1706-1712
GAY COMMENCES AUTHOR
Gay's health was improved by his stay in his native town, and presently
he returned to London, where, according to the family tradition, he
"lived for some time as a private gentleman."[1] Mr. Austin Dobson has
pointed out that this is "a statement scarcely reconcilable with the
opening in life his friends had found for him";[2] but it may be urged
against this view that Gay and his sisters had each a small
patrimony.[3] If it is assumed that he returned to the metropolis after
he came of age in September, 1706, he may have been possessed of a sum
of money, small, no doubt, but sufficient to provide him with the
necessaries of life for some little time. When his brother, Jonathan,
who had been promoted lieutenant at Cologne by Marlborough, under whom
he served at Hochstadt and elsewhere, and captain by Queen Anne,
committed suicide in 1709, after a quarrel with his colonel, John may
have inherited some further share of the paternal estate.
When Gay was one-and-twenty, ginger was hot in his mouth. Wine, woman,
and song appealed to him. It is not on record that he had any
love-affair, save those indicated in the verses in "Gay's Chair"; but
the indelicacy of many passages in his writings suggests that he was
rather intimately acquainted with the bagnios of the town. No man whose
sense of decency had not been denied could possibly have written the
verses "To a Young Lady, with some Lamphreys," and this, even after
making allowance for the freedom of the early eighteenth century. He
certainly frequented the coffee-houses of Covent Garden and Pall Mall.
Also, he roamed about the metropolis, and became learned in the highways
and byways, north and south, and east and west--a knowledge which bore
excellent fruit in "Trivia."
But I, who ne'er was bless'd by Fortune's hand,
Nor brighten'd plough-shares in paternal land.
Long in the noisy town have been immured,
Respired its smoke, and all its cares endured.
Where news and politics divide mankind,
And schemes of state involve th' uneasy mind.[4]
Gay was then, as ever, a great eater. "As the French philosopher used
to prove his existence by _cogito, ergo sum_," Congreve wrote to Pope
long after, "the greatest proof of Gay's existence is _edit, ergo
est_."[5] He ate in excess always, and not infrequently drank too
much, and for exercise had no liking, though he was not averse from a
ramble around London streets. As the years passed, he became fat, but
found comfort in the fact that some of his intimates were yet more
corpulent. To this, he made humorous reference in "Mr. Pope's Welcome
from Greece":--
And wondering Maine so fat, with laughing eyes,
(Gay, Maine and Cheney,[6] boon companions dear,
Gay fat, Maine fatter, and Cheney huge of size).
Gay had a passion for finery. To this foible Pope, in the early days of
his acquaintance with the young man, made reference in a letter to
Swift, December 8th, 1713: "One Mr. Gay, an unhappy youth, who writes
pastorals during the time of Divine Service, whose case is the more
deplorable, as he hath miserably lavished away all that silver he should
have reserved for his soul's health, in buttons and loops for his
coat." Gay was not only well aware of this weakness, but he deplored it,
though he could never contrive to overcome it. He made allusion to it in
some lines known as the "Epigrammatical Petition," addressed to Lord
Oxford,[7] in June, 1714, and also in the prologue to "The Shepherd's
Week":--
I sold my sheep and lambkins too,
For silver loops and garments blue:
My boxen hautboy sweet of sound,
For lace that edged mine hat around;
For Lightfoot and my scrip I got
A gorgeous sword, and eke a knot.
Gay now renewed his acquaintance with his old schoolfellow, Aaron
Hill, who, it is said, though on doubtful authority, employed him as
an amanuensis when setting on foot the project of answering questions
in a paper, styled the _British Apollo, or, Curious Amusements for the
Ingenious_.[8] The first number of this publication appeared on March
13th, 1708, and it was issued on Wednesdays and Fridays until March
16th, 1711. Gay referred to it in his pamphlet, "The Present State of
Wit," published in May 1711: "Upon a review of my letter, I find I
have quite forgotten the _British Apollo_, which might possibly have
happened from its having of late retreated out of this end of the town
into the country, where I am informed, however, that it still
recommends itself by deciding wagers at cards and giving good advice
to shopkeepers and their apprentices." Whether or no Gay ever
contributed to the _British Apollo_, it seems likely that it was
through the good offices of Hill that in May, 1708, Gay's poem,
"Wine," was published by William Keble at the Black-Spread-eagle in
Westminster Hall, who, about the same time, brought out a translation
by Nahum Tate, the Poet Laureate, and Hill, of a portion of the
thirteenth book of Ovid's "Metamorphoses."
"Wine," a subject on which Gay, even at the age of twenty-two, could
write with some authority, secured a sufficient popularity to be paid
the doubtful compliment of piracy in 1709, by Henry Hill, of
Blackfriars, on whom presently the author neatly revenged himself in his
verses, "On a Miscellany of Poems to Bernard Lintott," by the following
reference:--
While neat old Elzevir is reckon'd better
Than Pirate Hill's brown sheets and scurvy letter.
