BRAY, a village in Berkshire, England, situated on the right bank of the Thames near Maidenhead. There are numerous river side residences in the locality. The name is celebrated as that of a well-known ballad, "The Vicar of Bray," which tells how a vicar held his position by easy conversions of faith according to neces sity, from the days of Charles II. until the accession of George I. Tradition ascribes the song to George I.'s reign, but the story is usually supposed to have first grown around Simon Aleyn, who remained vicar from 154o to I 588. Population of parish of Bray (1921) 3,8o3.