] No tune, but here are Parker's words, and an intemediate version of the same which is dated to mid eighteenth century. This seems to be at John Thorpe's level of consciousness!

] The Wooing Maid;

] Or,

] A faire maid neglected,

] Forlorne and rejected,

] That would be respected:

] Which to have effected,

] This generall summon

] She sendeth in common;

] Come tinker, come broomman:

] She will refuse no man.
] To the tune of "If 'be the dad on't."

] I am a faire maid, if my glasse doe not flatter,
] Yet, by the effects, I can find no such matter;
] Fore every one else can have suters great plenty;
] Most marry at fourteene, but I an past twenty.
] Come gentle, come simple, come foolish come witty,
] Oh! if you lack a maid, take me for pity.

] I see by experience- which makes me to wonder-
] That many have sweethearts at fifteene, and under,
] And if they passe sixteen, they think their time wasted;
] O what shall become of me? I am out-casted:
] Come gentle, come simple, come foolish come witty,
] Oh! 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 doe what I will, never a man venters.
] Come gentle, &c.

] When I goe to weddings, or such merry meetings,
] I see other maids how they toy with their sweetings,
] But I sit alone, like an abject forsaken;
] Woe's me! for a husband what course shall be taken?
] Come gentle, &c.

] When others to dancing are courteously chosen,
] I am the last taken among the halfe dozen,
] An yet among twenty not one can excell me;
] What shall I doe in this case? some good man tell me.
] Come gentle, &c..

] 'Tis said that one wedding produceth another-
] This I have heard told by my father and mother-
] Before one shall scape me, Ile goe without bidding;
] O that I could find out some fortunate wedding!
] Come gentle, &c.

] Sure I am unfortunate, of all my kindred,
] Else could not my happinesse be so long hindred:
] My mother at eighteen had two sons and a daughter,
] And I'm one and twenty, not worth looking after.
] Come gentle, &c.

] My sister, that's nothing so handsome as I am,
] Had sixe or seven suters, and she had to deny them;
] Yet she before sixteene was luckily marry'd:
] O Fates! why are things so unequally carry'd?
] Come gentle, &c.

] My kinswoman Sisly, in all parts mis-shapen,
] Yet she had a husband by fortune did happen
] Before she was nineteene years old, at the furthest;
] Among all my lineage am I the unworthiest?
] Come gentle, &c.

] There are almost forty, both poorer and yonger,
] Within few yeares marry'd, yet I must stay longer.
] Within foure miles compasse - O is't not a wonder?
] Scant none above twenty, some sixteene, some under.
] Come gentle, &c.

] I hold my selfe equal with most in the parish
] For feature, for parts, and what chiefly doth cherish
] The fire of affection, which is store of money;
] And yet there is no man will set love upon me.
] Come gentle, &c.

] Who ever he be that will ease my affliction,
] And cast upon me an auspicious affection,
] Shall find me tractable still to content him,
] That he of his bargaine shall never repent him.
] Come gentle, &c.

] Ile neither be given to scold nor be jealous,
] He nere shall want money to drink with good fellows:
] While he spends abroad, I at home will be saving,
] Now judge, am I not a lasse worth the having.
] Come gentle, &c.

] Let none be offended, nor say I'm uncivill,
] For I needs must have one, be he good or evill;
] Nay, rather than faile, Ile have a tinker or broomman,
] A pedler, an inkman, a matman or some man.
] Come gentle, come simple, come foolish come witty,
] Oh let me not die a maid, take me for pity.

] FINIS M. P.

] Printed at London for Thomas Lambert, at the signe of the Hors-shoo in Smithfield.
] .........................................................

] There is, however, an intermediate version, a slight reworking of Parker's ballad, of the late 17th century:

] The Maids Call to the Batchelors.
] To an Excellent new Tune. Licens'd according to Order. [1690-96] I heard an old proverb by my father and mother,
] That going to one wedding, begats another,
] Than rather than stay I'll go without bidding,
] To let the world see how I love a wedding,
] Come gentle, some simple come foolish, come witty,
] Oh, let me not dye a maid, take me for pity.

] I have a sister Cisly she's younger than I am,
] She had six or seven sweet-hearts and forc'd to deny 'em,
] Before she was sixteen, she'd a son and a daughter,
] And I three and twenty and n'er had an offer,
] Come gentle, some simple come foolish, come witty,
] Oh, let me not dye a maid, take me for pity.

] I will be no scold, nor I will not be jealous,
] He shall have money to spend in an Ale-house;
] Whele he's abroad spending, Ill be at home saving,
] Oh tell me, if I am not worth a man's having,
] Come gentle, &c.
] Oh, let me, &c.

] There's Roger and Nell next week to be married,
] Yet I for a husband have many years tarry'd;
] I'll go to the wedding, sing dance and be merry,
] And trip it about with Tom, Roger and Harry,
] Come gentle, &c.
] Oh, let me, &c.

] If any that day should ask me to be wedded,
] I'd venture almost without church to be bedded,
] For men are so fickle, one day they will have ye,
] And the next day they are already to leave ye,
] Come gentle, &c.
] Oh, let me, &c.

] I think my poor case is the hardest of any,
] For there are some lasses, are courted by many,
] Last night I heard Betty, cry Sir, I defie ye,
] I wish't the young man wou'd leave her & try me,
] Come gentle, &c.
] Oh, let me, &c.

] Oh, why of all maidens should I be forsaken,
] Yet if I dye a maid I am mistaken?
] 'Tis hard if I meet not a young man so civil,
] To take off the burden of a maidenhead-evil,
] Come gentle, &c.
] Oh, let me, &c.

] The young Man's Answer to the Maidens Call to the Batchelors.
] to the same Tune.
] Sweet heart I do find you no longer will tarry,
] But fain with a young man wou'd hastily marry;
] I'm not of your mind for I will not be wedded,
] But if you'll consent yous shall be quickly bedded,
] I'll hug thee, I'll kiss thee, and on the bed tumble,
] And you shall not dye a maid, therefore don't grumble.

] Another young man to this maiden reply'd,
] Sweetheart I confess you shall n'er be deny'd:
] 'Tis pity that you should a virgin depart,
] Before you have tasted of Cupid's love dart,
] I'll hug thee, &c.
] And you, &c.

] Next day came another, and made a kind offer,
] His hand and his heart and somthing else did proffer,
] But marriage, quothe he, I will never consent to,
] In any thing else, I would freely content you,
] I'll hug thee, I'll kiss thee, and on the bed tumble,
] And you shall not dye a maid, therefore don't grumble.

] Printed for J. Deacon, at the Angel, in Guilt-spur-street.