John Durant Breval

Of Huguenot extraction, John Durant Breval was the son of a prebendary of Westminster. He entered Trinity College Cambridge as a pensioner in 1697 (B.A. 1701; M.A. 1704; Fellow 1703-08); in 1708 he quarreled with Richard Bentley and lost his fellowship. Breval served in the army under Marlborough before becoming a Whig pen-for-hire and target of Pope's Dunciad. He wrote under the pseudonym "Joseph Gay."

TEXT RECORDS:

1729Henry and Minerva. A Poem.
1729Henry and Minerva: The Preface.

PUBLICATIONS:

The art of dress. A poem. 1717.
Calpe, or Gibraltar. A poem. 1717.
The confederates: a farce, by Mr. Gay. 1717.
Mac-Dermot, or the Irish fortune-hunter: a poem in six cantos. 1717.
The play is the plot: a comedy. 1718.
A compleat key to the Non-juror [Cibber], by Mr. Joseph Gay. 1718.
The church-scuffle: or, news from St. Andrew's. A ballad. 1719.
Ovid in Masquerade: being a burlesque ... by Mr. Joseph Gay. 1719.
The church-scuffle, or news from St. Andrews: a ballad written by Mr. Joseph Gay. 1719.
Remarks on several parts of Europe. 2 vols, 1723.
The strollers, a farce. 1727.
Remarks on several parts of Europe. 4 vols, 1726-38.
Henry and Minerva. A poem. 1729.
The lure of Venus, or a harlot's progress: an heroi-comical poem. In six cantos. By Mr. Joseph Gay. Founded upon Mr. Hogarth's six prints of a Harlot's progress. 1733.
Morality in vice: an heroi-comic poem. 1733.
The history of the house of Nassau. 1734.
The rape of Helen, a mock opera. 1737.

PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:

English
Anglican

Westminster School
Trinity College Cambridge
Bachelor of Arts
Master of Arts
College Fellow

military
tutor
essayist
poet
dramatist

Rev. Richard Bentley
Edmund Curll

REFERENCE:

DNB; NCBEL.

Giles Jacob, Poetical Register (1719); Alexander Pope, Dunciad (1728; 1743); London Magazine 7 (1739) 49; David Erskine Baker, Companion to the Play-House (1764); Biographia Dramatica (1782; 1812); Alexander Chalmers, General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17); John Nichols, Literary Anecdotes (1812-15) 1:254-55; Robert Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica (1824); Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882); Venn and Venn, Alum. Cant. (1922-25); Old Westminsters (1928); Fairchild, in Religious Trends in English Poetry (1939); Chadwyck-Healey English Poetry Database (1995).

COMMENTARY RECORDS
for John Durant Breval:

1.	1728  Thomas Cooke, "To Mr. D. B. [Durant Breval?]" Tales, Epistles, Odes, Fables (1729) 50-53.
2.	1729  Thomas Cooke, in "The Battle of the Poets" Tales, Epistles, Odes, Fables (1729) 129-30 &n.
3.	1742  Alexander Pope, in The Dunciad (1728; 1742); Works, ed. Warton (1796-97) 5:139-40 & n.
4.	1824  Robert Watt, in Bibliotheca Britannica (1824) 1:149.

BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for John Durant Breval:

1.	1719  Giles Jacob, in Poetical Register: or the Lives and Characters of the English Dramatick Poets (1719) 284.
2.	1764  David Erskine Baker, in Companion to the Play-House (1764) 2:Sig C4-C4v.
3.	1812  John Nichols, in Literary Anecdotes of the XVIII Century (1812-15) 1:254-55.
4.	1812  Alexander Chalmers, in General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17) 6:503.