But on the 19th
October, 1741, at this unlicensed theatre, a gentleman, who, as the
playbill of the night untruly stated, had never before appeared on any
stage, undertook the part of Richard III. in Cibber's version of
Shakespeare's tragedy. The gentleman's name was David Garrick. Had he
failed the theatre might have lived on. But his success was fatal to
it. The public went in crowds from all parts of the town to see the
new actor. "From the polite ends of Westminster the most elegant
company flocked to Goodman's Fields, insomuch that from Temple Bar the
whole way was covered with a string of coaches." The patentees of
Drury Lane and Covent Garden interfered, "alarmed at the deficiency
of their own receipts," and invoked the aid of the Lord Chamberlain.
The Goodman's Fields Theatre was closed, and Garrick was spirited away
to Drury Lane, with a salary of 600 guineas a-year, a larger sum than
had ever before been awarded to any performer.
It will be seen that the Chamberlain had deemed it his mission to
limit, as much as possible, the number of places of theatrical
entertainment in London.
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