The melody dates to 1657 when it was published by Playford in The English Dancing Master, third edition (1657). It was subsequently published in each edition through the 18th and final edition of 1728. London publisher John Walsh also printed it in his The Compleat Country Dancing Master of 1718, 1731 and 1754. The Hertforshire Hunsdon House is much older, having begun as a brick tower in 1447 by Sir William Oldhall. King Henry VIII purchased Hunsdon House in 1525 and for the next decade greatly expanded the structure into a Tudor house of palatial proportions. Henry's children Edward, Princess Mary and Elizabeth resided in the home. It is said that Mary taught her younger sister Elizabeth how to play cards at Hunsdon House. When Mary became Queen she presented the house and the Lordship of Hunsdon to her maternal cousin Henry Carey in 1559, but it went into decline into the next century. It was also printed in Karpeles & Schofield's A Selection of 100 English Folk Dance Airs (1951). It was recorded on The English Country Dancing Master, vol 2 by The Telemann Society.