Additional information
by Dandi Palmer (Illustrator), John Gay (Author)
Poems by the writer of The Beggar's Opera. John Gay had a humorously sardonic view of human nature. From three centuries ago, his Fables show that nothing changes. All life is here - charlatans, doxies, thugs, misers, the self-deluded, the gossips, the opportunist politicians ... and many animals who know better.Fully illustrated with line drawings by Dandi Palmer.From "The Elephant and the Bookseller" - When wrinkling with a sneer, his trunk,"Friend," quoth the Elephant, "you're drunk; E'en keep your money, and be wise: Leave man on man, to criticise; For that you ne'er can want a pen, Among the senseless sons of men. They unprovok'd, will court the fray: Envy's a sharper spur than pay. No author ever spared a brother; Wits are game-cocks, to one another.
Author Biography
About the Author John Gay was an English playwright and poet who is most famous for his satirical masterpiece The Beggar s Opera. Originally employed in the government, Gay turned to writing after losing his position following the death of Queen Anne in 1714. From then on, Gay relied on his income from writing, building up a long list of patrons over the course of his career, and making contact with some of the most famous writers of the time, including Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope (and with whom he was a member of the informal society of authors and thinkers known as the Scriblerus Club). After losing the majority of his fortune to a bad investment, Gay eventually found his greatest success in The Beggar s Opera, a ballad opera that satirized society and government, and which ran for sixty-two nights upon its initial release. Gay died on December 4, 1732, at the age of forty-seven, and is buried in Westminster Abbey.
