Annotation:Charlotte McCarthy

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 CHARLOTTE McCARTHY. English, Jig. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody is unique to Charles and Samuel Thompson's third country dance collection (London, 1773), however, the country dance called "Charlotte McCarthy" (or "Charlotte M'carty" and variants) appears in a number of American dance figure manuscripts and publications. It is possible the tune was named for Charlotte MacCarthy, an Irish Protestant proto-feminist writer who flourished from about 1745-1768, who was unfortunately somewhat over-concerned regarding perceived conspiracies of foreigners, Catholics and Jews. Printed source: Thompson (Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 3), 1773; No. 14.

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