Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 21.djvu/28

Garrick through Passy, and criticised his companion for not being drunk in his legs. He also gives a description of his method of narrating in a manner à faire frémir the incident of a father dropping his child from a window, losing his speech, and going mad (ib. pp. 502-3). Many other references, all eminently favourable to Garrick, are to be found in the correspondence. Garrick is said to have had an income of fifty to sixty thousand livres de rente, and it is added that l he passes for a lover of money.' Meanwhile Drury Lane was making money in a manner not altogether agreeable. Powell, a young actor whom Garrick had trained, and who made his .debut 8 Oct. 1763, had already become a public favourite, and was to prove, next to Barry, the most dangerous of all Garrick's rivals. Garrick was stimulated to return and resume acting. With characteristic and misplaced ingenuity he sent in advance a satirical pamphlet written by himself against himself, and called 'The Sick Monkey.' By publishing this 'fable' he hoped to escape the satire of others, and also to herald his reappearance. Much fuss was made about keeping the authorship secret, and Colman was urged to let no word of rumour escape. The thing, however, as it deserved, fell flat. On 27 April 1765 Garrick arrived in London. On the reopening of the theatre, 14 Sept. 1765, he introduced for the first time in England the system of lighting the stage by lights not visible to the audience. His first appearance 'by command' took place 14 Nov. as Benedick to the Beatrice of Miss Pope. His calculations had been just. Weary of the musical pieces, which during his absence had proved, at his suggestion, the staple of Drury Lane entertainments, the public received him with wild enthusiasm, and applauded every- thing, even to a facetious prologue of his own, which he spoke, and which is not in the best possible taste. An aftermath of success richer than the original harvest was in store for him. On 30 Jan, 1766 he lost by death his great ally, Mrs. Gibber, which wrung from him the remark that 'tragedy is dead on one side.' Quin, with whom he had of late been intimate, was also dead. On 20 Feb. he produced the 'Clandestine Marriage,' by himself and Colman. By refusing to take the part of Lord Ogleby, which was played by King, he gave rise to a coldness between himself and his collaborator extending over years. Early in 1766 Garrick ceased to act, and visited Bath. He played Kitely, 22 May, in aid of the fund for the benefit of retired actors. On 25 Oct. 1766 he produced his 'Country Girl,' an alteration of Wycherley's 'Country Wife,' and on 18 Nov. 'Neck or Nothing,' a farce imitated from Lesage, the authorship of which, on no very satisfactory evidence, is assigned to Garrick. 'Cymon,' a dramatic romance founded on Dryden's 'Cymon and Iphigenia,' was played 2 Jan. 1767, and is more probably his. Garrick's 'Linco's Travels' saw the light 6 April 1767. Barry and Mrs. Dancer (subsequently Mrs. Barry) appeared in the season 1767-8. Garrick's 'Peep behind the Curtain, or the New Rehearsal,' was played 23 Oct. 1767. He wrote also a farewell address for Mrs. Pritchard on her quitting the stage, 24 April 1768. Palmer died at the close of the season and his wife retired. The following season saw the retirement of Kitty Clive, of all Garrick's feminine associates the one he most feared and in a sense esteemed. Havard was also dead. Meanwhile Colman had purchased the lease of Covent Garden, and been joined by Powell. A formidable rivalry was thus begotten, and the coolness between Garrick and Colman increased. Of the pieces by various authors produced by Garrick since his return from abroad Kelly's ' False Delicacy' and Bickerstaffe's 'Padlock' alone had a signal success. Before the beginning of the next season (1769-70) the memorable jubilee in honour of Shakespeare had been celebrated in Stratford. Garrick had the chief share in designing and carrying out this entertainment, to which the wits and the weather proved equally hostile. A full account of the spectacle (on 6, 7, and 8 Sept. 1769) is given in the third volume of Victor's 'History of the Theatres of London,' 8vo, 1771. Victor describes the entire pageant,. including Garrick's 'Ode upon dedicating a Building and erecting a Statue to Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon' (see also, Memoirs, i. 211). Garrick, who was much out of pocket by the fiasco, recouped himself by producing at Drury Lane, 14 Oct. 1769, the ' Jubilee,' a dramatic entertainment consisting of the pageantry designed for the Stratford celebration. This was repeated over ninety times. Garrick wrote the manuscript, which now appears to be lost. He had previously (30 Sept.) given the before-mentioned ode, which was republished with a whimsical parody upon it. Foote was persuaded to abandon an intended caricature of the whole proceedings, which gave Garrick many qualms. Kelly's 'Word to the Wise,' 3 March 1770, was the cause of a riot prolonged over some days by the friends of Wilkes, who saw in Kelly a government hireling. The piece was with- drawn after many scenes of disorder. ' King Arthur,' by Dryden, altered by Garrick, was produced 13 Dec. 1770. Cumberland's ' West