1728-1729
"POLLY"
The success of "The Beggar's Opera" heartened Gay, as a first great
success heartens any man. At once he conceived the idea of following up
this triumph with another opera, but, before actually getting to work,
he took things easily. In March he stayed at Cashiobury with Pulteney,
visiting from there Lord Bathurst and the Bolingbrokes. Shortly after he
went to Bath, where he found many friends, including Henrietta, Duchess
of Marlborough.
JOHN GAY TO DEAN SWIFT.
Bath, May 16th, 1728.
"I have been at the Bath about ten days, and I have played at no game
but once, and that at backgammon with Mr. Lewis, who is very much your
humble servant. He is here upon account of the ill state of health of
his wife, who has as yet found very little benefit from the waters. Lord
and Lady Bolingbroke are here; and I think she is better than when I
came; they stay, as I guess, only about a fortnight longer. They both
desired me to make their compliments; as does Mr. Congreve, who is in a
very ill state of health, but somewhat better since he came here.... I
do not know how long I shall stay here, because I am now, as I have been
all my life, at the disposal of others. I drink the waters, and am in
hopes to lay in a stock of health, some of which I wish to communicate
to you.... 'The Beggar's Opera' is acted here; but our Polly has got no
fame, though the actors have got money. I have sent [you] by Dr.
Delany, the Opera, Polly Peachum, and Captain Macheath. I would have
sent you my own head (which is now engraving to make up the gang), but
it is not yet finished. I suppose you must have heard that I have had
the honour to have had a sermon preached against my works by a Court
chaplain, which I look upon as no small addition to my fame."[1]
JOHN GAY TO DEAN SWIFT.
Bath, July 6th, 1728.
"In five or six days I set out upon an excursion to Herefordshire, to
Lady Scudamore's, but shall return here the beginning of August.... The
weather is extremely hot, the place is very empty; I have an inclination
to study, but the heat makes it impossible."[2]
* * * * *
"I suppose Mr. Gay will return from the Bath with twenty pounds more
flesh and two hundred pounds less in money," Swift wrote to Pope on July
16th. "Providence never designed him to be above two-and-twenty, by this
thoughtlessness and cullibility. He has as little foresight of age,
sickness, poverty, or loss of admirers, as a girl of fifteen."[3] From
this it may be deduced that Gay, whenever he was free from an attack of
colic, persevered in the pleasures of the table and of his favourite
quadrille.
JOHN GAY TO ALEXANDER POPE.
August 2nd, 1728.
"I have heard more than once from our friend at Court, who seemed, in
the letter she writ, to be in high health and spirits. Considering the
multiplicity of pleasures and delights that one is overrun with in those
places, I wonder how anyone has health and spirits enough to support
them. I am heartily glad she has, and whenever I hear so, I find it
contributes to mine. You see, I am not free from dependence, though I
have less attendance than I had formerly; for a great deal of my own
welfare still depends upon hers. Is the widow's house to be disposed of
yet? I have not given up my pretensions to the Dean. If it was to be
parted with, I wish one of us had it. I hope you wish so too, and that
Mrs. Blount and Mrs. Howard wish the same, and for the very same reason
that I wish it."[4]
THE HON. MRS. HOWARD TO JOHN GAY.
Hampton Court, August [1728].
"I am glad you have passed your time so agreeable. I need not tell you
how mine has been employed; but as I know you wish me well, I am sure
you will be glad to hear that I am much better; whether I owe it to the
operation I underwent, or to my medicines, I cannot tell; but I begin to
think I shall entirely get the better of my illness. I have written to
Dr. Arbuthnot, both to give him a particular account, and to ask his
opinion about the Bath. I know him so well that, though in this last
illness he was not my physician, he is so much my friend, that he is
glad I am better. Put him in mind to tell me what he would have me do in
relation to Lady F.; and to send me a direction to write to her.
"I have made Mr. Nash governor to Lord Peterborough, and Lord
Peterborough governor to Mr. Pope. If I should come to the Bath, I
propose being governess to the Doctor [Arbuthnot] and you. I know you
both to be so unruly, that nothing less than Lady P.'s spirit or mine
could keep any authority over you. When you write to Lady Scudamore,
make my compliments to her. I have had two letters from Chesterfield,
which I wanted you to answer for me; and I have had a thousand other
things that I have wanted you to do for me; but, upon my word, I have
not had one place to dispose of, or you should not be without one.... My
humble service to the Duchess of Marlborough and Mr. Congreve."
