BIB_ID
104334
Accession number
MA 9596
Creator
King, Thomas, 1730-1805.
Display Date
undated [1759 or later].
Credit line
Purchased, 1891.
Description
1 item (3 pages) ; 22.9 x 18.6 cm
Notes
A note on the verso reads: "First to be read if Mr. Garrick pleases."
Written in the third person.
The play referred to in the letter is most likely the pantomime Harlequin's Invasion, written by David Garrick, which had its premiere at Drury Lane on December 31, 1759 and was performed at that theater many times thereafter.
Removed from an extra-illustrated volume from the series Dramatic Memoirs (PML 9505-9528).
Written in the third person.
The play referred to in the letter is most likely the pantomime Harlequin's Invasion, written by David Garrick, which had its premiere at Drury Lane on December 31, 1759 and was performed at that theater many times thereafter.
Removed from an extra-illustrated volume from the series Dramatic Memoirs (PML 9505-9528).
Provenance
Purchased from Henry Sotheran & Co., London, 1891.
Summary
Giving an account of a performance which he took part in although he had been ill for three weeks: writing "On Monday last, hearing at the Theatre, that the Invasion was to be play'd the following night for the benefit of Mr. Barton and Mr. Bransby, he then told Mr. G. Garrick that he found himself unequal to the Task; Mr. G. Garrick communicated it to Mr. Bransby, who came to Mr. King, mention'd some real or supposed hardships, and requested Mr. King wou'd suffer his name to be inserted in the Bills, and in case he shou'd find himself unable to perform an apology shou'd be made and Mr. Parsons prepared to undertake the part"; saying that, since many changes had been made and understudies used in recent productions at Drury Lane ("to its great Disgrace"), he did not wish the same to happen on his account and so he perserved and put on the costume for Harlequin, though he felt very weak and told Mr. Hopkins that he could give only one performance in his current state; describing the result: "During the performance that night, Mr. King was attack'd with a faintness and dizziness; Mr. Burton saw and heard his distress, and had he not kindly shorten'd the scene and lent him his assistance, he must have dropt on the Stage -- it need not be added that the remainder of the part was perform'd in a very spiritless manner"; saying that after the performance, he went to the green room and asked Mr. Hopkins to "dress his resolution [i.e., not to play the part again] in proper words and present it with respect to the Managers"; adding that "he thought it somewhat hard, that he had for two or three nights been so terribly distress'd, by being as it were obliged to perform a very laborious part in a warm, dangerous part of the Season for some of the Gentlemen of middling rank in the Theatre, and in a Piece chearfully allow'd to them"; describing further discussions of the issue with Mr. Lacy and Mr. Parsons, and saying that he had rallied himself to continue playing the part until he could have "the opportunity of communicating the matter to Mr. Garrick in person, and obtain his leave to decline what gave him so much pain to execute."
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