Or, fome remote inferior Poft,
With Forty Pounds a Year at moft.
But, here again you interpose:
Your favourite Lord is none of those,
Who owe their Virtues to their Stations,
And Characters to Dedications:
For keep him in, or turn him out,
His Learning none will call in Doubt:
His Learning, though a Poet faid it,
Before a Play, would lofe no Credit:
Nor POPE wou'd dare deny him Wit,
Although to praife it PHILLIPS writ.
I own, he hates an Action base,
His Virtues battling with his Place ;
Nor wants a nice difcerning Spirit,
Betwixt a true and fpurious Merit :
Can fometimes drop a Voter's Claim,
And give up Party to his Fame.
I do the most that Friendship can;
I hate the Vice Roy, love the Man.
But, you, who till your Fortune's made
Must be a Sweet'ner by your Trade,
Shou'd fwear he never meant us ill;
We fuffer fore against his Will;
That, if we could but fee his Heart,
He wou'd have chose a milder Part:
We rather should lament his Cafe,
Who must obey, or lofe his Place.

Since this Reflection flipt your Pen,
Infert it when you write agen:
And, to illuftrate it, produce
This Simile for his Excufe.

"So, to destroy a guilty Land, "An Angel fent by Heav'n's Command, While he obeys Almighty Will, "Perhaps, may feel Compaffion ftill;

"And

And with the Task had been affign'd
"To Spirits of lefs gentle Kind."?
But I, in Politicks grown old,
Whofe Thoughts are of a diff'rent Mold,
Who, from my Soul, fincerely hate
Both Courts and Minifters of State;
Who look on Courts with ftricter Eyes,
To fee the Seeds of Vice arife,

Can lend you an Allufion fitter,

Though flatt'ring Knaves may call it bitter :
Which, if you durft but give it Place,
Would fhew you many a Statefman's Face
Fresh from the Tripod of Apollo,
I had it in the Words that follow.
(Take Notice, to avoid Offence,
I here except His Excellence.)

So, to effect his Monarch's Ends,
From Hell a Viceroy Dev'l afcends,
His Budget with Corruptions cramm'd,
The Contributions of the Damn'd;
Which with unfparing Hand, he strows
Through Courts and Senates as he goes
And then at Beelzebub's Black-Hall,
Complains his Budget was too small,
Your Simile may better fhine

In Verfe; but there is Truth in mine.
For, no imaginable Things
Can differ more than GODS and KINGS,:
And Statefmen, by ten Thousand Odds,
Arc ANGELS juft as KINGS are GODS.

It was these Verfes that chiefly prevailed upon Mr. Savage to retire, who had much Blame to lay upon himfelf; for had he taken a Pen and fumm'd up the Money he had received from the World for his Wriings, his Penfions, for his Benefits and Bounties, U 4 and

and Subscriptions from the Great and Compaffionate, not reckoning what a confiderable Sum of Money he had had from his Friends and Acquaintance, under the Name of a Loan, he would foon have seen he had imprudently wafted that which would have supported him without his becoming obligated to any Body.

Now he was grown hateful to himfelf, without any Support but Mr. Pope, to whom he began to neglect writing, and began to look upon himfelf in a State of abfolute Slavery.

He endeavoured, indeed, to release himself, and with an Intent to return to London, went to Bristol, where a Repetition of the Kindness which he had formerly found, invited him to ftay. He was not only caress'd and treated, but had a Collection made for him of about thirty Pounds, with which it had been happy if he had immediately departed for London; but his Negligence did not fuffer him to confider, that fuch Proofs of Kindness were not often to be expected, and that this Ardour of Benevolence was in a great Degree, the Effect of Novelty, and might, probably, be every Day lefs; and, therefore, he took no Care to improve the happy Time, but was encouraged by one Favour to hope for another, till at length Generofity was exhausted.

Another Part of his Misconduct was the Practice of prolonging his Vifits, to unfeafonable Hours, and difconcerting all the Families into which he was admitted.

Thus Mr. Savage, after the Curiofity of the Inhabitants was gratified, found the Number of his Friends daily decreafing, perhaps without fufpecting for what Reafon their Conduct was altered, for he still continued to harrafs, with his nocturnal Intrufi

ons,'

ons, those that yet countenanced him, and admitted him to their Houses.

He was always full of his Design of returning to London to bring his Tragedy upon the Stage; but having neglected to depart with the Money that was raised for him, he could not afterwards procure a Sum fufficient to defray the Expence of his Journey; nor, perhaps, would a fresh Supply have had any other Effect, than, by putting immediate Pleasures in his Power, to have driven the Thoughts of his Journey out of his Mind.

While he was thus fpending the Day in contriving a Scheme for the Morrow, Diftrefs ftole upon him by imperceptible Degrees. He now began to find every Man from home at whose House he called; and was, therefore, no longer able to procure the Neceffaries of Life, but wandered about the Town flighted and neglected, in queft of a Dinner, which he did not always obtain.

To complete his Mifery, he was pursued by the Officers for fmall Debts which he had contracted; and was, therefore, obliged to withdraw from the fimall Number of Friends from whom he had ftill' Reason to hope for Favours.

Being thus excluded on one Hand, and confined on the other, he fuffered the utmoft Extremities of Poverty, and often fasted so long, that he was seiz'd with Faintnefs, and had loft his Appetite, not being able to bear the Smell of Meat, 'till the Action of his Stomach was restored by a Cordial.

In this Diftrefs he received a Remittance of five Pounds from London, with which he provided himfelf a decent Coat, and determined to go to London, but unhappily spent his Money at a favourite Tavern. In this Exigence he once more found a Friend, who fheltered him in his House, though at the ufual In-^

convenience

conveniences with which his Company was attended; for he could neither be perfuaded to go to Bed in the Night, nor to rife in the Day.

He had now no longer any Hopes of Assistance from his Friends at Bristol, who as Merchants, and by Confequence fufficiently ftudious of Profit, cannot be fuppofed to have look'd with much Compaffion upon Negligence and Extravagance, or to think any Excellence equivalent to a Fault of fuch Confequence as Neglect of Oeconomy.

$

At last he quitted the Houfe of his Friend, and returned to his Lodging at an Inn, ftill intending to fet out in a few Days for London, but on the tenth of January 1742-3, having been at Supper with two of his Friends, he was at his Return to his Lodgings arrested for a Debt of about eight Pounds, which he owed at a Coffee-Houfe, and conducted to the House of a Sheriff's Officer. The Account which he gives of this Misfortune in a Letter to one of the Gentlemen with whom he had fupped, is too remarkable ta be omitted.

"It was not a little unfortunate for me, that I "fpent Yesterday's Evening with you; because the "Hour hindered me from entering on my new Lodg

ing; however, I have now got one; but fuch an 66 one, as I believe Nobody would chufe..

"I was arrested at the Suit of Mrs. Read, juft as "I was going up Stairs to Bed, at Mr. Bowyer's;

but taken in fo private a Manner, that I believe "Nobody at the White Lion is apprized of it. Tho' I

let the Officers know the Strength (or rather Weak"nefs of my Pocket) yet they treated me with the "utmoft Civility, and even when they conducted "me to Confinement, 'twas in fuch a Manner, that "I verily believe I could have efcaped, which I would rather be ruined than have done notwith"ftanding