The Boone Companion

Dances of mid-seventeenth-century England from
the Pattricke, Sloane, Lansdowne manuscripts & Playford

The first 18 dances in this book have been selected from three unpublished
manuscripts dating from the mid-seventeenth century :

the Pattricke (Lovelace) ms. (Pattricke MSEng 1356)
the Sloane ms. (MS Sloane 3858)
the Lansdowne ms. (MS Lansdowne 1115)

There is no music notation given in any of these three manuscripts.
Where dances have concordance with dance titles and similar structure to those
in the Playford publication, the same tunes have been used. Music for the other
dances has been selected by Paul Kent from contemporary sources, and some from
‘tune-only ’ Playford dance music.

David Gordon was invited to make imaginative arrangements of the selected dance
music for a small instrumental ensemble, which he then directed and made the
recording for an audio CD with the same title which is also available from
the HDS website. The recording aims to provide effective music for the dances
as well as for enjoyable listening.

Dances

Pattricke ms.

Good Your Worship, Greenwood, The Highway to Westminster,
Jack Pudding, The Jumbling of Jone, Murry, Natly, Noah’s Flood,
St Johns, Tom a Bedlam, The Windmill

Sloane ms.

Amy, The Boone Companion, Ladie Dutchesse, Sheppheards Holiday

Lansdowne ms.

Early Spring Garden, Lansdowne Hall, Lansdowne Square

Playford 1st ed.

The Health, Prince Rupert’s March

Note that if the digital download option is selected, the book is supplied in PDF format.

All rights reserved; public performance or broadcasting without permission is prohibited. When used for teaching, recognition must be given to The Historical Dance Society.

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