1715-1719
"The What D'ye Call It"--An Epistle to the Right Honourable the
Earl of Burlington--"Trivia, or, The Art of Walking the Streets of
London"--"Three Hours After Marriage."
Undismayed by the failure of his first play, "The Wife of Bath," Gay
made another bid for theatrical success with "The What D'ye Call It,"
which was performed at Drury Lane Theatre in February, 1715, and
published in March of that year. In the preface Gay wrote: "I have not
called it a tragedy, comedy, pastoral, or farce, but left the name
entirely undetermined in the doubtful appellation of 'The What D'ye Call
It' ... but I added to it 'A Tragi-Comi-Pastoral Farce,' as it contained
all these several kinds of drama." Pope saw the play and wrote about it
to Congreve, March 19th, 1715: "The farce of 'The What D'ye Call It' has
occasioned many different speculations in the town, some looking upon it
as a mere jest upon the tragic poets, others as a satire upon the late
war. Mr. Cromwell, hearing none of the words, and seeing the action to
be tragical, was much astonished to find the audience laugh, and says
the Prince and Princess [of Wales] must doubtless be under no less
amazement on the same account. Several Templars and others of the more
vociferous kind of critics went with a resolution to hiss, and confessed
they were forced to laugh so much that they forgot the design they came
with. The Court in general has come in a very particular manner into the
jest, and the three nights, notwithstanding two of them were Court
nights, were distinguished by very full audiences of the first quality.
The common people of the pit and gallery received it at first with great
gravity and sedateness, and some few with tears; but after the third day
they also took the hint, and have ever since been very loud in their
claps. There are still sober men who cannot be of the general opinion,
but the laughers are so much the majority that one or two critics seemed
determined to undeceive the town at their proper cost, by writing
dissertations against it to encourage them in this laudable design. It
is resolved a preface shall be prefixed to the farce, in vindication of
the nature and dignity of this new way of writing."[1] The fact is that,
as Johnson put it, "the images were comic and the action grave," and
there were many mock-heroic passages which parodied tragedies, including
Addison's "Cato" and Otway's "Venice Preserved," well-known in that day.
Also it contained several ballads, of which perhaps the best is "'Twas
when the seas were roaring" (Act II., Scene 8).
"The What D'ye Call It" was not a piece of much value, but it pleased
the audience, and Gay was highly delighted. "Now my benefit night is
over, it should be my first care to return my thanks to those to whom I
am mostly obliged, and the civilities I have always received from you,
and upon this occasion too, claims this acknowledgment," the author
wrote to Caryll on March 3rd: "'The What D'ye Call It' met with more
success than could be expected from a thing so out of the common taste
of the town. It has been played already five nights, and the galleries,
who did not know at first what to make of it, now enter thoroughly into
the humour, and it seems to please in general better than at first. The
parts in general were not so well played as I could have wished, and in
particular the part of Filbert, to speak in the style of the French
Gazette. Penkethman did wonders; Mrs. Bicknell performed miraculously,
and there was much honour gained by Miss Younger, though she was but a
parish child."[2] Filbert was played by Johnson, Jonas Dock by
Penkethman, Joyce ("Peascod's daughter, left upon the parish") by Miss
Younger, and Kitty by Mrs. Bicknell, mentioned by the author in "Mr.
Pope's Welcome from Greece":--
And frolic Bicknell, and her sister young.
The welcome given by the public to the play brought in its train some
annoyance to the author: "I find success, even in the most trivial
things, raises the indignation of scribblers," he wrote to Parnell on
March 18th, "for I, for my 'What D'ye Call It' could neither escape the
fury of Mr. Burnet or the German doctor. Then, where will rage end when
Homer is to be translated? Let Zoilus hasten to your friend's
assistance, and envious criticism shall be no more."[3] A more biting
attack than that of Thomas Burnet's _Grumbler_ (No. 1, February 14th,
1715) or that of Philip Horneck in "The High German Doctor" was the "Key
to 'The What D'ye Call It,'" written by the actor Griffin in
collaboration with Lewis Theobald. About this Gay wrote to Caryll in
April: "There is a sixpenny criticism lately published upon the tragedy
of 'The What D'ye Call It,' wherein he with much judgment and learning
calls me a blockhead and Mr. Pope a knave. His grand charge is against
'The Pilgrim's Progress' being read, which, he says, is directly
levelled at Cato's reading Plato. To back this censure he goes on to
tell you that 'The Pilgrim's Progress' being mentioned to be the eighth
edition makes the reflection evident, the tragedy of 'Cato' being just
eight times printed. He has also endeavoured to show that every
particular passage of the play alludes to some fine part of the tragedy,
which he says I have injudiciously and profanely abused."[4]
Still, Gay could really afford to laugh at those who attacked or
parodied him, for the play brought him, if not fame, at least
notoriety. It also brought him some much-needed money. Pope told Caryll
in March that Gay "will have made about £100 out of this farce"; and it
is known that for the publishing rights Lintott gave him on February
14th £16 2s. 6d.
