It was not played by "the common folk". It was a drawing room instrument for the gentry, mainly used for weedy arrangements of song and dance tunes that had a lot more guts played on the recorder, flute or violin.

I have some ABC versions on my website of some 18th century guitar arrangements by Robert Bremner (the Bert Weedon of the 1750s). Rob MacKillop has tried to get people interested in them, but not with much success.