CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 THE 
 
 Joseph Whitmore Barry 
 dramatic library 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 TWO FRIENDS 
 
 OF Cornell University 
 
 1934 
 
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Cornell University Library 
 PN2287.B72W78 1893 
 
 Life and art of Edwin Booth, 
 
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LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
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.m^ 
 
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POflTHAIT B' 
 
 ■ RTOTYPE, E. BIERSTADT, N. Y. 
 
 EDWIN BOOTH. 
 
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LIFE AND ART OF 
 EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM WINTER 
 
 "He's gone, and with him what a world are dead ' 
 
 Weto gork 
 MACMILLAN AND CO. 
 
 AND LONDON 
 1893 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
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 Copyright, 1893, 
 By MACMILLAN AND CO. 
 
 Set up and electrotyped October, 1893. 
 Reprinted, November, 1893. 
 
 WDtfaooti 5|kS3 : 
 
 J. S. Gushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith. 
 
 Boston, Mass., U.S.A. 
 
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TO 
 
 Ei}omas Batkg ailrrtrij 
 
 REMEMBERING OLD AND HAPPY TIMES 
 
 I DEDICATE THIS MEMORIAL 
 
 OF OUR FRIEND AND COMRADE 
 
 lEttoin Bootf) 
 
 FOREVER LOVED AND HONOURED 
 AND FOREVER MOURNED 
 
 ' There is a world elsewhere''^ 
 
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PREFACE. 
 
 In writing this memoir of Edwin Booth I have largely 
 expanded my sketch of him that was published in 
 1872, in association with portraits by William J. Hen- 
 nessey, tmder the title of Edzviu Booth in Twelve 
 Dramatic Characters. That sketch, brief and ^neagre 
 and now superseded, has long been out of print, and it is 
 inaccessible. I have also drawn tcpon scattered essays 
 of mine, in the New York Tribune since 1865, and in 
 other piLblicatious. This biography rests upon intimate 
 personal knowledge of the subject, and upon information 
 furnished to me by Booth himself. He was aware that I 
 intended to write his Life, and he expressed appjwal of 
 that intentiofi : for he knew that I honom-ed atid loved 
 Jdm ; that I had followed his career with sympathy and 
 sttidious attention, ever since his return fro7n California, 
 in 1856; and that I was acquainted with it, and with 
 his views and feelings respecting it. The story is that of 
 a dreamer, who, nevertheless, threw himself into the strife 
 of action ; a simple gentlem.an, zvho was often peiplexed 
 and bewildered, "among the thorns and dangers of this 
 world." The chief public work of Booth! s life was his 
 effort to establish a great theatre, to be conducted in a 
 high and liberal spirit, and to be devoted to all that is 
 grand and fine in dramatic literature and art. In what 
 manner that zvork was done, and for what reasons it 
 ended in adversity, this narrative coidd not omit to declare, 
 
 vii 
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viii PREFACE 
 
 even though the record contains some censure of persons 
 no longer alive. The duty of the historian is to write the 
 truth, and it is no fault of his if the truth be sometimes 
 unpleasant. Upon Booth's art and influence as an actor, 
 and upon his character and cond?tct, I have endeavoured 
 to cast a^nple light. His importance to the world is 
 the justification of his biography. The commemorative 
 words that it was my privilege to ivrite, in the Tribune, 
 on the morning after his death, will perhaps best express 
 at once the reason for this book, and the conviction and 
 feelittg with which it has been zuritten : — 
 
 A blow that has long been expected has at last fallen, 
 and Edwin Bootli is dead. By this death the community 
 loses the foremost and the best of American actors, and one 
 of the greatest tragedians that have ever lived. To the 
 sujferer himself tJie end came as a merciful release from 
 misery. Booth's illness, obviously from the first, was 
 of a fatal cJiaracter, and the wasting pain with whicli 
 it zvas accompanied not only could not be cured but could 
 scarcely be mitigated. To his friends — a7id no man 
 was ever blessed with more profound and constant affec- 
 tion — the loss is a bitter bereavement ; but they have a 
 reason for submission and patience, zvhcn they consider 
 what he has been spared, and they Jiavc a great consolation 
 when they remember zvhat a noble cliaracter lie developed ; 
 what a beautiful life he lived ; zvith zvhat nndcviating 
 purpose and splendid integrity lie used the faculties of 
 genius for the benefit of art , ii<hat an ideal of purity, 
 stateliness, and grace he fulfilled ; zvhat blessings of good- 
 ness he diffused, and what a stainless and radiant exam- 
 ple he has left. If it be success — and in the full sense 
 of that word it certainly is success — so to live that the 
 
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PREFACE ix 
 
 world shall be better for your presence, and your fellow- 
 creatures shall be strengthened and ennobled by your influ- 
 ence, Booth had a life of splendid triumph: and now 
 that it IS ended he sleeps in blessings and his laurel can 
 never fade. 
 
 Impelled equally by instinct and a sense of duty, Booth 
 took a high and serious view of life, and lie 7iever paltered 
 with it. His sense of hiLmour was especially acute ; yet 
 it never made him frivolous, still less did it ever degrade 
 htm to the level of the commonplace. His mind was 
 noble ; his spirit was grave, contemplative, and intetise ; 
 his temperament, although sombre, was sweet, and his 
 feelings, although reticent, were tenderly sensitive and 
 affectionate. He was devoid of egotism and conceit. He 
 was, indeed, proud and resolute, but, at the same time, he 
 was constitutionally humble and simple. No man was 
 ever less thoughtfid of himself or more considerate of 
 others. No mail it/as ever more gemtine. He took no 
 reward that he had not earned and no honour that was 
 not entirely his due. From the first he fixed his eyes upon 
 the loftiest height. He steadily attempted great things., 
 and his attempt was jicstified by his deed. In singleness 
 of purpose, in devotion to spiritual, moral, and intellectual 
 beauty, in allegiance to art, in poise of character, in cheer- 
 ful patience, in benignity and sweetness, in fidelity to duty, 
 in simplicity and dignity of life, in scope and height of 
 artistic purpose, and in worth of artistic achievement, 
 whether as a tnan or as ati actor, he was an exceptional 
 person, an honour to human nature and a blessing to his 
 time. 
 
 Much is heard in this period about the influence of the 
 age upon individual character, and — in the dramatic 
 
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X PREFACE 
 
 ^i,orld — about the compelling power of the public taste. 
 The practical recognition of those forces as rules of con- 
 duct is the resource of intrinsically ivcak and subordinate 
 minds. Original, powerful, and independent. Booth walked 
 in the pathzvay that was natural to him, fulfilled his des- 
 tiny, and made and held his audience from first to 
 last. Never did he condescend to the popular caprice. 
 Never did he regulate his professional conduct by consid- 
 eration of any theory as to the alleged desire of the multi- 
 tude. He proceeded on the simple doctrine that the best 
 plays in the language are the plays that ought to be pre- 
 sented, and that the highest style of dramatic art is the 
 style that ought to be displayed. Those plays he prodtcced, 
 and of that style of art he zvas a conspicuous and victori- 
 ous exponent. He gave the people, not what they are sup- 
 posed to want, but what they ought to have , and he so 
 impressed them by his sincerity, and so fascinated them 
 by his genius, that during a stage career of forty-two years 
 they followed his leadership with ever-increasing admira- 
 tion, sympathy, confidence, and delight. In thousatids of 
 homes, all over the land, the feeling of the hour is not 
 simply regret for the death of a great actor, but sorrow for 
 the loss of a personal friend. In thousands of hearts, dur- 
 ing tlie generation noiv closing, life has been made fuller 
 and richer by the ministration of his beautiful art; and 
 for a time it must indeed seem lonely and bleak, now that 
 Jie has become only a memory. 
 
 ^'■Good-night, sweet Prince ; 
 And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.'''' 
 
 Jtdy 28, 1S93. 
 
 W. IV. 
 
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CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Life or Edwin Booth i 
 
 The Art of Edwin Booth i6i 
 
 Hamlet i6i f^ 
 
 King Lear 177 
 
 Macbeth 185 
 
 Othello and lago 192 -f" 
 
 Shylock 198 — 
 
 Richard the Second 201 
 
 Richard the Third 207 «» 
 
 Brutus, Cassius, and Antony , 214 
 
 Richelieu , 223 
 
 Bertuccio 228 
 
 Sir Edward Mortimer , 231 
 
 Pescara 235 
 
 Lucius Junius Brutus , . , 239 
 
 Various Characters 243 
 
 Memorials 265 
 
 Sargent's Portrait of Booth 265 
 
 The Booth Family 266 
 
 Mrs. Clarke's Memoir 268 
 
 Play-Bill at Centenary of Booth's Hamlet 269 
 
 The Hamlet Medal 271 
 
 The Wilkes Booth Tragedy 271 
 
 xi 
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xii CONTENTS 
 
 Memorials, Continued. p^^-^ 
 
 Booth's Theatre 272 
 
 The Booth Festival, June 1880 273 
 
 Poem on Booth by William Winter 276 
 
 German Trophies 278 
 
 Address by Edwin Booth : The Poe Memorial 280 
 
 Address by Edwin Booth : The Actors' Monument 281 
 
 Speech on Booth by William Winter 283 
 
 Booth's Latest Professional Tours 287 
 
 Chronology of the Life of Booth 293 
 
 Booth's Last Appearance 298 
 
 Tributes 298 
 
 The Booth Memorial Window, at Newport , 300 
 
 The Booth Burial Place, at Baltimore , 300 
 
 Booth's Funeral 302 
 
 Booth's Grave, at Mount Auburn 305 
 
 Booth's Letters 5o6 
 
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Portrait of Booth. At "The Players" . 
 
 From a painthig by John S. Sargent. 
 
 Booth's Birthplace at Belair, Maryland 
 
 Booth at Nineteen . ..... . . 
 
 From a painting by A. Andrews. 
 
 Junius Brutus Booth 
 
 Mary Devlin Booth . . . . ... . . 
 
 From a painting by Rastiiian yohnson. 
 
 Booth's Home at Dorchester, Massachusetts . . 
 
 Booth's Theatre, New York 
 
 The First Play-Bill of Booth's Theatre . . 
 
 Joseph Jefferson and John S. Clarke, as Dr. Pangloss 
 and Zekiel Homespun 
 
 Booth as Hamlet . . .... 
 
 From a bust by Launt Thompson. 
 
 Booth in 1889 . . . ... 
 
 From, a photograph by Sarony. 
 
 Booth as Hamlet . . . ' 
 
 From a drawing by W. W. Scott. 
 
 Booth as Iago . . ... 
 
 From a photograph by Sarony. 
 
 Booth as Richelieu . .... 
 
 From a photograph by Sarony. 
 
 Booth as Bertuccio . . . . . 
 
 From a drawing by W. y. Hennessy. 
 
 Booth as Benedick . . 
 
 From a drawing by W. y. Hennessy. 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 Opp. page 
 
 3 
 
 12 
 
 22 
 
 3° 
 48 
 
 57 
 
 94 
 104 
 
 134 
 
 159 
 190 
 
 228 
 
 254 
 
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NOTE. 
 
 The portrait of Booth by Mr. Sargent and that of Mary Devhn 
 Booth by Eastman Johnson are copied liere by permission of the 
 Players. Mr. Scott permits the reproduction of his drawing of 
 Booth as Hamlet. The pictures of Booth by Mr. Hennessey are 
 used with consent of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. The kind- 
 ness thus shown is gratefully acknowledged. The figures of Jeffer- 
 son and Clarke have been copied from a picture owned by the 
 author of this biography, and believed to be unique. The poem by 
 Mr. Aldrich is reprinted — to grace Mr. Sargent's portrait and to 
 adorn this work — by his leave and that of his publishers. 
 
 W. W. 
 
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I. 
 
 THE LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH. 
 
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" The purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first, and now, 
 was, and is, to hold, as 't were, the mirror up to nature ; to show 
 virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and 
 body of the time his form and pressure." — Hamlet. 
 
 "We hear Shakespeare's men and women discussed, praised, 
 liked, disliked, as real human beings ; and in forming our opinions 
 of them we are influenced by our own characters, habits of thought, 
 prejudices, feelings, impulses, just as we are influenced with regard 
 to our acquaintances and associates.'' 
 
 — Mrs. Jamesoii's Characteristics of Women. 
 
 " Thou gav'st me Nature as a kingdom grand, 
 With power to feel and to enjoy it. Thou 
 Not only cold, amazed acquaintance yield'st. 
 But grantest that in her profoundest breast 
 I gaze, as in the bosom of a friend. 
 The ranks of living creatures thou dost lead 
 Before me, teaching me to know my brothers 
 In air, and water, and the silent wood." 
 
 — Goethe's Faust : Bayard Taylor's Translation. 
 
 '' Earthly fame 
 Is fortune's frail dependant ; yet there lives 
 A Judge, who, as man claims by merit, givts : 
 To whose all-pondering mind a noble aim. 
 Faithfully kept, is as a noble deed ; 
 In whose pure sight all virtue doth succeed." 
 
 — Wordsworth. 
 
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LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH. 
 
