ly interrupted by news of the Danes,
the following pretty stanzas are sung by minstrels representing a young
man and woman.

"_Man_.--Turn thee to thy shepherd swain;
Bright sun has not drunk the dew
From the flowers of yellow hue;
Turn thee, Alice, back again.

_Woman_.--No, deceiver, I will go,
Softly tripping o'er the mees,
Like the silver-footed doe
Seeking shelter in green trees.

_Man_.--See the moss-grown daisied bank
Peering in the stream below;
Here we'll sit in dewy dank,
Turn thee, Alice: do not go.

_Woman_.--I've heard erst my grandam say
That young damsels should not be,
In the balmy month of May,
With young men by the greenwood tree.

_Man_.--Sit thee, Alice, sit and hark
How the blackbird chants his note,
The goldfinch and the gray-morn lark,
Shrilling from their little throat.

_Woman_.--I hear them from each greenwood tree
Chanting out so lustily,
Telling lectures unto me,
Mischief is when you are nigh.

_Man_.--See, along the mends so green
Pied daisies, kingcups sweet,
All we see; by none are seen;
None but sheep set here their feet.

_Woman_.--Shepherd swain, you tear my sleeve;
Out upon you! let me go;
Keep your distance, by your leave,
Till Sir Priest make one of two.

_Man_.--By our lady and her bairn,
To-morrow, soon as it is day,
I'll make thee wife, nor be forsworn,
So may I live or die for aye.

_Woman_.--What doth hinder but that now
We at once, thus hand in hand,
Unto a divine do go,
And be link'd in wedlock-band?
(Sensible woman!)

_Man_.--I agree, and thus I plight
Hand and heart and all that's mine.
Good Sir Herbert do us right,
Make us one at Cuthbert's shrine.

_Both_.--We will in a cottage live,
Happy though of no estate;
Every hour more love shall give;
We in goodness will be great."

The two Danish generals, Hurra and Magnus, warm their blood to the
fighting temperature befor