6
The Lady Arabella Stewart,
The fairest of our fair,
Has lost her heart, and to you Lord Earl,
Deny it if you dare.
But you are a true and a warlike lord,
And this is the choice we'll gie—
Either to marry the lady we've named,
Or swing like a rogue on a tree."
"My Liege! my Sire! my Sovereign Lord!
I’ve used no wizardrie,
And if I have won the heart of this maid,
The prize was unsought by me.
And if my choice be to wed or to hang,
My Sire, I must lose my life,
For how can I wed Lady Arabel Stewart,
And leave a better-loved wife?"
"And who may be this wife, Lord Earl,
That you hold so wondrous dear;
And how does it chance that the lady’s name
Should never have reachcd our car?"
"My wife is not sprung from noble sires—
Hcr kin are of low degree,
But dear as a queen to her royal spouse
Is the choice of my heart to me."
"A peasant can be but a leman, my Lord,
To one that is nobly born,
And, the word of a King, you’ll marry our ward,
Or swing ere a second grey morn!"
The brave Lord Leslie left the King,
A doleful man I ween;
But a change took place in his comely faee
That day ere the fall of e'cn.
That day was holden a tournament,
The Queen was taken ill—
And who but the Lady Arabel Stewart
Was chosen her placc to fill.
Right wcll she played hcr Queenly part,
And charmed the hearts of a';
But for every smile she gave the rest
She gave Lord Leslic twa.
