17]and have a true affection for yourself, which, if I had any interest in the world, or power with those who have, I should not be long without manifesting to you."^[15]

If Pope had lost the friendship of Henry Cromwell, he was certainly anxious to strengthen the bond that was beginning to be forged between himself and Gay, to whom he wrote again: "I desire you will not, either out of modesty, or a vicious distrust of another's value for you—those two eternal foes to merit—imagine that your letters and conversation are not always welcome to me. There is no man more entirely fond of good-nature or ingenuity than myself, and I have seen too much of these qualities in Mr. Gay to be anything less than his most affectionate friend and real servant."^[16] That the intimacy between the poets waxed apace is evident, for when Pope wrote "A Farewell to London in the year 1715," the concluding stanza was:—

Adieu to all but Gay alone.
Whose soul, sincere and free.
Loves all mankind, but flatters none.
And so may starve with me.

Footnotes:

[1]