The New International Encyclopædia/Coverly, Sir Roger de

COVERLY, kŭv′ẽr-lĭ, Sir Roger de. An old English dance, so called from the tune used during its performance. Neither the author of the tune nor the date of its composition is known, but the editor of the Skene MS. claims the tune as Scotch, on the authority of a MS. dated 1706, and says that north of the Tweed it is known as the “Mautman comes on Monday.” The tune is variously called “Old Roger of Coverly for evermore, a Lancashire Hornpipe;” “Roger of Coverly;” “Roger a Coverly,” in Gay's opera Polly; “Roger de Coverly,” in Robin Hood; and “Sir Roger de Coverly,” in Fielding's Tom Jones. A song, “O Brave Roger de Coverly,” is contained in Pills to Purge Melancholy. The dance is an old-fashioned country-dance (or contredanse), and is known in the United States as the “Virginia reel.” Addison took the name for his Sir Roger de Coverley in the Spectator.