Who Fears To Speak Of The 98
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
Who Fears To Speak Of The 98 A thirty-two bar Reel for four couples in a circle round the room. First and third couples facing clockwise and second and fourth couples facing anticlockwise, each man with his partner on his right; first and fourth couples are on the left of each line, third and second couples on the right of each line., devised by John W Mitchell, Published in Whetherly Book 8.1- 4 The four dancers in the middle (first lady, second man, fourth lady and third man) dance right hands across in a wheel to finish in their partners' places. Meanwhile first man and third lady cast behind their partners' places to dance back to back and finish in their partners' places; second lady and fourth man do the same.
5- 8 First man, second lady, fourth man and third lady dance right hands across in a wheel to finish in their original places. At the same time, first lady and third man cast to dance back to back and finish in their original places, second man and fourth lady do the same.
9-10 All join hands with partner then with four slip steps first and third couples change places (first passing behind third) and second and fourth couples change places (fourth passing behind second).
11-12 All set.
13-14 All slip back to original places (third couple behind first and second couple behind fourth).
15-16 All set.
17-32 First and fourth couples (diagonally opposite) dance a ladies' chain; half rights and lefts; then change places with partner left hand and set. Meanwhile, second and third couples set, dance a men's chain; half rights and lefts and change places with partner giving left hand. First and third couples finish facing clockwise and second and fourth anticlockwise, all facing new opposite couples from the opposite end of the line. Repeat from new places. Recommended tune: Who Fears to Speak of the 98 Editor's note to the 2021 edition The original instructions stated a ladies' chain for second and third couple in bars 17-32. This would be an impractically long way for the ladies on the diagonal, such that we suggest a men's chain would be more appropriate and achieve the same effect.
(Dance crib reproduced from The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell)
Keith Rose's Crib Diagram
Published in The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances Number 8, by John W Mitchell, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell; instructions reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-ND 4.0).
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