Hi John, Interesting that the extract gives you that impression. Having read the whole document I didn't infer that. I tried to isolate the particular part that led me to feel that way, but failed. I think you may need to set aside quarter of an hour and read the whole thing which is in essence a plea to the Duke to use his influence to preserve the Northumbrian culture which he felt to be precious and distinct and endangered, as he (Doubleday) didn't have the clout to do it himself.
http://www.archive.org/details/alettertodukeno00doubgoog Tim On 17 Dec 2010, at 19:55, John Dally wrote: > Mr. Doubleday takes great pains to prove his sophistication. Even > allowing for how the sense of some of the words used have changed > since he wrote them, it appears that Doubleday was not enthusiastic > about the NSP or NSPipers in general. So, are we to trust his > judgement overall? On the one hand we have a tradition with > "sentimental" waltzes and airs, most of which post-date Doubleday, > Jack Armstrong's sort of thing. On the other hand, it's difficult to > agree with him about "delicacy of expression", keys, or "sentimental > airs" after listening to Chris Ormston's recording of "The Blackbird" > on SPIRIT OF THE BORDER CD, to name but one example. > > I would like to know more about the cultural context of the document. > What prompted Doubleday to write this? -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
