The Dragoon and the Lady

My father he's a knight and a knight of high renown
If I should wed a soldier it would bring his honour down.
It's your birth and my birth they never will agree,
So take it as a warning, my bold dragoon cried she.

No warning, no warning, no warning will I take
I'd rather die than live for my own true lover's sake
The lady heard these words and they made her heart to bleed.
So to church they went together and married were with speed.

In going up to church and in coming back again
The lady spied her father with seven armed men
Look yonder, cried the lady, for we shall both be slain
For yonder comes my father with seven armed men.

There is no time to prittle, there is no time to prattle
The soldier being all armed he prepared himself for battle.
The soldier with his broadsword he made their bones to rattle
And the lady held the horse while he drove them back like cattle.

O stay your hand, O stay your hand, the lady's father cried,
For you shall have my daughter and ten thousand pounds beside.
Fight on, cried the lady, the portion is too small.
Fight on, my bold dragoon, and you shall surely have it all.

Come all you honoured ladies that have got gold in store
Pray not despise a soldier although he may be poor,
For they are men of honour belonging to the crown
Here's a health to Queen Victoria and her jolly light dragoon.