"The Shaking of the Sheets", also known as "The Dance of Death" and "The Nightpiece" is an English country dance tune in 6/4 time and D Major. The melody and country dance directions were published by John Playford in his English Dancing Master (1651) first edition and retained in the long-running series with this title through the third editions of 1657 and 1665. In the fourth (1670) and fifth (1675) editions "Shaking of the Sheets" was added as an alternate title and in the sixth (1679), seventh (1686), and eighth (1690) editions "The Shaking of the Sheets" took primary place, with "The Night Piece" relegated to alternate title status. It was printed in Sharp's Country Dance Tunes (1909), Raven's English Country Dance Tunes (1984), Barlow's The Complete Country Dance Tunes (1985) and Barnes's English Country Dance Tunes (1986).