T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
Robin and Nan
By B. J. Alcock, Jr.(A Broadside Song with music; c. 1705) |
NAN was Robin’s fellow servant, | |
| She could milk, and he could plow; | |
| Robin’s love for Nan was fervent, | |
| But the damsel would not trow. | |
| In the field or in the meadow, | 5 |
| Where so e’er she daily went, | |
| Robin follow’d like her shadow, | |
| All to give his passion vent. | |
| See fair maid each living creature, | |
| (Only stubborn-hearted thou); | 10 |
| Do as all are taught by nature, | |
| And to love’s dominion bow, | |
| Long his passion Nan resisted, | |
| And had always kept her hold, | |
| Had not fortune once assisted; | 15 |
| Fortune often helps the bold. | |
| Nan would go to bed as usual, | |
| Just as Robin went that way; | |
| When her door made stout refusal, | |
| Dame forgot and took the key; | 20 |
| Robin, proud of this occasion, | |
| All his former hopes to crown, | |
| Brought the maid, by fair persuasion, | |
| On his threshold to sit down. | |
| Now, said he, my charming blowsy, | 25 |
| Let us love and banish fear; | |
| Dame, you know, is always drowsy, | |
| We may talk and she not hear. | |
| Thus one lucky minute doing | |
| All the mighty work of love, | 30 |
| Ever after, without wooing, | |
| Bob and Nan went hand and glove. | |