1732
DEATH
As time passed Gay became less satisfied with his condition. It may have
been that his health became worse; or it may be that, like to many men
who are idle and make no effort to work, he became annoyed at the
_ennui_ which is so often the result of an unoccupied life. Anyhow, in
his letters there crept in a note of irritability, which has not
previously been sounded.
JOHN GAY TO DEAN SWIFT.
March 13th, 1732.
"I find myself dispirited for want of having some pursuit. Indolence and
idleness are the most tiresome things in the world. I begin to find a
dislike to society. I think I ought to try to break myself of it, but I
cannot resolve to set about it. I have left off almost all my great
acquaintance, which saves me something in chair hire, though in that
article the town is still very expensive. Those who were your old
acquaintance are almost the only people I visit; and, indeed, upon
trying all, I like them best....
"If you would advise the Duchess to confine me four hours a-day to my
own room, while I am in the country, I will write; for I cannot confine
myself as I ought."[1]
DEAN SWIFT TO JOHN GAY.
Dublin, May 4th, 1732.
"It is your pride or laziness, more than chair-hire, that makes the town
expensive. No honour is lost by walking in the dark; and in the day,
you may beckon a blackguard boy under a gate [to clean your shoes] near
your visiting place (_experto crede_), save eleven pence, and get half a
crown's-worth of health ...
"I find by the whole cast of your letter, that you are as giddy and
volatile as ever: just the reverse of Mr. Pope, who has always loved a
domestic life from his youth. I was going to wish you had some little
place that you could call your own, but, I profess I do not know you
well enough to contrive any one system of life that would please you.
You pretend to preach up riding and walking to the Duchess, yet from my
knowledge of you after twenty years, you always joined a violent desire
of perpetually shifting places and company, with a rooted laziness, and
an utter impatience of fatigue. A coach and six horses is the utmost
exercise you can bear; and this only when you can fill it with such
company as is best suited to your taste, and how glad would you be if it
could waft you in the air to avoid jolting; while I, who am so much
later in life, can, or at least could, ride five hundred miles on a
trotting horse. You mortally hate writing, only because it is the thing
you chiefly ought to do, as well to keep up the vogue you have in the
world, as to make you easy in your fortune: you are merciful to
everything but money your best friend, whom you treat with
inhumanity."[2]
* * * * *
In May was first performed at the Haymarket Theatre "Acis and Galatea,"
of which he wrote the "book" and Handel the music; but this was not work
upon which he had been lately engaged--in fact, both words and music had
been ready for ten years. Gay, however, did occasionally put in some
time on literary work, and at his death left the "book" of an opera
"Achilles," which was produced on February 10th, 1733, at the scene of
his triumph with "The Beggar's Opera," the theatre in Lincoln's Inn
Fields; "The Distrest Wife" and a farce, "The Rehearsal at Goatham,"
which last were printed, respectively, in 1743 and 1754. He was at this
time composing very leisurely a second series of "Fables," which were
ready for the press at the time of his death, but did not appear until
1738.
JOHN GAY TO DEAN SWIFT.
London, May 19th, 1732.
"You seemed not to approve of my writing more Fables. Those I am now
writing have a prefatory discourse before each of them, by way of
epistle, and the morals of them mostly are of the political kind; which
makes them run into a greater length than those I have already
published. I have already finished about fifteen or sixteen; four or
five more would make a volume of the same size as the first. Though this
is a kind of writing that appears very easy, I find it the most
difficult of any I ever undertook. After I have invented one fable, and
finished it, I despair of finding out another; but I have a moral or two
more, which I wish to write upon.
"I have also a sort of a scheme to raise my finances by doing something
for the stage: with this, and some reading, and a great deal of
exercise, I propose to pass my summer.
"As for myself, I am often troubled with the colic. I have as much
inattention, and have, I think, lower spirits than usual, which I impute
to my having no one pursuit in life."[3]
JOHN GAY TO DEAN SWIFT.
Amesbury, July 24th, 1732.
"I shall finish the work I intended, this summer,[4] but I look upon the
success in every respect to be precarious. You judge very right of my
present situation, that I cannot propose to succeed by favour: but I do
not think, if I could flatter myself that I had any degree of merit,
much could be expected from that unfashionable pretension.
"I have almost done everything I proposed in the way of Fables; but
have not set the last hand to them. Though they will not amount to half
the number, I believe they will make much such another volume as the
last. I find it the most difficult task I ever undertook; but have
determined to go through with it; and, after this, I believe I shall
never have courage enough to think any more in this way."[5]
ALEXANDER POPE TO JOHN GAY.
October 2nd, 1732.
"Every man, and every boy, is writing verses on the royal hermitage: I
hear the Queen is at a loss which to prefer; but for my own part I like
none so well as Mr. Poyntz's[6] in Latin. You would oblige my Lady
Suffolk if you tried your muse on this occasion. I am sure I would do as
much for the Duchess of Queensberry, if she desired it. Several of your
friends assure me it is expected from you. One should not bear in mind
all one's life, any little indignity one receives from a Court, and
therefore I am in hopes, neither her Grace of Queensberry will hinder
you, nor you decline it."
* * * * *
The "royal hermitage" was a building erected by Queen Caroline in the
grounds of Richmond Palace, and decorated with busts of her favourite
philosophers. This letter of Pope seems extraordinary, and it is a
little difficult to guess what inspired the suggestion contained in it.
"This is but shabby advice," Croker has written, "considering the
general tone of Pope's private correspondence, as well as his published
satires, and seems peculiarly strange in the circumstances in which Gay
himself and the Duke and Duchess of Queensberry, on his account, stood
with the Queen. If it were not for the introduction of Lady Suffolk's
name, I should have thought Pope's advice sheer irony, and a hint for a
libel on the Court. The Duchess and Gay were offended at the
proposition." It may be, however, that Pope thought it possible that
such a poetical effusion as he had in mind might restore Gay to favour
at Court. Gay, who received Pope's letter while he was on a visit to
Orchard Wyndham, the seat of Sir William Wyndham, in Somersetshire,
would do nothing in the matter, as will be seen from his reply.
JOHN GAY TO ALEXANDER POPE.
October 7th, 1732.
"I am at last returned from my Somersetshire expedition, but since my
return I cannot boast of my health as before I went, for I am frequently
out of order with my colical complaint, so as to make me uneasy and
dispirited, though not to any violent degree. The reception we met with,
and the little excursions we made, were in every way agreeable. I think
the country abounds with beautiful prospects. Sir William Wyndham is at
present amusing himself with some real improvements, and a great many
visionary castles. We are often entertained with sea-views, and sea
fish, and were at some places in the neighbourhood, among which I was
mightily pleased with Dunster Castle, near Minehead. It stands upon a
great eminence, and has a prospect of that town, with an extensive view
of the Bristol Channel, in which are seen two small islands, called the
Steep Holms and Flat Holms, and on the other side we could plainly
distinguish the divisions of fields on the Welsh coast. All this journey
I performed on horseback, and I am very much disappointed that at
present I feel myself so little the better for it. I have indeed
followed riding and exercise for three months successively, and really
think I was as well without it: so that I begin to fear the illness I
have so long complained of, is inherent in my constitution, and that I
have nothing for it but patience.
"As to your advice about writing panegyric, it is what I have not
frequently done. I have indeed done it sometimes against my judgment
and inclination, and I heartily repent of it. And at present, as I have
no desire of reward, and see no just reason of praise, I think I had
better let it alone. There are flatterers good enough to be found, and I
would not interfere in any gentleman's profession. I have seen no verses
on these sublime occasions, so that I have no emulation. Let the patrons
enjoy the authors, and the authors their patrons, for I know myself
unworthy."
JOHN GAY TO DEAN SWIFT.
November 16th, 1732.
"I am at last come to London before the family, to follow my own
inventions. In a week or fortnight I expect the family will follow me.
