⁂ The song called _The Vicar of Bray_ was written in the reign of George I., by Colonel Fuller, or an officer in Fuller’s regiment, and does not refer to Alleyn, Pendleton, or Symonds, but to some real or imaginary person, who was vicar of Bray, from Charles II. to George I. The first verse begins: “In good King Charles’s golden days” I was a zealous high-church*-man. Ver. 2: “When royal James obtained the crown,” I found the Church of Rome would fit my constitution. Ver. 3: “When William was our king declared,” I swore to him allegiance. Ver. 4: “When gracious Anne became our queen,” I became a tory. Ver. 5: “When George, in pudding-time came o’er,” I became a whig. And “George my lawful king shall be--until the times do alter.” I have had a long chase after the vicar of Bray, on whom the proverb ... Mr. Fuller, in his _Worthies_ ... takes no notice of him.... I am informed it is Simon Alleyn or Allen who was vicar of Bray about 1540, and died, 1588.--_Brome to Rawlins_, June 14, 1735. (See _Letters from the Bodleian_, II. i. 100.) =Vicar of Wakefield= (_The_), Dr. Primrose, a simple-minded, pious clergyman, with six children. He begins life with a good fortune, a handsome house, and wealthy friends, but is reduced to utter poverty without any fault of his own, and, being reduced like Job, like Job he is restored. First, he loses his fortune through the rascality of the merchant who held it. His next great sorrow was the elopement of his eldest daughter, Olivia, with Squire Thornhill. His third was the entire destruction by fire of his house, furniture and books, together with the savings which he had laid by for his daughters’ marriage portions. His fourth was being incarcerated in the county jail by Squire Thornhill for rent, his wife and family being driven out of house and home. His fifth was the announcement that his daughter, Olivia, “was dead,” and that his daughter, Sophia, had been abducted. His sixth was the imprisonment of his eldest son, George, for sending a challenge to Squire Thornhill. His cup of sorrow was now full, and comfort was at hand: (1) Olivia was not really dead, but was said to be so in order to get the vicar to submit to the squire, and thus obtain his release. (2) His daughter, Sophia, had been rescued by Mr. Burchell (_Sir William Thornhill_), who asked her hand in marriage. (3) His son, George, was liberated from prison, and married Miss Wilmot, an heiress. (4) Olivia’s marriage to the squire, which was said to have been informal, was shown to be legal and binding. (5) The old vicar was released, re-established in his vicarage, and recovered a part of his fortune.--Goldsmith, _The Vicar of Wakefield_ (1766).