After you with the salt, Dr Johnson!
A glimpse into the gastronomic delights of Garrick’s closest acquaintances.
David Garrick: An Actor and His Time
David Garrick was regarded as the most iconic actor of the 18th century, and possibly the finest influence upon the English Theatre. In 1754, he purchased Hampton House (now Garrick’s Villa) which overlooks the river Thames. In the gardens he oversaw the design of a Temple built in the Classical style popularised by the Italian architect Palladio with an Ionic portico. This he dedicated to his muse Shakespeare, being the one playwright whose works he had performed with the greatest acclaim.
‘Charms Often Sought – So Rarely Found!’: The Loves of David Garrick
How excruciatingly dull David Garrick’s private life must have seemed to the scandal mongers of eighteenth-century England, not a jot of salaciousness to be found to ‘mock his own grinning’.
David Garrick- ‘The Man behind the Mask’
But what was it that set Garrick so far above his peers?