ing,
so that he could not immediately obtain a passage, and being therefore
obliged to stay there some time, he, with his usual felicity,
ingratiated himself with many of the principal inhabitants, was invited
to their houses, distinguished at their public feasts, and treated with
a regard that gratified his vanity, and therefore easily engaged his
affection.

After some stay at Bristol, he retired to Swansea, the place originally
proposed for his residence, where he lived about a year very much
disatisfied with the diminution of his salary, for the greatest part of
the contributors, irritated by Mr. Savage's letters, which they imagined
treated them contemptuously, withdrew their subscriptions. At this
place, as in every other, he contracted an acquaintance with those who
were most distinguished in that country, among whom, he has celebrated
Mr. Powel, and Mrs. Jones, by some verses inserted in the Gentleman's
Magazine. Here he compleated his tragedy, of which two acts were wanting
when he left London, and was desirous of coming to town to bring it on
the stage. This design was very warmly opposed, and he was advised by
his chief benefactor, who was no other than Mr. Pope, to put it in the
hands of Mr. Thomson and Mr. Mallet, that it might be fitted for the
stage, and to allow his friends to receive the profits, out of which an
annual pension should be paid him. This proposal he rejected with the
utmost contempt. He was by no means convinced that the judgment of those
to whom he was required to submit, was superior to his own. He was now
determined, as he expressed, to be no longer kept in leading-strings,
and had no elevated idea of his bounty, who proposed to pension him out
of the profits of his own labours. He soon after this quitted Swansea,
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 stay. He was not only caressed, 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 he never considered that
such proofs of kindness were not often to be expected, and that this
ardour of benevolence was, in a great degree, the effect of novelty.

Another part of his misconduct was, the practice of prolonging his
visits to unseasonable hours, and disconcerting all the families into
which he was admitted. This was an error in a place of commerce, wh