“Yes, and it’s hard on such a pretty village to have had such a bad parson,” said the Doctor.
“I say, Doctor, give us the ‘Vicar of Bray,’ now, it will set off some of the singing birds at the other end of the booth; I can see they’re getting into prime piping order.”
“Very good, if you like it,” said the Doctor, pushing away his plate, and taking a finishing pull at his pewter, “only the song is in print, I know, somewhere; so you mustn’t think you’ve found much of a prize, Sir,” added he to me, for my use of pencil and note-book hadn’t escaped him.
“No, Sir,” said I; “but I should like to hear it, of all things.”
So the Doctor, without further preface, began in his jolly clear voice—
THE VICAR OF BRAY.
In good King Charles’s golden days,
When loyalty had no harm in’t,
A zealous High-Church man I was,