GAY, JOHN, a celebrated English poet, was born in 1688, at or near Barnstaple, and descended of an ancient family, long possessed of the manor of Goldworthy in Devonshire. He was educated by Mr Luck, the schoolmaster of Barnsta ple, a teacher of good reputation, who cultivated a taste for poetry, and published a volume of Latin and English verses.
Inheriting no fortune, and without the prospect of any, Gay was sent to London when young, and placed appren tice to a silk mercer. It is not known how long he con tinued behind the counter. Feeling, however, the irk someness of the restraint or servility of his occupation, he procured his discharge from his employer.
In 1712, the Dutchess of Monmouth took Gay into her service as secretary. Availing himself of his leisure, he published his first poem, On Rural Sports, and inscribed it to Mr Pope, then fast rising into reputation. Pope was much pleased with the compliment, and attracted by the manner and conversation of Gay, he admitted him to the fullest confidence, and a friendship was formed between them which lasted unabated till death. Though Gay was caressed by the association of wits, he appears to have been regarded rather as a play-fellow than a partner, and treated more with fondness than with deference.
Like most poets, he was anxious to place his muse un der the fostering wing of a patron, and paid his court ac cordingly to princes and their favourites ; yet his assiduity was not rewarded in proportion to his expectations. When the Earl of Clarendon was appointed envoy extrarordinary to Hanover, in the room of Lord Paget, Gay was made se cretary, for which situation he considers himself obliged to Swift, as he declares in a letter to the Dean. How far Gay would have succeeded in establishing himself as an expert diplomatist, cannot well be ascertained from his short con tinuance in office, for the death of the Queen deprived him of an opportunity of distinguishing himself; and his dedi cation of the Shepherd's Week to Lord Bolingbroke, is supposed to have excluded him from the patronage of the house of Hanover. Gay, however, still enrolled himself as an expectant of Count favour, and hailed the arrival of the Princess of Wales with a poem. This compliment
procured him but little solid advantage. She and the Prince went to see his mock tragedy of the " What d'ye call it." This mark of regard flattered Gay's hopes of farther countenance ; but meeting with disappointment, he sunk into despondency, from which his friends conspired to raise him. Lord Burlington despatched him into Devon shire for amusement ; next year he accompanied Mr Pul teney to Aix, and the year following Lord Harcourt invited him to his seat.
Gay having attained celebrity, in 1720 he published his poems by subscription, by which he raised 10001. He seems to have been at a loss how to dispose of his money, and called a consultation of his friends. Lord Oxford's steward, Lewis, advised him to invest it in the funds, and live on the interest ; Arbuthnot bid him live on the princi pal, and trust to providence for a fresh supply. Pope re commended him to purchase an annuity, in which advice he was seconded by Swift. In the calamitous year of the South Sea scheme, Gay having got a present of some stock from young Craggs, he began to dream of nothing but dignity and splendour, and resisted all the importunities of his friends to sell his share. He was even deaf to entrea ties to secure himself from want, in case of failure, by sell ing as much as would give him a hundred a year for life, and enable him, at least as Fenton told him, to command a clean shirt and a shoulder of mutton. Gay risked and lost every thing, and was so completely overwhelmed by the blow, that it required all the tenderness of his friends to restore his health. On this occasion, the attention of Pope was conspicuous. Gay at length, having recovered his health and spirits, resumed his studies, and produced his tragedy of the Captive, which he was invited to read before the Princess of Wales. On his introduction into the room, Gay found the Princess and her ladies waiting in state to receive him ; being completely engrossed by the importance of the occasion, he stumbled over a stool, and in his fall threw down a Japan screen. The Princess was alarmed, the ladies screamed, and Gay, after all this flutter and trepidation, had still to read his play.