George Colman, the elder, was born in Florence in 1733, but began his
education at Westminster School, from which he was removed to Oxford.
After receiving his degree he studied law; but soon abandoned graver study
to court the comic muse. His first piece, _Polly Honeycomb_, was produced
in 1760; but his reputation was established by _The Jealous Wife_,
suggested by a scene in Fielding's _Tom Jones_. Besides many humorous
miscellanies, most of which appeared in _The St. James' Chronicle_,--a
magazine of which he was the proprietor,--he translated Terence, and
produced more than thirty dramatic pieces, some of which are still
presented upon the stage. The best of these is _The Clandestine Marriage_,
which was the joint production of Garrick and himself. Of this play,
Davies says "that no dramatic piece, since the days of Beaumont and
Fletcher, had been written by two authors, in which wit, fancy, and humor
were so happily blended." In 1768 he became one of the proprietors of the
Covent Garden Theatre: in 1789 his mind became affected, and he remained a
mental invalid until his death in 1794.
Pages:
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606