Information of the above reached Mrs. Siddons, with this note from Mrs. Garrick’s executors:—
“5, Adelphi Terrace, Oct. 30, 1822.
“Madam,—We beg leave to transmit to you the above extract from a codicil to Mrs. Garrick’s will, and to acquaint you that we will have the honour of waiting on you, for the purpose of delivering the relic therein mentioned, whenever you may be so good as to inform us that it may be convenient to you to receive our visit.
“We remain, with much respect, Madam,
“Your most obedient humble servants,
“Thos. Rackett, } Executors.”
“G. F. Beltz, }
It is unfortunate that we have not the knowledge which led the editor of Garrick’s “Correspondence” to underwrite Ward’s letter with such a pithy postscript, and very regrettable that he should not have been brought to book for his pains, particularly as his name is not given on the title-page. The gloves, which may reasonably be referred to, bear, so far as I can judge from the photograph with which Mr. Furness has since favoured me, every mark of belonging to Shakespeare’s day, and were at any rate of some value, worth too much intrinsically to be lightly given away by an ordinary glazier; for, quoting the description of Mr. Furness, the embroidery upon them, “as well as the fringe is all in gold thread, still untarnished, the edging is of pink silk, which is continued in the inside, an inch and a half in width. They are about fourteen inches long, and six inches wide at the base of the gauntlet.”
There is no conflict of identity between these gloves and those pictured in my pages, for the latter are declared to have been given to Garrick by the Corporation of Stratford at the time of the Jubilee, in a finely carved box of the mulberry tree planted by Shakespeare, and to have been presented by the widow of Garrick to the direct relative of Miss Benson, who now holds them. It is very tantalising that I cannot find a precise testimony to this gift in any account of the Jubilee, although a friend of mine has searched diligently in all the contemporary accounts and county histories that can be thought of. There was, however, undoubtedly such a presentation, for Foote, when Garrick produced “The Jubilee” as an attraction at Drury-lane, determined to burlesque that and his rival together. In this very practical jest, an actor intended to personate Garrick—bearing on his breast a pair of white gloves and other articles presented at the Jubilee—was to be addressed in the very words of the panegyric pronounced on Garrick at Stratford—
“A nation’s taste depends on you,
Perhaps a nation’s virtue too.”
when Garrick’s counterfeit presentment was to flap his arms as though they were wings, and crow—
“Cock-a-doodle-doodle-doo!”
It is pleasurable to write that this burlesque was never placed upon the stage, although Foote plainly had to be coerced into suppressing it, and was not to be hindered from writing “A Satirical Account of the Jubilee,” which may be found in the 39th vol. of the Gentleman’s Magazine, p. 458. There is also no doubt of the freedom of Stratford having been presented to Garrick in a box made from the famous mulberry tree, for the resolution of the Common Council of the borough conferring this honour upon him particularly directs that it should be so conveyed (“Staffordshire and Warwickshire Past and Present,” vol. iii. p. 116).