last shortened by
her maternal offices; that though she could not transport her son to the
plantations, bury him in the shop of a mechanic, or hasten the hand of
the public executioner, she has yet had the satisfaction of embittering
all his hours, and forcing him into exigencies that hurried on his
death. It is by no means necessary to aggravate the enormity of this
woman's conduct by placing it in opposition to that of the Countess
of Hertford. No one can fail to observe how much more amiable it is to
relieve than to oppress, and to rescue innocence from destruction than
to destroy without an injury.

Mr. Savage, during his imprisonment, his trial, and the time in which he
lay under sentence of death, behaved with great firmness and equality
of mind, and confirmed by his fortitude the esteem of those who before
admired him for his abilities. The peculiar circumstances of his
life were made more generally known by a short account which was then
published, and of which several thousands were in a few weeks dispersed
over the nation; and the compassion of mankind operated so powerfully
in his favour, that he was enabled, by frequent presents, not only to
support himself, but to assist Mr. Gregory in prison; and when he was
pardoned and released, he found the number of his friends not lessened.

The nature of the act for which he had been tried was in itself
doubtful; of the evidences which appeared against him, the character of
the man was not unexceptionable, that of the woman notoriously
infamous; she whose testimony chiefly influenced the jury to condemn him
afterwards retracted her assertions. He always himself denied that
he was drunk, as had been generally reported. Mr. Gregory, who is now
(1744) collector of Antigua, is said to declare him far less criminal
than he was imagined, even by some who favoured him; and Page himself
afterwards confessed that he had treated him with uncommon rigour. When
all these particulars are rated together, perhaps the memory of Savage
may not be much sullied by his trial. Some time after he obtained his
liberty, he met in the street the woman who had sworn with so much
malignity against him. She informed him that she was in distress,
and, with a degree of confidence not easily attainable, desired him to
relieve her. He, instead of insulting her misery, and taking pleasure in
the calamities of one who had brought his life into danger, reproved
her gently for her perjury, and, changi