"If my present project[7] succeeds, you may expect a better account of
my own fortune a little while after the holidays; but I promise myself
nothing, for I am determined that neither anybody else, nor myself shall
disappoint me."[8]
* * * * *
Neither the production of "Achilles," nor any other earthly project of
Gay's, took place, for, within a few weeks, on December 4th, after three
days' illness, he passed away in his forty-eighth year, at the Duke of
Queensberry's town house in Burlington Gardens.
On the following day, Arbuthnot, who attended him, imparted the sad
tidings to Pope: "Poor Mr. Gay died of an inflammation, and, I believe,
at last a mortification of the bowels; it was the most precipitous case
I ever knew, having cut him off in three days. He was attended by two
physicians besides myself. I believed the distemper mortal from the
beginning."[9] Pope, in his turn, immediately wrote to Swift, and his
letter was found among Swift's papers, bearing the following
endorsement: "On my dear friend Mr. Gay's death. Received December
15th, but not read till the 20th, by an impulse foreboding some
misfortune."
ALEXANDER POPE TO DEAN SWIFT.
December 5th, 1732.
"It is not a time to complain that you have not answered me two letters
(in the last of which I was impatient under some fears). It is not now,
indeed, a time to think of myself, when one of the longest and nearest
ties I have ever had, is broken all on a sudden by the unexpected death
of poor Mr. Gay. An inflammatory fever burned him out of this life in
three days. He died last night at nine o'clock, not deprived of his
senses entirely at last, and possessing them perfectly till within five
hours. He asked of you a few hours before, when in acute torment by the
inflammation in his bowels and breast. His effects are in the Duke of
Queensberry's custody. His sisters, we suppose, will be his heirs, who
are two widows; as yet it is not known whether or no he left a will ...
"I shall never see you now, I believe; one of your principal calls to
England is at an end. Indeed, he was the most amiable by far, his
qualities were the gentlest, but I love you as well and as firmly. Would
to God the man we have lost had not been so amiable nor so good: but
that's a wish for our own sakes, not for his. Surely, if innocence and
integrity can deserve happiness, it must be his. Adieu! I can add
nothing to what you will feel, and diminish nothing from it."[10]
* * * * *
Gay's body was removed from Burlington House on the morning of December
23rd, to Exeter Change, in the Strand, where it lay in state during the
day. At nine o'clock in the evening, it was taken for burial to
Westminster Abbey in a hearse with plumes of white and black feathers
and appropriate escutcheons, attended by three coaches, each drawn by
six horses. In the first coach was the principal mourner, Gay's nephew,
the Rev. Joseph Bailer, who is responsible for the above account of the
obsequies; in the second coach were the Duke of Queensberry and
Arbuthnot. The pall-bearers were Lord Chesterfield, Lord Cornbury, the
Hon. Mr. Berkeley, General Dormer, Mr. Gore, and Pope. The service was
read by the Dean of Westminster, Dr. Wilcox, Bishop of Rochester. Gay's
remains were deposited in the south cross aisle of the Abbey, over
against Chaucer's tomb.[11] Later a monument was erected to his memory.
Here lie the ashes of Mr. John Gay,
The warmest friend;
The most benevolent man:
Who maintained
Independency
In low circumstances of fortune;
Integrity
In the midst of a corrupt age
And that equal serenity of mind,
Which conscious goodness alone can give,
Through the whole course of his life.
Favourite of the Muses,
He was led by them to every elegant art;
Refin'd in taste,
And fraught with graces all his own;
In various kinds of poetry
Superior to many,
Inferior to none,
His words continue to inspire,
What his example taught,
Contempt of folly, however adorn'd;
Detestation of vice, however dignified;
Reverence of virtue, however disgrac'd.
Charles and Catherine, Duke and Duchess of Queensbury, who loved this
excellent man living, and regret him dead, have caused this monument to
be erected to his memory. Pope, than whom no man loved him better,
composed an epitaph for him:--
Of manners gentle, of affections mild,
In wit a man, simplicity a child;
With native humour, temp'ring virtuous rage,
Form'd to delight at once, and lash the age.
Above temptation in a low estate,
And uncorrupted e'en among the great.
A safe companion, and an easy friend,
Unblam'd through life, lamented in thy end:
These are thy honours! not that here thy bust
Is mix'd with heroes, or with Kings thy dust;
But that the worthy and the good shall say,
Striking their pensive bosoms--Here lies Gay.
Of Gay's posthumous works, there are several references in the
correspondence of his friends. The first mention is concerning
"Achilles," in a letter written from Twickenham by Pope to Caryll: "Poor
Gay has gone before, and has not left an honester man behind him; he has
just put a play into the house, which the Duke of Queensberry will take
care of, and turn to the benefit of his relations. I have read it, and
think it of his very best manner, a true original; he has left some
other pieces fit for the press." Quite in keeping with his character Gay
had made no arrangements for the disposal of the manuscripts he left
behind him. "As to his writings, he left no will, nor spoke a word of
them, or anything else, during his short and precipitate illness, in
which I attended him to his last breath," Pope informed Swift, February
16th, 1733. "The Duke has acted more than the part of a brother to him,
and it will be strange if the sisters do not leave his papers totally at
his disposal, who will do the same that I would with them. He had
managed the comedy (which our poor friend gave to the playhouse a week
before his death) to the utmost advantage for his relations; and
proposes to do the same with some Fables he left unfinished."[12] The
play was much discussed in advance of its representation.
"Mr. Gay has left a posthumous work, which is soon to be acted," Lady
Anne Irvine wrote to Lord Carlisle on January 6th, 1733. "Tis in the
manner of 'The Beggar's Opera,' interspersed with songs; the subject is
Achilles among the women, where he is discovered choosing a sword. The
design is to ridicule Homer's Odysses; 'tis much commended, and I don't
doubt, from the nature of the subject, will be much approved."[13] Gay's
play was put into rehearsal in December, 1732, about a fortnight after
his death,[14] and it was produced at the theatre in Lincoln's Inn
Fields in February, 1723, when a contemporary account says it "met with
a general applause the first night, when there was a noble and crowded
audience,"[15] and Pope wrote to Swift on February 16th: "The play Mr.
Gay left succeeds very well. It is another original of its kind."[16] It
ran for eighteen nights. The cast was as follows:--
_Lycomedes_ ... ... ... ... ... MR. QUIN
_Diphilus_ ... ... ... ... ... MR. ASTON
_Achilles_ ... ... ... ... ... MR. SALWAY
_Ulysses_ ... ... ... ... ... MR. CHAPMAN
_Diomedes_ ... ... ... ... ... MR. LAGUERRE
_Ajax_ ... ... ... ... ... ... MR. HALL
_Periphas_ ... ... ... ... ... MR. WALKER
_Agyrtes_ ... ... ... ... ... MR. LEVERIDGE
_Thetis_ ... ... ... ... ... MR. BUCHANAN
_Theaspe_ ... ... ... ... ... MRS. CANTREL
_Deïdamia_ ... ... ... ... ... MISS NORSA
_Lesbia_ ... ... ... ... ... MISS BINKS
_Philoe_ ... ... ... ... ... MISS OATES
_Antemona_ ... ... ... ... ... MRS. EGLETON
"The Distrest Wife," another of the posthumous plays, was a poor thing,
and Swift was much annoyed that it was staged. "As to our poor friend, I
think the Duke of Queensberry has acted a very noble and generous
part," Swift wrote to Pope, March 31st, 1734. "But before he did it, I
wish there had been so much cunning used as to have let the sisters know
that he expected they would let him dispose of Mr. Gay's writings as
himself and other friends should advise. And I heartily wish his Grace
had entirely stifled that comedy, if it were possible, than do an injury
to our friend's reputation, only to get a hundred or two pounds to a
couple of, perhaps, insignificant women. It has been printed here, and I
am grieved to say it is a very poor performance. I have often chid Mr.
