As he has the gift of prophecy, she orders him to read her future. After the bridal, the murder of the bridegroom; after the murder, battle; after the battle, prison; after the prison, the scaffold, is the tragic fate he foresees. The enraged courtiers call for his arrest and punishment, but the light-hearted Queen bids him go free:-- "Let him go, and hear our laughter! Mirth to-day, whate'er come after." The cantata opens with a chorus for female voices in three divisions, with a contralto solo, in the Scotch style:-- "The mavis carols in the shaw, The leaves are green on every tree, And June, whose car the sunbeams draw, Is dropping gold on bank and lea; The hind is merry in the mead, The child that gathers gowan flower, The Thane upon his prancing steed, The high-born lady in her bower,-- Gay, gay, all are gay, On this happy summer day." After a short recitative passage in which Mary Beatoun appeals to the revellers to lure the Queen from her loneliness, and their reply ("O Lady, never sit alone"), the maid sings a very characteristic and engaging Scotch ballad:-- "There once was a maiden in Melrose town (Oh! the bright Tweed is bonny to see!) Who looked on the best in the country down, Because she had lovers, one, two, three. The first was a lord with his chest of gold, The second a ruddy shepherd so tall, The third was a spearsman bluff and bold,-- But Pride, it goeth before a fall. "One hour she smilèd, the next she wept (Oh! the bright Tweed is bonny to see!) And with frowns and blushes a chain she kept Round the necks of her hapless lovers three. For the lord in her lap poured wide his gold, And the shepherd ran at her beck and call, And the spearsman swore she was curst and cold, But Pride, it goeth before a fall. "At last it fell out on a bleak March day (Oh! the bright Tweed is bonny to see!) There sate at her window the maiden gay And looked o'er the frost for her lovers three. But the lord had to France sailed forth with his gold, And the shepherd had married her playmate small, And the spearsman in battle lay stark and cold,-- So Pride, it goeth before a fall." As might have been expected, this mournful ditty fails to rouse the Queen from her melancholy, whereupon Rizzio takes his lute and sings the canzonet "Calla stagion novella," a very slow and graceful movement, closing with a sensuous allegro, written in the genuine Italian style, though rather Verdi-ish for the times of Rizzio. The canzonet has the desired effect, and is followed by a delightful French romance, sung by the Queen, in which a tender minor theme is set off against a fascinating waltz melody, closing with a brilliant finale:--