himself above the want of affiftance, and was contented with doing good without ftipulating for encomiums.

Mr. Savage however was not at liberty to make exceptions, but was ravished with the favours which he had received, and probably yet more with those which he was promised; he confidered himself now as a favourite of the Queen, and did not doubt but a few anwould establish him in fome propoems fitable employment.

nual

He therefore affumed the title of Volunteer Laureat, not without fome reprehensions from Cibber, who informed him, that the title of Laureat was a mark of honour conferred by the King, from whom all honour is derived, and which therefore no man has a right to bestow upon himfelf; and added, that he might, with equal propriety, ftyle himself a Volunteer Lord, or Volunteer Baronet. It cannot be denied that the remark was just; but Savage did not think any title, which was conferred upon Mr. Cibber, fo honourable as that the ufurpation of it could be imputed to him as an instance of very exorbitant vanity,

and

and therefore continued to write under the fame title, and received every year the fame reward.

He did not appear to confider thefe encomiums as tefts of his abilities, or as any thing more than annual hints to the Queen of her promise, or acts of ceremony, by the performance of which he was intitled to his penfion, and therefore did not labour them with great diligence, or print more than fifty each year, except that for fome of the last years he regularly inferted them in The Gentleman's Magazine, by which they were dif perfed over the kingdom,

Of fome of them he had himself fo low an opinion, that he intended to omit them in the collection of poems, for which he printed propofals, and folicited fubfcriptions; nor can it seem strange, that, being confined to the fame fubject, he should be at fome times indolent, and at others unfuccefsful; that he should fometimes delay a difagreeable task, till it was too late to perform it well; or that he should sometimes repeat the fame fentiment on the fame occafion, or at others be misled

by an attempt after novelty to forced con ceptions and far-fetched images.

He wrote indeed with a double intention, which fupplied him with fome variety; for his business was to praife the Queen for the favours which he had received, and to complain to her of the delay of those which she had promised: in fome of his pieces, therefore, gratitude is predominant, and in some difcontent; in fome he reprefents himself as happy in her patronage, and in others as difconfolate to find himfelf neglected.

Her promife, like other promifes made to this unfortunate man, was never performed, though he took fufficient care that it should not be forgotten. The publication of his Volunteer Laureat procured him no other reward than a regular remittance of fifty pounds.

He was not fo depreffed by his disappointments as to neglect any opportunity that was offered of advancing his interest. When the Princess Anne was married, he wrote poem *

upon her departure, only, as he de

Printed in the late collection.

clared,

clared, "because it was expected from him," and he was not willing to bar his own profpects by any appearance of neglect.

He never mentioned any advantage gained by this poem, or any regard that was paid to it; and therefore it is likely that it was confidered at court as an act of duty to which he was obliged by his dependence, and which it was therefore not neceffary to reward by any new favour: or perhaps the Queen really intended his advancement, and therefore thought it fuperfluous to lavish presents upon a man whom the intended to establish for life,

About this time not only his hopes were in danger of being fruftrated, but his penfion likewife of being obftructed, by an accidental calumny. The writer of The Daily Courant, a paper then published under the direction of the miniftry, charged him with a crime, which, though not very great in itself, would have been remarkably invidious in him, and might very justly have incenfed the Queen against him. He was accused by name of influencing elections against the court, by appearing at the head

of a tory mob; nor did the accufer fail to aggravate his crime, by representing it as the effect of the moft atrocious ingratitude, and a kind of rebellion against the Queen, who had first preferved him from an infamous death, and afterwards distinguished him by her favour, and fupported him by her charity. The charge, as it was open and confident, was likewife by good fortune very particular. The place of the tranfaction was mentioned, and the whole feries of the rioter's conduct related. This exactness made Mr. Savage's vindication eafy; for he never had in his life seen the place which was declared to be the scene of his wickedness, nor ever had been present in any town when its representatives were chofen. This answer he therefore made hafte to publish, with all the circumstances neceffary to make it credible; and very reasonably demanded, that the accufation fhould be retracted in the fame paper, that he might no longer fuffer the imputation of fedition and ingratitude. This demand was likewife preffed by him in a private letter to the author of the paper, who, either trufting to the protection of thofe whofe defence he had undertaken, or