Gay for not varying his schemes, but still adhering to those he had
exhausted; and I much doubt whether the posthumous Fables will prove
equal to the first. I think it is incumbent upon you to see that nothing
more be published of his that will lessen his reputation for the sake of
adding a few pounds to his sisters, who have already got so much by his
death." "The Distrest Wife" was produced at Covent Garden Theatre on
March 5th, 1734,[17] and the Duke and Duchess of Queensberry were
present at the performance. "To-morrow will be acted a new play of our
friend Mr. Gay's; we stay on purpose now for that," the Duchess wrote to
Swift on the previous day.[18] The play was published in 1743, and a
second edition was issued in 1750. It was revived at Covent Garden, in
1772, with some alteration.[19]
In a humorous piece, "The Rehearsal at Goatham," published in 1754,
which was written probably about 1729, Gay ventilated his grievance
against Walpole and the rest, _à propos_ of the suppression of "Polly."
This was Gay's King Charles's Head, and he never forgave the Minister
for this, or for not finding him a place. He made an attack on him,
obvious to all, in "The Vulture, the Sparrow, and Other Birds," which
was included in his second series of "Fables"[20] that appeared
posthumously in 1738.
* * * * *
The devotion of Gay's friends survived his death, and they vied with one
another in paying tribute to his memory. "As to himself, he knew the
world too well to regret leaving it; and the world in general knew him
too little to value him as they ought,"[21] the Duchess of Queensberry
wrote to Swift on February 21st, 1733; and, later, she addressed herself
to Lady Suffolk from Amesbury, on September 28th, 1734: "I often want
poor Mr. Gay, and on this occasion extremely. Nothing evaporates sooner
than joy untold, or even told, unless to one so entirely in your
interest as he was, who bore at least an equal share in every
satisfaction or dissatisfaction which attended us. I am not in the
spleen, though I write thus; on the contrary, it is a sort of pleasure
to think over his good qualities: his loss was really great, but it is a
satisfaction to have once known so good a man." Her affection endured
until the end. Although she was then a very old woman, when "Polly" was
produced at the Haymarket Theatre on June 19th, 1777, nothing would
content her but she must be present. Within a few weeks, on the
following July 17th, she passed away.
Lord Bathurst, too, deplored the loss of Gay; he of whom the poet had
written in "Mr. Pope's Welcome from Greece":--
Bathurst impetuous, hastens to the coast.
Whom you and I strive who shall love the most.
"Poor John Gay!" he wrote to Swift on March 29th, 1733. "We shall see
him no more; but he will always be remembered by those who knew him,
with a tender concern." Arbuthnot, who also had had tribute paid him in
"Mr. Pope's Welcome from Greece":--
Arbuthnot there I see, in physic's art,
As Galen learned or famed Hippocrate;
Whose company drives sorrow from the heart
As all disease his medicines dissipate.
knew him well and loved him deeply. "We have all had another loss of our
worthy and dear friend, Mr. Gay," he wrote to Swift on January 13th,
1733. "It was some alleviation of my grief to see him so universally
lamented by almost everybody, even by those who knew him only by
reputation. He was interred at Westminster Abbey, as if he had been a
peer of the realm; and the good Duke of Queensberry, who lamented him as
a brother, will set up a handsome monument upon him. These are little
affronts put upon vice and injustice, and is all that remains in our
power. I believe 'The Beggar's Opera,' and what he had to come upon the
stage, will make the sum of the diversions of the town for some time to
come."[22]
By virtue of their fame, towering high above the rest of the select band
of Gay's dearest friends, were Pope and Swift:--
Blest be the great! for those they take away,
And those they left me; for they left me Gay,
Pope had written in the "Epistle to Arbuthnot"; and Gay, as has been
said, had more than once entered the lists and broken a lance on his
brother poet's behalf, as when he parodied Ambrose Philips in "The
Shepherd's Week." His "Mr. Pope's Welcome from Greece," written when
Pope had finished his translation of the "Iliad," was a fine panegyric,
in which he had a sly dig at the rival editor:--
Tickell, whose skiff (in partnership they say)
Set forth for Greece, but founder'd on the way.
and in his "Epistle to the Right Honourable Paul Methuen, Esq.," he
pilloried one of his friend's most violent critics:--
Had Pope with grovelling numbers fill'd his page,
Dennis had never kindled into rage.
'Tis the sublime that hurt the critic's ease;
Write nonsense, and he reads and sleeps in peace.
"You say truly," Pope wrote to Swift, on April 2nd, 1733, "that death is
only terrible to us as it separates us from those we love; but I really
think those have the worst of it who are left by us, if we are true
friends. I have felt more (I fancy) in the loss of Mr. Gay, than I shall
suffer in the thought of going away myself into a state that none of us
can feel this sort of losses. I wished vehemently to have seen him in a
condition of living independent, and to have lived in perfect indolence
the rest of our days together, the two most idle, most innocent,
undesigning poets of our age."[23]
Through the long years Gay was present to the minds of these, his
dearest friends. "Dr. Arbuthnot's daughter is like Gay, very idle, very
ingenuous, and inflexibly honest,"[24] Pope wrote to Swift, May 17th,
1739; and two years earlier, on July 23rd, 1737, Swift had written to
Erasmus Lewis: "I have had my share of affliction in the loss of Dr.
Arbuthnot, and poor Gay, and others.[25] Such devotion, from such very
different people puts it beyond question that Gay was a very lovable
creature. How deeply he returned that devotion it is difficult to
say--gratitude he felt, no doubt, but of love ... a man of such weak
character, a man so devoted to the fleshpots, probably received more
than he could give." Perhaps Swift, whose affections never blinded his
intelligence, had some inkling of this when he said in the "Verses on
His Own Death,"
Poor Pope will grieve a month, and Gay
A week, and Arbuthnot a day.
When Gay, in "Mr. Pope's Welcome from Greece," wrote:--
Thou, too, my Swift, dost breathe Boeotian air,
When will thou bring back wit and humour here?
the formal tribute is agreeable, but in this set of verses, while there
is much that is complimentary, there is something perfunctory about the
tributes he paid. He wrote of Pope and Swift and the rest as witty or
humorous or generous or clever or learned or honest of mind: they wrote
of the love they bore him. The two great literary giants took him under
their wing, bore with his foibles, humoured him, championed him, and to
the utmost of their power sought to protect their weaker brother of the
pen from the rude buffetings of life.
[Footnote 1: Swift: _Works_ (ed. Scott), XVII, p. 498.]
[Footnote 2: Swift: _Works_ (ed. Scott), XVII, p. 502.]
[Footnote 3: Swift: _Works_ (ed. Scott), XVIII, p. 3.]
[Footnote 4: Probably a reference to the Opera, "Achilles."]
[Footnote 5: Swift: _Works_ (ed. Scott), XVIII, p. 23.]
[Footnote 6: S. Poyntz, Governor to the Duke of Cumberland. He married a
niece of Lord Peterborough.]
[Footnote 7: Probably another reference to the Opera "Achilles."]
[Footnote 8: Swift: _Works_ (ed. Scott), XVIII, p. 51.]
[Footnote 9: _Ibid_., XVIII, p. 54.]
[Footnote 10: Swift: _Works_ (ed. Scott), XVIII, p. 53.]
[Footnote 11: _Gay's Chair_, p. 24.]
[Footnote 12: Swift: _Works_ (ed. Scott). XVIII, p. 84.]
[Footnote 13: Historical MSS. Commission Reports--Carlisle MSS.]
[Footnote 14: Swift: _Works_ (ed. Scott), XVIII, p. 57.]
[Footnote 15: Historical MSS. Com. Reports--Bath MSS., I, p. 95.]
[Footnote 16: _Gentleman's Magazine_, 1773, pp. 78, 85.]