JOHN GAY TO DEAN SWIFT.
London, December 2nd, 1728.
"I have had a very severe attack of a fever, which, by the care of our
friend, Dr. Arbuthnot, has, I hope, almost left me. I have been confined
about ten days, but never to my bed, so that I hope soon to get abroad
about my business; that is, the care of the second part of 'The Beggar's
Opera,' which was almost ready for rehearsal; but Rich received the Duke
of Grafton's commands (upon an information that he was rehearsing a play
improper to be represented), not to rehearse any new play whatever, till
his Grace has seen it. What will become of it I know not; but I am sure
I have written nothing that can be legally suppressed, unless the
setting vices in general in an odious light, and virtue in an amiable
one, may give offence.
"I passed five or six months this year at the Bath with the Duchess of
Marlborough; and then, in the view of taking care of myself, writ this
piece. If it goes on in case of success, I have taken care to make
better bargains for myself."[5]
* * * * *
Gay was naturally greatly elated by the success of "The Beggar's Opera."
This recompensed him for the neglect, or, as undoubtedly he regarded it,
the ingratitude of the Court, and, what pleased him as much, it filled
his purse, which he always liked to fill, apparently for the joy of
emptying it as soon as possible. Also, it greatly enhanced his
reputation: from a writer of minor importance, he now took his place as
a personage. After a long apprenticeship, he had at length "arrived."
Thus encouraged, he promptly composed a sequel to "The Beggar's Opera,"
which he called by the name of the heroine of that piece, that is to
say, "Polly." The best summary of "Polly" has been given by Mr. Paull,
in his interesting paper on Gay[6]:--
"Macheath has been transported across the herring-pond ... He succeeds
in escaping from the plantations, and has become the leader of a band of
pirates, under an assumed name, and disguised as a black man. Jenny
Driver is now his mistress (presumably he has forgotten her treachery in
'The Beggar's Opera'). Polly sails across the ocean to find him, but is
entrapped by Mrs. Trapes, a procuress, who sells her to Ducat, a rich
merchant. Mrs. Ducat, who is jealous, helps Polly to escape; she assumes
a boy's dress and continues her search for Macheath. She is captured by
the pirates, and she and Macheath meet, neither recognising the other.
The pirates are attacking the English settlement; the Indians are
helping the settlers. At first the pirates are successful, and the young
Indian Prince is captured, but ultimately they are defeated, Polly
herself capturing Macheath, who is condemned to death by the Indian
Prince. Then she learns from Jenny Driver who the pirate chief is, and
his life is promised her as her reward; but his execution has already
taken place, and she has to console herself with the hand of the Indian
Prince, who has fallen in love with her. Even this skeleton will show
that the novelty and unity of design which counted for so much in 'The
Beggar's Opera' are changed for intricacy of plot. There is no cohesion
in the story: there is no reason why the catastrophe should be brought
about in one way rather than another; what interest there is turns on an
improbable story rather than on the development of character. Evidently
Gay reckoned largely on the opportunities he had afforded himself for
satire on the Court, and for contrasting the noble and untutored savage
with the man tainted by the vices of civilisation."
"Polly" was accepted for production by Rich at the theatre in Lincoln's
Inn Fields: the subsequent proceedings are but told by the author
himself in his Preface, dated March 25th, 1729, to the printed version
of the book of the opera:--
"After Mr. Rich and I were agreed upon terms and conditions for
bringing this piece on the stage, and that everything was ready for a
rehearsal, the Lord Chamberlain sent an order from the country to
prohibit Mr. Rich to suffer any play to be rehearsed upon his stage till
it has been first of all supervised by his Grace. As soon as Mr. Rich
came from his Grace's secretary (who had sent for him to receive the
before-mentioned order) he came to my lodgings and acquainted me with
the orders he had received.
