Give me the Willow-Garland,
Or, The Maidens Former Fear, and Latter Comfort.
At first she for a Husband made great moan,
But at the last she found a loving one.
To a dainty new Tune, called, Give me the willow-garland.
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AS I walked forth
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in the merry month of June,
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To hear the Nightingale
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sing her best tune:
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I spy'd a young Maid,
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which sighed and said,
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My time I have wasted in vain,
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much lov[e] I have spent,
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which makes me repent,
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On them that holds me in disdain:
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Take Pitty, quoth she,
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some gentle body,
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Give me the Willow-Garland,
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for none will have me.
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I am in my conscience
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full sixteen years old,
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Yet still go unmarried
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which makes my heart cold:
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there's many you see
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that[']s younger then me,
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that suckles sweet babes at the brest
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that lives at their ease,
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and carries the Keys
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Of many fair Cupboard and Chest:
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Take pitty, etc.
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Some men will give handkerchiefs
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some will give gloves,
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And some will give Bodkins,
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to purchase maids loves:
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but I like a friend,
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my money did lend,
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And never did ask it again:
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and them that received,
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in whom I believed,
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Have put me to sorrow and pain:
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Take pitty, etc.
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When William at first,
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come a wooing to me,
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Good Lord then how jocond,
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and frolick was he?
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he clip'd me, he kis'd me,
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he hug'd me in his arms,
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He promis'd to make me his wife:
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but he was mistaken,
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and I am forsaken,
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Which causes much sorrow & strife:
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Take pitty, quoth she,
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some gentle body,
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Give me the Willow-Garland,
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for none will have me.
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THe next that came to me
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was smirking fine Thomas,
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and like sweet William,
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did make me a promise,
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but when this young Lad,
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his will of me had
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He gave me a Judas-like kiss,
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so parted away,
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the truth 'tis to say,
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I ne'r saw him from that time to this:
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Take pitty, quoth she,
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some gentle body;
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Give me the Willow-Garland,
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for none will have me.
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Then John the brave Gallant,
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with a Sword by his side,
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Came to me and told me,
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he'd make me his bride:
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but in this brave youth.
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I found but small truth,
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although he did vow and protest,
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to me to prove true,
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yet he bad me adieu,
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and prov'd quite as bad as the rest:
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Take pitty, etc.
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There was Richard and Robert,
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come both on one day,
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But they like the others
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soon vanish't away:
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and since that time,
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whilst spring was in prime,
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I have had of suitors great plenty,
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I dare to be bold,
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if they were all told,
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That they were at least 3 & twenty.
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Take pitty, etc.
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Now seeing that fortune
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hath me so much crost,
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That all my old sweet-hearts,
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are quite gone and lost,
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myself i'le commend
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to God Cupid my friend,
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And to him will heartil[y] pray,
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to send me a love
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that constant will prove,
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And never to straggle away.
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Take pi[t]ty, etc.
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There's nothing at all
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that belongs to a man,
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But in a short warning
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well fit him I can:
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I have silver and gold,
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which my Father never told,
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I have very good cloaths to my back
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I have house and land,
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and good goods at command,
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Tis only a husband I lack;
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Take pitty, etc,
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You see how my Visage,
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is grown pale and wan,
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You well may perceive
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for want of a man:
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my Pulses do beat,
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and my body doth sweat,
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and my sences are all at great strife
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my belly doth ake
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& my heart-strings will break
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If I cannot be made a Wife.
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And therefore, quoth she,
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some gentle body,
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Make me a Willow-Garland,
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or else marry me.
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At last came a young-man
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of courage most bold
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Saying, sweet-heart, I care not
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for Silver nor Gold:
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but if thou w[i]lt prove
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like the Turtle-Dove,
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Right faithful & true to thy friend,
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then will I be thine,
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and thou shalt be mine,
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And i[']le love thee unto my lives end
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Your Servant, quoth she,
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my True love, quoth he,
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Clap hands on the bargain,
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and so we'l agree.
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And now this young woman
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in eas[']d of her pain,
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For she never after
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was known to compl[a]in:
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he made her his wife,
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and she lives a brave life,
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Attyred in garments most brave,
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and all things at will
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her mind to fulfil,
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at every command she'l now have,
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Her Husband is kind,
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they are both of a mind,
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According as Nature,
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and Love doth them bind.
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Farewel now, quoth she,
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to the green Willow-tree,
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I have got a Husband
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that well pleaseth me.
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