Annotation:Yorkshireman in London (The)

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YORKSHIREMAN IN LONDON, THE. English, Reel. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. Originally set in the key of ‘G’ in Gibbons’ mss. The are some similarities to "Because He was a Bonny Lad." There were songs called "A Yorkshireman in London." One was printed a volume called A Garland of New Songs, printed by J. Marshall in the Old Flesh-Market, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, c. 1810, that begins:

When first in London I arriv'd
On a visit, on a visit;
When first in London I arriv'd
'Midst heavy rain and thunder,
I 'spied a bonny lass in green,
The bonniest lass I ever seen,
I'd oft heard tell of a beauteous queen,
Dash me, thinks I, I've found her.

Another, dating to c. 1806, was written by Mr. John Major, was called "The Yorkshireman in London: or, Humphrey Hobnail's return from the Play," which was "sung by Mr. Emery, with unbounded applause, at the Theatre Royal Covent Garden."

Source for notated version: the 1823-26 music mss of papermaker and musician Joshua Gibbons (1778-1871, of Tealby, near Market Rasen, Lincolnshire Wolds) [Sumner].

Printed sources: Sumner (Lincolnshire Collections, vol. 1: The Joshua Gibbons Manuscript), 1997; p. 5.

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