' 'Blockhead!' exclaims
she; 'why I must have bread to my wine, you know, and I have not a
penny to purchase any. Go beg me a loaf directly.' The fellow returns
once more with one in his hand and a halfpenny, telling 'em the
gentleman threw him three, and laughed at his impudence. She gave her
Mercury the money, broke the bread into a wash-hand basin which stood
near, poured the Tokay over it, and devoured the whole with
eagerness. This was indeed a heroine in PROFUSION. Some active
well-wishers procured her a benefit after this; she gained about
350_l_., 'tis said, and laid out two hundred of the money instantly
in a _shell-cap_. They wore such things then."
When Savage got a guinea, he commonly spent it in a tavern at a
sitting; and referring to the memorable morning when the "Vicar of
Wakefield" was produced, Johnson says: "I sent him (Goldsmith) a
guinea, and promised to come to him directly. I accordingly went as
soon as I was dressed, and found that his landlady had arrested him
for his rent. I perceived that he had already changed my guinea, and
had got a bottle of Madeira and a glass before him." Mrs. Piozzi
continues:
"But Doctor Johnson had always some story at hand to check
extravagant and wanton wastefulness. His improviso verses made on a
young heir's coming of age are highly capable of restraining such
folly, if it is to be restrained: they never yet were printed, I
believe.
"'Long expected one-and-twenty,
Lingering year, at length is flown;
Pride and pleasure, pomp and plenty,
Great Sir John, are now your own.
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