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by Anonymous / Unidentified Author

To couple is a custom
Language: English 
To couple is a custom:
All things thereto agree.
Why should not I then love,
Since love to all is free?

But I'll have one that's pretty,
Her cheeks of scarlet dye,
For to breed my delight
When that I lig her by.

Tho' virtue be a dowry,
Yet I'll chuse money store:
If my love prove untrue,
With that I can get more.

The fair is oft unconstant,
The black is often proud,
I'll chuse a lovely brown:
Come fiddler scrape thy crowd.

Come fiddler scrape thy crowd,
For Peggy the brown is she;
She must be my bride;
God guide that Peggy and I agree.

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 William Walton (1902 - 1983), "To couple is a custom", 1959 [voice and guitar], from Anon. in Love, no. 6. [
     text verified 1 time
    ]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 107

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