[Footnote 17: Genest: _History of the Stage_, III, p. 428.]
[Footnote 18: Swift: _Works_ (ed. Scott), XVIII, p. 180.]
[Footnote 19: _Biog. Dram_., II, p. 168.]
[Footnote 20: The "Advertisement" to the volume was as follows: "These
Fables were finished by Mr. Gay, and intended for the Press, a short
time before his death, when they were left, with his other papers, to
the care of his noble friend and patron, the Duke of Queensberry. His
Grace has accordingly permitted them to the Press, and they are here
printed from the originals in the author's handwriting. We hope they
will please equally with his former Fables, though mostly on subjects of
a graver and more political turn. They will certainly show him to have
been (what he esteemed the best character) a man of true honest heart,
and a sincere lover of his country."]
[Footnote 21: Swift: _Works_ (ed. Scott), XVIII, p. 82.]
[Footnote 22: Swift: _Works_ (ed. Scott), XVIII, p. 95.]
[Footnote 23: Swift: _Works_ (ed. Hill), XVIII, p. 96.]
[Footnote 24: _Ibid_., XIX, p. 200.]
[Footnote 25: _Ibid_., XIX, p. 92.]
APPENDIX
I. NOTES ON THE SOURCES OF THE TUNES OF "THE BEGGAR'S OPERA," BY W.H.
GRATTAN FLOOD, Mus.D.
II. A CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF THE CORRESPONDENCE OF JOHN GAY
III. PROGRAMME OF THE REVIVAL OF "THE BEGGAR'S OPERA," LYRIC THEATRE,
HAMMERSMITH, JUNE 7TH, 1920
I
NOTES ON THE SOURCES OF THE TUNES OF "THE BEGGAR'S OPERA," BY W.H.
GRATTAN FLOOD, Mus.D.
Air VI. VIRGINS ARE LIKE THE FAIR FLOWER--
Was written by Sir Chas. Hanbury Williams.
Air XXIV. GAMESTERS AND LAWYERS--
Was written by Mr. Fortescue, Master of the Rolls.
Air XXX. WHEN YOU CENSURE THE AGE--
Was written by Dean Swift.
Airs I and XLIV. THROUGH ALL THE EMPLOYMENTS OF LIFE--and THE MODES OF
THE COURT--
Were written by Lord Chesterfield.
All the songs, except I, VI, XXIV, XXX, and XLIV were written by Gay.
SOURCES OF THE TUNES.
I. AN OLD WOMAN CLOTHED IN GRAY.
Old English air first published in 1665.
II. THE BONNY GRAY-EY'D MORN.
Composed by Jeremiah Clarke in 1695.
III. COLD AND RAW.
Old Irish _air_, 1600. "The Irish Ho Hoane" _cir_. 1610.
IV. WHY IS YOUR FAITHFUL SLAVE DISDAIN'D?
Composed by Bononcini. Published in Playford's _Banquet_. 1688
V. OF ALL THE SIMPLE THINGS WE DO.
Old Irish _air_, 1660. Introduced by Doggett into his _Country
Wake_, 1696; also known as "The Mouse Trap," 1719.
VI. WHAT SHALL I DO TO SHOW HOW MUCH I LOVE HER?
Composed by Henry Purcell. _Bonduca_ in 1695.
VII. OH! LONDON IS A FINE TOWN,
Old English. Published by Playford in 1665.
VIII. GRIM KING OF THE GHOSTS.
Old Irish. Adapted by Henry Purcell to "Hail to the Myrtle Shades,"
in _Theodosius_, 1680. Also adapted to "Rosalind's Complaint," by
Mr. Baker, in 1727.
IX. O JENNY! O JENNY!
Old Irish air, 1600. Adapted to "May Fair," 1703.
X. THOMAS, I CANNOT.
Sung in Weaver's _Perseus and Andromede_, 1717. Published in
Playford's _Dancing Master_, in 1719.
XI. A SOLDIER AND A SAILOR.
Composed by John Eccles for Congreve's _Love for Love_, 1696.
XII. NOW PONDER WELL.
Old English. "The Children in the Wood." Seventeenth Century.
XIII. LE PRINTEMPS RAPPELLE.
Old French chanson.
XIV. PRETTY PARROT, SAY.
Old English. Published by Playford in 1719.
XV. PRAY, FAIR ONE, BE KIND.
Old English air, 1715.
XVI. OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY.
Old Irish. Atkinson's MS. in 1694. By Farquhar in his _Recruiting
Officer_, in 1706. Published by Durfey in 1709.
XVII. GIN THOU WERT MINE AWN THING.
Old Scotch. Published by Ramsay in 1726, in his "Musick for the
Songs in the Tea Table Miscellany."
XVIII. O THE BROOM!
Old Irish. Quoted by Bishop Wadding in 1680.
XIX. FILL EVERY GLASS.
A _French_ Drinking Song. "Que chacun remplisse son verre"; adapted
by Durfey in 1710.
XX. MARCH IN "RINALDO."
Composed by Handel. Produced in 1711.
XXI. WOULD YOU HAVE A YOUNG VIRGIN?
Old Irish. Published as "Poor Robin's Maggot" in 1652. Adapted by
Durfey to a song in _Modern Prophets_ in 1709.
XXII. COTILLON.
A _French_ Dance tune. Printed in a Frankfort book of the year
1664, and by Playford as "Tony's Rant," in 1726.
XXIII. ALL IN A MISTY MORNING.
Old English. "The Friar and the Nun" (Friar Foxtail). Printed by
Playford in 1651. Durfey's _Pills_, 1719.
XXIV. WHEN ONCE I LAY WITH ANOTHER MAN'S WIFE.
Old English. Sung in Durfey's _The Wiltshire Maid_.
XXV. WHEN FIRST I LAID SIEGE TO MY CHLORIS.
Old Irish. Adapted by Durfey in his _Pills_, 1720.
XXVI. COURTIERS, COURTIERS, THINK IT NO HARM.
Old English air, 1720.
XXVII. A LOVELY LASS TO A FRIAR CAME.
Old Irish. Printed in 1721.
XXVIII. 'TWAS WHEN THE SEA WAS ROARING.
Composed by Handel. Sung in Gay's _What d'ye call it_ (1715).
XXIX. THE SUN HAD LOOS'D HIS WEARY TEAMS.
Old English. "The Hemp Dresser." Published by Playford in 1651.
XXX. HOW HAPPY ARE WE.
Composed by Dr. Pepusch. 1716.
XXXI. OF A NOBLE RACE WAS SHENKIN.
Introduced in Henry Purcell's _Richmond Heiress_, 1693.
XXXII. No name, but evidently intended for HOW SHOULD I YOUR TRUE LOVE
KNOW. Ophelia's song.
Published by Playford in 1713.
XXXIII. LONDON LADIES.
Old English.
XXXIV. ALL IN THE DOWNS.
Composed by Henry Carey. 1720.
XXXV. HAVE YOU HEARD OF A FROLICKSOME DITTY.
Old Irish. "Molly Roe." Published as "The Rant" in Apollo's
Banquet, in 1690.
XXXVI. IRISH TROT.
Old Irish. Printed as "Hyde Park," by Playford, in 1651.
XXXVII. No name given, but evidently CONSTANT BILLY, published in 1726.
Sir H. Bishop says that it was composed by Geminiani.
XXXVIII. GOOD-MORROW, GOSSIP JOAN.
Old English. Printed in 1705.
XXXIX. IRISH HOWL.
Old Irish. Printed as "The Irish Howl," by Playford, in the third
volume of his _Dancing Master_, in 1726.
XL. THE LASS OF PATIE'S MILL.
Old Scotch. Printed in _Orpheus Caledonius_. 1725.
XLI. IF LOVE'S A SWEET PASSION.
Composed by Henry Purcell. _Fairy Queen_ (1692).
