Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79.
The Vicar of Bray
By AnonymousI
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.