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Garrick In spite of adverse circumstances, including a disabling illness of Garrick and the keen opposition of Barry and Mrs. Woffington at Drury Lane, the profits of the season, including the six nights in May, were estimated at 8,500l. The season of 1747-8 at Drury Lane began under the joint management of Garrick and Lacy. On 15 Sept. Garrick was ill, and unable to speak Johnson's famous prologue. Reformation in management began at once, the first step being the abolition of the practice of admitting by payment behind the scenes. He did not himself act until 15 Oct., when he reappeared as Archer. He spoke the prologue and presented the chorus in a revival of Henry V, and took for the first time Jaffier instead of Pierre in 'Venice Preserved.' From this time to his retirement, 10 June 1776,Garrick's connection with Drury Lane was unbroken. In the following season he played Benedick, produced on 29 Nov. 1748 his own version of ' Romeo and Juliet,' with an altered termination for Barry and Mrs. Gibber, and was the original Demetrius, 6 Feb. 1749, in 'Mahomet and Irene,' under which name was produced Johnson's tragedy of 'Irene.' On 22 June 1749, first 'at the church in Russell Street, Bloomsbury, and afterwards at the chapel of the Portuguese embassy in Audley Street' (, Life of Garrick, i. 240), Garrick married Eva Marie Violetti (1724-1822), the reputed daughter of a Viennese citizen named Veigel. She came to London in 1746, engaged as a dancer at the Haymarket, and became the guest of the Earl and Countess of Burlington, who on her marriage to Garrick are reputed to have settled on her 6,000l. Upon his marriage Garrick lived in Southampton Street, Strand, in the house now No. 27. He afterwards (1754) purchased the famous little house at Hampton. His marriage embroiled him further with the leading actresses, more than one of whom had regarded him as in some shape pledged to her. Mrs. Woffington had previously joined the rival house, and Mrs. Gibber quitted Garrick in anger. Barry also broke his engagement and went to Covent Garden. Garrick had thus to face the un- concealed hostility of Quin, Macklin, Barry, Mrs. Woffington, and Mrs. Gibber, and the more dangerous enmity of Foote. Johnson regarded him with temporary mistrust, if not with, coldness, on account of the failure of 'Irene,' and an estrangement had arisen between himself and the aristocratic friends of his wife. Mrs. Ward had to assume the principal characters at Drury Lane, for which she was unfitted, until Miss Bellamy, whom Garrick was training, could be trusted with leading business. In addition to these, his company comprised Yates, King, Shuter, Woodward, Mrs. Pritchard, and Mrs. Clive [q. v.] Weakened by the death of Mills, it was reinforced by the engagement of Palmer. Before the secession of Barry, Garrick played Comus for the benefit of Mrs. Forster, granddaughter of Milton. He had also played Iago to the Othello of Barry. An occasional prologue, written and spoken by Garrick 8 Sept. 1750, upon the reopening of Drury Lane with the 'Merchant of Venice,' alluded to the secession of Barry and Mrs. Gibber, and said that Drury Lane stage was sacred to Shakespeare, but that if ' "Lear" and "Hamlet" lose their force' he will give the public ' Harlequin,' and substitute the stage carpenter for the poet. In the epilogue he made Mrs. Clive speak of him as of a choleric disposition, but 'much tamer since he married.' So formidable was the opposition that his ruin was anticipated. Garrick, however, as his prologue stated, was 'arm'd cap-à-pie in self-sufficient merit.' 'Besides,' adds Tate Wilkinson (The Mirror, or Actor's Tablet, p. 156), 'he had industry, and his troops were under excellent discipline.' In the famous duel of this season, when 'Romeo and Juliet' came out at both houses on 28 Sept. 1750, Garrick and Miss Bellamy were pitted against Spranger Barry and Mrs. Gibber. (For the epigram by Mr. Hewitt which appeared in the 'Daily Advertiser,' and for the comparisons instituted between the two Romeos, see .) A second epigram, by the Rev. Richard Kendal of Peterhouse (Poetical Register for 1810-11, p. 369), institutes a comparison between the respective Lears of the same actors:—

Garrick played in the season Osmyn in Congreve's 'Mourning Bride,' and Alfred in Mallet's masque of 'Alfred,' 23 Feb. 1751, and at Christmas 1750 carried the war into Rich's camp, producing 'Queen Mab,' a species of pantomimic entertainment in which Woodward played harlequin. Before Drury Lane reopened for the following season, 1751-2, Covent Garden lost Quin, who had practically retired, and Mrs. Woffington, who had gone to Dublin. Garrick meanwhile, together with other actors, had engaged Mossop. He played, 29 Nov. 1751, Kitely in his own alteration of Jonson's 'Every Man C2