"Upon the Lord Chamberlain's coming to town I was confined by sickness,
but in four or five days I went abroad on purpose to wait upon his
Grace, with a faithful and genuine copy of this piece, excepting the
_errata_ of the transcriber.
"As I have heard several suggestions and false insinuations concerning
the copy, I take this occasion in the most solemn manner to affirm, that
the very copy I delivered to Mr. Rich was written in my own hand, some
months before at the Bath, from my own first foul blotted papers; from
this, that for the playhouse was transcribed, from whence Mr. Steele,
the prompter, copied that which I delivered to the Lord Chamberlain;
and, excepting my own foul blotted papers, I do protest I know of no
other copy whatsoever, than those I have mentioned.
"The copy which I gave into the hands of Mr. Rich had been seen before
by several persons of the greatest distinction and veracity, who will do
me the honour and justice to attest it; so that not only by them, but by
Mr. Rich and Mr. Steele, I can (against all insinuation or positive
affirmation) prove in the most clear and undeniable manner, if occasion
required, what I have here upon my own honour and credit asserted. The
Introduction, indeed, was not shown to the Lord Chamberlain, which, as I
had not then settled, was never transcribed in the playhouse copy.
"It was on Saturday morning, December 7th, 1728, that I waited upon the
Lord Chamberlain. I desired to have the honour of reading the Opera to
his Grace, but he ordered me to leave it with him, which I did upon
expectation of having it returned on the Monday following; but I had it
not till Thursday, December 12th, when I received it from his Grace with
this answer, '_that it was not allowed to be acted, but commanded to be
suppressed_.' This was told me in general, without any reason assigned,
or any charge against me, of my having given any particular offence.
"Since this prohibition, I have been told, that I am accused, in general
terms, of having written many disaffected libels and seditious
pamphlets. As it hath ever been my utmost ambition (if that word may be
used on this ocasion) to lead a quiet and inoffensive life, I thought my
innocence in this particular would never have required a justification;
and as this kind of writing is what I have ever detested, and never
practised, I am persuaded so groundless a calumny can never be believed
but by those who do not know me. But as general aspersions of this sort
have been cast upon me, I think myself called upon to declare my
principles; and I do, with the strictest truth, affirm that I am as
loyal a subject, and as firmly attached to the present happy
establishment, as any of those who have the greatest places or pensions.
I have been informed too, that, in the following play, I have been
charged with writing immoralities; that it is filled with slander, and
calumny against particular great persons, and that Majesty itself is
endeavoured to be brought into ridicule and contempt.
"As I knew every one of these charges was in every point absolutely
false and without the least grounds, at first I was not at all affected
by them; but when I found they were still insisted upon, and that
particular passages, which were not in the play, were quoted, and
propagated to support what had been suggested, I could no longer bear to
lie under those false accusations; so, by printing it, I have submitted
and given up all present views of profit which might accrue from the
stage; which undoubtedly will be some satisfaction to the worthy
gentlemen who have treated me with so much candour and humanity, and
represented me in such favourable colours.
"But as I am conscious to myself, that my only intention was to lash, in
general, the reigning of fashionable vices, and to recommend and set
virtue in as amiable light as I could; to justify and vindicate my own
character, I thought myself obliged to print the Opera without delay, in
the manner I have done.
"As the play was principally designed for representation, I hope, when
it is read, it will be considered in that light; and when all that hath
been said against it shall appear to be entirely misunderstood or
misrepresented; if, some time hence, it should be permitted to appear on
the stage, I think it necessary to acquaint the public that, as far as a
contract of this kind can be binding, I am engaged to Mr. Rich to have
it represented upon his theatre."
* * * * *
It cannot be denied that there was adequate ground for the Lord
Chamberlain's _veto_. In "The Beggar's Opera" Gay had beyond all
question lampooned Walpole, and in "Polly" he returned to the attack,
there being no doubt that in the opening scene, Ducat, the West Indian
planter, was intended for the Minister. The production might well have
led to disturbances if both political parties had been represented at
the first performance. Walpole was the least vindictive of men, as
witness his generous attitude towards Sunderland and the other ministers
involved in the scandal of the South Sea "Bubble," but he may well have
thought that Gay was going too far. Gay himself was harmless, but, as
Walpole knew, the author, either consciously or unconsciously, was
acting for the Opposition party; and Walpole, when he thought it worth
while, had a short and effective way with his political enemies.