XLII. SOUTH-SEA BALLAD.
Old English. Printed in 1720.
XLIII. PACKINGTON'S POUND.
Old English. Melody in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book.
XLIV. LILLIBULLERO.
Old Irish. Printed in 1688. Adapted by Purcell.
XLV. DOWN IN THE NORTH COUNTRY.
Old English.
XLVI. A SHEPHERD KEPT SHEEP.
Old English.
XLVII. ONE EVENING, HAVING LOST MY WAY.
Printed as "Walpole, or the Happy Clown," in 1719. Words by
Birkhead. The tune also occurs in the Overture.
XLVIII. NOW, ROGER, I'LL TELL THEE BECAUSE THOU'RT MY SON.
Old English.
XLIX. O BESSY BELL!
Old Scotch. Printed by Playford in 1700.
L. WOULD FATE TO ME BELINDA GIVE.
Composed by John Wilford. Printed in 1710.
LI. COME, SWEET LASS.
The tune was printed as "Greenwich Park," by Playford. 1688. Song
from _The Compleat Academy_ (1685). Music composed by Jeremiah
Clarke, 1685.
LII. THE LAST TIME I WENT O'ER THE MOOR.
Old Scotch. Printed in Ramsay's _Tea Table Misc_. 1726.
LIII. TOM TINKER'S MY TRUE LOVE.
Old English. Printed by Playford in 1664.
LIV. I AM A POOR SHEPHERD UNDONE.
Old English. Printed by Playford in 1716.
LV. IANTHE THE LOVELY.
Composed by John Barret, 1701.
LVI. A COBLER THERE WAS.
Old English.
LVII. BONNY DUNDEE.
Old Scotch. The melody is in the _Skene MS._, 1630.
LVIII. HAPPY GROVES.
Adapted from "The Pilgrim," composed by J. Barret in 1701.
LIX. OF ALL THE GIRLS THAT ARE SO SMART.
Composed by Henry Carey, in 1716. N.B.--The air was superseded by
another in 1790.
LX. BRITONS, STRIKE HOME.
Composed by Henry Purcell. _Bonduca_, 1695.
LXI. CHEVY CHASE.
Old English. Early Seventeenth century. Printed in 1710.
LXII. TO OLD SIR SIMON THE KING.
Old English. Seventeenth century. Printed in 1652.
LXIII. JOY TO GREAT CÆSAR.
Composed by Frescobaldi (1614). Adapted by Tom Durfey in 1682 or
1683.
LXIV. THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN.
Old English. Printed as "Puddings and Pies," by Playford, in 1716.
LXV. DID YOU EVER HEAR OF A GALLANT SAILOR?
Old Irish. "Youghal Harbour," in 1720. Also known as "Ned of the
Hill" (1700).
LXVI. WHY ARE MINE EYES STILL FLOWING.
Old English. Seventeenth century.
LXVII. GREEN SLEEVES.
Old English. Sixteenth century.
LXVIII. ALL YOU THAT MUST TAKE A LEAP.
Composed by Lewis Ramondon. 1710.
LXIX. LUMPS OF PUDDING.
Old Irish. Printed by Playford in 1701. Adapted by Durfey in 1697.
W.H. GRATTAN FLOOD.
_June 7th_, 1915.
II
A CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF THE CORRESPONDENCE OF JOHN GAY.
1712
Binfield, November 13 Alexander Pope to John Gay
December 24 Alexander Pope to John Gay
1713
London, January 13 John Gay to Maurice Johnson, junior.
April 23, 1713 John Gay to Maurice Johnson, junior.
August 23 Alexander Pope to John Gay
October 23 Alexander Pope to John Gay
1714
Binfield, May 4 Thomas Parnell and Alexander Pope to John Gay
London, June 8 John Gay to Jonathan Swift
Hanover, August 16 John Gay to John Arbuthnot
September 23 Alexander Pope to John Gay
1715
London, March 3 Alexander Pope and John Gay to John Caryll
London, March 18 Alexander Pope and John Gay to Thomas Parnell
[March] Alexander Pope and John Gay to John Caryll
April 7 Alexander Pope and John Gay to William Congreve
London [April] John Gay and Alexander Pope to John Caryll
July 8 John Gay to Alexander Pope
1716
_Undated_ John Gay, Jervis, John Arbuthnot
(beginning: "I was and Alexander Pope to Thomas Parnell
last summer in
Devonshire").
1717
_Undated_ John Gay to Alexander Pope
(beginning: "Too
late to see and
confess myself
mistaken")
London, November 8 Alexander Pope to John Gay
1719
September 8 John Gay to the Hon. Mrs. Howard
1720
[_circa_ October] John Gay to Jacob Tonson
1722
September 11 Alexander Pope to John Gay
[September or October] Alexander Pope to John Gay
(beginning: "I think
it obliging in you")
London, December 22 John Gay to Jonathan Swift
1723
Dublin, January 8 Jonathan Swift to John Gay
London, February 3 John Gay to Jonathan Swift
July 5 The Hon. Mrs. Howard to John Gay
July 12 John Gay to the Hon. Mrs. Howard
July 13 Alexander Pope to John Gay
July 22 The Hon. Mrs. Howard to John Gay
Tunbridge Wells, August John Gay to the Hon. Mrs. Howard
August The Hon. Mrs. Howard to John Gay
August 22 The Hon. Mrs. Howard to John Gay
1724
_Undated_ John Gay to the Hon. Mrs. Howard
(beginning: "Since
I came to the Bath")
Saturday night [autumn] John Gay to Alexander Pope
1725
Thursday, 10 at night John Gay to Alexander Pope
1726
London, September 16 John Gay to Jonathan Swift
October 15 Jonathan Swift to Alexander Pope and John Gay
Whitehall, October 22 John Gay to Jonathan Swift
November 17 John Gay and Alexander Pope to
Jonathan Swift
1727
Whitehall, February 18 John Gay to Jonathan Swift
London, March 3 John Gay to John Caryll
[October] (beginning: "I The Hon. Mrs. Howard to John Gay
hear you expect and
have a mind to have, a
letter from me")
Twickenham, October 16 Alexander Pope to John Gay
October 22 John Gay and Alexander Pope to
Jonathan Swift
1728
February 12 John Gay to Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford
Whitehall, February 15 John Gay to Jonathan Swift
February 26 Jonathan Swift to John Gay
March 20 John Gay to Jonathan Swift
Dublin, March 28 Jonathan Swift to John Gay
Bath, May 16 John Gay to Jonathan Swift
June 15 The Hon. Mrs. Howard to John Gay
Bath, July 6 John Gay to Jonathan Swift
August 2 John Gay to Alexander Pope
August The Hon. Mrs. Howard to John Gay
London, December 2 John Gay to Jonathan Swift
[December, 1728 or Alexander Pope to John Gay
January 1729]
(beginning: "No words
can tell you the
great concern")
1729
[January] (beginning, "I Alexander Pope to John Gay
faithfully assure you")
Sunday night [January] Alexander Pope to John Gay
[January] (beginning: "I Alexander Pope to John Gay
am glad to hear of the
progress")
[1][February or March] John Gay to Alexander Pope
(beginning: "My
melancholy increases")
From the Duke of John Gay to Jonathan Swift
Queensberry's
in Burlington
Gardens, March 18
Dublin, March 19 Jonathan Swift to John Gay
August 9 John Gay and the Duchess of Queensberry
to the Hon. Mrs. Howard
August 27 John Gay and the Duchess of Queensberry
to the Hon. Mrs. Howard
Middleton Stoney, John Gay to Jonathan Swift
November 9
Dublin, November 20 Jonathan Swift to John Gay
[Footnote 1: The authenticity of this letter is doubtful.]
