Mastodawn

Matt Hodgkinson Jun 4, 2025

@douginamug I think this goes back further than you found. I posted on Facebook about it a couple of years ago: https://www.facebook.com/558151070/posts/pfbid02ZT9snBof15AzuNfUXJvvhAU6psALiNv2abFx5ZFQtoCYuBKbtJE2ufK1vEtsQv4Dl/?app=fbl

"That dolt's hung who steals geese from a heath for his use,
Yet those laugh who steal common and all from the goose." (1797)

"It's a shame in man or woman,
To steal a goose from off a common;
But sure that man's without excuse,
Who steals the common from the goose." (1854)

"The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
But leaves the greater villain loose
Who steals the common from the goose." (Henry Fielding, 1903)

---

This folk rhyme / song relates to a story recounted by William Sanderson in his 1656 history of King James, in which the king is going to dinner at a Berkshire nobleman's house in 1608 and comes across a man in stocks on the common. The man quips that it is the lord who is the greater thief and the king refuses to dine with Sir Thomas until access to the common is restored.

Doug Webb Jun 4, 2025

@mattjhodgkinson if you have refs for any of these, please link me!

@douginamug The Pin-basket to the Children of Thespis, by Anthony Pasquin, 1797, p.136 https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QE4hAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA136

The Pin-basket to the Children of Thespis

Google Books

@douginamug The Illustrated Book of Domestic Poultry. Edited by M. D. (No. 1. Edited by J. Barnett.) The Figures Drawn by C. H. Weigall. Engraved and Printed in Oil Colours by W. Dickes & Co
By Martin DOYLE (pseud. [i.e. William Hickey.]), James BARNETT (Hon. Sec. to the National Poultry Association.) · 1854, p.239 https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=3tD25KFCQUAC&pg=RA1-PA239&dq=

The Illustrated Book of Domestic Poultry. Edited by M. D. (No. 1. Edited by J. Barnett.) The Figures Drawn by C. H. Weigall. Engraved and Printed in Oil Colours by W. Dickes & Co

Google Books

@douginamug The earliest source I've found for the now-standard version is From Mrs. Harvey's Scrap Book
1838, p.20. There's then no sign until 1883, when a sudden flurry of references appear, beginning with:
Cameron, Charles (1883). The Law: A Respecter of Persons. The Nineteenth Century, Volume 13, p. 872-885 https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=98ECAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA872&dq=
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Charles_Cameron,_1st_Baronet

That use was cited in the South Australia parliament that year by R.A. Tarlton, July 24, 1883, p. 535: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=CiQzAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA535&dq=, and in the Japan Weekly Mail, June 30, 1883 https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-xJDAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA2-PA196&dq=

The Nineteenth Century

Google Books

@douginamug William Sanderson's account is in A compleat history of the lives and reigns of Maria queen of Scotland, and of her son James VI., 1656, p. 319 https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=37RSAAAAcAAJ&pg=RA1-PA312

Avoiding OR (I'm also a Wikipedian), the link between the story and the lines is made by p. 106 of The history of Newmarket, and the annals of the turf, Volume 2, by John Philip Hore, A.H. Baily, 1886 https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=APYIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA106

A compleat history of the lives and reigns of Maria queen of Scotland, and of her son James VI.

Google Books

@douginamug This essay mentions both the tale and the lines, but doesn't link them explicitly. It says, like you, that The Tickler is an early attestation. https://shc.stanford.edu/arcade/interventions/common

Common | Stanford Humanities Center

I, like Greene, will engage in what he calls a “critical semantics” here, but I will confront human meanings and purposes with challenges to them posed by the Capitalocene.

Doug Webb Jun 5, 2025

@mattjhodgkinson really thorough research, I'm curious of your methods

@douginamug I learned Boolean searches and exclusions as a research student. I mainly use Google Books and Scholar for historical topics, using date limits to avoid recent results crowding out the older hits; Books has search options by century or you can define your own timescale. I'll often use intext, intitle, and brackets. For this kind of topic, the British Newspaper Archive is probably helpful. I might have a look on Jstor too, as I have access as a Cambridge alumnus.

@douginamug Quoted in the British Parliament, 1879: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=xfgOAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA1241

Matt Hodgkinson

@douginamug Quoted in the British House of Commons by William Windham, 1809.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NhuJUi3D0UYC&pg=PA12

@douginamug The Monthly Magazine, 1810.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4GgEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA252