The Soldier Maid

When I was a fair maid at the age of sweet sixteen,
        From my parents I did run away a soldier to become;
        I enlisted in the army a soldier for to be,
        And they learned me to play upon the rub-a-dub-a-dee.
         
        Chorus :
        With my nice cap and feathers, if you could have only seen,
        You'd have sworn that in your very heart a young man I had been;
        With my gentle waist so slender and my fingers long and small,
        I could rattle up the rub-a-dub-a-dee the best among them all.
         
        Oh, many is the prank that I played upon the field,
        And many was the young man his love to me revealed;
        Many a prank have I seen among the French,
        And so boldly as I fought, tho' only a wench.
         
        With my regiment at the front all my time I might have been,
        With the brave Duke of York at the siege of Valenciennes;
        But was favoured by my officer for fear I should be slain,
        I was sent home to England for recruiting back again.
         
        Many a night in the guard-room I have lain,
        I never was afraid to lie down with the men;
        At the pulling of my breeches I oft-times gave a smile,
        To think I lay with a regiment, and a maiden all the while.
         
        That might never have been known until this very hour,
        But they sent me up to London to keep sentry o'er the Tower;
        lady fell in love with me; I told her I was a maid;
        She went to my officer, and the secret she betrayed.
         
        My officer sent for me to see if that was true;
        I told him that it was - what other could I do?
        I told him it was, and he smiled to me and said -
        "It's a pity for to lose such a drummer as you've made."
         
        "But for your gallent conduct at the siege of Valenciennes,
        bounty shall you get my girl, a bounty from the King."
        But should the war arise again, and the King in want of men,
        I'll put on my regimentals and I'll fight for him again.