CHAP. XXVIII.

Mr. KING engaged at Drury-Lane-The Farce of HIGH LIFE BELOW STAIRS-Hint of that Piece-MACKLIN'S Farce of LOVE-A-LA-MODE-The GUARDIAN, by GARRICK-Acted on the First Night for the Benefit of CHRISTOPHER SMART, a Man of Genius in Distress-HARLEQUIN'S INVASION, a Pantomime The WAY TO KEEP HIM, in Three Acts, and the DESERT ISLAND, both produced on the same Night-GARRICK'S Prologue, in the Character of a DRUNKEN POET-The SIEGE OF AQUILEIA, a Tragedy, by JOHN HOME, a short lived Play-OROONOKO of SOUTHERNE, reduced to Three Acts by Dr. HAWKSWORTH-Criticism on the Doctor's lame Performance.

September

1759 to

June 1760

DRURY-LANE received a new

recruit, and an excellent one, in

the person of Mr. King. This

gentleman, we find, acted the part of Vale

rius, in the Roman Father, 1750. He did not think tragedy was his proper walk, but he could not obtain any other employment, At his request Garrick cancelled all agreements, and advised him to make himself a practised comedian in Dublin. From that place he was this year invited to Drury-Lane, and has continued there ever since, encreasing constantly in talents and reputation, even to the present day,

EARLY in October, Garrick brought forward that excellent farce, called High Life below Stairs. For some private reasons he wished to lie concealed, and, with that design, prevailed on his friend, Mr. Townly, master of Merchant Taylor's School, to suffer his name to be circulated in whispers. The truth, however, was not long suppressed. The subject of the

piece has an excellent moral tendency. The hint was, most probably, taken from the Spectator, No. 88, where we find the follow

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ing passage. Falling in the other day at a "victualling house near the House of Peers, "I heard the maid come down, and tell the "landlady at the bar, that my Lord Bishop "swore he would throw her out at window, "if she did not bring up more mild beer; "and my Lord Duke would have a double

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mug of purl. On a sudden one came run

ning down, and cried the house is rising;

"down came all the company together: the "alehouse was filled with clamour, and

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scoring a mug to the Marquis of such a

place; oil and vinegar to an Earl; and three

quarts to my New Lord for wetting his

"title." From this sketch has sprung up in

High Life below Stairs, a most admirable dramatic

dramatic satire on the vanity of servants, and the manners of the fashionable world, which are rendered completely ridiculous, when they descend from the parlour to the kitchen.

To this piece succeeded Macklin's farce of Love-a-la-Mode. It was admirably well performed; Macklin himself in Sir Archy Mac Sarcasm, Moody in the Irishman, and King in Squire Groom, were the life of the piece, which at first encountered some opposition, but, in the end, crowned the author with applause.

ABOUT this time, Mr. Christopher Smart, a classical scholar from the University of Cambridge, and a real genius, was reduced to a state of indigence. Among his various compositions was a poem, called, The Hilliad, of

which Dr. Hill was the hero, and was empha

tically called,

Th' insolvent Tenant of encumber'd Space.

a

Garrick felt for the wretched condition of man, whose talents he respected. He resolved to give a play for his benefit, and, to ensure success, put, with the utmost dispatch, the last hand to an unfinished piece, entitled The Guardian. He produced it in the beginning of December, and raised a considerable sum for poor Kitt Smart. The hint was taken from La Pupile, by Monsieur Fagan, the author of several beautiful pieces. Garrick, however, formed a new fable, in which the secret of Harriet, a blooming young heiress, being in love with her guardian, is with great art concealed for a long time. New conjec

tures,