"In my pleasant land of France There is gladness everywhere; In the very streams a dance, Full of life, yet debonair, Ah, me! ah, me! To have left it was a sin, Even for this kind countrie. But we will not mourn to-day, Bid the harp and rebec play, Merrilie, merrilie, Sing and smile, and jocund be; If my father's land is dear, Mirth and valor still are here; Maidens faithful, champions gay, France has melted far away Beyond the sea." At the close of the pretty romance, the revel begins with a stately minuet and vocal trio ("Fal, lal, la") for the Queen, Mary Beatoun, and Rizzio. It is interrupted by the unison psalm-tune of the Puritans, a stern, severe old melody set to a "moving bass" accompaniment:-- "O thou who sittest on the throne And wilt exalt thine horn on high, While captive men in prison groan, And women poor of hunger die, Beware! albeit a Haman proud, Served by thy slaves on bended knee, The heaven can speak in thunder loud And rend to dust both them and thee." There is a temporary pause in the revels, but at the Queen's command they are resumed with a quick-step introduced by the pipes and full of the genuine Scotch spirit and bustle, the "Fal lal" trio and chorus still accompanying it. It is interrupted afresh by a repetition of the psalm ("A Hand of Fire was on the Wall"), after which John Knox enters. With his entrance the gay music closes and the work assumes a gloomy tragic cast as the dialogue proceeds and the terrible incidents of the prophecy are unfolded. It is a relief when they join in a hopeful duet ("E'en if Earth should wholly fail me") which is very quiet and melodious. It leads to the Queen's farewell, a quaintly-written bit, with an old-fashioned cadenza, followed by the final chorus, which takes up a theme in the same joyous spirit as the opening one:-- "Hence with evil omen, Doleful bird of night, Who in tears of women Takest chief delight! Think not to alarm her, As with mystic power; Nought shall ever harm her, Scotland's lily flower." LISZT.