186
The Life of Savage.
[A.D. 1744.
money, payable at the time mentioned, to any one here that you shall appoint. I am. Sir,
'Your most obedient,
'And most humble servant,
'Sam. Johnson.
'At Mr. Osborne's, bookseller, in Gray's Inn.'
1744: ÆTAT. 35.]—It does not appear that he wrote any thing in 1744 for the Gentleman's Magazine, but the Preface.† His Life of Baretier was now re-published in a pamphlet by itself. But he produced one work this year, fully sufficient to maintain the high reputation which he had acquired. This was The Life of Richard Savage;* a man, of whom it is difficult to speak impartially, without wondering that he was for some time the intimate companion of Johnson[1]; for his character was marked by profligacy, insolence, and ingratitude[2]: yet, as he undoubtedly had a warm and vigorous,
- ↑ One explanation may be found of Johnson's intimacy with Savage and with other men of loose character. 'He was,' writes Hawkins, 'one of the most quick-sighted men I ever knew in discovering the good and amiable qualities of others' (Hawkins's Johnson, p. 50). 'He was,' says Boswell (Post, April 13, 1778), 'willing to take men as they are, imperfect, and with a mixture of good and bad qualities.' How intimate the two men were is shown by the following passage in Johnson's Life of Savage:—'Savage left London in July, 1739, having taken leave with great tenderness of his friends, and parted from the author of this narrative with tears in his eyes.' Johnson's Works, viii. 173.
- ↑ As a specimen of his temper, I insert the following letter from him to a noble Lord, to whom he was under great obligations, but who, on account of his bad conduct, was obliged to discard him. The original was in the hands of the late Francis Cockayne Cust, Esq., one of His Majesty's Counsel learned in the law:
'Right Honourable Brute, and Booby,
'I find you want (as Mr. is pleased to hint,) to swear away my life, that is, the life of your creditor, because he asks you for a debt.—The publick shall soon be acquainted with this, to judge whether you are not litter to be an Irish Evidence, than to be an Irish Peer.—I defy and despise you.'I am,
'Your determined adversary,'R.S.'
though
