Favage, 

 Pi chard. 



SAV 



Richard Steelc and other wits. By ridiculing Sir 

 Richard Steele behind his back, he lost his patronage, 

 and was for a while dependant on the donations of 

 Mrs. Oldfield the actress, who, though she supplied 

 his wants, would never admit him into her house. 



Savage now resolved upon writing a tragedy, but 

 he was in such destitute circumstances, that he com- 

 posed it in the streets, and wrote what he composed 

 on scraps of paper picked up from the ground, and with 

 pen and ink borrowed from the nearest shop. In 

 that way he wrote the tragedy of " Sir Thomas Over- 

 bury," which, when corrected and fitted for the stage 

 by Aaron Hill and Cibber, was acted at Drury-Lane in 

 1723. This piece had little success, though he him- 

 self acted the part of Overbury ; but it produced him 

 the sum of 200. 



His next literary undertaking was a volume of " Mis- 

 cellaneous Poems," to which he prefixed an humorous 

 account of the usage he had received from his mo- 

 ther. The profits of this little work, which was 

 published by subscription, raised our author above ab- 

 ject poverty ; and the interest excited by his private 

 history brought him into notoriety. An event, how- 

 ever, of a most distressing kind now occurred. In 

 one of his drunken rambles, in November 1727, he 

 quarrelled with a party who were just quitting the 

 tavern which he was entering, and unfortunately kill- 

 ed one of them. For this crime he was tried, con- 

 victed, and condemned to death. His friends made 

 great exertions to save his life, while his mother ex- 

 erted herself as strenuously to prevent him from ob- 

 taining mercy. The Countess of Hertford, however, 

 laid the whole case before the ueen, and succeeded in 

 obtaining a pardon. 



Justly regarding his mother as his most implacable 

 foe, he now threatened to harass her with satirical 

 poems, and expose her conduct, unless she allowed 

 him a pension. This threat was successful. Lord 

 Tyrconnel, Lady Macclesfield's nephew, took our au- 

 thor under his roof, treated him as his equal, and gave 

 him an allowance of 200 a-year. Under this gleam 

 of sunshine, Savage was courted by a crowd of young 

 aspirants after fame. He published his " Temple of 

 Health and Mirth" on the occasion of Lady Tyrcon- 

 nel's recovery from a severe illness ; and he composed 

 the " Wanderer," a moral poem, which he dedicated 

 to Lord Tyrconnel, in terms of the most overstrained 

 panegyric. In this prosperous condition Savage did 

 not long continue. He quarrelled with his benefactor, 

 and again threw himself upon the world. 



In order to execute his former threats against his 

 mother, he wrote a poem, entitled, " The Bastard," 

 which had an extensive sale. This poem was pub- 

 lished at Bath, when his mother was resident in that 

 place ; and it is said that many persons disgusted at 

 her treatment of the author, repeated passages of it in 

 her hearing, and drove her to seek for shelter among 

 the crowded circles of the metropolis. 



Impelled by poverty, Savage now resolved to throw 

 himself upon the munificence of Queen Caroline. He- 

 published a poem for her majesty's birth-day, entitled, 

 the " Volunteer Laureat," in consideration of which, 

 the queen gave him a pension of 50 a-year. This 

 sum, however, was a small pittance for a person of 

 Savage's prodigality. The moment he received his 

 pension, he secreted himself in some obscure tavern, 

 indulging in eating and drinking, and in the lowest 

 sensuality, till the expenditure of his money forced 

 him to emerge in search of the means for fresh excesses. 



It was about this time that Dr. Johnson became ac- 



S A V 



quainted with Savage ; and, captivated with his polite- 

 ness and powers of conversation, he sometimes ac- 

 companied him in his nocturnal rambles for the purpose 

 of studying the character of that extraordinary person. 



In consequence of the death of Queen Caroline in 

 1738, Savage lost his pension, and was entirely thrown 

 upon the beneficence of his friends. A subscription 

 was raised in order to enable him to live in retirement 

 in Wales on a pension of 50 per annum, 20 of 

 which was, we believe, contributed by Mr. Pope. To 

 this plan of life he readily agreed; and in 1739 he 

 set out in the Bristol stage coach with fifteen guineas 

 to pay his expenses ; but in place of travelling to his 

 destination, he lingered on the road, and applied to 

 his friends for a fresh remittance to enable him to 

 pursue his journey. In this way he reached Bris- 

 tol, from which he proceeded with great reluct* 

 ance to Swansea, where he remained a year occupied 

 in writing another tragedy on the story of Sir Thomas 

 Overbury. Having finished this play, he resolved to 

 return to London, but his friend Pope proposed that it 

 should be fitted for the stage by Thomson and Mallet, 

 and that the profits of it should be laid out in the pur- 

 chase of an annuity. Savage was enraged at this pro- 

 posal ; he returned to Bristol on his way to London, 

 and having experienced much hospitality and kindness, 

 he remained till his money was spent, and till he had 

 become so shabby in his dress, and so disgusting in 

 his personal appearance, that nobody would admit 

 him to their house. The mistress of a coffee-house 

 arrested him for a debt of eight pounds, and being 

 unable to find bail he was thrown into the jail of Bris- 

 tol. Here he was treated with the greatest kindness 

 and humanity by the jailer, who allowed him every 

 kind of indulgence; and he composed a satire, en- 

 titled, " London and Bristol delineated/* in which he 

 treated his benefactors in the last of these cities with 

 the bas.t ingratitude. 



After he had spent about six months in the prison, 

 he received a letter from Pope, accusing him of the 

 most atrocious ingratitude ; but we are not informed 

 of the particulars of this accusation. He is said, how- 

 ever, to have protested his innocence of the charge, 

 and to have been much affected by the perusal of the 

 letter which contained it. In a few days after he was 

 seized with a nervous fever, which carried him off on 

 the 1st of August 174-3, in the 46th year of his age. 



We are almost ashamed at having occupied our pages 

 with any notice of such a man as Richard Savage. No 

 talents of any brilliancy, and no quality of any value re- 

 deemed the utter worthlessness of his character. His 

 misfortunes, though owing to his own misconduct, have 

 received a sort of romantic aspect from the unnatural 

 conduct of his mother, but even this accidental cir- 

 cumstance would not have saved him from oblivion, 

 had not the eloquence of Dr. Johnson thrown an ad- 

 ventitious interest round his vices and his sufferings. 



SAVAGE STATE. See MAN. 



SAVOY, anciently Sabaudia, is now one of the di- 

 visions of the kingdom of Sardinia, bounded by Pied* 

 mont on the east, by France on the west, and by 

 the lake of Geneva on the north. It is about ninety*, 

 four miles long from north to south, and its average 

 breadth is about 65 miles. The superficial extent of 

 Savoy is about 3800 square miles. 



This district consists of the most elevated land in Eu- 

 rope, embracing the interesting and highly picturesque 

 and sublime scenery to the south of the lake of Ge- 

 neva. We have already given most copious and 

 minute descriptions of this part of Europe in our 



Savage, 

 Richard 



II 

 Savoy. 



