DAVID GARRICK,

THE English Roscius, was born at the Angel Inn, in Hereford, in 1716, his father, Captain Peter Garrick, being then quartered at that place, with a troop of horse. David received his education at Lichfield school, where he shewed a strong propensity for dramatick exhibitions, and at the age of eleven years performed the part of Serjeant Kite, in the Recruiting Officer. Not long after this, he was sent to Lisbon, where he had an uncle, who was a considerable merchant in that capital. His stay there was but short, and at his return to Litchfield, he went again to school, but his progress in classical learning was small. At the age of nineteen he became a pupil of Samuel Johnson, with whom he formed a friendship that lasted through life. In the beginning of 1737, these two celebrated persons set out together for the metropolis, Garrick having a letter of recommendation to the Rev. Mr. Colson, a learned mathematician at Rochester, who was desired to furnish him with sufficient knowledge to prepare him for admission at the Temple. The death of his father threw him out of this line and becoming possessed of a thousand pounds by that of his uncle abroad, he entered into partner

ship with his brother in the wine trade. This connection, however, was soon dissolved, and David began his dramatick campaign in the summer of 1741, at Ipswich, with Giffard's company. On this occasion he assumed the name of Lyddal, under which he performed a variety of parts with great success. In October following, he made his appearance at the theatre in Goodman's Fields, of which Giffard was manager. The part in which he first came out was Richard the Third, and this he performed several nights successively to crowded houses. Among other eminent persons who went to see him was Mr. Pope, who said of him, "that he was afraid the young man would be spoiled, for he would have no competitor."

When Quin, the leading actor of the time, arrived in London, from Ireland, he found the attention of the publick wholly engaged by the new performer in Goodman's fields, and to his great mortification he was obliged to play Richard to empty boxes. Still with his characteristic indifference, he only said that, "Garrick was but a new religion, and that Whitfield was followed for a time, but they would all come to church again." This sarcasm being reported to Garrick, he wrote the following epigram :

Pope Quin, who damns all churches but his own,
Complains that heresy corrupts the town;
That Whitfield Garrick has misled the age,

And taints the sound religion of the stage,

"Schism," he cries, "has turn'd the nation's brain,

"But eyes will open, and to church again!"

Thou great infallible, forbear to roar,

Thy bulls and errors are rever'd no more,
When doctrines meet with gen'ral approbation;
It is not heresy, but reformation.

After finishing a most successful season, Garrick went over to Dublin, with the celebrated Mrs. Woffington with whom he had formed an attachment, and in compliment to whom he wrote the song, "Once more I'll tune the vocal shell." The reception of Garrick at Dublin, exceeded even the encouragement which he had experienced in London, and during the hottest months of the year the theatre was each night crowded with persons of the first consequence. The excessive heat proved fatal to many, and an epidemic disease broke out, which was denominated the Garrick fever.

He was greeted on his return to the English capital in a flattering manner; and at this time it is said his performance of Abel Drugger, cured a young lady of fortune who had fallen in love with him in the characters of Chamont and Lothario.

Our limits will not allow us to proceed farther in the dramatick career of this extraordinary performer, we shall therefore only observe that, in 1747, he obtained a share in the patent of Drury Lane theatre, with the management of that house, on the opening of which, that season, he spoke

one of the finest prologues in the English language, written by his friend Johnson.

In 1749, he married Mademoiselle Violette, who had been a stage dancer, but a lady of excellent character. In 1763, Garrick, accompanied by his wife, withdrew from the fatigues of business to the continent, and met with the most flattering marks of respect in France and Italy.

While he was at Paris, Garrick, paid a visit to Mademoiselle Clairon, the celebrated actress of the French theatre, and she repeated several passages to him from the tragedies of Corneille. and Racine. Garrick acted before her the dagger-scene of Macbeth, and his imitation of a poor man whom he had seen in Bedlam, mad at having lost his child who jumped out of his arms upon the iron rails before the house. Mr. Garrick then asked her if she had ever tried the gamut of the passions; and while she was expressing her complete ignorance of what he meant, he ran through the whole compass of them with his voice and his eyes, beginning at the most simple, and ending with the most complicated and perplexed of them.

He also became intimate with Preville, the first actor in that country, and was invited by him to spend a day at his villa. Our Roscius being in a gay humour, proposed to go in one of the hired coaches that used to ply between Paris and Versailles, on which road Preville's house stood, When