His friends supported him admirably.

Lord Burlington and Lord Chandos each put down his name for fifty copies, Lord Bathurst for ten copies; in all Gay made more than L1,000 by the publication.

To this success he alluded in his "Epistle to the Right Honourable Paul Methuen, Esq."[1] Yet there are ways for authors to be great; Write ranc'rous libels to reform the State; Or if you choose more sun and readier ways, Spatter a minister with fulsome praise: Launch out with freedom, flatter him enough; Fear not, all men are dedication-proof.
Be bolder yet, you must go farther still, Dip deep in gall thy mercenary quill.
He who his pen in party quarrels draws, Lists an hired bravo to support the cause; He must indulge his patron's hate and spleen, And stab the fame of those he ne'er has seen.
Why then should authors mourn their desp'rate case?
Be brave, do this, and then demand a place.
Why art thou poor?
exert the gifts to rise, And vanish tim'rous virtue from thy eyes.
All this seems modern preface, where we're told That wit is praised, but hungry lives and cold: Against th' ungrateful age these authors roar, And fancy learning starves because they're poor.
Yet why should learning hope success at Court?
Why should our patriots virtue's cause support?
Why to true merit should they have regard?
They know that virtue is its own reward.
Yet let me not of grievances complain.
Who (though the meanest of the Muse's train) Can boast subscriptions to my humble lays, And mingle profit with my little praise.
What to do with the thousand pounds--a sum certainly far larger than any of which he had ever been possessed--Gay had not the slightest idea.

He had just enough wisdom to consult his friends.

Erasmus Lewis, a prudent man of affairs, advised him to invest it in the Funds and live upon the interest; Arbuthnot advised him to put his faith in Providence and live upon the capital; Swift and Pope, who understood him best, advised him to purchase an annuity.