The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-28
v

IL was lIlS 'tllO VAy 49, ~
body to write to the sovereign Of the
stage about his acting, and we are told that
Garrick showed an amiable willingness to
adopt and acknowledge useful hints from
any quarter. DR.. johnson would have it
that Garrick did not understand business
Of emphasis, and when the actor asked for
IN example, proposed the Ninth
ment as a test. Garrick, obliging and
patient, repeated: Thou SHAH not hear
false witness against thy ~neighbor," where
upon johnson put him right. and enjoyed
his victory with great glee, blowing out
his breath like a whale According to
johnson the emphasis should have been
on mot and false witness 1t is well
known tina DR.. johnson, whose tragedy,
Irene" thanks to Garrick, was put on the
stage and ran nine nights, sneered at actors
az a class, and was more than usually rude
to any he knew. And what art thou
tonight" a question contemptuously adj
dressed behind the scenes to Tom Davies,
is here cited as a sample OF his manners
tow ard actors in general. When Boswell
inquired. Would not you, sir. start ~
Gnrrick does, il you saw a ghost?' john
sons reply, Numerically contrary TO
Partridge's opinion, was, Il hope not. II
l did. / should brighten the ghost To
johnson emotional g~esticulation seemed
disgraceful foolishness. The sage. indeed.
would not allow that there was any more
exercise Of intellect in acting than in rope
dancing. we respect a great player"
said Boswell, whereat johnson roared:
What. sir, a fellow who claps a hump on
his back, and a lump on his leg, and cries,
Il am Richard the Third'r The player only
recites.' To Boswell persisting that "a
great player does what very few are cap
able 70 do; his art is a very rare faculty
Who can repeat. To be or not to be- as
Carrick does it7" johnson, rolling his
majestic frame in his usual manner re-
piled: Anybody may"
From the testimony that has come down
to us it is clear that at Drury Lane tempes-
tuous petticoats, from that mixture OF
c~ombustibles, Nine. Give, downward. led
Garrick rather a life. When they could
not get at him personally they leased him
with Ietter s directed to his country house. A
| chapter Of this volume is allotted to, Kitty
Give and the Others" It was Samuel
Johnson's opinion that, though Mrs. Give
could not do half so many things as well as
Oarrick, yet What she did best she did better
than he. For instance, she was a better
romp, he said, than any he had ever seen
in nature. She must have fattered him;
for he declared that he liked sitting by
her in the greenroom. She was "a
rood thing to sit BY" he said, and not
what he called Mrs. Pritchard latter whose
death Garrick refused to play Adcbeth)
an inspired IDIOT" According to a CON-
temporary, Kate Give was mot blest
with beauty, but she had spirit, aplomb,
q most sprightly impertinence and was
completely mistress OF her profession. By
all accounts, she was the greatest comic
actress the En- glish stage has seen. Irish,
like Peg Wellington, Catherine Give was
the soubrette born, with much about her
OF the ~cdndiIIe attractiveness OF Rejane.
Yet, though freely indulging in the loose
ness Of speech hat pertained to her century,
and although herself a separated wife
Kitty Give was one Of the few Georgian 40
tresses whose character stood high. She
had a clean, wholesome nature and an hon.
est heart. On the other hand, she was
credited with a peppery temper and q
fishwiRe's ton The whole greenrOom
dreaded her displeasure. She was the one
player Garrick feared, and for that he adj
mired her the more. Il is among the legends
Of the English stage that he said to her, Il
have heard OF tartar and birthstone, but you
are the cream OF the one n the flower OF
the other" He called her, in his petting
way, Clivy-Pivy and did everything he
could to disperse her nerve storms, or. II
they broke, assuage them.
Susanna Cibber, Colley Cibber's daugh.
ter-in-law, is the best remembered OF
Garrick's tragedy queens. though she be-
lon ged to the Quin school n was moi
a romanticist or realist. Her method wa
q high pitched, sweet, plaintivs recits'