Playford's Dancing Master 1651-1703
Interpreted by Pat Shaw in 1965.
Proper duple minor dance.
Recordings: holborn_march--023b.mp3.zip
holborn_march-psp01.mp3.zip

A1       1st Co set, cast below 2nd Co (who move up), 
         and all turn partner once round with two hands;
A2       2nd Co ditto:
B   1-8  Right hands across and left hands back; (stars)
    9-16 1st Co cross, cast and l/2 fig. up through
         2nd Co, who move up on last four beats

possibly also called Princess Amelia
Longways for as many as will.

Al 1-4 1st couple set, then cast down one place, 2nd couple moving up.
   5-8 All turn partners two-hands once around.
A2 1-8 Repeat Al, 2nd couple casting and 1st couple moving up.
B  1-8 1st and 2nd couples right hands-across and left back.
C  1-4 1st couple cross and move down outside to second place, 2nd couple moving up
   5-8 1st couple half figure-eight up through 2nd couple.

play Holborn_March_psp01.mp3
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG4iDSELpLo

HOLBORN MARCH
High Holborn is a main thoroughfare of London, the old road leading from Newgate Prison and the Tower, through the borough of Holborn to the gallows at Tyburn.

“The gallows, first a tree, then a gibbet, was finally replaced by an iron triangle for multiple executions. From the Tower or Newgate, the condemned were drawn through the streets on hurdles to be hanged (and sometimes drawn and quartered too) before the great crowds who gathered to hear the last words, see the spectacle and enjoy the side shows. Popular victims were toasted in gin or beer as they passed.”

The music of “Holborn March” consists of the same musical phrase repeated three times and might well have been played by a military band of musick or even the lone fifer depicted here, as they marched through the streets.

Tt is curious that the same dance and the same music appeared in 1731 entitled “Princess Amelia,” in reference to a daughter of George IL