legally the Son of one Earl, and naturally the Son of another, by the Management of his own Mother, denied the Benefit of belonging to either of them. In a Piece that was printed, but, for some weighty Reasons, never made publick, he tells us, That when he was about Fifteen, her Affection began to awake; and he was sollicited to be bound Apprentice to a Shoemaker, which Proposal he rejected with Scorn, for he had now by the Death of his Nurse, discover'd some Letters of his Grandmother's, and by those Means the whole Contrivance that had been carried on to conceal his Birth. And being now entirely destitute of every the least Necessary of Life, to whom was it so Natural to apply to as a Mother? Can a Mother forget her sucking Child! But in this Instance Nature seem'd to be inverted, the Mother upon no Terms would endure the Sight of her Son, the Son on all Occasions expressing his Affection for his Mother, and the strong Desire he had of seeing her; "While Nature acted so weakly," says an ingenious Gentleman, writing in Mr. Savage's Behalf, "on the Humanity of the Parent, she seems on the Son's Side to have doubled her usual Influence. Even the most shocking personal Repulses, and a Severity of Contempt and Injuries received at her Hands, through the whole Course of his Life, were not able to eraze from his Heart the Impressions of his filial Duty; nor, which is much more strange, of his Affection; I have known him walk three or four Times in a dark Evening, through the Street this Mother lives in, only for the melancholy Pleasure of looking up at her Windows, in hopes to catch a Moment's Sight of her as she might cross the Room by Candle-light."

Being thus abandoned on all Sides to the Frowns of Fortune and a capricious World, without any other Friend but his own Genius to support him, he threw himself upon the barren and unthriving Province of Poetry, a Science how ornamental a Flower soever it may be among the Qualifications of Men of Ease and Fortune, when display'd only for the Amusement of a leisure Hour, yet too frequently held in Contempt, when made the whole Business of a Man's Life, and set to Sale for Bread; and more especially from the Taste of the present Age, in which the Figure and Condition of the Author takes up a greater Share of the Reader's Enquiry, than his Parts or the Matter he writes upon. Had the unfortunate Gentleman I am speaking of, been invested with either of his Father's Titles or Estates, I question not but we should have almost lost the Nobleman in the Honours paid to the Poet: But few modern Authors I fear, who launch into the World, unaided by such Advantages, will, like Virgil, when living, have the same Respect paid to them that was due to an Emperor, or like Homer, have Temples rais'd to their Memories when dead.

The first Poem Mr. Savage published, was whilst he was very young, concerning the Bangorian Controversy; although there were some pretty Lines in it, yet as his Judgment ripened, he grew himself ashamed of this Piece, and contributed all he could to suppress the Edition, so that, it having but an indifferent Sale, very few of them are in any body's Hands at present. His next Performance was a Comedy, wrote at the Age of Eighteen, which he offered to the Managers of Lincoln's-Inn-Fields House, but, they not entirely approving it, he could not get it acted immediately, but not long after, it was altered by Mr. Christopher Bullock, one of the Managers, and brought upon the Stage as his own, under the Title of WOMAN'S A RIDDLE, without any Manner of Benefit or Advantage to the distressed Author: This Play was represented with some Applause in the Year 1716, the Plot is taken from a Spanish Play called, La Dama Duende, and was Dedicated to the