From 1651, the London printer John Playford started the publication of songbooks containing melodies to accompany the most popular choreographic display in the British Isles, the country dance. He gave these books the generic title of 'The

English dancing master'.The diabolical jigs and other more melancholy songs evoque the Royal Court as well as that of the urban taverns, proving once again that the Baroque aesthetics included in its wide folds both the learned and the popular arts.