Citation - Boston Gazette: 1739.04.09

BG.739.006
2-9 Apr 1739:21 (1003)
Written in the margin upon the first sight of the two
athiestical lines of Mr. John Gay's Epitaph, Life is a Jest,
&c.
  Life is a solemn scene on which depend
  Infinite woes, or joys that never end.
  In another place,
  Life's an important scene, as Gay well knows, 
  Big with unfading joys, or endless woes.
  Lower down,
  Life is an awful state, & souls departed know it,
  Their fixt abode in bliss, or woe will ever show it.
[signed]  Mechanus.