W. R. M.
John Sanderson, or the Cushion-dance (Vol. ii., p. 517.).—Though I am unable to answer your correspondent Mac's inquiry as to the antiquity of this dance, it may interest him as well as others of the readers of "Notes and Queries" to know, that when Walpole made up his mind to abandon his Excise bill (which met with a still fiercer opposition out of doors than in the House of Commons), he signified his intention to a party of his adherents at the supper-table, by quoting the first line of the accompanying song:—
"This dance it will no further go!"[[7]]
This, at least, shows the popularity of this dance in the reign of George II.
H. C.
Workington.
Footnote 7:[(return)]
This occurred in the year 1733.
George Steevens and William Stevens (Vol. iii, p. 230.).—The late Sir J. A. Park wrote Memoirs of William Stevens, the Treasurer of Queen Anne's Bounty, and the biographer of Jones of Nayland. As little resemblance must have existed between this gentleman and "the Puck of commentators," George Steevens, as between the two Harveys:
"The one invented Sauce for Fish