John Gay

For other people named John Gay, seeJohn Gay (disambiguation).

John Gay
Oil painting byGodfrey Knellerof an unknown man traditionally identified as John Gay
Born	(1685-06-30)30 June 1685 Barnstaple,England
Died	4 December 1732(1732-12-04)(aged 47) London, England
Known for	Poetry,drama,ballad opera
Notable work	The Beggar's Opera
Patron(s)	William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath;The third Earl of Burlington;Charles Douglas, 3rd Duke of Queensberry;Prince William, Duke of Cumberland

John Gay(30 June 1685 – 4 December 1732) was an Englishpoetanddramatistand member of theScriblerus Club.He is best remembered forThe Beggar's Opera(1728), aballad opera.The characters, includingCaptain Macheathand Polly Peachum, became household names.

Early life

Gay was born inBarnstaple,England, last of five children of William Gay (died 1695) and Katherine (died 1694), daughter of Jonathan Hanmer, "the leading Nonconformist divine of the town"as founder of the Independent Dissenting congregation in Barnstaple. The Gay family- "fairly comfortable... though far from rich" -lived in "a large house, called the Red Cross, on the corner of Joy Street".The Gay family was "of respectable antiquity" in North Devon, associated with the manor of Goldsworthy atParkhamand with the parish ofFrithelstock(where the senior line remained, resident at the priory Cloister Hall with its lands, until 1823)and became "powerful and numerous" in the town, "established among Barnstaple's leading families for generations".Gay's great-grandfather, Anthony Gay, served as Mayor;his wife, Elizabeth, was daughter of the merchant and three-timeMayor of Barnstaple,Richard Beaple.Gay was educated at the town'sgrammar school.On leaving school- his elder brother, Jonathan, an Army officer, having inherited the family property-Gay was apprenticed to a silkmercerin London, but being weary, according toSamuel Johnson,"of either the restraint or the servility of his occupation", he soon returned to Barnstaple, where he was educated by his uncle, the Rev. John Hanmer, thenonconformistministerof the town. He then returned to London.

Early career

His first play,The Mohocks(1712), had censorship issues. The following year he wrote a comedyThe Wife of Bath,which appeared at theDrury Lane Theatre.

The dedication of hisRural Sports(1713) toAlexander Popebegan a lasting friendship with him. In 1714, Gay wroteThe Shepherd's Week,a series of sixpastoralsdrawn from English rustic life. Pope had urged him to undertake this in order to ridicule theArcadianpastorals ofAmbrose Philips,who had been praised by a short-lived contemporary publicationThe Guardian,to the neglect of Pope's claim to be the first pastoral writer of the age and the true EnglishTheocritus.Gay's pastorals achieved this goal and his ludicrous pictures of the English country lads and their loves were found to be entertaining on their own account.

In 1713 Gay and Pope both joined theScriblerus Club,a group ofTorywriters supportive of first ministerRobert Harleythat also includedJohn Arbuthnot,Jonathan SwiftandThomas Parnell.

Diplomatic service

In 1714 Gay was appointed secretary to theEarl of Clarendonthe new British ambassador to theElectorate of Hanoverthrough the influence of Swift. However the death ofQueen Annethree months later put an end to his hopes of official employment.The mission had been an unsuccessful attempt by the Tories to ingratiate themselves withElector George,heir to the throne, who was angry that thePeace of Utrechthad led to Britain's abandoning its allies in thewar against Franceand suspected that the Tory leadership favoured theJacobites.

TheHanoverian successionled to the ousting of theHarley Ministryand establishment of theWhig oligarchyand Gay never held a government post again. While inHanoverhe metCaroline of Ansbach,the futurePrincess of Wales,andHenrietta Howard,who would become a close friend of his.

Return to London

In 1715, probably with some help from Pope, Gay producedThe What D'Ye Call It?,a dramatic skit on contemporarytragedy,with special reference toThomas Otway'sVenice Preserv'd.This appeared on 23 February 1715 as anafterpieceat Drury Lane toNicholas Rowe's tragedyJane Shore.It left the public so ignorant of its inner meaning thatLewis Theobaldand Benjamin Griffin published aComplete Key to What D'Ye Call Itto explain it. The play also featured a ballad,Twas When the Seas Were Roaring,co-written withGeorge Frideric Handel,which became popular in its own right.

In 1716 appeared hisTrivia, or the Art of Walking the Streets of London,a poem in three books, for which he acknowledged receiving several hints from Swift. It contains graphic and humorous descriptions of the London of that period, depicting the city with photographic accuracy and acting as a guide to the upper-class and upper-middle-class walkers of society. By taking a mock-heroic form, Gay's poem was able to poke fun at the notion of complete reformation of street civility, while also proposing an idea of reform in terms of the attitude towards walking. In January 1717 he produced a comedy,Three Hours After Marriage,which was thought to be grossly indecent (without being amusing) and a failure. He had assistance from Pope andJohn Arbuthnot,but they allowed it to be assumed that Gay was the sole author.

By 1717 Gay was associated withGeorge, Prince of Wales,who as part of theWhig Splithad set up a rival court to his father the King which was frequented by opposition Whigs and Tories.In 1718 he collaborated with Handel on themasqueAcis and Galateafor which he supplied thelibretto.

Patrons

Gay had numerous patrons, and in 1720 he publishedPoems on Several Occasionsby subscription, taking in £1000 or more. In that year James Craggs, the secretary of state, presented him with someSouth Sea stock.Gay, disregarding the advice of Pope and others of his friends, invested all his money in South Sea stock, and, holding on to the end of the South Sea Bubble, he lost everything. The shock is said to have made him dangerously ill. His friends did not fail him at this juncture. He had patrons inWilliam Pulteney,afterwards Earl of Bath, in the third Earl of Burlington, who constantly entertained him at Chiswick or at Burlington House, and in theDukeandDuchessof Queensberry. He was a frequent visitor with Pope, and received unvarying kindness fromWilliam CongreveandJohn Arbuthnot.

