The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-28
summed up the situation In the comment
we are all wrong II this il right


life. had fallen in love with an aotress-no
less a one than Margaret Wellington. Lovely
Peggy Al she was called on and Oh the
stage. was. according to her contemporary.
Davies. the actor bookseller. -the most
beautiful woman that ever adorned a thea
ire This captivating creature. half Trilby.
half Nell Gwynne. p~iquantly sweet as wild
honey. mutable as quicksilver. may have
been Irish" as Walpole's cousin. Conway.
called her. but only in the sense that Moore's
melodies are Irish. Even a jealous woman
whom she ~.outacted and outrivalled
George Anne Bellamy) called her the
~enohantress OF all hearts, The town
worshipped her because. like Mrs. Norton
in the Frenchman's studio, she was so
spirituous and abandoned" Our author
notes that fouT portraits Of her hang in
the Garrick Club. but the charming pre-
sentiment chosen for reproduction in the
book before us il the painting in the Vic
toria and Albert Museum Pegs story.
in its early stages. Ia as romantic "a Nell
Gwynne's. She was a bricklayer's daugh-
ter. and when her father died her mother
took in washing. She began her profess
sional career when she and another baby
hung in baskets. attached TO the feet OF
an acrobatic Nine. Violante. who ran a
theatre booth in Dublin. A little later
Peg was crying halfpenny salads across
College Green.
Having got some instruction for the
stage, however. from Nine. Violante. from
whom also she picked up colloquial French.
Peggy at IL played 30 successfully Polly
PeGchvm in Gays -Beggar's Opera" that
she was soon an independent actress, and
in i74O transplanted herself from Dublin TO
London. where she was engaged at Covent
Garden. II is we'll known that her capital
part was the rafting Sir Harry WiIddir in
Faruuhar's Constant Couple"-a character
which Garrick himself essayed unsuccess-
fully-but, for that matter, Peg shone IN
every hose and trunks part from Rosdtnd
down. Strange 1t seems, when we recall
her early surroundings, that she was also
admirable in genteel comedy, an ideal
Mlldmdnt or Touniey, really a fine lady
and gentlewoman. as to the manner born.
Yet she labored under what would have
been supposed a priori a fatal disability.
Peg Wellington possessed what was &C
knowledged even by her admirers TO be
"a most unpleasant, squeaking pipe and
it is related that when she played Portid
and Lorenzo said to her. That is the voice,
or | am much deceived, Of Porfid.' to which
Porfid replies. HE knows me as the blind
man knows the cuckoo. by the bad voice"
the audience laughed outright, Peg herself
joining in.
1t was in 1912 that Garrick and Peg, the
two most admirable opponents Of the new
natural way of acting, set up usekeeping
together, he being then % and she -, So
far as Peg was concerned she had no repu-
tation left to lose. The defence which our
author makes for her partner is that, while
some peoples immorality-LOrd Byron's,
for example-affects them through their
whole earthly existence, Garrick's shows in
his life only as a passing episode, the climax
of a vernal infatuation. A pertinent pas
sage concerning Garrick's character and
bearing in ripper years is quoted from Miss
Haw kins's memoirs to the effect that ito
have recalled to his mind he time Of his
early passion, and l never heard of more
than one, would have been, I suppose, to
have forfeited his friendship forever. He
was a great instance Of the entire change Of
conduct which so many plead as impos-
sible." Re that as it may, he n Mrs.
Wellington agreed to pay the household
bills in alternate turns Of a month each.
rex MAINLY "uS - vs. " "V~Af bNoN NV
for clothes and a guarantee Of EISO for her
benefit. Garrick's income from salary and
benefits was already almost Ell, 900 for the
season. They could afford turtle and
v~enison, but Garrick had not yet shaken
oR-indeed, he never entirely shook off--the
penurious habits Of his Lichfield home.
We are told that one month when Garrick
was paymaster Mrs. Wofington, dispens-
ing bohea to johnson one evening, was
about to put an extra spoonful into the
pot, whereupon her lover, hastily rushing
forward, arrested her ~hospitable intention.
The toy, madame" he cried, SIS as red
as blood" johnson, when he related the
story. added: But he has since shown that
money is not his first object The associa-
ton OF Garrick and Wellington lasted about
two years. That Garrick on his part was
seriously in love ia evident from the fact
that he fixed the wedding day and bought
the ring. The radiant actress, however,
could not be cast for the wife's part in any
Constant Couple" Of real life, and at the
| beginning Of l7i5, when disilluEion came TO
Garrick, he set up housekeeping alone
| Those who hated him said hat he returned
Pegs minor presents, but kept the diamond
ahOe buckles that she had given him. 1t ID
well known that Wellington, although her
self so open handed, died rich, and during
the last three years of her life, when par
alysis had compelled her to leave the stage
fell under Methodist influence and learned
to regard the playhouse with as much aver
sion as Hannah More did after the 'revo-
luton in her sentiments"
year after his first appearance at Good.
mans Fields Garrick was playing Ledv
at Drury Lane. where he had made his
debut as ChGmopt in Otway's THE Orphan.
From 1912 onward his connection witt
London's classic theatre never ceased
with the exception OF a single season al
Covent Garden Q74o-4O, after which he
became a c~o-patentee OF Drury Lane with
James Lacey, their respective departments
being equivalent. apparently, to the moderr
division OF front OF the house" and -behinC
the curtain the first the business Of the
acting manager the second that Of the
staRe manager. Garrick's domination al
Drury Lane lasted until the date Of his flna
retirement from public life, in 177e, three
years before his death.
In a chapter entitled The Great Actor
our author recalls innumerable tributes
to Garrick's genius, from the famous digres