Annotation:Scheme (The)
X: 1 T:Star at Lewis (Lewes?) or... JW6.194 O:England;London T:Scheme. JW6.194, The M:6/4 L:1/4 Z:vmp.Peter Dunk.2011.from a transcription by Paul Dennant S:John Walsh Jr. The Compleat Country Dancing Master.Vol 6 1756 Q:3/4=100 K:C AFF F2 A|BGG G2 c|fed cdB|AFF F3:| a f/g/ a F2 e|g e/f/ g E2 e|fef dgf|ecc c3| dBd g/a/ bB|cAc f/g/ aA|BAB GcB|AFF F3|]
SCHEME, THE. AKA and see “Irish Lilt (3) (An),” "Star (2) (The),” “Star at Lewis,” "Star at Liwis." English, Scottish; Jig (6/8 time). England, Northumberland. F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune, which incorporates in the second strain familiar strains from the well known double jig "Top of Cork Road (1) (The)," appears in Walsh's Caledonian Country Dances (p. 59) of c. 1730, and in Walsh's later publication The Compleat Country Dancing-Master. Volume the Sixth (c. 1754, p. 194), albeit in the latter collection the primary title is "Star at Lewis" with "The Scheme" listed as the alternate title. London music publisher John Johnson printed the tune as "Star (2) (The)" in his Choice Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 3 (1744, p. 12), and music publishers David Rutherford and the Thompson's follow suit in their later country dance compendiums. At the end of the 18th century it was published by James Aird in Glasgow as "Irish Lilt (3) (An)."
The jig also can be found in the 1770 music manuscript collection of Northumbrian musician William Vickers (about whom, unfortunately, nothing is known). Vickers gives the title as “Scheame, or, the star.”
