Annotation:Roxburgh Ball (The)
X:1 % T:Roxburgh Ball, The M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel B:Köhler’s Violin Repository vol. 2 (1881-1885, p. 158) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Bb (B/c/d) (d>c) Bcde|f2 (fg) fedc|dcBc defd|g(BcB) AFFe| d2 (dc) Bcde|f2 (fg) fedc|dcdf g(GcB)|AFGA B2B,2|| f2 (fe) dfga|(g/a/b) (ag) fddg|f2 (fe) defd|gecB Accg| f2 (fe) dfga|(g/a/b) (ag) fddg|fdbf gecB|AFGA B2 B,2!D.C. Fine!||
ROXBURGH BALL, THE. Scottish, Reel (cut time). B Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The title probably refers to the Borders region balls given by the Duchess of Roxburgh, also called the Jedburgh County Ball. One of them was commemorated in doggerel verse by Sheriff Oliver, whose pastime (then common in the Borders) it was to rhyme. His account begins:
The seventh of October eighteen hundred and nineteen,
Took place the Roxburgh Ball, the best ever seen,
Queen, Duchess of Roxburgh--King, Sir Alexander Don,
And the rest of the Party I'll tell you one by one.
There were Mr. and Mrs. Rutherford Edgerston,
Of Yair young Pringle, two Miss Pringles, Miss Balderston,
Ogilvie R.N., Mr. Ogilvie of Chesters,
Mr. Ogilvie junior, his wife and two sisters.
etc. & etc., rhyming the names of all the guests.