Of all the celebrities known in literary history as the Queen Anne's men, the name we most frequently meet with is that of John Gay. Not that he was chief or even second among them, but he was one whom they all appreciated and loved. He was the friend of Addison and of Steele, of Pope and of Swift, of Arbuthnot and of Prior, and he has this particular merit, that Pope never quarreled with or satirized him. This proves his affectionate and amiable nature, though Dr. Johnson says that his associates regarded him "as a playfellow rather than a partner, and treated him with more fondness than respect. Nevertheless he was entitled to and received the respect of his associates because of his own intellectual abilities, and there was no place in his career where he did not have and deserve their friendship. He is remembered now because of his authorship of "The Beggar's Opera" and of certain "Fables" in verse. Many of the latter are tales or allegories that abound in touches of humor and are written in the simplest and easiest of styles. Few satires are better than the story of "The Hare and Many Friends:" ance. A Hare who, in a civil way Complied with everything, like Gay. Every animal was the friend of the Hare, but when the hounds were in pursuit of her, each animal made excuse when applied to for assistShe applied half fainting to the horse to help her. If she could but mount his back so that her feet would not betray her she might escape, but the horse advised her to seek other friends. And so she went the rounds of the bull, the goat, the sheep and the calf-was rejected by all and became the victim of their friendship. Gay's greatest literary success, and the work by which he will be longest remembered is "The Beggar's Opera," one of those epoch-making plays that seem to change the course of events and of society. It was a play that brought Newgate on the stage, and in a measure apotheosized crime, but critics to this day are not in accord as to its influence, whether for good or evil. The hero was Captain Macheath, who most assuredly came to grief. The piece was intended as a satire on the then style of Italian opera, while it ridiculed the leading politicians and statesmen of the day, as well as attacked the corruption of the court. Hogarth has preserved by his art the scene in which Macheath, with Polly on one side and Lucy on the other, sung: How happy I could be with either Were t'other dear charmer away. The piece was received with immense favor, and Gay became the most noted author of the day. Swift commended the piece for the excellence of its morality and that it placed all kinds of vice in the strongest and most odious light; but others censured it as having a tendency to make heroes out of highwaymen. The author himself satirically says in the epilogue: Through the whole piece you may observe such a similiitude of manners in high and low life that it is difficult to determine whether (in the fashionable vices) the fine gentlemen imitate the gentlemen of the road or the gentlemen of the road the fine gentlemen. This, too, is a question that has been submitted to many generations and is even yet not answered. Gay was one of those happy-go-lucky fellows whom everybody wished well. He published a volume of poems by subscription and received one thousand pounds, One friend advised him to invest in the funds and live upon the interest; Pope and Swift urged him to purchase an annuity, but Arbuthnot bade him intrust it to Providence and live upon the principal, and this being in accord with his own tastes, he followed the advice. When the South Sea bubble was at its height a powerful friend presented him with stock representing twenty thousand pounds. His friends urged him to sell out immediately, but he would not do it, dreaming of dignity and splendor. He was then importuned to sell as much as would purchase one hundred pounds a year for life, which would insure him "a clean shirt and a shoulder of mutton every day"; but he still refused. The result was that when the bubble burst both profit and principal were lost. Gay's most ambitious poem is entitled "Trivia; or, the Art of Walking the Streets of London," and while it does not rank high as poetry it is of the greatest interest to the students |