THE CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE; A COMEDY, IN FIVE ACTS; By G. COLMAN AND D. GARRICK, ESQRS. AS PERFORMED AT THE THEATRES ROYAL, DRURY LANE AND COVENT GARDEN. PRINTED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE MANAGERS FROM THE PROMPT BOOK. WITH REMARKS BY MRS. INCHBALD. LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, AND ORME, REMARKS. This play, independent of its own worth, claims respect from its joint authors. The one, a scholar, a man of general and acknowledged talents, and-not among the least of his honours-the father of Colman the younger. The other is a well known name, as affixed to the greatest actor that ever appeared on the English stage, and the stage's best reformer. Colman was a near relation to the Earl of Bath, and, on the death of that nobleman, came into possession of a considerable annuity. Previous to that event he studied at Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the bar; but no sooner did he find himself master of a fortune, and of his own leisure, than he quitted the employment of the law, for the more alluring pursuits of the drama. Garrick was the son of a captain in the army, and becoming in his youth a pupil of Dr. Johnson, who taught the classics to a certain number of young gentlemen in the town of Litchfield, a mutual regard, in consequence of their intimacy, quickly subsisted between him and his tutor; and, weary of the hopeless prospect from a country life, they both took the resolution to forsake their home. On the very same day these two remarkable men came to London, on the very same errand-to seek their fortune. |