r
the prorogation of the parliament, and, by consequence, at a time when
all those who could be expected to regard it were in the hurry of
preparing for their departure, or engaged in taking leave of others upon
their dismission from publick affairs.

It must be, however, allowed, in justification of the publick, that this
performance is not the most excellent of Mr. Savage's works; and that,
though it cannot be denied to contain many striking sentiments,
majestick lines, and just observations, it is, in general, not
sufficiently polished in the language, or enlivened in the imagery, or
digested in the plan.

Thus his poem contributed nothing to the alleviation of his poverty,
which was such as very few could have supported with equal patience; but
to which, it must likewise be confessed, that few would have been
exposed, who received punctually fifty pounds a year; a salary which,
though by no means equal to the demands of vanity and luxury, is yet
found sufficient to support families above want, and was, undoubtedly,
more than the necessities of life require.

But no sooner had he received his pension, than he withdrew to his
darling privacy, from which he returned, in a short time, to his former
distress, and, for some part of the year, generally lived by chance,
eating only when he was invited to the tables of his acquaintances, from
which the meanness of his dress often excluded him, when the politeness
and variety of his conversation would have been thought a sufficient
recompense for his entertainment.

He lodged as much by accident as he dined, and passed the night
sometimes in mean houses, which are set open at night to any casual
wanderers, sometimes in cellars, among the riot and filth of the meanest
and most profligate of the rabble; and sometimes, when he had not money
to support even the expenses of these receptacles, walked about the
streets till he was weary, and lay down in the summer upon a bulk, or in
the winter, with his associates in poverty, among the ashes of a
glass-house.

In this manner were passed those days and those nights which nature had
enabled him to have employed in elevated speculations, useful studies,
or pleasing conversation. On a bulk, in a cellar, or in a glass-house,
among thieves and beggars, was to be found the author of the Wanderer;
the man of exalted sentiments, extensive views, and curious
observations; the man whose remarks on life might have assisted the
statesman,