he Muse restored him to more life and
to more disappointment. He then wrote 'The Captive,' obtained an
appointment to read it to the Princess of Wales, stumbled, like Caesar,
over a stool; the princess screamed, the omen was a true one--'The
Captive' pined and died.

In 1726 he wrote these Fables, dedicating them to the Duke of
Cumberland, and in 1727 his royal patron succeeded to the crown; when he
was offered the post of Gentleman Usher to the Princess Louisa. Gay was
hurt and indignant, and made court to Mrs. Howard (afterwards Countess
of Suffolk), one of the anomalous favourites alluded to in page 131, but
in vain.

Then came the great success of his 'Beggars' Opera,' which was followed
by 'Polly,' its sequel. 'Polly' was forbidden by the Lord Chamberlain,
and a private subscription raised 1200_l._ to recompense Gay for not
being suffered to please the mob with his immorality. And, lastly, the
Duke and Duchess of Queensberry took this child of nature by the
hand--the duke to manage his worldly substance, and the duchess to
soothe his insatiable vanity--and so he died at the early age of 45, and
has a very pretty tomb, with "Queensberry weeping o'er his urn," in
Poets' Corner. Pope's epitaph runs thus:--

"Blest be the gods for those they took away,
And those they left me, for they left me Gay.
Left me to see deserted genius bloom,
Neglected die, and tell it on his tomb;
Of all his blameless life the sole return
My verse and Queensberry weeping o'er his urn."

Peace with his dust! Another couplet of Pope's, methinks, has more of
moral truth and justice:--

"A wit's a feather, and a chief's a rod;
An honest man's the noblest work of God."

+--------------------------------------------------+
|Transcriber's Note: |
| |
|Inconsistencies in the use of hyphens and accents,|
|as well as in the title of fables in the table of |
|contents and in the body of the text, have been |
|retained as in the original book. |
+--------------------------------------------------+

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