 THE LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH= 
 
 N the beginning of this century the princi- 
 pal tragic figures on the American stage 
 were Hodgkinson and Cooper. About the 
 middle of the century the reigning theat- 
 rical monarch was Edwin Forrest. A 
 little later the sceptre passed into the hands of Edwin 
 Booth, and by him it was held for about thirty years. 
 During- the period of Cooper the spirit and tone of the 
 American theatre were English. America, theatrically, 
 had not ceased to be a province of England. Under the 
 influence of Forrest, and later of Charlotte Cushman and 
 E. L. Davenport, the American stage began to assume 
 a distinctive character. Its growth, since then, in the 
 elements of individuality and theatrical prosperity, has 
 been rapid, continuous, and luxuriant. The transition 
 from Forrest to Edwin Booth marked the most impor- 
 tant phase of its developmeiit. Forrest, although he 
 had a spark of genius, was intrinsically and essentially 
 animal. Booth was intellectual and spiritual. Forrest 
 obtained his popularity, and the bulk of his large fortune, 
 by impersonating the Indian chieftain Metamora. Booth 
 gained and held his eminence by acting Hamlet and 
 
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2 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 Richelieu. The epoch that accepted Booth as the 
 amplest exponent of its taste and feeling in dramatic art 
 was one of intellect and refinement. The tendency of 
 theatrical life received then a favourable impulse which 
 has never ceased to operate. Other forces have helped 
 to accelerate progress, and to foster the higher ele- 
 ments of the drama; but it was the influence of Edwin 
 Booth that cleared and smoothed the way. Wallack was 
 cheered by it, in the management of that theatre which 
 long held the first position. Jefferson, in consequence 
 of it, more readily found a public that was appreciative 
 of his gentle genius and dehcate art. The brilliant 
 career of Augustin Daly as a manager became more 
 easily possible, and so did the thoughtful, ambitious, 
 public-spirited enterprise of Albert M. Palmer. That 
 intellectual and noble actor, Lawrence Barrett, who 
 made Booth his model, was, in a great degree, the 
 direct consequence of it. Every appellant to the best 
 order of public taste — Henry Irving, Ellen Terry, 
 Genevieve Ward, Mary Anderson, Helena Modjeska, 
 Ada Rehan, Richard Mansfield, Edward S. Willard, 
 Charles Wyndham, Toole, Mrs. Langtry, the Kendals, 
 each later votary of acting — found a readier hearing and 
 an easier conquest, because Edwin Booth's ministrations 
 had developed acuteness of perception, diffused refine- 
 ment, awakened emotion, imparted spiritual knowledge 
 of a lofty ideal, and provided a high standard of dramatic 
 art. Tji^ structural_£han ge in acting that has marked 
 Q^X pgriod js a change from elaborate artifice to the 
 studied simpHcitv ofjiature : but the <it-gg^"ri^»c. not cub' 
 sist by styles and fashions. The essential vitalising 
 power is that of elemental genius, which awakens and 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 3 
 
 perpetuates a passionate devotion to great ideals. That 
 power was possessed and exerted by Edwin Booth, and 
 the prosperity of all good things upon the American 
 stage, within the generation now closing, is largely 
 attributable to the abiding force and charm of his fine 
 individuality, the purity and beauty of his dramatic art, 
 and the integrity of his example. 
 
 Edwin Thomas Booth was born on his father's farm, 
 at Belair, Harford County, Maryland, on November 13, 
 1833, being the fourth son of Junius Brutus Booth — 
 a name as brilliant in the annals of the American stage 
 as that of Edmund Kean, whose rival he was, in the 
 annals of the stage of England. The elder Booth was 
 then thirty-seven years old, had been for seventeen 
 years an actor, and was in the meridian of his life, his 
 greatness, and his fame. Between him and Edwin 
 there existed a deep, fervent, undemonstrative sym- 
 pathy. As Edwin grew, his close companionship seemed 
 to be more and more needed and desired by his father, 
 and he was frequently taken from school to accompany 
 that great actor in professional expeditions. The early 
 training that he received was fitful and superficial. 
 Experience of the world, however, and sometimes rough 
 experience, combined with irregular tuition to develop 
 his mind and mature his character. As a boy he was 
 grave, observant, thoughtful, appreciative of his sur- 
 roundings, and especially reticent. At an early age he 
 began to travel with his father, and was the chosen 
 guardian of that wild, strange genius, possessing a 
 greater influence over him than was exercised by any 
 other person. That association, operating upon heredi- 
 tary temperament, wrought its inevitable result in mak- 
 
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4 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 ing Edwin Booth an actor. The singular Hfe that he 
 saw and led — a life in which fictitious emotions, imag- 
 inative influences, and the trivialities of every day are 
 singularly blended — exerted its charm upon a sensitive 
 youth, at once alluring him toward the stage and pre- 
 paring him for its pursuit. His immediate entrance 
 upon a theatrical career was made precipitately and was 
 accidental. It occurred at the Museum in Boston, on 
 September lo, 1849. The elder Booth was then play- 
 ing there — the last but one of the engagements that 
 he filled in that city. Qbber's version of Richard the 
 Third had been cast, and the prompter of the theatre, 
 to whom was allotted the minor part of Tressil, desirous 
 to be left out of the bill, persuaded Edwin to take his 
 place. That arrangement was made without the knowl- 
 edge of the father, nor until the night before , the 
 announced performance did he learn that his son de- 
 signed to appear ; and he did not approve of the design 
 when at length he became aware of it. From the first, 
 indeed, and for some time, the elder Booth opposed 
 his son's adoption of the stage. Nevertheless Edwin ' 
 persevered in it, and soon his father became recon- 
 ciled to his course. The Museum appearance attracted 
 only a momentary attention, but that effort was followed 
 by more ambitious attempts. At Providence, in the 
 same season, the young aspirant played Cassio, in 
 Othello,-2CRA Wilford, in The Iron Chest — his impersona- 
 tion of the latter part being accounted especially auspi- 
 cious. At the Arch Street theatre, Philadelphia, then 
 managed by Edmon S. Connor (obiit 1892), his per- 
 formance of Wilford met with particular approbation. 
 Another of his juvenile efforts, in which careful observ- 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 5 
 
 ers discerned the germ of excellence, was his embodi- 
 ment of Titus, in John Howard Payne's tragedy of 
 Brutus. Once, in Washington, when the elder Booth 
 enacted the stoical yet tender hero of that tragedy, 
 Payne was one of the audience, and he expressed cordial 
 approbation of Edwin Booth as Titus. 
 
 For more than two years, in a desultory manner, 
 acting with his father in various cities, east and south, 
 the beginner continued to advance. The period of 
 Booth's advent and novitiate as an actor was notable 
 for much theatrical activity and for the presence of many 
 interesting players, especially on the southern circuit. 
 About 1848-49, for example, William Rufus Blake, 
 H. A. Perry, Charles Burke, James Stark, William 
 Chippendale the elder, and George Jordan were mem- 
 bers of the stock company — engaged, and prosperous, 
 for the full season — of the Richmond theatre ; and that 
 was a company which could not easily be matched now, 
 in any city of the Republic. In 1851 Joseph Jefferson 
 and John A. Ellsler managed in Charleston, and fre- 
 quently acted in neighbouring cities. In 1858 the stock 
 company of the Richmond theatre, then managed by 
 John T. Ford, comprised, among many others, Joseph 
 Jefferson, Edwin Adams, and Mary Devlin. It was in 
 that season, at the Richmond theatre, that Edwin Booth 
 appeared as Henry the Fifth ; Shakespeare's historical 
 play having been then produced for the first time in the 
 United States. Those facts indicate the class of players 
 and the kind of dramatic entertainment that abounded 
 in southern cities. M. W. Canning, at about that time, 
 managed in Montgomery, S. B. Duffield in Mobile, and 
 John Green (" honest John ") in Nashville. Jarrett and 
 
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6 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 Ford were young managers in Baltimore ; and in their 
 stock companies and among their associates were John E. 
 Owens, Joseph Jefferson, John S. Clarke, Edwin Booth, 
 Edwin Adams, C. W. Tayleure, and H. L. Bateman. 
 The Baltimore home of Bateman was then the headquar- 
 ters of theatrical life in that region. The Bateman girls, 
 infant prodigies, already gave denotements of a bright 
 future. Old Joe Cowell was present, with his quips and 
 cranks. And from that coterie have emerged leading 
 actors, famous on both the English and American stage, 
 and managers who have succeeded alike in New Yprk, 
 Washington, and London. Booth's first appearance on 
 the New York stage was made early in his career, as 
 also was his first attempt in the character of Richard 
 the Third. The first of those events occurred on 
 September 27, 1850, at the National theatre, Chatham 
 street, where he played Wilford, to his father as Sir 
 Edward Mortimer. The second occurred at the same 
 theatre in 185 1, when, at his father's command, and on 
 a night set apart for his father's benefit, he undertook 
 Richard. Only a brief notice was given to him. The 
 Richmond was John R. Scott, a tragedian of approved 
 talent, who once enjoyed a considerable repute. Illness 
 was assigned by the elder Booth, as the cause of his 
 withdrawal from the bill ; but it was surmised that the 
 illness had been feigned in order that Edwin might 
 suddenly be put to a severe practical test. While the 
 young actor was putting on the garments of Gloster a 
 friend stood near, holding the play-book and hearing 
 his recital of the part, to make sure that he was pos- 
 sessed of the text. No announcement was made of a 
 change in the cast, and not until Edwin stood upon the 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 7 
 
 Stage, and the applause intended for his father had 
 abruptly lapsed into silence, did the gravity of the situa- 
 tion appear. The assemblage received the new Gloster 
 with surprise and coldness. An eager throng had gath- 
 ered, to see a famous tragedian in his most characteristic 
 embodiment. It might well have been astonished at 
 sight of the stripling in place of the giant. Its behav- 
 iour, however, was considerate and generous. As the 
 performance proceeded the identity of the actor became 
 manifest, and so did his unexpected power. Pleasure 
 soon succeeded to surprise, and hearty approval finally 
 rewarded a courageous effort. Edwin was called out, 
 at the end of the play, and Scott, who had led him for- 
 ward, responded to the public greeting, and spoke the 
 gratitude of the adventurous performer. 
 
 Those were the first steps ; but it was in California 
 that the hardest work of Edwin Booth's early profes- 
 sional life was performed, and there his first substantial 
 success was gained. His eldest brother, Junius, had 
 visited California, and had brought back alluring reports 
 ■ of opportunity for the rapid acquisition of wealth. It 
 was his conviction that his father would have great pros- 
 perity in that Eldorado- — where yet the gold fever of 
 1849 'w^s epidemic — and he urged the wisdom of a 
 visit to that region.' The plan did not at once commend 
 itself to the elder Booth; but ultimately, though with 
 reluctance, he adopted it. When free from the insanity^ 
 which lurked in his noble nature, and sometimes griev- 
 ously afflicted it, the elder Booth was a man of delicate 
 temperament, syrnpathetic with whatever is best of re- 
 finement and dignity in old civilisation, and, therefore, 
 he was averse to contact with the asperities incidental 
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8 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 to a new state of society. Hence, perhaps, the appre- 
 hensive solicitude with which he shrunk from the un- 
 tried, turbulent field of adventure thus opened before him. 
 A dark presentiment may have mingled with that feel- 
 ing — a foreboding which was justified by the event, 
 when at length he had journeyed to the Golden Gate. 
 That expedition was made in July 1852. Edwin had 
 been left at home; but the father soon stopped and sent 
 back for his boy, and together they proceeded to San 
 Francisco. Booth's stay in California lasted three 
 months. His first engagement, of eighteen nights, was 
 played at the Jenny Lind theatre, and it was remuner- 
 ative, both in reputation and profit. Edwin and Junius 
 were members of the stock company. From San Fran- 
 cisco the party went to Sacramento, and failed — the 
 money that had been earned in the one place being lost 
 in the other. During their stay in Sacramento the 
 father and the -sons took benefits. For that of Edwin 
 Venice Preserved was chosen — the elder Booth playing 
 Pierre, and Edwin pkying Jaffier. It had long been 
 the stage custom to dress Jaffier in a black velvet tunic ' 
 and consonant trappings, not unlike the garb that is 
 worn by Hamlet. Seeing the youth in that dress his 
 father looked at him pensively and sadly, and at last 
 said, " You look like Hamlet ; why didn't you play that 
 part for your benefit ? " — "I will, if I ever have another," 
 the young actor answered. That scene and those words 
 came back upon his memory in later days, when the op-^ 
 portunity came for him to play Hamlet, and when, in ful- 
 filment of this pledge to his dead father, he acted that 
 part. It proved the chief means of his development, 
 fortune, and fame, and the chief incentive to the affec- 
 tionate admiration of his countr^'men. 
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BOOTH AT 19. 
 From a painting by A, Andrews. 
 
