EPITAPH ON GAY
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ohn Gay, the idlest, best-natured, and best-loved man of letters of hisday, was the special friend of Pope. His early work, 'The Shepherd'sWeek', was planned as a parody on the 'Pastorals' of Pope's rival,Ambrose Philips, and Pope assisted him in the composition of hisluckless farce, 'Three Hours after Marriage'. When Gay's opera 'Polly'was forbidden by the licenser, and Gay's patrons, the Duke and Duchessof Queensberry, were driven from court for soliciting subscriptions forhim, Pope warmly espoused his cause. Gay died in 1732 and was buried inWestminster Abbey. Pope's epitaph for his tomb was first published inthe quarto edition of Pope's works in 1735--Johnson, in his discussionof Pope's epitaphs ('Lives of the Poets'), devotes a couple of pages ofsomewhat captious criticism to these lines; but they have at least thevirtue of simplicity and sincerity, and are at once an admirableportrait of the man and a lasting tribute to the poet Gay. * * * * *
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