Annotation:Lady Susan Montgomery's Hornpipe
X:1 T:Lady Susan Montgomery's Hornpipe M:3/2 L:1/8 R:Triple Hornpipe B:David Young – Drummond Castle/Duke of Perth Manuscript (1734, No. 17) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G GABc d2G2d2G2|TF2 A4 B2 TA2G2|GABc d2F2 TE4|D2 G4B2TA2G2:| |:g2 (ag) f2 (gf) Te4|f2d2d2f2Te2d2|c2 dc B2 cB TA4|D2 G4 B2 TA2G2:|]
LADY SUSAN MONTGOMERY'S HORNPIPE. English, Scottish; Triple Hornpipe (3/2 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune belongs to a fairly large family of Anglo-Scots triple-hornpipe tunes that includes such titles as "Punchinello (1)," "Punchanello's Hornpipe," "Three Case Knives," "Three Rusty Swords," "Flat Cap," "Christmas is Coming," "Three Sharp Knives" and others. See also Edinburgh fiddler and writing master David Young's "Lady Christian Montgomery's Hornpipe," another 3/2 hornpipe that is adjacent to "Lady Susan Mongomery's Hornpipe" in his manuscript. Lady Susan and Lady Christian were sisters, two of eight daughters (and three sons) of the beautiful and accomplished Susanna Montgomery, Countess of Eglinton (1690-1780), third wife of Alexander Montgomerie, 9th Earl of Eglinton. Poet and writer Thomas D'Urfey dedicated his pastoral comedy The Gentle Shepherd (1725) to Susanna and presented her with the original manuscript. It was said that when she and her daughters were in Edinburgh the caddies at the Cross were dumbfounded by their beauty as they stepped from their Sedan chairs. Lady Susan (sometimes called Susanna), the third daughter, married John Renton of Lamberton. Lady Susanna, married to John Renton of Lamberton in the summer of 1739, had two daughters, and died at Blackadder 27th July 1754. She was the grandmother of Scottish antiquary and artist Charles Kirkpatrick-Sharpe (1781?–1851) (see "C. K. Sharpe Esq. Favourite").
David Young called the tune "Jock and Tam" when he included it in his MacFarlane Manuscript (c. 1741, p. 220). The melody (in three parts) was published by dancing master Daniel Wright in his An Extraordinary Collection of Pleasant and merry Humour's never before Published, Containing Hornpipes, Jiggs, North Cuntry Frisks', Morris's, Bagpipe Hornpipe's, & Round's with Severall Additonal fancis added. fit for all those that play Publick (London, c. 1715) as "Three Case Knives."