Annotation:Maid's Last Wish (The)
X: 1 T: the Maid's last Wish P: Longways for as many as will %R: jig B: "The Dancing-Master: Containing Directions and Tunes for Dancing" printed by W. Pearson for John Walsh, London ca. 1709 S: 7: DMDfD http://digital.nls.uk/special-collections-of-printed-music/pageturner.cfm?id=89751228 p.175 "Q 4" Z: 2013 John Chambers <jc:trillian.mit.edu> M: 6/4 L: 1/4 F:http://jc.tzo.net/~jc/music/book/JohnWalsh/Maids_last_Wish.abc K: C % - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - g |\ e2d c2B | (cG)_B A2a | g2f (ec)e | g3 G2g |\ e2d c2B | (cG)_B A2f | e2d d2c | c3- c2 |] G |\ E2F G2c | (AF)c f2e | dcB A2d | B3- B2g |\ ec2 c'1g | _b3 a2g | fed d2c | c3- c2 |] % - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - %%begintext align %% The 1. man cross over with the 2. wo. and turn S. the 1. wo. cross over with the 2. man and turn S. the two %% men back to back, sides, the we. doing the same at the same time :| Then back to back with their Partners, %% and right and left with your Partner till the 1. cu. come into the 2. cu. place, then lead up through the %% 1. cu. and cast off into the 2. cu. place. %% [DMDfD] %%endtext %%sep 1 8 500
MAID'S LAST WISH, THE. English, Country Dance Tune (6/8 time). C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune dates to 1695 when it was first published in London publisher Henry Playford's Dancing Master [1], 9th edition (p. 175). It was retained in the long-run Dancing Master series through the 18th and final edition of 1728 (then published by John Young). It also was printed in Walsh & Hare's The Compleat Country Dancing Master (London, 1718). The tune, according to Graham Christian (2015), takes its name from Thomas Southerne's [2] (1660-1746) play The Maid's Last Prayer, a comedy staged in London in 1693--the title misremembered by Playford or deliberately altered in the Dancing Master. Henry Purcell furnished a few songs for the play, although this tune is not attributed to him. Christian suggests the air may have been reprised for the final dance at the end of the play. He also points out the 'maiden's wish/prayer' is to be a maid no longer.
