SOURCE: "Chapter 18" and "Chapter 19," in John Gay: His Place in the Eighteenth Century, Collins, 1938, pp. 301-19; 320-45.

In the following excerpt, Fenwick Gaye focuses on the years 1727 and 1728, when Gay wrote and then premiered The Beggar's Opera. She pays particular attention to Gay's influential relationships with fellow Scriblerians Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope, and to Gay's difficult relationship with the English court and government, including Prime Minister Robert Walpole.

"Amidst our hopes, Fate strikes the sudden wound."
                GAY: 'A THOUGHT ON ETERNITY'

Early in [1727], Swift began to put into action his plans for coming to England. He had Irish plaids to discuss with Mrs. Howard, and medals to discuss with the Queen, the Miscellany of poems to discuss with the other Scriblerians—and all sorts of delicious prospects. He was sensible enough to know by now that plaids and medals were about as far as he could reasonably...