In order to execute his former threats against his mother, he wrote a poem, entitled,. " The Bastard,' which had an extensive sale. This poem was pub lished at Bath, when his mother was resident in that place; and it is. said that many persons disgusted at her treatment of the author, repeated passages of it in her hearing, and drove her to seek for shelter among the crowded circles of the metropolis.
Impelled by poverty, Savage now resolved to throw himself upon the munificence of Queen Caroline. He published a poem for her majesty's birth-day, entitled, the " Volunteer Laureat," in consideration of which, the queen gave him a pension of R50 a-year. This sum, however, was a small pittance for a person of Savage's prodigality. The moment he received his pension, he secreted himself in some obscure tavern, indulging in eating and drinking, and in the lowest sensuality, till the expenditure of his money forced him to emerge in search of the means for fresh ex cesses.
It was about this time that Dr. Johnson became acquainted with Savage; and, captivated with his po liteness and powers of conversation, he sometimes accompanied him in his nocturnal rambles for the purpose of studying the character of that extraordi nary person.
In consequence of the death of Queen Caroline in 1738, Savage lost his pension, and was entirely thrown upon the beneficence of his friends. A subscription was raised in order to enable him to live in retirement in Wales on a pension of X50 per annum, .,20 of which was, we believe, contributed by Mr. Pope. To this plan of life he readily agreed; and in 1739 he set out in the Bristol stage coach with fifteen guineas to pay his expenses; but in place of travelling to his destination, he lingered on the road, and applied to his friends for a fresh remittance to enable him to pursue his journey. In this way he reached Bristol, from which he proceeded Ivith great reluctance to Swansea, where he remained a year occupied in writ ing another tragedy on the story of Sir Thomas Over bury. having finished this play, he resolved to re
turn to London, but his friend Pope proposed that it should be fitted for the stage by Thomson and Mallet, and that the profits of it should be laid out in the pur chase of an annuity. Savage was enraged at this pro posal; he returned to Bristol on his way to London, and having experienced much hospitality and kindness, he remained till his money was spent, and till he had become so shabby in his dress, and so disgusting in his personal appearance, that nobody would admit him to their house. The mistress of a coffee-house arrested him for a debt of eight pounds, and being unable to find bail he was thrown into the jail of Bris tol. Here he was treated with the greatest kindness and humanity by the jailer, who allowed him every kind of indulgence; and he composed a satire, entitled and Bristol delineated," in which he treated his benefactors in the last of these cities with the basest ingratitude.
After he had spent about six months in the prison, he received a letter from Pope, accusing him of the most atrocious ingratitude; but we are not informed of the particulars of this accusation. He is said, how ever, to have protested his innocence of the charge, and to have been much affected by the perusal of the letter which contained it. In a few days after he was seized with a nervous fever, which carried him off on the 1st of August 1743, in the 46th year of his age.
We are almost ashamed at having occupied our pages with any notice of such a man as Richard Savage. No talents of any brilliancy, and no quality of any value redeemed the utter worthlessness of his character. His misfortunes, though owing to his own misconduct, have received a sort of romantic aspect from the un natural conduct of his mother, but even this acciden tal circumstance would not have saved him from obli vion, had not the eloquence of Dr. Johnson thrown an adventitious interest round his vices and his sufferings.