fauft likewife be confeffed, that few would have been exposed who received punctually fifty pounds á year; a falary which, though by no means equal to the demands of vanity and luxury, is yet found fufficient to fupport families above want, and was undoubtedly more than the neceffities of life require.

But no fooner had he received his penfion, than he withdrew to his darling privacy, from which he returned in a fhort time to his former diftrefs, and for fome part of the year generally lived by chance, eating only when he was invited to the tables of his acquaintances, from which the meannefs of his drefs often excluded him, when the politeness and variety of his converfation would have been thought a fufficient recompence for his entertaintment.

He lodged as much by accident as he dined, and paffed the night fometimes in mean houfes, which are fet open at night to any cafual wanderers, fometimes in cellars, among the riot and filth of the meaneft and moft profligate of the rabble; and fometimes, when he had not money to fupport even the expences of these receptacles, walked about the streets till he was weary, and lay down in the fummer upon a bulk, or in the winter, with his affociates in poverty, among the ashes of a glass-house.

In this manner were paffed thofe days and those nights which nature had enabled him to have employed in elevated fpeculations, ufeful ftudies, or pleafing converfation, On a bulk, in a cellar, or in a glafshoufe, among thieves and beggars, was to be found the Author of the The Wanderer, the man of exalted fentiments, extenfive views, and curious obfervations; the man whofe remarks on life might have affifted the

statesman, whofe ideas of virtue might have enlight ened the moralift, whofe eloquence might have inflyenced ferates, and whofe delicacy might have polished

courts.

It cannot but be imagined that fuch neceffities might fometimes force him upon difreputable practices; and it is probable that thefe lines in The Wanderer were occafioned by his reflections on his own conduct:

Though mifery leads to happiness, and truth,
Unequal to the load, this languid youth,
(O, let none cenfure, if, untried by grief,
If, amidst woe, untempted by relief,)

He ftoop'd reluctant to low arts of fhame,

Which then, ev'n then he fcorn'd, and blufh'd to name.

Whoever was acquainted with him was certain to be folicited for fmall fums, which the frequency of the request made in time confiderable, and he was therefore quickly fhunned by thofe who were become familiar enough to be trufted with his neceffities; but his rambling manner of life, and conftant appearance at houfes of public refort, always procured him a new fucceffion of friends, whofe kindnefs had not been exhaufted by repeated requests; fo that he was feldom abfolutely without refources, but had in his utmost exigences this comfort, that he always imagined himfelf fure of speedy relief.

It was obferved, that he always afked favours of this kind without the leaft fubmiffion or apparent confcioufness of dependence, and that he did not feem to look upon a compliance with his requeft as an obligation that deferved any extraordinary acknowledgements; but a refufal was refented by him as an affront, or complained of as an injury; nor did he readily reConcile

concile himself to thofe who either denied to lend, or gave him afterwards any intimation that they expected to be repaid.

He was fometimes fo far compaffionated by those who knew both his merit and diftreffes, that they received him into their families, but they foon discovered him to be a very incommodious inmate; for, being always accustomed to an irregular manner of life, he could not confine himself to any stated hours, or pay any regard to the rules of a family, but would prolong his converfation till midnight, without confidering that business might require his friend's application in the morning; and, when he had perfuaded himself to retire to bed, was not, without equal difficulty, called up to dinner; it was therefore impoffible to pay him any diftinction without the entire fubverfion of all economy, a kind of establishment which, wherever he went, he always appeared ambitious to overthrow.

It must therefore be acknowledged, in juftification of mankind, that it was not always by the negligence or coldness of his friends that Savage was diftreffed, but because it was in reality very difficult to preserve him long in a state of eafe. To fupply him with money, was a hopeless attempt; for no fooner did he fee himself master of a fum fufficient to fet him free from care for a day, than he became profufe and luxurious. When once he had entered a tavern, or engaged in a fcheme of pleasure, he never retired tiil want of money obliged him to fome new expedient. If he was entertained in a family, nothing was any longer to be regarded there but amusements and jollity; wherever Savage entered, he immediately expected that order and bufinefs fhould fly before him, that all fhould thence

Y 4

thenceforward be left to hazard, and that no dull prins ciple of domeftic management fhould be oppofed to his inclination, or intrude upon his gaiety.

His diftreffes, however afflictive, never dejected him; in his lowest state he wanted not spirit to affert the natural dignity of wit, and was always ready to reprefs that infolence which fuperiority of fortune incited, and to trample on that reputation which rofe upon any other bafis than that of merit: he never admitted any grofs familiarities, or fubmitted to be treated otherwife than as an equal. Once, when he was without lodging, meat, or clothes, one of his friends, a man not indeed remarkable for moderation in his profperity, left a meffage, that he defired to fee him about nine in the morning. Savage knew that his intention was to affift him; but was very much difgufted that he should prefume to prescribe the hour of his attendance, and, I believe, refused to vifit him, and rejected his kindnefs.

The fame invincible temper, whether firmness or obftinacy, appeared in his conduct to the Lord Tyrconnel, from whom he very frequently demanded, that the allowance which was once paid him fhould be reftored; but with whom he never appeared to entertain for a moment the thought of foliciting a reconciliation, and whom he treated at once with all the haughtiness of fuperiority, and all the bitterness of refentment. He wrote to him, not in a ftyle of fupplication or refpect, but of reproach, menace, and contempt; and appeared determined, if he ever regained his allowance, to hold it only by the right of conqueft. As many more can discover, that a man is richer than that he is wifer than themfelves, fuperiority of

under

understanding is not fo readily acknowledged as that of fortune; nor is that haughtiness, which the confcioufnefs of great abilities incites, borne with the fame fubmiffion as the tyranny of affluence; and therefore Savage, by afferting his claim to deference and regard, and by treating those with contempt whom better fortune animated to rebel against him, did not fail to raise a great number of enemies in the different claffes of mankind. Those who thought themselves raised above him by the advantages of riches, hated him because they found no protection from the petulance of his wit, Those who were esteemed for their writings feared him as a critic, and maligned him as a rival, and almost all the smaller wits were his profeffed enemies,

Among thefe Mr. Miller fo far indulged his refentment as to introduce him in a farce, and direct him to be perfonated on the stage, in a dress like that which he then wore; a mean infult, which only infinuated that Savage had but one coat, and which was therefore defpifed by him rather than refented; for though he wrote a lampoon against Miller, he never printed it and as no other perfon ought to prosecute that revenge from which the person who was injured defifted, I shall not preferve what Mr. Savage fuppreffed; of which the publication would indeed have been a punishment too fevere for fo impotent an affault.

The great hardships of poverty were to Savage not the want of lodging or of food, but the neglect and contempt which it drew upon him. He complained, that as his affairs grew defperate, he found his reputation for capacity vifibly decline; that his opinion in queftions of criticifm was no longer regarded, when his coat was out of fashion; and that thofe who

in