He was now again abandoned to fortune, without any other friend but Mr. Wilks, a man to whom calamity seldom complained without relief.  He naturally took an unfortunate wit into his protection, and not only assisted him in any casual distresses, but continued an equal and steady kindness to the time of his death.  By Mr. Wilks’s interposition Mr. Savage once obtained of his mother fifty pounds, and a promise of one hundred and fifty more, but it was the fate of this unhappy man, that few promises of any advantage to him were ever performed.

Being thus obliged to depend [Transcriber’s note:  ‘depended’ in original] upon Mr. Wilks, he was an assiduous frequenter of the theatres, and, in a short time, the amusements of the stage took such a possession of his mind, that he was never absent from a play in several years.

In the year 1723 Mr. Savage brought another piece on the stage.  He made choice of the subject of Sir Thomas Overbury:  If the circumstances in which he wrote it be considered, it will afford at once an uncommon proof of strength of genius, and an evenness of mind not to be ruffled.  During a considerable part of the time in which he was employed upon this performance, he was without lodging, and often without food; nor had he any other conveniencies for study than the fields, or the street; in which he used to walk, and form his speeches, and afterwards step into a shop, beg for a few moments the use of pen and ink, and write down what he had composed, upon paper which he had picked up by accident.

Mr. Savage had been for some time distinguished by Aaron Hill, Esq; with very particular kindness; and on this occasion it was natural to apply to him, as an author of established reputation.  He therefore sent this Tragedy to him, with a few verses, in which he desired his correction.  Mr. Hill who was a man of unbounded humanity, and most accomplished politeness, readily complied with his request; and wrote the prologue and epilogue, in which he touches the circumstances [Transcriber’s note:  ‘cirumstances’ in original] of the author with great tenderness.

Mr. Savage at last brought his play upon the stage, but not till the chief actors had quitted it, and it was represented by what was then called the summer-company.  In this Tragedy Mr. Savage himself performed the part of Sir Thomas Overbury, with so little success, that he always blotted out his name from the list of players, when a copy of his Tragedy was to be shewn to any of his friends.  This play however procured him the notice and esteem of many persons of distinction, for some rays of genius glimmered thro’ all the mists which poverty and oppression had spread over it.  The whole profits of this performance, acted, printed, and dedicated, amounted to about 200 l.  But the generosity of Mr. Hill did not end here; he promoted the subscription to his Miscellanies, by a very pathetic representation of the author’s sufferings, printed in the Plain-Dealer, a periodical paper written by Mr. Hill.  This generous effort in his favour soon produced him seventy-guineas, which were left for him at Button’s, by some who commiserated his misfortunes.