The Vicar of Bray (Engels, 1882)

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written August 1882


Written at the end of August and the beginning of September 1882
First published in Der Sozialdemokrat, No. 37, September 7, 1882
Source: Marx Engels on Literature and Art, Progress Publishers, 1976
Published in English in full for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 24
Collection(s): Marx Engels on Literature and Art

Note from MECW vol. 24 :

This work was written by Engels in late August-early September 1882. He had promised it to Der Sozialdemokrat on August 9 (see Engels' letter to Eduard Bernstein of August 9, 1882, MECW, Vol. 46). It was printed in issue No. 37, with Engels' signature, on September 7 under the title "Der Vikar von Bray. Aus dem Englischen von Friedrich Engels". Two drafts of the translation of the song are extant (see Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 24, p.650-652). The text of the song with a footnote quoting several lines from Engels' conclusion in Der Sozialdemokrat, was also reprinted by the Vorwärts, Zurich, 1886, pp. 369-71.


In good King Charles's golden days
When loyalty no harm meant,
A zealous high-church man I was,
And so I got preferment:


To teach my flock I never miss'd,
Kings are by God appointed,
And damn'd are those that do resist.
Or touch The Lord's Anointed.
And this is law I will maintain,
Until my dying day, sir,
That whatsoever king shall reign,
I'll be the vicar of Bray, sir.


When royal James obtain'd 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 had become a Jesuit,
But for the Revolution
And this is law, &c.


When William was our King declar'd,
To case the nation's grievance;
With this new wind about I steer'd,
And swore to him allegiance:
Old principles I did revoke,
Set conscience at a distance;
Passive obedience was a joke,
A jest was non-resistance.
And this is law, &c.


When gracious Ann became our queen,
The church of England's glory,
Another face of things was seen,
And I became a tory:
Occasional conformists base,
I damn'd their moderation;
And thought the church in danger was,
By such prevarication.
And this is law, &c.


When George in pudding-time came o'er,
And moderate men look'd big, sir,
I turn'd a cat-in-pan once more,
And so became a whig, sir;
And thus preferment I procur'd
From our new faith's-defender;
And almost ev'ry day abjur'd
The Pope and the Pretender.
And this is law &c.


Th'illustrious house of Hanover,
And Protestant succession;
To these I do allegiance swear
While they can keep possession:
For in my faith and loyalty,
I never more will falter,
And George my lawful king shall be
Until the times do alter.
And this is law I will maintain,
Until my dying day, air,
That whatsoever king shall reign,
I'll be the vicar of Bray, sir![1]


The song given above is probably the only political folk song remaining popular in England for more than a hundred and sixty years. It owes this in great measure also to its wonderful tune, which is still sung widely today. Moreover, the song is far from outdated, even with regard to present-day conditions in Germany. Though, in the meantime, as is only fit and proper, we have made some progress. The good vicar of the original had only to turn his coat at every change of monarch. But we Germans have, above our many political vicars of Bray, a true Pope of Bray,[2] who demonstrates his infallibility by himself radically overturning the entire political doctrine at ever decreasing intervals. Yesterday free trade, today protective tariffs[3] ; yesterday freedom of craft, today compulsory guilds; yesterday Kulturkampf,[4] today off to Canossa[5] with flying colours—and why not? Omnia in majorem Dei gloriam (All for the greater glory of God), which in German means: everything in order to extract more taxes and more soldiers. And the poor little vicars have to go along with it; they have to "jump through the hoops", as they themselves put it again and again, and often, at that, without compensation. With what scorn our stern old vicar would look down on these puny successors of his—he, who was genuinely proud of the courage with which he maintained his position through every storm!

  1. ↑ The English poem is cited from Joseph Ritson, A Select Collection of English Songs, in three volumes, 2nd ed., Vol. II, London, 1813, pp. 141-43.
  2. ↑ A reference to Bismarck.— Ed.
  3. ↑ The campaign for the introduction of protectionist laws unfolded in Germany at the outset of the 1873 crisis. On February 15, 1876 a number of protectionist unions formed a single organisation, Centralverband Deutscher Industrieller zur Beförderung und Wahrung nationaler Arbeit. In 1876, during the agrarian crisis, big landowners, Prussian Junkers above all, joined the campaign. In October 1877 the industrial and agrarian advocates of the reform concluded an agreement. In March 1878 a non-partisan Freie wirtschaftliche Vereinigung was formed, which 204 deputies joined at the very first session of the Reichstag in September-October 1878. In December of that year, Bismarck submitted his preliminary draft of the customs reform to a specially appointed commission. On July 12, 1879 the final draft was approved by the Reichstag, and came into force on July 15. The new customs tariff provided for a substantial increase in import taxes on iron, machinery and textiles, as well as on grain, cattle, lard, flax, timber, etc.
  4. ↑ Kulturkampf (struggle for culture)—the name given by bourgeois liberals to a system of measures implemented in the 1870s by Bismarck's government under the banner of a campaign for secular culture. It was directed against the Catholic Church and the Party of the Centre. Under the pretext of the anti-Catholic struggle Bismarck's government also intensified the national oppression of the Polish lands which had fallen under Prussia's sway. With this end in view it passed laws restricting the rights of the Catholic clergy. The law of March 1872 stripped the clergy of the right to supervise school education, thus undermining the influence of the Polish clergy in this field. Education was now controlled by the Empire's officials. Additionally, by the edicts of October 26, 1872 and October 27, 1873, all schools in Posen were to use German.
  5. ↑ In 1077, the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV travelled to Canossa (a castle in Northern Italy) to beg forgiveness of Pope Gregory VII, with whom he had engaged in political struggle. Since that time, the phrase "to go to Canossa" has come to mean a humiliating capitulation. On May 14, 1872, at the time of the Kulturkampf, Bismarck declared in the Reichstag: "We shall not go to Canossa" (see Stenographische Berichte über die Verhandlungen des Deutschen Reichstages, Vol. 1, Berlin, 1872, p. 356), thus emphasising his determination to fight to the last against the Catholic clergy. However, in the late 1870s-early 1880s, in order to bring together all reactionary forces, he reconciled with the Catholic clergy and repealed nearly all the laws passed during the Kulturkampf period.