nd precipitate illness, in
which I attended him to his last breath," Pope informed Swift, February
16th, 1733. "The Duke has acted more than the part of a brother to him,
and it will be strange if the sisters do not leave his papers totally at
his disposal, who will do the same that I would with them. He had
managed the comedy (which our poor friend gave to the playhouse a week
before his death) to the utmost advantage for his relations; and
proposes to do the same with some Fables he left unfinished."[12] The
play was much discussed in advance of its representation.

"Mr. Gay has left a posthumous work, which is soon to be acted," Lady
Anne Irvine wrote to Lord Carlisle on January 6th, 1733. "Tis in the
manner of 'The Beggar's Opera,' interspersed with songs; the subject is
Achilles among the women, where he is discovered choosing a sword. The
design is to ridicule Homer's Odysses; 'tis much commended, and I don't
doubt, from the nature of the subject, will be much approved."[13] Gay's
play was put into rehearsal in December, 1732, about a fortnight after
his death,[14] and it was produced at the theatre in Lincoln's Inn
Fields in February, 1723, when a contemporary account says it "met with
a general applause the first night, when there was a noble and crowded
audience,"[15] and Pope wrote to Swift on February 16th: "The play Mr.
Gay left succeeds very well. It is another original of its kind."[16] It
ran for eighteen nights. The cast was as follows:--

_Lycomedes_ ... ... ... ... ... MR. QUIN
_Diphilus_ ... ... ... ... ... MR. ASTON
_Achilles_ ... ... ... ... ... MR. SALWAY
_Ulysses_ ... ... ... ... ... MR. CHAPMAN
_Diomedes_ ... ... ... ... ... MR. LAGUERRE
_Ajax_ ... ... ... ... ... ... MR. HALL
_Periphas_ ... ... ... ... ... MR. WALKER
_Agyrtes_ ... ... ... ... ... MR. LEVERIDGE
_Thetis_ ... ... ... ... ... MR. BUCHANAN
_Theaspe_ ... ... ... ... ... MRS. CANTREL
_Deidamia_ ... ... ... ... ... MISS NORSA
_Lesbia_ ... ... ... ... ... MISS BINKS
_Philoe_ ... ... ... ... ... MISS OATES
_Antemona_ ... ... ... ... ... MRS. EGLETON

"The Distrest Wife," another of the posthumous plays, was a poor thing,
and Swift was much annoyed that it was staged. "As to our poor friend, I
think the Duke of Queensberry has acted a very noble and generous
part," Swift wrote to Pope, March 31st, 1734. "But before he did it, I
wish there had been so much c