Poem by Anonymous

The Vicar of Bray

IN good King Charles’s golden days,
  When loyalty no harm meant,
A zealous high-churchman was I,
  And so I got preferment.
To teach my flock I never missed:
  Kings were by God appointed.
And lost are those who dare resist
  Or touch the Lord’s anointed.
      And this is the law that I ’ll maintain
        Until my dying day, sir,
      That whatsoever king shall reign,
        Still I ’ll be the Vicar of Bray, sir.

When royal James possessed the crown,
  And popery grew in fashion,
The penal laws I hooted down,
  And read the declaration;
The Church of Rome I found would fit
  Full well my constitution;
And I had been a Jesuit
  But for the revolution.
      And this is the law that I ’ll maintain, etc.

When William was our king declared,
  To ease the nation’s grievance;
With this new wind about I steered,
  And swore to him allegiance;
Old principles I did revoke,
  Set conscience at a distance;
Passive obedience a joke,
  A jest was non-resistance.
      And this is the law that I ’ll maintain, etc.

When royal Anne became our queen,
  The Church of England’s glory,
Another face of things was seen,
  And I became a Tory;
Occasional conformists base,
  I blamed their moderation,
And thought the church in danger was,
  By such prevarication.
      And this is the law that I ’ll maintain, etc.

When George in pudding-time came o’er,
  And moderate men looked big, sir,
My principles I changed once more,
  And so became a Whig, sir;
And thus preferment I procured
  From our new faith’s defender;
And almost every day abjured
  The Pope and the Pretender.
      And this is the law that I ’ll maintain, etc.

The illustrious house of Hanover,
  And Protestant succession,
To these I do allegiance swear,
  While they can keep possession:
For in my faith and loyalty,
  I nevermore will falter;
And George my lawful king shall be,
  Until the times do alter.
      And this is the law that I ’ll maintain, etc.

1. Gathering of Atholl
2. The Banks o’ Glaizart
3. Fare Ye Weel, My Auld Wife
4. The Aisle of Tombs
5. Sir Richard Whittington’s Advancement

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