In good King Charles’s golden days,
When loyalty no harm meant,
A zealous High-Churchman I was
And so I gained preferment;
To teach my flock I ne’er did miss-
Kings are by god appointed,
And damned are those who dare resist,
Or touch the Lord’s annointed.
And this be law, I will maintain,
Until my dying day, Sir,
That whatsoever king shall reign,
Still 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:
The Church of Rome I found would fit
Full well my Constitution
And I had been a Jesuit-
But for the Revolution.
When gracious 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 scorned their moderation,
And thought the Church in danger was
>From such prevarication.
When George in pudding-time came o’er,
And moderate men looked big, Sir,
I turned the cat-in-pan once more-
And so became a Whig, Sir:
And this preferment I procured,
>From our new faith’s defender,
And almost every day abjured
The Pope and the Pretender.
The illustrious House of Hanover,
And Protestant succession,
To these I lustily will swear-
While they can keep possession:
For in my faith and loyalty
I never once will falter,
And George my lawful king shall be-
Except the times should alter.