acknowledging the benefit; but though the offer was so far generous, it
was made with some neglect of ceremonies, which Mr. Savage so much
resented, that he refused the present, and declined to enter the house
'till the cloaths, which were designed for him, were taken away.
His distress was now publicly known, and his friends therefore thought
it proper to concert some measures for his relief. The scheme proposed
was, that he should retire into Wales, and receive an allowance of fifty
pounds a year, to be raised by subscription, on which he was to live
privately in a cheap place, without aspiring any more to affluence, or
having any farther sollicitude for fame.
This offer Mr. Savage gladly accepted, though with intentions very
different from those of his friends; for they proposed that he should
continue an exile from London for ever, and spend all the remaining part
of his life at Swansea; but he designed only to take the opportunity
which their scheme offered him, of retreating for a short time, that he
might prepare his play for the stage, and his other works for the press,
and then to return to London to exhibit his tragedy, and live upon the
profits of his own labour.
After many sollicitations and delays, a subscription was at last raised,
which did not amount to fifty pounds a year, though twenty were paid by
one gentleman. He was, however, satisfied, and willing to retire, and
was convinced that the allowance, though scanty, would be more than
sufficient for him, being now determined to commence a rigid oeconomist.
Full of these salutary resolutions, he quitted London in 1739. He was
furnished with fifteen guineas, and was told, that they would be
sufficient, not only for the expence of his journey, but for his support
in Wales for some time; and that there remained but little more of the
first collection. He promised a strict adherence to his maxims of
parsimony, and went away in the stage coach; nor did his friends expect
to hear from him, 'till he informed them of his arrival at Swansea. But,
when they least expected, arrived a letter dated the 14th day after his
departure, in which he sent them word, that he was yet upon the road,
and without money, and that he therefore could not proceed without a
remittance. They then sent him the money that was in their hands, with
which he was enabled to reach Bristol, from whence he was to go to
Swansea by water. At Bristol he found an embargo laid upon the shipp
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