 (In possession of T. J. McKee). 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 9 
 
 Junius Brutus Booth, father of Edwin, was born in St. 
 Pancras parish, London, in 1796. His father was a 
 lawyer. His mother was a descendant of John Wilkes, 
 the agitator. In early life he seems to have been what 
 Longfellow designates a " miscellaneous youth and a 
 universal genius." He showed talent for painting. He 
 entered the British navy. He learned the printer's art. 
 He dabbled in literature. He became a sculptor. At 
 last he found his true vocation and adopted the stage. 
 His debut was made at Deptford, on December 13, 1813, 
 when he acted Campillo, in Tobin's comedy of The 
 Honeymoon. His first appearance in London was made 
 in 181 5, as Sylvius, in As You Like It. A little later he 
 made a hit, at Brighton, as Sir Giles Overreach. On Feb- 
 ruary 12, 1 81 7, he played at Covent Garden as Richard 
 the Third, and gained some success, against bitter 
 opposition. In 1820 he was married to Miss Mary Ann 
 Holmes, of Reading, England, who accompanied him to 
 America, in the summer of 1821. His first professional 
 appearance in the United States was made on July 13, 
 1 82 1, at Richmond, Virginia, as Richard the Third. He 
 then came to the Park theatre. New York, where he 
 made a marked impression ; and that he deepened by 
 playing successful engagements throughout the country. 
 In 1822 he bought a farm in Maryland, which he 
 owned all his life, and left to his widow and children. 
 After his first tour of the States he made a visit to Eng- 
 land, but he came back in 1824. His last appearance 
 in the North was made at the New National theatre. 
 New York, September 19, 185 1, when he acted Sir 
 Edward Mortimer and Shylock.^ The death of Edwin 
 
 1 A study of the elder Booth's acting, made by Thomas E. Gould, under 
 the title of The Tragedian, thus describes him : " Mr. Booth was short, 
 
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10 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 Booth's mother occurred in New York, at No. 339 
 West Twenty-thh-d street, on October 22, 1885, in her 
 eighty-fourth year. She was buried in the grave of her 
 husband, at Baltimore. 
 
 The family of Junius Brutus Booth comprised ten 
 children : Junius Brutus, Rosalie Ann, Henry Byron, 
 Mary, Frederick, Elizabeth, Edwin, Asia Sidney, John 
 Wilkes, and Joseph Adrian. Junius died September 16, 
 1883. The sole survivor (1893) is Joseph. The middle 
 name of Forrest has been incorrectly ascribed to Edwin. 
 His middle name was Thomas, but he did not use it, 
 except in legal documents. He was named Edwin, 
 after Edwin Forrest, and Thomas, after Thomas Flynn, 
 the comedian, both of whom were among his father's 
 friends. 
 
 In October 1852 Junius Brutus Booth bade farewell to 
 his sons, and set forth on his homeward journey from 
 
 spare, and muscular; with a head and face of antique beauty; dark hair; 
 blue eyes; a neck and chest of ample but symmetrical mould; a step and 
 movement elastic, assured, kingly. His face was pale, with that healthy 
 pallor which is one sign of a magnetic brain. Throughout this brief, close- 
 knit, imperial figure, nature had planted and diffused her most vital 
 organic forces; and made it the capable servant of the commanding 
 mind that descended into and possessed it in every fibre. . Nature ■ 
 was the deep source of his power, and she imparted her own perpetual 
 freshness to his personations. We could not tire of him, any more than 
 we tire of her. His art was, in a high sense, as natural as the bend of 
 Niagara; as the poise and drift of summer clouds; the play of lightning; 
 the play of children; or as the sea, storm-tossed, sunlit, moonlit, or 
 brooded in mysterious calm — and his art awakened in the observer corre- 
 sponding emotions." 
 
 Edwin Booth wrote an essay on his father's acting, and also an article 
 on Edmund Kean, — thoughtful in substance and simple in style, — which 
 may be found in Actors an J Aclresses of Great Britain and America, a 
 valuable book, edited by Laurence Hutton and Brander Matthews. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH II 
 
 California. Before parting with Edwin, whom he had 
 determined to leave in that country, he spoke to him 
 gravely, and indicated the necessity of learning the art 
 of acting amid circumstances of comparative independ- 
 ence. The parting was a wrench, but no doubt it was 
 wisely made. Left to himself, the young actor would 
 strive with freer zeal, and with better chances of success, 
 than when consti'ained beneath the constant observation 
 of his father, and, in the public gaze, overshadowed by 
 the greatness of the abler and more famous actor. There 
 comes a time in every young man's life when he must 
 act for himself, and when the dearest of friends and the 
 best of counsellors seem sequestered from him. Experi- 
 ence cannot be imparted ; it must be bought ; and every 
 human creature must pay its price. 
 
 Booth travelled to New Orleans and there filled an 
 engagement — the last that he was destined to play — 
 at the St. Charles theatre, ending it on November 19, 
 1852, with Sir Edward Mortimer and John Lump, in 
 The Iron Chest and Tlie Review. He then embarked 
 aboard the Mississippi steamboat Cheneworth, for Cin- 
 cinnati. At starting there was rain, and he got wet 
 and caught a cold. That illness he only so far observed 
 as to retire to his cabin and his bed, where he lay, in 
 silence and alone, for more than forty-eight hours, worn 
 with pain and with the struggle of his self-torturing 
 spirit, but, to the last, patient, reticent, firm, and un- 
 willing to be a burden or annoyance to any one. When 
 at last he was visited he was found to be dying. His 
 death occurred on November 30, 1852, in the fifty- 
 seventh year of his age. His body was brought home 
 for burial, and his grave is in Greenmount cemetery 
 
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12 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 at Baltimore, marked by a monument, erected by Edwin, 
 who devoted to that duty the gains of the first success- 
 ful engagement that he played after returning to the 
 East. 
 
 Much intervened before that return. The California 
 period of Edwin Booth's career — inclusive of a trip to the 
 Sandwich Islands, the Samoan Islands, Tahiti, and Aus- 
 tralia, extended from the summer of 1852 to the autumn 
 of 1856. At first, after his father's departure, there was 
 a brief period of waiting. Then he got an engagement 
 with D. W. Waller, to act at Nevada and Grass Valley, 
 playing various parts in various pieces. Waller was the 
 star. During that engagement Booth acted lago for 
 the first time. It proved an unfortunate venture, at- 
 tended by bad business, weary travelling, storms, and 
 discomfort, and terminating in disaster. Hemmed in at 
 Grass Valley by a great snow-storm, the wandering 
 players, together with all the other inhabitants of the 
 place, were brought to the verge of starvation. Amid 
 those distresses an adventurous carrier, bursting through 
 the snow, arrived with letters from the outer world, 
 one of which bore to Booth the tidings of his father's 
 death. It came at night. The actor was absent from 
 his lodging, and had to be sought by a comrade, whose 
 face, on finding him, told, before a word was spoken, the 
 sad news of the bereavement. " My father is dead ! " 
 cried Edwin. It was his first experience of great 
 trouble, and his sorrow was augmented by regret that he 
 had allowed his father to depart alone, and by anxiety as 
 to his mother's welfare. He was nearly 'destitute, snow- 
 bound in the wilderness, and almost crazed with grief 
 for the loss of a parent whom he idolised. ' There was 
 
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JUNIUS BRUTUS BOOTH. 
 Photo_ Ijy Sapony. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 13 
 
 no conveyance out of Grass Valley. The nearest town 
 was Marysville, fifty miles away. The snow lay thick 
 and heavy on the road. In this dilemma he chanced 
 to overhear the talk of a group of men at a street 
 corner, who spoke of their design to walk out of 
 town rather than remain and starve. The men were 
 rough, and their project was perilous, but their plan 
 opened the only road of deliverance, and the actor in- 
 stantly joined his fortunes with those of the daring 
 strangers. Each contributed what he could to the 
 common purse ; a chief was chosen, and the expedition 
 set forth. The journey to Marysville occupied two days 
 and one night. Cold, hungry, and wretched, they 
 reached their journey's end, and scattered to their 
 several destinations. Booth, although penniless, man- 
 aged to make his way to San Francisco, where he arrived 
 in a forlorn condition. His brother Junius had received 
 a later message from home. Their father's body had 
 been sent to Baltimore and laid in the grave. Their 
 return was not essential. If they saw good fortune in 
 California they would do right to remain there. By that 
 counsel they determined to abide. 
 
 Booth now became a member of a dramatic company, 
 under his brother's management, to play utility parts, 
 at the San Francisco hall. Farces and burlesques 
 were given at that place, and in those pieces the ready 
 and versatile player took an active share. One of his 
 hits at that time was made as Dandy Cox, in a negro 
 farce, produced by the Chapman family. Another was 
 his personation of Plume, a local celebrity, whom he 
 reproduced in a farce, and so well reproduced that the 
 "counterfeit presentment" proved both popular and 
 
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14 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 remunerative. Plume was pleased to signify approval, 
 and to show the sincerity of his satisfaction by sending 
 to the actor his hat, coat, and gaiters. A more impor- 
 tant success was made by Booth in Shakespeare's 
 Petruchio, which he then first acted. 
 
 Step by step, in that little theatre, he made his upward 
 way. The discipline was irksome, the drudgery various 
 and incessant ; but this was valuable experience. One 
 night, for the benefit of a comrade, he acted Richard the 
 Third, and his success was magical. The city rang with 
 his praises. Even the phlegmatic Junius was surprised 
 at that outburst of tragic power, and he straightway 
 advised his brother's appearance in a series of the great 
 characters of English drama. Most of them Booth 
 had studied. Several of them he had seen, as acted by 
 his father, from whom it was his privilege to learn, and 
 to whose genius and example he always expressed 
 a sense of affectionate gratitude. ) He accepted the 
 opportunity and he proved equal to it. Richard wa5 
 followed by Sir Giles Overreach, and that by Mac- 
 beth, and those impersonations caused a popular excite- 
 ment unprecedented in the dramatic life of California. 
 Crowded houses applauded him. The generous enthu- 
 siasm of the Press encouraged and cheered him. The 
 sympathy of brother actors stimulated him. He became 
 the favourite of the theatre-going public and he made an 
 impression on the stage which was deep, strong, and 
 destined to endure. , 
 
 Toward the close of that series of classic perform- 
 ances at the San Francisco hall he obtained a bene- 
 fit, and, mindful of his father's suggestion and of the 
 promise to which it had led, he acted Hamlet — making 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH IS 
 
 his first appearance in that part. It was the crowning 
 success and it brought the crowning honours. Through 
 the lawless strength, diffused effort, and inequality of 
 the personation, thoughtful observers saw the informing 
 power of fine intelligence and the authentic fire of 
 dramatic genius. Much was written about it and about 
 the actor. Thoughtful reviews, contributed to one of the 
 local newspapers, by F. C. Ewer, afterward a prominent 
 clergyman in New York, gave salutary suggestions and 
 useful counsel. His brother Junius was wise and kind 
 in warning him against the possible danger of his mis- 
 taking the exuberant force of youth for complete mas- 
 tery of the art of acting. " You have had a wonderful 
 success for a young man," said that sagacious friend, 
 "but you have much to learn." .^And that view of the 
 subject Junius proceeded to apply, in his capacity of 
 manager, as soon as the excitement caused by Booth's 
 surprising achievements had subsided, by casting him 
 again for parts in comedy, farce, and burlesque. Three 
 times did the young actor go from star parts to utility, 
 making no protest, but certainly setting the best of 
 examples. It was, he once said to me, " a lesson for 
 crushed tragedians." 
 
 A new theatre, the Metropolitan, was presently 
 opened, near the San Francisco hall, with Catherine 
 Sinclair (Mrs. Edwin Forrest — obiit June 1891) as 
 manager, and James E. Murdoch as the first star. The 
 new house, handsome, well appointed, and managed by 
 an intellectual and accomplished woman, soon capti- 
 vated the popular fancy. Public attention was diverted 
 from the old theatre ; the business there grew bad ; the 
 company dwindled; the place was finally abandoned 
 
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16 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 :o negro minstrelsy ; and Booth — after taking service 
 It the Metropolitan for about one year — determined to 
 ro to Australia. That was in 1854. The Australian 
 Tip, including an episode of professional experience 
 It the Sandwich Islands, the Samoan Islands, and 
 Tahiti, occupied nine months. Booth was accompa- 
 lied by D. C. Anderson and Laura Keene ; and it 
 jvas arranged that those three were to constitute the 
 lucleus of a company, to act in Sydney, Melbourne, 
 md wherever else the star of adventure might guide 
 :hem. After embarking in the brig that was to convey 
 ;hem across the Pacific, Booth discovered that the cap- 
 lain's wife, who had been an actress and who was insane, 
 lad formed the design of affording professional support 
 :o his performances in Australia, and had come on 
 Doard, with her stage habiliments ; likewise that another 
 ictress, of " heavy " business, possessed of some repute 
 jn the San Francisco stage, had been moved by a simi- 
 ar inspiration in his behalf, and was also present, with 
 ;he requisite wardrobe. This " concatenation " was com- 
 cally completed by the arrival of Laura Keene, and 
 :he meeting of the three astonished and suspicious 
 Tagedy-queens in the cabin. That grotesque incident 
 oroved an augury of many more, the trip being com- 
 posed of ludicrous vicissitudes. 
 
 The voyage from San Francisco to Sydney lasted 
 seventy-two days, during twelve of which the brig lay 
 becalmed upon the summer ocean. Arrived at Sydney, 
 Booth made his first appearance as Shylock — acting 
 that part for the first time — and played a successful en- 
 gagement. Then the party proceeded to Melbourne, 
 where they were less fortunate, and where Booth's busi- 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 17 
 
 ness relations with Laura Keene were ended. At that 
 port the actor took passage in a vessel bound for the 
 Sandwich Islands. Accompanied by Anderson, John 
 Roe, and a few other players, he landed at Honolulu, 
 hired the only theatre in the town, and remained there 
 two months — ■ producing Richard the Third, The Lady 
 of Lyons, and other pieces. Roe, who possessed skill in 
 the delineation of female characters, acted Pauline. 
 Most of the dramatic coinpany slept in hammocks 
 rigged in the theatre. Booth himself went about the 
 streets and pasted his posters on the walls — not to save 
 expense, but because he found that the native boys, 
 whom he had employed to do this work, ate the paste 
 (poi-poi) and threw away the playbills. Some prosper- 
 ity rewarded his enterprise, but not much, and he pres- 
 ently resolved to return to San Francisco. On his 
 arrival there Catherine Sinclair offered him an engage- 
 ment at the Metropolitan theatre, where he reappeared, 
 playing Benedick, in Much Ado. Later, Booth and that 
 actress formed a partnership to travel and act, which 
 was distinguished by one incident of interest — the first 
 production in America of the drama of the Marble Heart. 
 Catherine Sinclair was the original Marco, in this coun- 
 try. Booth the original Raphael, and Henry Sedley, son 
 of W. H. Sedley Smith, once a favourite actor on the 
 Boston stage, the original Volage. That novelty, as it 
 then was, met with "acceptance bounteous," and its 
 presentation, which occurred at Sacramento, was the 
 most important event of the dramatic season of 1855 in 
 California. 
 
