Richard Penlake was a cheerful man,

Cheerful and frank and free;

But he led a sad life with Rebecca, his wife,
For a terrible shrew was she.

Richard Penlake a scolding would take,
Till patience availed no longer;

Then Richard Penlake his crab stick would take, And show her that he was the stronger.

Rebecca, his wife, had often wished

To sit in St. Michael's chair; For she should be mistress then, If she had once sat there.

It chanced that Richard Penlake fell sick;
They thought he would have died;
Rebecca, his wife, made a vow for his life,
As she knelt by his bedside.

"Now hear my prayer, St. Michael! and spare My husband's life." quoth she;

And to thine altar we will go,

Six marks to give to thee."

Richard Penlake repeated the vow,
For woundily sick was he;
"Save me, St. Michael! and we will go,
Six marks to give to thee."

When Richard grew well, Rebecca, his wife,

Teased him by night and by day;

"O mine own dear! for you I fear, If we the vow delay."

Merrily, merrily rung the bells,

The bells of St. Michael's tower,

When Richard Penlake and Rebecca, his wife, Arrived at St. Michael's door.

Six marks they on the altar laid,
And Richard knelt in prayer;
She left him to pray and stole away
To sit in St. Michael's chair.

Up the tower Rebecca ran,

Round and round and round; 'Twas a giddy sight to stand atop, And look upon the ground.

"A curse on the ringers for rocking
The tower!" Rebecca cried,

As over the church battlements
She strode with a long stride.

"A blessing on St. Michael's chair!" She said, as she sat down; Merrily, merrily rang the bells,

And out Rebecca was thrown.

Tidings to Richard Penlake were brought,

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 Richard Penlake, "Toll at her burying," quoth he;

"But don't disturb the ringers now, In compliment to me."

Among Horace Walpole's collection of curiosities at Strawberry Hill there was an article of great elegance, viz., a silver bell, which had been formed by Benvenuto Cellini for Pope Clement VII, with a rich display of carvings on the exterior, representing serpents, flies, grasshoppers, and other insects, the purpose of the bell having been to serve in a papal cursing of these animals when they, on occasion, became so troublesome as to demand that mode of castigation. It might have been a boon during the plagues in Egypt.

Bell, Book, and Candle was the name given to the ancient form of excommunication practised

in the Catholic Church. Its origin is ascribed to the eighth century. After reading the formula of excommunication the Bell is rung, the Book is closed, and the Candle extinguished to signify that the excommunicated person is excluded from the society of the faithful, from divine worship, and from participation in the sacraments. The following are the closing words:

"Cursed be they from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot. Out be they taken from the Book of Life, and as this candle is cast from the sight of men, so be their souls cut off from the sight of God, into the deepest pit of hell. Amen."

THE JACKDAW OF RHEIMS

Canon of St. Paul's, Ingoldsby Legends
RICHARD BARHAM

The Jackdaw sat on the Cardinal's chair!
Bishop, and abbot, and prior were there;

Many a monk and many a friar,

Many a knight and many a squire,

With a great many more of lesser degree,

In sooth a goodly company;

And they served the Lord Primate on bended knee. Never, I ween, was a prouder seen,

Read of in books, or dreamt of in dreams

Than the Cardinal Lord Archbishop of Rheims!