I.--EARLY YEARS 1 II.--GAY COMMENCES AUTHOR 7 III.--"RURAL SPORTS"--"THE FAN"--"THE WIFE OF BATH"--ETC. 18 IV.--"THE SHEPHERD'S WEEK"--"A LETTER TO A LADY" 24 V.--"THE WHAT D'YE CALL IT"--"AN EPISTLE TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF BURLINGTON"--"TRIVIA, OR, THE ART OF WALKING THE STREETS OF LONDON"--"THREE HOURS AFTER MARRIAGE" 36 VI.--"POEMS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS"--GAY INVESTS HIS EARNINGS IN THE SOUTH SEA COMPANY--THE SOUTH SEA "BUBBLE" BREAKS, AND GAY LOSES ALL HIS MONEY--APPOINTED A COMMISSIONER OF THE STATE LOTTERY--LORD LINCOLN GIVES HIM AN APARTMENT IN WHITEHALL--AT TUNBRIDGE WELLS--CORRESPONDENCE WITH MRS. HOWARD 50 VII.--"THE CAPTIVES"--THE FIRST SERIES OF "FABLES"--GAY AND THE COURT--POPE, SWIFT AND MRS. HOWARD 65 VIII.--"THE BEGGAR'S OPERA" 78 IX.--"POLLY" 92 X.--CORRESPONDENCE (1729) 105 XI.--CORRESPONDENCE (1730) 115 XII.--CORRESPONDENCE (1731) 126 XIII.--DEATH 133 APPENDIX:-- I.--NOTES ON THE SOURCES OF THE TONES OF "THE BEGGAR'S OPERA," by W.H. GRATTAN FLOOD, Mus.D. 150 II.--A CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF THE CORRESPONDENCE OF JOHN GAY 156 III.--PROGRAMME OF THE REVIVAL OF "THE BEGGAR'S OPERA," LYRIC THEATRE; HAMMERSMITH, JUNE 7th, 1920 162 INDEX 163 CHAPTER I 1685-1706 EARLY YEARS The Gays were an old family, who settled in Devonshire when Gilbert le Gay, through his marriage with the daughter and heiress of Curtoyse, came into possession of the manor of Goldsworthy, in Parkham. This they held until 1630, when it passed out of their hands to the Coffins.[1] Subsequently they were associated with the parish of Frittelstock, near Great Torrington. In the Parish Registers of Barnstaple the name appears from time to time: in 1544 is recorded the death of Richard Gaye, and later of John Gaye, "gentill man," and Johans Gay. From other sources it is known that Richard Gay was Mayor of the town in 1533, and Anthony Gay in 1638.[2] The records of the family have not been preserved, but at some time early in the seventeenth century there was at Frittelstock one John Gay, whose second son, William, was the father of the poet.