The prohibition being largely an affair of party, or at least being so
regarded, a battle royal ensued. "Polly" could not be performed in
public, but, there being no censorship of books, it could be printed.
Gay's friends, therefore, decided that the Opera should be published by
subscription. To a man and a woman the Opposition rallied round the
author. The Duchess of Queensberry "touted" for him everywhere, even at
Court. The King at a Drawing-room asked what she was doing. "What must
be agreeable, I am sure," she replied, "to anyone so humane as your
Majesty, for it is an act of charity, and a charity to which I do not
despair of bringing your Majesty to contribute." This, of course, was a
gratuitous piece of impertinence--for the Lord Chamberlain acts as the
official mouthpiece of the Sovereign--and it could not be overlooked.
Another story is: The Duchess was so vehement in her attempt to have the
embargo removed from Gay's play, that she offered to read it to His
Majesty in his closet, that he might be satisfied there was no offence
in it. George II escaped from this dilemma by saying, he should be
delighted to receive her Grace in his closet, but he hoped to amuse her
better than by the literary employment she proposed.[7]
Whatever the true story, the day after the Duchess's interview with the
King (February 27th, 1729), William Stanhope, the Vice-Chamberlain,
carried to the Duchess a verbal message not to come to Court; whereupon
she sat down and wrote a letter for him to take to his Majesty. "The
Duchess of Queensberry," so ran her reply, "is surprised and well
pleased that the King hath given her so agreeable a command as to stay
from Court, where she never came for diversion, but to bestow a great
civility on the King and Queen; she hopes by such an unprecedented order
as this is, that the King will see as few as he wishes at his Court,
particularly such as are to think or speak truth. I dare not do
otherwise, and ought not, nor could have imagined that it would not have
been the very highest compliment that I could possibly pay the King to
endeavour to support truth and innocence in his house, particularly when
the King and Queen both told me that they had not read Mr. Gay's play. I
have certainly done right, then, to stand by my own words rather than
his Grace of Grafton's, who hath neither made use of truth, judgment,
nor honour, through this whole affair, either for himself or his
friends."[8] Stanhope read this, and begged the Duchess to reflect
before sending it. She consented to write another letter, did so, and
handed it to him. He chose the first. The Duke of Queensberry supported
his wife, and although the King pressed him to remain, resigned his
office of Admiral of Scotland--though Gay wrote to Swift,[9] "this he
would have done, if the Duchess had not met with this treatment, upon
account of ill-usage from the Ministers," and that this incident
"hastened him in what he had determined." The affair created an immense
sensation in Court circles. "The Duchess of Queensberry is still the
talk of the town. She is going to Scotland," Mrs. Pendarves wrote to
Mrs. Anne Granville, March 14th, 1729.... "My Lady Hervey told her the
other day that 'now she was banished, the Court had lost its chief
ornament,' the Duchess replied, 'I am entirely of your mind.' It is
thought my Lady Hervey spoke to her with a sneer, if so, her Grace's
answer was a very good one."[10]
One of the immediate results of the campaign was that the apartments
that had been granted to Gay in Whitehall, which belonged to the Crown,
had, by order, to be surrendered. On the other hand, two large editions,
amounting to 10,500 copies, of "Polly, An Opera: being the Second Part
of 'The Beggar's Opera.' Written by Mr. Gay. With the Songs and Basses
engraved on Copper-plates," were printed in 1729, and from the sale Gay
derived between £1,100 and £1,200.[11] In 1777 Colman produced "Polly"
in a revised version, but it failed to attract.
