well favour him at one time as another, he was tempted to
squander what he had because he always hoped to be immediately supplied.
Another cause of his profusion was the absurd kindness of his friends,
who at once rewarded and enjoyed his abilities by treating him at
taverns, and habituating him to pleasures which he could not afford to
enjoy, and which he was not able to deny himself, though he purchased
the luxury of a single night by the anguish of cold and hunger for a
week.

The experience of these inconveniences determined him to endeavour after
some settled income, which, having long found submission and entreaties
fruitless, he attempted to extort from his mother by rougher methods.
He had now, as he acknowledged, lost that tenderness for her which the
whole series of her cruelty had not been able wholly to repress, till he
found, by the efforts which she made for his destruction, that she
was not content with refusing to assist him, and being neutral in his
struggles with poverty, but was ready to snatch every opportunity of
adding to his misfortunes; and that she was now to be considered as an
enemy implacably malicious, whom nothing but his blood could satisfy.
He therefore threatened to harass her with lampoons, and to publish a
copious narrative of her conduct, unless she consented to purchase an
exemption from infamy by allowing him a pension.

This expedient proved successful. Whether shame still survived, though
virtue was extinct, or whether her relations had more delicacy than
herself, and imagined that some of the darts which satire might point at
her would glance upon them, Lord Tyrconnel, whatever were his motives,
upon his promise to lay aside his design of exposing the cruelty of
his mother, received him into his family, treated him as his equal, and
engaged to allow him a pension of two hundred pounds a year. This was
the golden part of Mr. Savage's life; and for some time he had no reason
to complain of fortune. His appearance was splendid, his expenses large,
and his acquaintance extensive. He was courted by all who endeavoured to
be thought men of genius, and caressed by all who valued themselves upon
a refined taste. To admire Mr. Savage was a proof of discernment; and to
be acquainted with him was a title to poetical reputation. His presence
was sufficient to make any place of public entertainment popular, and
his approbation and example constituted the fashion. So powerful is
genius, when