Marriage, a comedy written, as there is sufficient reason for
believing, by the joint assistance of Pope and Arbuthnot. One
purpose of it was to bring into contempt Dr. Woodward, the
fossilist, a man not really or justly contemptible. It had the fate
which such outrages deserve. The scene in which Woodward was
directly and apparently ridiculed, by the introduction of a mummy
and a crocodile, disgusted the audience, and the performance was
driven off the stage with general condemnation.

Gay is represented as a man easily incited to hope, and deeply
depressed when his hopes were disappointed. This is not the
character of a hero, but it may naturally imply something more
generally welcome, a soft and civil companion. Whoever is apt to
hope good from others is diligent to please them; but he that
believes his powers strong enough to force their own way, commonly
tries only to please himself. He had been simple enough to imagine
that those who laughed at the What D'ye Call It would raise the
fortune of its author, and, finding nothing done, sunk into
dejection. His friends endeavoured to divert him. The Earl of
Burlington sent him (1716) into Devonshire, the year after Mr.
Pulteney took him to Aix, and in the following year Lord Harcourt
invited him to his seat, where, during his visit, two rural lovers
were killed with lightning, as is particularly told in Pope's
"Letters."

Being now generally known, he published (1720) his poems by
subscription, with such success that he raised a thousand pounds,
and called his friends to a consultation what use might be best made
of it. Lewis, the steward of Lord Oxford, advised him to intrust it
to the Funds, and live upon the interest; Arbuthnot bade him to