Paper 71

The Pyle Manuscript of Dances, 1822

Contributed by Paul Cooper, Research Editor

The Hampshire Record Office have recently (at time of writing) allowed a musical manuscript known as the Richard Pyle Tune Book to be digitised (see Figure 1). This book was started in 1822 by a gentleman musician named Richard Pyle from Nether Wallop in Hampshire, the bulk of the contents consist of hand written dance tunes. In this paper we'll investigate both the manuscript itself and its contents, we'll also consider what this manuscript can reveal about Britain's social dancing industry of the early 1820s.

Figure 1. The opening page of the Pyle Manuscript

You can explore the entirety of the Pyle Manuscript for yourself courtesy of the Hampshire Archives Trust and a project named Unlocking Hampshire's Musical Heritage led by the Royal Holloway, University of London. A 2006 transcript of the collection was previously made available under the name Hampshire Dance Tunes edited by Bob Shatwell and Paul Sartin (which is how I first became aware of the manuscript). I am grateful to everyone involved in making this manuscript more readily available for study. The tune book bears the name R. Pyle on the cover (see Figure 1). The collection was donated to the Hampshire Record Office by a descendant of the Pyle family of Nether Wallop (also known as Lower Wallop) in Hampshire. Their musical ancestor was evidently named Richard Pyle.

Richard Pyle (1773? to 1833)

Not much is recorded of Pyle himself. There are numerous surviving references to various members of the Pyle family who lived in and around the village of Nether Wallop at around our date, it's possible that there were several Richard Pyles who were living there at that time.

The first probable reference to Richard that I've discovered involves an insolvency report published in the Hampshire Chronicle newspaper for the 28th of February 1820. This notice refers to Pyle as being a Woolstapler by trade, that is a trader in wools. A stapler would purchase fleeces from farmers, sort and grade them, then resell the wool to (typically) textile manufacturers and tailors. Pyle was described at this time as being a resident of Lower Wallop. I can't be certain that this Richard Pyle was our Richard Pyle though it seems likely. The report reads: Notice to Debtors and Creditors. Whereas Richard Pyle, of Lower Wallop, having assigned over all his Estate and Effects to Trustees, for the benefit of his Creditors, - Notice is hereby given, that the Deed of Assignment remains at the Office of Mr Aberdein, Solicitor, Andover, for the signature of the several Creditors.. It continues with further information about how both creditors and debtors of Pyle should make themselves known. It's not an auspicious start for our Richard.

A little later Pyle's house and effects were to be auctioned, presumably as a result of his insolvency. The Salisbury and Winchester Journal for the 8th of May 1820 recorded: To be Sold by Auction ... well-built Dwelling House, with the Garden and Court-yard adjoining, pleasantly situate in the village of Lower Wallop, and lately the Residence of Mr Richard Pyle. The House, which is fit for the reception of a small genteel Family, comprises two excellent sitting rooms and kitchen on the ground floor, with airy bed rooms over, and has convenient offices attached to it.. A list of personal possessions was also included in the auction, though no musical instruments were mentioned. It's unclear whether the auction failed or whether the purchaser allowed Richard to remain in residence, what is clear is that the property was advertised to be sold once again in August of 1820. The Salisbury and Winchester Journal for the 28th of August 1820 further described the property: The offices consist of cellars, wash-house, brew-house, pantry, 4-stall stable, large coach-house, and an inclosed yard. The above premises offer a very desirable residence for a sportsman, as they are situate in the midst of a fine sporting country, and a pack of harriers is kept in the village. They would also afford a pleasant retreat to a small family wishing for retirement. The whole are in complete repair. For a view of the premises apply to Mr Richard Pyle, at Lower Wallop. A further auction for the property was advertised in the Hampshire Chronicle newspaper for the 23rd of April 1821. Thereafter references to the sale of the property disappear. The property itself was evidently of some value and fit for a gentleman trader, he evidently lived beyond his means however. The Salisbury and Winchester Journal that same day, 23rd of April 1821, carried an advertisement on behalf of Richard himself: To be sold - A complete Pack of Harriers, consisting of 24 Couple, of different ages, from 15 to 18 inches high. Also four good Hunters, equal to heavy weights. Also a second hand Chariot in good preservation, which will be sold very cheap. Enquire (if by letter post paid) of Mr R Pyle, Nether Wallop, near Stockbridge.. Bankruptcy was an unpleasant but not uncommon experience at this date, Richard would have been able to recover.

