mber
15th, but not read till the 20th, by an impulse foreboding some
misfortune."

ALEXANDER POPE TO DEAN SWIFT.

December 5th, 1732.

"It is not a time to complain that you have not answered me two letters
(in the last of which I was impatient under some fears). It is not now,
indeed, a time to think of myself, when one of the longest and nearest
ties I have ever had, is broken all on a sudden by the unexpected death
of poor Mr. Gay. An inflammatory fever burned him out of this life in
three days. He died last night at nine o'clock, not deprived of his
senses entirely at last, and possessing them perfectly till within five
hours. He asked of you a few hours before, when in acute torment by the
inflammation in his bowels and breast. His effects are in the Duke of
Queensberry's custody. His sisters, we suppose, will be his heirs, who
are two widows; as yet it is not known whether or no he left a will ...

"I shall never see you now, I believe; one of your principal calls to
England is at an end. Indeed, he was the most amiable by far, his
qualities were the gentlest, but I love you as well and as firmly. Would
to God the man we have lost had not been so amiable nor so good: but
that's a wish for our own sakes, not for his. Surely, if innocence and
integrity can deserve happiness, it must be his. Adieu! I can add
nothing to what you will feel, and diminish nothing from it."[10]

* * * * *

Gay's body was removed from Burlington House on the morning of December
23rd, to Exeter Change, in the Strand, where it lay in state during the
day. At nine o'clock in the evening, it was taken for burial to
Westminster Abbey in a hearse with plumes of white and black feathers
and appropriate escutcheons, attended by three coaches, each drawn by
six horses. In the first coach was the principal mourner, Gay's nephew,
the Rev. Joseph Bailer, who is responsible for the above account of the
obsequies; in the second coach were the Duke of Queensberry and
Arbuthnot. The pall-bearers were Lord Chesterfield, Lord Cornbury, the
Hon. Mr. Berkeley, General Dormer, Mr. Gore, and Pope. The service was
read by the Dean of Westminster, Dr. Wilcox, Bishop of Rochester. Gay's
remains were deposited in the south cross aisle of the Abbey, over
against Chaucer's tomb.[11] Later a monument was erected to his memory.

Here lie the ashes of Mr. John Gay,
The warmest friend;