Gay, now a popular dramatist as well as an intimate friend of many of
the leading men in literary circles, became known to people of high
social rank, who, like his brethren of the pen, took him up and made a
pet of him. In the summer of 1715 Lord Burlington, the "generous
Burlington" of "Mr. Pope's Welcome from Greece," invited him to
accompany him to Devonshire, and Gay repaid the compliment by describing
his "Visit to Exeter" in a poetical "Epistle to the Right Honourable the
Earl of Burlington," the first lines of which are:--
While you, my Lord, bid stately piles ascend,
Or in your Chiswick bowers enjoy your friend;
Where Pope unloads the boughs within his reach,
The purple vine, blue plum, and blushing peach;
I journey far.--You know fat bards might tire.
And, mounted, sent me forth your trusty squire.
During his stay in Devonshire Gay began the composition of "Trivia, or
The Art of Walking the Streets of London." It was to this that Pope made
allusion when writing to Caryll, January 10th, 1716: "Gay's poem [is]
just on the brink of the press, which we have had the interest to
procure him subscription of a guinea a book to a tolerable number. I
believe it may be worth £150 to him on the whole."[5] In addition to the
subscriptions, Gay received from Lintott £43 for the copyright of the
book, the copies of which were sold to the public at one shilling and
sixpence each; and as, with humorous exaggeration, Arbuthnot wrote to
Parnell: "Gay has got as much money by his 'Art of Walking the Streets'
that he is ready to set up his equipage; he is just going to the bank to
negotiate some exchange bills."[6] The "Advertisement" prefaced to the
poem runs:--
"The world, I believe, will take so little notice of me that I need not
take much of it. The critics may see by this poem that I walk on foot,
which probably may save me from their envy. I should be sorry to raise
that passion in men whom I am so much obliged to, since they allowed me
an honour hitherto only shown to better writers: that of denying me to
be author of my own works. I am sensible this must be done in pure
generosity; because whoever writ them, provided they did not themselves,
they are still in the same condition. Gentlemen, if there be any thing
in this poem good enough to displease you, and if it be any advantage to
you to ascribe it to some person of greater merit, I shall acquaint you
for your comfort, that among many other obligations, I owe several hints
of it to Dr. Swift. And if you will so far continue your favour as to
write against it, I beg you to oblige me in accepting the following
motto:--
--Non tu, in triviis, indocte, solebas
Stridenti miserum stipula disperdere carmen?"
Whether Swift gave any direct assistance is doubtful. Mr. Austin
Dobson thinks that it is not improbable that "Trivia" was actually
suggested by the "Morning" and "City Shower" which Swift had
previously contributed to Steele's _Tatler_. Probably these are among
the "several hints" which Gay had in mind.
"Trivia" was published on January 26th, 1716, and was the one
outstanding feature in the year in the biography of Gay. In the
following March 26th there appeared a volume of "Court Poems,"
published by J. Roberts, who advertised them as from the pen of Pope,
though the preface makes the authorship doubtful between Pope, Gay,
and a Lady of quality, who was Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. To the
volume Lady Mary Wortley Montagu contributed "The Drawing Room," Pope
"The Basset Table," and Gay "The Toilet." This last has been
attributed to Lady Mary, and it has actually been printed among her
poems; but, according to Pope, it is "almost wholly Gay's," there
being "only five or six lines in it by that lady."
