«Macheath: "And I would love you all the day," Polly: "Every night would kiss and play," Macheath: "If with me you’d fondly stray" Polly: "Over the hills and far away."» (The Beggar's Opera, Act I, scene xiii, Air xvi) ~ #HappyBirthday #JohnGay (1685-1732), English dramatist and poet, and a member of the Scriblerius Club, an early 18th-century association of authors, based in London, which included prominent figures of the Augustan age of English literature, such as Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope. Gay is best remembered for The Beggar's Opera, a satirical ballad opera, one of the most important examples of the genre, which was also important in the development of musical plays. ~ Best-known works: • Trivia: or, the Art of Walking the Streets of London (1716, satirical poem) • The Beggar's Opera (1728, ballad opera) • Polly (1729, ballad opera) ~ «O! may thy Virtue guard thee through the Roads Of Drury's mazy Courts, and dark Abodes, The Harlots guileful Paths, who nightly stand, Where Katherine-street descends into the Strand.» (Trivia: or, the Art of Walking the Streets of London, Book III) ~ #TheBeggarsOpera #Polly #Trivia #TriviaOrtheArtOfWalkingtheStreetsOfLondon #London #balladopera #satire #opera #poet #poetry #book #books #bookstagram #reading #read #bookish #booklion #booktube #instabook #instaread #bookworm #epicreads