"without interruption, and renewed the next season with equal applaufe, it spread "into all the great towns of England; was

played in many places to, the thirtieth and "fortieth time; at Bath and Bristol fifty, &c. "It made its progrefs into Wales, Scotland, "and Ireland, where it was performed twen

ty-four days fucceffively. The ladies car"ried about with them the favourite fongs "of it in fans, and houses were furnished "with it in fcreens. The fame of it was "not confined to the author only. The "person who acted Polly, till then obfcure, "became all at once the favourite of the “ town; her pictures were engraved, and "fold in great numbers; her Life written, "books of letters and verfes to her pub"lished, and pamphlets made even of her fayings and jefts. Furthermore, it drove out of England (for that feafon) the Italian

Opera, which had carried all before it for ten years."

Of this performance, when it was printed, the reception was different, according to the different opinion of its readers. Swift, commended it for the excellence of its morality,

as

as a piece that placed all kinds of vice in the ftrongest and most odious light; but others, and among them Dr. Herring, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, cenfured it as giving encouragement not only to vice but to crimes, by making a highwayman' the hero, and difmiffing him at laft unpunished. It has been even faid, that after the exhibition of the Beggar's Opera the gangs of robbers were evidently multiplied,

Both thefe decifions are furely exaggerated. The play, like many others, was plainly written only to divert, without any moral purpose, and is therefore not likely to do good; nor can it be conceived, without more fpeculation than life requires or admits, to be productive of much evil. Highwaymen and house-breakers feldom frequent the playhoufe, or mingle in any elegant diverfion; nor is it poffible for any one to imagine that he may rob with fafety, because he fees Macheath reprieved upon the stage.

This objection however, or fome other rather political than moral, obtained fuch prevalence, that when Gay produced a fecond

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cond part under the name of Polly, it was prohibited by the Lord Chamberlain; and he was forced to recompense his repulse by a fubfcription, which is faid to have been fo liberally bestowed, that what he called oppreffion ended in profit. The publication was fo much favoured, that though the firft part gained him four hundred pounds, near thrice as much was the profit of the fecond.

*

He received yet another recompenfe for this supposed hardship, in the affectionate attention of the duke and dutchefs of Queenfberry, into whofe house he was taken, and with whom he paffed the remaining part of his life. The duke, çonfidering his want of œconomy, undertook the management of his money, and gave it to him as he wanted it. But it is fuppofed that the discountenance of the Court funk deep into his heart, and gave him more difcontent than the applauses or tenderness of his friends could overpower, He foon fell into his old diftemper, an habitual colick, and languished, though with many intervals of eafe and cheerfulness, til a violent fit at last seized him, and hurried

• Spence.

him to the grave, as Arbuthnot reported, with more precipitance than he had ever known. He died on the fourth of December 1732, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. The letter which brought an account of his death to Swift was laid by for fomě days unopened, because when he received it he was imprest with the preconception of fome misfortune.

After his death was published a fecond volume of Fables more political than the former. His opera of Achilles was acted, and the profits were given to two widow fifters, who inherited what he left, as his lawful heirs; for he died without a will, though he had gathered* three thoufand pounds. There have appeared likewise under his name a comedy called the Diftreft Wife, and the Rehearsal at Gotham, a piece of humour,

The character given him by Pope* is this, that he was a natural man, without defign, who spoke what he thought, and just as he bought it; and that he was of a timid temper,

*Spence.

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and

and fearful of giving offence to the great; which caution however, fays Pope, was of no avail.

As a poet, he cannot be rated very high. He was, as I once heard a female critick remark, of a lower order, He had not in any great degree the mens divinior, the dignity of genius. Much however must be allowed to the author of a new fpecies of compofition, though it be not of the highest kind. We owe to Gay the Ballad Opera; a mode of comedy which at firft was fuppofed to delight only by its novelty, but has now by the experience of half a century been found fo well accommodated to the difpofition of a popular audience, that it is likely to keep long poffeffion of the ftage. Whether this new drama was the product of judgement or of luck, the praise of it must be given to the inventor; and there are many writers read with more reverence, to whom such merit of originality cannot be attributed.

His first performance, the Rural Sports, is fuch as was easily planned and executed, it is never contemptible, nor ever excellent,

The