282 
GAY. 
was peculiarly fuited. About this time Gay likewife 
engaged in dramatic writing. The Mohocks, a tragi¬ 
comical Farce, is attributed to his pen ; and lie brought 
upon the flage at Drury-lane, a comedy ftyled The Wife 
of Bath, the reception of which tvasby no means flatter¬ 
ing. His next appearance from the prefs, in 1714, was 
upon a fmgular occafion. Pope and Ambrofe Pliilips 
liad quarrelled about the refpeftive merit of their paflo- 
rals, of which thofe of the former were written in the 
polilhed, thofe of tlie latter in the rullic, ftyle. Gay, to 
I'erve the catife of his friend, undertook to compofe a 
let of burlefque paftorals, in which the manners of the 
country fliould be exhibited in their natural coarfenels, 
with a view of proving, by a fort of caricature, the ab- 
fiirdity of Philips’s fyltem of paltoral. He entitled his 
work The Shepherd’s Week, as the lix pieces of which 
it confifted were denominated by days oi tlte week. 
They go through the ufual topics of a fet of paflorals, 
in a llrain of parody which is often extremely humorous. 
But the effect was in one refpeCt different from the ori¬ 
ginal purpofe, though it ellablilhed tlie credit of the 
poet. His pictures of rural life and its accompanying 
feenery were fo extremely natural and amufing, and in¬ 
termixed with circumftances fo truly beautiful and 
touching, that they proved the molt popular works of 
the kind in the language, and vrere read with pleafure 
by thofe who could not enter into the jelt; and they 
have certainly gone far in eftablilhing the critical max¬ 
im, that paftorals mult be indebted for all their value to 
a dole adherence to nature. This performance was de¬ 
dicated to lord Bolingbroke ; and Gay, ;it this period, 
feems to have obtained a large fliare of favour from the 
tory party then in power. As a proof of theirkindnefs, 
he was appointed fecretary to the earl of Clarendon in 
his embaify to the court of Hanover. The queen’s death 
loon recalled him from this ftation, ;md threw a damp 
upon his profpeCts ; but he was advifed by his friends 
not to negleCT: the opportunity it had afforded him of 
ingratiating himlelf with the new family. He accord¬ 
ingly wrote a poetical epiftle upon tlie arrival of the 
princefs of Wales, which compliment procured him the 
honour of the attendance of the prince and princefs at 
the exhibition of his next dramatic piece, in 1715, The 
What d’ye call it. I'his was a kind of mock-tragedy, 
eonfffting of ferious aftion with comic language, fo that 
the audience were at a lofs whether to laugh or cry. Its 
novelty, however, gave it temporary fuccefs, and it was 
thought worthy of an attack from the prefs in a pamph¬ 
let. Gay’s notions of true comedy feem not to have 
been very juft; for the piece which he next brought on 
the ftage, entitled Three Hours after Marriage, though 
aided by the conjoined wit of Pope and Arbutlmot, met 
v\ ith an unfavourable reception, owing, apparently, to 
the introduefion of fome incidents of too trivial a kind. 
His tragedy of The Captives, however, was received 
with applaule in 1723. Some inftances of court favour 
caufed him next to employ himfelf in one of the works 
lor which he is belt known—his Fables, written profef- 
fcdl}’ for the inltrubtion of the duke of Cumberland, and 
publilhed with a dedication to that prince in 1726. 
Fable had not, in the Englifli language, attained that 
rank in poetical compolition which it had done in the 
French ; nor can Gay ever Hand in competition with La 
Fontaine. Yet there is conffderable eafe in his mode of 
narration, with much lively and natural imagery. In 
his ideas of the charatter of fable, he is far from accu¬ 
rate, and his morals are often negligently pointed. A 
lecond part of the Fables, wholly directed to political 
topics, was publiflied after his death, but was never 
much read in comparifon with the firll, which has very 
generally been put into the hands of youth, and at this 
day forms one of the molt popular works in Englilh verfe. 
