When Winchester Races

When Winchester races first took their beginning

It is said the good people forgot their old Saint

Not applying at all for the leave of Saint Swithin

And that William of Wykeham's approval was faint.

The races however were fixed and determined

The company came and the Weather was charming

The Lords and the Ladies were satine'd and ermined

And nobody saw any future alarming.—

But when the old Saint was informed of these doings

He made but one Spring from his Shrine to the Roof

Of the Palace which now lies so sadly in ruins

And then he addressed them all standing aloof.

'Oh! subjects rebellious! Oh Venta depraved **

When once we are buried you think we are gone

But behold me immortal! By vice you're enslaved

You have sinned and must suffer, ten farther he said

These races and revels and dissolute measures

With which you're debasing a neighboring Plain

Let them stand—You shall meet with your curse in your pleasures

Set off for your course, I'll pursue with my rain.

Ye cannot but know my command o'er July

Henceforward I'll triumph in shewing my powers

Shift your race as you will it shall never be dry

The curse upon Venta is July in showers—'.

** Jane Austen wrote this poem 3 days before she died.  Clearly she never lost her sense of humour.  However, that left her no time for checking or revision, which is no doubt why the 4th verse reads wrongly.  Most sources give the poem as above, but one corrects it like this:

'Oh! subjects rebellious! Oh Venta depraved

When once we are buried you think we are dead

But behold me immortal! By vice you're enslaved

You have sinned and must suffer' - then farther he said -

It seems highly likely that this is what Jane Austen meant to write.

Morag