LVII.
“And if you would your warlike worth assay,
“Prepare the worthiest enterprize to hear,
“That, e’er in times of old or present day,
“Was undertaken by a cavalier.
“Our monarch’s daughter needs some friendly stay,
“Now sore bested, against a puissant peer:
“Lurcanio is the doughty baron’s name,
“Who would bereave her both of life and fame.
LVIII.
“Her he before her father does pursue,
“Perchance yet more for hatred than for right;
“And vouches, to a gallery she updrew
“A lover, seen by him, at dead of night.
“Hence death by fire will be the damsel’s due,
“Such is our law, unless some champion fight
“On her behalf, and, ere a month go by,
“(Nigh spent) upon the accuser prove the lie.
LIX.
“Our impious Scottish law, severe and dread,
“Wills, that a woman, whether low or high
“Her state, who takes a man into her bed,
“Except her husband, for the offence shall die.
“Nor is there hope of ransom for her head,
“Unless to her defence some warrior hie;
“And as her champion true, with spear and shield,
“Maintain her guiltless in the listed field.
