Popular Music Of The Olden Time Vol 1

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	78	ENGLISH SONG AND BALLAD MUSIC.
	usual in England, formerly, to make dances out of such song and ballad tunes as were of a sufficiently cheerful character, that nearly every air in the first edition of The Dancing Master, 1650-51, can be proved to be that of a song or " ballet" of earlier date than the book. It has for that reason been so -valuable an aid in the present collection. About 1690, tunes composed expressly for dancing were becoming more general, and in the editions of The Dancing Master from 1715 to 1728, the song and the .dance tunes are nearly equally divided.



	We care not for those martial men That do our states disdain ; But we care for the merchantmen Who do our states maintain. To them we dance this round, around, around, To them we dance this round ; And he that is a bully [jolly] boy, Come pledge me on the ground, aground, aground.