Of this farce, Mr. Dobson writes: "It is perhaps fairer to say that he
bore the blame, than that he is justly charged with its errors of
taste"; and it is very probable that, while Gay generously accepted
responsibility, Pope and Arbuthnot were equally culpable. "Too late I
see, and confess myself mistaken in relation to the comedy; yet I do not
think had I followed your advice and only introduced the mummy, that the
absence of the crocodile had saved it," Gay wrote to Pope. "I cannot
help laughing myself (though the vulgar do not consider it was designed
to look ridiculous) to think how the poor monster and mummy were dashed
at their reception; and when the cry was loudest I thought that if the
thing had been written by another I should have deemed the town in some
measure mistaken; and, as to your apprehension that this may do us
future injury, do not think it; the Doctor [Arbuthnot] has a more
valuable name than can be hurt by anything of this nature, and yours is
doubly safe. I will, if any shame there be, take it all to myself, as
indeed I ought, the notion being first mine, and never heartily approved
of by you.... I beg of you not to suffer this, or anything else, to hurt
your health. As I have publicly said that I was assisted by two friends,
I shall still continue in the same story, professing obstinate silence
about Dr. Arbuthnot and yourself."[10]

The publication in book form of "Three Hours After Marriage" by Lintott,
who paid £16 2s. 6d. for the copyright, a few days after the production,
did nothing to arrest the torrent of abuse. "Gay's play, among the rest,
has cost much time and long suffering to stem a tide of malice and
party, that certain authors have raised against it," Pope wrote to
Parnell. Amongst those foremost among the attackers was Addison, who
perhaps had not forgotten or forgiven the parody of some of the lines in
his play "Cato," which was introduced by Gay in "The What D'ye Call It."
Gay, the most easy-going of men, was always stirred by criticism, and in