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GARRICK, DAVID (1717-1779)

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 477 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GARRICK, See also:DAVID (1717-1779) , See also:English actor and theatrical manager, was descended from a See also:good See also:French See also:Protestant See also:family named Garric or Garrique of See also:Bordeaux, which had settled in See also:England on the revocation of the See also:Edict of See also:Nantes. His See also:father, See also:Captain See also:Peter Garrick, who had married Arabella See also:Clough, the daughter of a See also:vicar choral of See also:Lichfield See also:cathedral, was on a recruiting expedition when his famous third son was See also:born at Here-See also:ford on the 19th of See also:February 1717. Captain Garrick, who had made his See also:home at Lichfield, where he had a large family, in 1731 rejoined his See also:regiment at See also:Gibraltar. This kept him absent from home for many years, during which letters were written to him by " little See also:Davy," acquainting him with the doings at Lichfield. When the boy was about eleven years old he paid a See also:short visit to See also:Lisbon where his See also:uncle David had settled as a See also:wine See also:merchant. On his father's return from Gibraltar, David, who had previously been educated at the See also:grammar school of Lichfield, was, largely by the See also:advice of See also:Gilbert Walmesley, registrar of the ecclesiastical See also:court, sent with his See also:brother See also:George to the "See also:academy" at Edial. just opened in See also:June or See also:July 1736 by See also:Samuel See also:Johnson, the See also:senior by seven years of David, who was then nineteen. This See also:seminary was, however, closed in about six months, and on the 2nd of See also:March 1736/7 both Johnson and Garrick See also:left Lichfield for London—Johnson, as he afterwards said, " with twopence See also:halfpenny in his See also:pocket," and Garrick " with three-halfpence in his." Johnson, whose See also:chief asset was the MS. tragedy of See also:Irene, was at first the See also:host of his former See also:pupil, who, however, before the end of the See also:year took up his See also:residence at See also:Rochester with See also:John Colson (afterwards Lucasian See also:professor at See also:Cambridge). Captain Garrick died about a See also:month after David's arrival in See also:London. Soon afterwards, his uncle, the wine merchant at Lisbon, having left David a sum of £1000, he and his brother entered into See also:partnership as wine merchants in London and Lichfield, David taking up the London business. The concern was not prosperous —though Samuel See also:Foote's assertion that he had known Garrick with three quarts of See also:vinegar in the cellar calling himself a wine merchant need not be taken literally—and before the end of 1741 he had spent nearly See also:half of his See also:capital. His See also:passion for the See also:stage completely engrossed him ; he tried his See also:hand both at dramatic See also:criticism and at dramatic authorship. His first dramatic piece, Lethe, or See also:Aesop in the Shades, which he was See also:thirty-seven years later to read from a splendidly See also:bound transcript to See also:King George III. and See also:Queen See also:Charlotte, was played at See also:Drury See also:Lane on the 15th of See also:April 1740; and he became a well-known frequenter of theatrical circles.

His first See also:

appearance on the stage was made in March 1741, incognito, as See also:harlequin at See also:Goodman's See also:Fields, See also:Yates, who was See also:ill, having allowed him to take his See also:place during a few scenes of the See also:pantomime entitled Harlequin Student, or The Fall of Pantomime with the Restoration of the See also:Drama. Garrick subsequently accompanied a party of players from the same See also:theatre to See also:Ipswich, where he played his first See also:part as an actor under the name of Lyddal, in the See also:character of Aboan (in See also:Southerne's Oroonoko). His success in this and other parts determined his future career. On the 19th of See also:October 1741 he made his appearance at Goodman's Fields as See also:Richard III. and gained the most enthusiastic See also:applause. Among the See also:audience was See also:Macklin, whose performance of Shylock, See also:early in the same year, had pointed the way along which Garrick was so rapidly to pass in See also:triumph. On the morrow the latter wrote to his brother at Lichfield, proposing to make arrangements for his withdrawal from the partnership, which, after much distressful complaint on the part of his family, met by him with the utmost See also:consideration, were ultimately carried into effect. Meanwhile, each See also:night had added to his popularity on the stage. The See also:town, as See also:Gray (who, like See also:Horace See also:Walpole, at first held out against the furore) declared, was " See also:horn-mad " about him. Before his Richard had exhausted its See also:original effect, he won new applause as Aboan, and soon afterwards as See also:Lear and as See also:Pierre in See also:Otway's See also:Venice Preserved, as well as in several comic characters (including that of Bayes). See also:Glover (" See also:Leonidas ") attended every performance; the See also:duke of See also:Argyll, Lords See also:Cobham and See also:Lyttelton, See also:Pitt, and several other members of See also:parliament testified their admiration. Within the first six months of his theatrical career he acted in eighteen characters of all kinds, and from the and of See also:December he appeared in his own name. See also:Pope went to see him three times during his first performances, and pronounced that " that See also:young See also:man never had his equal as an actor, and he will never have a See also:rival." Before next See also:spring he had supped with " the See also:great Mr See also:Murray, counsellor," and was engaged to do so with Mr Pope through Murray's introduction, while he was dining with See also:Halifax, See also:Sandwich and See also:Chesterfield.

