Gay, JOHN, the youngest son of William Gay of Barnstaple, was born in 1685. Although of an old family, his father was in reduced circumstances; and Gay, after being educated at the local grammar-school, was apprenticed to a London silk-mercer. Disliking this occupation, he soon abandoned it, and, having spent some months at home, returned to London to live by letters. In 1708 he published his first poem, Wine, in blank verse, and in 1711 an anonymous pamphlet, called the Present State of Wit. By this time he had made the acquaintance of Pope, to whom in 1713 he dedicated a georgic, Rural Sports. Late in the previous year he had been appointed secretary to the Duchess of Monmouth. In 1714 he brought out The Fan, and following this, The Shepherd's Week, a contribution to Pope's crusade against Ambrose Philips. Subsequently, resigning his post with the Duchess of Monmouth, he accompanied Lord Clarendon, then envoy to Hanover, as secretary. At Anne's death he was again in London, endeavouring to conciliate fortune by an epistle to the newly-arrived Princess of Wales. His next effort was the What d'ye Call It? 'a tragi-comi-pastoral farce' (1715). Trivia, a clever picture of town life from a pedestrian's point of view, for which Swift supplied hints, came next; and later he bore the blame of Three Hours after Marriage (1717), a play in which Pope and Arbuthnot had the larger part. In 1720 he published his poems by subscription, clearing £1000. With this his friends hoped he would have made some provision for the future, but it apparently vanished, as did also some South Sea stock which had been presented to him, in the crash of 1720. In 1724 he produced The Captives, a tragedy, and three years afterwards the first series of his popular Fables. But his greatest success was The Beggar's Opera, the outcome of a suggestion for a 'Newgate pastoral' made by Swift as far back as 1716. Its popularity was extraordinary; it ran sixty-two nights, gave celebrity to its actors, and, in the popular phrase, made Rich (the manager) gay, and Gay (the author) rich. By the thirty-sixth night he had netted between £700 and £800; and he forthwith set about a sequel, Polly, which was prohibited. This step only served to give the play a greater sale in book form, and the subscriptions brought Gay £1200. After this he lived chiefly with the Duke and Duchess of Queensberry, who since 1720 had been the kindest of his many patrons. In 1732 he came from their house to London, probably in connection with his opera of Achilles (produced in 1733), was seized with an inflammatory fever, and died in three days (4th December 1732). He was buried in Westminster Abbey 'as if he had been a peer of the realm.'
As a man Gay was amiable, indolent, and luxurious. His health was bad, and he wasted his life in vain hopes of preferment. But no man made kinder friends; and that he retained them is proof of his personal charm. His Fables have still a faint vitality; folklorists and antiquaries still study Trivia and The Shepherd's Week, and 18th-century specialists delight in the chronicle of his two ballad operas. On the whole, however, his poetical reputation has not been maintained. But he was a charming song-writer, and will perhaps last longest by his ballad of 'Black-eyed Susan.' The best portrait of him is by Kneller's pupil, William Aikman.
See the edition of the Poetical Works by Underhill (2 vols. 1893) and his edition of the Letters and Prose Writings (Muses Library).