A Sweet Pretty Maiden Sat under a Tree

H. F. S. [Music]

1. A sweet pretty maiden sat under a tree, / She sighed and said, 'Oh! that I married might be, / My daddy is so crabbed and my mammy is so cross, / That a husband for certain could never be worse.'

2. Young Johnny he heard what the damsel did say. / He came to her side, and said smiling, 'Today / I have a little cottage and I have a little horse / I have a pleasant temper that will not grow worse.

3. 'If you will be mine, and to that will agree, / We'll travel together in sweet amity. / There never will be wrangle, there never can be strife, / Between a good husband and his pretty wife.'

4. The maiden replied, 'I am not very sure, / That fond matrimony my trouble will cure, / From daddy and from mammy I quickly run away / And go into service for a year and a day.

5. 'The ring that you hold is a link in a chain, / Will fetter my freedom, my tongue will restrain / I cannot run away, and I never shall be free, / So take your kind offer to others than me. '