BLUEMOMENT

MrMcP's post about marinas got me wondering;

But at night, brother Howlet, far over the woods,
Toll the world to thy chantry;
Sing to the bats’ sleek sisterhoods
Full complines with gallantry:
Then, owls and bats, cowls and twats,
Monks and nuns, in a cloister’s moods,
Adjourn to the oak-stump pantry!

In the second line of this extract from Pippa Passes, did Robert Browning actually mean "chanty"?

I think it makes more sense that way.

Probably he did, a chantry being a fund to pay a priest makes little sense in that context.

He made a rather more embarassing slip in a later line. Apparently his life had been so sheltered he did not know the "normal" meaning of "twat"

Though perhaps on second thoughts, considering his sheltered life, I doubt he had ever heard a chanty.

So who knows

Nice to hear from you Olive. I wonder if this little parody by W Connolly is in Sahona's repertoire (he with the banjo...);

Take the rollers from yer hair,
Shake them loose and let them fa'.
Pit them doon by your glass eye,
In that chanty by the wa'.

Though yer teeth are black and gone,
An' yer breath smells outa sight,
I'll pit a claise peg on ma nose,
Tae help me make it through the night.

Didn't know there was a bluegrass version of that song, but will give it a go!
Better to stick to the guitar methinks.