This blank-verse poem, which may have been suggested by John Philips'
"Cider," published in 1708, is written in the mock-heroic strain, and
although it has no particular value, shows some sense of humorous
exaggeration, of which Gay was presently to show himself a master.
Of happiness terrestrial, and the source
Whence human pleasures flow, sing, Heavenly Muse,
Of sparkling juices, of th' enlivening grape,
Whose quick'ning taste adds vigour to the soul.
Whose sov'reign power revives decaying Nature,
And thaws the frozen blood of hoary age,
A kindly warmth diffusing--youthful fires
Gild his dim eyes, and paint with ruddy hue
His wrinkled visage, ghastly wan before--
Cordial restorative to mortal man,
With copious hand by bounteous gods bestow'd.
These are the opening lines. The concluding passage describing the
tippling revellers leaving the tavern suggests, as has more than once
been pointed out, the hand that afterwards wrote "Trivia."
Thus we the winged hours in harmless mirth
And joys unsullied pass, till humid night
Has half her race perform'd; now all abroad
Is hush'd and silent, now the rumbling noise
Of coach or cart, or smoky link-boy's call
Is heard--but universal Silence reigns:
When we in merry plight, airy and gay.
Surprised to find the hours so swiftly fly.
With hasty knock, or twang of pendent cord.
Alarm the drowsy youth from slumb'ring nod;
Startled he flies, and stumbles o'er the stairs
Erroneous, and with busy knuckles plies
His yet clung eyelids, and with stagg'ring reel
Enters confused, and muttering asks our wills;
When we with liberal hand the score discharge,
And homeward each his course with steady step
Unerring steers, of cares and coin bereft.
So far as is known, Gay preserved a profound silence for three years
after his publication of "Wine," and then, on May 3rd, 1711, appeared
from his pen, "The Present State of Wit, in a Letter to a Friend in
the Country," sold at the reasonable price of three-pence. This
attracted the attention of Swift. "Dr. Freind[9] ... pulled out a
two-penny pamphlet just published, called 'The State of Wit', giving
the characters of all the papers that have come out of late," he wrote
in the "Journal to Stella," May 12: "The author seems to be a Whig,
yet he speaks very highly of a paper called the _Examiner_, and says
the supposed author of it is Dr. Swift. But, above all things, he
praises the _Tatlers_ and _Spectators_, and I believe Steele and
Addison were privy to the printing of it. Thus is one treated by the
impudent dogs." In this unambitious little sketch, as the author puts
it, he gives "the histories and characters of all our periodical
papers, whether monthly, weekly or diurnal," and it is, therefore, of
value to the student of the early days of English journalism. He
claimed to write without political bias: "I shall only promise that,
as you know, I never cared one farthing either for Whig or Tory, so I
shall consider our writers purely as they are such, without any
respect to which party they belong." In "The Present State of Wit"
most of the better-known periodical writers are introduced. Dr.
William King is mentioned, not he who was the Archbishop of Dublin,
nor he who was the Principal of St. Mary Hall, Oxford, but he of whom
it was said that he "could write verses in a tavern three hours after
he could not speak," who was the author of the "Art of Cookery" and
the "Art of Love," and who in 1709 had fluttered the scientific
dovecotes by parodying the "Philosophical Transactions" in the _Useful
Transactions in Philosophy and Other Sorts of Learning_, of which,
however, only three numbers were issued. John Ozell was pilloried as
the author of the _Monthly Amusement_, which was not, as the title
suggests, a periodical, but was merely a title invented to summarise
his frequent appearances in print. "It is generally some French novel
or play, indifferently translated, it is more or less taken notice of,
as the original piece is more or less agreeable." Defoe takes his
place in the gallery as the editor and principal contributor to the
weekly _Poor Review_, that is, the _Weekly Review_ (which was
published weekly from February 19th, 1704, until 1712) which, says
Gay, "is quite exhausted and grown so very contemptible, that though
he has provoked all his brothers of the quill round, none of them will
enter into a controversy with him."
