Who has not heard of the _Vicar of Bray_, and his turning, turning,
and turning again? Here is his church, and a goodly tower withal, which
we, in our turn, have endeavoured to turn to the illustration of our
pages. There is no sinister motive in the selection; but if we have hit
the white, or rather the black, of such variableness, "let the galled
jade wince," and pay _the Mirror_ the stale compliment of _veluti
in speculum_.
Bray is a small village about one mile from Maidenhead, and its
name would have remained "unsaid, unsung," had it not been for its
never-enough-to-be-ridiculed Vicar. Camden supposes Bray to have been
occupied by the _Bibroci_, who submitted to Caesar, and obtained
his protection, and with it a secure possession of one of the most
beautiful spots in this county; so that submissiveness seems to have
been the very air of the place in all times. Philippa, the queen of
Edward III., had rents assigned to her from this and the adjoining manor
of Cookham. It is now considered as part of the royal domain, being
attached to the liberties of Windsor Castle, and retaining some peculiar
privileges, among which is an exemption from tolls in the adjacent
market-towns. In default of male heirs, lands are not divided here among
females of the same degree of kindred, but descend solely to the eldest.
The church is "a _spacious_ structure," says the _Windsor
Guide_, and "composed of various materials, and exhibiting a mixture
of almost every style of architecture," says the "_Beauties of England
and Wales;_" but we leave the reader to his own conclusion from our
Engraving, sketched in the summer of last year. We take for granted the
church does not change in appearance every year, if its Vicar once did
in creed.
The story of the _Vicar of Bray_ is told with some variations, but
the fact is not questioned. In the Beauties of England and Wales we read
that his name was Simon Symonds, that he possessed the benefice in the
reign of Henry VIII. and the three succeeding monarchs, and that he died
in the forty-first year of Elizabeth. "This man was twice a Protestant
and twice a Papist; and when reproached for the unsteadiness of his
principles, which could thus suffer him to veer with every change of
administration, replied, 'that he had always governed himself by what
he thought a very laudable principle, which was, never on any terms,
if he could avoid it, to part with his vicarage." This creed has been
amplified into a song, which we shall quote presently, more for its
being a good conceite than for its scarceness.
The author just quoted from the _Beauties_ observes, in a
note--"Several late writers, particularly Ireland and Ferrar, who have
mentioned the above circumstances, describe them as happening in the
reign of Charles the Second, James the Second, &c. This mistake throws
the imputation of apostacy on the worthy person who held the vicarage
towards the conclusion of the 17th century. It should be remarked, that
the story was first published by Fuller, in his Church History; and as
the author died in the year 1661, it is evident that it must have been
circulated previous to that event."
We have not the _Church History_ at hand, but Fuller, in his
_Worthies_, says, "Bray is a village well known in Barkshire, the
vivacious Vicar whereof, living under King Henry the Eighth, King Edward
the Sixth, Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth, was first a Papist, then
a Protestant, then a Papist, then a Protestant again. This Vicar being
tax't by one for being a turncoat, not so (said he) for I always kept
my principles, which is this, to live and die Vicar of Bray."