" There was a dozen See also:

dukes of a night at Goodman's Fields," writes Horace Walpole. Garrick's See also:farce of The Lying See also:Valet, in which he performed the part of See also:Sharp, was at this See also:time brought out with so much success that he ventured to send a copy to his brother. His See also:fortune was now made, and while the managers of Covent See also:Garden and Drury Lane resorted to the See also:law to make See also:Giffard, the manager of Goodman's Fields, See also:close his little theatre, Garrick was engaged by See also:Fleetwood for Drury Lane for the See also:season of 1742. In June of that year he went over to See also:Dublin, where he found the same See also:homage paid to his talents as he had received from his own countrymen. He was accompanied by See also:Margaret (Peg) See also:Woffington, of whom he had been for some time a fervent admirer. (His claim to the authorship of the See also:song to Lovely Peggy is still sub judice. There remains some obscurity as to the end of their liaison.) From See also:September 1742 to April 1745 he played at Drury Lane, after which he again went over to Dublin. Here he remained during the whole season, as See also:joint-manager with See also:Sheridan, in the direction and profits of the Theatre Royal in Smock See also:Alley. In 1746-1747 he fulfilled a short engagement with See also:Rich at Covent Garden, his last See also:series of performances under a management not his own. With the close of that season See also:Fleet-See also:wood's patent for the management of Drury Lane expired, and Garrick, in See also:conjunction with See also:Lacy, See also:purchased the See also:property of the theatre, together with the renewal of the patent; contributing £S000 as two-thirds of the See also:purchase-See also:money. In September 1747 it was opened with a strong See also:company of actors, Johnson's See also:prologue being spoken by Garrick, while the See also:epilogue, written by him, was spoken by Mrs Woffington. The negotiations involved Garrick in a See also:bitter See also:quarrel with Macklin, who appears to have had a real grievance in the See also:matter.

Garrick took no part himself till his performance of See also:

Archer in the See also:Beaux' Stratagem, a month after the opening. For a time at least " the drama's patrons " were content with the higher entertainment furnished them; in the end Garrick had to " please " them, like most other managers, by gratifying their love of show. Garrick was surrounded by many players of See also:eminence, and he had the See also:art, as he was told by Mrs See also:Clive, " of contradicting the See also:proverb that one cannot make bricks without See also:straw, by doing what is infinitely more difficult, making actors and actresses without See also:genius." He had to en-See also:counter very serious opposition from the old actors whom he had distanced, and with the younger actors and actresses he was involved in frequent quarrels. But to none of them or their See also:fellows did he, so far as it appears, show that See also:jealousy of real merit from which so many great actors have been unable to remain See also:free. For the See also:present he was able to hold his own against all competition. The naturalness of his acting fascinated those who, like See also:Partridge in Tom See also:Jones, listened to nature's See also:voice, and justified the preference of more conscious critics. To be " pleased with nature " was, as See also:Churchill wrote, in the Rosciad (1761),1 to be pleased with Garrick. For the stately declamation, the sonorous, and beyond a doubt impressive, See also:chant of See also:Quin and his fellows, Garrick substituted rapid changes of passion and See also:humour in both voice and gesture, which held his audiences spellbound. " It seemed," wrote Richard See also:Cumberland, " as if a whole See also:century had been stepped over in the passage of a single See also:scene; old things were done away, and a new See also:order at once brought forward, 1 In the subsequent See also:Apology addressed to the See also:Critical Reviewers, Churchill revenged himself for the slight which he supposed Garrick to have put upon him, by some spiteful lines, which, however, Garrick requited by good-humoured kindness.See also:bright and luminous, and clearly destined to dispel the barbarisms of a tasteless See also:age, too See also:long superstitiously devoted to the illusions of imposing declamation." Garrick's French descent and his See also:education may have contributed to give him the vivacity and versatility which distinguished him as an actor; and nature had given him an See also:eye, if not a stature, to command, and a mimic See also:power of wonderful variety. The See also:list of his characters in tragedy, See also:comedy and farce is large, and would be extraordinary for a See also:modern actor of high See also:rank; it includes not less than seventeen Shakespearian parts. As a manager, though he committed some grievous blunders, he did good service to the theatre and signally advanced the popularity of See also:Shakespeare's plays, of which not less than twenty-four were produced at Drury Lane under his management. Many of these were not pure Shakespeare; and he is credited with the addition of a dying speech to the See also:text of See also:Macbeth.

