s soothly to say, such as is neither
spoken by the country maiden or the courtly dame; nay, not only such as
in the present times is not uttered, but was never uttered in times
past; and, if I judge aright, will never be uttered in times future. It
having too much of the country to be fit for the court, too much of the
court to be fit for the country; too much of the language of old times
to be fit for the present, too much of the present to have been fit for
the old, and too much of both to be fit for any time to come. Granted
also it is, that in this my language, I seem unto myself, as a London
mason, who calculateth his work for a term of years, when he buildeth
with old material upon a ground-rent that is not his own, which soon
turneth to rubbish and ruins. For this point, no reason can I allege,
only deep learned examples having led me thereunto."

All this is pretty fooling; but Gay, who in the beginning intended "The
Shepherd's Week" to be merely a burlesque, according to the suggestion
of Pope, was carried away by his interest in the subject-matter, and
produced a poem of undoubted value as a picture of rural life in his own
day. With it he won approval as an original poet in his own day, and
three centuries after critics still write in praise of it.

"These Pastorals were originally intended, I suppose, as a burlesque on
those of Philips'; but, perhaps without designing it, Gay has hit the
true spirit of pastoral poetry," Goldsmith said; and Dr. Johnson wrote:
"The effect of reality of truth became conspicuous, even when the
intention was to show them grovelling and degraded. These pastorals
became popular, and were read with delight, as just representations of
rural manners and occupations, by those who had no interest in the
rivalry of the poets, nor knowledge of the critical disputes."[4]
Southey, too, had a kind word to say: "In attempting the burlesque Gay
copied nature, and his unexpected success might have taught his
contemporaries a better taste. Few poets seem to have possessed so quick
and observing an eye"[5]; and, coming to the present critics, Mr. Austin
Dobson utters commendation: "The object went far beyond its avowed
object of ridicule, and Gay's eclogues abound with interesting folk-lore
and closely studied rural pictures."[6]

With all his unworldliness Gay always had an eager, if not very keen,
eye on the main chance, and finding himself surrounded by men of
influence, he not unnaturally,