There was an end of Gay's hopes of Court preferment, that was clear to
every one. It was not unexpected. "I wish John Gay success in his
pursuit," Bolingbroke had written to Swift in June, 1727, "but I think
he has some qualities which will keep him down in the world."[12] When
the worst was known, Arbuthnot wrote to Swift on the following November
30th: "There is certainly a fatality upon poor Gay. As for hope of
preferment [at St. James's], he has laid it aside. He has made a pretty
good bargain (that is, a Smithfield one) for a little place in the
Custom-house, which was to bring him in about a hundred a year. It was
done as a favour to an old man, and not at all to Gay. When everything
was concluded, the man repented, and said he would not part with his
place. I have begged Gay not to buy an annuity upon my life; I am sure I
should not live a week."[13]
* * * * *
It may be that Gay thought that he might in time live down the disfavour
at Court in which he had been involved by the Duke and Duchess of
Queensberry and his other partisans. He may even have had a momentary
hope, in 1730, when the office of Poet-Laureate was vacant that the
position might be offered to him, who had written "Fables" for a young
Prince. When Colley Cibber was appointed, Gay probably had it brought
home to him that his day as a courtier had passed for good and all.
Certainly he is credited, though on what authority is not known, with a
share in the burlesque, "Ode for the New Year [1731]. Written by Colley
Cibber, Esq.," in which his disappointment is vented in somewhat coarse
expression. This begins,
This is the day when, right or wrong,
I, Colley Bays, Esquire,
Must for my sack indite a song,
And thrum my venal lyre.
The King is attacked, and there is a disgraceful reference to the
Queen:--
O may she always meet success
In every scheme and job,
And still continue to caress
That honest statesman Bob.
That Gay was furious there is no question, and he attacked Walpole in
one of the second series of his "Fables" (which appeared posthumously in
1738), entitled "The Vulture, the Sparrow, and Other Birds," which
concluded:
In days of yore (my cautious rhymes
Always except the present times)
A greedy Vulture, skill'd in game,
Inured to guilt, unawed by shame,
Approach'd the throne in evil hour,
And, step by step, intrudes to power.
When at the royal eagle's ear.
He longs to ease the monarch's care.
The monarch grants. With proud elate,
Behold him, minister of state!
Around him throng the feather'd rout;
Friends must be served, and some must out:
Each thinks his own the best pretension;
This asks a place, and that a pension.
The nightingale was set aside:
A forward daw his room supplied.[14]
This bird (says he), for business fit
Has both sagacity and wit.
With all his turns, and shifts, and tricks,
He's docile, and at nothing sticks.
Then with his neighbours, one so free
At all times will connive at me.
The hawk had due distinction shown,
For parts and talents like his own.
Thousands of hireling cocks attend him,
As blust'ring bullies to defend him.
At once the ravens were discarded,
And magpies with their posts rewarded.
Those fowls of omen I detest,
That pry into another's nest.
State lies must lose all good intent,
For they foresee and croak th' event.
My friends ne'er think, but talk by rote,
Speak when they're taught, and so to vote.
When rogues like these (a Sparrow cries)
To honour and employment rise
I court no favour, ask no place,
From such, preferment is disgrace:
Within my thatch'd retreat I find
(What these ne'er feel) true peace of mind.
The animus is evident, and it is clear that Gay's sense of humour had
entirely deserted him. A man who had been a hanger-on at Court for more
than ten years, and bidding diligently all the time for a sinecure,
could but arouse laughter when, discarded at length by those in power,
he says proudly, "I court no favour, ask no place."
[Footnote 1: Swift: _Works_, XVII, p. 182.]
[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., XVII, p. 188.]
[Footnote 3: _Ibid_., XVII, p. 189.]
[Footnote 4: Pope: _Works_ (ed. Elwin and Courthope), VII, p. 429.]
[Footnote 5: Swift: _Works_, XVII, p. 205]
[Footnote 6: _Fortnightly Review_, June, 1912]
[Footnote 7: Swift: _Works_ (ed. Scott), XVII, p. 228 (note).]
[Footnote 8: Hervey: _Memoirs_, I, p. 123.]
[Footnote 9: Swift: _Works_ (ed. Scott), XVII, p. 228.]
[Footnote 10: Mrs. Delany: _Memoirs_, I, p. 198.]
[Footnote 11: Nichol: _Literary Anecdotes_, I, p. 405.]
[Footnote 12: Swift: _Works_ (ed. Scott), XVII, p. 114.]
[Footnote 13: _Ibid_., XVII, p. 157.]
[Footnote 14: This appears to be a reference to the appointment of
Cibber as Poet Laureate.]