Figure 2. The Old Lodge in Nether Wallop, 1867. This was not Richard's house but it would have been nearby.

Richard next appears in the newspapers in 1827 where he is mentioned as having secured a particularly favourable wool trading contract. A patriotic statement in the Hampshire Chronicle newspaper for the 9th of July 1827 begins: In the present depressed state of agriculture, it is gratifying to state many gentlemen have resolved to promote the interest of farmers by a liberal purchase of cloths manufactured from British wool only. In Wilts this liberal minded spirit has been extensive, and its effects beneficial to the wool trade. The small market town of Stockbridge has the merit of introducing in this county a similar plan, and many gentlemen, clergymen, and others, have very lately purchased large portions of British cloths from Mr Richard Pyle, of Wallop.. The story goes on to explain the advantages of purchasing British wools and why tailors should prefer use of British cloths. A Richard Pyle, presumably our Richard Pyle, is mentioned as having secured a significant sale. At this date he is declared to be a resident of Wallop rather than specifically of Lower Wallop. This same story would appear in several other regional newspapers over the following few weeks.

In 1829 Richard's name once again is found in the press in relation to a house being sold at auction. The Hampshire Chronicle for the 7th of December 1829 advertised: The following desirable Property, situate at Lower Wallop, Hants, consisting of a Dwelling House, with all suitable and conventional out buildings and offices attached thereto, stable, large and commodious store rooms or wool chambers, two walled-in gardens, &c, now in the occupation of the proprietor, Mr Richard Pyle. The premises are leasehold for 99 years, determinable with three lives, now aged respectively 56, 47, and 45 years, or thereabouts, and are most pleasantly situate on an eminence, commanding a view of the church and village of Lower Wallop.. Presumably Richard himself was one of the three people who had residency of the property for as long as they should live; if so, that would suggest that he was born either in 1773, 1782 or 1784.

Richard is again mentioned in the Hampshire Chronicle newspaper for the 13th of September 1830. This time he was the creditor who was benefiting from the insolvency of a Stockbridge based tailor named Walter Dicker. Dicker's estate and effects were assigned to Richard and another gentleman in trust. At this date Richard was described as Richard Pyle, of Nether Wallop, Hants, Gentleman. Presumably Richard had sold wool to the tailor on credit and was thereby a chief creditor.

There is one final reference to Richard in the newspapers, this time in the Salisbury and Winchester Journal for the 25th of March 1833. Richard had died and anyone with a claim on his estate was being asked to come forward. At this date Richard was described as Richard Pyle, late of Nether Wallop, Hants, Woolstapler, deceased. He may have died at around 60 years of age (if we assume that he was the resident who was born in 1773).

The newspaper references are almost certainly to the same Richard Pyle throughout, if they are also to our Richard Pyle then we can make some further assumptions about his personal life. The tune book was evidently started in 1822, a date at which he would still have been recovering from his 1820 bankruptcy. The tune book is primarily filled with dancing tunes, he presumably played them himself for the enjoyment of his friends and family. The back of the book includes some small amounts of church music, we might surmise from this that he also played in church and was a religious man. The authors of Hampshire Dance Tunes speculated, based on the music within the manuscript, that Pyle is likely to have played the flute (somewhat like the character depicted in Figure 3). We know very little of Richard's life and yet he left behind him one of the most fascinating personal collections of dance tunes of the era.

The Social Dance industry of the early 1820s

We'll investigate the Pyle Manuscript itself shortly, before we do let's take a moment to consider the broader dance industry at around the date of the manuscript's creation.

Figure 3. A Thomas Rowlandson illustration from The History of Johnny Quae Genus, 1822 by William Combe. The image shows shepherds shearing sheep in a barn while a flautist (Johnny) entertains the village girls.

A decade earlier the 1810s had opened with the venerable Country Dance as the favoured dance for all manner of balls and other social gatherings. Longways sets of couples would form up to dance country dances together, much as they had done a century earlier. There were ever shifting trends in Country Dancing such that a typical dance of the 1810s would be considerably different to one of the 1750s, the general form of the dance had remained consistent however. Dozens of music shops existed in London producing printed Country Dancing music that would in turn be distributed around the country, perhaps even around the world. All of that would change in the mid to late 1810s. Several factors aligned to cause a collapse in the country dancing publishing industry in the mid 1810s, by the end of the decade only a tiny fraction of new Country Dancing publications were being created compared to a decade earlier.

