Gay was a poet/playwright and member of the Scriblerus Club. He had a rocky start, but his Poems on Several Occasions gained him a considerable amount wealth, which he invested and augmented. However, he lost much in the South Sea crash; thanks to Pope's intervention, Gay managed to secure over £400 for his original investment of £1000. Gay is an interesting case of an "uneducated," "working-class" man becoming a successful (though struggling) writer. Without any stable living arrangements, he ususally travelled as the guest of aristocratic friends, and continually sought (often in vain) court patronage until he was snubbed in 1727. From about 1726 on, Gay stopped writing light courtly verse, working instead on the major pieces that secured his reputation, most notably The Beggar's Opera. By 1724 he had achieved financial security anyway, with the publication of The Captives and his job as commissioner of the state lottery, though he had a reputation for financial irresponsibility. In 1731 he boasted to Swift that his fortune amounted to the vast amount of ‘above three thousand four hundred pounds.' From 1730 on he purportedly wrote for private satisfaction instead of public acclaim. He died with approximately £6000.