The Sun.
London, England, 1832-01-13 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

G ARRICK'S CORRESP ONDENCE,
VOL. 11. LONDON. I 832.
This entertaining—and so far as character is
concerned—instructive publication, appeals to
the sympathies of a very numerous class of
readers. The actor—the manager—the author
—the critic—the man of fashion, and the man
of pleasure, will each and all find something in
its pages to arrest and rivet their attention.
From Lord Camden, who held the seals in
Lincoln's Inn, and whose correspondence is dis-
tinguished by a pertinent brevity, and correct,
though somewhat cynical literary taste, down to
Mr. Hopkins, who snuffed the candles behind
the scenes at Drury-lane, we have some sort of
memorial of almost every man, who even in the
most insignificant degree aped the public cha-
The most amusing portions of the
correspondence, however, are those which relate
to authors and actors. Poor Mr. Garrick ! His
managerial life must have been a sad plague to
him, and when under the influence of the gout,
must have been absolutely intolerable. if ma-
nagers of the present day suffer like those of the
past, we know no day-labourer who breaks stones
fourteen hours a day on the King's high-road,
who is not in the enjoyment of perfect happiness
compared to them. The author finds fault with
them ; the actor as a matter of course abuses, and
if circumstances permit, bullies them ; the very
scene painter himself, and—oh, shame of shames !
—even the scene-shifter have a sly fling at
them. Fortunately Mr. Garrick's temper,
though irritable at times, was usually of so mer-
curial and cheerful a nature, his vanity so exces-
sive, his knowledge of the world so profound, that
the sneers and taunts and invectives, which would
have driven other less shrewd and more sensitive
men distracted, passed him by as the " idle
wind which he regarded not." Almost the very
first letter in the present bulky series is one from
an irritated author to Mr. Garrick. The latter
had refused a tragedy in five acts, hight
" Alfred ;" and the Rev. W. Hawkins, Profes-
sor of Poetry at Oxford, and writer of the drama
in question, is in consequence in a state of mind
bordering upon phrenzy. His letter to the
offending manager is most divertingly charac-
teristic, and forms a curious compound of con-
ceit, indignation, and close attention to the main
chance. In the first few paragraphs the Rev.
playwright is all storm and tempest, but the at-
mosphere clears as we advance, and we find him
at the close of his communication endeavouring
to make a compromise between his feelings and
his interest. " After all, Sir," says he, "I do
not want to come to an open rupture with you ;
I wish net to exasperate, but to convince"—and
this after he has accused Garrick of pride, in-
justice, ignorance, and illiberality, as if to abuse
were the only way to convince !—" and I tender
you once more my friendship and my play."
This last touch of character is admirable. The
Rev. Gentleman, it seems, will have a fair
commutation of goods—he must have been
thinking of tithes at the time—or none
at all. He has no idea of throwing away
his friendship on the undeserving, that is, on
those who will not pay down a handsome
equivalent. If the manager will accept his
play as well as his friendship, good ; if not the
bargain shall be instantly declared off. Mr.
Garrick's reply to this clerical proposition is
temperate, but severely cutting. He rejects
both the play and the friendship, and truly con-
sidering the hard bargain the Rev. Dramatist
strives to drive with him, we do not wonder at
his decision. There are not three men in ex-
istence whose friendship is worth having, if it is
to be purchased at the price of reading or seeing
a prosing five act tragedy. A little further on
in the volume we come to Mr. Garrick's
squabbles with !sirs. Abington, the comic actress ;
and who, were she living at the present day,
would have been courteously pronounced " the
martyr to an overpowering delicacy of nerves."
The manager, however, we think, was nearer the
mark, when he described her as being altogether
" impracticable." On the thousand and one
other letters in the volume we cannot afford in
the present cursory notice—for we have only
just dipped into the book, which we have but
just received—to offer any further comment
than that they afford specimens of the " gaieties
and gravities" of all the eminent men, whether
in Church, State, Law, the Belles Lettres, the
Army or the Navy, who figured in the last cen-
tury. The dramatic portions, those we mean, which
throw light on the public and private peculiarities
of the sterling actors of the old school—almost
the only relic of whom lingers among us in the
person of Dowton--will be read with marked
interest. But what, in the name of common
sense, could have induced the Editor to insert
such trash as the letters from " Mr., Mrs., and
Miss Potts," of Lincoln's-Inn ? They might
have been worthy folks in their time, but
who cares to know in the year 1832 that Miss
Bessey Potts was married in the year 1776, and
dined at Twickenham with Mr. Potts's uncle on
the same day ?

racter.