "Fancy's Freedom' or 'True Lovers' bliss'" (Roxburghe); "'The True Lovers' Happiness' or 'Nothing venture, nothing have, &c'" (Douce Collection/Roxburghe): "The Cotsall (Cotswold) Shepherds" (Folly in Print, or a Book of Rhymes" {1667}); "'The Virgin's Constancy' or 'The True Lovers' Happiness'" and "'The True Lovers' Happiness' or 'Nothing venture, nothing have'" (Pepys Collection).

Printed sources: Barnes (English Country Dance Tunes), 1986. Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Time), vol. 2, 1859; pgs. 12-13. Sharp (Country Dance Tunes), 1909/1994; pg. 25. Watson, 1975; No. 8, pg. 9.