On the other hand, See also:

Tate See also:Wilkinson says that Garrick's See also:production of See also:Hamlet in 1773 was well received at Drury Lane even by the galleries, " though without their favourite acquaintances the gravediggers." Among his published adaptations are an See also:opera, The Fairies (from Midsummer Night's See also:Dream) (1755) an opera The See also:Tempest (r756); See also:Catherine and Petruchio (1758); Florizel and Perdita (1762). But not every See also:generation has the same notions of the way in which Shakespeare is best honoured. Few sins of omission can be charged against Garrick as a manager, but he refused Home's See also:Douglas, and made the wrong choice between False Delicacy and The Good Natur'd Man. For the See also:rest, he purified the stage of much of its grossness, and introduced a relative correctness of See also:costume and decoration unknown before. To the study of English dramatic literature he rendered an important service by bequeathing his then unrivalled collection of plays to the See also:British Museum. After escaping from the chains of his passion for the beautiful but reckless Mrs Woffington, Garrick had in 1749 married Mademoiselle Violette (Eva Maria Veigel), a See also:German See also:lady who had attracted admiration at See also:Florence or at See also:Vienna as a dancer, and had come to England early in 1746, where her modest See also:grace and the rumours which surrounded her created a furore, and where she found enthusiastic patrons in the See also:earl and countess of Burling-ton. Garrick, who called her " the best of See also:women and wives," lived most happily with her in his See also:villa at See also:Hampton, acquired by him in 1754, whither he was glad to See also:escape from his See also:house in See also:Southampton See also:Street. To this See also:period belongs Garrick's quarrel with See also:Barry, the only actor who even temporarily rivalled him in the favour of the public. In 1763 Garrick and his wife visited See also:Paris, where they were cordially received and made the acquaintance of See also:Diderot and others at the house of the See also:baron d'See also:Holbach. It was about this time that See also:Grimm extolled Garrick as the first and only actor who came up to the demands of his See also:imagination; and it was in a reply to a pamphlet occasioned by Garrick's visit that Diderot first gave expression to the views expounded in his Paradoxe sur le comedien. After some months spent in See also:Italy, where Garrick See also:fell seriously ill, they returned to Paris in the autumn of 1764 and made more See also:friends, reaching London in April 1765. Their See also:union was childless, and Mrs Garrick survived her See also:husband until 1822.

Her portrait by See also:

