described as "the honest hatless Cromwell with red breeches," by whom he
was introduced to Pope, who was at this time a member of Addison's
circle, and generally recognised as a rising man of letters. Pope
evidently liked Gay, who was his senior by nearly three years, but was
as a child in worldly wisdom. On July 15th, 1711, Pope wrote to
Cromwell, "Pray give my service to all my friends, and to Mr. Gay in
particular";[10] and again, nine days later, addressing the same
correspondent, he said: "My humble services, too, to Mr. Gay, of whose
paper ['The Present State of Wit'] I have made mention to [Erasmus]
Lewis."[11] Gay, ever anxious to please those whom he liked and,
perhaps, especially those who might be of use to him, when writing the
verses, "On a Miscellany of Poems to Bernard Lintott" (which appeared in
that publisher's _Miscellany_ issued in May, 1712), eagerly took
advantage to ingratiate himself with a number of people, in so far as he
could do this by means of compliments. Gay tells the publisher that if
he will only choose his authors from "the successful bards" praised by
the author, then "praise with profit shall reward thy pains"; and--

So long shall live thy praise in books of fame,
And Tonson yield to Lintott's lofty name;

but, since an author should not praise one publisher at the expense of
another, he has already had a kindly word for that more celebrated
publisher, Jacob Tonson--"Jacob's mighty name." It may be mentioned in
passing that Gay's "Poems on Several Occasions" bear the joint imprint
of Lintott and Tonson. Gay waxed eloquent in these verses, when
writing of the other contributors to the _Miscellany_, and bestowed
praise upon his brother-poets in no measured quantity:--

Where Buckingham will condescend to give