Mr. Beckingham

“ 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 ”

“ 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 happy for him, and his Fellow-sufferer, that Mercy sits in Person on the Throne of Great-Britain! Since it is plain, the Publick may be a Loser by the Death of these Gentlemen, and none but the Grave can be a Gainer, there is great Reason to hope for a Pardon, or an extensive Reprieve. Once more, my Lord, let me repeat my [Pg 29] Intreaty for your Intercession for him; restore him once more to Life and Freedom; rejoice his Friends, and preserve the Publick a useful Member; and forgive, my Lord, the Importunity of
Your most obliged,
and most obedient
humble Servant. ”

“ Savage's Sufferings.
A LETTER to a Noble Lord in the behalf of Mr. Savage and Mr. Gregory.
My Lord,
I am persuaded, you will not refuse this Letter a reading, since the principal Subject of it is Mercy: I would not have took this Liberty with your Lordship, was I not throughly convinced that your Virtue is equal to your Wisdom, and that you are always ready to exert both in a proper Cause. I know, for I have experienced it, that you have a Heart which can commiserate the Misfortunes of Man, and that you are ever willing to lend a Hand to the sinking Wretch. ”

“ A Day, that he might very reasonably, in the Language of the despairing Job, have repented his ever seeing, when he considered, as he had too frequently the bitterest Occasions to do, what an almost uninterrupted Train of Miseries it had introduced him into. ”

“ Let the Reader now behold a Man of his unspotted Character, and inoffensive Behaviour, till this fatal Action, involv'd all on a sudden in all the wretched Circumstances and Sufferings of the most inhuman Criminals and abandon'd of Profligates, and admire at the decent Fortitude and Serenity of Mind, with which, according to the Report of all who saw him, he supported so shocking and unexpected a Misfortune, as well before as at the Time of his Trial, which was on Thursday the 7th of this Instant December, at the Old Baily ”

“ It is very probable that this Divorce gave the Lady a great deal of Satisfaction: But her Son, being thus bastardized, could not be born, as otherwise he would have been, a Lord by Courtesy, and Heir to the Title of an English Earl, with one of the finest Estates in the Kingdom, which was afterwards, for want of Male-Issue, the Occasion of engaging two eminent Peers [1] in a Duel, in which they had the Misfortune to kill each other. ”

“ Assistance of the Gentleman, just mention'd for his Humanity, he obtain'd the Sum of fifty Pounds as a Present, from a Lady, whose Duty it seem'd to have been to take some Care of him; this Sum he was told should be made up two Hundred, but it being in the Height of the South-Sea Infatuation, by which this Lady was one of the imaginary Gainers, when that Grand Bubble broke, the other Hundred and Fifty Pounds evaporated with it ”

“ In his Death, I am certain, the King would lose a good Subject; all good Men, a Friend; and Vice, an Enemy. To enforce what I have said, I must beg Leave to use some of Mr. Savage's own Expressions in his Address to the Court, when he received his Sentence: I am perswaded that, as mere Men, and out of the Seat of Justice, the Court is susceptible of the tender Passions, and too humane not to commiserate the unhappy Situation of him and his Fellow-sufferer Mr. Gregory ”

“ A Sentence, which, of all Men living, he was thought, by his whole Acquaintance, the [Pg 20] most unlikely to have incurr'd his good Nature and Meekness of Temper, having before this fatal Accident, been remarkable, among all who convers'd with him, if I may be allow'd the Expression, even to a Fault.
The last Piece which he exhibited to the World, was, a Poem Sacred to the Memory of our late most gracious Sovereign, address'd to the Right Honourable Mr. Doddington, one of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, which Subject, tho' it employ'd several other poetic Genius's ”

“ ERHAPS no History in the World, either ancient or modern, can produce an Instance of any one Man's Life fill'd with so many calamitous Circumstances, as That of the unhappy young Gentleman, who is the melancholy Subject of the following Sheets ”

“ No doubt you distinguish between Offences, which arise out of Premeditation, and a Disposition habituated to Vice or Immorality, and Transgressions, which are the unhappy [Pg 24] and unforeseen Effects of a casual Absence of Reason, and sudden Impulse of Passion: We therefore hope you will contribute all you can to an Extension of that Mercy, which the Gentlemen of the Jury have been pleas'd to shew Mr. ”

“ Merchant and Mr. Gregory, they all went together to a Coffee-house near his old Lodgings, where they drank till pretty late in the Evening; Mr. Savage would willingly have got a Bed at the Coffee-house for that Night, but there not being a Conveniency for himself, and [Pg 21] Company both, they went away from thence with a Resolution to waste Time as well as they could till Morning, when they purposed to go together to Richmond. In their Walks, seeing a Light in Robinson's Coffee-house, they thought that a Place proper to entertain them, tho' Mr. ”