From Merry Songs and Ballads, Prior to the Year 1800, Volume 1 by John Stephen Farmer, "privately printed for subscribers only", 1897.

I WENT TO THE ALEHOUSE

[A Broadside Song; also with music in Pills to Purge Melancholy (1707), i. 118].

1. I Went to the Alehouse as an honest Woman shou'd,
And a Knave follow'd after, as you know Knaves wou'd.

CHORUS: Knaves will be Knaves in every Degree.
I'll tell you by and by how this Knave serv'd me.

2. I call'd for my Pot as an honest Woman shou'd,
And the Knave drank't up, as you know Knaves wou'd.

3. I went into my Bed, as an honest Woman shou'd,
And the Knave crept into't, as you know Knaves wou'd.

4. I proved with Child as an honest Woman shou'd,
And the Knave ran away, as you know Knaves wou'd.

LAST CHORUS: Knaves will be Knaves in every Degree,
And thus have I told you how this Knave serv'd me.