Longways for three, five, seven or nine couples; in three parts (1st Ed., 1650).
| MUSIC | MOVEMENTS | |
| First Part. | ||
| A | 1–2 | All lead up a double. |
| 3–4 | Still facing up, men go four slips to their right behind their partners; while the women go four slips to their left. | |
| 5–8 | The men face the right wall and join hands, while the women face the left wall and do likewise. The first man, followed by the other men, casts down to the bottom of the Set and stands with the rest of the men on his right hand, all facing the Presence; while the women, in like manner, led by first women, cast down and stand in line with the men, first woman next to first man. | |
| B | 1–4 | All take hands, move up a double and fall back a double. |
| 5–8 | First man and first woman, having released their hands, the women, hand-in-hand, move to the right in front of the men and dance up to places; while the men move to the left and do the same. | |
| Second Part. | ||
| (Duple minor-set.) | ||
| A | 1–4 | First man and first woman lead up a double, change hands, and lead back to places. |
| 5–6 | First and second couples hands-four half-way round (r.s). | |
| 7–8 | First man and second woman change places. | |
| B | 1–4 | First and second women lead up to the top, cross over and stand, the first woman behind the second man, the second woman behind first man. |
| 5–8 | The two men, giving right hands, pass each other, and then turn their partners with left hands, the first couple falling into the second place, the second couple into the first place (progressive) (r.s.). | |
| Third Part. | ||
| (Progressive.) | ||
| A | 1–4 | First man and first woman cross over, cast down and cross again in the second place, the second couple moving up to the top. |
| 5–6 | The first three men taking hands, and the first three women doing the same, all fall back a double. | |
| 7–8 | The two files move forward a double, second and third men changing places with their partners, passing by the right. | |
| B | 1–4 | First man and first woman lead up to the top and then, followed by the second couple, cast down into third place, second couple falling into the second place and third couple moving up into the first place. |
| 5–8 | Second and third couples hands-four half-way round; while first man and first woman arm with the right (progressive). | |
| When three couples only are dancing, the progressive movement is that of an ordinary Whole-set dance. When, however five, seven, or nine couples are dancing, the progressive movement is that of a triple minor-set with this difference that the leading couples gain two places in each round instead of one. In this latter case, couples going up the dance should be careful to note at the beginning of each round to which minor-set they belong and their place in that set. This they can most easily do by carefully noting the positions and movements of the leading couples. It should be noted that the restriction with regard to the number of performers is operative in the Third Part only. | ||
| N.B. — It is sugggested that the dance be concluded with a repetition of the First Part. |
Note: This text is from a later edition. In the first edition the second part B 5-8 was flagged (sk.s.) instead of the later (r.s.). In the third part the end of the A part (fall back, come forward and cross over) was reversed, originally reading:-
5-6 The first three men taking hands, the first three women doing the same, all move forward a double, first man and first woman meeting, second and third men crossing with their partners.
7-8 The two files fall back a double.
Also the note at the end about concluding the dance with a repeat of the first part was not present in the first edition.
In a copy once owned by Susannah Sharp (Cecil Sharp's youngest daughter) there is a handwritten note against the first part's A 3-4 (the slip across to face out) that swaps behind and in front and says the men go in front of their partners. This is (I presume) because EFDS convention was to lead up right-hand in right which more-or-less forces the men to go rudely in front of their partners despite both Playford and Cecil Sharp explicitly saying the women should go in front.
She also has a note "left hands" against the second part B 1-4 — the women leading up, crossing — which implies my "there is a Round theory" below is saying the Round has a longer institutional memory than the EFDSS.
Round (and EFDSS) convention is to do this as a three couple set, with Part One twice as an introduction, Part Two as a progressive duple-minor figure until everyone is back to where they started (six times), Part Three three times, and then Part One once on the end as a finale. Sometimes we vary the finale so that instead of the line of six breaking and leading home we lead up a double again and then (in line-of-six) honour the Presence.
The last figure is basically top couple cross, cast, cross into the middle of the line; lines fall back and come forward and the ends cross. Middle (leading) couple lead up to the top and cast, the rest following to invert the set; circle four half-way at the top to become proper while the ones arm right at the bottom.
Twiddly bits: In Part Two the women are basically doing a half-figure-eight up between the men; there is a Round theory that they give left hands and the leading woman goes first, sort of backing up and flinging the other one in the right direction. In the last figure it flows very nicely if, when the lines come forward and the ends cross, the top couple then casts down to middle place as the leading couple moves back up to the top; if the third couple are feeling left out while this is going on they can cast down into an imaginary fourth place before joining in the leading up to the top to invert the set. Some callers will call this as “lines come forward and ends cross and cast down (middle couple moving up to the top)… invert the set: ones cast to the bottom and arm right, the others circle four half way to become proper”.
Remember that the twiddly bits are spurious extra complexity, and don’t insist on confused dancers doing them.
Page transcribed by Hugh Stewart