2»'« S. VI. 149., Nov. 6. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



361 



LONDON, SATURDAY, NOFEMBER 6. 1858. 



BICHAHD SAVAGE. 



Your correspondent Lesby (2""^ S. iii. 247.) has 

 revived a question which 1 hoped would have 

 called forth some Notes from your correspondents. 

 Was Richard Savage an impostor ? Boswell and 

 his correspondent Mr. Cust had doubts : but on 

 the whole Johnson's romantic narrative has met 

 with few questioners; and it is now perhaps too 

 late to test it thoroughly. I will, however, throw 

 together for your readers what Notes I have been 

 able to make as the fruit of my own researches on 

 the subject. 



Savage must have been himself the original 

 authority for the facts of his story, though he 

 afterwards contradicted some of them ; and though 

 others which he left uncontradicted have since 

 been proved to be false. Although advertised by 

 Curll among the contents of his " Cases of Di- 

 vorce, &c.," no report of the trial of the Countess 

 of Macclesfield for adultery before the House of 

 Lords was, I believe, ever printed. Scandal so 

 piquant and saleable would not have escaped the 

 indefatigable Curll if it had been attainable ; nor 

 would his friend Savage, in that case, have been 

 ignorant of the precise facts of his alleged mother's 

 history. That both Savage and his biographers, 

 however, were grossly in error on this subject is 

 now known beyond a doubt. Savage's biographers 

 represent him as deriving information from " let- 

 ters written to her [his nurse] by the Lady Mason 

 [his alleged grandmother] which informed him of 

 his birth and the reasons for which it was con- 

 cealed ; " and Savage himself, in his letter to Mrs. 

 Carter, pretends to have had access to the papers 

 of his godmother, " Mrs. Lloyd, a lady that kept 

 her chariot and lived accordingly ; " and in his 

 letter to the PUiin Dealer in 1724, he refers to 

 " convincing original letters," which he was then 

 able to produce in confirmation of his story. 

 Notwithstanding all these exclusive sources of 

 information, however, it is now quite clear that 

 Savage knew nothing of the story wl)ich he 

 claimed to be his own beyond what loose tradi- 

 tion might supply. The Countess of Macclesfield, 

 as Boswell remarks, made no public confession 

 of adultery, as stated in the life published in 1727, 

 and again by Johnson. Nor was the child born 

 while the Earl of Macclesfield was prosecuting his 

 afiiiir before the House of Lonls ; nor on Janu- 

 ary 10, lG'J7-8. Johnson's statements that the 

 husband discovery of her adultery was the occa- 

 sion of his separation from the Countess, and that 

 he " applied not to the Ecclesiasticijl Courts for 

 a Divorce," are ecjually incorrect. The P3arl had 

 in fact been sep/irated from his wife for some years, 

 during which she had clandestinely been delivered 



of two illegitimate children, the latter of whom 

 — the supposed Richard Savage — was born on 

 January 16, 1696-7. On discovering this, the 

 Earl took proceedings in the Arches Court in the 

 summer of 1697, and finally in 1697--8 in the 

 House of Lords, where he obtained a divorce. 

 All these steps were obstinately resisted by the 

 Countess and her family. 



I have found the original manuscript depositions 

 in the suit at Doctors' Commons, and also of the 

 proceedings in the House of Lords. These and 

 other documents which I have been fortunate 

 enough to discover throw some light upon the 

 Countess's story. 



The Countess of Macclesfield was the daughter 

 of Sir Richard Mason, of Sutton, Surrey, and 

 Anna Margaretta, his wife. She married, in 1683, 

 Charles Lord Brandon, afterwards Earl of Mac- 

 clesfield. The Lady Brandon and her husband ap- 

 pear to have lived happily but a very few months. 

 They separated in March 1684-5, upon the hus- 

 band addressing to his lady the following letter, 

 which I transcribe from the original, dated in 

 another hand " March 2°", 1684[5] " : — 



" Madam, — You have more reason to wonder at my 

 forbearing so long to express the resentment of your be- 

 haviour to me, than to be surprised that I now resolve 

 to ease both j-ou and mj'self of so unpleasing a conver- 

 sation. Your youth and folly did long plead your ex- 

 cuse, but when I saw ill nature in you, and ill will (not 

 to say malice) in j'our mother join against me, I then 

 had reason to despair of your amendment. 



" I had rather refer myself to your own memory for 

 the particulars, and to your conscience for the truth of 

 them, than be troubled with the repeating them ; and 

 you may imagine I take little pleasure in doing so, when 

 at the same time the world must know my missfortunes 

 in being disappointed of all the content I hoped for in the 

 state of marriage, and found neither a faithful nor a cheer- 

 ful companion (as a good wife ought to be) in either 

 fortune. 



" When I first offered myself to your father and mother 

 by Mr. Charlton, it was upon no other consideration but 

 that I preferred you before any other, expecting all hap- 

 piness from you and your family, and not to make a prey 

 of you, as you have often upbraided me with all : and 

 that I had no such mercenary thoughts, Mr. Charlton, 

 who is a man of honour, can justify me, and that I re- 

 fused to hear of any other match on your account. 



" Many affronts I received in the treaty, and manj' 

 more since. So far have either j'ou or your relations 

 seemed pleased with it, that they have seemed to think 

 themselves injured and disparaged by the alliance. Your 

 mother showing her contempt by writing one of the un- 

 mannerly letters to me, and sending back the pittyful 

 Jewells, as if they were the worse for wearing, and you 



I shewing your distrust of me when you desired that your 



; father might pay the uUU/. per an., which how duly I 



I have paid your acquittances will shew. 



I " These things 1 could easily pass over, but you would 



I have the world believe I have used you ill, ;ind that 1 

 have beaten you, a thing so base that as you know it to 



I be false yourself, so you will never be able to persuade the 

 world that it is true. I have governed my passions 



; under great and frequent provocation, either by silence 



j or avoiding your company. 



" What satisfaction 1 waa to expect let mankind judge 



