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General John BurgoyneGENERAL BURGOINE'S MINUET. AKA and see "Mrs. Grant of Arndilly's Minuet." Scottish. Dedicated to two people: originally to Mrs. Grant, chatelaine of Arndilly House on northern Scotland's River Findhorn, c. 1767, and then General John ("Gentleman Johnny") Burgoine (or Burgoyne), the army general who later surrendered to the Americans at Saratoga, 1777. After the war he became a successful London playwright. The dedication to Burgoyne came about in 1774 when he was one of the principal guests in the wedding of Lord Stanley and Lady Betty Hamilton in Surrey in that year. biography:Thomas Alexander Erskine, Earl of Kelly (b. Fife, 1732-1781), had been commissioned to write a new set of minuets for the bride and groom and some honored guests, but he was "thoroughly bored" with the style and tried to revamp or re-title some old minuets, hoping no one would notice; in this case the recycled tune was originally called "Mrs. Grant of Arndilly's Minuet."
