Lord Lovel
LORD LOVEL—H
[_]
a. London broadside of 1846, in Dixon's Ancient Poems,
Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England, p. 78,
Percy Society, vol. xix. b. Davidson's Universal Melodist,
I, 148.
1
Lord Lovel he stood at his castle-gate,
Combing his milk-white steed,
When up came Lady Nancy Belle,
To wish her lover good speed, speed,
To wish her lover good speed.
2
‘Where are you going, Lord Lovel?’ she said,
‘Oh where are you going?’ said she;
‘I'm going, my Lady Nancy Belle,
Strange countries for to see.’
3
‘When will you be back, Lord Lovel?’ she said,
‘Oh when will you come back?’ said she;
‘In a year or two, or three, at the most,
I'll return to my fair Nancy.’
4
But he had not been gone a year and a day,
Strange countries for to see,
When languishing thoughts came into his head,
Lady Nancy Belle he would go see.
5
So he rode, and he rode, on his milk-white steed,
Till he came to London town,
And there he heard St Pancras bells,
And the people all mourning round.
6
‘Oh what is the matter?’ Lord Lovel he said,
‘Oh what is the matter?’ said he;
‘A lord's lady is dead,’ a woman replied,
‘And some call her Lady Nancy.’
7
So he ordered the grave to be opened wide,
And the shroud he turned down,
And there he kissed her clay-cold lips,
Till the tears came trickling down.
8
Lady Nancy she died, as it might be, today,
Lord Lovel he died as tomorrow;
Lady Nancy she died out of pure, pure grief,
Lord Lovel he died out of sorrow.
9
Lady Nancy was laid in St. Pancras church,
Lord Lovel was laid in the choir;
And out of her bosom there grew a red rose,
And out of her lover's a briar.
10
They grew, and they grew, to the church-steeple too,
And then they could grow no higher;
So there they entwined in a true-lover's knot,
For all lovers true to admire.
