London: but this step was taken without consulting the youth's taste and temper. The condition of an apprentice appeared too illiberal: he was not made, it seems, for a counter castor. The shop soon became his aversion: he was seldom seen it it: and in a few years his master, upon the offer of a small consideration, willingly consented to give up his indentures. Having thus purchased the ease of his mind, he indulged himself freely and fully in that course of life to which he was irresistibly drawn by Nature. Genius concurred with inclination; poetry was at once his delight and his talent; and he suffered not his Muse to be disturbed by any disagreeable attention to the expence of cultivating it. These qualities recommended him to such company and acquaintance as he most affected, and, among others, to Dean Swift and Mr. Pope, who were exceedingly struck with the open sincerity and undisguised simplicity of his manners, and the easiness of his temper. To this last gentleman he addressed the first fruits of his Muse, entitled Rural Sports, a Geor- · gic, printed in 1711. This piece discovered a rich poetical vein, peculiar to himself, and met with some agreeable attestations of its merit, that would have been enjoyed with a higher relish, had not the pleasure been interrupted by the ill state of his finances, which, by an uncommon degree of thoughtlessness and culli * bility were reduced now to a low ebb. Our Poet's purse was an unerring barometer of his spirits, which, sinking with it, left him in theapprehensionof a servile dependence, a condition he dreaded above any thing that could befall him. However, the clouds were shortly dispelled by the kindness of the Duchess of Monmouth, who appointed him her Secretary in 1712, with a handsome salary. This seasonable favour seating him in a coach, though not his own, kindled his Muse into a new pregnancy. He first produced his celebrated poem called Trivia; or, the Art of walking the Streets. And the following year, at the instance of Mr. Pope, he formed the plan of his Pastorals. There is not perhaps in history a more remarkable example of the force of friendship in an author, than was the undertaking and finishing this inimitable poem. Mr. Pope, in his subscription of the Hanover club to his translation of the Iliad, had been ill used by Mr. Philips their Secretary, and his rival in this species of poetry: the translator highly resented the affront, and meditating revenge, intimates to his friend, Gay, how greatly it was in his power to pluck the bays from this envied rival's forehead. Our Author im These are the words of Dean Swift many years afterwards, who there observes, that Providence never designed him, for this reason, to be above two-andtwenty. Letter 33, in Pope's Works, vol. ix. edit. 1742. I Muse. Soon after his return from France he intro duced to the stage The Three Hours after Marriage. His friends, Mr. Pope and Dr. Arbuthnot, had both a hand in this performance, and the two principal cha racters were acted by two of the best comedians at that time; yet, with all these helps and advantages, it was very ill received, if not condemned, the first night. Our Author stood the brunt with an unusual degree of magnanimity, which seems to have been inspired by a hearty regard for his partners, especially Mr. Pope, who was greatly affected with it. Mr. Gay continued, as before, to mix with quality, and so encircled stood invulnerable. In 1718 he accompanied Mr. Pope to the Lord Harcourt's seat in Oxfordshire, where they clubbed wits in consecrating to posterity the death of two rustical lovers, unfortunately killed in the neigh bouring fields by a stroke of lightning, + In 1720 he recruited his parse again by a handsome subscription to his Poems, which he collected and printed in two vols. quarto: but ang imo the general infatuation of that remarkable rear, he lost ali his fortune in the South-sea scheme, and conservent all his spirits. In reality this stroke har almost proved fatal to him: he was seat wit a viver chic, and Cibber's Lives of the Pan, who heres, the two players were Johnice and Nos. C + See Mt. Gay's lecer at Fenun, in Bagr, Brace de languishing some time, removed, in 1722, to Upon the accession of his late Majesty to the throne, *Dean Swift observes, that in the Fables he was life. Dean Swift is very merry upon it, an to him, that O. Cromwell did not begin * res mediately engages in his friend's quarrel, and executes his request even beyond his expectation. The rural simplicity neglected by Pope, and admired in Philips, was found in its true guise only in the Shepherd's Week. Here only Nature was seen exactly such as the country affordeth, and the manner meetly copied from the rustical folk therein. This exquisite piece came out in 1714, with a dedication to Lord Bolingbroke. In the mean-time, so noble a way of serving his friend was the sure way of serving himself. The most promising views opened to him at court; he was caressed by some leading persons in the ministry, and his patroness rejoiced to see him taken from her house to attend the Earl of Clarendon, as Secretary in his embassy to the court of Hanover the same year. But, whatever were his hopes from this new advancement, it is certain they begun and ended almost together; for Queen Anne died in fifteen days after their arrival at Hanover. However this did not prove an irreparable loss; his present situation made him personally known to the succeeding Royal family, and returning home, he made a proper use of it, in a handsome compliment on the Princess of Wales, consort to his Majesty King George II. at her arrival in England. * *See his Epistle to a Lady, occasioned by the Arrival of her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales. |
