which might perhaps all in reality concur, though
they were not all convenient to be alleged by either party. Lord
Tyrconnel affirmed that it was the constant practice of Mr. Savage
to enter a tavern with any company that proposed it, drink the most
expensive wines with great profusion, and when the reckoning was
demanded to be without money. If, as it often happened, his company
were willing to defray his part, the affair ended without any ill
consequences; but if they were refractory, and expected that the wine
should be paid for by him that drank it, his method of composition was,
to take them with him to his own apartment, assume the government of the
house, and order the butler in an imperious manner to set the best wine
in the cellar before his company, who often drank till they forgot
the respect due to the house in which they were entertained, indulged
themselves in the utmost extravagance of merriment, practised the most
licentious frolics, and committed all the outrages of drunkenness.
Nor was this the only charge which Lord Tyrconnel brought against him.
Having given him a collection of valuable books, stamped with his own
arms, he had the mortification to see them in a short time exposed to
sale upon the stalls, it being usual with Mr. Savage, when he wanted a
small sum, to take his books to the pawnbroker.

Whoever was acquainted with Mr. Savage easily credited both these
accusations; for having been obliged, from his first entrance into the
world, to subsist upon expedients, affluence was not able to exalt him
above them; and so much was he delighted with wine and conversation, and
so long had he been 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 inconveniences 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 quarrelled
with him because he would not subtract fro