Those who in quarrels interpose,
Must often wipe a bloody nose.

(John Gay (1685-1732), British dramatist, poet. "The Mastiffs," pt. 1, l. 1-2, Fables (1727).)

An open foe may prove a curse,
But a pretended friend is worse.

(John Gay (1685-1732), British dramatist, poet. "The Shepherd's Dog and the Wolf," pt. 1, l. 33-4, Fables (1727).)

Do you think your mother and I should have lived comfortably so long together, if ever we had been married? Baggage!

(John Gay (1685-1732), British dramatist, poet. Peachum, in The Beggar's Opera, act 1, sc. 8 (1728), ed. F.W. Bateson (1934).)

The comfortable estate of widowhood is the only hope that keeps up a wife's spirits.

(John Gay (1685-1732), British dramatist, poet. Peachum, in The Beggar's Opera, act 1, sc. 10 (1728), ed. F.W. Bateson (1934).)

But money, wife, is the true Fuller's Earth for reputations, there is not a spot or a stain but what it can take out.

(John Gay (1685-1732), British dramatist, poet. Peachum, in The Beggar's Opera, act 1, sc. 9 (1728), ed. F.W. Bateson (1934).)

"O Susan, Susan, lovely dear,
My vows shall ever true remain;
Let me kiss off that falling tear,
We only part to meet again.
Change, as ye list, ye winds; my heart shall be
The faithful compass that still points to thee.

'Believe not what the landmen say,
Who tempt with doubts thy constant mind:
They'll tell thee, sailors, when away,
In ev'ry port a mistress find.
Yes, yes, believe them when they tell thee so,
For thou art present wheresoe'er I go.

(John Gay (1685-1732), British poet. Sweet William's Farewell to Black-eyed Susan (l. 19-30). . . New Oxford Book of Eighteenth Century Verse, The. Roger Lonsdale, ed. (1984) Oxford University Press.)

Can love be controlled by advice?
Will Cupid our mothers obey?
Though my heart were as frozen as ice,
At his flame 'twould have melted away.
When he kissed me so closely he pressed,
'Twas so sweet that I must have complied:
So I thought it both safest and best
To marry, for fear you should chide.

(John Gay (1685-1732), British dramatist, poet. Polly, in The Beggar's Opera, act 1, sc. 8, air 8 (1728), ed. F.W. Bateson (1934).)

Before the Barn-Door crowing,
The Cock by Hens attended,
His Eyes around him throwing,
Stands for a while suspended:
Then One he singles from the Crew,
And cheers the happy Hen;
With how do you do, and how do you do,
And how do you do again.

(John Gay (1685-1732), British poet. The Beggar's Opera (II, i). . . Oxford Anthology of English Literature, The, Vols. I-II. Frank Kermode and John Hollander, general eds. (1973) Oxford University Press (Also published as six paperback vols.: Medieval English Literature, J. B. Trapp, ed.; The Literature of Renaissance England, John Hollander and Frank Kermode, eds.; The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century, Martin Price, ed.; Romantic Poetry and Prose, Harold Bloom and Lionel Trilling, eds.; Victorian Prose and Poetry, Lionel Trilling and Harold Bloom, eds.; Modern British Literature, Frank Kermode and John Hollander, eds.).)

If the heart of a man is deprest with cares,
The mist is dispell'd when a woman appears;
Like the notes of a fiddle, she sweetly, sweetly
Raises the spirits, and charms our ears.

(John Gay (1685-1732), British poet. The Beggar's Opera (II, ii). . . Oxford Anthology of English Literature, The, Vols. I-II. Frank Kermode and John Hollander, general eds. (1973) Oxford University Press (Also published as six paperback vols.: Medieval English Literature, J. B. Trapp, ed.; The Literature of Renaissance England, John Hollander and Frank Kermode, eds.; The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century, Martin Price, ed.; Romantic Poetry and Prose, Harold Bloom and Lionel Trilling, eds.; Victorian Prose and Poetry, Lionel Trilling and Harold Bloom, eds.; Modern British Literature, Frank Kermode and John Hollander, eds.).)

We only part to meet again.
Change, as ye list, ye winds: my heart shall be
The faithful compass that still points to thee.

(John Gay (1685-1732), British dramatist, poet. Sweet William's Farewell to Black-Eyed Susan (1720).)