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

Austin Dobson

("Dictionary of National Biography," Vol. XXI., 1890) and Mr. John
Underwood ("Introductory Memoir" to the "Poems of John Gay" in the
"Muses' Library," 1893).
Among Gay's correspondents were Pope, Swift, Lady Suffolk,
Arbuthnot, the Duchess of Queensberry, Oxford, Congreve, Parnell,
Cleland, Caryll and Jacob Tonson, the 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 Unpublished letters to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