The wooing Maid, OR  
A fair maid neglected,  
Forlorn and rejected,  
That would be respected:  
Which to have effected,  
This general Summon  
She sendeth in common,  
Come Tinker, come Broomman,  
She will refuse no man.  
To the tune of, Is'be the dad on't.  

 
 

I Am a fair Maid  
if my glass do not flatter,  
Yet by the effects  
I can find no such matter:  
For every one else  
can have Suitors great plenty,  
Most marry at fourteen,  
but I am passed twenty.  

Come gentle, come simple,  
come foolish, come witty,  
O if you lack a maid,  
take me for pity.    

I see by experience,  
which makes me to wonder,  
That many have Swéethearts  
at fifteen, and under,  
And if they pass sixtéen  
they think their time wasted,  
O what shall become of me,  
I am out-casted:  

Come gentle, come simple,  
come foolish, come witty,  
O if you lack a maid,  
take me for pity.    

I use all the motives  
my sex will permit me,  
To put men in mind,  
that they may not forget me:  
Nay sometimes I set  
my commission o'th' tenters,  
Yet let me do what I will  
never a man venter's.  

Come gentle, come simple,  
come foolish, come witty,  
O if you lack a maid  
take me for pity.    

When I go to weddings,  
or such merry meetings,  
I see other maids  
how they toy with their swéetings,  
But I 〈◊〉 alone  
like an abject forsaken,  
Woe's me for a husband  
what course shall be taken?  

Come gentle, come simple,  
come foolish, come witty,  
O if you lack a maid  
take me for pity.    

When others to dancing  
are courteously chosen,  
I am the last taken  
among the half dozen,  
And yet among twenty  
not one can excel me:  
What shall I do in this case,  
some good man tell me.  

Come gentle, come simple,  
come foolish, come witty,  
O if you lack a maid  
take me for pity.     

The second part  
To the same tune.  
 
 

'tIs said that one wedding  
produceth another,  
This I have heard told  
by my father and mother:  
Before one shall scape me,  
I'll go without bidding,  
O that I could find out  
some fortunate wedding.  

Come gentle, come simple,  
come foolish, come witty,  
O if you lack a maid  
take me for pity.    

Sure I am unfortunate  
of all my kindred,  
Else could not my happiness  
be so long hindered:  
My mother at eighteen  
had two sons and a daughter,  
And I'm one and twenty,  
not worth looking after.  

Come gentle, etc.    

My sister that's nothing  
so handsome as I am,  
Had six or seven Suitors,  
and she did deny them:  
Yet she before threescore  
was luckily married,  
O Fates, why are things  
so unequally carried?  

Come gentle, etc.    

My kinswoman Sisly  
in all parts misshapen,  
Yet she on a husband  
by fortune did happen,  
Before she was nineteen  
years old (at the furthest)  
Among all my Lineage  
am I the unworthiest.  

Come gentle, etc.    

There are almost forty  
both poorer and younger,  
Within few years married,  
(yet I must stay longer)  
Within four mile's compass,  
O is't not a wonder,  
Scant none above twenty,  
some s●●téene, some under.  

Come gentle, etc.    

I hold myself equal  
with most in the parish,  
For feature, for parts,  
and what chief doth cherish,  
The fire of affection,  
which is store of money,  
And yet there is no man  
will set love upon me.  

Come gentle, come simple,  
come foolish, come witty,  
O let me not die a maid,  
take me for pity.    

Who ever he be  
that will ease my affliction,  
And cast upon me  
an auspicious affections  
Shall find me tractable  
still to content him,  
That he of his bargain  
shall never repent him.  

Come gentle, etc.    

I'll neither be given  
to scold nor be jealous,  
He ne'er shall want money,  
to drink with good fellows▪  
While he spends abroad,  
I at home will be saving,  
Now judge, am not I a Lass  
well worth the having?  

Come gentle, etc.    

Let none be offended,  
nor say I'm uncivil,  
For I needs must have one,  
be he good or evil:  
Nay rather than fail  
I'll have a Tinker or Broom-man,  
A Pedlar, an Inkman,  
a Mat man, or some man,  

Come gentle, come simple,  
come foolish, come witty,  
O let me not die a maid,  
take me for pity,     
M.P.  
FINIS.   

Printed at London for Thomas Lambert, at the sign of the Hors-shoo in Smithfield▪