On this happy summer day.”
After a short recitative passage in which Mary Beatoun appeals to the revellers to lure the Queen from her loneliness, and their reply (“O Lady, never sit alone”), the maid sings a very characteristic and engaging Scotch ballad:—
“There once was a maiden in Melrose town
(Oh! the bright Tweed is bonny to see!)
Who looked on the best in the country down,
Because she had lovers, one, two, three.
The first was a lord with his chest of gold,
The second a ruddy shepherd so tall,
The third was a spearsman bluff and bold,—
But Pride, it goeth before a fall.