GUEST, Slavey.

I take your point. In fact, what I'm after is the other way round. All this came out off an argument on the poetryetc list of the origin of "skivvy" (which is first recorded in 1902) and its relation to "slavey" (first recorded about 1810, which is why I was taken by +both+ words occurring in different versions. Which is (partly) why it would be sueful to +know+ that "Skivvy would be the correct word."
If so, it would push the first-recorded use of "skivvy" backwards. My feeling is that probably "slavey" is the word used by Moran, but that's simply an assumption based on the dates as (currently) given in the OED.

John -- Marvellous! Just what Christopher Walker (who raised the issue of the song on poetryetc in the first place) was looking for.

Thanks all.

Robin