1724-1727


"THE CAPTIVES"--THE FIRST SERIES OF "FABLES"--GAY AND THE
COURT--POPE, SWIFT AND MRS. HOWARD.

During 1723 Gay wrote a tragedy, "The Captives," which at the end of the
year he read to the royal circle at Leicester House. "When the hour
came," Johnson has recorded, "he saw the Princess [of Wales] and her
ladies all in expectation, and, advancing with reverence, too great for
any other attention, stumbled at a stool, and, falling forward, threw
down a weighty Japanese screen. The Princess started, the ladies
screamed, and poor Gay, after all the disturbance, was still to read his
play."[1] "The Captives" was produced at Drury Lane Theatre in January,
1724, and according to the _Biographica Dramatica_ was "acted nine
nights with great applause," the third, or author's night, being by the
command of the Prince and Princess of Wales. According, however, to
Fenton, "Gay's play had no success. I am told he gave thirty guineas to
have it acted on the fifth night."[2] When it was published, Gay
prefaced it with the following dedication:--


TO HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCESS OF WALES.

"Madam,

"The honour I received from your Royal Highness in being permitted to
read this play to you before it was acted, made me more happy than any
other success that could have happened to me. If it had the good fortune
to gain your Royal Highness's approbation, I have often been reflecting