John Gay's London : Illustrated from the Poetry of the Time

AND THE BOROUGH OF SOUTHWARK two points, the "Journeys" and the "Rake," while the vignettes are close kin to parts of Juvenal's Third Satire.With this material and its criss-cross of relations it seemed advisable not to adhere too rigidly to any arrangement based on literary genres. The mass of pertinent reference is hugely overgrown in spite of limitation. Trivial matters have accumulated, like the notes of Mr. Casaubon. Doubtless our patient suffers from ascites and needs a more skilled or conscientious surgeon to do the tapping.1 Induction, Every Man out of His Humour (1600). 1 Thomas Randolph, Poems (5th ed., 1668). Verses by West and others prefixed.But we want to go into the blind tap-houses. We have no tragic flair, neither have we Donne's aloofness, as expressed so admirably in the first lines of his Satire II: Sir, though (I thank God for it) I do hate Perfectly all this town.Marvell's lines will set the tone which is most likely to help us: JOHN GAY'S LONDON Chapter I THE TOWN, GAY, AND GRUB STREET I N the London that Queen Anne was supposed to manage, the main interest was commercial. It always had been so, but in her time the opportunities before young men in business were increasingly attractive, and even spectacular. Great financial schemes, such as the founding of the Bank of England, the institution of the National Debt, the renewal of the coinage, had just been carried through by the Guilds and Corporation of London in conjunction with the government, and these promised to shift the centre of influence from the landed gentry to the moneyed classes of the metropolis. The city at this time could boast a population of about three quarters of a million, and her business connections were expanding rapidly. The process of give-and-take had begun, and the corners of the earth were beginning to feel vibrations from this growing trade centre. France and Spain were shattered by the greed of autocrats. Holland -once so great commercially •-had been forced to scatter her wealth in the struggle to remain independent. The whole board was swept clear for England; and while her soldiers fought with Marlborough at Blenheim and Ramillies, her merchants busied themselves in establishing the beginnings of trade in India and America. Commercial supremacy and imperial policies were dimly visible. Paper credit was making its first appearance, -surely a proper symbol in such a period, -but people viewed it with suspicion, and various frivolous arguments were brought forward against ' Moral Essays, III, "On the Use of Riches." \* Henri Misson, Memoires et Observations (1698), p. 8. ч JOHN GAY'S LONDON Or, "Have you nothing new to-day From Pope, from Parnell, or from Gay?" Goldsmith tells us in his Life of Parnell 1 that Gay was obliged to Parnell upon another account, "for being always poor, he was not above receiving from Parnell the copy-money which the latter got for his writings." Goldsmith learns this from an undated letter from Pope to Parnell (quoted on page xii of the Life): "My hearty service to the Dean, Dr. Arbuthnot, Mr. Ford, and the true genuine shepherd, J. Gay of Devon, I expect him down with you." Pope then speaks of publishing Parnell's Zoilus: "Inform me also upon what terms I am to deal with the book-seller, and whether you design the copy-money for Gay, as you formerly talk'd." 2Gay always seems like the good angel, if that is not too extravagant language, of these rather difficult people among whom he moved. He gave quite as much as he received. The charming familiarity which existed between him and Pope is perhaps suggested most delicately in Pope's "Epistle to the Same [Mrs. Blount] on her leaving the Town after the Coronation": 3 So when your Slave, at some dear idle time, (Not plagu'd with head-achs, or the want of rhyme) Stands in the streets, abstracted from the crew, And while he seems to study, thinks of you; Just when his fancy points your sprightly eyes, Or sees the blush of soft Parthenia rise, Gay pats my shoulder, and you vanish quite, Streets, Chairs, and Coxcombs rush upon my sight; Vex'd to be still in town, I knit my brow, Look