In 1716 Gay paid a second visit to Devonshire, and during the year he
composed the "sober eclogue," "The Espousal," which probably arose out
of a suggestion of Swift. "There is an ingenious Quaker[7] in this
town, who writes verses to his mistress, not very correct, but in a
strain purely what a poetical Quaker should do, commending her looks
and habit, etc." Swift wrote to Pope on August 30th, 1716: "It gave me
a hint that a set of Quaker pastorals might succeed if our friend Gay
could fancy it, and I think it a fruitful subject. Pray hear what he
says. I believe farther, the pastoral ridicule is not exhausted, and
that a porter, footman, or chairman's pastoral might do well; or what
think you of a Newgate pastoral, among the whores and thieves
there?"[8] This letter is of especial importance in the biography of
Gay, as it may well have sown in his mind the seed of "The Beggar's
Opera."
About this time Gay was labouring on another play, "Three Hours After
Marriage," which he wrote in collaboration with Pope and Arbuthnot. It
is a sorry piece of work, and unworthy of any one, much less of the
three distinguished men associated in the authorship. In the Epilogue
it is written:--
Join then your voices, be the play excused
For once, though no one living is abused;
but as a matter of fact one purpose of the play was, as Dr. Johnson
said, "to bring into contempt Dr. Woodward, the fossilist, a man not
really or justly contemptible." Woodward was the author of a "History of
Fossils," and his name survives in the Woodwardian Professorship of
Geology at Cambridge. He was introduced as Dr. Cornelius in "Martin
Scriblerus":--
Who nature's treasures would explore,
Her mysteries and arcana know.
Must high as lofty Newton soar,
Must stoop as delving Woodward low.
The bridegroom in the play is called Fossile, and there was no mistaking
the intention. Dr. Woodward had many friends, and these made known their
disgust in the most unmistakable manner when "Three Hours After
Marriage" was produced on January 16th, 1717, at Drury Lane Theatre. It
ran for seven nights. "It had the fate which such outrages deserved,"
Dr. Johnson has written; "the scene in which Woodward was directly and
apparently ridiculed by the introduction of a mummy and a crocodile,
disgusted the audience, and the performance was driven off the stage
with general condemnation."[9] The farce was not only dull, it was
vulgar. And the geologist (played by Johnson) was not the only person
introduced for the purpose of ridicule. Dennis was brought in as Sir
Tremendous, and it was believed that Phoebe Clinket (played by Mrs.
Bicknell) was intended for Anne Finch, Countess of Winchelsea, who, says
Mr. Austin Dobson, "was alleged to have spoken contemptuously of Gay."
Of this farce, Mr. Dobson writes: "It is perhaps fairer to say that he
bore the blame, than that he is justly charged with its errors of
taste"; and it is very probable that, while Gay generously accepted
responsibility, Pope and Arbuthnot were equally culpable. "Too late I
see, and confess myself mistaken in relation to the comedy; yet I do not
think had I followed your advice and only introduced the mummy, that the
absence of the crocodile had saved it," Gay wrote to Pope. "I cannot
help laughing myself (though the vulgar do not consider it was designed
to look ridiculous) to think how the poor monster and mummy were dashed
at their reception; and when the cry was loudest I thought that if the
thing had been written by another I should have deemed the town in some
measure mistaken; and, as to your apprehension that this may do us
future injury, do not think it; the Doctor [Arbuthnot] has a more
valuable name than can be hurt by anything of this nature, and yours is
doubly safe. I will, if any shame there be, take it all to myself, as
indeed I ought, the notion being first mine, and never heartily approved
of by you.... I beg of you not to suffer this, or anything else, to hurt
your health. As I have publicly said that I was assisted by two friends,
I shall still continue in the same story, professing obstinate silence
about Dr. Arbuthnot and yourself."[10]
The publication in book form of "Three Hours After Marriage" by Lintott,
who paid £16 2s. 6d. for the copyright, a few days after the production,
did nothing to arrest the torrent of abuse. "Gay's play, among the rest,
has cost much time and long suffering to stem a tide of malice and
party, that certain authors have raised against it," Pope wrote to
Parnell. Amongst those foremost among the attackers was Addison, who
perhaps had not forgotten or forgiven the parody of some of the lines in
his play "Cato," which was introduced by Gay in "The What D'ye Call It."
