Annotation:Touchstone (The)

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X:21 T:Touchstone. THO4.021, The A:England; London O: M:2/4 L:1/8 Z:vmp. Peter Dunk 2010/11.from a transcription by Fynn Titford-Mock 2007 B:Thompson's Compleat Coll. of 200 Favourite Country Dances Vol.IV. 1773-80 Q:1/4=100 K:D dfdf|(g/f/e/d/) (d/c/B/A/)|dfdf|aa a2|\ dfdf|(g/f/e/d/) (d/c/B/A/)|Bgec|d2-d2:| |:{cd}ed"_orig.e.c#."fd|geaf|B2 cd|(c/d/c/B/) A2 ecfd|\ geaf|Bb (a/g/f/e/)|d2-d2:|

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Touchstone, played by Mr. King at Drury Lane Theatre, 1775.

TOUCHSTONE, THE. English, Country Dance Tune (4/4 or cut time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. From ancient times the purity of gold or silver was tested with a “touchstone” of basalt stone. Touchstone is also a character in Shakespeare's play As You Like It. When it was staged at Drury Lane Theatre in 1775, Touchstone was famously played by Mr. King. Thomas King (1730–1805) was an English actor, known also as a theatre manager and dramatist. On his reappearance at Drury Lane he was accompanied by Mary Baker, a hornpipe dancer (see "Miss Baker's Hornpipe (1)"), who then made her first appearance at Drury Lane. He married her in 1766, and she retired from the stage 9 May 1772.

The country dance title has the article 'the' as the first word, suggesting it does not refer to the Shakespearean character, however. A more likely stage association with the country dance is composer Charles Dibdin's (1745-1814) operatic pantomime The Touchstone; or, Harlequin Traveller (1779). "The Touchstone" country dance was printed in London by Longman, Lukey and Broderip in their Bride's Favourite Collection of 200 Select Country Dances, Cotillons (1776, Part 3, p. 93) and by Charles & Samuel Thompson in their Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances vol. IV (1780, p. 9). Conveniently, Charles and Samuel Thompson published Dibdin's The Touchstone in 1779. Raven indicates it was published before 1730, although by what authority in not known, and the assertion is doubtful. Johnson (1988) prints a contra dance to the tune.

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