Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

CHAPTER XIV.

ILLNESS AND DEATH.

1778-1779.

AFTER this glimpse at a family circle, we return to the centre figure, now en retraite, and fairly entered on his retirement. The attentions and kindness of his friends now redoubled. Now that he was free, they competed with each other for his society. He was overwhelmed with invitations. Sir Watkyn Wynne now claimed him for a long-promised visit to Wynnestay. Irish friends-the Caldwells of Castle Caldwell, whom he had met abroad at Florence, pressed him to visit them in Ireland, a country which he had not seen for some thirty years, but to which his heart had often turned. His kind, gracious, and most grateful letter is almost extravagant in its acknowledgments. He most sincerely wished that it was in his power, as it was in his heart, to show his gratitude. It had long been his wish to visit a kingdom, where he had been honoured with every mark of regard and kindness. He did not quite give up the hope of getting over there, but Mrs. Garrick was so distressed by sea voyages; and then he makes the remarkable declaration that he had not been away a single day from Mrs. Garrick during the twenty-eight years of their marriage, and, therefore, could not now begin to think of

going alone.

Lord Pembroke, too, was eager to

secure him for Wilton.

His holiday had fairly begun. He kept Hampton open, and got the hearty Rigby to come for a pleasant day.* Mistley, the cheerful house of the jovial Rigby, was ever open to him. For the guest could write a pleasant ballad or two of himself and Mrs. Garrick :— "Invited to Mistley, to Squire Rigby's seat,

They could not be welcome unless they came neat,
The maid from the laundry, in haste she had gone,
And not a clean shirt or clean shift to put on.

Sing tantara-ra—all sing," &c.

He seems to have paid a visit to Sir Watkyn Wynne's in Wales; and though it may be doubted if he took part in their private theatricals, I find among his papers some notes of a prologue to be spoken on that occasion:

[blocks in formation]

* His invitation to his friend "Haly Paly" is so characteristic and spirited, that we may give a portion of it here. “Most unfortunately, my dear Haly Paley, the Hamptonians are engaged. . . . But why may not that other party take place at our return? and if you can take any pleasure in a roasted doctor, and have no aversion to roasted venison, we will treat you with both. Open your mind to me, I beseech you, my dearest Haly, in all naked simplicity; hearken with joy and gladness to tidings I shall declare unto you. On or about the 7th or 8th of the next month, the Royalty of Mistley will honour Hampton with his presence; and as I would choose to have him in all his glory . . . let the Halys, the Wrotsleys, the Mollys, the Dimples, and the Cupids be kept for that high festival. To which let the Reynolds, the Chamier, and the Adam, the first of men, be called by the sound of trumpet; and let the Loves, the Graces, with the rest attend. . . Yours, my dearest Paley, in all truth, naked truth, and most affectionate warmth of mysterious conjunction, DAVY PAVY. possible, an explicit answer by the bearer."

† Hill MSS. It is headed "On D. G.'s reception at Wynnstay."

Pray, if

compliments was the famous scene in the House of Commons, when, during some altercation between two members, a wealthy county member, Squire Baldwin, moved that the gallery be cleared. Garrick contrived to remain, no doubt through the contrivance of his many friends, at which the county member was very indignant, and on the following day addressed the House on the impropriety of having stage players listening to their debates. Nothing could have been happier it seemed like what is known in Garrick's own profession as the sifflet à succès. Burke, in a splendid panegyric, extolled him as the man who had taught them all. Fox and Townshend followed in the same strain, and talked of him as their old preceptor, and the House unanimously agreed that so great an ornament to the age should not be disturbed. He might have been content with this handsome testimony; yet must enfeeble it, by some very poor verses, which he gave in return to Fox and Burke, and his other friends, and concluded by likening the county member to a donkey.*

He had found a new friend in Miss Hannah More, who had been one of the most enraptured listeners at his farewell performances, and he had good-naturedly helped forward her rather heavy play. "She was sure," says Clive, "everything you touched would turn into gold; and though she had great merit in the writing, still you dandled it, and fondled it, and then carried it in your arms to town to nurse." It was for this lady's play that he furnished a prologue, in

"A brute there is whose voice confounds,
And frights all others with strange sounds.
Had you your matchless powers displaying,
Like him, Squire Baldwin, set a-braying," &c.

which he indiscreetly alluded to the doubtful Chevalier D'Eon. The tone of the lines was scarcely in good taste, especially as he had the lady down at Hampton, where, for her amusement, he had given an imitation of how a Frenchman and Englishman would behave in the same situation. With this the disguised French lady was offended, and Garrick may have been piqued, and thus may have felt himself discharged from any delicacy; he, however, made handsome apologies.

He still took a great interest in the theatre and its doings, and seems to have had some weight in the recommendation of plays, &c. And this voice he certainly was entitled to, as he had actually a heavier stake in the concern than any one of the partners. For he held a mortgage on Lacy's share, secured, however, on the whole four shares, for the large sum of twentytwo thousand pounds. This was a serious stake, and it very soon was to cause him much uneasiness. Retired, as he thought he was, he was still to have responsibility. The change had come, and presently he saw that Sheridan's carelessness and laziness were imperilling the security every hour. Even Mrs. Clive, down at Twickenham, found everybody raving at the supineness of Sheridan. "There never was in nature such a contrast as Garrick and Sheridan. What have you given him," she asked, "that he creeps so?" Yet Lacy, who seems to have inherited his father's petulance, could scarcely conduct himself with decent forbearance to a creditor, who had so much in his power. When the second season began, the profits were only just enough to discharge the interest money on the debts; and the first season only brought Lacy five hundred pounds. This did not look hopeful. Yet

in the face of such difficulties, he could write to Garrick in such a strain as this: "No unkind treatment shall ruffle my temper, or make me decide uncandidly on the proposals I now wait for. On the other hand, no distress, no oppression shall force me to consent to what I could not otherwise acquiesce in." Garrick had not pressed him, but thought that he had proposed to pay off the mortgage. The good-natured creditor passed over this behaviour on a sort of excuse being made, and was forbearing. The only result of his indulgence was a notice from the proprietors within a few weeks, declaring their inability to pay any interest, until all the debts of the theatre had been cleared off. This was an alarming intimation. Two thousand two hundred a-year was scarcely a trifle. Garrick's answer was a prompt notice of foreclosure. The proceedings brought out a piece of duplicity on the part of Lacy; for he wrote to disclaim all share in the notice that had been sent, and to protest against the mortgage being paid off, declaring that the interest would be found, all in due course. Garrick, at once softened, sent him a message that he might depend he should not be distressed. Yet he presently discovered that, before this transaction, Lacy had bargained to transfer all his interest to Sheridan for a large price. This quite explained his disinclination to have the mortgage paid off.

Yet this was not all. Linley, another of the proprietors, assumed that some paragraph reflecting on the theatre, that appeared in the papers, was written by Garrick; and, acting on this presumption, chose to write an offensive one in reply, in which much ridicule was thrown upon the late manager. For this, he,

« AnteriorContinuar »