366 



GARONNE GARRICK. 



blind for several years. Garofalo's works show tlie 

 influence of all the schools, particularly of the Lom- 

 bard, and still more so of Raphael's, whom he sur- 

 passed in colouring. From Raphael lie had received, 

 says Frederic Schlegel, a certain charming clear- 

 ness, an expression of grace, and a type of beauty, 

 which, in conjunction with his own peculiar merits, 

 rendered him highly pleasing. Several of his Ma- 

 donnas and figures of angels are full of expression. 

 Most of his works are at Rome. Several of them, 

 however, are in the galleries of Vienna and Dresden. 



GARONNE (anciently Garumna) ; a river in 

 France, which rises in the Pyrenees, and, joining 

 with the Dordogne, about twelve miles below Bour- 

 deaux, changes its name to Gironde. It is upwards 

 of 400 miles long, and navigable from Muret. By 

 means of this river, and the canal of Languedoc, a 

 navigation is opened between the Mediterranean 

 and the Atlantic. 



GARONNE, Department of the Upper ; a de- 

 partment of France. See Department. 



GARRICK, DAVID, the most eminent actor ever 

 produced by the English stage, was born at Hereford 

 in 1716. His grandfather was a French refugee, his 

 father a captain in the army. He was educated at 

 the grammar school of Litchfield, but was more dis- 

 tinguished for his sprightliness than attachment to 

 literature ; and he gave an early proof of his drama- 

 tic tendency, by inducing his school-fellows to act 

 the Recruiting Officer, in which he himself took the 

 part of Serjeant Kite, being then only twelve years 

 of age. As the circumstances of his father were 

 narrow, he was sent to Lisbon upon the invitation of 

 his uncie, a wine merchant in that capital. His stay 

 at Lisbon was short ; and, returning to Litchfield, he 

 was placed under the celebrated Samuel Johnson. 

 A love for the stage had, however, become firmly 

 rooted in the mind of Garrick, and his grave tutor 

 was induced to accompany him to the metropolis 

 (1730), and Garrick was placed under the care of a 

 mathematician, with a view of cultivating his general 

 powers previously to his admission at the Temple. 

 The death of his father, however, disturbed this 

 arrangement ; and, having been left a legacy of 

 1000 by his uncle, he joined his brother, Peter 

 Garrick, in the wine trade. This connexion was soon 

 dissolved, and, in 1741, he gave way to his inclina- 

 tion, by joining Giffard's company at Ipswich, where, 

 under the name of Lyddal, he played a great variety 

 of parts with uniform success. At this time, the 

 stages of the metropolis were but indifferently sup- 

 plied with leading performers, so that when Giffard, 

 who was manager of a theatre in Goodman's-fields, 

 introduced his accomplished recruit there, Oct. 19, 

 1741, the effect was immediate and decisive. He 

 judiciously chose the part of Richard III., which 

 required not that dignity of person which he did not 

 possess, while it gave him scope for all the strong 

 marking of character, and changes of passion, in 

 which his principal excellence consisted. He at the 

 same time adopted a natural mode of recitation, 

 which was a daring innovation on the part of a new 

 performer, before audiences accustomed to the arti- 

 ficial declamation of the school which preceded him. 

 The part of Richard was repeated for many succes- 

 sive nights, and the established theatres were desert- 

 ed. Their proprietors threatened Giffard with a 

 prosecution, as an infringer upon their patents, and 

 Fleetwood drew Garrick over to Drury-lane. By 

 acting at Covent-garden, he had reduced Drury-lane 

 to such a state of inferiority, that Lacy, the patentee, 

 was glad to admit him a partner upon equal terms, 

 in 1747, Lacy assuming the care of the property and 

 general economy, and Garrick the management of 

 the stage. Under these auspices, Drury-lane opened 



in 1747 ; on which occasion, his old and constant 

 friend, Samuel Johnson, furnished the new manager 

 with a celebrated prologue, one of the few which 

 merit lasting preservation. This period formed an 

 era in the English stage, from which may be dated a 

 comparative revival of Shakspeare. and a reform 

 both in the conduct and license of the drama, which 

 is very honourable to the genius of the actor who 

 effected it. 



The remainder of his theatrical career was a long 

 and uninterrupted series of success and prosperity un- 

 til its close. Although parsimonious, and, occasion- 

 ally, too hasty in his intercourse with authors, he 

 managed to keep on terms with the majority of the 

 most respectable, and received from many of them 

 an excess of incense, which was but too acceptable. 

 In 1763, he visited the continent, and, on his return, 

 after an absence of a year and a half, was received 

 with unbounded applause. He had written, while 

 an actor, his farces of The Lying Valet, Lethe, and 

 Miss in her Teens ; and, in 1766, he composed, 

 jointly with Coiman, the excellent comedy of 

 The Clandestine Marriage. The year 1769 was 

 signalized by the famous Stratford Jubilee a strik- 

 ing proof of his enthusiasm for Shakspeare. It occu- 

 pied three days at Stratford, and its representation 

 at the theatre lasted for ninety-two nights. After 

 the death of Lacy, in 1773, the sole management of 

 the theatre devolved upon Gan-ick, who continued 

 to fulfil the duties of that office until 1776, when he 

 determined upon his final retreat, and sold his moiety 

 of the theatre for 37,000. The last part which he 

 performed was Don Felix in The Wonder, for the 

 benefit of the theatrical fund. At the conclusion of 

 the play, he addressed a brief farewell to the audience. 

 The general feeling with which this was delivered 

 and received, rendered it truly impressive ; and few 

 persons ever quitted the stage with plaudits so loud 

 and unanimous. He died Jan. 20, 1779. His 

 remains were interred, with great pomp, in West- 

 minster abbey ; his funeral oeing attended by a 

 numerous assemblage of rank and talent. His large 

 fortune, after an ample provision for his widow, WHS 

 divided among his relations. 



As an actor, Garrick has rarely been equalled for 

 truth, nature, and variety and facility of expression, 

 for which his countenance appears to have been ad- 

 mirably adapted. Expression and the language of 

 passion formed his great strength, being equalled by 

 many of his contemporaries in the enunciation of calm, 

 sentimental, and poetical declamation. As a man. 

 his predominant fault was vanity, and a spirit of 

 economy bordering on parsimony, which doctor 

 Johnson would, however, occasionally dispute. His 

 excessive love of praise necessarily made him unwil- 

 ling to share it, and he is charged with endeavouring 

 to keep down rising talents on this account. In his 

 commerce with the great, he was exceedingly happy, 

 preserving sufficient freedom to make him a pleasing 

 companion, without encroachment on either side ; 

 and his attention to decorum secured him the society 

 of the most grave and dignified characters. His 

 literary talents were respectable, but not superior ; 

 besides the pieces already mentioned, he wrote some 

 epigrams, a great number of prologues and epilogues, 

 and a few dramatic interludes, and made many judi- 

 cious alterations of old plays. 



GARRICK, EVA MARIA, wife of the celebrated 

 David Garrick, was born at Vienna, Feb. 29, 1725. 

 Her maiden name was Viegel, under which appella- 

 tion she attracted the notice of the empress queen, 

 Maria Theresa, as a dancer, and, by her command, 

 changed it to that of Violette, a translation of 

 the German word vielge, the anagram of her 

 i name. In 1744, she arrived in England, bringing 



