I'm confused by the 3/9 time reference.

The data coding in the page Malcolm links to above gives 3/9 as the time sig. in Playford's 9th, 10th, and 11th editions, changing to 9/4 in the listing for the 12th. There is one facsimile image representing all editions, and I don't see where the information is which identifies its source. Which edition does this image come from? I use Jeremy Barlow's book as my standard Playford reference, and he gives the 9th edition version as 9/4 throughout, noting the variations in later editions.

Are we sure the 3/9 notation isn't a typo by the indexers of the on-line database? Malcolm was adamant in reaffirming it. But a ninth note simply doesn't exist in my lexicon. It would be shorter than an eighth note (a quaver in English terminology), and there would be only three of them to the bar. It looks to me like the old-fashioned time sig. of 3 (with no denominator) would indicate 3 dotted half-notes, or dotted minims.

I remain -

Confused in Schenectady