33 



GARRICK, DAVID. 



GARTH, SAMUEL. 



34 



Baldini, and after visiting several other cities, he spent two years with 

 Lorenzo Costa at Mantua; he then dwelt for a period of four years in 

 Ferrara, and finally engaged himself with Raffaelle in Rome in 

 J508 (1505 in Vasari is a misprint, as the stated intervals evidently 

 show). 



Raffaelle's great powers and personal qualities excited in Garofalo, 

 as in other painters, a species of enthusiastic veneration for him ; and 

 Garofalo ever afterwards was a studious imitator of his style, even in 

 his small works. He remained some years with Raffaelle in Rome, 

 when he was called hy domestic affairs to Ferrara, He intended to 

 return to Raffaelle, but circumstances kept him in Ferrara. He was 

 employed at Belriguardo and elsewhere on extensive works, together 

 with the two Dossi, by the Duke Alfonso I. He executed many excel- 

 lent frescoes in Ferrara the principal of which were those of ' San 

 Francesco,' the 'Slaughter of the Innocents," the 'Resurrection of 

 Lazarus," and others, painted about 1519-24 : they still exist. There 

 are also some excellent frescoes by him still preserved in the Palazzo 

 del Magistrate. Garofalo's oil-paintings are frequent in picture- 

 galleries : there are many at Rome in the Borghese gallery and in the 

 Ghigi and Doria palaces ; there are also some good specimens of his 

 style in the galleries of Dresden and St. Petersburg, and there are two 

 small pictures of average merit in the National Gallery a ' Vision 

 of St. Augustine' and a ' Holy Family.' His small pictures are very 

 numerous : he appears to have had a predilection for small proportions; 

 and with regard to these works, what ^Elian (' Var. Hist.,' iv. 3) says 

 of Dionysius of Colophon respecting Polygnotns may be said of Garofalo 

 respecting Rafiaelle he imitated his art in every respect except size. 

 Garofalo however, though he imitated, did not equal Raffaelle even in 

 technical practice, except perhaps in colour. He is more intense and 

 more true in local tints than Raffaelle his red and green draperies 

 are remarkably pure, and are quite fresh even to this day but in 

 execution generally he is dry ; his works are crude in effect, and have 

 much of the ' quattrocentismo,' or that crudity and dryness of design 

 which characterise the majority of the works of the 15th century. 

 Though he was very successful in the execution of the distinct objects 

 or features of his works independently, he failed in uniting the parts 

 in harmonising the whole : lie wants aerial perspective and tone. He 

 died in 1559, having been for the last few years of his life quite 

 blind. 



(Vasari, Vile de' Pitlori, <kc.; Lanzi, Storia Pittorica, <bc.) 



GARRICK, DAVID, descended from a French Protestant family of 

 the name of Garric, or Garrique, was born on the 20th of February 

 1716, at the Angel Inn, Hereford. His father was Captain Peter 

 Garrick, of the Old Buffs, then recruiting in that city, and his mother, 

 whose maiden name was Arabella Clough, was the daughter of one of 

 the vicars of Lichfield Cathedral. At ten years of age he was placed 

 under the care of Mr. Hunter, master of the grammar-school of Lich- 

 field ; and in 1727 showed his predilection for the stage by performing 

 Serjeant Kite, in Farquhar's comedy of tho ' Recruiting Officer.' 

 Shortly afterwards he went to Lisbon on a visit to his uncle, a wine- 

 merchant there, and by his agreeable manners became a great favourite 

 not only with the English residents, but amongst the young Portu- 

 guese nobility. In the following year he returned to school at 

 Lichfield, and daring occasional visits to London encouraged his 

 growing passion for theatricals. In 1735 he became the pupil of 

 Dr. (then Mr.) Samuel Johnson, with whom, on the 2nd of March 

 173G, he set out for the metropolis, and on the 9th of the same 

 month entered himself in the Society of Lincoln's Inn. In 1737 he 

 commenced a course of studies under Mr. Colson, the mathematician, 

 at Rochester. 



Shortly afterwards, on the death of his father, be commenced 

 business as a wine-merchant, in partnership with his elder brother, 

 Peter Garrick. This partnership was however soon dissolved, and in 

 1741 David Garrick finally resolved upon the profession of the stage, 

 and made his first appearance at Ipswich under the name of Lydda], 

 and in the part of Aboan, in the tragedy of ' Oroonoko.' His success 

 was undoubted, and he goon became a great favourite in that town, 

 playing not only tragedy and comedy, but exhibiting his grace, 

 humour, and ability as harlequin. In the autumn he returned to 

 London with the manager of the Ipswich company, who was also 

 proprietor of the theatre in Goodman's Fields ; and on the boards 

 of that establishment Mr. Garrick made his first appearance as 

 Richard III., October 19th, 1741, The fame of the young actor, then 

 only in hia twenty-sixth year, spread in a few weeks throughout the 

 metropolis; and from the time of his first benefit, December 2nd, on 

 which occasion he performed Lothario, in ' The Fair Penitent,' persons 

 of every condition flocked from all parts of the town to see him, and 

 entirely deserted the theatres at the West-end. At the close of the 

 season, May 26, 1742, Mr. Garrick played three nights at Drury Lane 

 Theatre, as Hayes. Lear, and Richard, and then set off for Dublin, 

 accompanied by Mrs. Woffington. In Ireland he sustained his repu- 

 tation, and the theatre was crowded to such a degree as, in conjunction 

 with the heat of the weather, to produce an epidemic, which was 

 called the Garrick fever. He returned to London for the winter 

 Ka>on, and commenced an engagement at Drury Lane on the 5th of 

 October, as Chamont, in Otway's tragedy of ' The Orphan.' In 1745 

 he again visited Dublin, and became joint manager, with Mr. Sheridan, 

 of the Theatre Royal in Smock Alley. In 1746 he returned to England, 



BIOO. DIV. VOL. m. 



and was engaged for the season by Mr. Rich, the patentee of Covent 

 Garden Theatre, on the close of which he purchased, in conjunction 

 with Mr. Lacy, the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (Mr. Fleetwood'a 

 patent having expired), and opened it on the 15th of September 1747 

 with the play of ' The Merchant of Venice,' to which he spoke the 

 well-known prologue written by Dr. Johnson. 