 The partnership soon ended, and Booth started on 
 other wanderings. This time he journeyed from Sacra- 
 
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18 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 mento into the adjacent mountains, with a strolling man- 
 ager named Moulton, who had organized a dramatic 
 company and provided a wagon for its transportation, 
 together with a brass band, to make music by the way. 
 Booth travelled on horseback, halting now and then to 
 act, and so making the mountain circuit. The expedi- 
 tion met with intermittent public favour, but it was uni- 
 formly attended by one startling incident : each town 
 took fire as soon as Moulton's cavalcade had left it, and 
 so regularly did this lurid phenomenon recur that at 
 last it became the theme of general remark, and Booth 
 was known and designated as The Fiery Star. It was 
 an epithet of ill-omen, but as a warning it was salutary. 
 Ignorant and lonely communities are superstitious and 
 dangerously impulsive. There was no obvious link be- 
 tween the strollers and the fires ; but the logic of the 
 mountaineers deduced the one from the other, and 
 travel became unsafe for Moulton's caravan. At Down- 
 ieville Booth found reason for solicitude as to his per- 
 sonal safety, and deemed it judicious to ride immediately 
 out of town. The discreet manager, having private 
 reasons to dread the sheriff, followed that example. 
 Indeed, he improved upon it — for he ran away, not 
 only from Downieville but from his company. The 
 band ceased to blow, the actors dispersed, the driver of 
 the Moulton wagon seized Booth's horse, as security for 
 money owed to him by the manager, and "the fiery 
 star" seemed to be quenched. He still retained a few 
 trinkets, though, and of those he made the best use. 
 Hardships had to be endured ; but these were not new 
 to him, and youth can endure much. Penniless once 
 more, the tragedian drifted back to Sacramento, tired of 
 painful vicissitudes and unrequited effort. 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 19 
 
 Thoughts of home and longings for cultured ease 
 had now begun to colour his moods and sway his pur- 
 pose. He wished to return to the East, and it was not 
 long before the wish was gratified. In Sacramento 
 he found friendship, counsel, and practical assistance. 
 Two benefit performances were arranged for him, and 
 both were successful — a result largely due to the zeal 
 of a friend, M. P. Butler, a generous soul, since passed 
 away, who laboured in his cause with devoted assiduity, 
 and aroused and stimulated the theatrical community to 
 give him, at parting, a substantial mark of good-will. 
 A cheering crowd accompanied him to the river-side 
 and saw him embarked. At San Francisco he had 
 another benefit, and once more he exchanged a fare- 
 well greeting with the California public. On that occa- 
 sion, and for the first time, he acted King Lear — using 
 the Tate version, which afterward he discarded. His 
 departure from California occurred in September 1856. 
 
 The roughest portion of Booth's professional experi- 
 ence was now past. Other troubles — some of them 
 the bitterest that man can know — were yet to be en- 
 countered ; but physical hardships and cares of a sordid 
 kind were left behind, and the star of good fortune began 
 to loom, large and bright, above the horizon. Those 
 friends in California who had anticipated prosperity 
 and fame for him in the older States found their 
 anticipations fulfilled. He came upon a play-going 
 community that was more than commonly eager for 
 novelty. He came also with the prestige of a renowned 
 name — sufficient in itself to insure him an immediate 
 and sympathetic welcome. And what he thus attracted 
 he repaid. Those who saw him at that time saw a 
 
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20 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 ' young man of extraordinary grace, robust yet refined 
 vigour, and a spirit ardent with the fire of genius. In 
 the form of his acting there were defects, arising partly 
 from lack of culture and partly from lack of attrition 
 with intellectual and refined society ; but the actor's 
 gift — the power to imagine and assume states of emo- 
 tion and phases of character — may exist apart from 
 mental training and conventional deportment ; and it 
 was felt that in the soul of Booth's acting there was 
 spontaneous passion, imaginative power, — the nameless 
 beauty which thrills, entices, and ennobles, and which is 
 the inseparable attribute of inspiration. 
 
 Booth made his first appearance, after coming to the 
 Atlantic coast, at the Front Street theatre, Baltimore, 
 and from that place he made a rapid tour of the South, 
 playing successful engagements in the chief cities of 
 that region. Washington, Richmond, Charleston, New 
 Orleans, Mobile, and Memphis were among the capitals 
 that opened their arms to receive him, and in all of 
 them he laid a foundation of solid reputation, " whole 
 as the marble, founded as the rock." But the most 
 important of the series of performances by which 
 he endeavoured to revive, in the Atlantic States, 
 the memory and lustre of a great name was given 
 at Boston. The playgoers of that city were remark- 
 able for refinement of taste and severity of judg- 
 ment, and Booth assured me that he looked forward 
 to his appearance there with trepidation. Should 
 it prove a failure he was determined to retire into 
 the stock. Should it prove a success he would, 
 perhaps, press on to the fulfilment of more ambitious 
 designs than he had yet disclosea. But his belief was 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 21 
 
 that his success as a star would last only for one or two 
 seasons, and the most that he expected was that he 
 might become a leading actor in a New York theatre.^ 
 Booth appeared at the Boston theatre April 20, 1857, 
 in the character of Sir Giles Overreach, and was com- 
 pletely victorious. His present biographer was in the 
 audience and may speak from personal knowledge of 
 the actor's triumph. That was the turning-point of his 
 career. It banished self-distrust ; it confirmed him in a 
 hopeful estimate of his talents ; and it strengthened his 
 resolve to attempt those magnificent enterprises for the 
 advancement of the stage which he afterward pursued 
 with results so valuable to art. 
 
 From Boston Booth proceeded to New York. Inju- 
 dicious and unauthorised announcements had been put 
 forth, in advance of his coming — ostentatious placards, 
 made by an agent, which apprised the public that the 
 mantle of the famous father had fallen upon the son, and 
 that " Richard's himself again." Those ebullitions of 
 misguided enthusiasm caused Booth deep mortification. 
 He had intended to begin with Sir Giles Overreach, 
 but as Richard the Third was promised he appeared 
 in that character. That was at Burton's Metropolitan 
 theatre. May 14, 1857. Areland, in his copious and 
 valuable Records of the New-York Stage, says that Booth 
 played Richard, on that occasion, " with a brilliancy and 
 force that surpassed the warmest expectations of his 
 friends," and that he " gave evidence of the highest/ 
 order of talent." During that engagement he actea 
 
 1 " The height of my expectation was to become a leading actor in a 
 New York theatre, after my starring tour — which I supposed would last 
 a season or two." — MS. Note by E. B. 
 
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22 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 Richard the Third, Sir Giles Overreach, Richelieu, 
 Shylock, Lear, Romeo, Hamlet, Claude Melnotte, Sir 
 Edward Mortimer, Petruchio, St. Pierre, The Stranger, 
 Lucius Brutus, and Pescara. 
 
 On August 31, 1857, he again appeared at the Met- 
 ropolitan theatre, and by another series of impersona- 
 tions increased the multitude of his friendly admirers. 
 After that he was seen in the West and South. In 
 1858, at the Richmond theatre, he met Miss Mary 
 Devlin, the lady who became his wife. They were 
 betrothed in 1859, and, in New York, on July 7, i860, 
 they were married ; ^ and shortly afterward they sailed 
 for England. That marriage was happy ; for his Mary 
 — whom, to the last, he most entirely and devotedly 
 loved — was a gentle, cheerful creature, the incarna- 
 tion of sunshine, who by the unconscious loveliness 
 of her life seemed born to give happiness and hope. 
 Mary Devlin possessed, in an uncommon degree, the 
 winning charm of seductive, personal grace. Her 
 mind was imaginative, tasteful, sensible, and well cul- 
 
 1 The marriage occurred at the home of Rev. Samuel Osgood, D.D., No. 
 154 (now No. 118), West nth street, New York. Dr. Osgood performed 
 the ceremony. The record is in the following words : — 
 
 Marriages. 
 i860, -1 Edwin Booth, Philadelphia. 
 July 7. J Mary Devlin, Hudson City. 
 
 In presence of: — 
 
 J. Wilkes Booth. 
 Adam Badeau. 
 
 The room in which the marriage took place was the clergyman's study. 
 It remains unchanged. In the winter of 1879-80 Booth called at the Osgood 
 house and asked to be permitted to see again the room in which, as he 
 then said, he had " secured his greatest happiness." 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 23 
 
 tivated. She was an excellent musician and a pleas- 
 ing actress. Her brief existence diffused a sweet 
 influence and left a pleasant and tender recollection. 
 She was the daughter of a merchant, of Troy, N. Y., 
 born in that city in 1840, and there she passed her 
 childhood. Later her education was conducted at an 
 institute in New York. Her tutor in music was Mrs. 
 Seguin, once famous, and so worthily associated with 
 English opera, and under that lady's care she was well 
 grounded in the rudiments of that art. Her talent and 
 inclination for the stage were manifested early in life, 
 and in 1854 she made her first public appearance, in 
 Troy. Her successes then were achieved in singing 
 parts, such as Lucy Bertram, in Gtcy Mannering, but 
 she subsequently acquired distinction b}^ the meritorious 
 performance of speaking parts, of a higher grade. On 
 June 22, 1858, she made her first appearance on the 
 New- York stage, acting Juliet, to the Romeo of Char- 
 lotte Cushman, at Niblo's Garden. That character she 
 also played, with success, at the Boston theatre. It was 
 a symmetrical personation, true in ideal, and pervaded 
 by natural grace and feeling. After her betrothal to 
 Booth she retired from the stage. She accompanied 
 her husband to England, where they remained till Sep- 
 tember 1862. Their only child, a daughter, Edwina, now 
 Mrs. Ignatius Grossman, was born at Fulham, London, 
 December 9, 1861. On their return to America they es- 
 tablished their home at Dorchester, Massachusetts. The 
 health of Mrs. Booth had become impaired, but she was 
 not thought to be seriously ill when her husband parted 
 from her, to fulfil professional engagements at a distance. 
 They never met again. Her illness suddenly took a dan- 
 
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24 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 gerous turn ; she sank rapidly, and died on February 2i, 
 1863.1 Her grave is at Mount Auburn, and there — after 
 thirty years — her idolised husband reposes beside her. 
 She was sincerely loved and deeply mourned, and many 
 tributes were paid to her talents and her memory. Ex- 
 cellent paintings, by Eastman Johnson and W. J. Hen- 
 nessey, preserve the image of her delicate loveliness, and 
 a tender poem by that quaint and gentle genius, T. W. 
 Parsons, commemorates her virtues and utters the deep 
 grief of bereaved hearts. Long after her death, and 
 after his second marriage, her husband placed a memo- 
 rial window, for her sake, in the Berkeley Memorial 
 church, near " Boothden," at Newport. 
 
 Booth's first engagement in London was played at 
 the Haymarket, under the management of J. B. Buck- 
 stone, in September 1861. At the suggestion of the 
 
 1 Booth left New York, for Boston, on Saturday morning, February 21, 
 at eight o'clocl-:. He was accompanied by a devoted friend, R. H. Stoddard, 
 the poet. Mrs. Booth died at quarter past eight. Booth was not informed 
 of his bereavement, until his arrival in Boston. He received the news with 
 silent fortitude. IVIrs. Booth was buried on February 24, at Mount Auburn, 
 — the Rev. Dr. Huntington reading the service. Only relatives and a few 
 friends were present. Booth's mother attended, as also did his brother, 
 John Willies Booth ; his brother-in-law, John S. Clarke; William Warren, 
 the comedian; Mrs. S. G. Howe, and T. W. Parsons. The commemo- 
 rative poem by Parsons contains these lines : — 
 
 " She was a maiden for a man to love; 
 
 She was a woman for a husband's life — 
 One that had learned to value far above 
 The name of Love the sacred name of Wife. 
 
