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STORIES OF
VI.; he was a papist again under Mary, and once more became a protestant in the reign of Elizabeth. When this scandal to the cloth was reproached for his versatility of religious creeds, and taxed for being a turncoat (he had seen some martyrs burned at Windsor and doubtless found the fire too hot for his tender temper) and an inconstant changeling, as worthy old Fuller expresses it, he replied, " Not so, neither; for if I changed my religion, I am sure I kept true to my principle: which is, to live and die the Vicar of Bray!" This vivacious and reverend hero gave birth to a sort of proverb peculiar to the county of Berkshire, " The Vicar of Bray will be Vicar of Bray still." But how has it happened, demands DTsraeli in his " Curiosi-ties of Literature," that this vicar should be so notorious, and one in much higher rank, acting the same part, should have escaped notice ? Dr. Kitchen, Bishop of LandafT, an idle abbot under Henry VIIL, was made a busy bishop ; protestant under Edward, he returned to his old master under Mary; and at last took the oath of supremacy under Elizabeth, and finished as a parliament protestant. A pun spread the odium of his name; for they said that he had always loved the Kitchen better than the Church. The song was doubtless a general satire on the
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