Why, he’s a fribbling sneaksby! He’s a bed-swerving fop-doddle! I concur, such a
baffle-gabbing word-grubbing snout band! My, what a rake-fire, a roiderbanks, a
tip-taking gillie-wet-foot! A clack-box: all hat and no cattle!

A gentleman of no honour, whose words are more copious than his coins, and whose thoughts are emptier than his purse, but who believes himself important and a charmer.

Text Authorship:

• by Anonymous / Unidentified Author [author's text not yet checked 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 Janet Oates (b. 1970), "An unnecessary letter of a gentleman", 2019 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from !, no. 5
      Score: Janet Oates [external link]  [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2026-08-23
Line count: 3
Word count: 33