offer was so far generous, it was made with fome neglect of ceremonies, which Mr. Savage fo much refented, that he refufed the prefent, and declined to enter the house till the cloaths that had been defigned for him were taken away.

His diftrefs was now publickly known, and his friends, therefore, thought it proper to concert fome measures for his relief; and one of them wrote a letter to him, in which he expreffed his concern for the miferable withdrawing of his penfion;" and gave him hopes, that in a fhort time he should find himself supplied with a competence, "without any dependence on those little creatures which we are pleased to call the Great."

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66.

The fcheme propofed for this happy and independent fubfiftence, was, that he should retire into Wales, and receive an allowance of fifty pounds a year, to be raised by a fubfcription, on which he was to live privately in a cheap place, without aspiring any more to affluence, or having any farther care of repu⚫tation.

This offer Mr. Savage gladly accepted, though with intentions very different from those of his friends; for they propofed that he should continue an exile from London for ever, and spend all the remaining part of his life at Swansea; but he defigned only to take the opportunity, i

which

which their scheme offered him, of retreating for a fhort time, that he might prepare his play for the stage, and his other works for the prefs, and then to return to London to exhibit his tragedy, and live upon the profits of his own labour.

With regard to his works, he propofed very great improvements, which would have required much time, or great application; and when he had finished them, he defigned to do justice to his fubfcribers, by publishing them according to his proposals.

As he was ready to entertain himself with future pleasures, he had planned out a fcheme of life for the country, of which he had no knowledge but from paftorals and fongs. He imagined that he should be tranfported to fcenes of flowery felicity, like thofe which one poet has reflected to another; and had projected a perpetual round of innocent pleasures, of which he fufpected no interruption from pride, or ignorance, or brutality.

With thefe expectations he was fo enchanted, that when he was once gently reproached by a friend for fubmitting to live upon a fubfcription, and advised rather by a refolute exertion of his abilities to fupport himself, he could not bear to debar himfelf from the happiness which was to be found in the calm of a cottage, or lofe the opportunity of listening, without intermiffion,

to

to the melody of the nightingale, which he believed was to be heard from every bramble, and which he did not fail to mention as a very important part of the happiness of a country life.

While this scheme was ripening, his friends directed him to take a lodging in the liberties of the Fleet, that he might be fecure from his creditors, and fent him every Monday a guinea, which he commonly spent before the next morning, and trusted, after his usual manner, the remaining part of the week to the bounty of for

tune.

He now began very fenfibly to feel the miferies of dependence: Thofe by whom he was to be fupported, began to prefcribe to him with an air of authority, which he knew not how decently to refent, nor patiently to bear; and he foon difcovered, from the conduct of most of his fubfcribers, that he was yet in the hands of "little creatures."

Of the infolence that he was obliged to fuffer, he gave many inftances, of which none appeared to raise his indignation to a greater height, than the method which was taken of furnishing him with cloaths. Instead of confulting him, and allowing him to fend a taylor his orders for what they thought proper to allow him, they propofed to fend for a taylor to take his measure, and then to consult how they should equip him.

This treatment was not very delicate, nor was it fuch as Savage's humanity would have fuggefted to him on a like occafion; but it had fcarcely deferved mention, had it not, by affecting him in an uncommon degree, fhewn the peculiarity of his character. Upon hearing the defign that was formed, he came to the lodging of a friend with the most violent agonies of rage; and, being asked what it could be that gave him fuch disturbance, he replied with the utmost vehemence of indignation, "That they "had fent for a taylor to measure him.”

How the affair ended was never enquired, for fear of renewing his uneafinefs. It is probable, that, upon recollection, he fubmitted with a good grace to what he could not avoid, and that he discovered no refentment where he had no power.

He was, however, not humbled to implicit and univerfal compliance; for when the gentleman, who had first informed him of the defign to fupport him by a subscription, attempted to procure a reconciliation with the Lord Tyrconnel, he could by no means be prevailed upon to comply with the measures that were proposed.

A letter was written for him to Sir William Lemon, to prevail upon him to interpofe his good offices with Lord Tyrconnel, in which he folicited Sir William's affiftance, " for a man *By Mr. Pope.

who

"who really needed it as much as any man "could well do;" and informed him, that he was retiring" for ever to a place where he "should no more trouble his relations, friends, "or enemies;" he confeffed, that his paffion had betrayed him to fome conduct with regard to Lord Tyrconnel," for which he could not "but heartily afk his pardon;" and as he imagined Lord Tyrconnel's paffion might be yet fo high, that he would not "receive a letter from "him," begged that Sir William would endeavour to foften him; and expreffed his hopes that he would comply with his requeft, and that "fo fmall a relation would not harden his "heart against him."

That any man fhould prefume to dictate a letter to him, was not very agreeable to Mr. Savage; and therefore he was, before he had opened it, not much inclined to approve it. But when he read it, he found it contained fentiments entirely oppofite to his own, and, as he afferted, to the truth; and therefore, instead of copying it, wrote his friend a letter full of mafculine refentment and warm expoftulations. He very justly obferved, that the ftyle was too fupplicatory, and the representation too abject, and that he ought at least to have made him complain with "the dignity of a gentleman in "diftrefs." He declared that he would not write the paragraph in which he was to ask