1730
London, March 3 John Gay to Jonathan Swift
Dublin, March 19 Jonathan Swift to John Gay
March 31 John Gay to Jonathan Swift
May 7 John Gay to the Hon. Mrs. Howard
Amesbury, July 4 John Gay to Jonathan Swift
Twickenham, July 21 Alexander Pope to John Gay
July 31 The Hon. Mrs. Howard to John Gay
August 18 Alexander Pope to John Gay
August 20 John Gay and the Duchess of Queensberry
to the Hon. Mrs. Howard
August 22 The Hon. Mrs. Howard to John Gay
September 3 The Hon. Mrs. Howard to John Gay
September 11 John Gay and the Duchess of Queensberry
to the Hon. Mrs. Howard
September 11 Alexander Pope to John Gay
October 1 Alexander Pope to John Gay
October Alexander Pope to John Gay
October 23 Alexander Pope to John Gay
Amesbury, November 8 John Gay and the Duchess of Queensberry
to Jonathan Swift
Dublin, November 10 Jonathan Swift to John Gay
Dublin, November 19 Jonathan Swift to John Gay and the
Duchess of Queensberry
Amesbury, December 6 John Gay and the Duchess of Queensberry
to Jonathan Swift
December 17 John Gay and the Duchess of Queensberry
to Hon. Mrs. Howard
1731
Dublin, March 13 Jonathan Swift to John Gay and the
Duchess of Queensberry
March 20 John Gay to Dean Swift
April 21 John Gay and the Duchess of Queensbury
to Jonathan Swift
Amesbury, April 27 John Gay to Jonathan Swift
Dublin, June 29 Jonathan Swift to John Gay and the
Duchess of Queensbury
June 29 The Countess of Suffolk to John Gay
July 8 John Gay to the Countess of Suffolk
July 18 The Duchess of Queensbury and John Gay
to Jonathan Swift
"The Country," August 28 Jonathan Swift to John Gay and the
Duchess of Queensbury
September 5 The Countess of Suffolk to John Gay
[November] John Gay and the Duke of Queensbury to
Jonathan Swift
December 1 Jonathan Swift to John Gay and the
Duke and Duchess of Queensbury
December 1 John Gay and Alexander Pope to Jonathan
Swift
December 16 William Cleland to John Gay
1732
London, January 18 John Gay to Jonathan Swift
March 13 John Gay to Jonathan Swift
Dublin, May 4 Jonathan Swift to John Gay
London, May 16 John Gay to Jonathan Swift
Dublin, July 10 Jonathan Swift to John Gay and the
Duchess of Queensberry
Amesbury, July 24 John Gay and the Duchess of
Queensberry to Jonathan Swift
Dublin, August 12 Jonathan Swift to John Gay and the
Duchess of Queensbury
Amesbury, August 28 John Gay and the Duchess of Queensbury
to Jonathan Swift
October 2 Alexander Pope to John Gay
Dublin, October 3 Jonathan Swift to John Gay and the
Duchess of Queensbury
October 7 John Gay to Alexander Pope
November 16 John Gay to Jonathan Swift
UNDATED.
November 3 (beginning: The Hon. Mrs. Howard to John Gay
"I have not been
well ")--B.M., Add.
MSS., 22626 f. 63
December 7 (beginning: The Hon. Mrs. Howard to John Gay
"I write this to quiet
your conscience ")--B.M.,
Add. MSS., 22626 f. 64
(Beginning: "Most John Gay to the Hon. Mrs. Howard
honoured Roger ")--B.M.,
Add. MSS., 22626 f. 59
(Beginning: "You oblige The Countess of Suffolk to John Gay
me extremely in giving
me")--B.M., Add.
MSS., 22626 f. 61
(Beginning: "Pray tell The Countess of Suffolk to John Gay
Mr. Pope ")--B.M.,
Add. MSS.. 22626 f. 62
III
PROGRAMME OF THE REVIVAL OF "THE BEGGAR'S OPERA," LYRIC THEATRE,
HAMMERSMITH, JUNE 7TH, 1920.
THE BEGGAR'S OPERA
By MR. GAY
_New Settings of the Airs and Additional Music by Frederic Austin_.
CAST
_PEACHUM_.........................FREDERIC AUSTIN
_LOCKIT_..........................ARTHUR WYNN
_MACHEATH_........................FREDERICK RANALOW
_FILCH_...........................ALFRED HEATHER
_THE BEGGAR_......................ARNOLD PILBEAM
_MRS. PEACHUM_....................ELSIE FRENCH
_POLLY PEACHUM_...................SYLVIA NELIS
_LUCY LOCKIT_.....................VIOLET MARQUESITA
_DIANA TRAPES_....................BERYL FREEMAN
_JENNY DIVER_.....................NONNY LOCK
_Drawer_: DAVID HODDER
_Turnkey_: JACK GIRLING
_Members of Macheath's Gang_:
ALAN TROTTER,
MALCOLM RIGNOLD,
JOHN CLIFFORD,
EDWARD BARRS,
CHARLES STAITE
_Women of the Town_:
VERA HURST,
ELLA MILNE,
WINIFRED CHRISTIE,
MILDRED WATSON,
SYDNEY LEON,
EDITH BARTLETT
* * * * *
PERIOD 1728
ACT I. PEACHUM'S HOUSE
ACT II. Sc. i. A TAVERN. Near Newgate
Sc. ii. NEWGATE
ACT III. Sc. i. A STREET
Sc. ii. NEWGATE
Sc. iii. THE CONDEMN'D HOLD
_Scenes and Costumes designed by C. Lovat Fraser_.
* * * * *
Produced by NIGEL PLAYFAIR
INDEX
"Absence," 5; _quoted_, 6
"Achilles," 134, 135, 141, 142
"Acis and Galatea," 134
Addison, Joseph, 11, 12, 13-14, 16, 23, 37, 44
Alais, J.D'., 28
Anne, Queen, 24, 33
"Araminta," 20
Arbuthnot, Dr., 22, 23, 24, 29, 34, 41, 42, 44, 51, 58, 66, 94, 95,
105, 109, 146;
_letters quoted_:
to Parnell, 39;
to Pope, 138;
to Swift, 30, 34, 102, 109, 111, 145
Argyll, Duke of, 80
Aston (actor), 142
Atterbury, Francis, Bishop of Rochester, 12, 23
Baller, Anthony (brother-in-law of the poet), 2
Mrs. Anthony, _i.e.,_ Gay, Katherine (_q. v._)
Rev. Joseph (nephew of the poet), 2, 140;
his "Gay's Chair," _quoted_, 4
Barber, Mrs., 127
Bathurst, Lord, 50, 54, 58, 72, 92, 145;
letter to Swift, _quoted_, 145,
"Beggar's Opera, The," 41, 75, 78-91;
"Notes on the Sources of the Tunes of 'The Beggar's Opera,'" by W.H.
Grattan Flood, Mus. D., 150;
programme of the revival at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, June, 1920, 162.
