Gay goes only on an embassy to you. Others apprehend some dangerous state treatise from your retirement; and a wit, who affects to imitate Balsac, says that the ministry now are like those heathens of old who received their oracles from the woods. The gentlemen of the Roman Catholic persuasion are not unwilling to credit me, when I whisper, that you are gone to meet some Jesuits commissioned from the court of Rome, in order to settle the most convenient methods to be taken for the coming of the Pretender. Dr. Arbuthnot is singular in his opinion, and imagines your only design is to attend at full leisure to the life and adventures of Scriblerus.* This indeed must be granted of greater importance than all the rest; and I wish I could promise so well of you. The top of my own ambition is to contribute to that great work, and I shall translate Homer by the bye. Mr. Gay has acquainted you what progress I have made in it. I cannot name Mr. Gay, without all the acknowledgments which I shall ever owe you on his account. If I writ this in verse, * This project (in which the principal persons engaged were Dr. Arbuthnot, Dr. Swift, and Mr. Pope) was a very noble one. It was to write a complete satire in prose upon the abuses in every branch of science, comprised in the history of the life and writings of Scriblerus; the issue of which was only some detached parts and fragments, such as the Memoirs of Scriblerus, the Travels of Gulliver, the Treatise of the Profund, the literal Criticisms of Virgil, &c. Warburton. The three last-mentioned works were not at all in the character of Dr. Scriblerus. Warton. I would tell you, you are like the sun, and while men imagine you to be retired or absent, are hourly exerting your indulgence, and bringing things to maturity for their advantage. Of all the world, you are the man (without flattery) who serve your friends with the least ostentation; it is almost ingratitude to thank you,* considering your temper; and this is the period of all my letter which I fear you will think the most impertinent. I am, with the truest affection, Yours, &c. SIR, LETTER VIII. MR. GAY TO DR. SWIFT. London, July 8, 1714. SINCE you went out of the town, my Lord Clarendon was appointed envoy-extraordinary to Hanover in the room of Lord Paget; and by making use of those friends, which I entirely owe to you, he has accepted me for his secretary. This day, by appointment, I met his lordship at Mr. Secretary Bromley's office; he then ordered me to be ready by Saturday. I am quite off from the Duchess of Monmouth. Mr. Lewis was very ready to serve me upon this occasion, as were Dr. Arbuthnot and Mr. Ford. I am every day attending my lord-treasurer for his bounty, in order to *Swift was at this time earnestly soliciting, among his great friends, subscriptions for Pope's Homer. Bowles. set me out; which he has promised me upon the following petition, which I sent him by Dr. Arbuthnot: THE EPIGRAMMATICAL PETITION OF JOHN GAY. If, when with the swains I did gambol, Pray, my lord, how much money will do? We had the honour of the treasurer's company last Saturday, when we sat upon Scriblerus. Pope is in town, and has brought with him the first book of Homer. I am this evening to be at Mr. Lewis's with the Provost, Mr. Ford, Parnelle, and Pope. It is thought my Lord Clarendon will make but a short stay at Hanover. If it was possible, that any recommendation could be procured to make me more distinguished than ordinary, during my stay at that court, I should think myself very happy, if * Gay's finery was the subject of ridicule both to himself and his friends. In the preface to his pastorals he describes his equipment for court: "I sold my sheep and lambkins too, For silver loops and garment blue." And Pope, in his humorous letter to the Dean, describes Gay as an unhappy youth, who has miserably lavished away all that silver he should have reserved for his soul's health, in buttons and loops for his coat. Sir W. Scott. + Of Dublin college, Dr. Benjamin Pratt. you could contrive any method to prosecute it; for I am told, that their civilities very rarely descend so low as to the secretary. I have all the reason in the world to acknowledge this as wholly owing to you; and the many favours I have received from you, purely out of your love for doing good, assures me you will not forget me in my absence. As for myself, whether I am at home or abroad, gratitude will always put me in mind of the man to whom I owe so many benefits. I am your most obliged humble servant, J. GAY. LETTER IX. DR. ARBUTHNOT TO MR. POPE. London, Sept. 7, 1714. I AM extremely obliged to you for taking notice of a poor old distressed courtier, commonly the most despiseable thing in the world. This blow has so roused Scriblerus, that he has recovered his senses, and thinks and talks like other men. From being frolicksome and gay he is turned grave and morose. His lucubrations lie neglected among old newspapers, cases, petitions, and abundance of unanswerable letters. I wish to God they had been among the papers * of a noble lord sealed up. Then * Lord Bolingbroke, whose papers were sealed up on the accession of George the First, at this time. Bowles. might Scriblerus have passed for the Pretender, and it would have been a most excellent and laborious work for the Flying Post, or some such author, to have allegorized all his adventures into a plot, and found out mysteries somewhat like the Key to the Lock. Martin's office is now the second door on the left hand in Dover-street, where he will be glad to see Dr. Parnelle, Mr. Pope, and his old friends, to whom he can still afford a half pint of claret. It is with some pleasure that he contemplates the world still busy, and all mankind at work for him. I have seen a letter from Dean Swift; he keeps up his noble spirit, and though like a man knocked down, you may behold him still with a stern countenance, and aiming a blow at his adversaries. I will add no more, being in haste, only that I will never forgive you if you cannot use my aforesaid house in Dover-street with the same freedom as you did that in St. James's; for as our friendship was not begun upon the relation of a courtier, so I hope it will not end with it. I will always be proud to be reckoned amongst the number of your friends and humble servants. |