sour, and hum a Tune, as you may now. 1 Prefixed to the 1770 edition of Parnell's Poems, p. ix. \* This Life of Parnell is full of interesting anecdotes. One of the best is that about the walking party to Lord Burlington's country house, and the chase to defraud Swift of the best bed. ' Works (ed. Warton), II, 323. This poem was first published in 1727. \* The Beggar's Opera. Nor had the jests at Cibber's expense altogether died out three years later, when an anonymous poem, called "On Poetry, a rapsody," appeared, 4 for this writer talks about "harmonious Cibber" entertaining the Court 1 Produced at Drury Lane, Jan. 15, 1724. 2 Poems (2 vols., 1729), I, 276. 3 "The Gardener's Congress on Colley Cibber's being appointed Poet Laureat," later republished in The Fugitive Miscellany (1774-75), II, 60. 4 Printed Dublin, reprinted London, 1733. Evidently written before Gay's death (Dec. 4, 1732), by Swift. Attend ye Popes, and Youngs, and Gays, And tune your Harps and strow your Bays. Your Panegyricks here provide, You cannot err on Flatt'ry's Side. Above the Stars exalt your Stile, You still are low ten thousand Mile. In 1734, some verses were written "Occasion'd by a Report that Mr. Butler's Monument in Westminster-Abby, is to be remov'd, to make Room for One to be set up to the Memory of Mr. Gay": 1 To this immortal Poet's awful Dust, Did Barber raise a monumental Bust. . . . Great Hudibras I '11 undertake to say, Would never to Mackheath have given Way, Why should his Author then make Room for Gay?As a matter of fact, Dean Stanley, in his Historical Memorials of Westminster, 2 tells us that Butler's bust was removed to its present position to make room for Gay's monument "by permission of Alderman Barber." But the Town was far more interested in Gay than in Butler, and the erection of the Queensberry monument in his honor was, no doubt, generally applauded.Allusions to Gay after his death continue to be both affectionate and respectful. In 1734, Dodsley wrote "An Epistle to Pope, Occasion'd by his Essay on Man," in which he pays a pleasant compliment to Gay: This Simile drawn out, I now began To think of forming some Design or Plan, To aid my Muse, and guide her wand'ring Lay, When sudden to my Mind came honest Gay. For Form or Method I no more contend, But strive to copy that ingenious Friend. 1 Swift, Poems (Bohn, 1910), I, 320, "A Libel" (1729): "Thus Gay, the hare with many friends, Twice seven long years the court attends." 2 Vol. II, p. 42. 3 Gay's Prologue to The Shepherd's Week (1714). 1 Alexandre Beljame, Le Public et les Hammes de Lettres en Angleterre au dix-huitieme Sibcle (1881). 2 See "A new satyrical Ballad of the Licentiousness of the Times," Bagford Ballads, II, 715. All talk politics, the republican, the bully, the cit, the knight, the cobbler, the women. King William, however, paid scant attention to writers. See Sir Richard Blackmore, Poems (1718), "The Kit-cats" (printed 1708): " He shun'd the Acclamations of the Throng, And always coldly heard the Poet's Song. Hence the great King the Muses did neglect, And the meer Poet met with small Respect." ' Cf. Juvenal, VII. "Who if some lowly carriage do befriend, May grace the table at the lower end, Upon condition that ye fairly rise At the first entrance of th' potato pies, And while his lordship for discourse doth call You do not let one dram of Latin fall; But tell how bravely your young master swears, Which dogs best like his fancy, and what ears; How much he undervalues learning, and Takes pleasure in a sparrow-hawk well mann'd, How oft he beats his foot-boy, and will dare To gallop when no serving man is near." Also cf. Macaulay, Works (1875), 2 i6; 7\*atler, Nos. 255 and 258; Scott, Rob Roy: "But here comes cheese, radishes, and a bumper to Church and King -the signal for ladies and chaplains to retire"; Swift, "Mrs. Frances Harris's Petition," 1699, in Poems (2 vols., Bohn, 1910), I, 36. Also cf. Juvenal, VII: "Haec, inquit, cures, et cum se verterit annus Accipe victori populus quod postulat aurum!" and Hall, Satires (Oxford, 1753), И, 6, p. 33: "A Gentle squire would gladly entertaine Into his house some trencher-chaplaine; Some willing man that might instruct his sons, And that would stand to good conditions. First, that he lie upon the truckle-bed, Whiles his young maister lieth o'er his head. Second, that he do, on no default, Ever presume to sit above the salt. Third, that he never change his trencher twise. Fourth, that he use all common courtesies; Sit bare at meales, and one hälfe rise and wait. Last, that he never his yong maister beat, But he must aske his mother to define, How manie jerkes she would his breech should line. All these observ'd, he could contented bee, To give five markes and winter liverie." 