 " Her little life-dream, rounded so with sleep, 
 Had all there is of life — except gray hairs; 
 Hope, love, trust, passion, and devotion deep. 
 And that mysterious tie a mother bears." 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 25 
 
 manager, and contrary to his own desire, he began as 
 Shylock. The public received him kindly but actors 
 and critics were cold. He then acted Sir Giles Over- 
 reach and he closed the engagement with Richelieu. 
 In the latter character he aroused enthusiasm, and 
 Buckstone regretted, too late, that he had opposed the 
 tragedian's design of beginning with that part. Booth's 
 first performance of Richelieu was given at Sacramento, 
 California, in July 1856, and thereafter it steadily 
 proved a source of good fortune to the actor and of 
 pleasure to the public. Had he begun with it in Lon- 
 don, instead of beginning with a character that English 
 playgoers long ago consecrated to the memory of 
 Edmund Kean, it seems likely that the prosperity of 
 his professional venture would have been increased. 
 From London he went to Liverpool and Manchester, 
 but he did not win much favour in either of those cities. 
 When he appeared at Manchester, — it was in Novem- 
 ber 1861, — Henry Irving was a member of the 
 stock company that supported him. Several of the 
 great plays were acted, and some of the casts are 
 especially interesting now. The first piece was Hamlet, 
 with Booth as the Dane. Irving played Laertes ; Cal- 
 vert, the Ghost ; Frederick Everill, Polonius ; G. F. Sin- 
 clair, the King ; Clifford Cooper, Horatio ; Frederick 
 Lloyd and Henry Thompson, the two clowns. Othello 
 came next, with Booth as the Moor. Irving played 
 Cassio ; Calvert, lago ; Lloyd, Roderigo ; and Sinclair, 
 Brabantio. With Booth as lago, Calvert appeared as 
 Othello. The Merchant of Venice was presented, with 
 Booth as Shylock, Irving as Bassanio, Sinclair as An- 
 tonio, Mrs. Calvert as Portia, Miss Lucy Rushton as 
 
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26 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 Nerissa, and Miss Jenny Taylor as Jessica. In A New 
 Way to Pay Old Debts, Booth acting Sir Giles Over- 
 reach, Irving played Wellborn; Lloyd, Marrall; and 
 Thompson, Justice Greedy. In Richard the Third, 
 Booth acting Gloster, Irving appeared as Buckingham, 
 and Calvert as Richmond. Booth also acted Romeo, 
 with Mrs. Calvert as Juliet, and Petruchio, with Miss 
 Annie Ness as Katherine. The performances, with those 
 fine casts, must have been excellent. But the Civil War 
 was beginning to darken over the American Republic 
 and a lively dislike for " Yankees " was prevalent in 
 England. Booth felt the force of that sentiment. He 
 made, therefore, no further trial of fortune abroad, but, 
 after a trip to Paris, returned home, with his wife and 
 daughter, and resumed his profession in New York. 
 
 The Metropolitan theatre, in Broadway, opposite to 
 the end of Bond street had become the Winter Garden 
 
 — so named by Dion Boucicault. The manager was 
 T. B. Jackson, long since dead. His agent was the 
 Momus of the banquet hall, William Stuart, whose 
 true name was Edmund O'Flaherty, — a plausible and 
 even winning person, but ill-balanced, unstable, capri- 
 cious, wayward, — a remarkable exemplification of Irish 
 fickleness, sentiment, and humour. That person was 
 destined to exercise some influence upon Booth's for- 
 tunes, and to injure him in some quarters by splen- 
 etic and censorious tattle. Their first meeting had 
 taken place several years before, at Wallack's theatre 
 
 — the house in Broadway, near the southwest corner 
 of Broome street, — on the occasion of a performance 
 for the benefit of H. C. Jarrett, when E. L. Daven- 
 port acted Othello, Booth acted lago, and Stuart 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 27 
 
 managed the enterprise. They now met again, in 
 more immediate business relations. Booth made his 
 first appearance on September 29, 1862, and with that 
 date began an important period of his professional life 
 
 — a period that witnessed the practical utiHsation of the 
 popularity he had previously gained as a tragic actor of 
 the first order. That result was brought about by the 
 conspicuous presentation of the best works in the best 
 style. He appeared in only good parts ; he played 
 them under only good circumstances ; he attracted and 
 held the public attention as the central figure in a series 
 of magnificent revivals of the standard drama. The 
 Winter Garden episode extended, with brief intermis- 
 sion, from September 29, 1862, to March 23, 1867. 
 During the first engagement Booth acted Hamlet, 
 Othello, Lucius Brutus, Shylock, lago, Richelieu, Rich- 
 ard the Third, Romeo, Pescara, Sir Edward Mortimer, 
 and Don Caesar de Bazan. His success was prodigious. 
 The best class of playgoers attended his representations, 
 and the discussion of them in the periodicals of the time 
 was conducted in a sympathetic and thoughtful spirit, 
 
 — showing that the chords of feeling in the community 
 had been smitten with a strong hand. 
 
 At the close of that engagement he made a profes- 
 sional tour of the country. On February 9, 1863, he 
 returned to the Winter Garden and again appeared as 
 Hamlet; but he was ill, alike in mind and body, and 
 unnerved and depressed by a presentiment of evil. 
 The engagement, prematurely broken, lasted only till 
 February 20, and comprised only eleven performances. 
 On that night Booth was summoned to the bedside of 
 his dying wife. He went at once — but he reached 
 
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28 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 home only to find its light extinguished, its music 
 hushed, and its fair spirit departed. 
 
 The effect of that bereavement upon Booth's mind 
 was profound and permanent. 'Long afterward, refer- 
 ring to the Winter Garden engagement which his wife's 
 death had terminated, he said, " I had not yet got the 
 control of my devil." His infirmity, which he had in- 
 herited from his erratic father, — and which, in report, 
 was greatly exaggerated, — was an intermittent crazs^f or 
 drink. He had resisted it, but had not been able wholly 
 to conquer it. From the day when his Mary died, how- 
 ever, he was a changed man. He displayed, from that 
 time, absolute self-command. There were times when 
 he greatly needed stimulant. I have been with him 
 when, at the, end of the fourth act of Richelieu, he was 
 almost exhausted, and when he has said that it would 
 be a blessing ; but the occasions were very rare, within 
 the last thirty years of his life, when he would allow him- 
 self to use it, even as a medicine. He never again was 
 open to reproach on that score. He used tobacco, how- 
 ever, to excess, and in that way he impaired his health. 
 His nervous system was slowly undermined by that nar- 
 cotic. He could not live without it, and yet it steadily 
 injured him. The illness from which he died g^ve early 
 intimations of its approach. He grew apathetic and 
 inert. His articulation was sometimes impeded. He 
 suffered from vertigo, which occasionally overtook him 
 when he was acting ; and various amiable writers for the 
 Press then charged him with inebriety. There was no 
 ground for that aspersion. He had got the control of 
 his " devil," and he never lost it. Affliction and suffering 
 made him resolute and strong. He awoke then to a 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 29 
 
 full realisation of the great facts of life and death, and 
 his self-government, from that time onward, was perfect. 
 His humility, gentleness, and patience were intensified. 
 He had learned the great lesson of submission, and 
 throughout the vicissitudes of his subsequent career he 
 was steadfast in endurance, plenteous in kindness, tire- 
 less in charity, constant in duty, faith, and hope. The 
 ^tate of his feelings, at that crisis of his life, and the 
 intrinsic loveliness of his spirit, are indicated in a letter 
 which he then addressed to the Rev. Dr. Osgood, and 
 which the kindness of Mrs. Mabel Osgood Wright, 
 daughter of that honoured and lamented clergyman, 
 permits me to print : — 
 
 Dorchester, March 7, 1863. 
 Rev. Samuel Osgood : 
 
 My Dear Sir, — In acknowledgment of your kind letter of condo- 
 lence and advice, I can only offer you my poor thanks. 
 
 I was not aware, until it was too late, that you were in Boston, or 
 I should have begged of you, who blessed us in the wedding of our 
 hopes, a prayer on that sad day when they all withered : need I tell 
 you how sincerely I regretted your absence ? 
 
 Two little years have indeed taught me much. I have touched in 
 that brief space the extremes of earthly joy and grief, a joy scarce 
 understood till it was snatched from me ; a grief far beyond my poor 
 conception, until He laid His rod upon me . A reality — sterner than 
 ever I imagined — has torn from my eyes the rosy veil through which 
 I looked upon the world. 
 
 You have been pleased to mention my art and to express the 
 hope that I may be spared to serve it long and faithfully : if it be 
 His will I bow before it meekly, as I now bear the terrible affliction 
 He has seen fit to lay upon me, but I cannot repress an inward hope 
 that I may soon rejoin her who, next to God, was the object of my 
 devotion. 
 
 When I was happy my art was a source of infinite delight and 
 pride to me, because she delighted in my success and encouraged 
 
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30 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 me in all I did ; I had then an incentive to work, to achieve some- 
 thing great. But my ambition is gone with her ; it can give me no 
 pleasure to paint a picture of my grief and hold it up as a show for 
 applause again. 
 
 My agony will be too intense to render properly those passions 
 of woe, and sufferings which till now I thought required years of 
 study and practice, but which, alas! I have too quickly — too deeply 
 learned. 
 
 Her applause was all I valued — gaining it I felt there was some- 
 thing noble in my calling ; her criticism was the most severe and 
 just — feeling this I felt also there was something higher to be 
 attained; but now I can only regard my profession as the means of 
 providing for the poor little babe she has left with me ; the beauty 
 of my art is gone — it is hateful to me — it has become a trade. 
 
 Pardon me for thus trespassing upon your patience, and think 
 only of the grateful feelings your sympathy has awakened in my heart, 
 and of the firmness of my resolve to live for the dear innocent whose 
 goodness shall be my guide to her so deeply loved and mourned. 
 
 With sincerest wishes for your health and happiness, believe me, 
 Your servant, 
 
 Edwin Booth. 
 
 Booth now relinquished his residence at Dorchester, 
 bought a house in New York, discontinued acting, and 
 went into retirement with his mother — contemplating 
 a long seclusion from public life. As days wore on, 
 however, he began to feel the necessity of occupation. 
 The dreams and plans of his youth came back upon his 
 mind; the wish to "shine in use" rather than to "rust 
 unburnished" woke again and asserted its former power; 
 and at length he determined to improve opportunities 
 which then presented themselves of embarking, with his 
 brother-in-law, John S. Clarke, the famous comedian, — 
 married to Booth's sister Asia, — in two theatrical enter- 
 prises of magnitude and importance. One was the 
 purchase of the Walnut Street theatre, Philadelphia; 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 31 
 
 the Other was the management of the Winter Garden 
 theatre, New York. Both were undertaken, and they 
 at once opened a field for the energetic exercise of great 
 and various ability. In the direction of the Philadelphia 
 house Booth and Clarke were associated from the sum- 
 mer of 1863 till March 1870, when the latter purchased 
 his partner's interest. In the management of the Winter 
 Garden they associated with themselves, at first as an 
 agent, afterwards as a lessee, William Stuart, already 
 mentioned, and by that triumvirate the theatre was 
 conducted. Its first season under its new management 
 began on September 21, 1863, when Booth reappeared 
 as Hamlet. He was welcomed with cordiality, and he 
 played a prosperous engagement — extending to Octo- 
 ber 17. Towards its close he acted Ruy Bias, for the 
 first time. 
 
 Wanderings followed that period of metropolitan 
 effort ; but by the ensuing spring those had ended, and 
 on March 28, 1864, he once more claimed the attention 
 of the New-York public, appearing at Niblo's theatre, 
 and winning a triumph, as Bertuccio, in The Fool's 
 Revenge. That play, made by Tom Taylor, on the 
 basis of Victor Hugo's Le Roi S' Amuse was originally 
 produced in London by Samuel Phelps. An out- 
 raged husband and father, blindly pursuing a scheme 
 of vengeance upon his wronger, is made to assist a lib- 
 ertine in the forcible abduction of his own daughter. 
 That father is the Fool and that is his Revenge. He 
 subsequently discovers his mistake, and he suffers a 
 revulsion of feeling and a strong shock of agony. The 
 character makes a deep draft upon imagination and 
 sensibility. Booth's personation of it was superb. 
 
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32 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 * 
 
 Fierce vitality, sardonic liumour, and mad vindictiveness 
 made the embodiment a horrible incarnation of gleeful 
 wickedness and insane rage. Yet through all there ran 
 a golden vein of pathos. At one time the actor seemed 
 a Fury raving in madness — when, under the night sky 
 and in the lonely street, Bertuccio calls down upon his 
 enemy the tortures which have so long burned and 
 seethed in his own bosom. At another time he was as 
 pitiable as Lear in the climax of his awful agony. That 
 was in a scene outside the door of the banquet hall, when 
 the Fool pleads for admittance, to rescue his child. The 
 simulation of glee, through which the father's frantic 
 grief and terror broke at last, in wild and lamentable 
 cries of anguish, was one of the finest things ever done 
 by an actor, and one of the most affecting expositions 
 that Booth ever afforded of the power of his genius. 
 That performance, painful and terrible, won for him 
 much admiration and imparted new views of the origi- 
 nality and versatility of his powers. He was also seen, 
 during the engagement at Niblo's, as Raphael, in T/w 
 IMarble Heart, which he then played for the first time 
 in New York — April i8, 1864. On April 16 he had 
 acted Sir Edward Mortimer and Petruchio, for the bene- 
 fit of the American Sanitary Fair; and for that cause 
 he also joined in a pi-oduction of Alacbctli, with Charlotte 
 Cushman as Lady Macbeth. The engagement termi- 
 nated on April 22, and he returned to the Winter 
 Garden. 
 
