...not enable me to explain. NOTES BY A BOOKSELLER.* JOHN GAV, the ingenious poet, whom Pope styles — Of manners gentle, of affections mild ; In wit a man, simplicity a child. Yet this character is proved untrue by the strong passions of which he was possessed, and the disappointment...

...buried in Westminster Abbey, where a monument, bearing the following inscription, is erected : — " Life is a jest, and all things show it ; I thought so once ; but now I know it. GAY, Of manners gentle, of affections mild ; In wit a man ; simplicity a child...

...not enable me to explain. NOTES BY A BOOKSELLER.* JOHN GAY, the ingenious poet, whom Pope styles — Of manners gentle, of affections mild; In wit a man, simplicity a child. Yet this character is proved untrue by the strong passions of which he was possessed, and the disappointment...

...worthy of the writer. One of the most pleasing epitaphs in general literature is that by Pope on Gay : Of manners gentle, of affections mild ; In wit a man, simplicity a child j With native humour temp'ring virtuous rage, Formed to delight at once and lash the age : Above temptation...

...December, 1732. Gay's kindliness and good humour gained him the love of all, and he is characterised " Of manners gentle, of affections mild, In wit a man, simplicity a child." He was the favourite correspondent of Pope and Swift ; and when the news of his death was conveyed...

...Shakspeare ; and I road the irreverent epitaph of Gay, fhe author of the "Beggar's Opera," * • " Life is a jest, and all things show it, I thought so once, but now I know it." i Near by, also, I saw the monument to David Garrick, which Charles Lamb justly...

...unwholesome dew ; So fades the blossom on its early bed, When storms and tempests sear its tender head. 657. Life is a jest, and all things show it, I thought so once, but now I know it. JOHN GAY. 658. My life ! my love I my precious babe I How dear thou wast to me,...

...a surfeit; and Swift left the well-known lines, — 1 I 396 CHURCHYARD LITERATURE. Life's a farce, and all things show it, I thought so once, hut now I know it, — but this information was for the tomb, when the capacity to eat, drink, and love was gone. At the...

...nothing about my faults and infirmities, and I should think had been misinformed about Mr. Soaper." " ' Of manners gentle, of affections mild; In wit, a man; simplicity, a child; A safe companion, and an easy friend, Unblamed through life, lamented in the end." " So muttered Harry...

...attempted unimproved. John Gay's monument is on the left of this, with those foolish lines as an epitaph: "Life is a jest, and all things show it; I thought so once, but now I know it." It seems unjust to let this worthless couplet remain as an indication of the poet's...