them. I really very much love Mr. Cromwell, and have a true affection
for yourself, which, if I had any interest in the world, or power with
those who have, I should not be long without manifesting to you."[15]

If Pope had lost the friendship of Henry Cromwell, he was certainly
anxious to strengthen the bond that was beginning to be forged between
himself and Gay, to whom he wrote again: "I desire you will not, either
out of modesty, or a vicious distrust of another's value for you--those
two eternal foes to merit--imagine that your letters and conversation
are not always welcome to me. There is no man more entirely fond of
good-nature or ingenuity than myself, and I have seen too much of these
qualities in Mr. Gay to be anything less than his most affectionate
friend and real servant."[16] That the intimacy between the poets waxed
apace is evident, for when Pope wrote "A Farewell to London in the year
1715," the concluding stanza was:--

Adieu to all but Gay alone.
Whose soul, sincere and free.
Loves all mankind, but flatters none.
And so may starve with me.


[Footnote 1: _Gay's Chair_, p. 13.]

[Footnote 2: _Dictionary of National Biography._]

[Footnote 3: _Gay's Chair._]

[Footnote 4: _Rural Sports_.]