John Gay 1685-1732 John Bartlett


1
’T was when the sea was roaring With hollow blasts of wind, A damsel lay deploring, All on a rock reclin’d.
The What d’ ye call it. Act ii. Sc. 8.
2
So comes a reckoning when the banquet ’s o’er,— The dreadful reckoning, and men smile no more. 1
The What d’ ye call it. Act ii. Sc. 9.
3
’T is woman that seduces all mankind; By her we first were taught the wheedling arts.
The Beggar’s Opera. Act i. Sc. 1.
4
Over the hills and far away. 2
The Beggar’s Opera. Act i. Sc. 1.
5
If the heart of a man is depress’d with cares, The mist is dispell’d when a woman appears.
The Beggar’s Opera. Act ii. Sc. 1.
6
The fly that sips treacle is lost in the sweets.
The Beggar’s Opera. Act ii. Sc. 2.
7
Brother, brother! we are both in the wrong.
The Beggar’s Opera. Act ii. Sc. 2.
8
How happy could I be with either, Were t’ other dear charmer away!
The Beggar’s Opera. Act ii. Sc. 2.
9
The charge is prepar’d, the lawyers are met, The judges all ranged,—a terrible show!
The Beggar’s Opera. Act iii. Sc. 2.
10
All in the Downs the fleet was moor’d.
Sweet William’s Farewell to Black-eyed Susan.



11
Adieu, she cried, and waved her lily hand.
Sweet William’s Farewell to Black-eyed Susan.
12
Remote from cities liv’d a swain, Unvex’d with all the cares of gain; His head was silver’d o’er with age, And long experience made him sage.
Fables. Part i. The Shepherd and the Philosopher.
13
Whence is thy learning? Hath thy toil O’er books consum’d the midnight oil? 3
Fables. Part i. The Shepherd and the Philosopher.
14
Where yet was ever found a mother Who ’d give her booby for another?
Fables. Part i. The Mother, the Nurse, and the Fairy.
15
No author ever spar’d a brother.
Fables. Part i. The Elephant and the Bookseller.
16
Lest men suspect your tale untrue, Keep probability in view.
Fables. Part i. The Painter who pleased Nobody and Everybody.
17
In ev’ry age and clime we see Two of a trade can never agree. 4
Fables. Part i. The Rat-catcher and Cats.
18
Is there no hope? the sick man said; The silent doctor shook his head.
Fables. Part i. The Sick Man and the Angel.
19
While there is life there ’s hope, he cried. 5
Fables. Part i. The Sick Man and the Angel.
20
Those who in quarrels interpose Must often wipe a bloody nose.
Fables. Part i. The Mastiffs.
21
That raven on yon left-hand oak (Curse on his ill-betiding croak!) Bodes me no good. 6
Fables. Part i. The Farmer’s Wife and the Raven.
22
And when a lady ’s in the case, You know all other things give place.
Fables. Part i. The Hare and many Friends.
23
Give me, kind Heaven, a private station, A mind serene for contemplation: Title and profit I resign; The post of honour shall be mine. 7
Fables. Part ii. The Vulture, the Sparrow, and other Birds.
24
From wine what sudden friendship springs!
The Squire and his Cur.
25
Life is a jest, and all things show it; I thought so once, but now I know it.
My own Epitaph.

Note 1.
The time of paying a shot in a tavern among good fellows, or Pantagruelists, is still called in France a “quart d’heure de Rabelais,”—that is, Rabelais’s quarter of an hour, when a man is uneasy or melancholy.—Life of Rabelais (Bohn’s edition), p. 13. [back]

Note 2.
O’er the hills and far away.—D’Urfey: Pills to purge Melancholy (1628–1723). [back]

Note 3.
”Midnight oil,”—a common phrase, used by Quarles, Shenstone, Cowper, Lloyd, and others. [back]

Note 4.
Potter is jealous of potter, and craftsman of craftsman; and poor man has a grudge against poor man, and poet against poet.—Hesiod: Works and Days, 24.

Le potier au potier porte envie (The potter envies the potter).—Bohn: Handbook of Proverbs.

Arthur Murphy: The Apprentice, act iii. [back]

Note 5.
[greek] (For the living there is hope, but for the dead there is none.)—Theocritus: Idyl iv. 42.

Ægroto, dum anima est, spes est (While the sick man has life, there is hope).—Cicero: Epistolarum ad Atticum, ix. 10. [back]

Note 6.
It was n’t for nothing that the raven was just now croaking on my left hand.—Plautus: Aulularia, act iv. sc. 3. [back]

Note 7.
See Addison, Quotation 14. [back]

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