n accustomed to live by chance, that he would, at any
time, go to the tavern without scruple, and trust for the reckoning to
the liberality of his company, and frequently of company to whom he was
very little known. This conduct, indeed, very seldom drew upon him those
inconveniencies that might be feared by any other person; for his
conversation was so entertaining, and his address so pleasing, that few
thought the pleasure which they received from him dearly purchased, by
paying for his wine. It was his peculiar happiness, that he scarcely
ever found a stranger, whom he did not leave a friend; but it must
likewise be added, that he had not often a friend long, without obliging
him to become a stranger.

Mr. Savage, on the other hand, declared, that lord Tyrconnel[79]
quarrelled with him, because he would not subtract from his own luxury
and extravagance what he had promised to allow him, and that his
resentment was only a plea for the violation of his promise. He
asserted, that he had done nothing that ought to exclude him from that
subsistence which he thought not so much a favour, as a debt, since it
was offered him upon conditions which he had never broken; and that his
only fault was, that he could not be supported with nothing.

He acknowledged, that lord Tyrconnel often exhorted him to regulate his
method of life, and not to spend all his nights in taverns, and that he
appeared very desirous that he would pass those hours with him, which he
so freely bestowed upon others. This demand Mr. Savage considered as a
censure of his conduct, which he could never patiently bear, and which,
in the latter and cooler part of his life, was so offensive to him, that
he declared it as his resolution, "to spurn that friend who should
presume to dictate to him;" and it is not likely, that, in his earlier
years, he received admonitions with more calmness.

He was, likewise, inclined to resent such expectations, as tending to
infringe his liberty, of which he was very jealous, when it was
necessary to the gratification of his passions; and declared, that the
request was still more unreasonable, as the company to which he was to
have been confined, was insupportably disagreeable. This assertion
affords another instance of that inconsistency of his writings with his
conversation, which was so often to be observed. He forgot how lavishly
he had, in his dedication to the Wanderer, extolled the delicacy and
penetration, the humanity