The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #19477   Message #198949
Posted By: Lesley N.
21-Mar-00 - 07:27 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
An addition to Bruce's reference. Dargason/Sedany was put to the words, "The Hawthorn Tree" which is in Ritson's Ancient Songs under Class IV, (from Edward VI to Elizabeth) as A Mery Ballet of the Hathorne Tre, to be sung to the tune of Donkin Dargeson.

One Hundred Songs of England says Dargeson may be a reference to an "old piece played by the Children of the Revels at Blackfriars in 1606 entitled "The Isle of Gulls." The couplet it gives from "Isle" has a reference to a place named Dargison. There is also mention that "Gifford speaks of some child's book of knight-errantry in which a dwarf named Darison,who served as a page to the hero in her adventures." I don't know who or when Gifford is, it's not clear.

100 Songs also says the tune in the book for the Hawthorn Tree was taken from The Dancing Master (1650-51), where it is called Dargason, or the Sedany (the Sedany being a country dance). The similarity to IWW is, indeed, unmistakable.