himself lent what was required to complete the sum. It is said that, when
afterwards Churchill had made money by the sale of his poems, he
voluntarily paid the whole of the original debt.

Along with the new love of indulgence, there had arisen in his bosom the
old love of verse. Stimulated by intercourse with Lloyd, Colman, B.
Thornton, and other wits of the period, he had written a poem, in
Hudibrastic rhyme, entitled "The Bard." This he offered to one Waller, a
bookseller in Fleet Street, who rejected it with scorn. In this feeling
Churchill seems afterwards to have shared, as he never would consent to
its publication. Not at all discouraged, he sat down and wrote a satire
entitled "The Conclave," directed against the Dean and Chapter of
Westminster,--Dr Zachary Pearce, a favourite of Churchill's ire, being
then Dean. This would have been published but for the fear of legal
proceedings. It was extremely personal and severe. His third effort was
destined to be more successful. This was "The Rosciad," written, it is
said, after two months' close attendance on the theatres. This
excessively clever satire he offered to various booksellers, some say for
twenty pounds, others for five guineas. It was refused, and he had to
print it at his own expense. It appeared, without his name, in March
1761. Churchill now, like Byron, "awoke one morning and found himself
famous." A few days convinced him and all men that a decided hit had been
made, and that a strong new satirist had burst, like a comet, into the
sky--

"With fear of change perplexing" players.

The effect was prodigious. The critics admired--the victims of his satire
writhed and raved--the public greedily bought, and all cried out, "Who
can this be?" The _Critical Review_, then conducted by Smollett, alone