SEASON OF
'77&-I777
^SCoCc^n the minds of London theatre-goers in the autumn of 1776
one question was uppermost. In 1747 two partners had under¬
taken the supervision of the affairs of Drury Lane Theatre.
One of them, James Lacy, died in 1774. He devised his share
management to his son, Willoughby Lacy, who, young and
inexperienced, thereupon left almost everything in the hands of the other
original partner, the idolized, feared, impetuous genius who was David
Garrick. But in June 1776 Garrick, already afflicted with the kidney stone
that three years later was to bring about his death, had gone down to
his villa at Hampton with £35,000 in his pocket and with the resolution
which, unlike many other members of his profession, he adhered to — of
never appearing on the stage again.
This decision was, to his enormous public, regrettable enough. And
the question began to be asked as to that £35,000. It was, without a doubt,
legitimately his; it was the sum he had received in disposing of his share
ln theatre and, consequently, of the right to conduct its business.
Instead of two proprietors, there were now to be four. Did these four under¬
stand the intricate interlocking of receipts, of expenditures, of how to
select good new plays, of how to control temperamental actresses, of all
10 endless minutiae so expertly taken care of by their great predecessor?
-*id they know, asked the theatre-goers, how to proceed?
At first it appeared that they didn’t know. The four proprietors were
ichard Brinsley Sheridan, son of a distinguished actor and lexicographer,
n alrcady famous as a dramatist ; his father-in-law, Thomas Linley, a
dl known musician; Willoughby Lacy; and Dr James Ford, who seems
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