Eheu! those happy days are
gone!
Our dramatist, therefore, soon discovered that a good play was the key
to a good place, and the Whigs took care that he should have it. Oddly
enough, when the Tories came in they did not turn him out. Perhaps they
wanted to gain him over to themselves; perhaps, like the Vicar of Bray,
he did not mind turning his coat once or twice in a life-time. However
this may be, he managed to keep his appointment without offending his
own party; and when the latter returned to power, he even induced them
to give him a comfortable little sinecure, which went by the name of
Secretary to the Island of Jamaica, and raised the income from his
appointments to L1200 a year.
From this period he was little before the public. He could afford now to
indulge his natural indolence and selfishness. His private life was
perhaps not worse than that of the majority of his contemporaries. He
had his intrigues, his mistresses, the same love of wine, and the same
addiction to gluttony. He had the reputation of a wit, and with wits he
passed his time, sufficiently easy in his circumstances to feel no
damping to his spirits in the cares of this life. The Island of Jamaica
probably gave him no further trouble than that of signing a few papers
from time to time, and giving a receipt for his salary.
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