One of those factors was legal, it involved an increasing awareness of copyright. In previous decades the industry had considered musical copyright, in so far as it was considered at all, to be inapplicable to Country Dancing tunes. Those tunes were too simple, too pervasive, too much in the public domain for anyone to claim ownership of them. In so far as music shops commissioned new Country Dancing music, the industry operated on a share-and-share-alike mentality; it was acceptable for a vendor's music to be published by everyone else as that vendor could do the same in return. But as the number of music shops increased the competitive pressure also increased, some publishers began to push back. We've investigated this trend in other papers, the ultimate effect (after a few high profile court cases) was that publishers increasingly shied away from publishing Country Dancing music of uncertain provenance. In just a few years a good number of Country Dance publishers either ceased, or significantly reduced, their dance publishing activities.

At around the same time the industry also experienced a shift in demand from the elite ballrooms. Fashions were changing. From mid 1816 there was a sudden and significant demand for the dancing of Quadrilles, a demand that would increase over the following few years. The immediate success of the Quadrille was triggered by the Carlton House Ball of 1816 at which they prominently featured, over the following months the Quadrille came to dominate the ball rooms and dance parties of the aristocracy. For example, we've previously investigated the dancing at a Quadrille Ball of 1817. Quadrilles required a new and different type of music; they were danced in 8 bar phrases much like the Country Dance, the viable tempo range was smaller however and the repeating structure of the tune was important. A handful of Quadrille composers came to dominate the market. The music industry published more Quadrilles and fewer Country Dances, they presumably followed the market demand in so doing - the music purchasing public voted with their wallets. And it wasn't just Quadrilles that were increasingly popular, the same could be said of Waltz music. Waltz and Quadrille Balls became popular entertainment activities, these were events that focussed on the new dance forms and ignored the now unfashionable Country Dance.

Country Dance publishing didn't cease of course, some publishers continued to issue new Country Dance tunes into the 1820s and beyond. But the scale of publication had shrunk dramatically. This collapse in Country Dance publishing brings with it a challenge for the modern dance historian: where we had a multitude of publishers copying from each other's catalogues we could easily determine which tunes were fashionable at which dates, the same is much less true for the later 1810s and early 1820s. We know the most popular Quadrille tunes that were in circulation, whereas the newly fashionable Country Dancing tunes are harder to identify unless they happen to be referred to in other sources. This will become relevant when we study the details of the Pyle manuscript; it contains many popular tunes from the earlier 1810s, it also contains tunes from the early 1820s that are difficult to identify from other sources. It's probable that most, perhaps all of Richard's tunes were previously published by the London music shops, though in some cases the provenance of the tunes remains unclear.

Most of what we know about the dance industry in the early 19th century is derived from sources that originate in London and the other big cities. Moreover, most of what we know pertains to the dancing of the aristocracy and gentry. Richard Pyle's manuscript is fascinating, at least in part, because it was produced in rural Hampshire by a gentleman of more modest means. We can only assume that it contains tunes that were of interest to Richard himself, most of which will be seen to be Country Dancing tunes (though a few Waltz, Quadrille and other dance tunes are also included). Presumably Richard's friends in the village would dance to these same tunes. His dance book, and others like it, provide a hint of what was being danced outside of fashionable circles and regardless of the music publishing industry.

Before leaving this topic I will just point out that a medley of other similar tune books do exist from various places around the country. There are ongoing efforts to catalogue those collections. One such effort can be found in The Village Music Project, a project that has diligently indexed and transcribed many such manuscripts.

The Pyle Manuscript

Figure 4. Example pages from the manuscript. The top left image is a representative example of a tune from Phase A, top right is from Phase B, bottom left is from Phase C, bottom right is from Phase D.

The contents of the book can be categorised into four distinct blocks, each of which was probably produced at a different time. I'll refer to these blocks of the book (or phases of creation) as Phase A through Phase D. The tunes within each block share certain characteristics as follows:

• Phase A - This section comprises the first seventeen tunes in the collection (which are handily numbered from 1 to 17, see for example Figure 4 top left). They were carefully entered into the book with a fine hand and with decorative titles. They are all dance tunes, a mixture of both Country Dancing and Waltzing tunes. Twelve of them include suggested Country Dancing figures. The origin of these tunes and figures is unknown, it's notable however that the figures are distinctively Wilsonian in nature; that is, they're likely to have been sourced from a dance collection with figures choreographed by Thomas Wilson. Probably something issued during the year 1821. The first dance in the collection is named The Coronation, this is a clear reference to the 1821 Coronation of King George IV. Many of the tune titles within this section of the book relate to themes that would have been current in 1821. It's likely that this batch of tunes were added to the book shortly after the book was started, they were likely inked within a few days of each other in early 1822.
  
  
• Phase B - This second section of the manuscript is the largest section. It includes 105 tunes, mostly dance tunes, numbered from 18 to 122 (with no tune associated with numbers 86 and 87, see for example Figure 4 top right). There is a further unnamed tune present between numbers 110 and 111 with the title Bob Bruce, this tune could potentially have been inserted later to use up an otherwise unallocated page of the book. There are two tunes numbered as 50. The inking of these tunes is less delicate than those of Phase A and there are (almost) no suggested dance figures attached. The only tune with dancing figures is The Farmers Wife at position number 101. The contents are of a fairly random nature, perhaps indicative of Richard adding the tunes to the book as and when he found reason to do so. Some of the tunes are old (for example, the tune numbered 111 is a Minuet that was first published back in 1757), others are fashionable tunes of the 1810s, others still are popular songs that may have been rearranged for dancing. This section also includes a few Quadrille dancing tunes, some Marchs, also an occasional Waltz. Each tune is numbered however and included in the index that Richard attached to the start and end boards of the book. It's likely that this section of the book was created organically over many months and perhaps years. The index section of the book was probably created in one go after this phase of work was complete, the book might perhaps have been considered to be complete at that time.
  
  
• Phase C - This section of the manuscript was (presumably) added later than that of Phase B and is notably different in content to what came before (see for example Figure 4 bottom left). It could in theory have been added by someone other than Richard at a later date, or indeed by Richard himself of course. At least two of the tunes in this section of the manuscript are likely to date to 1826 or later (O Twine A Wreath and Hurrah for the Bonnets of Blue). This section contains a mixture of dance tunes and songs, all unnumbered and unindexed. In some cases the ink is faded and difficult to read. Some of the tunes are given in two parts, there are also two entirely unnamed tunes included which could perhaps have been composed by people known to Pyle, along with many other partially named tunes such as Waltz or Duet. In total this section includes 51 assorted tunes. Only one of the dance tunes has suggested dancing figures attached (The Brighton). My impression is that these tunes were likely to have been added several years after Phase B was completed, they might represent Richard's interests at a later stage of his life.
  
  
• Phase D - This section is the smallest part of the manuscript, it consists of the religious music at the back of the book (see for example Figure 4 bottom right). This section is upside-down compared to the rest of the manuscript, the religious music was evidently segregated by turning the entire book upside down and adding tunes from the back forwards. As such, Phase D could have been started at any point during the life of the manuscript, it could pre-date Phase A or post-date Phase C. It may have been created by someone other than Richard. None of these tunes are indexed or numbered, I therefore suspect that this section was created alongside the production of Phase C at a slightly later date than the earlier parts. There are a few Hymns and Psalms in this section of the book, seven in total.

Observations on the Provenance of the Tunes

Many of the tunes found within the Pyle manuscript, perhaps all of them, had previously been published by London's various music shops. It's unclear how the tunes came to be selected for inclusion in Richard's book however. It's possible that he copied them directly from a published source (perhaps borrowed from a circulating library), it's equally possible that he received the tunes from other people. That is, music may have propagated via networks of social interaction. What follows is some speculation about some of the sources that Richard may have used for his tunes, however indirectly that process may have been.

Figure 5. Quick Step of the 42nd Regiment as published in G. Walker's 1819 43rd Number (above), and in the Pyle manuscript (below).

• Thomas Wilson - we've already noted that the Phase A dances are notably Wilsonian in nature. We've discussed what this means in a previous paper, you might like to follow the link to read more. Thomas Wilson (1774-1854) was a successful Dancing Master from London who heavily influenced Britain's social dancing industry across the 1810s. What's notable about the Phase A dances is that they are so very similar to Wilsonian dances of the later 1810s, both in terminology and choreography. Wilson's style is very recognisable and distinct to that of the rest of the industry. So much so that the Phase A dance figures must surely have been either choreographed by Wilson himself, or have been copied from a Wilsonian publication and applied to new tunes by someone else. I'm almost certain that they will have been sourced from a Wilsonian publication issued for the year 1821, indeed, they may all derive from the same publication. Most years Wilson issued four such publications, unfortunately I've only been able to study one of them from 1821 at time of writing, sadly it doesn't contain any of the Phase A tunes or dances. I know of no surviving copies of other Wilsonian publications issued for that year, sooner or later I expect that they will emerge however. We've previously shared a bibliography of Wilsonian publications. The rest of the Pyle collection does not appear to have been influenced by Wilson, it's just the Phase A dances that I suspect to be of Wilsonian origin.
  
