" "Your
bucks of the pit," says an old occasional address of later date,
ascribed to Garrick, but on insufficient evidence:
Your bucks of the pit are miracles of learning,
Who point out faults to show their own discerning;
And critic-like bestriding martyred sense,
Proclaim their genius and vast consequence.
There were now critics by profession, who duly printed and published
their criticisms. The awful Churchill's favourite seat was in the
front row of the pit, next the orchestra. "In this place he thought he
could best discern the real workings of the passions in the actors, or
what they substituted instead of them," says poor Tom Davies, whose
dread of the critic was extreme. "During the run of 'Cymbeline,'" he
wrote apologetically to Garrick, his manager, "I had the misfortune to
disconcert you in one scene, for which I did immediately beg your
pardon; and did attribute it to my accidentally seeing Mr. Churchill
in the pit; with great truth, it rendered me confused and unmindful of
my business." Garrick had himself felt oppressed by the gloomy
presence of Churchill, and learnt to read discontent in the critic's
lowering brows.
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