CHAP. IV. GARRICK invited to Act in the Summer Months on the Dublin Stage He sets off in Company with Mrs. WOFFINGTON Her Character-GARRICK's Reception in RICHARD III. KING LEAR, &C. &C.-An Epidemic Fever in Dublin-On Account of the Crowded Audiences at the Theatre, it was called the Garrick Fever-The Name of Roscius given to him in Dublin, in a Copy of Verses. HIS fame was not confined to the metropolis. It spread all over England, and soon found its way to Ireland. The managers of the Dublin Theatre sent their proposals, inviting him to perform with them during the summer months. He agreed to the terms, and, in the beginning of June, set out on his expedition. dition. He travelled in company with Mrs. Woffington, a celebrated actress, in the bloom of youth, possessed of a fine figure, great beauty, and every elegant accomplishment. Her understanding was superior to the generality of her sex. Forgive her one female error, and it might fairly be said of her, that she was adorned with every virtue: honour, truth, benevolence, and charity, were her distinguishing qualities. Her conversation was in a stile of elegance, always pleasing, and often instructive. She abounded in wit, but not of that wild sort, which breaks out in sudden flashes, often troublesome and impertinent. Her judgement restrained her within due bounds. On the stage she displayed her talents in the brightest lustre. Genteel comedy was her province. Angelica, in Love for Love; Maria, in the Non-juror; Mrs. Sullen, in the Stratagem; and many others D 2 others of that class, were the parts that she adorned with all the graces of action. Above all, Sir Harry Wildair raised her to the summit of fame. Wilkes had shone in that character without a rival. In twelve years after him, Mrs. Woffington undertook the part, and the actors, even Garrick himself, made a voluntary resignation to Mrs. Woffington. She was the only Sir Harry Wildair during the remainder of her life. Her figure was in perfect symmetry; her deportment graceful and sufficiently manly. She used to relate, with gaiety and good humour, an anecdote that occurred between herself and Quin. On one of the nights, when she performed Sir Harry, she finished a scene with a prodigious thunder of applause, and, running into the Green Room, elate with joy, found Quin sitting there. "Mr. Quin," said she, "I have played this part so often, that half the town believe "me to be a real man:" Quin, in his rough stile made answer, "" "know you to be Madam, the other half a woman." In relating this, Mrs. Woffington laughed most heartily, and made the best apology for Quin's Saturnine humour. This, I am afraid, is too long a digression from Garrick: but I was willing to seize the opportunity, and offer the best tribute in my power to the memory of Mrs. Woffington, with whom I had the pleasure of being acquainted, about five years before her death, which happened in the month of March 1760. 1 esteemed and honoured her for her excellent qualities, and I now say, with heartfelt sincerity, longum formosa vale! WITH that accomplished actress, Garrick visited Dublin. They appeared together in several D 3 several comedies, and were received with unbounded applause. In tragedy Garrick was considered as a phænomenon. His powers in Richard and King Lear were seen with delight and astonishment. When on the fol lowing night he descended to the tobacco-boy, the public were convinced that there was nothing in human life that such a genius was not able to represent in the most striking, the most true, and genuine stile of imitation. Terror and pity are, in Dr. Young's language, the two pulses of tragedy, and of those he had the ab, solute command, to such a degree, that he raised and sunk them, inflamed, and hurried their motions, at his will and pleasure. From the noblest passions, he could descend to the various foibles of mankind, and, by the force of ridicule, excite the sensation of mirth and laughter. The people of rank and fashion were |