and told him,
'that he had desired this visit to beg his pardon, that he had injured
him greatly, but that if he lived he should find that he would make it
up to him.' Gay, on his going to Hanover, had great reason to hope for
some good preferment; but all his views came to nothing. It is not
impossible but that Mr. Addison might prevent them, from his thinking
Gay too well with some of the great men of the former Ministry. He did
not at all explain himself, in which he had injured him, and Gay could
not guess at anything else in which he could have injured him so
considerably."[14] It seems, however, more probable that Addison really
had in mind the part he had taken in connection with "Three Hours After
Marriage." Two critical publications, "A Complete Key to 'Three Hours
After Marriage,'" and "A Letter to John Gay, Concerning his late Farce,
entitled a Comedy," annoyed Gay; while Pope, too, and, in a minor
degree, Arbuthnot, were attacked for their share in the farce. John
Durand Breval, writing over the signature of Joseph Gay, published in
1717 "The Confederates: A Farce," in which he introduced a humorous
caricature print of Pope, Gay and Arbuthnot, so that, says Professor
Courthope, "Pope, at the height of his fame, found himself credited,
though he seems to have had little to do with it, with the past
paternity of a condemned play."[15] Another incident, recorded by
Professor Courthope, further angered Pope: "While he was still sore at
the mishap, Colley Cibber, playing in 'The Rehearsal,' happened to make
an impromptu allusion to the unlucky farce, saying that he had intended
to introduce the two kings of Brentford, 'one of them in the shape of a
mummy, and t'other in that of a crocodile.' The audience laughed, but
Pope, who was in the house, appeared (according to Cibber's account)
behind the scenes and abused the actor in unmeasured terms for his
impertinence. Cibber's only reply was to assure the enraged poet that,
so long as the play was acted, he should never fail to repeat the same
words. He kept his promise, thus committing the first of that series of
offences which, in the poet's vindictive memory, marked him down for
elevation to the throne of Dulness which was rendered vacant by the
deposition of King Tibbald."[16] There is a rumour that Gay, in revenge
for Cibber's banter of "Three Hours After Marriage," personally
chastised the actor-dramatist,[17] but there is nothing definitely known
about this. A