“For as innocence and virtue were ever the boundaries of his Muse, so in…” — Henry Carey

“For as innocence and virtue were ever the boundaries of his Muse, so in this little poem he had no other view than to set forth the beauty of a chaste and disinterested passion, even in the lowest class of human life.”

Carey's own explanation of the moral and human purpose behind his famous ballad · Preface to Sally in Our Alley, 1729

Henry Carey

About Henry Carey

c. 26 August 1687–5 October 1743

Henry Carey, poet, songwriter, composer, dramatist, performer, and irrepressible satirist, was born about 26 August 1687 and died on 5 October 1743. He belonged to that unusually fertile and unruly generation of English writers who worked in the crowded space between coffeehouse wit, commercial theater, political…

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