Annotation:Stepney Cakes and Ale

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X:1 T:Stepney Cakes and Ale M:9/8 L:1/8 R:Country Dance B: Young – Second Volume of the Dancing Master, 1st edition (1710, V144) K:D D2d c>BA =c3|GEC C2D EGE|D2d c>BA d3|AFD D2G EGE:|| D2a g>fe =c3|GEC C2D EGE|D2a g>fe d3|AFD D2F EGE| afd ecA =c3|GEC C2D EFE|afd ecA d3|AFD D2F EGE|]

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The Treat at Stepney, 1740-1760

STEPNEY CAKES AND ALE. English, Country Dance Tune and Slip Jig (9/8 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. "Stepney Cakes and Ale", melody and directions for a country dance, was printed in all four editions of London music publisher John Young's Second Volume of the Dancing Master (1710-1728, p. 150). It was also published by rival London music publisher John Walsh in his Second Book of the Compleat Country Dancing-Master (1719, p. 168).

Stepney was a rural suburb of London and boasted a more humble alternative to the pleasure gardens at Vauxhall and Ranelagh. The elites had their galleries and meticulously cultivated gardens, while the common man had Stepney.

At Stepney now, with Cakes & Ale,
Our Tars their Mistresses regale,
What Humour sits on ev'ry Brow,
John grows Polite, he knows not how;
And marks with meaning grin, below
How Frank, who, extended on the Beach,
Surveys the Port he hopes to reach;
There Kit Admires, with keener taste,
The Trollop, whom he weds in haste
And jovial James, with lifted Glass,
Drinks to and Toasts, his fav'rite Lass,
Mean while the Sounde their fidler Scrapes,
With fist and Elbow, Richard apes:
And equal mirth's, in distant views,
Attracks the eyes of Various Crews.

Stepney has long been absorbed into greater London.

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