The periodical publications of the day are passed under review: the
_Observer_, founded in 1702 by John Tutchin, and after his death five
years later, conducted by George Ridpath, editor of the _Flying Post_,
until 1712, when it had almost entirely ceased to please, and was
finally extinguished by the Stamp Tax; the weekly _Examiner_, set up
in August, 1710, in opposition to the Whig _Taller_, numbering among
its contributors Dr. King, St. John, Prior, Atterbury, and Freind, and
managed by Swift from No. 14 (October 26th, 1710); the _Whig
Examiner_, the first issue of which appeared on September 14th, 1710,
its five numbers being written by Addison; the _Medley_, another Whig
paper, which ran from August, 1710, to August, 1711, and was edited by
Arthur Mainwaring, with the assistance of Steele, Oldmixon, and
Anthony Henley (a wit and a man of fortune, to whom Garth dedicated
"The Dispensary," and who distinguished himself by describing Swift as
"a beast for ever after the order of Melchisedec"). The _Tatter_,
which appeared three times a week from April 12th, 1709, to January
2nd, 1711, was of course mentioned, and well-deserved tributes were
paid to Steele and Addison. Of Addison he wrote with appreciation, but
briefly: "This is that excellent friend to whom Mr. Steele owes so
much, and who refuses to have his pen set before those pieces which
the greatest pens in England would be proud to own. Indeed, they could
hardly add to this gentleman's reputation, whose works in Latin and
English poetry long since convinced the world that he was the greatest
master in Europe of those two languages." Of Steele, Gay wrote at
greater length: "To give you my own thoughts of this gentleman's
writings, I shall, in the first place, observe that there is a noble
difference between him and all the rest of our polite and gallant
authors. The latter have endeavoured to please the age by falling in
with them, and encourage them in their fashionable views and false
notion of things. It would have been a jest, some time since, for a
man to have asserted that anything witty could be said in praise of a
married state, or that devotion and virtue were any way necessary to
the character of a fine gentleman. Bickerstaff ventured to tell the
town that they were a parcel of fops, fools and coquettes; but in such
a manner as even pleased them, and made them more than half-inclined
to believe that he spoke truth. Instead of complying with the false
sentiments and vicious tastes of the age--either in morality,
criticism, or good breeding--he has boldly assured them that they were
altogether in the wrong; and commanded them, with an authority which
perfectly well became him, to surrender themselves to his arguments
for virtue and good sense. It is incredible to conceive the effect his
writings have had on the town; how many thousand follies they have
either quite banished, or given a very great check to! how much
countenance they have added to virtue and religion! how many people
they have rendered happy, by showing them it was their own fault if
they were not so! and, lastly, how entirely they have convinced our
young fops and young fellows of the value and advantages of learning!
He has indeed rescued it out of the hands of pedants and fools, and
discovered the true method of making it amicable and lovely to all
mankind. In the dress he gives it, it is a welcome guest at tea-tables
and assemblies, and is relished and caressed by the merchants on the
'Change. Accordingly there is not a lady at Court, nor a banker in
Lombard Street who is not verily persuaded that Captain Steele is the
greatest scholar and best casuist of any man in England. Lastly, his
writings have set all our wits and men of letters on a new way of
thinking, of which they had little or no notion before: and, although
we cannot say that any of them have come up to the beauties of the
original, I think we may venture to affirm, that every one of them
writes and thinks much more justly than they did some time since."
Gay's agreeable personality secured him many friends. Not later than the
spring of 1711 he made the acquaintance of Henry Cromwell, whom he later
described as "the honest hatless Cromwell with red breeches," by whom he
was introduced to Pope, who was at this time a member of Addison's
circle, and generally recognised as a rising man of letters. Pope
evidently liked Gay, who was his senior by nearly three years, but was
as a child in worldly wisdom. On July 15th, 1711, Pope wrote to
Cromwell, "Pray give my service to all my friends, and to Mr. Gay in
particular";[10] and again, nine days later, addressing the same
correspondent, he said: "My humble services, too, to Mr. Gay, of whose
paper ['The Present State of Wit'] I have made mention to [Erasmus]
Lewis."[11] Gay, ever anxious to please those whom he liked and,
perhaps, especially those who might be of use to him, when writing the
verses, "On a Miscellany of Poems to Bernard Lintott" (which appeared in
that publisher's _Miscellany_ issued in May, 1712), eagerly took
advantage to ingratiate himself with a number of people, in so far as he
could do this by means of compliments. Gay tells the publisher that if
he will only choose his authors from "the successful bards" praised by
the author, then "praise with profit shall reward thy pains"; and--
So long shall live thy praise in books of fame,
And Tonson yield to Lintott's lofty name;
but, since an author should not praise one publisher at the expense of
another, he has already had a kindly word for that more celebrated
publisher, Jacob Tonson--"Jacob's mighty name." It may be mentioned in
passing that Gay's "Poems on Several Occasions" bear the joint imprint
of Lintott and Tonson. Gay waxed eloquent in these verses, when
writing of the other contributors to the _Miscellany_, and bestowed
praise upon his brother-poets in no measured quantity:--
Where Buckingham will condescend to give
That honour'd piece to distant times must live;
When noble Sheffield strikes the trembling strings,
The little loves rejoice and clap their wings.
