Then oh, Hugh Stenson is my name,
From Ashborne in the Peak I came,
And at the age of seventeen
I fell in love with Molly Green.
She is a beauty I do declare,
She came from Highchurch in Shropshire;
She was an angel in my eye,
Which caused me from my colours to fly.
Long time I courted her for her love,
But she would never constant prove;
A thought then I did entertain,
To cross the roaring ocean main.
But when I was upon the seas,
I could not have one moment's ease;
For she was daily in my sigh,
Which made me from my colours to fly.
But when I did return again,
I went unto this youthful dame,
Desiring she would not disdain
A bleeding heart and dying swain.
"Stenson," said she, "I pray forbear,
I know that you a deserter are,
And if my parents come to know,
They sure would prove your overthrow."
When I heard she made this reply,
I from her arms did swiftly fly,
And with a kiss I took my leave,
Although I'm bound a captive slave.
At Woolaton near Nottingham
I put my trust in a false man,
I took him for my friend to be,
But he, like Judas, betrayed me.
Then a court marshall there was call'd,
And I was brought amongst them all,
And for deserting they did me try,
And they condemned me for to die.
Oh Lord, oh Lord, it grieved me sore
To lay my bones on an Irish shore;
One General Pearcey he did cry,
"It's by the Law that you must die."