Gay's first poem of any mark was _The Shepherd's Week_ (1714), six burlesque pastorals, a subject proposed to him by Pope, who was then smarting from the praise Philips had received in _The Guardian_. But if Pope meant Gay to poke his fun at Philips in _The Shepherd's Week_, he must have been disappointed, for the poems were accepted as genuine bucolics, and although humorously absurd, are, to say the least, more true to rustic life than the pastorals either of Philips or of Pope. _The Shepherd's Week_ was followed by _Trivia_ (1715), a piece suggested by Swift's _City Shower_. It is one of Gay's most notable productions, not as a poem, but as a vivid description of the streets of London nearly two hundred years ago. The great reputation he obtained as the author of _The Fables_ (1727), and still more of _The Beggar's Opera_ (1728), the idea of which was suggested to Gay by Swift, survived him for some years. _The Fables_ were written for and dedicated to the youthful Duke of Cumberland, who is asked to "accept the moral lay, and in these tales mankind survey." There is skill and ingenuity in the poems, but higher merit they cannot boast, and young readers are likely to prefer the illustrations which generally accompany _The Fables_ to the letterpress. Many of Gay's allusions are beyond the apprehension of the young, and have a political flavour. _The Beggar's Opera_ was intended as a burlesque of the Italian opera, which had been long the laughing-stock of men of letters, and as the play was thought to have political significance, and the character of Macheath to be a portrait of Walpole, it was received with enthusiasm, and acted in London for about sixty nights. So popular did the opera become, that ladies carried about the songs on their fans.