The Lady and Soldier- (Edin) 1800 chapbook J. Morren
[From Scottish chapbook: Three Songs LODGINGS for Single GENTLEMEN; Young Man's Frolic, & The Lady and Soldier; Edinburgh printed by J. Morren c. 1800.
This is the first extant print of first revision, which it is assumed was made to sanitize the bawdy text of the Waulkrife Mammy. This was printed in Scotland and based on an early more complete version with the soldier stanza in it (it is titled "Lady and the Soldier" but the "soldier" stanza is missing-- proof of an earlier more complete version. Full versions of this revision title "Maid and Soldier" were made later in England.
R. Matteson 2018]
The Lady and Soldier.
AS I did walk along the street,
(I was my father’s darling,)
There I spied a pretty maid,
Just as the sun was rising.
With my rulal, la.
Where are you going my pretty maid:
Where are you going my honey?
She answer’d me right modestly,
Of an errand for my mammy.
Will you marry me, my bonny lass?
Will you marry me, my honey?
With all my heart kind sir, said she,
But dare not for my mammy.
Come ye but to my father’s house.
When the moon shines bright and clearly,
And I will rise and let you in,
And my mammy she won’t hear me.
I have a wife, she is my own,
And how can I disdain her.
And every town that I go through,
A girl if I can find her.
I’ll go to-bed quite late at night,
Rise early the next morning,
The buglehorn is my delight,
And the hautboy[1] is my darling.
Of sketches[2] I have got enough.
And money in my pocket,
And what care I for any one.
Its of the girls I’ve got it.
With my rulal, la.
FINIS
1. oboe
2. unknown slang