Vicar of Bray

British  

/ breɪ /

noun

1. a vicar (Simon Aleyn) appointed to the parish of Bray in Berkshire during Henry VIII's reign who changed his faith to Catholic when Mary I was on the throne and back to Protestant when Elizabeth I succeeded and so retained his living

2. Also called: In Good King Charles's Golden Days.  a ballad in which the vicar's changes of faith are transposed to the Stuart period

3. a person who changes his or her views or allegiances in accordance with what is suitable at the time

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Example Sentences

I should think that such an instance has never been known since that good old parson who sung, 'Whatsoever king may reign, Still I'll be Vicar of Bray, Sir.'

From Ireland as It Is And as It Would be Under Home Rule by Buckley, Robert John

As the document reaches us, it appears to have been “mitigated” by Lethington and Wynram, the Vicar of Bray of the Reformation. 

From John Knox and the Reformation by Lang, Andrew

I took up my bottle, disdaining to stay, And said—"Here's a health to the Vicar of Bray," And cocked up my beaver, and—strutted away.

From The Poems of Philip Freneau, Volume II (of III) by Freneau, Philip

This is the prototype of "The Vicar of Bray," and Mr. Kidson tells us that he has it in an old book of airs under the more ancient title.

From The Morris Book, Part 1 A History of Morris Dancing, With a Description of Eleven Dances as Performed by the Morris-Men of England by Sharp, Cecil J.

This was probably the tenor of the sermons of the Vicar of Bray, and this was the way that he strove to save souls.

From From the Easy Chair, series 2 by Curtis, George William