It would take too long to dwell on the many plays Garrick produced, the
many parts he created, the wide range of writers new and old he
explored, and the excellent standard he maintained. Whether it was a
tragedy of Shakespeare’s, or a comedy of Ben Jonson’s, or a pantomime,
he threw himself heartily into them all and never spared himself. He
knew his public and catered for them, but at the same time he taught
them to understand and applaud the best. His kindness to every one with
whom he came in contact was proverbial; indeed, his greatest weakness
lay in his good-nature. He could not bear to vex people by refusing them
anything, and this trait often landed him into difficulties with the
army of playwriters to whose entreaties that he would produce their
works he seldom turned a deaf ear. And when these plays were too
hopelessly bad to be dreamt of, David tried to soften the blow by a gift
of money, sometimes actually a pension. As might have been expected, he
had a wide circle of acquaintances from the highest in the land to the
poorest Grub Street poets, and rarely was man so well liked. For in
spite of his weaknesses—and he was restless and sensitive to the point
of touchiness—he never allowed himself to be unjust or ungenerous to
other people, and no thought of self ever interfered with the standard
he had set up for his theatre and his own profession.
More than once he talked of retiring, for the strain of his life was
heavy, and he looked forward to years of restful enjoyment with his
"sweet wife," who had been before her marriage the celebrated dancer
Mademoiselle Violette. But the very mention of such an idea raised a
storm of excitement. Once even the king intervened when David had taken
an unusually long holiday, and his Majesty requested Mr. Garrick to
shortly appear again. The night when, thus commanded, he reappeared in
"The Beggar’s Opera," was one of his greatest triumphs; again "the town
went half mad," and the theatre was crowded to an alarming extent. All
ideas of retirement vanished from David’s mind; the old magic had not
lost its spell, and for more than ten years longer he went on with his
work as vigorously as ever.
His fame became even more widespread, his public loved him even more
dearly, and from far-away country places people journeyed to London so
that they might boast of once having seen the great Mr. Garrick.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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