_Joan Sanderson, or the Cushion Dance_ (Vol. ii., p. 517.).--Your
correspondent MAC asks for the "correct date" of the _Cushion Dance_.
Searching out the history and origin of an old custom or ballad is like
endeavouring to ascertain the source and flight of December's snow. I am
afraid MAC will not obtain what he now wishes for.
The _earliest_ mention, that I have noticed, of this popular old dance
occurs in Heywood's play, _A Woman kill'd with Kindness_, 1600. Nicholas,
one of the characters, says:
"I have, ere now, deserved a cushion: call for the _Cushion Dance_."
The musical notes are preserved in _The English Dancing Master_, 1686; in
_The Harmonicon_, a musical journal; in Davies Gilbert's _Christmas Carols_
(2nd edition); and in Chappell's _National English Melodies_. In the
first-named work it is called "Joan Sanderson, or the Cushion Dance, an old
Round Dance."
In a curious collection of old songs and tunes, _Neder-Landtsche
Gedenck-clank door Adrianum Valerium_, printed at Haerlem in 1626, is
preserved a tune called "Sweet Margaret," which, upon examination, proves
to be the same as the _Cushion Dance_. This favourite dance was well known
in Holland in the early part of the seventeenth century, and an interesting
engraving of it may be seen in the _Emblems_ of John de Brunnes, printed at
Amsterdam in 1624.
The last-named work (a copy of the edition of 1661 of which is now before
me) is exceedingly curious to the lovers of our popular sports and
pastimes. The engravings are by William Pass, C. Blon, &c., and among them
are representations of Kiss in the Ring, the game of Forfeits, rolling
Snow-balls, the Interior of a Barber's Shop, with citherns and lutes
hanging against the wall, for the use of the customers, &c.