Johnson has been often heard to
relate, that he and Savage walked round Grosvenor square till four in
the morning; in the course of their conversation reforming the world,
dethroning princes, establishing new forms of government, and giving
laws to the several states of Europe, till, fatigued at length with
their legislative office, they began to feel the want of refreshment,
but could not muster up more than four-pence-halfpenny. Savage, it is
true, had many vices; but vice could never strike its roots in a mind
like Johnson's, seasoned early with religion, and the principles of
moral rectitude. His first prayer was composed in the year 1738. He had
not, at that time, renounced the use of wine; and, no doubt,
occasionally enjoyed his friend and his bottle. The love of late hours,
which followed him through life, was, perhaps, originally contracted in
company with Savage. However that may be, their connexion was not of
long duration. In the year 1738, Savage was reduced to the last
distress. Mr. Pope, in a letter to him, expressed his concern for "the
miserable withdrawing of his pension after the death of the queen;" and
gave him hopes that, "in a short time, he should find himself supplied
with a competence, without any dependance on those little creatures,
whom we are pleased to call the great." The scheme proposed to him was,
that he should retire to Swansea in Wales, and receive an allowance of
fifty pounds a year, to be raised by subscription: Pope was to pay
twenty pounds.
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