Editing John Gay (section)

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In 1715, probably with some help from Pope, Gay produced ''[[The What D'Ye Call It]]?'', a dramatic skit on contemporary [[tragedy]], with special reference to [[Thomas Otway]]'s ''[[Venice Preserv'd]]''. This appeared on 23 February 1715 as an [[afterpiece]] at Drury Lane to [[Nicholas Rowe (writer)|Nicholas Rowe]]'s tragedy ''[[Jane Shore (play)|Jane Shore]]''.<ref>Winton, p. 49.</ref> It left the public so ignorant of its inner meaning that [[Lewis Theobald]] and Benjamin Griffin published a ''Complete Key to What D'Ye Call It'' to explain it. The play also featured a ballad, ''Twas When the Seas Were Roaring'', co-written with [[George Frideric Handel]], which became popular in its own right.

In 1716 appeared his ''[[Trivia (poem)|Trivia, or the Art of Walking the Streets of London]]'', a poem in three books, for which he acknowledged receiving several hints from Swift. It contains graphic and humorous descriptions of the London of that period, depicting the city with photographic accuracy and acting as a guide to the upper-class and upper-middle-class walkers of society. By taking a mock-heroic form, Gay's poem was able to poke fun at the notion of complete reformation of street civility, while also proposing an idea of reform in terms of the attitude towards walking. In January 1717 he produced a comedy, ''[[Three Hours After Marriage]]'', which was thought to be grossly indecent (without being amusing) and a failure. He had assistance from Pope and [[John Arbuthnot]], but they allowed it to be assumed that Gay was the sole author.<ref name="EB"/>

By 1717 Gay was associated with [[George II of Great Britain|George, Prince of Wales]], who as part of the [[Whig Split]] had set up a rival court to his father the King which was frequented by opposition Whigs and Tories.<ref>Winton, p. 56.</ref> In 1718 he collaborated with Handel on the [[masque]] ''[[Acis and Galatea (Handel)|Acis and Galatea]]'' for which he supplied the [[libretto]].