The Vicar of Bray (song)

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"The Vicar of Bray" is a satirical song recounting the career of the Vicar of Bray and contortions of conscience in order to retain his ecclesiastic office despite the changes in the Established Church through the course of several English monarchs. The song is particularly interesting because of the number of (rather specific) allusions to to English religious and political doctrines and events crammed into it, justifying the close reading and annotation given here.

In good King Charles's golden days,

When Loyalty no harm meant;

A Furious High-Church man I was,

And so I gain'd Preferment ¹.

Unto my Flock I daily Preach'd,

Kings are by God appointed,

And Damn'd are those who dare resist,

Or touch the Lord's Anointed ².

And this is law ³, I will maintain

Unto my Dying Day, Sir.

That whatsoever King may reign,

I will be the Vicar of Bray, Sir!

When Royal James possest the crown,

And popery ⁴ grew in fashion;

The Penal Law I shouted 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 Law, &c.

When William our Deliverer came,

To heal the Nation's Grievance,

I turn'd the Cat in Pan ⁵ again,

And swore to him Allegiance:

Old Principles I did revoke,

Set conscience at a distance,

Passive Obedience is a Joke,

A Jest is ⁶ non-resistance.

And this is Law, &c.

When Royal Ann became our Queen,

Then Church of England's Glory,

Another face of things was seen,

And I became a Tory:

Occasional Conformists base

I Damn'd, and Moderation,

And thought the Church in danger was,

From such Prevarication.

And this is Law, &c.

When George in Pudding time ⁷ came o'er,

And Moderate Men looked big, Sir,

My Principles I chang'd once more,

And so became a Whig, Sir.

And thus Preferment I procur'd,

From our Faith's great Defender ⁸

And almost every day abjur'd

The Pope, and the Pretender.

And this is Law, &c.

The Illustrious House of Hannover ⁹,

And Protestant succession,

To these I lustily will swear,

Whilst they can keep possession:

For in my Faith, and Loyalty,

I never once will faulter,

But George, my lawful king shall be,

Except the Times shou'd alter.

And this is Law, &c.

Preferment

Appointment to an ecclesiastical office, or the position itself; in this case the Vicarage of Bray.

Lord's Anointed

In this case, the King, anointed (by God) in the ceremony of coronation as temporal and spiritual leader of England; it draws from the Judeo-Christian Bible, I Samuel 24.

Law

The English Church was an Established Church, meaning that it was regulated by Parliamentary law; ecclesiastics could be and were removed from office for their religious and political opinions. This is the gist of the song's satire: the Vicar of Bray accommodated his beliefs to those of the current ruler, in order to retain his ecclesiastic office.

Popery

Derogatory word referring to Roman Catholicism, as personified in the Pope; King James II was the first Catholic monarch of England since Mary I of England.

Turn'd the cat in pan

Slang, to change sides quickly and effortlessly.

"Jest is"

Some version of the song give this as "a pish on" ("a piss on").

Pudding time

"Pudding time" is dessert time. Something looked forward to.

Faith's great Defender

The Latin title Fidei defensor was first granted to King Henry VIII by the Pope, who subsequently split the English Church from Rome; thus the double irony of the song applying it to Protestant King George.

Hannover

Note archaic spelling; modern spelling is "Hanover".

References

• Source for the version of the song given here is The British Musical Miscellany, Volume I, 1734, as found in R. S. Crane, A Collection of English Poems 1660-1800, New York: Harper & Row, 1932.

• A more thorough annotation, which partially informed this one.
• Another annotation
• Yet another annotation.