Classic Poem

As I went over London Bridge,
All in a misty morning,
There did I see one weep and mourn,
Lamenting for her Georgy.

His time it is past, his life it will not last,
Alack and alas, there is no remedy!
Which makes the heart within me ready to burst in three,
To think on the death of poor Georgy.

" George of Oxford is my name,
And few there 's but have known me;
Many a mad prank have I playd,
But now they 've overthrown me."

O then bespake the Lady Gray;
" I 'le haste me in the morning,
And to the judge I 'le make my way,
To save the life of Georgy.

" Go saddle me my milk-white steed,
Go saddle me my bonny,
That I may to New-Castle speed,
To save the life of Georgy."

But when she came the judge before,
Full low her knee she bended;
For Georgy's life she did implore,
That she might be befriended.

" O rise, O rise, fair Lady Gray,
Your suit cannot be granted;
Content your self as well you may,
For Georgy must be hanged."

She wept, she waild, she [w]rung her hands,
And ceasid not her mourning;
She offerd gold, she offerd lands,
To save the life of Georgy.

" I have travelld through the land,
And met with many a man, sir,
But, knight or lord, I bid him stand;
He durst not make an answer.

" The Brittain bold that durst deny
His money for to tender,
Though he were stout as valiant Guy,
I forced him to surrender.

" But when the money I had got,
And made him cry peccavi ,
To bear his charge and pay his shot,
A mark or noble gave I.

" The ladies, when they had me seen,
Would ner have been affrighted;
To take a dance upon the green
With Georgy they delighted.

" When I had ended this our wake,
And fairly them bespoken,
Their rings and jewels would I take,
To keep them for a token."

The hue-and-cry for George is set,
A proper handsome fellow,
With diamond eyes as black as jet,
And locks like gold so yellow.

Long it was, with all their art,
Ere they could apprehend him,
But at the last his valiant heart
No longer could defend him.

" I ner stole horse nor mare in my life,
Nor cloven foot, or any,
But once, sir, of the king's white steeds,
And I sold them to Bohemia."

Georgy he went up the hill,
And after followed many;
Georgy was hanged in silken string,
The like was never any.