Madam, Madam, I'm Come a Courting- Mrs. Fortey (Dor) 1906
[From: Henry Hammond Manuscript Collection (HAM/3/16/10). The last two stanzas are of the false lover variety, the last is of course similar to the "Love is Teasing" identifying stanza.
R. Matteson 2017]
Madam, Madam, I'm Come a-Courting- sung by Mrs. Fortey of Watton, Dorset in May, 1906.
1. Madam, madam, I'm come a courting,
If thy favour I can win.
If thou kindly entertain me,
Perhaps some day I call again.
2. Walk in, kind sir, thou art welcome
Though I never saw thee before
I must and will have a handsome fellow,
Whether he be rich or poor.
3. Handsome men are out of fashion,
Maidens beauty soon decays.
The finest flower on a midsummer morning,
Will so fade and die away.
4. For they will kiss you and they will court you,
They will vow and they will swear,
They tell you more in one half hour
Than you find time in seven long year[s].
5. False love is plenty, true love is scanty[1],
Love is well when it is new,
As it grow[s] older, so it grow[s] colder,
And fades and dies like the morning dew.
1. One MS has "taintly" and a different revision "scantly."