Page:Fugitive Poetry 1600-1878.djvu/369
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THE VICAR OF BRAY.
351
When you hear the trumpet's sound
Tuttle taitie to the drums;
Up wi' swords and down your guns,
And to the loons again.
Fill, fill, &c.
Tuttle taitie to the drums;
Up wi' swords and down your guns,
And to the loons again.
Fill, fill, &c.
Here's to the King o' Swede!
Fresh laurels crown his head!
Shame fa' every sneaking blade,
That winna do't again!
Fill, fill, &c.
Fresh laurels crown his head!
Shame fa' every sneaking blade,
That winna do't again!
Fill, fill, &c.
But to make a' things right, now
He that drinks maun fight, too,
To show his heart's upright, too,
And that he'll do't again!
Fill, fill, &c.
He that drinks maun fight, too,
To show his heart's upright, too,
And that he'll do't again!
Fill, fill, &c.
The Vicar of Bray.
The village of Bray, in Berkshire, was celebrated for the vacillation of principles displayed by one of its incumbents, and "The Vicar of Bray" has now become a proverbial expression for a man who can alter his opinions and views so as to suit the times. According to Thomas Fuller, the Vicar of Bray retained his living under Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth, being first a Papist, then a Protestant, then a Papist, then a Protestant again. This song is supposed to have been written by a soldier in Colonel Fuller's troop of dragoons, in the reign of George I.
In good King Charles's golden days,
When loyalty no harm meant,
A zealous high Churchman I was,
And so I got preferment:
To teach my flocks I never missed,
Kings are by God appointed;
Ami damned are those that do resist,
Or touch the Lord's anointed.
And this is law I will maintain
Until my dying day, sir,
That whatsoever king shall reign,
I'll be the Vicar of Bray, sir.
When loyalty no harm meant,
A zealous high Churchman I was,
And so I got preferment:
To teach my flocks I never missed,
Kings are by God appointed;
Ami damned are those that do resist,
Or touch the Lord's anointed.
And this is law I will maintain
Until my dying day, sir,
That whatsoever king shall reign,
I'll be the Vicar of Bray, sir.
When royal James obtained the crown,
And Popery came in fashion,
The penal laws I hooted down,
And read the Declaration;
And Popery came in fashion,
The penal laws I hooted down,
And read the Declaration;