word virtue, which they said, he converted into vurtue; and, in the word, ungrateful, he displaced the U, and made it, ingrateful, to the great prejudice of the said letters. To this complaint Garrick replied in the following EPIGRAM. If 'tis true, as you say, that I've injur'd a letter, Most devoutly I wish they may both have their due, CHAP. CHAP. XXV. Comedy of RULE A WIFE AND HAVE A WIFE, revived with Alterations-GARRICK in LEON-Mrs. PRITCHARD in ESTIFANIA WOODWARD the COPPER CAPTAIN-CATHERINE AND PETRUCHIO, in Three Acts-WOODWARD and Mrs. CLIVE Account of the Original Play-The Farce of LILLIPUT, by GARRICK-Observations on that Piece-The TEMPEST changed to an Opera-Critical Examen of that PlayToo good to be changed to an Opera-SHIRLEY's Comedy of the GAMESTERS revived-Review of it-GARRICK's excellent PROLOGUE-The Farce of LETHE, with the Additional Character of LORD CHALKSTONE-The Farce of the MALE COQUETTE-Review of it. September 1756 to June 1757. } FLETCHER's comedy of Rule a Wife and Have a Wife, with some alterations by Garrick, was brought forward early in this season. There is something whimsical in the plot, but, upon the whole, it is an excellent comedy Garrick, in Leon, displayed the wonderful quickness, with which he could, on a sudden, transform himself into different shapes. The assumed simplicity, by which he deceives Margaritta, was a truly comic and surprising contrast to the manly spirit that he afterwards exerts, to shew her that, in order to keep her his, he was determined to rule her. Woodward, in the Copper Captain, and Mrs. Pritchard, in Estifania, gave a just and lively imitation of nature; and in fact, the poet, who copied from life, gave them excellent materials. The play contains an admirable lesson for proper con duct in the married state, and when we say, that it is superior to all the trash of modern times, we pay no compliment to the author. Catherine and Petruchio, from Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, altered by Garrick, Garrick, was the piece next in succession. The redundancies of the original, and all the in coherent parts, are retrenched with great judgement, and we now have a regular and consistent fable in three acts. As it stands at present, we have the precious ore of the original, without any of the dross. Grumio was well performed by Yates. In the part of Petruchio, Woodward acquitted himself with that whimsical spirit, which always distinguished him; and Mrs. Clive, in her true vein of comic humour, crowned the whole with success. The original play is, perhaps, the worst of all our great poet's productions. It is supposed to be presented before some great lord in his palace, and, by consequence, loses all power of imposing on the minds of an audience. It cannot for a moment pass for reality. It is a wild, confused, and almost inexplicable U 4 inexplicable fable, crowded with superfluous scenes and unnecessary characters; forming all together a chaos of heterogeneous matter, a wilderness without a path to guide you through the labyrinth. Garrick, however, saw He was like a man travelling over his way. a rugged country, who, amidst the rocks and desert wastes that surround him, perceives great order and beauty in several parts, From the whole he had the judgement to select the most coherent scenes, and, without intermixing any thing of his own, to let Shakespeare be the entire author of a very excellent comedy. WHEN We reflect on the unwearied assiduity of a man, who acted four or five times in a week great and laborious characters, we cannot but wonder, that he should find leisure to produce, with such rapidity, so many new |