If he should travel about the country he would have hecatombs of roasted oxen sacrificed to him.

Since he became so conspicuous, Will Pulteney hangs his head to see himself so much outdone in the career of glory.

I hope he will get a good deal of money by printing his play ['Polly']; but I really believe he would get more money by showing his person; and I can assure you, this is the very identical John Gay whom you formerly knew, and lodged in Whitehall, two years ago."[3] Gay was now the avowed _protege_ of the Duke and Duchess of Queensberry, so he spent the greater part of his closing years either at their country seat, Middleton Stoney, Amesbury, in Wiltshire, or at their London house in Burlington Gardens.
Gay, who really asked nothing better than to be a pet of the great in this world, was happy enough.

In May, 1729, he went to Scotland with the Duke of Queensberry, and his only trouble was that the success of "Polly" made it attractive to unscrupulous booksellers.

"He has about twenty lawsuits with booksellers for pirating his book,"[4] Arbuthnot wrote to Swift on May 8th.