Annotation:King of Damascus
X:1 % T:King of Damascus M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel B:David Young – Drummond Castle/Duke of Perth Manuscript (1734, No. 43) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G G/G/G Bd eAAg|G/G/G TBA dGBG|cdBd eAAg|GBDE G2G2:| |:gage a2a2|gg a/g/f/e/ gegd|gage a2a2|gede g2 (g/a/b):|]
KING OF DAMASCUS. Scottish, Country Dance Tune (4/4 time). The melody appears in the Drummond Castle Manuscript (in the possession of the Earl of Ancaster at Drummond Castle), inscribed "A Collection of Country Dances written for the use of his Grace the Duke of Perth by Dav. Young, 1734." Edinburgh fiddler and writing master David Young also included "Kind of Damascus" in his MacFarlane Manuscript (1741, p. 224). It subsequently appeared in Wright's Compleat Collection of celebrated country Dances, vol.2 (published by Johnson in London, 1742), John Walsh's Compleat Country Dancing-Master, Volume the Sixth (London, 1754), and Neil Stewart's Select Collection of Scots English Irish and Foreign Airs Jiggs & Marches (Edinburgh, c. 1788). The melody was also used as the vehicle for a song in Thompson's ballad opera The Disappointed Gallant, or Buckram in Armour, staged in London in 1738. Multi-instrumentalist John Rook, of Waverton, near Wigton, Cumbria, entered the tune in his large 1840 music manuscript collection.
