| sym | text | description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| --- special text symbols --- | |||
 | the | Old spelling of "the" | |
 | then | Old spelling of "then" | |
 | their | Old spelling of "their" | |
  | f s | This collection uses the old "long s" character, which survives today only as the integral symbol in math. Note that the little horizonal line in 'f' crosses the vertical line; in the long s, the horizontal is only to the left of the vertical line (or missing entirely). The poor quality of some of the printing means that you may have to determine from context which was intended. | |
| --- phrasing symbols --- | |||
| sym | text | description | |
 | | |
These symbols are used to mark phrase endings in the dance descriptions.
They are used so inconsistently that about all you can say is that they
all mark the end of a dance phrase, which usually but not always is the
same as the end of a musical "strain".
The transcription scheme is basically to rotate the symbol a quarter turn anti-clockwise, and then use '.', ':' and '|' to roughly match the symbol. Sometimes three dots are used above or below the line(s), either in a straight line or triangle, and '.:' or ':.' is then used. But none of these details really mean much, due to the inconsistencies in how these symbols are used. |
|
 | |. | ||
 | |: | ||
 | ||: | ||
 | | | ||
 | .| | ||
 | .|: | ||
 | .|. | ||
 | .|: | ||
 | .|. | ||
 | :| | ||
 | :|. | ||
 | :|| | ||
 | :||. | ||
 | :||: | ||