The milkmaid’s life

1. You rural goddesses
That woods and fields possess,
Assist me with your skill,
That may direct my quill
More jocundlȳ* to express
The mirth and delight,
Both morning and night,
On mountain or in dale.
Of them who choose
This trade to use,
‖: And through cold dews
Do ne’er refuse :‖
To carrȳ the milking pail.

2. The bravest lasses gay
Live not so merrȳ as they;
In honest civil sort
They make each other sport,
As they trudge on their way;
Come fair or foul weather,
They’re fearful of ne͝ither,
Their courages never quail;
In wet and dry,
Though wīnds be high,
‖: And dark’s the sky,
They ne’er deny :‖
To carrȳ the milking pail.

3. Their hearts are free from care,
They never will despair
Whatever them befall;
They bravelȳ bear out all,
And fortune’s frowns out-dare.
They pleasantlȳ sing
To welcome the spring,
’Gainst heaven they never rail.
If grass well grow,
Their thanks they show;
‖: And frost or snow,
They merrilȳ go :‖
Along with the milking pail.

4. Base idleness they do scorn;
They rise verȳ earlȳ i’th’ morn,
And walk into the field,
Where prettȳ birds do yield
Brave music on every thorn;
The linnet and thrush
Do sing on each bŭsh,
And the dulcet nightingale
Her note doth strain
In a jocund vein,
‖: To entertain
That wȯrthȳ train :‖
Which carrȳ the milking pail.

5. Their labor doth health presėrve;
No doctors’ rules they obsėrve,
While others, too nice
In taking their advice,
Look always as though they would starve.
Their meat is digested,
They ne’er are molested,
No sickness doth them assail;
Their time is spent
In merriment;
‖: While limbs are lent,
They are content :‖
To carrȳ the milking pail.

6. Those lasses, nice and strange,
That keep shops in the exchange,
Sit pricking of clouts
And giving of flouts,
They seldom abroad do range;
Then comes the green sīckness
And changeth their likeness,
All this is for want of good sale;
But ’tis not so,
As proof doth show,
‖: By them that go
In frost and snow :‖
To carrȳ the milking pail.

7. If they anȳ sweethearts hāve,
That do their affections crave,
Their privilege is this,
Which manȳ others miss,
They can give them welcome brave.
With them they may walk,
And pleasantlȳ talk,
With a bottle of wine or ale;
The gentle cow
Doth them allow,
‖: As they know how.
God speed the plow, :‖
And bless the milking pail!

8. Upon the first of May,
With garlands fresh and gay,
With mirth and music sweet,
For such a season meet,
They pass their time away;
They dance away sorrow,
And all the day thorough
Their legs do never fail;
They nimblȳ
Their feet do ply,
‖: And bravelȳ try
The victorȳ, :‖
In honour o’th’ milking pail.

9. If anȳ think that I
Do practise flatterȳ,
In seeking thus to raise
The merrȳ milkmaids’ praise,
I’ll to them thus replȳ:
It is their desėrt
Inviteth my art
To studȳ this pleasant tale
In their defence,
Whose innocence
‖: And providence
Gets honest pence :‖
Out of the milking pail.