Annotation:Friar in the Well (The)
Tune properties and standard notation
FRIAR IN THE WELL, THE. AKA and see "Maid Peeped Out at the Window (The)." English, Country Dance Tune (6/4 or 6/8 time). G Mixolydian (Raven): G Dorian (Chappell). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune appears in John Playford's English Dancing Master of 1651. The song that goes with the tune tells the tale of a lascivious friar who is outwitted by a woman; Chappell (1859) says this is based on a very common story which appears in "most old French and Italian collections of facetious tales."
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Barlow (Complete Country Dances from Playford's Dancing Master), 1985; No. 59, p. 29. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 27.
Recorded sources: