The great actor, in his retirement, used to smile when his friends told him he had surpassed Betterton. Whether the smile showed he accepted the flattery or differed from the opinion, I do not know; but Garrick would remark, that Booth, in "Cato," had never been excelled; and yet, when Quin first played the part, the pit rang with "_Booth outdone!_" and _encored_ the famous soliloquy,--an honour never enjoyed by either Betterton or Garrick. Let us now accompany the latter to Hampton, and, sojourning with him there, look back over his past career. FOOTNOTES: [96] I think Dr. Doran must mean twoscore years. Havard made his first appearance in 1730; his last in 1769. [97] "Zingis" was played eleven or twelve times, an indubitable proof of success. [98] Played nine times. [99] Yet it was played ten times! [100] "Alonzo" was a fairly successful play, being acted eleven times. [101] This conveys a very wrong impression, and is founded upon a reported speech of one particular person, who, when asked whether he had hissed, said, "How could I? A man can't hiss and yawn at the same time." The piece ran for nine nights, so Kelly must have made some money by it, and he got £200 from the booksellers for the copyright. [102] The letter is dated 19th November 1773. [103] Should be his fourth appearance. [104] It should be 28th November 1776. [Illustration: GARRICK BETWEEN TRAGEDY AND COMEDY.] CHAPTER XIX. DAVID GARRICK. When Garrick commenced his career as actor, he was twenty-five years of age, and, according to Pond's portrait, a very handsome fellow. In the first burst of his triumph, Cibber thought the new player "well enough," but Foote, with the malice that was natural to him, remarked, "Yes, the hound has something clever, but if his excellence was to be examined, he would not be found in any part equal to Colley Cibber's Sir John Brute, Lord Foppington, Sir Courtly Nice, or Justice Shallow." This was said, not out of justice to Cibber, but out of ill-will against Garrick. How he affected the town may be seen in the criticism of the _Daily Post_. "His reception was the most extraordinary and great that was ever known upon such an occasion, and we hear that he obliges the town this evening, with the same performance." The figure of Betterton looking down upon him from between Shakspeare and Dryden, on the ceiling of the theatre, may have stimulated him. Garrick's Hamlet placed him indisputably at the head of his profession, and his Abel Drugger and Archer fixed his pre-eminence in both low and light comedy. In the former comic part, he "extinguished" Theophilus Cibber, whose grimaces had been the delight of the gallery. Garrick's Abel was awkward, simple, and unobtrusive; there was neither grimace nor gesticulation in it, and he "convinced those who had seen him in Lear and Richard that there was nothing in human life that such a genius was not able to represent."