1 Jonson, The Silent Woman, IV, 2. ' 1726. P. 209.First in one Dress, and then another seen. Howe'er this Play confines him to the Bar, He ranges, and by Turns is ev'rywhere. Sometimes upon a Stage exalted high, He either couches, or puts out an Eye. Now glares in gilded Chariot, and anon Ascends a Tub, and proves a stiff Non-Con. Then he will dress, and drink, and swear, and fight, And lose a thousand Guineas in a Night. Next runs against a Post, and breaks a Shin, Yet gravely tells you of the Light within. Soon after the Poetic Maggot bites, He calls for Paper, Pen, and Ink, and writes, No matter what, Dramatics, Epics, Lyrics, Ballads or Odes, Lampoons or Panegyrics. Thus have I oft the various Frenzy view'd, Thro' every Scene the shifting Fool pursu'd, 'Till tir'd with all the Changes he had shown, His genuine Figure he resolv'd to own, Of Dev'reux Court, his proper Sphere, possest, Free-Thinker turn'd -and there he stands confest. No one was more acutely conscious of the heat of this literary fever than Edward Young, himself among the afflicted: JOHN GAY'S LONDON Some future strain, in which the Muse shall tell How science dwindles, and how volumes swell. How commentators each dark passage shun, And hold their farthing candle to the sun. 1The disease was epidemic. His crisp phrases come home forcibly to us in these days:Pursuit of fame with pedants fills our schools, And into coxcombs burnishes our fools. 3Shortly after this, Young wrote "Two Epistles to Mr. Pope concerning the Authors of the Age" (1730), in which he gives salutary advice to aspirants:Write, and re-write, blot out, and write again, And for its swiftness ne'er applaud your pen. 3And even more forcefully:Think frequently, think close, read nature, turn Men's manners o'er, and half your volumes burn. 4Moreover, unlike some critics, Young is willing to acknowledge his own sins:Who's this with nonsense, nonsense would restrain? Who's this (they cry) so vainly schools the vain? Who damns our trash, with so much trash replete? As, three ells round, huge Cheyne rails at meat?The most glaring example of this plethora of wit is Sir Richard Blackmore, of whom Tom Moore once wrote:'Twas in his carriage the sublime Sir Richard Blackmore used to rhyme, And if the wits don't do him wrong, 'Twixt death and epics passed his time, Scribbling and killing all day long. • "Love of Fame" (1728), Poems (2 vols., 1852), II, 136. 2 Ibid., p. 137. 3 Ibid., p. 320. 4 Ibid., p. 322. How long shall Dulness, dreaming God, sustain, In this fair Island, his inglorious Reign? Behold! what Pranks he plays; behold him range, The darling Deity, around the 'Change; Where Pun-full Misers jest, and cheat, and cant, And wallow in the Riches, which they want. See! how his awful Godhead does dispence At Child's and Will's, his solid Influence! How willy-whisps P[op]e's senses quite astray; And sheds his whole collected Force on G[a]y! How puzzles pert Ar\buthno\t's Learned Head; 1 1634. Dodsley's Old Plays (ed. 1875), II, 272. \* "Cloe to Mr. Tickell, occasioned by his Avignon Letter," on p. 81 of Poems on Several Occasions (1721). Cf. Sir Richard Blackmore, "The Kit-Cats (ed. 1709), p. 8.See Grub-street opens her ten thousand doors, See Billingsgate unsluices all her stores; See essays, fables, puns, assist the fray, Abuse descending from confed'rate Say;' See authors on all sides desert their dens, New edge their blunted wits, and nib their pens:1 Verses on the Oeath of Dr. Swift . 3 Printer of the Gazetteer. ' Hudibras Redivivus (1707), Part II, p. 11. ηο JOHN GAY'S LONDON ' Thomas Baker, Τunbridge-Walks (1703).