Bellenden, Madge, 47
Mary, 46, 47, 49
Berkeley, Hon. George, 140
Bicknell, Mrs., 37, 42
Binks, Mrs., 142
Bloodworth, Mr., 131
Blount, Martha, 47, 72, 94, 130, 131
Teresa, 47
Bolingbroke, Viscount, 12, 24, 25, 35, 68, 90, 92
Viscountess, 92
Bolton, Duchess of, _see_ Fenton, Lavinia
Bradshaw, Mrs., 55
Bridgeman, 131
_British Apollo_, 9
Bromley, Mr. Secretary, 29
Buchanan (actor), 142
Buckingham, Lord, 15
Budgell, Eustace, 18
Bullock, H., 80
Burlington, Earl of, 39, 50, 54, 57
Burnett, Thomas, 38
Burton, Lord, 28
Cantrel, Mrs., 142
"Captives, The," 65
Caroline, Queen, 30, 34, 36, 67, 70, 103, 136
Caryll, John, 22
Castlemaine, Viscount, 112
Chandos, Lord, 50
Chapman (actor), 142
Chesterfield, Earl of, 140
Cibber, Colley, 45, 79, 102;
his "Apology," _quoted_, 90
Clarendon, Earl of, 28, 29, 30, 33
Clark (actor), 80
Cobham, Lord, 87
Colman, George, 84, 101
"Comparisons," 5
"Complete Key to 'Three Hours After Marriage'," 44
"Congratulation to a Newly-married Couple," 5
Congreve, William, 15, 23, 58, 68, 79, 92, 94
"Contemplation on Night," 20
Cornbury, Lord, 140
"Court Poems," 40
Courthope, Professor, his "Life of Pope," _quoted_, 44, 45
Craggs, James, the younger, 52
Cromwell, Henry, 14, 16, 17, 36
Cumberland, Prince William Augustus, Duke of, 67, 70
Delany, Dr., 93
"Devonshire Hill, A," 5
"Distrest Wife, The," 134, 142, 143
Dobson, Austin, his article on Gay in "Dictionary of National
Biography," _quoted_, 7, 28, 42
Dormer, General James, 112, 140
Douglas, Lord Charles, 111, 122
Drelincourt, Mrs., 127
"Dress," 20
Drumlanrig, Earl of, 111, 122
Egleton, Mrs., 80, 142
"Epigrammatical Petition," 9; _quoted_, 29.
"Epistle to the Right Honourable
Paul Methuen, Esquire," _quoted_,146
"Epistle to the Right Honourable
the Earl of Burlington," _quoted_, 39
"Epistle to the Right Honourable
William Pulteney, Esquire," 46
Essex, Earl of, 66
_Examiner, The_, 11, 12
"FABLE," 5
"Fables" (first series), 69-70
"Fables" (second, series), 135, 144
"Fan, The," 20, 21
Fenton,--, 52, 119
Fenton, Lavinia, Duchess of Bolton, 80, 91
Fielding, Sir John, 84
Fitzwilliam, Countess of, 67
Fitzwilliam, Earl of, 67
Flood, W.H. Grattan, Mus. D. _See_ Grattan Flood, W.H.
_Flying Post, The_, 12
Ford, Charles, 22, 29
Fortescue, John (brother-in-law of the poet), 2
Fortescue, Mrs. John, _i.e._, Gay, Joanna (_q. v._)
Fortescue, William, 2, 3, 22, 66
Freind, Dr. John, 11, 12
Garrick, David, 84
Garth, Dr., 16
Gay, Anthony, 1
Gilbert le, 1
Rev. James (uncle of the poet), 2
Joanna (sister of the poet), 2, 117
Jonathan (brother of the poet), 2, 7
Johans, 1
John (grandfather of the poet), 1
John (uncle of the poet), 2
John (the poet), ancestors, 1;
parentage and family, 1-2;
birth, 2;
death of parents, 2;
lives with his uncle, Thomas Gay, 2;
attends Free School at Barr staple, 2-3;
apprenticed to a London silk-mercer, 3;
in ill-health, 4;
returns to Barnstaple, 4;
early writings, 4-5;
youthful love affair, 5-6;
in improved health, 7;
returns to London, 7;
life in the Metropolis, 7-8;
love of food, drink, and dress, 8-9;
"Wine," 9-10;
"The Present State of Wit," 11-14;
makes acquaintance with Henry Cromwell and Pope, 14;
"On a Miscellany of Poems to Bernard Lintott," 14-16;
becomes intimate with Pope, 17;
domestic secretary to the Duchess of Monmouth, 18-19;
"Rural Sports," 20;
some minor verses, 20;
"The Fan," 20-21;
"The Wife of Bath," 21, 113, 115-116;
his charm, 21-22;
Pope as his protector and adviser, 22;
"Memoirs of Scriblerus," 23;
"The Shepherd's Week," 24-28;
appointed Secretary to Lord Clarendon's
Mission to Hanover, 1714, 29;
letters from Hanover, 29;
returns to England on death of Queen Anne, 33;
"A Letter to a Lady," 34-35;
"The What D'ye Call It," 35, 36-39;
recognised as a man of letters, 39;
visit to Exeter with the Earl of Burlington, 39;
"Trivia," 39-40;
"Court Poems," 40;
"The Toilet," 41;
second visit to Devonshire, 41;
"Three Hours After Marriage," 41-45;
visits the Continent with Pulteney, 45-46;
intimate with the Maids of Honour, 46;
and with the Hon. Mrs. Howard, 46-47;
again abroad with Pulteney, 48;
his literary reputation in 1720, 50;
"Poems on Several Occasions," 50;
given a present of South Sea stock,
and invests his fortune in it, 52;
loses his money when the "Bubble" bursts, 53;
financial embarrassment, 53;
the desire of his friends to aid him, 54;
the disappointment affects his health, 55;
recuperates at Bath, 55;
appointed a Commissioner of the State Lottery and
given an apartment in Whitehall, 57;
at Tunbridge Wells, 58;
correspondence with the Hon. Mrs. Howard, 59-64;
"The Captives," 65;
dedication to the Princess of Wales, 65;
again at Bath, 66, 67;
first meeting with Swift, 68;
becomes more intimate with the Duke and
Duchess of Queensberry, 69;
"The Fables" (first series), 69;
dedication to Prince William Augustus, 69;
his expectation of a post at Court, 70;
offered appointment of Gentleman Usher to the Princess Louisa, 70;
his indignation, 70;
refuses the post, 70;
the opinions of Pope and Swift on the offer, 71-74;
lampooned, 75-77;
"The Beggar's Opera," 78-91, 93;
at Bath, 92-94;
"Polly," 95-101, 108;
loses his Commissionship and his apartments in Whitehall, 101;
an end of hope of Court preferment, 102;
seriously ill, 105;
lives with the Duke and Duchess of Queensberry, 110;
in failing health, 133;
"Acis and Galatea," 134;
"Achilles," 134, 141, 142;
"The Distrest Wife," 134, 142, 143;
"The Rehearsal at Goatham," 135, 143;
"Fables" (second series), 135, 144;
death, 138;
buried in Westminster Abbey, 139;
his monument, 140;
his epitaph written by Pope, 141;
posthumous works, 141-144;
his friends' devotion, 145-147;
_letters quoted_: to Arbuthnot, 31;
to Caryll, 37, 38;
to Parnell, 38;
to Pope, 42, 93, 106, 137;
to the Countess of Suffolk, 48, 59, 61, 66, 111, 117, 120, 121,
124, 129;
to Swift, 9, 29, 55, 57, 58, 69, 70, 72, 74, 78, 87, 92, 93, 107,
113, 115, 116, 127, 130, 132, 133, 135, 138;
to Tonson, 53.
Chronological List of the Correspondence of John Gay, 156.
References to his writings will be found under the respective titles.
