The "Vicar of Bray"- Kidson 1892
[Two music versions of "Bessy Bell" and info from Frank Kidson and F. R. C.]
The "Vicar of Bray"
by Frank Kidson and F. R. C.
The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, Vol. 33, No. 588 (Feb. 1, 1892), pp. 105-106
CORRESPONDENCE.
THE " VICAR OF BRAY."
TO THE EDITOR OF "THE MUSICAL TIMES."
SIR,-The following notes respecting the above song now under discussion may be of interest to some of your readers. The air which Dr. Mee discovered in a MS. dated I752 has evidently been originally copied from a book in six volumes, published by Walsh in I734 entitled "The British Musical Miscellany; or, the Delightful Grove." A reference to this book, Vol. I., p. 30, will show that it is note for note and in the same key as the air in Dr. Mee's MS. I do not think that it is the original air to which the "Vicar of Bray" was written, but I have no proof to the contrary. The air is undoubtedly "Bessy Bell and Mary Gray," for in the ballad opera of "The Mock Doctor," printed in 1732, by John Watts, the same air is printed u nder the old title, "Bessy Bell." This copy is not merely like it, but is exactly the same except in being set a note lower in pitch. The air in question was one to a ballad before Ramsay's time, now lost (my earliest copy of Ramsay's song is in a collection by him printed for the author, 172I), and this tune was first printed in Henry Playford's" Original S cotch Tunes," 1700 and 170I. The tune printed by Playford is not identical with the one given in "The Mock Doctor," but sufficient similarity exists between them. It is found to be more similar in W. Thomson's " Orpheus Caledonius," 1725, folio, and in his octavo edition, 1733. Bremner's "Thirty S cots Songs," published in Edinburgh about 1745 (and reprinted many times afterwards, both in Edinburgh and London), has the tune as reprinted by Dr. Mee in last month's MUSICAL TIMES.
I think it is probable that Walsh, not knowing the tune (if it ever had one previously) to the "Vicar of Bray," set it to "Bessy Bell" in his "British M usical Miscellany," 1734- he afterwards republished it in his "Merry Musician, or, a Cure for the Spleen," I735, Vol. II. The air to the " Vicar of Bray" now so familiarw as originally a tune for a song called the "Country G arden," t he wordso f which appear to be lost. The " Country Garden " had two settings, of which the "Vicar of Bray" version was the " new way " as witness the following from a Flute Tutor, by Daniel Wright, circa I735-6:-
THE "COUNTRY GARDEN " (THE NEW WAY) From " The Compleat Tutor for ye Flute," by Daniel Wright, 8vo, circa 1735.
As far as my researches have gone, I don't find the " Vicar of Bray " united to its now popular air before late in the eighteenth century; not, I believe, prior to the song of the " Neglected Tar," by Edward Rushton, of Liverpool, which, set to a version of the same air, made it popular. Respecting the words of the song, Chappell, quoting Nichols, tells us that the song "Vicar of Bray" was written by a soldier in George I.'s reign; I have now to claim another authorship for it. In a copy of a book published in Queen Anne's reign, called 4' Miscellaneous writings in verse and prose, both serious and comical . . . by Mr. Edward Ward, Vol. III., the second edition, with large additions and amendments. London, I7I2." 8vo, at page 32I iS the following poem in eighteen verses, some of which are here reproduced:-
THE RELIGIOUS TURNCOAT; OR, THE TRIMMING PARSON.
I lov'd no king in Forty-one
When Prelacy went down
A cloak and band I then put on
And preach'd against the Crown.
Chorus- A Turncoat is a cunning man
That cants to admiration
And prays for any side to gain
The people's approbation.
. . . . . .
When Charles return'd into the land
The Iinglish Crown's supporter
I shifted oS my cloak and band,
And then became a Courtier.
Chorus- A Turncoat, &c.
The King's religion I profest
And found there svas no harm in't -
I cog'd and flatter'd like the rest
Till I had got preferment.
Chorus- A Turncoat, &c.
. . . . . .
When Royal James began his reign,
And mass was us'd in common
I shifted off my faith again
And then became a Roman.
Chorus- A Turncoat, &c.
. . . . . .
When William had possess'd the throne
And cur'd the nation's grievance
New principles I then put on,
And swore to hinz allegiance.
Chorus- A Turncoat, &c.
. . . . . .
But when Queen Anne the throne posseslt
I then to save my bacon,
Turn'd High Church, thinking that was best
But found myself mistaken.
Chorus- A Turncoat, &c.
. . . . . .
Therefore, all you, both high and low
Let me for once direct ye,
Serve no cause longer than you know
The party can protect you.
Chorus- A Turncoat, &c.
The " Vicar of Bray " is laid a generation later than the foregoing, but whoever was its author he has been indebted to Ward's song. Who Ned Ward was? and how he was pilloried by Pope in the " Dunciad," is out of the present question.
I have not sent copies of the airs I have referred to above, as I do not wish to take up valuable space, but can do so either privately or through your paper should it be desired.-
I am, yours truly,
FRANK KIDSON.
I2S, Burley Road, Leeds.
P.S.-I also find Dr. Mee's version of the " Vicar of Bray " in an early engraved musical broadside, circa I735-40, in my possession. It is entitled " The Vicar of Bray set for the German Flute. " No publisher's or engraver's name is attached.
TO THE EDITOR OF "THE MUSICAL TIMES."
SIR, - The following facts regarding the air of "Bessy Bell and Mary Gray " may be of interest to Mr. Mee. In "Songs of Scotland," edited, with notes, by George Farquhar Graham in I849-undoubtedly our best collection- the air occurs identical with that quoted by Mr. Mee from " Thirty Scots Songs," but in the key of F. Graham, in his foot-note, says " Mr. Stenhouse's note ;
upon this song is as follows: ' The first stanza of this song is old, the rest of it was written by Ramsay. Thomson adapted Ramsay's improved song to the old air in his " Orpheus Caledonius " in I725, from whence it was copied into the first volume of Watts's " Musical Miscellany," printed in London in 1729. The tune also appears in Craig's Collection, in I730, and in many others subseguent to that period.... Mr. Gay selected the tune of "Bessy Bell and Mary Gray" for one of his songs in the " Beggar's" opera, beginning, " A curse attends that woman's love who always would be pleasing," acted at London in I728." (The two young ladies thus commemorated died of the plague in the year 1645.)
The above extract proves that the origin of this melody must be sought for as a printed production a good quarter of a century earlier than the date ascribed to the flute melody first quoted by Mr. Mee; so that his surmise gains strength and probability-i.e., that the air of "Bessy Bell and Mary Gray" was the real origin of the "Dragoon's" air, and so of the "Vicar of Bray" melody.
However, I subjoin a third melody, which can be found set to English words, and entitled "Once a farmer and his wife," in the Royal Edition of "Songs of Wales," which spite of great differences in tonality, bears a marked resemblance to the two tunes under discussion in its "lilt," accent, and rhythm, and has even a still more unusual final bar.-
I am, yours very truly,
F. R. C.
WELSH AIR, "Y SAITH GYSADUR"
