Annotation:Here's to the Maiden
Tune properties and standard notation
HERE'S TO THE MAIDEN (OF BASHFUL FIFTEEN). English, Scottish; Country Dance Tune (6/8 time). D Major (Raven): G Major (Kerr, Sweet): F Major (Howe). Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Howe): AB (Raven): AABB (Kerr, Sweet). The tune to a song by playwright and politician Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816), for his comedy The School for Scandal (1780). It begins:
Here's to the maiden of bashful fifteen;
Here's to the widow of fifty;
Here's to the flaunting extravagant quean,
And here's to the housewife that's thrifty.
Cho.:
Let the toast pass,--
Drink to the lass,
I'll warrant she'll prove an excuse for the glass. (x2)
The melody frequently appears in fife and drum repertoire.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Howe (1000 Jigs and Reels), c. 1867; p. 156. Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 3; No. 403, p. 44. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 121. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; p. 38 (includes a harmony part).
Recorded sources: Empty Pockets Productions, Skip Healy - "Purgatory Chasm" (2000).