| |
| IN good King Charles’s golden days, | |
| When loyalty no harm meant, | |
| A zealous high-churchman was I, | |
| And so I got preferment. | |
| To teach my flock I never missed: | 5 |
| 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, | 10 |
| That whatsoever king shall reign, | |
| Still I ’ll be the Vicar of Bray, sir. | |
| |
| When royal James possessed the crown, | |
| And popery grew in fashion, | |
| The penal laws I hooted down, | 15 |
| 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. | 20 |
| And this is the law that I ’ll maintain, etc. | |
| |
| When William was our king declared, | |
| To ease the nation’s grievance; | |
| With this new wind about I steered, | |
| And swore to him allegiance; | 25 |
| 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. | 30 |
| |
| When royal Anne became our queen, | |
| The Church of England’s glory, | |
| Another face of things was seen, | |
| And I became a Tory; | |
| Occasional conformists base, | 35 |
| I blamed their moderation, | |
| And thought the church in danger was, | |
| By such prevarication. | |
| And this is the law that I ’ll maintain, etc. | |
| |
| When George in pudding-time came o’er, | 40 |
| 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; | 45 |
| And almost every day abjured | |
| The Pope and the Pretender. | |
| And this is the law that I ’ll maintain, etc. | |
| |
| The illustrious house of Hanover, | |
| And Protestant succession, | 50 |
| 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, | 55 |
| Until the times do alter. | |
| And this is the law that I ’ll maintain, etc. | |
| |
