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Then I my coat of mail will don,
    And couch my trusty lance;
There's many a castle to be won
    In fair and jocund France.
My halls are empty—but I'll come,
    St. George my weapon guide!
With laurel-crested basnet home
    And the red gold beside.

The blue eyed maids of England scorn
    My ruined house and me,
But there are brides as highly born
    In stately Normandy;
And he who in the battle field
    Shall prove the stoutest knight,
Will find the eye of beauty yield
    Its smile of sunniest light,