 The tercentenary of Shakespeare's birthday, April 23, 
 
 1864, was celebrated by the production of Romeo and 
 
 Juliet, to increase the fund for erecting a statue of 
 
 the poet, in Central Park — James H. Hackett playing 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 33 
 
 Falstaff, at Niblo's Garden, on the same night, in aid of 
 the same cause. Booth continued to act at the Winter 
 Garden till May 14, appearing as Hamlet, Othello, Rich- 
 elieu, and Richard the Third. A summer of preparation 
 succeeded, with a view to the first of those dramatic 
 pageants by which the tragedian did so much to delight 
 and instruct the community, to dignify the American 
 stage, and to gild his name with honour. Hamlet was 
 brought out on November 26, 1864, and it kept the 
 stage till March 24, 1865 — greeted at the outset with 
 enthusiasm, and sustained till the last by a patient public 
 interest. That period saw accomplished for Hamlet a 
 run of one hundred nights. The scenery, devised with 
 scholarship and taste, presented a series of impressive 
 pictures. The view of the moonlit battlements of Elsi- 
 nore was exceedingly beautiful. A cold wind of death 
 seemed to blow around the dusky, sombre fortress, as the 
 dread ghost came gliding in before the stricken gaze of 
 the terrified midnight watchers. Booth played Hamlet 
 with lofty purity of spirit. Many writers recorded its 
 merits and celebrated its excellence — discussing it with 
 thoughtful care and deep sympathy. Seldom has the 
 work of an actor concentrated upon itself in an equal 
 degree the attention of judicious intellect and the gener- 
 ous enthusiasm of the. people. 
 
 A special performance of Jjtliiis Ccesar, given at the 
 Winter Garden on November 25, 1864, for the benefit 
 of the fund for the erection of the Shakespeare statue 
 in Central Park, attracted much attention, and, by 
 those who saw it, has not been forgotten. The three 
 brothers appeared together, and their aged mother ob- 
 served them from a stage box. Brutus was acted by 
 
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34 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 Edwin Booth, Cassius by Junius Booth, and Marc An- 
 tony by John Wilkes Booth. The official advertise- 
 ment of that alliance, and of the production of 
 Hamlet for its memorable run of one hundred per- 
 formances, is a curiosity, and as such it is here pre- 
 served : — 
 
 Al HNTER GARDEN. 
 
 SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT. 
 
 "Winter Garden, Nov. 25, 1864. 
 Mr. Stuart has pleasure in announcing that, owing to the generous zeal 
 and untiring devotion of 
 
 MR. EDWIN BOOTH, 
 
 a performance will be given at this theatre on 
 
 FRIDAY EVENING, Nov. 25, 
 
 (Mr. J. S. Clarke having kindly ceded this evening for the occasion) for 
 the benefit of the fund to raise a statue to Shakespeare in the Central 
 Park, being the second benefit given for this object at the Winter Garden. 
 The evening will be made memorable by the appearance in the same piece 
 of the three sons of the great Booth, 
 
 JUNIUS BRUTUS, 
 
 EDWIN 
 
 AND 
 
 JOHN WILKES, 
 Filii Patri digno digniores^ 
 who have come forward with cheerful alacrity to do honour to the immortal 
 bard from whose works the genius of their father caught its inspiration, 
 and of many of whose greatest creations he was the best and noblest illus- 
 trator the stage has ever seen. 
 
 The play selected for the occasion is the tragedy of 
 
 JULIUS CESAR, 
 
 Junius Brutus Booth appearing as Cassius, 
 Edwin Booth as Brutus, 
 
 and John Wilkes Booth as Marc Antony. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 35 
 
 Julius Caesar (first appearance) Mr. E. Varrey 
 
 Casca (first appearance) Mr. Charles Kemble Mason 
 
 Octavius C;esar Mr. C. Walcot, jr. 
 
 Trebonius Mr. C. R. Chester 
 
 Decius Mr. J. W. Burgess 
 
 Metellus •. . .Mr. T. S. Cline 
 
 Lucius Miss Fanny Prestige 
 
 First Plebeian Mr. E. Eberle 
 
 Second Plebeian Mr. O. S. Fawcett 
 
 Portia Mrs. F. S. Chanfrau 
 
 Calphurnia Mrs. C. Walcot, jr. 
 
 The piece will be presented under the stage direction of Mr. J. G. Ilan- 
 ley. The proceeds will be handed to the Treasurer of the Shakespeare 
 Statue Fund. The doors will be open at y}, and the performance will 
 commence at 8. 
 
 The prices of admission to Dress-Circle and Parquette will be ^1.50; 
 to the Family Circle, which has been recently handsomely fitted up, ^i. 
 A few extra orchestra chairs have been added, which will be disposed of 
 at the Box-Office this morning at ^5 each. 
 
 Mr. Stuart trusts that those who have paid or may pay a large price for 
 seats will remember that, in addition to the value they receive in intellec- 
 tual enjoyment, they are contributing to a great national work and not to 
 the personal advantage of any individual. 
 
 EXTRA ANNOUNCEMENT. 
 
 SATURDAY, Nov. 26, 
 
 OPENING NIGHT 
 of the engagement of 
 
 EDWIN BOOTH. 
 
 Mr. Stuart begs to announce, that on SATURDAY, Nov. 26, Mr. 
 EDWIN BOOTH will make his first regular appearance in the play of 
 
 HAMLET. 
 
 The piece will be placed on the stage under the immediate direction of 
 Mr. Booth, by Mr. J. G. Hanley, stage manager, in a style, it is hoped, 
 combining splendour of production with strict historical correctness. The 
 play has been in active preparation for the last three months, and no ex- 
 pense or effort has been spared in the endeavour by a more strictly pictorial 
 arrangement of the ordinary stage resources, and by the fidelity, appro- 
 
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36 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 priateness and superior execution of the several means of scenic illusion, 
 to carry out the spirit of the play into the most minute details, and thus 
 advance the drama as a branch of national literature and art. 
 
 The scenery, music, costumes, properties and machinery will be entirely 
 new, and, to give a perfect completeness to the cast, engagements have been 
 made with 
 
 MRS. J. W. WALLACK, jr., 
 
 one of the most gifted actresses that ever graced the stage; 
 MR. EDWIN VARREV, 
 MR. CHARLES KEMBLE MASON, 
 and the eminent comedian 
 
 MR. THOMAS PLACIDE: 
 All of whom will make their first regular appearance for many years on 
 the New York stage, on this occasion. 
 
 Seats may now be procured for Saturday and every evening. 
 
 Booth's Hamlet, withdrawn from the Winter Garden 
 on March 24, 1865, was transferred to the Boston 
 theatre, and at that house Booth was acting when, on 
 April 14, a sudden calamity overwhelmed and almost 
 ruined him. The people of America and the heart of 
 Christendom suffered in it a terrible shock and bitter 
 bereavement. Consternation, grief, and rage swept 
 over the land. The excitement of that hour was wild 
 and indiscriminate, and the relatives of the maniac who 
 took the life of President Lincoln suffered under the 
 odium of unjust suspicion and popular resentment. 
 The knowledge that a brother was thus steeped in guilt 
 and ignominy was a heavy weight of woe to Edwin 
 Booth. Immediate and superficial troubles incident to 
 the hideous experience could be endured and sur- 
 mounted ; but the sense of the crime itself, as done in 
 its awful wickedness and madness by one of his own 
 kin, imposed upon his sensitive, conscientious nature an 
 unspeakable anguish. For a time his hard-earned repu- 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 37 
 
 tation, the honour of his name, and the station and 
 repute of his family seemed destroyed. Life in the 
 present was a blank, and beyond the present a waste of 
 misery stretched into the future. He left the stage and 
 buried himself in obscurity, and from that retirement he 
 would never have emerged but for the stern necessity 
 of meeting obligations incurred long before, and only 
 now to be met by his active resumption of professional 
 industry. The softening influence of public sympathy, 
 which presently began to set toward him in a strong 
 tide of interest, made the duty of a reappearance more 
 practicable and more tolerable than it would otherwise 
 have been. Had there not existed, however, an impera- 
 tive necessity that Booth should return to the stage he 
 would never have acted again. He reappeared, January 
 3, 1866, at the Winter Garden, as Hamlet.^ A great 
 crowd welcomed him, and with such a welcome as would 
 have lightened the saddest heart. Nine cheers hailed 
 him, upon his first appearance. The spectators rose. 
 Flowers were showered upon the stage. Affectionate 
 good-will beamed in every face and gave assurance, deep 
 and strong, that the generous public had no intention 
 of casting upon an innocent man the burden and blight 
 of a brother's guilt. Wherever he appeared, after that 
 momentous return to the stage, he found a cordial 
 greeting and respectful sympathy; and so, little by 
 little, he got back into the old way, and his professional 
 career resumed its flow in the old channel. 
 
 1 On that night the c4st of Hamlet included Charles Kemble Mason as 
 the King, Mrs. Wilkins as the Queen, J. H. Taylor as the Ghost, Charles 
 Barron as Laertes, W. A. Donaldson as Horatio, John Dyott as Polonius, 
 Effie Germon as Ophelia, and W. S. Andrews as the First Grave-digger. 
 
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38 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 The second of those sumptuous revivals of the legiti- 
 mate drama with which the name of Edwin Booth is 
 inseparably associated was made, after his return to 
 the stage in 1866. Preparations for it had been begun, 
 prior to the disaster which led to his retirement. The 
 play was Richelieu, and it was brought forward on 
 February i. The scenery constituted a pageant of 
 extraordinary splendour. One picture, a gem of imagi- 
 native composition, represented an apartment in the 
 Cardinal's palace at Ruelle. The perspective was com- 
 posed of arches. A flood of pale moonlight streamed 
 in through a lofty Gothic window, and faintly illumined 
 the rich, quaint, sombre furniture. On a carved table 
 stood a candelabrum, with flaring lights. That was the 
 scene in which the frail but fiery priest, — awaiting the 
 arrival of the packet that will place the conspirators in 
 his grasp, — pores upon a book and reads the sage 
 counsel of the "sober moralist." Booth's Richelieu, 
 always a majestic figure, showed with singular distinct- 
 ness and beauty amid those poetic accessories. In 
 magnificence and elaboration the effect of that revival 
 was afterward surpassed, in the production of Riclielieu 
 at Booth's theatre in 1871 ; but the plan of it, matured 
 and tried, was followed as a model. It was in this pre- 
 sentment of Riclielieu that the expedient was first adopted 
 of putting the court of Louis the Thirteenth into mourn- 
 ing, in act fifth, for the supposed death of the Cardinal. 
 Booth's personation of Richelieu was, by many acute 
 observers, accounted his best work. Caldwell, of New 
 Orleans, the veteran manager, whose great experience 
 and sagacity made him a competent judge, singled out 
 that performance as the best, at an early day in the 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 39 
 
 actor's career, and he advised Booth always to give it 
 when appearing for the first time in any place. The 
 character assimilated, at many points, with Booth's tem- 
 perament. Appearing as the soldier-priest, he never 
 failed to touch the popular heart. 
 
 The drama of RicJielicii embodies a story of enthrall- 
 ing interest, presents clearly defined characters, in 
 natural relations to each other, and is inspired by an in- 
 cessant dramatic movement, that increases in speed and 
 rises in force, reaching an electrical climax and a beau- 
 tiful culmination. It is adequately provided with situa- 
 tions that excite the mind and touch the heart. Its 
 spirit is sympathetic with virtue and gentleness, and 
 thus it captivates the amiable instincts of human nature. 
 It is imaginative ; it idealises reality, and does not pre- 
 tend to present character and experience in the garb of 
 fact. Considered as an ideal creation it is without 
 serious defect. Its chief blemish is one of literary art. 
 There is some tinsel in the lines. Little faults, how- 
 ever, disappear in the presence of great merits. Riche- 
 lieu constantly affords pleasure by celebrating the victory 
 of goodness over evil, under interesting and picturesque 
 circumstances ; and to have written a drama that accom- 
 plishes the distinct result of making its spectator happier 
 is to have deserved gratitude. 
 
 Richelieu was not the noble spirit in actual life that 
 he is in the fiction. The dramatist has depicted him 
 as just, wise, kind, gentle, tolerant of weakness, sym- 
 pathetic with goodness, sensitive to poetic influence, 
 and inimical only to tyranny and wrong. The ignoble 
 side of his nature is his craft ; but it is the craft of a 
 philosopher and not of a traitor. If he uses indirection 
 
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40 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 it is such indirection as a deep knowledge of human 
 nature and affairs has taught him to be essential in the 
 government of mankind. He never resorts to the skin 
 of the fox until he has exhausted the skin of the lion. 
 In the drama he is shown to be engaged upon compara- 
 tively small matters — the protection of lovers and the 
 defeat of a political intrigue ; but he is presented as a 
 man of potent intellect and fine sensibility. He is seen 
 to have strong character and stately individuality, in 
 spite of his vanities and of the littleness of the designs 
 amid which he moves. The charm of the character 
 grows out of this relation. It is the embodiment of 
 virtuous power, supreme as the protector of innocent 
 weakness. Booth grasped that ideal, and made it the 
 vital spirit of his personation. His thoughtful, spiritual 
 face and his slender, priest-like figure — made up with 
 the concomitants of age and clothed in correct eccle- 
 siastical garments — combined in a perfect presentment 
 of the fiery soul in the gaunt and fragile body. The 
 physical realisation had grown out of a combination of 
 intuitions and crystallised upon a distinct ideal. Form 
 is a trivial thing unless it be eloquent with spirit. That 
 eloquence pervaded and illumined Booth's Richelieu. 
 Seeing the aged priest and hearing big voice, the listener 
 instinctively comprehended a noble old man, in whom 
 the affections lived an immortal life, who would be true 
 as steel to all that is good and pure, who wore with 
 authentic right the imperial garb of power, and who 
 must inevitably conquer. To assume that identity, to 
 preserve it, to show prosaic phases of that nature and 
 yet to retain the poetic individuality, was greatly to 
 succeed in the acting of Richelieu. Booth stood alone 
 in that character. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 41 
 
 With the first days. of 1867 came the maturity of 
 another professional enterprise in which Booth had 
 laboured with zeal, and the result of which was seen in 
 the sumptuous presentation of The Merchant of Venice, 
 made on January 28, that year. The beautiful comedy 
 was brought forward in a beautiful dress. The scenes 
 were painted from sketches made by Leutze. The chief 
 pictures showed the Rialto, the Church of San Giovanni, 
 the Place of St. Mark, a hall in Portia's house, and the 
 Venetian Senate chamber. Upon the walls of the senate 
 hung copies of paintings by Tintoretto. The garden 
 scene reflected the sweet sentiment and delicious languor 
 of a summer landscape. Booth acted Shylock — pre- 
 senting the Jew as an exponent of personal hatred and 
 revenge, yet also, to some extent, as an embodied protest 
 against cruel wrongs inflicted by a powerful oppressor 
 upon an outlawed nation. To Shylock, as a usurer and 
 a hater, it would be impossible to render more adequate 
 justice than was done in Booth's performance. He 
 placed the chief emphasis upon the personal rancour and 
 malignant hatred that is cherished by the Jew against 
 his mercantile enemy. His Shylock hated Antonio 
 because he was a Christian ; but hated him more as the 
 practical and influential foe of usury. The zeal of the 
 religious fanatic and the antagonism of a persecuted 
 race, deeply resentful of deadly injuries, were indicated; 
 but Booth's Shylock was not so much a type of " our 
 sacred nation," pursuing a purpose of righteous retri- 
 bution, as he was an image of individual malignity 
 and of the implacable intention of personal revenge. 
 Booth, however, was an actor whose feelings often 
 spontaneously illumined his acting and transcended his 
 
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42 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 mental purpose. His Shylock looked like the authentic 
 vicegerent of the Hebrew Deity, and seemed to be 
 avenging the concentrated wrongs of ages. In the 
 street scene, where Shylock's passion is completely 
 liberated, Booth was incomparably grand. 
 