Katherine (sister of the poet), 1, 117
Richard, 1
Richard (uncle of the poet), 2
Thomas (uncle of the poet), 2
William (father of the poet), 1
Mrs. William, _i.e.,_ Hanmer, Miss _(q.v.)_
Gaye, John, 1
Richard, 1
George I., 30, 33, 70
II., 36, 100, 103
Gore, Mr., 140
Grafton, Duke of, 95, 97-99, 101
Grattan Flood, W.H., Mus. D.:
"Notes on the Sources of the Tunes of 'The Beggar's Opera'" 150
Griffin (actor), 38
Gumley, Anne Maria, 46
Hall (actor), 80, 142
Hamilton, Duchess of, 46, 47
Hanmer, Miss (mother of the poet), 1, 2
Rev. Jonathan (grandfather of the poet), 1
Rev. John (uncle of the poet), 2, 3, 4
Harcourt, Lord, 48
"Hare and Many Friends, The," _quoted_, 70
Harley, Thomas, 28
Hawkins, Sir John, 85
Henley, Anthony, 12
Herbert, Lord, 118, 120
Miss, 118
Herring, Dr. (Archbishop of Canterbury), 84
Hervey, Lady, 101
Miss, 47
"High German Doctor, The," 38
Hill, Aaron, 3, 9;
letter to Savage, _quoted_, 18
Henry, 10
Hippisley (actor), 80
Hollins, Dr., 109
Horneck, Philip, 38
Howard, The Hon. Mrs., _see_ Suffolk, Countess of
Howe, Miss, 48
Irvine, Lady Anne, letter to Lord Carlisle, _quoted_, 142
Jennings, Mary, 59
Johnson (actor), 42
Samuel, his "Lives of the Poets," _quoted_, 18, 21, 28, 42, 47,
52, 65, 85
Kent, William, 50
King, Dr. William, 11, 12
"Ladies' Petition to the Honourable the House of Commons," 5
Laguerre (actor), 142
Lepell, Miss, 46, 47, 49
"Letter from a Lady in the City to a Lady in the Country, A," 43
"Letter to a Lady, A" 34; _quoted_,34-35
"Letter to a Young Lady," 5; _quoted_, 6
"Letter to John Gay, concerning his late Farce,
entitled a Comedy," 44
Leveridge (actor), 142
Lewis, Erasmus, 14, 22, 29, 51, 58
Lincoln, Earl of, 57
Lintott, Bernard, 14, 39, 43, 50, 53, 54
Louisa, Princess, 70
Luck, Rev. Robert, 3
Mainwaring, Arthur, 12
Marlborough, Henrietta, Duchess of, 88, 92, 94, 95, 108
Martin, Mrs., 80
Meadows, Miss, 121
_Medley, The_, 12
"Memoirs of Scriblerus," 23, 29
Methuen, Sir Paul, 51
Monmouth, Duchess of, 18-19, 29
Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley, 40, 47
_Monthly Amusement_, 12
Motte, Benjamin, 87, 90
Murray, Miss, 47
Norsa, Miss, 142
Nash, Ricard ("Beau"), 94
Oates, Miss, 142
_Observer, The_, 12
"Ode for the New Year, Written by Colley Cibber, Esq.,"
_quoted_, 102, 103
Oldmixon, John, 12
"On a Miscellany of Poems to Bernard Lintott," _quoted_, 10,
14, 15-16
Otway, Thomas, 37
Oxford, Earl of, 29, 33, 72
Ozell, John, 12
"Panegyrical Epistle to Mr. Thomas Snow, Goldsmith,"
_quoted_, 53
"Panthea," 20
Parnell, Thomas, 22, 29
Paull, H.M., his essay on Gay, _quoted_, 95-96
Pelham, Mrs., 66
Pendarves, Mrs., letter to Mrs. Anne Granville, _quoted_, 101
Penkethman (actor), 37
Peterborough, Earl of, 63, 64, 94
Philips, Ambrose, 25, 26, 27, 28, 67
John, 10
Playfair, Nigel, 91 _note_
"Poems on Several Occasions," 50
"Polly," 95-101, 108
Pope, Alexander, 14, 16, 17, 19, 20, 23, 27, 29, 34, 38, 39, 40, 41,
43, 44, 45, 51, 54, 58, 66, 68, 79, 80, 90, 107, 123, 130, 131,
132, 134, 140, 145, 146;
his epitaph on Gay _quoted_, 141;
his "Epistle to Arbuthnot" _quoted_, 145;
his "Farewell to London" _quoted_, 17;
_letters quoted_: to Martha Blount, 46;
to Caryll, 39, 45, 141;
to Congreve, 36;
to Cromwell, 14, 16;
to Gay, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 33, 46, 71, 105, 119, 122, 136;
to Parnell, 43;
to Swift, 8, 23, 67, 73, 79, 86, 89, 139, 141, 142, 146
"Pope's Welcome from Greece, Mr." _quoted, 8_, 47-48, 52, 145,
146, 147
Poyntz, S., 136
Pratt, Dr. Benjamin, 29
"Prediction," 5
"Present State of Wit, The," 11;
_quoted_, 9, 12, 13-14
Prior, Matthew, 12, 15
Pulteney, William, 45, 46, 54, 90, 92, 108, 110
Mrs. William, _see_ Gumley, Anne Maria
Queensberry, Duke of, 69, 101, 115, 140, 141, 143
Duchess of, 69, 74, 87, 88, 100, 101, 105, 108, 109, 110, 111,
118, 119, 122, 123, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 133, 136, 140, 143,
144, 145;
_letters quoted_: to the Countess of Suffolk, 120, 121, 134,
144;
to Swift, 144.
Quin, James, 79, 80, 142
Raynor, William, 3
Redpath, George, 12
"Rehearsal at Goatham, The," 135, 143
"Reproof and Flattery," 20
Rich, John, 79, 90, 95, 96
Rivers, Lord, 28
Roberts, J., 40
Rolt, Mrs., 66
Rooke, George, 41
"Rural Sports" 20; _quoted_, 8, 20
Salway (actor), 142
Savage, Richard, 18
Scarborough, Lord, 67
Scott, Jane, 5, 6
Scudamore, Miss, 48
Lady, 93, 94
Senesimo, 58
"Shepherd's Week, The," 24, 28, 35, 50; _quoted_, 9, 24, 25, 27
Shrewsbury, Duke of, 33
Skerrett, Molly, 80
Smith, Miss, 112
Snow, Thomas, 53
Somerville, Lord, 66
Sophia, Electress, 30
_Spectator, The_, 11
Spence, Joseph, his "Anecdotes of Pope" _quoted_ 43, 44
Stanhope, Lord 46
William, 100
Steele, Sir Richard, 11, 12, 13-14, 21
Swift, Jonathan, 12, 23, 33, 35, 51, 68, 73, 74, 78, 81, 84, 106,
138;
his "Libel on the Rev. Mr. Delany and His Excellency Lord
Cartaret," _quoted_, 73;
his "Epistle to Mr. Gay," _quoted_, 73;
Verses on his own Death _quoted_, 147;
_letters quoted_: to Gay, 56, 68, 88, 89, 116, 123, 126, 127,
131, 133;
to Erasmus Lewis, 146;
to Pope, 41, 67, 68, 69, 73, 78, 86, 93, 107, 143;
to the Countess of Suffolk, 68;
to Tickell, 68
Suffolk, Henrietta Howard, Countess of, 30, 46, 47, 54, 67, 68, 74,
90, 109, 110, 119, 130;
letters to Gay _quoted_, 59, 60, 63, 64, 74, 94, 122, 128, 130
Earl of, 128
_Tatler, The_, 11, 12
Thanet, Countess of, 111
"Thought on Eternity, A," 20
"Three Hours After Marriage," 41-42, 43, 44, 50
Tickell, John, 26
"To a Young Lady with some Lamphreys," 8
"To Miss Jane Scott," 5; _quoted_, 5
"To My Chair," 5
"Toilet, The," 41
Tonson, Jacob, 15, 20, 50, 53, 69
"Trivia," 39, 50
Tutchin, John, 12
Underhill, John, _quoted_, 5, 25
"Vulture, the Sparrow, and other Birds, The," _quoted_, 103-104
Walker (actor), 80, 142
Walpole, Sir Robert, 80, 99
Warwick, Earl of, 44, 46
Watts, J., 69
_Weekly Review_, 12
"What D'ye Call It," 35, 36-39, 43, 50
_Whig Examiner, The_, 12
"Wife of Bath, The," 21, 50, 113, 115-116
Wilcox, Dr., Bishop of Rochester, 140
William Augustus, Prince. _See_ Cumberland, Duke of
"Wine," _quoted_, 10-11
Woodward, Dr., 41, 42
Wyndham, Sir William, 137
Younger, Miss, 38