"JOHNSON,, No, sir; Garrick's fame was prodigious, not only in England, but over all Europe; even in Russia I have been told he was a proverb; wher when any one had repeated well he was called a second

Garrick,

66

5 16979_s gdød -hs #5 "GIBBON. I think he had full as much reputation as he deserved. JOHN. I do not pretend to know, sir, what your meaning may be, by saying he had as much reputation as he deserved; he deserved much, and he had much.

"GIB. Why surely, Dr. Johnson, his merit was in small things only, he had none of those qualities that make a real great man.

F

"JOHN. Sir, I as little understand what your meaning may be when you speak of the qualities that make a great man; it is a vague term. Garrick was no common man; a man above the common size of men may surely, without any great impropriety, be called a great man. In my opinion he has very reasonably fulfilled the prophecy which he once reminded me of having made to his mother, when she asked me how little David went on at school, that I should say to her, that he would come to be hanged, or come to be a great man. No, sir, it is undoubtedly true that the same qualities, united with virtue or with vice, make a hero or a rogue, a great general or a highwayman. Now Garrick, we are sure, was never hanged, and in regard to his being a great man, you must take the whole man together. It must be considered in how many things Garrick excelled in which every man desires to excel: setting aside his excellence as an actor, in which he is acknowledged to be unrivalled; as a man, as a poet, as a c a convivial companion, you will find but few his equals, and none his superior. As a man, he was kind, friendly, benevolent, and generous.

“GIB. Of Garrick's generosity I never heard; I understood his character to be totally the reverse, and that he was reckoned to have loved money.

"JOHN. That he loved money, nobody will dispute; who does not? but if you mean, by loving money, that he was parsimonious to a fault, sir, you have been misinformed. To Foote, and such scoundrels, who circulated those reports, to such profligate spendthrifts prudence is meanness, and economy is avarice. That Garrick, in early youth, was brought up in strict habits of economy I believe, and that they were necessary, I have heard from himself; to suppose that Garrick might inadvertently act from this habit, and be saving in small things, can be no wonder; but let it be remembered at the

same time, that if he was frugal by habit, he was liberal, from principle; that when he acted from reflection he did, what his fortune enabled him to do, and what was expected from such a fortune, I remember no instance of David's parsimony but once, when he stopped Mrs. Woffington from replenishing the tea-pot; it was already, he said, as red as blood; and this instance is doubtful, and happened many years ago. In the latter part of his life I observed no blamable par simony in David; his table was elegant and even splendid; his house both in town and country, his equipage, and I think all his habits of life, were such as might be expected from a man who had acquired great riches. In regard to his generosity, which, you seem to ques tion, I shall only say, there is no man to whom I would apply with more confidence of success, for the loan of two hundred pounds to assist a common friend, than to David, and this too with very l if any, probability of its being repaid. i' te rend 9751 of belg “GIB. You were going to say something of him as a writer you don't rate him very high as a poet...

A

little,

"JOHN. Sir, a-man may be a respectable poet without being a Homer, as a man may be a good player without being a Garrick. In the lighter kinds of poetry, in the appendages of the drama, he was, if not the first, in the very first class. He had a readiness, and facility, a dexterity of mind that appeared extraordinary even to men of experience, and who are not apt to wonder from ignorance, Writing prologues, epilogues, and epigrams, he said he considered as his trade, and he was, what a man should be, always, and at all times ready at his trade. He required two hours for a prologue or epilogue, and five minutes for an epigram. Once at Burke's table the company proposed a subject, and Garrick finished his epigram within the time; the same experiment was repeated in the garden, and with the same success. b {9'760) dito, ad vim znobi ruoy off GB. Garrick had some flippancy of parts, to be sure, and was brisk and lively in company, and by the help of mimickry and story telling, made himself a pleasant companion; but here the whole world gave the superiority to Foote, and Garrick himself appears to have felt as if his genius was rebuked by the superior powers of Foote It has been often observed, that Garrick never dared to enter into competition with him, but was content to act an under part to bring Foote out.afted bowers 6-9°»5, 1

"JOHN. That this conduct of Garrick's might be interpreted by the gross minds of Foote and his friends, as if he was afraid to encounter him, I can easily imagine. Of the natural superiority of Garrick over Foote, this conduct is an instance; he disdained entering into competition with such a fellow, and made him the buffoon of the company; or, as you say, brought him out. And what was at last brought out but coarse jests and vulgar merriment, indecency and impiety, a

relation of events which, upon the face of them, could never have happened, characters grossly conceived and as coarsely represented? Foote was even no mimick; he went out of himself, it is true, but without going into another man, he was excelled by Garrick even in this, which is considered as Foote's greatest excellence. Garrick, besides his exact imitation of the voice and gesture of his original, to a degree of refinement of which Foote had no conception, .exhibited the mind and mode of thinking of the person imitated. Besides, Garrick confined his powers within the limits of decency; he had a character to preserve, Foote had none. By Foote's buffoonery and broad-faced merriment, private friendship, public decency, and every thing estimable amongst men, were trod under foot. We all know the difference of their reception in the world. No man, however high in rank or literature, but was proud to know Garrick, and was glad to have him at his table; no man ever considered or treated Gar rick as a player; he may be said to have stepped out of his own rank into a higher, and by raising himself, he raised the rank of his profession. At a convivial table his exhilarating powers were unrivalled; he was lively, entertaining, quick in discerning the ridicule of life, and as ready in representing it; and on graver subjects there were few topics in which he could not bear his part. It is injurious to the

character of Garrick to be named in breath with Foote.

