til AN ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE and WRITINGS OF THE AUTHOR. R. JOHN GAY, an original poetic genius, M was defcended of an ancient family, which derived his name from Gilbert le Gay of Hampton Gay in Oxfordshire, who in right of his wife, the daughter and heir of the family of Curtoyfe or Curtis, became poffeffed of the lordship of Goldsworthy in Devonshire, the ancient feat of the name of Gay for many generations. Our author was born in the year of the Revolution 1688, near Barnftable in that county, and put to the free-school there under an excellent mafter, Mr. William Rayner, who being bred at Westminster, taught in the method of that fchool. Thus he had the advantage of being imbued with a just taste of the VOL. I. claffics; B claffics; but the family eftate being much reduced, his fortune was not fufficient to fupport him as a gentleman*, and therefore, his friends chofe to breed him to fome genteel trade, Accordingly, he was put apprentice to a filk-mercer in London. But this ftep was taken without confulting the youth's tafte and temper. The condition of an apprentice appeared too illiberal; he was not made it feems for a countercaftor. The shop foon became his averfion, he was feldom feen in it, and in a few years his mafter, upon the offer of a small confideration, willingly confented to give up his indentures; having thus purchafed the cafe of his mind, he indulged himfolf freely and fully in that courfe of life, to which he was irrefiftibly drawn by nature. Genius concurred with inclination; poetry was at once his delight and his talent; and he fuffered not his mufe to be difturbed, by any difagreeable attention to the expence of cultivating it. Thefe qualities recommended him to fuch company and acquaintance as he most affected; and among others, to dean Swift and Mr. Pope, who were exceedingly ftruck with the open fincerity, and undif guifed fimplicity of his manners, and the cafinefs of his temper. To this laft gentleman he addreffed the firft fruits of his mufe, intitled, Rural Sports, a Geor gic, printed in 1711. This piece difcovered a rich poetical vein, peculiar to himself, and met with some agreeable atteftations of its merit, that would have been enjoyed with a higher relish, had not the pleafure been interrupted by the ill ftate of his finances, which by an uncommon degree of thoughtleffnefs and In his Rural Sports he says: He never had been bleft by fortune's hand, culli cullibility were reduced now to a low ebb. Our poet's purse was an unerring barometer of his spirits, which finking with it, left him in the apprehenfion of a fervile dependance, a condition he dreaded above any thing that could befal him. However, the clouds were shortly difpelled by the kindness of the. duchess of Monmouth, who appointed him her fecretary in 1712, with a handsome falary. This feasonable favour feating him in a coach, though not his own, kindled his mufe into a new pregnancy. He first produced his celebrated poem, called, Trivia, or, the Art of walking the Streets. And the following year; at the inftance of Mr. Pope, he formed the plan of his Paftorals. There is not perhaps in hiftory a more remarkable example of the force of friendship in an author, than was the undertaking and finishing this inimitable poem. Mr. Pope in his fubfcription of the Hanover-club to his tranflation of the Iliad, had been ill ufed by Mr. Philips their fecretary, and his rival in this fpecies of poetry: The tranflator highly refented the affront, and meditating revenge, intimates to his friend Gay, how greatly it was in his power to pluck the bayes from this envied rival's forehead. Our author immediately engages in his friend's quar rel, and executes his request even beyond his expectation. The rural fimplicity neglected by Pope, and admired in Philips, was found in its true guife Only in the Shepherd's Week. Here only nature was feen exactly fuch as the country affordeth, and the manner meetly copied from the ruftical folk therein. * These are the words of dean Swift many years afterwards, who there obferves, that Providence never defigned him, for this reafon, to be above two and twenty. Letter 33d in Pope's Works, vol. ix. edit. 1742. B 2 This This exquifite piece came out in 1714, with a dedication to lord Bolingbroke *. In the mean time, fo noble a way of ferving his friend, was the fure way of ferving himself. The moft promifing views opened to him at court, he was careffed by fome leading perfons in the ministry, and his patronefs rejoiced to see him taken from her house to attend the earl of Clarendon, as fecretary in his embaffy to the court of Hanover the fame year. But, whatever were his hopes from this new advancement, it is certain, they begun and ended almost together; for queen Anne died in fifteen days after their arrival at Hanover. However, this did not prove an irreparable lofs; his prefent fituation made him perfonally known to the fucceeding royal family, and returning home he made a proper use of it, in a handsome compliment on the princess of Wales, confort to his majefty king George II. at her arrival in England †. This addrefs procured him a favourable admittance at the new court, and that raising a new flow of fpirits, he wrote his incomparable farce, The what d'ye call it, which was brought upon the stage before the end of the feason, and honoured with their royal highneffes prefence. The profits, likewife, brought fome useful recruits to his fortune, and his poetical merit being endeared by the sweetness and fincerity of his nature, procured him an eafy accefs to perfons of the firft diftinction, and he paffed his time among the great with much fatisfaction, notwithstanding the *Dean Swift merrily calls this dedication, our author's original fin against the court, viz. in the fucceeding reigns. Ibid. Lett. vi. See his "Epiftle to a Lady occafioned by the arrival of her royal highness the Princess of Wales;" printed in his Works. baulk baulk of his expectation of fome fubftantial favour from the new court, where he met with nothing better than a smile. In 1716, he made a vifit to his native country at the expence of lord Bur'ington, and he paid his lordship with an humorous account of the journey. The like return was made for Mr. Pultney's [late earl of Bath] favour, who took him in his company the following year to Aix in France *. This jaunting about with fome decent appoint. ments, was one of the highest relished pleasures of Mr. Gay's life †, and never failed of calling forth hig mufe. Soon after his return from France, he intro. duced to the ftage, The three hours after marriage. His friends Mr. Pope and Dr. Arbuthnot, had both hand in this performance, and the two principal characters were acted by two of the best comedians at that time, Johnson and Mrs. Oldfield: yet, with all these helps nd advantages, it was very ill received, if not condemned the firft night. Our author ftood the brunt with an unusual degree of magnanimity, which feems to be infpired by a hearty regard for his partners, especially, Mr. Pope, who was greatly affected with it: Mr. Gay continued as before to mix with quality, and fo encircled stood invulnerable. In 1718, he accompanied Mr. Pope to lord Harcourt's feat in Oxfordshire, where they clubb'd wits in confecrating to pofterity the death of two ruftical lovers, unfornately killed in the neighbouring fields by a ftroke of lightning. They are both printed in his Works. This laft fhews on which fide his friends lay, for Mr. Pultney had refigned his place of secretary of war, in April preceding. Salmon's Chron. Hift. anno 1717. This foible is raillied by dean Swift, with his ufual kind feverity to our author. See Letters xlix. and Ivii. in Pope's Works, vol. IX. B 3 In |