He naturally expected a handfome reward for this per¬ 
formance, but upon the accellion of George II. in 1727, 
nothing better waa offered him than the poll of gentle- 
1 
man-uflier to the young princefs Louifa, This he took 
rather as an indignity than a favour ; and he declined the 
offer in a melTage to the queen, hiving that he was too 
old for fuch a place. Solicitations were afterwards made 
in his behalf, but nothing was obtained, and his hopes 
at court came thus to an end. Had he remained a cour¬ 
tier, it is probable that he would never have been the 
author of a performance which acquired him public ap- 
plaufe, far beyond any he had hitherto ex])erienced. 
This was his famous Beggar’s Opera, aCfed in 1727 at 
Lincoln’s-inn-fields, after being refufed at Drury-lane. 
Its origin is faid to have been a liiggeftion of Swift’s, 
who, always in fearch of the ludicrous, had remarked to 
Gay what an odd pretty fort of a thing a Newgate- Pafto- 
ral might make. Gay turned it in Ids mind, but changed 
the idea for a Newgate Comedy, and joinetl to it the 
purpofe of burlefquing the Italian operas. With this 
his difappointments led liim to blend much political fa- 
tire, and the refult was a compofition unique in its kind, 
and of which the fuccefs could not with any certainty 
be forefeet!. Its fate was for fome time in fufpenle ; 
but at length it ftruck the nerve of public tafte, and re¬ 
ceived unbounded applaufe. Sixty-three fucccllive re- 
prefentations were infufticient to fitiate tlie metropolis, 
and it was performed a proportional number of times at 
all the provincial theatres. If the caufe of this extra¬ 
ordinary fuccefs be enquired, .the anl'vver is perhaps not 
very obvious. But it feems to indicate a kind of coarfe- 
nefs in the national tafte, which could be delighted by 
the repetition of popular ballad-tunes, and the delinea¬ 
tion of feenes of vice and vulgarity, painted indeed in a 
natural ftyle, and in their incidents appealing to the feel¬ 
ings implanted in every human breaft. But if the Beg¬ 
gar’s Opera obtained applaufe on the ftage, it under¬ 
went more ferious cenlure in other places than almoft: 
any dramatic piece that has been exhibited. By making: 
a highwayman the hero, and bringing him off in a kind 
of triumph, the author has been charged with rendering 
the charadter of a freebooter an object of popular ambi¬ 
tion ; and by furnilhing his perfonages with a plea for 
their diftionefty, drawn from the univerfal depravity of 
mankind, and particularly of thofe in offices of authority, 
he has been accufed of flapping the foundations of focial 
morality. But that Gay himfelf had no rriifchievous in¬ 
tentions in writing it, is univerlally admitted ; and his 
friend Swift warmly defended it as a wholefome fatire 
againft the corruption of the times. It is ftill occafion- 
ally reprefented ; but Ib much has the tafte for mufic 
got above the ridicule attempted to be throw n upon it,, 
that it is now neceff'ary to decorate with all the graces' 
of ftudied melody, thofe fimple and popular airs which 
were meant as an humorous contrail to Italian e.xecution. 
The unfavourable opinion of the tendency of the Beg¬ 
gar’s Opera, entertained by tlie perfons then in power,, 
became manifeft by the rqfufal of the lord chamber- 
lain to permit a fecond part of it, entitled Polly, to be. 
abted. Gay’s friends, and the party in oppofftion, gave,, 
however, fuch encouragement to its publication, that it 
was more profitable to him than even the firft part; yet 
it was a very feeble and languid performance, and has 
funk into total ne.glebl. A further recompence for any 
injury he liiftained by tins exertion of power, was the 
kind patronage of the duke and duchefs of Qiieenlbury,, 
who took him into their houfe, and condefeended to ma¬ 
nage his pecuniary concerns. In fuch a lituation he 
might be thought to be raifed above the imprelflons of 
court disfavour; yet the dejection of fpirits into which, 
he fell, is in part al’cribed to. this caufe, though his na¬ 
tural indolence,, and an Irabitual difpoiition to bilious, 
complaints, may ftirticiently account tor it. He conti¬ 
nued to employ his intervals of health andfpirits incompo- 
fition,.and produced hisAcis and Galatea, and the opera of 
Achilles, not adted till after his death; which event took 
place in December 1732, from an inflammation of the 
bowels, when he was aged only forty-four. He was fin- 
’ cerely 