Anacreon lives, they cry, th' harmonious swain }
Retunes the lyre, and tries his wonted strain, }
'Tis he,--our lost Anacreon lives again. }
But when th' illustrious poet soars above
The sportive revels of the god of love,
Like Maro's muse he takes a loftier flight,
And towers beyond the wond'ring Cupid's sight.
If thou wouldst have thy volume stand the test,
And of all others be reputed best,
Let Congreve teach the list'ning groves to mourn,
As when he wept o'er fair Pastora's urn.[12]
Let Prior's muse with soft'ning accents move,
Soft as the strain of constant Emma's love:
Or let his fancy choose some jovial theme.
As when he told Hans Carvel's jealous dream;
Prior th' admiring reader entertains,
With Chaucer's humour, and with Spenser's strains.[13]
Waller in Granville lives; when Mira sings
With Waller's hands he strikes the sounding strings.
With sprightly turns his noble genius shines,
And manly sense adorns his easy lines.
On Addison's sweet lays attention waits,
And silence guards the place while he repeats;
His muse alike on ev'ry subject charms,
Whether she paints the god of love, or arms:
In him pathetic Ovid sings again,
And Homer's "Iliad" shines in his "Campaign."
Whenever Garth shall raise his sprightly song,
Sense flows in easy numbers from his tongue;
Great Phoebus in his learned son we see,
Alike in physic, as in poetry.
When Pope's harmonious muse with pleasure roves,
Amidst the plains, the murm'ring streams and groves.
Attentive Echo, pleased to hear his songs,
Thro' the glad shade each warbling note prolongs;
His various numbers charm our ravish'd ears, }
His steady judgment far out-shoots his years, }
And early in the youth the god appears. }
It was in reference to these complimentary lines (which Pope saw in
manuscript) that, on December 21st, 1711, Pope wrote to Cromwell: "I
will willingly return Mr. Gay my thanks for the favour of his poem, and
in particular for his kind mention of me."[14] That letter is
interesting also as being the last exchanged between Pope and his old
friend; and it is instructive, as showing how the acquaintance between
the poets was already ripening, that Pope turned to Gay in his distress
at the defection of his earlier friend. "Our friend, Mr. Cromwell, too,
has been silent all this year. I believe he has been displeased at some
or other of my freedoms, which I very innocently take, and most with
those I think my friends," he wrote to Gay on November 13th, 1712. "But
this I know nothing of; perhaps he may have opened to you, and if I know
you right, you are of a temper to cement friendships, and not to divide
them. I really very much love Mr. Cromwell, and have a true affection
for yourself, which, if I had any interest in the world, or power with
those who have, I should not be long without manifesting to you."[15]
If Pope had lost the friendship of Henry Cromwell, he was certainly
anxious to strengthen the bond that was beginning to be forged between
himself and Gay, to whom he wrote again: "I desire you will not, either
out of modesty, or a vicious distrust of another's value for you--those
two eternal foes to merit--imagine that your letters and conversation
are not always welcome to me. There is no man more entirely fond of
good-nature or ingenuity than myself, and I have seen too much of these
qualities in Mr. Gay to be anything less than his most affectionate
friend and real servant."[16] That the intimacy between the poets waxed
apace is evident, for when Pope wrote "A Farewell to London in the year
1715," the concluding stanza was:--
Adieu to all but Gay alone.
Whose soul, sincere and free.
Loves all mankind, but flatters none.
And so may starve with me.
[Footnote 1: _Gay's Chair_, p. 13.]
[Footnote 2: _Dictionary of National Biography._]
[Footnote 3: _Gay's Chair._]
[Footnote 4: _Rural Sports_.]
[Footnote 5: Spence: _Anecdotes_ (ed. Singer), p. 13.]
[Footnote 6: George Cheyne (1671-1743), physician, practised first at
London, and then at Bath.]
[Footnote 7: "The Epigrammatical Petition" is printed on p. 29 of this
work,]
[Footnote 8: "_Key to 'Three Hours after Marriage_,'" p. 7.]
[Footnote 9: John Freind (1675-1728), physician.]
[Footnote 10: Pope: _Works_ (ed. Elwin and Courthope), VI, p. 123.]
[Footnote 11: _Ibid_., VI, p. 124.]
[Footnote 12: A reference to "The Mourning Muse of Alexis: A Pastoral
Lamentary on the Death of Queen Mary." In this piece the Queen is spoken
of as "Pastora."]
[Footnote 13: The references are to "Henry and Emma" and "Hans Carvel."]
[Footnote 14: Pope: _Works_ (ed. Elwin and Courthope), VI, p. 130.]
[Footnote 15: Pope: _Works_ (ed. Elwin and Courthope), VII, p. 408.]
[Footnote 16: _Ibid_., VII, p. 409.]