Wherein exactly lay his charm it is not easy now to say; but his gentle good-nature and his utter helplessness seems to have appealed to those of sterner mould.

The extracts already given from Pope's correspondence show the affection with which he was inspired for his brother of the pen.

Pope took him so completely under his massive wing that he remarked later, "they would call him one of my _eleves_."[5] Pope accepted the position, and introduced him to his circle.

He made him known to Swift, and that great man loved him as he loved no other man; and to Parnell, Arbuthnot, Ford--the "joyous Ford" of "Mr.Pope's Welcome from Greece"-- and Bolingbroke, in all of whom he inspired an affection, which endured through life.

Parnell and Pope wrote jointly to him, and while in 1714 Pope was still addressing him as "Dear Mr.Gay," Parnell had already thrown aside all formality and greeted him as "Dear Gay." His old schoolfellow, William Fortescue, cleaved to him, and they were in such constant communication that when Pope wanted to see Fortescue, it was to Gay he appealed to arrange a meeting.