The Unfortunate Swain- (London) c.1770 print
[From: The Merry Songster. Being a collection of songs. B.M. 11621. Printed and sold in Aldermary Church Yard, Bow Lane, London, [1770?], ESTC T39283, available at ECCO (original spelling and capitalization kept). Dated c.1760 in Journal Vol. 7 by English Folk Dance and Song Society - 1952
R. Matteson 2017]
"The Unfortunate Swain"
1. Down in a Meadow both fair and gay,
Plucking a Flowers the other day,
Plucking a Flower both red and blue,
I little thought what Love could do.
2. Where Love's planted there it grow(s),
It buds and blows much like any Rose;
And has so sweet and pleasant smell,
No Flower on Earth can it excell.
3. Must I be bound and she be free?
Must I love one that loves not me?
Why should I act such a childish Part
To love a Girl that will break my Heart.
4. There's thousand thousands in room,
My true love carries the highest Bloom,
Sure she is some chosen one,
I will have her, or I'll have none.
5. I spy'd a Ship sailing on the Deep,
She sail'd as deep as she could swim;
But not so deep as in Love I am,
I care not whether I sink or swim.
6. I set my Back against an oak,
I thought it had been a Tree;
But first it bent and then it broke,
So did my false Love to me.
7. I put my Hand into a Bush,
Thinking the sweetest Rose to find,
l prick'd my Finger to the Bone,
And left the sweetest Rose behind.
8. If Roses are such prickly Flowers,
They should be gather'd while they're green,
And he that loves an unkind Lover,
I'm sure he strives against the stream.
9. When my love is dead and at her rest,
I'll think of her whom I love best
I'll wrap her up in Linnen strong,
And think on her when she's dead and gon[e].