Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79.
St. Michaels Chair
By Robert Southey (17741843)M
The bells of St. Michael’s tower,
When Richard Penlake and Rebecca his wife
Arrived at St. Michael’s door.
Cheerful and frank and free;
But he led a sad life with Rebecca his wife,
For a terrible shrew was she.
Till patience availed no longer;
Then Richard Penlake his crab-stick would take,
And show her that he was the stronger.
To sit in St. Michael’s chair;
For she should be the mistress then
If she had once sat there.
They thought he would have died:
Rebecca his wife made a vow for his life,
As she knelt by his bedside.
My husband’s life,” quoth she;
“And to thine altar we will go,
Six marks to give to thee.”
For woundily sick was he:
“Save me, St. Michael! and we will go,
Six marks to give to thee.”
Teased him by night and by day:
“O mine own dear! for you I fear,
If we the vow delay.”
The bells of St. Michael’s tower,
When Richard Penlake and Rebecca his wife
Arrived at St. Michael’s door.
And Richard knelt in prayer:
She left him to pray, and stole away
To sit in St. Michael’s chair.
Round and round and round:
’T was a giddy sight to stand atop,
And look upon the ground.
The tower!” Rebecca cried,
As over the church battlements
She strode with a long stride.
She said, as she sat down:
Merrily, merrily rung the bells,
And out Rebecca was thrown.
That his good wife was dead:
“Now shall we toll for her poor soul
The great church-bell?” they said.
“Toll at her burying,” quoth he;
“But don’t disturb the ringers now,
In compliment to me.”