CHAPTER XIII

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