Gay, the most easy-going of men, was always stirred by criticism, and in
this case he, with unusual energy, sat down to reply to his detractors.
"Mr. Addison and his friends had exclaimed so much against Gay's 'Three
Hours After Marriage' for obscenities, that it provoked him to write 'A
Letter from a Lady in the City to a Lady in the Country' on that
subject," so runs a passage in Spence's Anecdotes of Pope. "In it he
quoted the passages which had been most exclaimed against, and opposed
other passages to them from Addison's and Steele's plays. These were
aggravated in the same manner that they served his, and appeared worse.
Had it been published it would have made Addison appear ridiculous,
which he could bear as little as any man. I therefore prevailed upon
Gay not to print it, and have the manuscript now by me."[11] In Spence's
Anecdotes there is another passage bearing on the same matter: "A
fortnight before Addison's death, [12] Lord Warwick [13] came to Gay and
pressed him in a very particular manner 'to go and see Mr. Addison,'
which he had not done for a great while. Gay went, and found Addison in
a very weak way. He received him in the kindest manner and told him,
'that he had desired this visit to beg his pardon, that he had injured
him greatly, but that if he lived he should find that he would make it
up to him.' Gay, on his going to Hanover, had great reason to hope for
some good preferment; but all his views came to nothing. It is not
impossible but that Mr. Addison might prevent them, from his thinking
Gay too well with some of the great men of the former Ministry. He did
not at all explain himself, in which he had injured him, and Gay could
not guess at anything else in which he could have injured him so
considerably."[14] It seems, however, more probable that Addison really
had in mind the part he had taken in connection with "Three Hours After
Marriage." Two critical publications, "A Complete Key to 'Three Hours
After Marriage,'" and "A Letter to John Gay, Concerning his late Farce,
entitled a Comedy," annoyed Gay; while Pope, too, and, in a minor
degree, Arbuthnot, were attacked for their share in the farce. John
Durand Breval, writing over the signature of Joseph Gay, published in
1717 "The Confederates: A Farce," in which he introduced a humorous
caricature print of Pope, Gay and Arbuthnot, so that, says Professor
Courthope, "Pope, at the height of his fame, found himself credited,
though he seems to have had little to do with it, with the past
paternity of a condemned play."[15] Another incident, recorded by
Professor Courthope, further angered Pope: "While he was still sore at
the mishap, Colley Cibber, playing in 'The Rehearsal,' happened to make
an impromptu allusion to the unlucky farce, saying that he had intended
to introduce the two kings of Brentford, 'one of them in the shape of a
mummy, and t'other in that of a crocodile.' The audience laughed, but
Pope, who was in the house, appeared (according to Cibber's account)
behind the scenes and abused the actor in unmeasured terms for his
impertinence. Cibber's only reply was to assure the enraged poet that,
so long as the play was acted, he should never fail to repeat the same
words. He kept his promise, thus committing the first of that series of
offences which, in the poet's vindictive memory, marked him down for
elevation to the throne of Dulness which was rendered vacant by the
deposition of King Tibbald."[16] There is a rumour that Gay, in revenge
for Cibber's banter of "Three Hours After Marriage," personally
chastised the actor-dramatist,[17] but there is nothing definitely known
about this. Anyhow, Gay was so irritated by the failure of this play
that he did not produce anything at a theatre during the next seven
years.
How Gay managed to exist through the three years after the production of
"Three Hours After Marriage" is one of the stumbling blocks for the
biographer. Of literary achievement during this period his life was
barren. It is true that when he was abroad or in the country he was a
guest, but even with this his expenses must have amounted to something.
As he earned nothing by his pen, unless his friends provided him with
money as well as giving him hospitality, it looks as if some relative
must have died and left him a small sum. "As for Gay," Pope wrote to
Caryll, June 7th, 1717, "he is just on the wing for Aix-la-Chapelle,
with Mr. Pulteney, the late Secretary (at War)."[18] Pulteney who had
resigned office when there was a split in the Ministry, had in December,
1714, married a very beautiful woman, Anne Maria Gumley, daughter of a
wealthy glass manufacturer. With them Gay went abroad for some months,
and perhaps the solution of the problem above stated, is that while he
went nominally as their guest, he was actually paid a salary as
companion or secretary.
