Ballad-opera with words by John Gay and music realized from the original airs by Benjamin Britten. Full score, mostly in pencil, mostly autograph (apart from ff. 124-128v and ff. 139-140v which are in black ink, in the hand of Arthur Oldham, Britten's pupil and assistant).
Adhered to the inside front cover of the volume, a single sheet of 'Special Notes' (f. i, notes numbered i-v) by Rosamund Strode (Aldeburgh, May 1979). The notes refer to: previous page numbering of the manuscript (still evident); to differences between the manuscript and the published score in the numbering of songs; and to missing folios. British Library foliation of the volume (upper right corner of each recto) is continuous and does not take into account the missing folios referred to in the 'Special Notes'.
Missing folios:
- 3 folios are missing following f. 92v comprising Song 30 ('When you censure the age') and the opening 24 bars of Song 31 ('Is then his fate decreed, Sir?'). There is a note in pencil to this effect at the head of f. 93.
- 2 folios (referred to by Strode as 'three sides') are missing following f. 150 comprising Song 44 ('A curse attends a woman's love').
The volume comprises:
- Title page (f. 1).
- 'Overture' (ff. 2-14v), in blue ink.
- Act I (ff. 15-84v).
- Act II (ff. 85-115).
- Act III (ff. 116-189v).