John Gay
John Gay
John Gaywas an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for The Beggar's Opera, a ballad opera. The characters, including Captain Macheath and Polly Peachum, became household names...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth30 June 1685
pride gay animal
To frame the little animal, provide All the gay hues that wait on female pride: Let Nature guide thee; sometimes golden wire The shining bellies of the fly require; The peacock's plumes thy tackle must not fail, Nor the dear purchase of the sable's tail.
judging debt demand
The charge is prepared; the lawyers are met; The judges all ranged (a terrible show!) I go, undismay'd. For death is a debt, A debt on demand. So take what I owe.
night years half
Were I laid on Greenland's Coast, And in my Arms embrac'd my Lass; Warm amidst eternal Frost, Too soon the Half Year's Night would pass.
brother
No author ever spar'd a brother.
crow powder
To shoot at crows is powder flung away.
women giving cases
And when a lady's in the case, You know, all other things give place.
simple play flames
How, like a moth, the simple maid Still plays around the flame!
blood sea fishing
Around the steel no tortur'd worm shall twine, No blood of living insect stain my line; Let me, less cruel, cast the feather'd hook, With pliant rod athwart the pebbled brook, Silent along the mazy margin stray, And with the fur-wrought fly delude the prey.
peace sleep wind
Breathe soft, ye winds! ye waves, in silence sleep!
fall night wings
The sun was set; the night came on apace, And falling dews bewet around the place; The bat takes airy rounds on leathern wings, And the hoarse owl his woeful dirges sings.
fate envy common
One common fate we both must prove; You die with envy, I with love.
marigolds fairs
Fair is the marigold, for pottage meet.
husband two wife
One wife is too much for most husbands to bear, But two at a time there's no mortal can bear.
rain shoes feet
Let firm, well hammer'd soles protect thy feet Through freezing snows, and rains, and soaking sleet; Should the big last extend the shoe too wide, Each stone will wrench the unwary step aside; The sudden turn may stretch the swelling vein, The cracking joint unhinge, or ankle sprain; And when too short the modish shoes are worn, You'll judge the seasons by your shooting corn.