Come, maidens, come quickly, let me take a penny.”
The Ballad of Milkmaids.
(The Milkmaids did not like being called Malkins. The name Malkin is a diminutive of Mary, and was used in the sense of slattern or country wench.)
“Passe not for rybalds which mylke maydes defame,
And call them not Malkins, poor Malkins by name:
Their trade is as good as anie we knowe
And that it is so I will presently showe.
Downe & Downe &c.”
A Merry Rhyme concerning Butchers, Graysors,
Schole maisters and Tankard Bearers.