Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/260

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HIS eminent Wit was deſcended of an ancient family in Devonſhire, and educated at the free-ſchool of Barnſtaple in the ſame county, under the care of Mr. William Rayner, an excellent maſter.

Mr. Gay had a ſmall fortune at his diſpoſal, and was bred, ſays Jacob, a Mercer in the Strand; but having a genius for high excellences, he conſidered ſuch an employment as a degradation to it, and relinquiſhed that occupation to reap the laurels of poetry.

About the year 1712 he was made ſecretary to the ducheſs of Monmouth, and continued in that ſtation ’till he went over to Hanover, in the beginning of the year 1714, with the earl of Clarendon, who was ſent there by Queen Anne; upon whoſe death he returned to England, and lived in the higheſt eſteem and friendſhip with perſons of the firſt quality and genius. Upon Mr. Gay’s arrival from Hanover, we find among Mr. Pope’s letters one addreſſed to him dated September 23, 1714, which begins thus,
 * Dear ,

‘Welcome to your native ſoil! welcome to your friends, thrice welcome to me! whether returned in