On the 22nd of June 1749, Mr. Garrick married Eva-Maria Violette, 

 the daughter of a respectable citizen of Vienna, who having been 

 educated as a dancer, had made her first appearance at Drury Lane on 

 the 3rd of December 1746. Her real family name was Veigel, which 

 in the Viennese patois signifies Violet, and she assumed the name of 

 Violette by command of the empress Maria Theresa. 



On the 7th of September 1769, Garrick put into execution hia 

 favourite scheme of the Jubilee in honour of Shakspere, at Stratford- 

 upon-Avon, and produced a pageant on the subject at Drury Lane in 

 the following October. Ou the 10th of June 1776, having managed 

 Drury Lane Theatre for twenty-nine years (with the exception of two 

 passed abroad, 1763 and 1764), Garrick took his leave of the stage in 

 the character of Don Felix, in ' The Wonder,' the performances being 

 for the benefit of the fund for decayed actors. In 1777 Mr. Garrick 

 was honoured by the command of their majesties King George III. and 

 Queen Charlotte to read a play at Buckingham House. He selected 

 his own farce of ' Lethe,' introducing for the occasion the character of 

 an ungrateful Jew ; but having been so long accustomed to the 

 thunders of applause in a theatre, the refined approbation of the 

 royal party threw, to use his own expression, " a wet blanket " 

 over him. In the same year he was put into the commission of the 

 peace. 



At Christmas 1778, while on a visit to Lord Spencer, at Althorpe, 

 he had a severe fit, from which he only recovered sufficiently to 

 enable him to return to town, and expired January 20th, 1779, at his 

 own house in the Adelphi, having nearly completed his 63rd year. He 

 was buried with great pomp in Westminster Abbey on the 1st of 

 February. 



As an actor, Mr. Garrick's merits may be considered as summed up 

 in the forcible words of Pope to Lord Orrery on witnessing the per- 

 formance of Richard : " That young man never had his equal as an 

 actor, and will never have a rival." As yet the prophecy is unshaken. 

 Garrick was an excellent husband, a kind master, and a matchless 

 companion. The charge of avarice so frequently made against him is 

 disproved by a careful examination of his life. He was one of the 

 most accomplished meu of his day ; and although hia literary repu- 

 tation is merged in the splendour of his histrionic fame, his rank as a 

 writer of prologues and epilogues, and in the lighter kinds of verse, 

 must be generally acknowledged as considerable. His alterations and 

 adaptations of popular English and French plays were numerous and 

 successful, and, with the addition of his original contributions to the 

 drama, exceed forty. The best known to the present generation of 

 play-goers is the farce of ' The Lying Valet,' and the comedy of ' The 

 Clandestine Marriage,' of which latter he was joint author with the 

 elder Colman. 



Mrs. Garrick survived her husband forty-three years, and expired 

 suddeuly in her chair after a short indisposition, at her house in the 

 Adelphi, on the 16th of October 1822, in the 9Sth year of her age, 

 having retained her faculties to the hist. 



Garrick's private correspondence, with a new biographical memoir, 

 was published in 2 vols. 4to, London, 1831. 



GARTH, SAMUEL, eminent as a physician and a wit, during the 

 reigns of William III. and Anne, was descended of a good Yorkshire 

 family, received his academical education at Peterhouse, Cambridge, 

 and graduated as M.D. in 1691. Having settled in London, he 

 rendered himself distinguished by his conversational powers, which 

 recommended and set oft' his professional skill, and soon acquired 

 very extensive practice. Being a zealous Whig, he became intimate 

 with the wits and great men of the Whig party. At the accession of 

 the house of Hanover he obtained his reward in the honour of knight- 

 hood, and in tho offices of physician in ordinary to George I., and 

 physician-general to the army. He died January 18, 1718. 



Garth is known in our literary history as the author of a mock- 

 heroic poem called ' The Dispensary.' It arose out of a quarrel 

 between the College of Physicians and the Corporation of Apothe- 

 caries, concerning the establishment of a (then) new charity, for the 

 gratuitous distribution of advice and medicine to the poor. To this 

 the apothecaries strongly objected, as being injurious to their business. 

 Garth, a strong supporter of the dispensary, wrote his poem to satirise 

 its opponents, and recommend the scheme to the public. It is written 

 with a competent share of spirit and elegance, and obtained popularity. 

 But the introduction of the supernatural machinery of the ancient 

 epic, and the imitation of Homer's battle-scenes, are so extravagant 

 and incongruous when pressed into the account of a medical squabble 

 of the 17th century, that a poem of near 2000 lines, of which they 

 form the staple, could not be expected to keep its ground when the 

 temporary interest of its subject passed away: accordingly, it hag 

 long ceased to find readers. Garth's other original poems consist of 

 occasional pieces, prologues, epilogues, and the like. He superintended 

 a translation of Ovid's ' Metamorphoses,' by various hands, among 

 whom were an unusual number of eminent men. Dryden contributed 

 the first, twelfth, and many portions of other books; Addison, the 



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