Life And Letters Of John Gay (1685-1732), Author of "The Beggar's Opera"Melville, Lewis
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Life And Letters Of John Gay (1685-1732), Author of "The Beggar's Opera"
Melville, Lewis
Authors, English -- 18th century -- Biography; Gay, John, 1685-1732
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.
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