Annotation:Mrs. Biggs of Newcastle's Delight
X:1 T:Mrs. Biggs (of Newcastle’s) Delight M:C| L:1/8 S:Watlen – Celebrated Circus Tunes (1791) K:Bb F|B>cB>c d<fd>B|c>dcB A<cA>F| B>cB>F G>AB>G|F<GB>c cBB:|
MRS. BIGGS (OF NEWCASTLE'S) DELIGHT. AKA and see "Miss Bigg of Benton's Strathspey." Scottish, Stathspey. B Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA. The air appears Edinburgh publisher John Watlen's (born c. 1760) collection of Celebrated Circus Tunes (1791) with the note "The celebrated Strathspey Minuet as danced by Mr. Lassells and Mrs. Parker at the Royal Circus, London and Edinburgh" (the Strathspey Minuet was a couple dance performed to a strathspey). Lassells and Parker were advertised together in other venues as well. In June, 1790, they were with the Forth Circus and were presented in "the favourite Ballet called the RURAL LOVERS. Principal dancers, Mrs. Parker and Mr. Lassells."
A few years after Watlen's publication, Abraham Mackintosh printed a fuller version of the tune as "Miss Bigg of Benton's Strathspey." The first two and a half measures are cognate with "Drunken Sailor (1)."
