This is a ballad of fifteen stanzas, in rollicking anapests. It runs to 98 lines (or 105, if we open out the contracted form of the two-line refrain found in seven of the stanzas). The complete text was first published by P. J. Croft in 1973 from a holograph manuscript in the Portland Papers at the University of Nottingham. It has never been included in any edition of Gay’s work. Previously, the sole fragment known was a version of two stanzas in the handwriting of Alexander Pope, first printed in his works in 1776 and naturally supposed to be his own composition. It is found among the author’s drafts for his translation of the
Iliadin the British Library, and this enables us to fix the date for this segment of the ballad at September 1718. As will emerge, the most plausible time of…
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Citation: Rogers, Pat. "A Strange and Wonderfull Relation of how the Devill Appear'd last night at the Masquerade". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 February 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=41528, accessed 21 November 2024.]
