Anonymous: Collected Lyrics
20 / 26
Public-domain lyrics

The Beggar Girl

Anonymous

“The Beggar Girl” as printed in A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853).

Anonymous: Collected Lyrics Text 20 1853 · historical text
Public domainHymnSacred song
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from A First Series of Hymns and Songs, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

Over the mountains and over the moor,

Hungry and thirsty, I wander forlorn;

My father is dead and my mother is poor,

And she grieves for the days that will never return.

Pity, kind gentle folk, friends of humanity,

Cold blows the wind and the night's coming on;

Give me some food for my mother in charity,

Give me some food, and I then will be gone.

Verse 2

Call me not lazy bones, beggar, and bold enough,

Fain would I learn both to knit and to sew;

I've two little brothers at home, when they're old enough

They will work hard for the gifts you bestow.

Pity, kind gentlefolk, &c.

Verse 3

Think while you revel so careless and free,

And are safe from the wind, and well clothed and fed,

Should fortune so change it, how hard it would be

To beg at a door for a morsel of bread.

Pity, kind gentlefolk, &c.

Credits

Written by Anonymous

Words by Anonymous. Historical text published in A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853), “The Beggar Girl”

Every text in this 1853 collection is by Henry Formby (1816-1884), who died more than 140 years ago, so the text is in the public domain worldwide; the edition carries a Wikisource PD-old determination.

How to read this historical text and its source

Read the source on Wikisource

View copyright evidence · Transcription terms (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Retrieved 2026-10-26. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
Keep tracing

More from Anonymous: Collected Lyrics.

01Auld Rob Morris 1Public-domain lyrics02Comin' thro' the rye 1Public-domain lyrics03Comin' thro' the rye 2Public-domain lyrics04Ettrick BanksPublic-domain lyrics