Annotation:English Pasby
X:1 T:English Paspy/English Pasby M:3/2 L:1/8 N:”Longways for as many as will.” B:John Walsh – Complete Country Dancing-Master, Volume the Fourth B:(London, 1740, No. 91) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G G2d4cB A2G2|G2d2e2f2 g4|A2a4gf e2d2|A2d2e2^c2 d4|| B2e4 ^d2e2B2|B2e4 ^d2e4|A2d4^c2d2A2|A2d4^c2d4| A2c4B2c2(BA)|GA Bc defd g2G2|g2 (fe) defd g2G2|g2 (fe) dc BA||
ENGLISH PASBY. AKA - "English Paspy," "English Passepied (The)." English, Country Dance Tune (3/2 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The melody and dance instructions were first printed in Henry Playford's (1657-1709) Dancing Master [1], 11th edition (1701). It was retained in the long-running Dancing Master series through the 18th edition of 1728 (then published in London by John Young, heir to the Playford publishing concerns). It was also printed in John Walsh's The Compleat Country Dancing Master (1718, and subsequent editions of 1731 and 1754).
Walsh used the title "English Paspy" (with a 'p' substituting for Playford's 'b'), but either spelling is a derivation of the name passapied [2], the name of a Baroque folk dance step originally French or Breton, introduced to the English court in the 17th century, and familiar to English audiences through opera and ballet. Typically, the passepied was in triple-time, spirited and fast, and similar to a minuet step.
