other imposition Let me, if possible, interest your compassion.
I know those of rank and fortune are teased with
frequent petitions, and are compelled to refuse the requests
even of those whom they know to be in distress; it is, therefore,
with a distant hope I ventured to solicit such favour:
but you will forgive me, sir, if you do not think proper
to relieve. It is impossible that sentiments like yours can
proceed from any but a humane and generous heart.

"I will call upon you, sir, to-morrow, and if I have not the
happiness to obtain credit with you, I must submit to my fate.
My existence is a pain to myself, and every one near and dear
to me are distressed in my distresses. My connections, once
the source of happiness, now embitter the reverse of my
fortune, and I have only to hope a speedy end to a life so
unpromisingly begun: in which (though it ought not to be
boasted of) I can reap some consolation from looking to the end
of it. I am, sir, with, the greatest respect, your obedient
and most humble servant,
GEORGE CRABBE."

The letter is undated, but, as we shall see, must have been written in
February or March of 1781. Crabbe delivered it with his own hands at
Burke's house in Charles Street, St. James's, and (as he long after told
Walter Scott) paced up and down Westminster Bridge all night in an agony
of suspense.

This suspense was not of long duration Crabbe made his threatened call,
and anxiety was speedily at an end. He had sent with his letter
specimens of his verse still in manuscript. Whether Burke had had time