Jane Austen on St Swithin’s Day

The day preceding her death, she composed some stanzas replete with fancy and vigour.
James Edward Austen-Leigh in the Preface to Memoir of Jane Austen

On 15 July 1817, three days before she died, Jane wrote several lines of comic verse she dictated to Cassandra. She thought the revellers of Winchester should be praying to their Saint Swithin rather than going to the races. It is said that if it rains on St Swithin’s Day, it will rain for the next forty days and forty nights. She titled the poem ‘Venta’, which was the common name for Winchester.

Venta

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 St. Swithin
And that William of Wykham’s approval was faint.

The races however were fix’d and determin’d
The company met & the weather was charming
The Lords & the Ladies were sattin’d and ermin’d
And nobody saw any future alarming.–

But when the old Saint was inform’d 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 address’d them all standing aloof.

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 sinn’d & must suffer. – Then further he said

These races & revels & 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 in 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.

It was Edward to whom Jane wrote letters to in the last months of her life, comforting him, and reassuring him that she would be well.

James Edward Austen young man — James Edward Austen Leigh as a young man (Jane Austen’s fondest nephew and son of her eldest brother James) (Public Domain)

After her death, it was Edward that wrote A Memoir of Jane Austen that contained pieces of stories, poems and letters she wrote. It received mixed reviews from the family and the public, however, as Jane’s popularity has grown, so has the popularity of her Memoirs.