David Garrick was then about sixty-five years old, and was on the point of retiring from the stage. He was a gentleman by birth, grandson to one of the exiles of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and had worked as an assistant master in Dr. Johnson's school at Edial, in Leicestershire, and, when both grew sick of the undertaking, had gone with him to seek his fortune in London. There, after attempting to be a wine merchant, by—as Foote averred—living in a cellar with three quarts of vinegar, Garrick found his vocation in the theatre. His talents raised him to the first eminence as an actor, and, by-and-by, he became manager of Drury Lane Theatre. The stage, as he conducted it, so engrossed people's minds that it was even called "the Fourth Estate." He married Eva Maria Veigel, a young Austrian dancer, who at Vienna had been so much admired by one of the young archdukes that, though her conduct was irreproachable, the Empress Maria Theresa thought it wise to send her out of reach. La Violetta, as she was called, by her beauty, grace, and an unusual charm of manner, at once gained the heart of the English Roscius. He married her as soon as possible, and never let her perform publicly again. It was a most happy marriage. She remained a Roman Catholic, and always retained her foreign manner and accent, which seem to have given a piquancy to her conversation; but she was an excellent mistress in his
