Garrick's Alterations of "Miss in Her Teens"

Abstract

more complete understanding of David Garrick's wide-ranging and complex activities as a playwright has been emerging for some years. n 1971 Peter Tasch examined Garrick's revisions of Bickerstaffe and Dibdin's The Sultan (premiere 12 December 1775, Drury Lane), and in the early 198os Harry W Pedicord and Fredrick Bergmann showed in detail the complicated evolution of Garrick's The Lying Valet (premiere 30 November 1741, Goodman's Fields). More recently Peter Holland has contributed much to our knowledge, first in a demonstration of Garrick's revisions of his own Lethe (premiere 15 April 1740, Drury Lane), even as late as thirty-seven years after the original production and after his retirement from the stage; and second in a valuable general study of Garrick's numerous adaptations of Shakespeare, Wycherley, Buckingham, and others. Holland finds evidence of Garrick's active hand in many new plays staged during his management, including Samuel Johnson's Irene (premiere 6 February 1749, Drury Lane), and his own Bon Ton (premiere 18 March 1775, Drury Lane).' We now suggest that the scribal copy of Garrick's celebrated afterpiece, Miss In Her Teens; or, The Medley of Lovers (premiere 17 January 1747, Covent Garden), which was sent to the Lord Chamberlain for approval on 29 December 1746, provides additional insight into Garrick's process of revision. The manuscript version of the farce, MS. LA 62 in the Larpent Collection at the Huntington Library, contains several important passages-one consisting of an entire scene-that were revised or eliminated before the subsequent printed editions appeared and that are not mentioned by the editors of The Plays ofDavid Garrick. The extensive revision of one. shorter passage can be attributed to