  
• John Charles White - White's of Bath was a successful music store operating across the 1810s and beyond. John Charles White was the composer of their tunes, we've mentioned him several times in our previous papers. We first encountered White as the plaintiff in one of the most consequential legal disputes between music shops relating to copyright of dance tunes, you can read more about that 1818 dispute here. We've also found White mentioned in a publication from 1823 that made highly complimentary comments regarding the popularity of White's dances. Several of White's most successful country dances can be found within the Phase B section of the Pyle manuscript, this includes Captain Wyke (numbered as tune 21 within the manuscript), Vulcan's Cave (numbered as 55), Lady Caroline Morrison (numbered as 56), Rob Roy (numbered as 63), Columbia (numbered as 71), The National Waltz (numbered as 104) and The Chainess Dance (numbered as 120 within the manuscript) is actually White's The Chinese Dance. There may be still further tunes in the manuscript derived from White's publications, White's popular Bath dances were clearly being enjoyed in rural Hampshire in 1822 and shortly thereafter.
  
  
• Thompson's tutors - The Thompson music shop issued at least two books in the late 1760s aimed at helping amateurs to learn new instruments. These are The Compleat Tutor for the Fife and The Compleat Tutor for the Violin. Some of the Phase B tunes appear to be derived from one or other of these publications. The publishing dates for the two books are uncertain, they may both date to around 1770 or thereabouts. The matching tunes include Come haste to the Wedding (numbered as 46 within the manuscript), Belleisle March (numbered as 106), Handel's Clarinet (numbered as 107), Dorsetshire March (numbered as 108), Duke of Gloster's March (numbered as 109) and Lady Coventry's Minuet (numbered as 111). Some of these tunes had previously been published in earlier Thompson publications, including Lady Coventry's Minuet which was included in Thompson's collection of Minuets for 1757 and Belleisle March that was included in Thompson's Collection of 24 Country Dances for 1764. It seems likely that Pyle, or someone he knew, owned copies of these Tutors; he chose a selection of the tunes for inclusion in his personal tune book.
  
  
• Various Quadrille publications - Quadrille dances were increasingly popular as time moved on from the 1810s and into the 1820s, Pyle moved with the times and included several Quadrille dances within his tune book. A curiosity however is that he did not include entire sets of Quadrilles within his collection in the form in which they were published, he instead picked specific example Quadrille dances from various sources, some of which can be identified. Most of these Quadrilles fall within the Phase B content. First he included two versions of the La Poule Quadrille (numbered as 50 and 51) which derive from Edward Payne's c.1815 First Set of Quadrilles. Pyle's Les Lanier (numbered as 53) is the Les Lancier quadrille from John Duval's 1817 The Lancers. Pyle's L'ete (numbered as 69) is also from Edward Payne's c.1815 First Set of Quadrilles, his La garcon Volage (numbered as 78) is from Edward Payne's c.1816 Fifth Set of Quadrilles. Pyle's La Native (numbered as 79) is also from John Duval's 1817 The Lancers, his mysteriously unnamed Quadrille (numbered as 105) is My Love She's but a Lassie Yet from G.M.S. Chiver's c.1821 Caledonian Quadrilles. Something even more peculiar happens with the dances numbered as 114 through 118, they are presented as being A set of favorite quadrills and yet the content of these five tunes seem to have been selected from diverse sources. The first of this set is named as Pantalon (numbered as 114), it is actually a copy of the La Pauline quadrille from Chivers's c.1822 Carbineers; the second is named by Pyle as L'Ete (numbered as 115) and is actually La Parmesane from Chivers's c.1822 Lancers. I've yet to discover where the third and fourth quadrilles in the set have been collected from, the fifth (numbered as 118) is Di Tanti Palpiti and is likely to have been sourced from Chivers's 1821 Cuirassiers (though this tune in turn is derived from Rossini's 1813 opera Tancredi). A further quadrille named as La Pastorale in the unindexed Phase C material is derived from Edward Payne's 1816 Second Set of Quadrilles. It's curious to find such a haphazard collection of Quadrille tunes in use.
  
