JOHN GAY.
The Beggar’s Opera.
Macheath’s Song.
How happy could I be with either,
Were t’other dear charmer away!
But while ye thus teaze me together,
To neither a word will I say
But toll de roll, etc.
How happy could I be with ether,
Were mesmeric charmers away;
But whilst they perplex me together,
I’ll cut, and no longer will stay.
Sing Robinson, Thomson, and Cooper,
Tol lol de rol, lol de rol lay,
There’s nothing like ether and stupor
For making an hospital gay.
From The Man in the Moon, Vol. I.
In the same volume there was another parody, dealing with a similar topic, entitled—
A Lay of Guthrie.
Air—“Maiden, I will ne’er deceive thee.”
Patient, I will ne’er deceive thee,
Never pain thee, never grieve thee:
Take this tube, inhale it so,
Out carbonic acid blow.
From your lips the mouthpiece move,
Only when you senseless prove.
Patient I’ll before we part,
Amputate without a smart.
Patient, I will ne’er deceive thee, &c.
“The Beggar’s Opera,” written by Mr. John Gay, was first produced at the theatre in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, in 1728, and was so successful that it made “Gay rich and Rich (the lessee) gay.” This encouraged Gay to write a sequel to it, entitled “Polly,” which was produced in 1729, but met with far less approbation.
An anonymous play was produced in 1773, called “The Bow Street Opera,” on the plan of “The Beggar’s Opera,” in which the most celebrated songs were parodied.
John Gay was the author of the well-known song Black-eyed Susan, “All in the Downs the fleet was moor’d,” of which an excellent Latin translation will be found in the Poetical Works of Vincent Bourne.