It is evident from Gay's "Epistle to the Right Honourable William
Pulteney, Esq." (published in 1717) that the party stayed some while at
Paris, for therein is an account of that city, an account in which the
author betrays a sad insularity; and he was certainly at Aix in
November. "I should not forget to acknowledge your letter sent from Aix.
You told me that writing was not good with the waters, and I find since,
you are of my opinion, that it is as bad without the waters. But, I
fancy, it is not writing, but thinking, that is so bad with the waters;
and then you might write without any manner of prejudice if you write
like our brother poets of these days." Pope wrote to him on November
8th: "... That Duchess [of Hamilton],[19] Lord Warwick, Lord Stanhope,
Mrs. Bellenden, Mrs. Lepell, and I cannot tell who else, had your
letters ... I would send my services to Mr. Pulteney, but that he is out
at Court, and make some compliment to Mrs. Pulteney, if she was not a
Whig."[20]
From this letter it is evident that Gay was becoming well known in
fashionable circles, and it is also clear that he had friends in the
Court circle. "Gay is well at Court, and more than ever in the way of
being served than ever.... Gay dines daily with the Maids of Honour,"
Pope had written to Martha Blount in December, 1716; and Gay, who would
rather have had a place in the Household with nothing to do and no
responsibility than anything else in the world, was not the man to
refrain from endeavouring to improve the occasion. Mrs. Howard he had
first met at Hanover, and in London contrived to turn the
acquaintanceship into friendship. Knowing Gay's character and his
ambition, it is probably doing him no injustice to say that he was first
drawn to the lady by the belief that she might further his aims.
However, it is only fair to say that he soon came to like her for
herself, and long after he was convinced that she could be of no service
to him he remained a very loyal and intimate friend. He was taken
entirely into her confidence, as will presently be seen, and she even
called him in to assist her when she was conducting an elaborate and
stilted epistolatory flirtation with Lord Peterborough. It was most
probably she who introduced him to Mrs. Bellenden, Mrs. Lepell, and the
other ladies of the Court. Of Mrs. Howard and Gay, Dr. Johnson wrote:
"Diligent court was paid to Mrs. Howard, afterwards Countess of Suffolk,
who was much beloved by the King and Queen, to engage her interest for
his promotion; but solicitations, verses, and flatteries were thrown
away; the lady heard them and did nothing." This, however, is manifestly
unfair, for it is now known that Mrs. Howard's influence was negligible.
To the ladies of the Court and others of Pope's friends, Gay paid
tribute in "Mr. Pope's Welcome from Greece":--
What lady's that to whom he gently bends?
Who knows her not? Ah, those are Wortley's eyes.
How art thou honour'd, number'd with her friends;
For she distinguishes the good and wise.
The sweet-tongued Murray near her side attends:
Now to my heart the glance of Howard flies;
Now Hervey, fair of face, I mark full well
With thee, youth's youngest daughter, sweet Lepell.
I see two lovely sisters hand in hand,
The fair-hair'd Martha and Teresa brown;
Madge Bellenden, the tallest of the land;
And smiling Mary, soft and fair as down.
Yonder I see the cheerful Duchess stand,
For friendship, zeal, and blithesome humours known:
Whence that loud shout in such a hearty strain?
Why all the Hamiltons are in her train.
See next the decent Scudamore advance
With Winchelsea, still meditating song,
With her perhaps Miss Howe came there by chance.
Nor knows with whom, nor why she comes along.
Gay was now on intimate terms with Lord Harcourt, whom he presently
introduced into "Mr. Pope's Welcome from Greece":--
Harcourt I see, for eloquence renown'd,
The mouth of justice, oracle of law!
Another Simon is beside him found,
Another Simon like as straw to straw;
and early in 1718 he visited him, first at Cockthorpe and then at
Stanton Harcourt, at which latter seat Pope was staying, working on the
fifth volume of the "Iliad." In the following year Gay again crossed the
Channel, possibly for the second time with the Pulteneys, but the only
record of this trip is to be found in the following letter:--
JOHN GAY TO THE HON. MRS. HOWARD.
