Annotation:In My Cottage Near the Wood
IN MY COTTAGE NEAR THE/A WOOD. AKA and see "Cheat (The)," "Coquette (3)," "Charles of Sweden," "Cheat or Swing," "Glorious First of August," "Frisky Jenny," "Pretty Polly (5)," "Tenth of June (The)," "Twenty-First of August," "Weavers' March (The)." English, Country Dance Tune (4/4 time). England, Shropshire. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. Kidson (1915) says the tune is that of an old French song and that the English title is a literal translation of the French title (see note for "Cheat (The)"). The tune appears in several musicians' manuscript collections and publications from the early 19th century, including the music manuscript collections of John Moore (Shropshire), William Killey (Jurby, Isle of Man), Rev. R. Harrison (Cumbria), the Browne collection (Lake District), Thomas "Blind" Kernan (1844, County Longford), and, in America, in the John Beach ms. (Glocester, Mass., 1801-1825). It also was printed in Paff's Gentleman's Amusement No. 1 (New York, 1812), Ball's Gentleman's Amusement Book 3 (London, 1815), and Riley's Flute Melodies, vol. 2 (New York, 1817).
Classical composer Matthias Holst published his "In my cottage near a wood, or, J'aime mieux m'amie : a celebrated French air, with variations, for the piano forte or harp" early in the 19th century. E. Cobham Brewer (Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1894) remarked:
I once heard a man with a clarionet play the first half of “In my cottage near a wood” for more" than an hour, without cessation or change. It was in a crowded market-place, and the annoyance became at last so unbearable that he collected a rich harvest to move on.