That Foote e was admitted sometimes

(to do the

man what credit t I can)] I will allow, but then it was merely to play tricks: Foote's merriment was that of a buffoon, and Garrick's that of a gentleman.o sugolong & not anod owt berimper of ober ea VGIB. I have been told, on the contrary, that Garrick in company had not the easy manners of a gentleman, bs Jɔɔjdna s borogor

JOHN. Sir, I'don't know what you may have been told, or what your ideas may be, of the manners of gentlemen: Garrick had no vul garity in his manners; it is true Garrick had not the airiness of a fop, nor did he assume an affected indifference to what was passing; he did not lounge from the table to the window, and from thence to the fire, or whilst you were addressing your discourse to him, turn from you and talk to his next neighbour, or give any indication that he was tired of your company; if such manners form your ideas of as fine. gentleman, Garrick certainly had them notud id diw notisqo z "GIB. I mean that Garrick was more overawed by the presence of the great, and more obsequious to rank, than Foote, who considered himself as their equal, and treated them with the same familiarity as they treated each other. que deur sdt10 snigemi qiizse mro I £3 -JOHN. He did so, and what did the fellow get by it? The gross➡ ness of his mind prevented him from seeing that this familiarity was merely suffered as they would play with a dog; he got no ground by affecting to call peers by their surnames; the foolish fellow fancied

that lowering them was raising himself to their level; this affectation of familiarity with the great, this childish ambition of momentary exaltation obtained by the neglect of those ceremonies which custom has established as the barriers between one order of society and another, only showed his folly and meanness; he did not see that by encroaching on others' dignity, he puts himself in their power either to be repelled with helpless indignity, or endured by clemency and condescension. Garrick, by paying due respect to rank, respected himself; what he gave was returned, and what was returned he kept for ever; his advancement was on firm ground; he was recognized in public as well as respected in private, and as no man was ever moré courted and better received by the public, so no man was ever less spoiled by its flattery: Garrick continued advancing to the last, till he had acquired every advantage that high birth or title could bestow, except the precedence of going into a room; but when he was there, he was treated with as much attention as the first man at the table, It is to the credit of Garrick, that he never laid any claim to this distinction; it was as voluntarily allowed as if it had been his birthright. In this, I confess, I looked on David with some degree of envy, not so much for the respect he received, as for the manner of its of acquired; what fell into his lap unsought, I have been forced to claim. I began the world by fighting my way. There was something about me that invited insult, or at least a disposition to neglect, and I was equally disposed to repel insult and to claim attention, and I fear continue too much in this disposition now it is no longer necessary; I receive at present as much favour as I have a right to expect. to ob 12 I am not one of the complainers of the neglect of merit.

Hertas)

12202204 26

«GIB. Your pretensions, Dr. Johnson, nobody will dispute; I cannot place Garrick on the same footing: your reputation will continue increasing after your death, when Garrick will be totally forgot; you will be for ever considered as a classic

"JOHN. Enough, sir, enough; the company would be better pleased to see us quarrel than bandying compliments. 206 nonsup of

was too who with

"GIB. But you must allow, Dr. Johnson, that Garrick much a slave to fame, or rather to the mean ambition of living the great, terribly afraid of making himself cheap even with them; by which he debarred himself of much pleasant society. Employing so much attention, and so much management upon such little things, implies, I think, a little mind. It was observed by his friend Colman, that he never went into company but with a plot how to get out of it; he was every minute called out, and went off or returned as there was or was not a probability of his shining. my end to 229utstilog and "JOHN. In regard to his mean ambition, as you call it, of living with the great, what was the boast of Pope, and is every man's w wish, can be no reproach to Garrick; he who says he despises it knows he

lies. That Garrick husbanded his fame, the fame which he had justly acquired both at the theatre and at the table, is not denied ; but where is the blame either in the one or the other, of leaving as little as he could to chance? Besides, sir, consider what you have said; you first deny Garrick's pretensions to fame, and then accuse him of too great an attention to preserve what he never possessed. bus GIB don't understand

JOHN. Sir, I can't help that.

GIB. Well, but, Dr. Johnson, you will not vindicate him in his over and above attention to his fame, his inordinate desire to exhibit himself to new men, like a coquette, ever seeking after new conquests, to the total neglect of old friends and admirers →→→

'He threw off his friends like a huntsman his pack,' .woteed bl09 393 94 9

always looking out for new game.

JOHN. When you quoted the line from Goldsmith, you ought, in fairness, to have given what followed: -druid eid 1996 du 1.3

yvus to 99% He knew when he pleased he could whistle them back;

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which implies at least that he possessed a power over other men's minds approaching to fascination; but consider, sir, what is to be done: here is a man v whom om every other man des desired to know. Garrick could not receive and cultivate all, according to each man's conception of his own value: we are all apt enough to consider ourselves as possessing a right to be excepted from the common crowd; besides, sir, I do not see why that should be imputed to him as a crime, which we all so irresistibly feel and practise; we all make a greater exertion of the presence of new men than old acquaintance; it is undoubtedly true that Garrick divided his attention among so many, that but little was left to the share of any individual; like the like the extension and dissipation of water into dew, there was not quantity united sufficiently to quench any man's thirst; but this is the inevitable state of things: Garrick, no more than another man, could unite what, in their natures, are incompatible.

"GIB. But Garrick not only was excluded by this means from real friendship, but accused of treating those whom he called friends with insincerity and double dealings.

"JOHN, Sir, it is not true; his character in that respect is misunderstood: Garrick was, to be sure, very ready in promising, but he intended at that time to fulfil his promise; he intended no deceit: his politeness or his good nature, call it which you will, made him unwilling to deny; he wanted the courage to say No even to unreasonable demands. This was the great error of his life: by raising expectations which he did not, perhaps could not gratify, he made many