 During that engagement, on January 22, 1867, Booth 
 received the Hamlet Medal, — an offering indicative of 
 appreciation and respect, from many citizens of New 
 York. The presentation was made at the close of a 
 performance of Hamlet, and in the presence of a great 
 audience. The stage was set to represent a drawing- 
 room, and, entering that room, the presentation com- 
 mittee met Booth, in the dress of Hamlet, — the united 
 bands of several theajtres playing, meanwhile, the Danish 
 National Hymn. "The committee comprised Honourable 
 John T. HoffmarT, then Governor of New York, Major- 
 General Robert Anderson, William Fullerton, George 
 Bancroft, Charles A. Daly, Charles A. Dana, J. J. 
 Crane, M.D., Professor R. O. Doremus, Professor Louis 
 Agassiz, Oscar Coles, F. Barker, M.D., George William 
 Curtis, W. H. Appleton, C. E. Detmold, R. W. Weston, 
 Bayard Taylor, Henry Peters Gray, S. L. M. Barlow, 
 George G. Barnard, John R. Brady, W. T. Blodgett, 
 Launt Thompson, W. H. Beard, T. LeClear, J. Q. 
 Ward, J. B. Murray, Jervis McEntee, A. Bierstadt, J. E. 
 Russell, Thomas Ward, S. R. Gifford, W. O. Stone, 
 H. T. Tuckerman, W. J. Hennessey, Richard O'Gorman, 
 H. P. Delafield, and A. Oakey Hall. Most of those 
 persons are now dead. 
 
 Judge Fullerton delivered an address, in which he said : 
 
 " Mr. Booth : You have won a position in your profession such 
 as few men have attained. The representation of Hamlet for one\ 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 43 
 
 hundred consecutive nights i§ an exploit unrecorded in the annals 
 of the stage until you accomplished it, and is worthy of commemo- 
 ration. But it is not alone your success as an actor that has 
 prompted this demonstration. You have won alike the applause 
 and the respect of your fellow-men ; and a numerous body of'your 
 friends and admirers desire to offer to you a token of their apprecia- 
 tion of your genius as an actor and of their respect for you as a man. 
 Intrinsically this medal is of little worth ; but as a token of the 
 regard of your fellow-citizens it possesses a significance more valu- 
 able than . the gold of which it is composed or the artisti'c skill 
 which has adorned it. It was thought proper that this presentation 
 should take place on the occasion of the play of Hamlet, with which 
 your name will ever be associated ; but the choice of time and place 
 for this ceremony intends a recognition of your life-long efforts to 
 raise the standard of the "drama, and to cheer you in your future 
 endeavours. I beg you to accept this gift ; and I would e.xpress the 
 universal wish that you may win new triumphs in a profession which 
 your virtues have elevated and your talents adorned." 
 
 The Hamlet Medal is a gold oval encircled with a 
 gold serpent. In the centre is a head of Booth as 
 Hamlet. At the top is the Danish crown, from which 
 two wreaths are pendent, of laurel and myrtle. The 
 pin to which the medal is attached bears, in the centre, 
 a head of Shakespeare, and on either side are heads 
 emblematic of comedy and tragedy. The motto is 
 "Palmam qui meruit ferat," and the inscription is : "To 
 Edwin Booth : In commemoration of the unprecedented 
 run of Hamlet, as enacted by him in New-York city for 
 one hundred nights." ^ 
 
 1 " Stuart, during rehearsals, was confident that Hamlet would run six 
 months. Afterwards he gave it eight weeks; and at length he agreed with 
 me that if we got four weeks out of it we should be satisfied. The one- 
 hundred night run was certainly due to Stuart, and the medal presented 
 to me should have been given to him — for the run of the play. I was 
 heartily sick and wearied of the monotonous work, and several times 
 
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44 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 The hour of doom for the Winter Garden theatre 
 was now at hand. By way of giving zest to the close 
 of his engagements, it had been Booth's custom to dedi- 
 cate the final week in each of them to that variety which 
 the public usually approves. The custom was again 
 observed. The last week of this engagement, in 1867, 
 which was also the last in the record of the theatre, 
 began on March 18. Booth played, on four successive 
 nights, Pescara, Hamlet, Othello, and Sir Giles, and on 
 the fifth he appeared as Lucius Brutus. That was the 
 night of March 22. Fire is used in one scene of 
 Payne's tragedy, and that is thought to have been the 
 cause of the disaster that followed. Toward morning, 
 March 23, flames burst forth underneath the stage, and 
 thence spread so swiftly, and raged with such fury, that 
 all efforts to save property were baffled, and persons in 
 the building had difficulty in saving their lives. In a 
 few hours the theatre was a ruin. With it perished 
 the fine scenery that had been provided for Hamlet, 
 RiclicHcu, and The Merchant of Venice; Booth's personal 
 wardrobe, including several articles of stage-dress that 
 had been worn by his father; a large and rich collection 
 of stage dresses ; a mass of theatrical furniture ; valuable 
 clothes and jewels owned by members of the dramatic 
 company; a quantity of costly armour; a considerable 
 library, inclusive of several important manuscripts; and 
 an interesting gallery of theatrical portraits. Betterton, 
 
 during it suggested a change of bill, for I felt that the incessant repetition 
 was seriously affecting my acting, as at that time I was unused to such a 
 thing. But Stuart, wild with his (!) wonderful success, would exclaim, 
 ' No, not at all, my dear boy ! Keep it up, l<eep it up ! If it goes a year, 
 keep it up ! ' And so we kept it up." — MS. Note by E. B., 1874. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 45 
 
 Garrick, Foote, Kean, Kemble, Young, Mrs. Siddons, 
 Miss O'Neill, the elder Mathews, the elder Booth, 
 Macready, with many more of old and honourable re- 
 nown, looked down from the walls of the guest-room, 
 and presented the storied past to the homage of the 
 admiring present. Clarke had sold his interest in the 
 theatre to Booth, for ^10,000, just prior to the disaster, 
 and those losses fell chiefly upon the tragedian, strik- 
 ing his gained success out of his grasp, setting him back 
 in the current of enterprise, and making triumphs that 
 before had been close at hand conditional now on years 
 of added toil. That he possessed the public sympathy, 
 however, was, in some sense, comfortable encourage- 
 ment, for it implied that in any project he might 
 attempt he could depend on the public support. Indica- 
 tions of that sympathy were abundant. It was seen in 
 prosperous performances, for the benefit of sufferers by 
 the fire, and it was seen in assurances of aid from pri- 
 vate friends, toward erecting a new theatre. 
 
 The loss of the Winter Garden was the loss, not 
 alone of sumptuous stage embellishments, but of a 
 place that garnered up bright recollections of a memor- 
 able past and fair promises and high hopes of the dra- 
 matic future. There sounded the heavenly voice of 
 Jenny Lind. There glided the mystical figure of Rachel. 
 There the quaint visage and the mellow tones of Burton 
 gladdened all hearts to laughter or saddened them to 
 tears. There Agnes Robertson played, in the prime of 
 her touching and winning sweetness. Blake acted there 
 — next to Burton, the most humorous man of his genera- 
 tion. There the genius of Jefferson cast its spell over 
 many a heart. There Brougham gave delight, in the full 
 
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46 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 celebrity of his sparkling talent. Kate Bateman there 
 began the mature part of her dramatic career, in asso- 
 ciation with Edwin Adams, at his best of manly beauty 
 and auspicious endeavour. The piquant and dazzling 
 Cubas danced there, and incarnated the poetry of Spain. 
 On that stage the rare humour and the polished skill of 
 John S. Clarke gained critical and popular applause. 
 There the public heart was captured by the extraor- 
 dinary charm of Matilda Heron. There were seen and 
 enjoyed the intellectual and powerful performances of 
 Charlotte Cushman, E. L. Davenport, and J. W. Wal- 
 lack, Jr. There, finally, Edwin Booth accomplished his 
 splendid revivals, and gave his hundred repetitions of 
 Hamlet. It is natural that such a theatre should have 
 been affectionately prized, and that its loss should have 
 been deeply deplored. The friends of the drama always 
 found that Booth's management of the Winter Garden 
 was impelled by an ambitious and honourable spirit, and 
 that deep devotion to dramatic art animated and con- 
 trolled its career. 1 
 
 The Winter Garden was destroyed on March 23, 
 1867. The corner-stone of Booth's theatre was laid on 
 April 8, 1868, and the first performance in the new 
 house occurred on February 3, 1869. The project for 
 the new theatre was started by Booth, shortly after the 
 loss of the old one, and he presently entered into a part- 
 nership with Richard A. Robertson, of Boston, {obiit 
 1 891), for the establishment of Booth's Theatre. In 
 
 1 " I thought of framing all the plays I acted, particularly Shakespeare's, 
 appropriately, without going so far beyond the reach of public appreciation 
 as Charles Kean did, — but to emulate him to the extent of my ability." — 
 MS. Note by E. B., 1S74. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 47 
 
 the spring of 1867, J. H. Magonigle.i their represent- 
 ative—afterward the business manager of the theatre 
 — selected and purchased land on the southeast corner of 
 Twenty-third street and Sixth avenue, New York. The 
 work was begun on July i, in the same year. Several 
 houses that stood upon the land had to be removed, 
 and when that was done a solid stone ledge, which was 
 unexpectedly found beneath them, had to be blasted out. 
 But the labour was prosecuted with energy, so that by 
 April, 8, 1868, the corner-stone of the new theatre could 
 be laid. It was a blustering day, and only a few per- 
 sons were present to witness the ceremony. James 
 H. Hackett — remembered as a fine representative of 
 Falstaff, and as a devout student of Shakespeare — per- 
 formed the official acts and delivered an address. Judge 
 
 1 Magonigle, who married the sister of the first Mrs. Booth, was a 
 devoted friend to Edwin Booth, and stood by him, with tireless devotion 
 and affectionate fidelity, to the last moment of his life. In the manage- 
 ment of Booth's theatre he was zealous, conscientious, energetic, and 
 prudent. The esteem in which he was held found expression in many 
 ways. One incident may speak for all. On the eve of the New Year, 
 1871, after the performance, a deputation, headed by the stage manager, 
 D. W. Waller, waited upon Magonigle, and presented to him a beautiful 
 silver vase, suitably inscribed, as a testimonial of respect and friendship, 
 from the heads of departments in the theatre. A presentation speech was 
 made by Waller, in these words : — 
 
 Mr. Magonigle : I have been requested by a few of your /friends, the 
 attaches of Booth's theatre, to convey to you this trifling testimonial, 
 as a slight mark of the respect and esteem in which you are held, 
 as a courteous gentleman and as the estimable business manager of 
 Booth's theatre. Long may you preside over us, in that honourable posi- 
 tion, which you so nobly fill. Let me assure you that you have the cordial 
 wishes of all, for your welfare and happiness. We pray your acceptance of 
 this slight gift, and, at the same time, wish you and your dear family a 
 very happy New Year. 
 
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48 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 C. P. Daly spoke also, and, tempering grave thoughts 
 with refined pleasantry, said that the drama was cradled 
 in a booth, and by a Booth it would be perpetuated. 
 Then, with masonic observances, the corner-stone was 
 lowered into its place. 
 
