ing her as she might come by accident to the window, or cross her apartment, with a candle in her hand. But all his assiduity and tenderness were of no avail; he could neither soften her heart nor open her hand, and was reduced to the utmost miseries of want to turn author by profession*. In the year 1715, he offered to the stage a comedy, borrowed from a Spanish plot, which being refused by the players was given by him to Mr. Bullock, who brought it upon the stage, under the title of Woman's a Riddle, but allowed the unhappy author no part of the profit. Two years afterwards, in the 20th year of his age, he wrote, Love in a Veil, another comedy, but with little better success than before. It, however, procured him the acquaintance of Sir Richard Steele and Mr. Wilks; to the latter of whom calamity seldom complained without relief; and who took the unfortunate wit under his protection, not only assisted him in any casual distresses, but continued an equal and steady kindness to the time of his death. By his interposition, Mr. Savage once obtained from his mother fifty pounds, and a promise of £150 more; but it was his unhappy fate that few promises of any advantage to him were performed. His constant attendance on Mr. Wilks procured him the acquaintance of the players, and among others, of Mrs. Oldfield, who was so much pleased with his conversation, that she allowed him a settled pension of fifty pounds a year, which was during her life regularly paid. That this act of generosity may receive its due praise, and that the good actions of Mrs. Oldfield may not be sullied by her general character, it is proper to mention, that Mr. Savage often declared, in the strongest terms, that he never saw her alone, or in any other place than behind the scenes. At this lady's death Mr. Savage endeavoured to shew his * His first publication, called the Battle of the Pamphlets, was written against the bishop of Bangor, which he afterwards endeavoured to suppress. gratitude for her in the most decent manner by wearing mourning for her as a mother. Previously to this his acquaintance with Sir R. Steele, whose dissipated habits, and consequent embarrassments, had made him a very unimproving example for his protogee at his entrance into life, had terminated. The kindness of Sir Richard did not consist in bestowing common favours. He proposed to have established Mr. Savage in some settled scheme of life, and to have contracted a kind of alliance with him, by marrying him to a natural daughter, on whom he intended to bestow a thousand pounds; but as he never was able to raise the sum proposed, the marriage was delayed. In the mean time he was officiously informed, that Mr. Savage had ridiculed him; by which he was so much exasperated, that he withdrew the allowance which he had paid him, and never afterwards admitted him to his house. [To be continued.] Review of Scientific Books. Lunar Observations, denoting the Influence of the Moon on the Winds, by her Impulse on the Earth's Atmosphere, &c.—By Sol. G. Da Costa, pp. 51. [Continued from p. 76.] As it is the peculiar province we have assigned ourselves to investigate the appearance and properties of the luminaries and their starry train, we shall content ourselves with referring our readers to those different parts of our work appropriated for that purpose; particularly to the description of the Moon in the second and present numbers, which is the work of a gentleman of real science; who, by volunteering his aid to our pages, has stamped them with a value they might not otherwise have had.-The following quotation, however, while it fully describes the author's discovery, will not be unamusing, particularly to those who may wish to ascertain its veracity by experience. "In furtherance of the supreme will of the Almighty, an attendant luminary was provided for our Earth, which, although communicating no increase of heat, nor yet constant equality of light, should, by the laws of attraction and gravitation, give constant motion to the waters that cover the face of the earth, and the atmosphere that surrounds it. Hence arise the ebbing and flowing of the sea, and the action of the winds. The former of these has been satisfactorily explained; but for the latter, no certain clue bas as yet been afforded on which to found an equally satisfactory hypothesis. The mode by which this discovery is to be obtained is now offered to the scientific world, as the result of a very attentive observation of four years, of the corresponding state of the wind to the signs of the moon in her different variations of figure and position throughout each lunation; and that such signs as she may display at the change, but more particularly at the full, will be indicative of such winds as will prevail to the succeeding change: also to the return of the full, and even to the following change, as the signs may point out. To enable the observer to attest the truth of such indications, let him at the full, endeavour to take a fac-simile of the Moon, and note down the quarter of the wind at the time. The Moon at that period being south, on her right limb will be seen the guide to the winds, in what is commonly called the man in the Moon, although deficient in his upper limbs, and his head invisible; but if, at a more early period, say before the termination of the first quarter, ne is seen in an upright position, leaving, as the Moon advances to the full, a clear space on the right and left sides of his lower extremities, viz. more than half the Moon's diameter, descending a good deal below the line of dark spots on the east limb, so as to display, when at the full, and seen at midnight, a great proportion of such spots on his shoulders; observing, that as his lower extremities descend, the spots are brought more upwards, then westerly winds may be expected for nearly the whole period until the following full takes place: but, on the contrary, if the said spots appear to have increased on the Moon's right or west limb in any considerable degree, and the guide before described gradually rising to the top or south limb, so as to appear in an horizontal position when at the full, and the night after, then easterly winds may be expected to prevail nearly to the same length of duration as before pointed out for the westerly; and in the appearance of a nearly equal proportion in space between the guide and the spots, with his lower extremies parallel with the spots, there then may be expected twenty or twenty one days' westerly wind to occur before the next full; of which number, all, or part, will succeed each other at the beginning, or be divided at intervals: but in the latter view of the guide, he is seen to ascend at the full, or directly after to let the easterly winds (as described in the second position above stated) pass under him. It must be here mentioned, that as the guide varies his position more or less oblique, so do the spots increase and decrease in equal proportion, as do also the winds; but in those instances, when the guide is seen at the top without the usual appearance of the spots on the light or western limb of the Moon, the winds may be expected to be varia ble until the next full. "The above predictions are conformable to innumerable observationss, compared with each other at the full. It will nevertheless be found, that notwithstanding the unerring indications in the signs, as above stated, the winds will sometimes vary for a few hours a day, or even for two days; but such changes are only transitory, and must be considered as veins and currents arising from the smoother and lighter parts intersecting the darker. When those veins and currents are expended, the wind, indicated by the most conspicuous feature, as is denoted to be the leading guide, will return conformably to the indication first pointed out. It is necessary to be clearly understood, that although the guide and spots, as above described, are the signs of observation, it is from the smoother or more shining spaces surrounding and intermixing with those spots that the winds are actually governed; and as the quantity of surface on the Moon's disk is filled up by the clearer spaces, sometimes above, and at other times below, the guide and spots; and at others, more or less, to the eastern or western side of them; so do the directions of the winds receive their impulses in strength and duration from the points before stated." |