1.
In good king Charles’s golden days,
When loyalty no harm meant,
A furious high church man I was,
And so I gained preferment.
Unto my flock I daily preached
Kings are by God appointed,
And damned are those who dare resist,
Or touch the Lord’s anointed.
Chorus:
And this is law, I will maintain
Unto my dying day, sir,
That whatsoever king shall reign,
I will be vicar of Bray, sir!
2.
When royal James possessed the crown,
And popery grew in fashion,
The penal law 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.
Chorus
3.
When William our deliverer came
To heal the nation’s grievance,
I turned the cat in pan again,
And swore to him allegiance.
Old principles I did revoke;
Set conscience at a distance;
Passive obedience is a joke;
A jest is nonresistance.
Chorus
4.
When glorious 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 damned and moderation,
And thought the church in danger was
From such prevarication.
Chorus
5.
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 faith’s great defender,
And almost every day abjured
The pope and the pretender.
Chorus
6.
The illustrious House of Hanover
And protestant succession,
To these I lustily will swear
Whilst they can keep possession.
For in my faith and loyalty
I never once will falter,
But George, my lawful king shall be,
Except the times should alter.
Chorus