Thursday 1 March 2012
Tune of the Day: The Bill of Rights
Traditional English country dance
This English jig was originally published in Charles and Samuel Thompson’s Compleat Collection, vol. 3, appeared in London in 1773. The title refers not to the American Bill of Rights (which, of course, the tune predated) but to the English Bill of Rights, passed by Parliament in 1689 when they invited William and Mary to the throne of England. It enumerates, among other important points, governance under a constitutional monarchy.