Bold Reynard ("A Good Many Gentlemen")

DESCRIPTION: "A good many gentlemen take great delight in hunting bold Reynard, the fox, for he... lives upon fat geese and ducks." The hunters give chase, and catch and kill the fox. They go home and rejoice at having taken the rogue
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1825 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 28(261))
KEYWORDS: animal hunting
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Williams-FolkSongsOfTheUpperThames, pp. 63-64, "Bold Reynolds" (1 text) (also Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO We 435)
Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Wt 316, "You Gentlemen That Take Delight" (1 text)
Copper-ASongForEverySeason, pp. 272-273, "Gentlemen of High Renown" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 243, "Bold Reynard" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gundry-CanowKernow-SongsDancesFromCornwall, p. 36, "Huntsman's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, REYNFOX
Roud #1868 and 190
RECORDINGS:
Guy Wolff, "Reynard the Fox" (Piotr-Archive #434, recorded 01/08/2023)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(1254), "The Fox" ("Most gentlemen take delight"), J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Harding B 25(492), "Death of the Fox"; Harding B 28(261), "Sly Reynard the Fox" ("Some gentlemen take great delight"), W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bold Reynard the Fox (Tallyho! Hark! Away!)" (theme)
cf. "The Echoing Horn" (theme)
cf. "Joe Bowman" (theme)
NOTES [157 words]: Although this song has points of similarity to "Bold Reynard the Fox (Tallyho! Hark! Away!)," Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland and others clearly state that they are different -- and indeed, they have few details in common except that they describe a foxhunt. - RBW
Roud assigns #358 to the Williams-FolkSongsOfTheUpperThames text and a fair case could be made for considering it a separate ballad. Comparing Williams-FolkSongsOfTheUpperThames (40 lines) and Kennedy (32 lines), 20 lines are close or virtually the same and the different lines do not change the story line, though place names are different. I think they should be kept together. - BS
A similar situation occurs with the Copper "Gentlemen of High Renown," Roud's #190. There are many examples of that type, but I don't see a way to divide it from this. The Reynard/fox hunting songs are an incredible mess; see the notes to "Bold Reynard the Fox (Tallyho! Hark! Away!)." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: K243

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