baulk'd, my last resort,
I left the Muses to frequent the Court;
Pensive each night, from room to room I walk'd,
To one I bow'd, and with another talk'd;
Inquir'd what news, or such a lady's name,
And did the next day, and the next, the same.
Places I found, were daily giv'n away,
And yet no friendly _Gazette_ mention'd Gay.

Gay's protestations of delight at the accession to the throne of the
House of Hanover would probably have been regarded as more sincere if,
unfortunately, he had not a few months before dedicated "The Shepherd's
Week" to Bolingbroke. His very outspoken hint in the "Letter to a Lady"
was ignored; but Caroline, who liked eulogy as much as anyone, received
him kindly; and when in February, 1715, he produced "The What D'ye Call
It" at Drury Lane Theatre, she and her consort attended the first
performance. But still, no place was found for him at Court. "Tell me,"
Swift asked him so much later as 1723, "are you not under original sin
by the dedication of your Eclogue to Lord Bolingbroke?"

[Footnote 1: _The Guardian_, No. 32; April 17th, 1713.]

[Footnote 2: Dr. Johnson in his "Lives of the Poets" attributes the
authorship to Steele (_Works_, ed. Hill), III, p. 269.]

[Footnote 3: Introductory Memoir by John Underhill, in his edition of
the _Poems of John Gay_ ("The Muses' Library"), I, xxxi.]

[Footnote 4: _Works_ (ed. Hill), III, p. 269.]

[Footnote 5: _Specimens_, I, p. 298.]

[Footnote 6: _Dictionary of National Biography_, article, Gay.]

[Footnote 7: Swift: _Works_ (ed. Scott), XVI, p. 113.]

[Footnote 8: _Ibid_., XVI, p. 117.]

[Footnote 9: _Ibid_., XVI, p. 123.]

[Footnote 10: Swift: _Works_ (ed. Scott), XVI, p. 193.]

[Footnote 11: Swift: _Works_ (ed. Scott), XVI, p. 204.]

[Footnote 12: Pope: _Works_ (ed. Elwin and Courthope), VII, p. 415.]

[Footnote 13: Swift: _Works_ (ed. Scott), XVI, p. 213.]

CHAPTER V

1715-1719

"The What D'ye Call It"--An Epistle to the Right Honourable the
Earl of Burlington--"Trivia, or, The Art of Walking the Streets of
London"--"Three Hours After Marriage."

Undismayed by the failure of his first play, "The Wife of Bath," Gay
made another bid for theatrical success with "The What D'ye Call It,"
which was performed at Drury Lane Theatre in February, 1715, and
published in March of that year. In the preface Gay wrote: "I have not
called it a tragedy, comedy, pastoral, or farce, but left the name
entirely