John Gay
On leaving school – his elder brother, Jonathan, an Army officer, having inherited the family property –[11] Gay was apprenticed to a silk mercer in London, but being weary, according to Samuel 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.[4] In 1713 Gay and Pope both joined the Scriblerus Club, a group of Tory writers supportive of first minister Robert Harley that also included John Arbuthnot, Jonathan Swift and Thomas Parnell.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.In 1727 he wrote for six-year-old Prince William, later the Duke of Cumberland, Fifty-one Fables in 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.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.Gay's decision to launch the work was probably also influenced by the huge interest that Jack Sheppard, a cockney housebreaker, had created in all things relating to Newgate Prison.Under cover of the thieves and highwaymen who figured in it was disguised a satire on 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.The airs of the Beggar's Opera in part allude to well-known popular ballads, and Gay's lyrics sometimes play with their wording in order to amuse and entertain the audience.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.
A miser looks at his hoard of gold through his spectacles, with six lines of poetry by John Gay.
John Gay (disambiguation)Godfrey KnellerBarnstapleLondonPoetryballad operaThe Beggar's OperaWilliam Pulteney, 1st Earl of BathCharles Douglas, 3rd Duke of QueensberryPrince William, Duke of CumberlanddramatistScriblerus ClubCaptain MacheathParkhamFrithelstockMayor of BarnstapleRichard Beaplegrammar schoolmercerSamuel JohnsonnonconformistministerThe Wife of BathDrury Lane TheatreAlexander PopepastoralsArcadianAmbrose PhilipsThe GuardianTheocritusRobert HarleyJohn ArbuthnotJonathan SwiftThomas ParnellEarl of ClarendonElectorate of HanoverQueen AnneElector GeorgePeace of Utrechtwar against FranceJacobitesHanoverian successionHarley MinistryWhig oligarchyHanoverCaroline of AnsbachPrincess of WalesHenrietta HowardThe What D'Ye Call IttragedyThomas OtwayVenice Preserv'dafterpieceNicholas RoweJane ShoreLewis TheobaldGeorge Frideric HandelTrivia, or the Art of Walking the Streets of LondonThree Hours After MarriageGeorge, Prince of WalesWhig SplitmasqueAcis and GalatealibrettoSouth Sea stockWilliam PulteneyDuchessWilliam CongrevePrince WilliamFablesJohn RichSir Robert WalpoleJonathan WildClaude DuvalJack SheppardNewgate PrisonRobert WalpolesatireLavinia FentonLord ChamberlainLincoln's Inn Fields TheatreDuke of QueensberryWestminster AbbeyThe CaptivesAchillesChisholm, HughEncyclopædia BritannicaStephen, LeslieDictionary of National BiographyWikisourceProject GutenbergInternet ArchiveLibriVoxTrivia