by Oliver Goldsmith (1730 - 1774)
Good people all, of every sort
Language: English
Good people all, of every sort, Give ear unto my song, And if you find it wondrous short, It cannot hold you long. In Islington there was a man, Of whom the world might say, That still a godly race he ran, Whene'er he went to pray. A kind and gentle heart he had, To comfort friends and foes; The naked every day he clad, When he put on his clothes. And in that town a dog was found, As many dogs there be, Both mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound, And curs of low degree. This dog and man at first were friends; But when a pique began, The dog, to gain [some]1 private ends, Went mad, and bit the man. Around from all the neighboring streets The wond'ring neighbors ran, And swore the dog had lost his wits, To bite so good a man. The wound it seem'd both sore and sad To every Christian eye; And while they swore the dog was mad, They swore the man would die. But soon a wonder came to light, That show'd the rogues they lied: The man recover'd of the bite -- The dog it was that died.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith: The Globe Edition, ed. by David Masson, London: MacMillan and Co., 1923. Appears in Miscellaneous Poems, pages 681 - 682.
1 Bachlund: "his"Authorship:
- by Oliver Goldsmith (1730 - 1774), "Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "An elegy on the death of a mad dog", 2007 [ bass-baritone and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, Sir (1848 - 1918), "The mad dog", 1910 [ ATB chorus a cappella ], from Seven Part Songs for Male-Voice Choir, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Melanie Trumbull
This text was added to the website: 2008-02-12
Line count: 32
Word count: 196