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Page 19
"This dance it will no further go!"
[_The Musician answers._]
"I pray you, good sir, why say you so?"
[_Man._]
"Because Joan Sanderson will not come to!"
[_Music._]
"She must come to, and she shall come to,
And she must come whither she will or no."
He now lays down the cushion before a woman, on which she kneels, and he
kisses her, singing:
"Welcome, Joan Sanderson, welcome, welcome."
She rises with the cushion, and both dance about, singing:
"Prinkum-prankum is a fine dance,
And shall we go dance it once again,
And once again,
And shall we go dance it once again?"
Then making a stop, the woman sings, as before:
"This dance it will no further go!"
[_Music._]
"I pray you, madam, why say you so?"
[_Woman._]
"Because John Sanderson will not come to."
[_Music._]
"He must come to," &c.
And so she lays down the cushion before a man, who, kneeling, upon it,
salutes her, she singing:
"Welcome, John Sanderson," &c.
Then, he taking up the cushion, they take hands, and dance round,
singing as before: and this they do till the whole company is taken into
the ring. Then the cushion is laid down before the first man, the woman
singing, "This dance," &c. (as before), only instead of "Come to," they
sing "Go fro," and instead of "Welcome, John Sanderson," &c., they sing,
"Farewell, John Sanderson, farewell," &c.: and so they go out, one by
one, as they came in. This dance was at one time highly popular, both at
court and in the cottage, in the latter of which, in some remote country
villages, it is still danced. Selden, in his _Table Talk_, thus refers
to it:
"The court of England is much altered. At a solemn dancing, first
you have the grave measures, then the _Corvantoes_ and the
_Galliards_, and this is kept up with ceremony, at length to
Trenchmore and the Cushion dance; and then all the company dance,
lord and groom, lady and kitchen-maid, no distinction. (Would our
fair Belgravians of 1850 condescend to dance with their
kitchen-maids?) So in our court in Queen Elizabeth's time, gravity
and state were kept up. In King James's time, things were pretty
well. But in King Charles's time there has been nothing but
Trenchmore and the Cushion dance," &c.
I shall also feel obliged for the date of _Bab at the Bowster_, or _Bab
in the Bowster_, as it is called in Scotland. Jamieson, in his
_Dictionary_, describes it as a very old Scottish dance, and generally
the last danced at weddings and merry-makings. It is now danced with a
handkerchief in place of a cushion; and no words are used. That a rhyme
was formerly used, there is little doubt. Query, What were the words of
this rhyme?
MAC.
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