Dijon, September 8th, 1719.
"If it be absolutely necessary that I make an apology for my not
writing, I must give you an account of very bad physicians, and a fever
which I had at Spa, that confined me for a month; but I do not see that
I need make the least excuse, or that I can find any reason for writing
to you at all; for can you believe that I would wish to converse with
you if it were not for the pleasure to hear you talk again? Then why
should I write to you when there is no possibility of receiving an
answer? I have been looking everywhere since I came into France to find
out some object that might take you from my thoughts, that my journey
might seem less tedious; but since nothing could ever do it in England I
can much less expect it in France.
"I am rambling from place to place. In about a month I hope to be at
Paris, and in the next month to be in England, and the next minute to
see you. I am now at Dijon in Burgundy, where last night, at an
ordinary, I was surprised by a question from an English gentleman whom I
had never seen before; hearing my name, he asked me if I had any
relation or acquaintance with _myself_, and when I told him I knew no
such person, he assured me that he was an intimate acquaintance of Mr.
Gay's of London. There was a Scotch gentleman, who all supper time was
teaching some French gentlemen the force and propriety of the English
language; and, what is seen very commonly, a young English gentleman
with a Jacobite governor. A French marquis drove an Abbé from the table
by railing against the vast riches of the Church, and another marquis,
who squinted, endeavoured to explain transubstantiation: 'That a thing
might not be what it really appeared to be, my eyes,' says he, 'may
convince you. I _seem_ at present to be looking on you; but, on the
contrary, I see quite on the other side of the table.' I do not believe
that this argument converted one of the heretics present, for all that I
learned by him was, that to believe transubstantiation it is necessary
not to see the thing you seem to look at.
"So much I have observed on the conversation and manners of the
_people_. As for the _animals_ of the country, it abounds with bugs,
which are exceedingly familiar with strangers; and as for _plants_,
garlick seems to be the favourite production of the country, though
for my own part I think the vine preferable to it. When I publish my
travels at large I shall be more particular; in order to which,
to-morrow I set out for Lyons, from thence to Montpelier, and so to
Paris; and soon after I shall pray that the winds may be favourable, I
mean, to bring you from Richmond to London, or me from London to
Richmond; so prays, etc., JOHN GAY.
"I beg you, madam, to assure Miss Lepell and Miss Bellenden, that I am
their humble servant."[21]
[Footnote 1: Pope: _Works_ (ed. Elwin and Courthope), IV, p. 412.]
[Footnote 2: Pope: _Works_ (ed. Elwin and Courthope), VI, p. 223.]
[Footnote 3: _Ibid_., VII, p. 455.]
[Footnote 4: _Ibid_., VI, p. 227.]
[Footnote 5: Pope: _Works_ (ed. Elwin and Courthope), VI, p. 237.]
[Footnote 6: Pope: _Works_ (ed. Elwin and Courthope), VII, p. 460.]
[Footnote 7: George Rooke, a Dublin linendraper.]
[Footnote 8: Swift: _Works_ (ed. Scott), XVI, p. 251.]
[Footnote 9: Johnson: _Works_ (ed. Hill), II, p. 271.]
[Footnote 10: Pope: _Works_ (ed. Elwin and Courthope), VII, p. 418.]
[Footnote 11: Spence: _Anecdotes_ (ed. Singer), p. 202.]
[Footnote 12: Addison died on June 17th, 1719.]
[Footnote 13: Stepson of Addison.]
[Footnote 14: Spence: _Anecdotes_ (ed. Singer), p. 149.]
[Footnote 15: _Life of Pope_, p. 126.]
[Footnote 16: _Life of Pope_, p. 126.]
[Footnote 17: Cibber's _Apology_ (ed. Lowe).]
[Footnote 18: Pope: _Works_ (ed. Elwin and Courthope), VI, p. 244.]
[Footnote 19: Daughter of Lord Gerard, widow of the Duke of Hamilton,
who in 1712 was killed in a duel with Lord Mohun.]
[Footnote 20: Pope: Works (ed. Elwin and Courthope) VII. p. 420.]
[Footnote 21: _B.M._, Add MSS., 22626, f. 22.]