Annotation:Lady Frances Seymour's Birth Day
X:1 T:Lady Frances Seymour's Birth Day M:C L:1/8 R:Country Dance Tune B:John Hinton - Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure, B:March, 1750, p. 177 Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:Bb B2 (dB) (fB)(dB)|B2 (dB) (cA)(GF)|B2d2f2b2|a2 (gf) c=e f4:| f2 gf gfed|c/d/c/d/ ec {B}A3f|(dB) (Bd) c/B/A/G/ Ff| (dB) (Bd) c/B/c/d/ cf|gfga ba/g/ fe|d2 Tc2 B4:|]
LADY FRANCES SEYMOUR'S BIRTH DAY. English, Country Dance Tune (whole time). B Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. The melody with dance directions was first published by John Hinton in his periodical The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure (April, 1750, p. 177). As with all of Hinton's country dances that year, it was republished by London music publisher John Johnson that same year, in his Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 5 (1750, p. 21).
Frances Seymour(1699-1754) was firstly the Countess of Hertford and later the Duchess of Somerset, the wife of Algernon Seymour, Earl of Hertford, who became the 7th Duke of Somerset in 1748. She was a courtier and wasalso known as a poet, literary patron and woman of letters. She published poems anonymously and under a pseudonym, and used her influence to assist aspiring writers. She also had a heart, and was an early supporter of campaigns to assist orphans and abandoned children in London, urged the establishment of the Foundling Hospital, and used her influence with Queen Caroline to obtain clemency for poet Richard Savage,who had been convicted of murder. At the time of Hinton's publication her husband had just died, andshe lived her last years at Percy Lodge, where she died in July, 1754. Her birthday was May 10th, so Hinton's publication of the country dance in April was timely.
