by John Gay (1685 - 1732)
A fox may steal your hens, sir
Language: English
A fox may steal your hens, sir, A whore your health and pence, sir, Your daughter may rob your chest, sir, Your wife may steal your rest, sir, A thief your goods and plate. But this is all but picking, With rest, pence, chest, and chicken; It ever was decreed, sir, If Lawyer's hand is fee'd, sir, He steals your whole estate.
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Text Authorship:
- by John Gay (1685 - 1732), no title, Air XI from The Beggar's Opera, first published 1728 [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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "A fox may steal your hens, sir", 2005 [ tenor and piano ], from Three Airs from the Beggar's Opera, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2007-05-01
Line count: 10
Word count: 62