Hogarth is at See also:Windsor See also:Castle. Garrick practically ceased to See also:act in 1766, but he continued the management of Drury Lane, and in 1769 organized the Shakespeare celebrations at See also:Stratford-on-See also:Avon, an undertaking which ended in See also:dismal failure, though he composed an " See also:Ode upon dedicating a See also:building and erecting a Statue to Shakespeare " on the occasion. (See, inter"alia, Garrick's Vagary, or England Run Mad; with particulars of the Stratford See also:Jubilee, 1760 Of his best supporters on the stage, Mrs See also:Cibber, with whom he had been reconciled, died in 1766, and Mrs (Kitty) Clive retired in 1769; but Garrick contrived to maintain the success of his theatre. He sold his See also:share in the property in 1776 for £35,000, and took leave of the stage by playing a See also:round of his favourite characters—Hamlet, Lear, Richard and Benedick, among Shakespearian parts; See also:Lusignan in See also:Zara, See also:Aaron See also:Hill's See also:adaptation of See also:Voltaire's See also:Zaire; and Kitely in his own adaptation of See also:Ben See also:Jonson's Every Man in his Humour; Archer in See also:Farquhar's Beaux' Stratagem; acted by See also:Sothern, and later associated with See also:Sir See also:Charles See also:Wyndham, is of course See also:mere fiction. As to the portraits of Garrick, see W. T. See also:Lawrence in The Connoisseur (April 1905). That by See also:Gainsborough at Stratford-on-Avon was preferred by Mrs Garrick to all others. Several remain from the hand of Hogarth, including the famous picture of Garrick as Richard III. The portraits by See also:Reynolds include the celebrated '" Garrick between Tragedy and Comedy." See also:Zoffany's are portraits in character. See also:Roubiliac's statue of Shakespeare, for which Garrick sat, and for which he paid the sculptor three See also:hundred guineas, was originally placed in a small See also:temple at Hampton, and is now in the entrance See also:hall at the British Museum. (R.

CA.; A. W. W.) See also:

Abel Drugger in Ben Jonson's Alchemist; Sir John See also:Brute in See also:Vanbrugh's Provoked Wife; See also:Leon in See also:Fletcher's See also:Rule a Wife and have a Wife. He ended the series, as Tate Wilkinson says, " in full See also:glory " with " the youthful See also:Don See also:Felix " in Mrs See also:Centlivre's Wonder on the loth of June 1776. He died in London on the loth of See also:January 1779. He was buried in See also:Westminster See also:Abbey at the See also:foot of Shakespeare's statue with imposing solemnities. An See also:elegy on his See also:death was published by See also:William Tasker, poet and physiognomist, in the same year. In See also:person, Garrick was a little below See also:middle height; in his later years he seems to have inclined to stoutness. The extra-See also:ordinary mobility of his whole person, and his power of as it were transforming himself at will, are attested by many anecdotes and descriptions, but the piercing power of his eye must have been his most irresistible feature. Johnson, of whose various and often merely churlish remarks on Garrick and his doings many are scattered through the pages of See also:Boswell, spoke warmly of the elegance and sprightliness of his friend's conversation, as well as of his liberality and kindness of See also:heart; while to the great actor's art he paid the exquisite See also:tribute of describing Garrick's sudden death as having " eclipsed the gaiety of nations, and impoverished the public stock of harmless See also:pleasure." But the most discriminating character of Garrick, slightly tinged with See also:satire, is that See also:drawn by See also:Goldsmith in his poem of See also:Retaliation. Beyond a doubt he was not without a certain moral timidity contrasting strangely with his eager temperament and alertness of See also:intellect; but, though he was not See also:cast in a heroic See also:mould, he must have been one of the most amiable of men. Garrick was often happy in his epigrams and occasional See also:verse, including his numerous prologues and epilogues.

He had the good See also:

taste to recognize, and the spirit to make public his recognition of, the excellence of Gray's odes at a time when they were either ridiculed or neglected. His dramatic pieces, The Lying Valet, adapted from Motteux's Novelty Lethe (1740), The See also:Guardian, Linco's Travels (1767), See also:Miss in her Teens (1747), Irish Widow, &c., and his alterations and adaptations of old plays, which together fill four volumes, evinced his knowledge of stage effect and his appreciation of lively See also:dialogue and See also:action; but he cannot be said to have added one new or original character to the drama. He was joint author with See also:Colman of The See also:Clan-destine See also:Marriage (1766), in which he is said to have written his famous part of See also:Lord Ogleby. The excellent farce, High See also:Life below Stairs, appears to have been wrongly attributed to Garrick, and to be by See also:James See also:Townley. His Dramatic See also:Works (1798) fill three, his Poetic (1735) two volumes. Garrick's Private See also:Correspondence (published in 1831—1832 with a short memoir by Boaden, in 2 vols. 4to), which includes his extensive See also:Foreign Correspondence with distinguished French men and women, and the notices of him in the See also:memoirs of Cumberland, Hannah More and Madame D'Arblay, and above all in Boswell's Life of Johnson, See also:bear testimony to his many attractive qualities as a See also:companion and to his fidelity as a friend.

End of Article: GARRICK, DAVID (1717-1779)

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