CHAPTER VI 



Gay and the Beggars^ Opera — Polly, its successor, prohibited — Results 

 therefrom — Probability of Lord March's inheriting the Dukedom of 

 Queensberry — Racing record and topics — Lord March accepts Lord 

 Orford's coursing challenge — His stud-farm at Saxum, near Bury 

 — His carefulness in making matches with ' substantial ' persons. 



Protection and asylum were afforded by the Duke 

 and Duchess of Queensberry to Gay upon the suppres- 

 sion of the second part of the Beggars' Opera (first 

 produced in 1728), called Polly, which (though not 

 deemed so vivacious as the first) was prohibited by 

 the Lord Chamberlain, who affected to see in it a 

 satire on the Ministry. The Lord Chamberlain's 

 action made a literary martyr of the poet, who, to 

 revenge himself, had the prohibited production pub- 

 lished and circulated by subscription. The share their 

 graces took in this matter gave such offence in high 

 places that they were forbidden to appear at Court, 

 to which prohibition her grace returned a sarcastic 

 answer. For Gay the result was decidedly advan- 

 tageous, as, besides 'netting' some £3000 from the 

 sale of the suppressed play, he gained powerful 

 friends. 



