The Fables of John Gay, Volume One

By John Gay

John Gay was an English playwright and poet who is most famous for his satirical masterpiece The Beggar s Opera. Originally employed in the government, Gay turned to writing after losing his position following the death of Queen Anne in 1714. From then on, Gay relied on his income from writing, building up a long list of patrons over the course of his career, and making contact with some of the most famous writers of the time, including Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope (and with whom he was a member of the informal society of authors and thinkers known as the Scriblerus Club). After losing the majority of his fortune to a bad investment, Gay eventually found his greatest success in The Beggar s Opera, a ballad opera that satirized society and government, and which ran for sixty-two nights upon its initial release. Gay died on December 4, 1732, at the age of forty-seven, and is buried in Westminster Abbey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dodo Books
• Release date: May 10, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370846054

John Gay

John Gay was an English playwright and poet who is most famous for his satirical masterpiece The Beggar’s Opera. Originally employed in the government, Gay turned to writing after losing his position following the death of Queen Anne in 1714. From then on, Gay relied on his income from writing, building up a long list of patrons over the course of his career, and making contact with some of the most famous writers of the time, including Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope (and with whom he was a member of the informal society of authors and thinkers known as the Scriblerus Club). After losing the majority of his fortune to a bad investment, Gay eventually found his greatest success in The Beggar’s Opera, a ballad opera that satirized society and government, and which ran for sixty-two nights upon its initial release. Gay died on December 4, 1732, at the age of forty-seven, and is buried in Westminster Abbey.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

The Shepherd and the Philosopher

Remote from cities lived a Swain,

Unvex’d with all the cares of gain;

His head was silver’d o’er with age,

And long experience made him sage;

In summer’s heat and winter’s cold

He fed his flock and penn’d the fold:

His hours in cheerful labour flew,

Nor envy nor ambition knew:

His wisdom and his honest fame

Through all the country raised his name.

A deep Philosopher (whose rules

Of moral life were drawn from schools)

The Shepherd’s homely cottage sought,

And thus explored his reach of thought:

"Whence is thy learning? Hath thy toil

O’er books consumed the midnight oil?

Hast thou old Greece and Rome survey’d,

And the vast sense of Plato weigh’d?

Hath Socrates thy soul refined,

And hast thou fathom’d Tully’s mind?

Or, like the wise Ulysses, thrown,

By various fates, on realms unknown,

Hast thou through many cities stray’d,

Their customs, laws, and manners weigh’d ?"

The Shepherd modestly replied,

"I ne’er the paths of learning tried;

Nor have I roam’d in foreign parts

To read mankind, their laws and