Life and Letters of John Gay (1685-1732) | Page 2

publisher. Unpublished letters to Caryll and Tonson, and to and from Lady Suffolk, are in the British Museum; letters which have appeared in print are to be found in the correspondence of Pope, Swift, and Lady Suffolk, in Nichols' "Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century," and in the Historical Commission's Report on the MSS. of the Marquis of Bath. Biographical information is also to be found, as well as in the works mentioned above, in Gribble's "Memorials of Barnstaple," Mrs. Delany's "Autobiography," Hervey's "Memoirs," Colley Cibber's "Apology," and Spence's "Anecdotes"; in the works and biographies of Pope, Swift, Steele, Addison, and Aaron Hill; in contemporary publications such as "A Key to 'The What D'ye Call It,'" "A Complete Key to the New Farce 'Three Hours After Marriage,'" Joseph Gay's "The Confederates"; and in numerous works dealing with dramatic productions and dramatic literature. A bibliography is printed in the "Cambridge History of English Literature" (Vol. IX., pp. 480-481; 1912); and a more detailed bibliography is being compiled by Mr. Ernest L. Gay, Boston, Mass., U.S.A., who has informed the present writer that he "has collected about five hundred editions of Gay's works, and also over five hundred playbills of his plays, running from the middle of the eighteenth century to the middle of the nineteenth century." The most valuable criticisms of Gay as a man of letters are by Johnson in the "Lives of the Poets" and Thackeray in the "English Humourists of the Eighteenth Century." An interesting article on Gay by Mr. H.M. Paull appeared in the Fortnightly Review, June, 1912.
I am much indebted for assistance given to me during the preparation of this work by Sydney Harper, Esq., of Barnstaple, the happy possessor of Gay's chair; Professor J. Douglas Brude, of the University of Tennessee; C.J. Stammers, Esq.; and Ernest L. Gay, Esq., of Boston, Mass., U.S.A. I am especially grateful to W.H. Grattan Flood, Esq., Mus.D., who has generously sent me his notes on the sources of the tunes in "The Beggar's Opera," which are printed in the Appendix to this volume. The extracts from Gay's poetical works in this volume have been taken, by permission of the publishers, Messrs. George Routledge and Sons, Ltd., from the "Poems of John Gay," edited by Mr. John Underwood, in "The Muses' Library." Mr. John Murray has kindly allowed me to quote correspondence to and from Gay printed in the standard edition of Pope's works, edited by the late Rev. Whitwell Elwin and Professor Courthope, and published by him.
LEWIS MELVILLE. LONDON, April, 1921.
[Footnote 1: Swift: Works (ed. Scott), XVIII, p. 65.]

CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
PREFACE vii
I.--EARLY YEARS 1
II.--GAY COMMENCES AUTHOR 7
III.--"RURAL SPORTS"--"THE FAN"--"THE WIFE OF BATH"--ETC. 18
IV.--"THE SHEPHERD'S WEEK"--"A LETTER TO A LADY" 24
V.--"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" 36
VI.--"POEMS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS"--GAY INVESTS HIS EARNINGS IN THE SOUTH SEA COMPANY--THE SOUTH SEA "BUBBLE" BREAKS, AND GAY LOSES ALL HIS MONEY--APPOINTED A COMMISSIONER OF THE STATE LOTTERY--LORD LINCOLN GIVES HIM AN APARTMENT IN WHITEHALL--AT TUNBRIDGE WELLS--CORRESPONDENCE WITH MRS. HOWARD 50
VII.--"THE CAPTIVES"--THE FIRST SERIES OF "FABLES"--GAY AND THE COURT--POPE, SWIFT AND MRS. HOWARD 65
VIII.--"THE BEGGAR'S OPERA" 78
IX.--"POLLY" 92
X.--CORRESPONDENCE (1729) 105
XI.--CORRESPONDENCE (1730) 115
XII.--CORRESPONDENCE (1731) 126
XIII.--DEATH 133
APPENDIX:-- I.--NOTES ON THE SOURCES OF THE TONES OF "THE BEGGAR'S OPERA," by W.H. GRATTAN FLOOD, Mus.D. 150
II.--A CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF THE CORRESPONDENCE OF JOHN GAY 156
III.--PROGRAMME OF THE REVIVAL OF "THE BEGGAR'S OPERA," LYRIC THEATRE; HAMMERSMITH, JUNE 7th, 1920 162
INDEX 163
CHAPTER I
1685-1706
EARLY YEARS
The Gays were an old family, who settled in Devonshire when Gilbert le Gay, through his marriage with the daughter and heiress of Curtoyse, came into possession of the manor of Goldsworthy, in Parkham. This they held until 1630, when it passed out of their hands to the Coffins.[1] Subsequently they were associated with the parish of Frittelstock, near Great Torrington. In the Parish Registers of Barnstaple the name appears from time to time: in 1544 is recorded the death of Richard Gaye, and later of John Gaye, "gentill man," and Johans Gay. From other sources it is known that Richard Gay was Mayor of the town in 1533, and Anthony Gay in 1638.[2] The records of the family have not been preserved, but at some time early in the seventeenth century there was at Frittelstock one John Gay, whose second son, William, was the father of the poet.
William Gay resided at Barnstaple, and since he lived in a large house, called the Red Cross, at the corner of Joy Street, facing Holland Street, it is reasonable to assume that he was in easy circumstances. He married a daughter of Jonathan Hanmer, the leading Nonconformist divine of the town, and by her had five children. The first-born was a girl, who died in 1685; then came Katherine, born