Though he persistently regarded himself as neglected by the gods, it is nevertheless a fact that the fates were unusually kind to him.

A Cabinet Minister made him a present of South Sea stock; Walpole appointed him a Commissioner of Lotteries; he was granted an apartment in Whitehall; Queen Caroline offered him a sinecure post in her Household.

Because he thought Gay ill-used, the greatest man of letters of the century quarrelled with Lady Suffolk; for the same reason a Duchess insulted the King and wiped the dust of the Court from her shoes, and a Duke threw up his employment under the Crown.

All his friends placed their purses and their houses at Gay's disposal, and competed for the pleasure of his company.

Never was there a man of letters so petted and pampered.
It is somewhat strange that there should be no biography of a man so well-known and so much beloved.