From Songs of Irish Rebellion: Political Street Ballads and Rebel Songs, 1780-1900 by Georges Denis Zimmermann (Hatboro, Pa., Folklore Associates, 1967), page 257:


THE GENERAL FOX CHASE (1862)

1. I am a bold undaunted fox that never was before on tramp,
My rent and taxes I was always willing for to pay;
I lived as happy as King Saul and loved my neighbours great and small,
And had no animosity for either friend or foe.
I made my den in prime good land between Tipperary and Knocklong,
Where my forefathers lived for three thousand years or more,
But now of late I was betrayed by one that was a fool and knave,
He told me I should quit the place and show my face no more.

2. As soon as he ejected me, I thought 'twas time that I should flee,
I stole away his ducks and geese, and murdered all his drakes,
I knew I could no longer stand because he had the hounds at hand,
So I tightened up my garters, and then I was away;
But soon there was a great look out by land and sea to make me out,
From Dublin quay to Belfast town, along the raging sea.
By telegraph they did me insert, a great reward for my arrest,
My figure, size, and form, and my name without a doubt.

3. They broke their brogues, some thousand pairs, this reward for to obtain,
But still there was no tidings of me or my retreat.
They searched Tipperary over, the cornfields and Galtymore,
They went along by Wexford but there did not delay;
Through Ballyhale and Stranmore they searched the woods as they went on,
Till they were hungry and cold at the approach of day.
Now, search the world far and near, the like before you did not hear,
A fox to get away so clear as I did from the hounds.

4. They searched the rocks, the gulfs and bays, the ships and liners at the quays,
The ferry-boats and steamers as they were going to sea;
Around the coast they took a steer from Poolbeg lighthouse to Cape Clear,
Killarney town, and sweet Tralee, and then crossed into Clare.
When they landed on the shore they searched Kilrush from top to toe,
The bathing places in Milltown or otherwise Malbay,
And Galway being a place of fame they thought 'twas there I was concealed,
But still their search was all in vain, for I gave them leg bail.

5. They searched the train in Oranmore as she was starting to Arklow,
And every waggon, car, and coach, that went along the road.
Connemara being remote they thought to that place I might resort.
When they were getting weary they resolved to try Mayo.
In Ballinrobe they had to rest until the hounds were quite refreshed,
From thence they went to Westport and searched it high and low.
Through Castlebar they took a trot, they heard I was in Castlerock,
But still they were deluded where I lodged the night before.

6. In Swinford town, as I sat down, I heard a dreadful cry of of horses,
So I took another notion to retaliate my chase;
I being weary from the road I took a dram at half past four,
I was then renovated whilst the hounds were getting weak;
The night being dark at Castlebar I knew not how to make my way,
I had neither den nor manger to shield me from the cold,
And the moon began to rise; I said I'd make for a foreign clime.
I am in the land of liberty, so a fig for all my foes.