In 1727 he wrote for six-year-oldPrince William,later the Duke of Cumberland,Fifty-oneFablesin Verse,for which he naturally hoped to gain some preferment, although he has much to say in them of the servility of courtiers and the vanity of court honours. He was offered the situation of gentleman-usher to the Princess Louisa, who was also still a child. He refused this offer, all his friends seemingly having regarded it- "for no very obvious reason" - as an indignity. His friends thought him unfairly neglected, but Gay, who had never rendered any special services to the court, had nevertheless been given a sinecure as lottery commissioner with a salary of £150 a year in 1722, and from 1722 to 1729 had lodgings in the palace at Whitehall.

The Beggar's Opera

He certainly did nothing to conciliate the favour of the government by his next work,The Beggar's Opera,aballad operaproduced on 29 January 1728 byJohn Rich,in whichSir Robert Walpolewas caricatured. This famous piece, which was said to have made "Rich gay and Gay rich", was an innovation in many respects.

The satire of the play has a double allegory. The character of Peachum was inspired by the thief-takerJonathan Wild,executed in 1725, and the principal figure of Macheath reflected memories of the French highwayman,Claude Duval,whose execution had created a sensation in London, and who exemplified the flamboyance and gallantry of Gay's literary hero. Gay's decision to launch the work was probably also influenced by the huge interest thatJack Sheppard,a cockney housebreaker, had created in all things relating toNewgate Prison.However, the character of Peachum was also understood to representRobert Walpole,who, like Wild, was seen as a public but morally dubious character, and whose government had been tolerant of Wild's thievery and the South Sea directors' escape from punishment. Under cover of the thieves and highwaymen who figured in it was disguised asatireon society, for Gay made it plain that in describing the moral code of his characters he had in mind the corruptions of the governing class. Part of the success ofThe Beggar's Operamay have been due to the acting ofLavinia Fenton,afterwards Duchess of Bolton, in the part of Polly Peachum. The airs of theBeggar's Operain part allude to well-known popular ballads, and Gay's lyrics sometimes play with their wording in order to amuse and entertain the audience.

The play ran for sixty-two nights. Swift is said to have suggested the subject, and Pope and Arbuthnot were constantly consulted while the work was in progress, but Gay must be regarded as the sole author. After seeing an early version of the work, Swift was optimistic of its commercial prospects but famously warned Gay to be cautious with his earnings: "I beg you will be thrifty and learn to value a shilling."

Later career

He wrote a sequel,Polly,relating the adventures of Polly Peachum in the West Indies; its production was forbidden by theLord Chamberlain,no doubt through the influence of Walpole. This act of "oppression" caused no loss to Gay. It proved an excellent advertisement forPolly,which was published by subscription in 1729, and brought its author several thousand pounds. The Duchess of Queensberry was dismissed from court for enlisting subscribers in the palace. In 1730 Gay's substantially rewritten version of his 1713 playThe Wife of Bathappeared at theLincoln's Inn Fields Theatre,lasting for three nights.

TheDuke of Queensberrygave Gay a home, and the duchess continued her affectionate patronage until Gay's death in London on 4 December 1732. He was buried inWestminster Abbey.The epitaph on his tomb is by Pope, and is followed by Gay's own mocking couplet:

Life is a jest, and all things show it,
I thought so once, but now I know it.

Works

"Gold in Durance."
Amiserlooks at his hoard of gold through his spectacles, with six lines of poetry by John Gay.

Among Gay's works are:

• Wine– 1708
• The Present State of Wit– 1711
• The Wife of Bath– 1713
• The Rural Sports– 1713
• The Shepherd's Week– 1714
• The What D'Ye Call It– 1715
• Trivia, or The Art of Walking the Streets of London– 1716
• Three Hours After Marriage– 1717
• Acis and Galatea– 1718
• Dione– 1720
• Poems on Several Occasions– 1720
• The Captives– 1724
• Fables(also known asFifty-one Fables in VerseorFables of John Gay) – 1727 (Part the Second– 1738)
• The Beggar's Opera– 1728
• Polly– 1729
• Achilles– 1733
• The Distress'd Wife– 1743

References

Notes

Sources

• Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911)."Gay, John".Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 540–541.

Further reading

• Dobson, Henry Austin (1890)."Gay, John (1685-1732)".InStephen, Leslie(ed.).Dictionary of National Biography.Vol. 21. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
• Gay, John (1966). Burgess, Chester Francis (ed.).The Letters of John Gay.Oxford: Clarendon Press.ISBN9780198114598.
• Gay, John (1974). Dearing, Vinton Adams (ed.).Poetry and Prose.Oxford: Clarendon Press.ISBN0-19-811897-X.[2 volumes]
• Gaye, Phoebe Fenwick (1938).John Gay: His place in the Eighteenth Century(Illustrated ed.). Collins.
• Irving, William Henry (1940).John Gay: Favorite of the Wits.Duke University Press.
• Melville, Lewis (1921).Life and Letters of John Gay (1685–1732): Author of "The Beggar's Opera".Daniel O'Connor.
• Warner, Oliver (1971).John Gay.Writers and Their Work: No 171 (Rev. ed.). For the British Council by Longman.

External links

• John Gayat theEighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)
• Works by John GayatProject Gutenberg
• Works by or about John Gayat theInternet Archive
• Works by John GayatLibriVox(public domain audiobooks)
• Luminarium: John GayLife, extensive collection of works, study resources
• Gay John from FOLDOC
• Fables and Other Works by John Gayat English Poetry