  
• George Walker - two particular tunes in the Phase C material are interesting, they are The favorite Maltese dance and Quick Step 42nd Regiment. These two tunes appear on the same page within the Pyle manuscript. Both of these tunes can also be found in an 1819 publication named G. Walker's Collection of Fashionable Dances for the Piano Forte or Violin, No 43 (see Figure 5). The Walker publication is the only source I know of for the second of these two tunes. It's possible that Pyle, or an associate, selected both tunes from this specific 1819 publication.

The Contents of the Pyle Manuscript

What follows is a table listing the contents of the Pyle manuscript. The book does include a partial index which makes reference to page/tune numbers within the book itself, the numbering is inconsistent and incomplete however. I've therefore used the page numbers of the digitised text as the primary index for the table below, this number can be found in the first column together with a link to the page in the digitised edition. The second column provides the page/tune number from within the book, where available. The third column indicates which creation phase of the book the tune is from (using the A to D system explained above), the fourth column is a thumbnail image from the manuscript. The final column provides the name of the tune and any additional commentary that we have to offer regarding the tune.

A Hampshire Tune Book?

We've reviewed the contents of the Pyle Manuscript now and seen that it was likely to have been created in four distinct phases. The Phase A material was likely to have been created in a single batch in early 1822, it's likely that the whole of this content was sourced from a single collection of country dances published by the dancing master Thomas Wilson in 1821... though as such a collection has yet to be identified this remains a matter of speculation. The Phase B content was created over several months (or years) and forms the largest portion of the collection, of the 105 tunes in this section 83 (79%) are currently known to be derived from works published in the preceding years, the remaining 22 (21%) are as yet unidentified but quite likely also derived from published sources. The Phase C content was added later, much of that material involves songs, the source of the tunes is less clear and could potentially include works created be people known to Richard Pyle personally. The Phase D content involves religious music that may have been created alongside the Phase C content. Of the tunes that remain unidentified across the collection, a small number are known from other similar manuscripts created by private individuals around the country; this hints at a common printed source for such tunes.

Given that so much of the content of the manuscript is known to derive from collections of dances published in London, it's worth asking to what extent we can reasonably consider the manuscript to contain Hampshire Tunes. There's a literal sense in which they are not Hampshire tunes at all, they seem instead to be derived from music published in London and, where the composer is known at all, could originally have been from anywhere. And yet, the tunes are a genuine collection created by someone living in rural Hampshire towards the start of the 19th century; the tunes must surely have been used and enjoyed within that local community. They may not be Hampshire tunes in origin but they are Hampshire tunes in application. As the publication of Country Dances diminished across the 1820s (and beyond) it was personal collections of music such as the Pyle Manuscript that informed the development of what would later be named folk traditions. Such tunes and dances could continue to be enjoyed across the 19th century and in turn be rediscovered by the folklorist collectors of the early 20th century. There's a sense in which these tunes absolutely are Hampshire Tunes.

As such I find the question of whether these tunes are Hampshire tunes or not to depend upon the framing of the question. They are simultaneously both Hampshire tunes and non-Hampshire tunes. A similar observation can be made about almost any other locale-specific tune collections; London tunes may not actually be from London, Scottish tunes may be created by anyone living anywhere, the same can be said for Irish tunes, French tunes and other such geographic identifiers. Music, and the mediums through which it has propagated, has a tendency to inspire associations that may have nothing to do with a tune's actual origins.

Conclusion

The Pyle manuscript is a fascinating survivor from the 1820s, it documents the music that a private individual found to be worth writing down. There's a great deal that we don't know about that the collection, also a good deal that we do know. What I personally find to be of great interest is the variety in the music and its sources, there are tunes that were popular in the 1760s alongside tunes from the 1810s. There are hints towards an awareness of fashionable dance conventions (such as the inclusion of Waltz and Quadrille music), yet also a clear interest in high quality country dance music. Ultimately this manuscript is just one tune book amongst many, there must have been myriad more such collections that have not survived into the modern era. It makes for a useful reminder, a least to me, that the dance experiences of a rural gentleman from Hampshire might have been quite different to that of a fashionable dancer in London. Even if the tune book was only used for the purposes of practising a musical instrument, it's illustrative of which tunes were important enough to Richard to be worth writing down.

We'll leave the investigation here, if you have anything else to share, do please Contact Us as we'd love to know more.