"ftanding the whole Amount of my Finances was but three Pence halfpenny. "In the first Place I muft infift, that you will in"duftriously conceal this from Mrs. S. s; be"cause I would not have her good Nature fuffer that “Pain, which, I know, fhe would be apt to feel "on this Occafion. "Next I conjure you, dear Sir, by all the Ties "of Friendship, by no Means to have one uneafy "Thought on my Account; but to have the fame "Pleafantry of Countenance and unruffled Serenity of Mind, which (God be praised!) I have in this, "and have had in a much feverer Calamity. Fur"thermore, I charge you, if you value my Friend"fhip as truly as I do yours, not to utter, " even harbour the leaft Refentment against Mrs. "Read. I believe fhe has ruin'd me, but I freely or forgive her; and (tho' I will never more have any "Intimacy with her) would, at a due Distance, ra❝ther do her an Act of Good, than ill Will. Last ly, (pardon the Expreffion) I abfolutely command "you not to offer me any pecuniary Affiftance, nor "to attempt getting me any from any one of your Friends. At another Time, or on any other Oc"cafion, you may, dear Friend, be well affured, "I would rather write to you in the submissive Stile "of a Request, than that of a peremptory Com❝mand. 66 "However, that my truly valuable Friend may "not think I am too proud to ask a Favour, let me intreat you to let me have your Boy to attend for this Day, not only for the Sake of faving "me the Expence of Porters; but for the Delivery "of fome Letters to People whofe Names I would "not have known to Strangers. 46 me < The "The civil Treatment I have thus far met from "thofe, whose Prisoner I am, makes me thankful "to the Almighty, that, tho' he has thought fit to "vifit me (on my Birth-night) with Affliction; yet "(fuch is his great Goodnefs!) my Affliction is not "without alleviating Circumftances. I murmur "not, but am all Refignation to the divine Will. "As to the World, I hope that I fhall be endued by Heaven with that Prefence of Mind, that fe"rene Dignity in Misfortune, that conftitutes the "Character of a true Nobleman; a Dignity far be"yond that of Coronets; a Nobility arifing from "the juft Principles of Philosophy, refined and exalted, by those of Chriftianity. He continued five Days at the Officer's in Hopes that he should be able to procure Bail, and avoid the Neceffity of going to Prison. The State in which he paffed his Time, and the Treatment which he received, are very juftly expreffed by him in a Letter which he wrote to a Friend; "The whole Day, fays he, has been employed in various People's filling my Head with chimerical Syftems, which "has obliged me coolly (as far as Nature will ad <c << mit) to digeft, and accommodate myself to, every different Perfons Way of Thinking; hurried from "one wild Syftem to another, 'till it has quite made a Chaos of my Imagination, and nothing done "Promised-difappointed-Order'd to fend every "Hour, from one Part of the Town to the "other." C6 When his Friends, who had hitherto careffed and applauded, found that to give Bail and pay the Debt was the fame, they all refused to preserve him from a Prifon, at the Expence of eight Pounds; and therefore after having been for fome Time at the Of ficer's ficer's House, at an immenfe Expence, as he obferves in his Letter, he was at length removed to Newgate. This Expence he was enabled to fupport, by the Generofity of Mr. Nash at Bath, who upon receiving from him an Account of his Condition, immediately fent him five Guineas, and promifed to promote his Subfcription at Bath, with all his Intereft. By his Removal to Newgate, he obtained at least a Freedom from Sufpence, and Reft from the difturbing Viciffitudes of Hope and Disappointment; he now found that his Friends were only Companions, who were willing to fhare his Gaiety, but not to partake of his Misfortunes; and therefore he no longer expected any Affiftance from them. He was offered by fome of his Friends that a Coflection should be made for his Enlargement, but be treated the Proposal, and declared, that he should again treat it with Difdain. As to writing any Mendicant Letters, he had too high a Spirit, and determined only to write to fome Ministers of State, to try to regain his Penfion. He continned to complain of those that had fent him into the Country, and objected to them, that he had loft the Profits of the Play which had been finished three Years, and in another Letter declares his Refolution to publish a Pamphlet, that the World might know how he had been used. He was treated by Mr. Dagg, the Keeper of the Prison, with great Humanity; was fupported by him at his own Table without any Certainty of Recompence, had a Room to himself, to which he could at any Time retire from all Disturbance, was allow'd to stand at the Door of the Prifon, and fometimes taken out into the Fields; fo that he suffered fewer Hardships Hardships in the Prison, than he had been accustom→ ed to undergo in the greatest Part of his Life. Mr. Savage very frequently received Vifits, and fometimes Prefents from his Acquaintances, but they did not amount to a Subfiftence, for the greater Part of which he was indebted to the Generofity of his Keeper; but thefe Favours, however they might endear to him the particular Perfons, from whom he received them, were very far from impreffing upon his Mind any advantageous Ideas of the People of Bristol, and therefore he thought he could not more properly employ himself in Prison, than in writing the following Poem. LONDON and BRISTOL delineated. T WO Sea-port Cities mark Britannia's Fame, Councils, Councils, like Senates that enforce Debate In a dark Bottom funk, O Bristol now, The Sneer that marks the Fool and Knave combin❜d. Of |