National Ballad and Song/Volume 5/The Old Woman's Wish

by unknown author

Layout 2

THE OLD WOMAN’S WISH

[c. 1684]

[A Broadside Song; music in Pills to Purge Melancholy (1707), iii. 101].

As I went by an Hospital,
 I heard an Old Woman cry,
Kind Sir, quoth she, be kind to me,
 once more before I Die,
And grant to me those Joys,
 that belong to Woman-kind,
And the Fates above reward your Love,
 To an old Woman Poor and Blind.

I find an itching in my Blood,
 altho’ it be something Cold,
Therefore Good Man do what you can,
 to comfort me now I’m Old.
  And Grant to me those Joys, &c.

Altho’ I cannot see the Day,
 nor never a glance of light;
Kind Sir, I swear and do declare,
 I honour the Joys of Night:
  Then grant to me those Joys, &c.

When I was in my Blooming Youth,
 My vigorous Love was Hot;
Now in my Age I dare Engage,
 A fancy I still have got:
  Then give to me those Joys, &c.

You shall miss of a Reward,
 If Readily you comply;
Then do not Blush but touch my flesh,
 This minute before I die:
  O let me tast those Joys, &c.

I Forty Shillings would freely give,
 ’Tis all the Mony I have;
Which I full long have begged for,
 To carry me to my Grave:
  This I would give to have the Bliss, &c.

I had a Husband in my Youth,
 As very well ’tis known,
The truth to tell he pleased me well,
 But now I am left alone;
  And long to tast the good Old Game, &c.

If Forty Shillings will not do,
 My Petticoat and my Gown;
Nay Smock also shall freely go,
 To make up the other Crown;
  Then Sir, pray Grant that kind Request, &c.

Tho’ I am Fourscore Years of Age,
 I love with a Right good Will;
And what in truth I want in Youth,
 I have it in perfect Skill:
  Then grant to me that Charming Bliss, &c.

Now if you do not pleasure me,
 And give me the thing I crave;
I do protest I shall not rest,
 When I am laid in my Grave:
  Therefore kind Sir, grant me the Joys, &c.