GARRICK. DAVID. an English actor; born in Hereford, England, Feb. 20, 1716.
His grandfather was a French refugee, his father a captain in the army. He was educated at Lichfield grammar school, spent a short time at Lisbon with an uncle, and returning to Lichfield was placed under Samuel Johnson, who was induced to accompany him to the me tropolis (1736). Garrick then began to study for the law, but on the death of his father joined his brother Peter in the wine trade. He had, however, as a child a strong passion for acting, and in 1741 he joined Giffard's company at Ipswich under the name of Lyddal. At Giffard's theater in Goodman's fields he achieved a great success as Richard III., and in 1742 was not less successful at Drury Lane. In 1745 he became joint manager with Mr. Sheridan of a theater in Dublin, and after a season at Covent Garden (1746) purchased Drury Lane in conjunction with Mr. Lacy, opening it Sept. 15, 1747, with the "Merchant of Venice." From this period may be dated
a comparative revival of Shakespeare, and a reform both in the conduct and license of the drama. He had already written his farces of "The Lying Valet," "Lethe," and "Miss in her Teens"; and in 1766 he composed, jointly with Col man, "The Clandestine Marriage." After the death of Lacy in 1773 the sole man agement of the theater devolved on Gar rick till 1776, when he sold his moiety of the theater for £37,000, performed his last part, Don Felix in "The Wonder," for the benefit of the theatrical fund, and bade an impressive farewell to the stage. As a man Garrick was highly respected, the chief defect of his charac ter being vanity. As an actor he ranks with the best and was almost equally great both in tragedy and in comedy. He died in London, Jan. 20, 1779, and was buried with great pomp in Westminster Abbey.