Then the delighted mother fmiles,
And fhews the ftory in the tiles.
At other times her themes would be,
The fages of antiquity;

Who left a glorious name behind,
By being bleffings to their kind :
Again fhe'd take a noble scope,
And tell of Addifon and Pope.

This happy mother met one day,
A book of fables writ by Gay;

And told her children, Here's a treasure,
A fund of wifdom, and of pleasure.
Such decency! fuch elegance!
Such morals, fuch exalted fenfe !
Well has the poet found the art,
To raise the mind, and mend the heart.
Her favourite boy the author feiz'd,
And as he read, feem'd highly pleas'd;
Made fuch reflections every page,
The mother thought above his age:
Delighted read, but fcarce was able
To finish the concluding fable.

What ails my child? the mother cries,
Whofe forrows now have fill'd your eyes?
Oh! dear mamma, can he want friends,
Who writes for fuch exalted ends.
Oh! bafe degenerate human kind,
Had I a fortune to my mind,

Should Gay complain? but now alas,
Through what a world am I to pass!
Where friendship's but an empty name,
And merit's fcarcely paid in fame.

Refolv'd to lull his woes to reft,
She told him he should hope the best ;
That who inftruct the royal race,
Can't fail of fome diftinguifh'd place.
Mamma, if you were queen, fays he,
And fuch a book was writ for me;
I know 'tis fo much to your taste,
That Gay would keep his coach at least.

(9)

My child, what you fuppofe is true,
Ife its excellence in you;

Poets whose writings mend the mind,
A noble recompence fhould find:
But I am barr'd by fortune's frowns,
From the best privilege of crowns;
The glorious godlike power to blefs,
And raise up merit in diftrefs.

But dear mamma, I long to know,
Were that the cafe, what you'd bestow :
What I'd bestow, fays the, my dear,
At leaf five hundred pounds a year.

The famous Beggar's Opera appeared upon the ftage early in the enfuing feafon; and was received with greater applaufe than was ever known: befides being acted in London 63 nights without interruption," and renewed the next feafon with equal applaufe, it fpread into all the great towns of England; was play'd in many places to the 3th and 40th time; and at Bath and Bristol 50 times.

The ladies carried about with them the favourite fongs of it in fans, and houfes were furnish'd with it in fcreens. The fame of it was not confined to the author only. The perfon who acted Polly, 'till then obfcure, became all at once the favourite of the town; her pictures were engraved, and fold in great numbers; her life written; books of letters and verfes to her published, and pamphlets made even of her fayings and jets. Furthermore, it drove out of England, for that feafon, the Italian opera, which had carried all before it for feveral years. Dr. Swift attributes this unprecedented, and almoft incredible fuccefs, to a peculiar merit in the performance; wherein. what we call the point of humour is exactly hit: a point, he obferves, which whoever can rightly touch, will never fail of pleafing a great majority; and which in its perfection, is allowed to be much preferable to wit, if it be not rather the most useful and agreeable fpecies of it.

The unparalleled fuccefs of that piece induced him, in 1729, to write a fecond part, call'd Polly; the reprefentation of which on the ftage, being forbid by the lord chamberlain, our author thought proper to print it by fubfcription, in quarto; and the advantage he made of it, that way, was deem'd a fufficient ballance for any fuppofed damage from the prohibition, efpecially as he was taken immediately into the protection of the duke and duchefs of Queenf berry, who made his cafe their own, and ufed him with an uncommon degree of kindness.

But all these extraordinary favours were not able entirely to remove a certain painful fenfe of his ill fortune at court. In a little time he relapfed into his old diftemper, the cholic; after which he lived, or rather languished the remainder of his days, under an incurable dejection of fpirits, refiding moftly at Amesbury, a feat of his noble patrons, near Stonehenge, upon Salisbury plain; in fo fweet a retirement, he was not without fome chearful intervals, which he ftill enjoyed in the company of his mufe. In the winter feafons he came with the family to London, and was at their house in Burlington-Gardens, when he was fuddenly feized with a violent inflammatory fever, which in three days put a period to his life, on the 4th of December, 1732; and his body was interred, on the 23d of the fame month, in Westminster-Abbey, the pall being fupported by the earl of Chesterfield, lord viscount Cornbury, the honourable Mr. Berkley, general Dormer, Mr. Gore, and Mr. Pope; the fervice being performed by the dean, the choir attending.

An elegant monument is fince erected to his memory, with the following infeription, written by Mr. Pope.

Of manners gentle, of affections mild, In wit a man, fimplicity a child; Above temptation in a low eftate, And uncorrupted e'en among the great. A fafe companion, and an easy friend, Unblam'd through life, lamented in thy end: These are thy honours! not that here thy buft Is mix'd with heroes, or with kings thy duft; But that the worthy and the good shall say, Striking their pensive bofoms Here lies GAY.

Here lie the ashes of Mr. JOHN GAY,
The warmest friend;

The most benevolent man:
Who maintained
Independency

In low circumftances of fortune;
Integrity

In the midst of a corrupt age;
And that equal ferenity of mind,
Which confcious goodness alone can give,
Through the whole course of his life.

Favourite of the Mufes,

He was led by them to every elegant art;
Refin'd in tafte,

And fraught with graces all his own:
In various kinds of poetry
Superior to many,

Inferior to none,

His works continue to inspire
What his example taught,

Contempt of folly, however adorn'd;
Detestation of vice, however dignified;
Reverence of virtue, however disgraced.

Charles and Catherine, duke and duchefs of Queenf berry, who loved this excellent man living, and regret him dead; have caused this monument to be erected to his memory.

The

Mr. Gay died inteftate, so that his fortune fell, as he defired it fhould, to his two widow fifters. week before his death, he gave the play-houfe his opera, call'd, Achilles, which was acted foon after with great applaufe. He left behind him a comedy, call'd The Difirefs'd Wife; the second edition of which was printed in 1750; and a humorous farce, call'd The Rehearsal at Gotham; both which are printed at the end of this volume.