proofs of kindness were not often to be expected, and that
this ardour of benevolence was in a great degree the effect of novelty,
and might, probably, be every day less; and therefore he took no care
to improve the happy time, but was encouraged by one favour to hope
for another, till at length generosity was exhausted, and officiousness
wearied.

Another part of his misconduct was the practice of prolonging his visits
to unseasonable hours, and disconcerting all the families into which
he was admitted. This was an error in a place of commerce which all the
charms of his conversation could not compensate; for what trader would
purchase such airy satisfaction by the loss of solid gain, which must be
the consequence of midnight merriment, as those hours which were gained
at night were generally lost in the morning? Thus Mr. Savage, after
the curiosity of the inhabitants was gratified, found the number of his
friends daily decreasing, perhaps without suspecting for what reason
their conduct was altered; for he still continued to harass, with his
nocturnal intrusions, those that yet countenanced him, and admitted him
to their houses.

But he did not spend all the time of his residence at Bristol in visits
or at taverns, for he sometimes returned to his studies, and began
several considerable designs. When he felt an inclination to write,
he always retired from the knowledge of his friends, and lay hid in an
obscure part of the suburbs, till he found himself again desirous of
company, to which it is likely that intervals of absence made him more
welcome. He was always full of his design of returning to London, to
bring his tragedy upon the stage; but, having neglected to depart with
the money that was raised for him, he could not afterwards procure a sum
sufficient to defray the expenses of his journey; nor perhaps would
a fresh supply have had any other effect than, by putting immediate
pleasures into his power, to have driven the thoughts of his journey out
of his mind. While he was thus spending the day in contriving a scheme
for the morrow, distress stole upon him by imperceptible degrees. His
conduct had already wearied some of those who were at first enamoured of
his conversation; but he might, perhaps, still have devolved to others,
whom he might have entertained with equal success, had not the decay of
his clothes made it no longer consistent with their vanity to admit him
to their tables, or to associate with him