[Footnote E: Upon the accession of King George the 1st, the lord
Lansdowne was seized, and imprisoned in the Tower, upon an impeachment
of high treason; but was soon after honourably discharged, without
being brought to a trial.]

* * * * *




Mr. JOHN GAY,


This eminent Wit was descended of an ancient family in Devonshire, and
educated at the free-school of Barnstaple in the same county, under
the care of Mr. William Rayner, an excellent master[A].

Mr. Gay had a small fortune at his disposal, and was bred, says Jacob,
a Mercer in the Strand; but having a genius for high excellences, he
considered such an employment as a degradation to it, and relinquished
that occupation to reap the laurels of poetry.

About the year 1712 he was made secretary to the duchess of Monmouth,
and continued in that station 'till he went over to Hanover, in the
beginning of the year 1714, with the earl of Clarendon, who was sent
there by Queen Anne; upon whose death he returned to England, and
lived in the highest esteem and friendship with persons of the first
quality and genius. Upon Mr. Gay's arrival from Hanover, we find among
Mr. Pope's letters one addressed to him dated September 23, 1714,