Roger de Coverley

Roger de Coverley

Roger de (or of) Coverley (also Sir Roger de Coverley or ...Coverly) is the name of an English Country Dance and a Scottish Country Dance (also known as "The Haymakers"). An early version was published in The Dancing Master, 9th edition (1695) [http://www.izaak.unh.edu/nhltmd/indexes/dancingmaster/Dance/Play4186.htm] . The dance is probably related to the Virginia Reel. The name refers to a fox, and the dance's steps are reminiscent of a hunted fox going in and out of cover.

It is mentioned in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (1843) when the Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge a party from his apprenticeship with Mr. Fezziwig. "...the great effect of the evening came after the Roast and Boiled, when the fiddler ... struck up 'Sir Roger de Coverley'. Then old Fezziwig stood out to dance with Mrs. Fezziwig."

The dance plays a part in the Dorothy Sayers short story "The Queen's Square", and is mentioned in Washington Irving's "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon".

It is also mentioned in D. H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers (1913), where Gertrude Morel is reported never to have learned the dance.

The tune was used by Frank Bridge in 1922 as the basis of a work for strings titled "Sir Roger de Coverly (A Christmas Dance)". H. E. Bates used the name "Sir Roger" to refer to a real hunted fox in the novel "Love for Lydia".

Sir Roger de Coverley was also the name of a character in The Spectator (1711). An English squire of Queen Anne's reign, Sir Roger exemplified the values of an old country gentleman, and was portrayed as lovable but somewhat ridiculous ('rather beloved than esteemed' (Spectator no. 2)), making his Tory politics seem harmless but silly. He was said to be the grandson of the man who invented the dance.

A silent but fearsome-visaged character named Major —— de Coverly appears in Joseph Heller's novel "Catch-22". The absence of the name may be related to the practice of calling Roger de Coverely simply ...Coverley".

External links

* The annotated [http://www.webfeet.org/eceilidh/dances/sir-roger-de-coverley.html Sir Roger de Coverley]
* [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=musdi&fileName=168/musdi168.db&recNum=124 "The Complete System of Sir Roger De Coverley] at the Library of Congress Dance Instruction Manual collection
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Look at other dictionaries:

  • roger de coverley — or roger of coverley Etymology: roger de coverley alteration (influenced by Sir Roger de Coverley, fictitious country gentleman appearing in many numbers of the daily periodical The Spectator conducted 1711 12 in England, from roger of coverley)… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Roger de Coverley — the name of an old English country dance. In early issues of The Spectator(2) magazine, Richard Steele and Joseph Addison wrote under the name ‘Roger de Coverley’, presenting him as a typical English country gentleman. * * * …   Universalium

  • Roger de Coverley — noun → Sir Roger de Coverley …  

  • roger of coverley — see roger de coverley …   Useful english dictionary

  • sir roger de coverley — ˌräjə(r)də̇ˈkəvə(r)lē noun or sir roger Usage: usually capitalized S&R&C Etymology: sir roger de coverley alteration (influenced by Sir Roger de Coverley, fictitious country gentleman appearing in many of the Spectator papers by Joseph Addison… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Sir Roger de Coverley — noun Etymology: alteration of roger of coverley, probably from Roger, male given name + of + Coverley, a fictitious place name Date: 1804 an English country dance that resembles the Virginia reel …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Sir Roger de Coverley — /ˈkʌvəli/ (say kuvuhlee) noun an English country dance performed by two facing rows of dancers. Also, Roger de Coverley. {from the name of a character in Addison and Steele s The Spectator (1711–14) …  

  • Sir Roger de Coverley — an English country dance performed by two rows of dancers facing each other. [1680 90; earlier Roger of Coverly, appar. a fictional name] * * * …   Universalium

  • Coverley — Recorded in many spellings including Coverley, Coverly, Coverlyn, Coveley, Covely, Covley, Covly, and no doubt others, this an English medieval surname. Famous for many years because of the now sadly forgotten dance known as the Sir Roger de… …   Surnames reference

  • Coverley — /kuv euhr lee/, n. Sir Roger de, a literary figure representing the ideal of the early 18th century squire in The Spectator, by Addison and Steele. * * * …   Universalium

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