 Booth's theatre was made of granite. The front of 
 the structure, in Twenty-third street, was one hundred 
 and eighty-four feet in length — the theatre front meas- 
 uring one hundred and fifty feet. The other thirty-four 
 feet was the width of a wing of the main building, abut- 
 ting on its west end, with a frontage of seventy-six feet 
 in Sixth avenue. This wing was devoted to shops, 
 studios, and miscellaneous rooms. The theatre was one 
 hundred feet deep, from north to south, and one hun- 
 dred and twenty feet in height. The main entrance was 
 in Twenty-third street, but there was another door in 
 Sixth avenue. In the north front was a great door to the 
 stage, corresponding in size and style with the main 
 entrance to the auditorium. Between these were three 
 smaller doors, used as means of exit. Three large panels 
 surmounted those doors, made to contain sculpture. All 
 the doors were arched. Higher, and placed equidistant 
 along the front of the theatre, were three large niches, 
 with Ionic pillars, to contain statues. There were four 
 large windows level with those alcoves. Above was 
 a beautiful cornice, and above that was a mansard roof, 
 surmounted by three short towers. In each tower was 
 an oval window. A flagstaff rose from the centre of 
 the flat roof. The summit of each tower was girdled 
 by an ornamental iron trellis, and the lightning-rods 
 which trailed over the towers and roof were adorned 
 with gilded stars and crescents. Entering at the prin- 
 
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BOOTH'S THEATRE. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 49 
 
 cipal door the visitor stood in a commodious vestibule, 
 paved with Italian marble tiles and lined with Italian 
 marble cement — the ceiling being frescoed. The ves- 
 tibule extended in a semi-circle along the rear of the 
 auditorium, to which entrance was afforded by three 
 arched doors. The lower floor of the theatre comprised 
 the divisions of parquet and orchestra. A spacious 
 stone staircase, at the south end of the vestibule, 
 led to the balcony. Midway on the staircase rested 
 Gould's noble bust of the elder Booth. Above the 
 balcony was a second gallery, and above that the amphi- 
 theatre, reached by a stone staircase from the Sixth 
 avenue entrance. There were three proscenium boxes 
 on each side of the stage, and the house contained seats 
 for seventeen hundred and fifty persons, and standing 
 room for three hundred more. In shape the audi- 
 torium followed the horseshoe model. From every part 
 of the theatre the stage could be distinctly seen. Bright 
 frescos shone upon the ceilings. A chandelier de- 
 pended from the centre of the roof, and all the gas-jets 
 in the building were ignited by electricity. Marble 
 pillars, adorned with statues, arose on either side of 
 the boxes. In the centre of the proscenium arch stood 
 a statue of Shakespeare, the work of Signor G. Turini, 
 an Italian artist, representing the poet meditating and 
 in act to write. Other statues and emblematic devices 
 surrounded that figure, and completed the decoration 
 of the arch. There was a neatly designed pit for the 
 band, sunk below the front of the stage, and below 
 the level of the main floor. Sitting in the amphi- 
 theatre the spectator could contemplate, upon the wall 
 abov6 the proscenium arch, portrait busts of Garrick, 
 
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50 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 Talma, Edmund Kean, George Frederick Cooke, and 
 Betterton. Those were in white ovals, relieved against 
 a dark background. Overhead, in an ascending per- 
 spective, was an elaborate painting of Apollo, the Muses 
 and the Graces. On the walls immediately beneath 
 the ceiling were painted various symbolic figures and 
 devices. One panel represented Venus in her chariot. 
 Another depicted the march of Cupid. On the right 
 were figures of Lear and Hamlet ; on the left, figures of 
 Othello and Macbeth ; while above the proscenium arch, 
 and under the statue of Shakespeare, was painted the 
 Shakespeare coat-of-arms. Those decorations, follow- 
 ing the style of Raphael, were planned and furnished 
 by Signer G. G. Gariboldi ; the paintings were chiefly 
 from the hand of Signor C. Brumidi. The stage was 
 large and well proportioned. The distance from the 
 footlights to the rear wall was fifty-five feet, and the 
 arch was seventy-six feet wide. Beneath was a pit, 
 thirty-two feet deep, blasted out of the solid rock. 
 That useful chasm was paved with brick. A scene 
 could be sunk into it, out of sight. On the stage, as in 
 every other part of the theatre, double floors were laid, 
 and were secured by screws. In each of the rear 
 corners of the stage was a spiral staircase, leading to 
 the four fly galleries, two on each side, up beneath the 
 roof. The flats were raised and lowered by hydraulic 
 rams, under the stage.i At the south side of the 
 
 ' Long afterward, in a private letter, about the Madison Square 
 
 theatre, with its double stage, — the invention of Steele Mackaye, — Booth 
 
 glanced at the subject of stage mechanism, as follows : — 
 
 ; " It certainly is the perfection of a comedy theatre. It is beautiful in 
 
 ',, every detail. I hope, with all my heart, that Mr. Mackaye will be amply 
 
 t 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 51 
 
 stage was the scene-room, stocked with scenery. Above 
 this was the paint-room, fifty-seven feet by sixteen 
 feet, in which a flat thirty feet high could be stretched 
 and painted. At the south side of the theatre were 
 five stories of rooms, approached by a convenient 
 staircase, including the greenroom, a fireproof room for 
 the wardrobe of the theatre, the star apartments, and 
 about thirty dressing-rooms, comfortably appointed. 
 The greenroom was a parlour, on the second floor, the 
 walls of which were adorned with theatrical engravings. 
 From the vaults beneath the stage ran passages leading 
 into the vaults beneath the auditorium and also into 
 those beneath the sidewalks. Here was seen the foun- 
 dation, of solid rock. Here were the supports — stone 
 pillars nearly three feet square. The front wall was 
 nearly five feet thick, and the other walls upward of two 
 feet. Under the sidewalk in Twenty-third street was 
 the carpenters' shop of the theatre, in a large, dry vault, 
 together with the boiler-room, in which were two large 
 boilers, to supply steam for an engine, and for hot-air 
 pipes by which the theatre was heated. There were 
 tanks of water at the top of the building. Those details 
 indicate the solidity and beauty of Booth's theatre. 
 
 rewarded for the great improvement he has made in theatrical decoration 
 and mechanism. As far as it will go, it is a wonderful advance. I 
 don't see why the same method should not be applied to other than the 
 ' shiftless ' scenes of comedies. By raising and lowering the stages a 
 better effect in changing scenes would be reached than was wrought in the 
 old way. At my (former) theatre the rising and sinking scenes often had 
 a good effect, and were applauded, especially when the two movements 
 occurred simultaneously, as was several times the case in Hamlet. If this 
 plan could be successfully pursued on a larger scale — which is yet a ques- 
 tion — the old split-scene style should be abandoned, in every case where 
 depth can be obtained." 
 
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52 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 The new house was finished in January 1869. Booth, 
 in the meantime, had been acting in other cities, and 
 in the autumn of 1867, at Chicago, he had been be- 
 trothed to Mary F. McVicker,i who presently became 
 his wife. Mary F. McVicker was born, in the West, 
 in 1849. Her family name was Runnion. Her mother, 
 a widow, became the wife of Mr. J. H. McVicker, 
 for many years the leader of theatrical management 
 in Chicago, and the child took the name of her step- 
 father. At an early age she evinced unusual talent 
 for music, and in that art she was carefully educated. 
 When only nine years old she sang in concerts with 
 Signor Brignoli, and she was then considered a remark- 
 able type of precocious talent. She also appeared on 
 the dramatic stage, in juvenile parts, — such as Little 
 Eva, in Uncle Tom 's Cabin. Booth saw her, for the first 
 time, about 1858. Seeing her now, after a lapse of nine 
 years, he found her polished by education, intelligent, 
 vivacious, and endowed with both the sense and the 
 faculty of humour. The effect of her quaint and 
 gleeful spirit upon a reticent, introspective, pensive, 
 melancholy nature was that of cheer and hope. At 
 McVicker's theatre, in 1867, she acted Ophelia to 
 Booth's Hamlet, and there and elsewhere, subsequently, 
 
 1 " A new life began to dawn upon me, in the midst of these distracting 
 and displeasing business matters, and my mind was far too busy with the 
 future to feel much interest in the present. In fact, everything connected 
 with the theatre became hateful to me, and I lived a sort of troubled 
 dream-life, perplexed in mind and weary in body, thoroughly disgusted 
 with my ' hobby,' and altogether indifferent as to the result. I let things 
 go, . . . and gave myself up entirely to the contemplation of what was to 
 be of greater import, and far more real, than theatre, or acting, or fame, or 
 dollars." — MS. Note by E. B., 1876 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 53 
 
 she co-operated with him in chief female characters. 
 Her first appearance in New York was made on the 
 opening night of Booth's theatre, February 3, 1869, 
 when she appeared as Juliet, to Booth's Romeo. On 
 April 12 she played Desdemona, to Booth's Othello, 
 and in that character, on May 29, she took her farewell 
 of the stage. After that date she never acted again. 
 Edwin Booth and Mary McVicker were married on 
 June 7, 1869, at Long Branch, New Jersey, where for a 
 time they resided. ^ One child, a boy, was born to them, 
 on July 4, 1870, but he lived only a few hours. Their 
 married life extended over a period of twelve years. 
 Mrs. Booth died, in New York, on November 13, 1881, 
 in the thirty-second year of her age, and was buried in 
 Chicago. Of that lady it may be said she was remark- 
 able for practical administrative ability in the affairs of 
 business and social life, rather than for conspicuous 
 talent in acting. She possessed neither the figure, the 
 countenance, the voice, nor the personal charm that are 
 essential for great success upon the stage, and her 
 acting, although intelligent, was devoid of both tender- 
 ness and power. She acted all along the range, from 
 Lady Macbeth to Ophelia. Her courage was auda- 
 cious ; her ambition boundless ; and the fiery energy 
 of her spirit kept her in restless activity, and ultimately 
 consumed her life. As an actress she did not reach the 
 height to which she had aimed, and her mind never 
 
 '^Married. BooTH-McVlCKER. — On Monday, June 7 (1869) at the 
 residence of the bride's parents, at Long Branch, N. J., Mr. Edwin Booth 
 to Miss Mary McViclcer. The bride's grandfather, Rev. B. F. Myers, of 
 the California Conference, was the officiating clergyman on the occasion. 
 Mr. and Mrs. fed win Adams were present. — Newspaper of the Time. 
 
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54 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 submitted to that disappointment. Her best effort on 
 the stage was Desdemona, — a performance that had 
 sweetness, feeling, and a touch of heroism. Her sing- 
 ing of the Willow Song was an exquisite bit of plaintive 
 melody and forlorn pathos. Her thoughts on dramatic 
 subjects were marked by a good power of discrimina- 
 tion and by practical sense. Reared in a theatre, and 
 long associated with theatrical persons and affairs, she 
 had a clear and positive knowledge of the stage, and 
 thus she could and did render valuable assistance to 
 her husband, in his professional life. In a conversation 
 with me, she once expressed the intention of writing a 
 descriptive analysis of each of Booth's impersonations, 
 and during a period of years she made copious and 
 minute notes, night after night, of all the readings and 
 business used by him, and often of his remarks on the 
 various characters he had assumed. That work she 
 designed should be copiously illustrated, and had her 
 purpose been fulfilled the literature of the theatre would 
 have gained a treasure. The most pleasing of her 
 faculties was humour. She had a keen sense of the 
 comic and the ridiculous, and her felicitous language 
 and animated manner, when describing eccentric char- 
 acter or humorous incident and conduct, were exces- 
 sively droll. Had she chosen to play Irish girls, in 
 farces, she would have succeeded. She was of shght 
 figure, low stature, and dusky aspect. She had an 
 infantile countenance, small features, dark hair, and 
 gray eyes, and her movements were quick and nervous. 
 She suffered much from ill health. The mental dis- 
 turbance, which became sadly obvious in her last days, 
 early made itself manifest to her husband, who watched 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 55 
 
 and tended her with patient devotion throughout the 
 vicissitudes of painful and sorrowful decay. She was 
 obviously ill in June 1880, when she went with Booth 
 to England, and while abroad she had the attendance of 
 excellent physicians, and everything was done for her 
 that skill could compass or affectionate care provide. 
 After her return home her malady took such a form 
 that Booth was compelled to keep out of her presence, 
 — although his practical care of her never ceased. 
 That distressing state of domestic affairs led to the 
 publication of many slanders against him, as obnoxious 
 to truth as they were coward-like and brutal. In his 
 affliction — thus deeply embittered by the malice of 
 inveterate enmity — he had the sympathy of all right- 
 minded persons ; and at all times he had the conscious- 
 ness of duty thoroughly, honourably, and tenderly 
 fulfilled, in the most delicate relation of life, and under 
 circumstances calculated to shake the strongest spirit. 
 
 Human creatures, at their best, excited by an intel- 
 lectual impulse and congregated amid surroundings 
 worthy of a high mood, present a grand spectacle. 
 Such a spectacle was presented at Booth's theatre on 
 its opening night. The day had been one of snow and 
 rain, and the evening was chill and dreary. Yet, in 
 every part of it, the new theatre was crowded with a 
 brilliant company. Glancing over the varied and ani- 
 mated throng, you saw many a face that study had 
 paled and thought exalted. Grave judges were there, 
 and workers in the fields of literature, and patient, toil- 
 ing votaries of science, and artists from their land of 
 dreams. The eyes of beauty, too, shone there with an 
 unwonted lustre, bespeaking at its heart the influence 
 
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56 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 of unwonted emotion. It was an audience that would 
 have honoured any occasion in the world, and its pres- 
 ence gave to that one a grateful charm of intellect 
 and refinement. Appropriate music was performed by 
 Edward Mollenhauer and his band, and then, respond- 
 ing to the public call. Booth came forward and spoke 
 as follows : — 
 
 "Before the curtain rises on our play, let me bid you a welcome, 
 warm as heart can make it, to my new theatre. It has long been 
 my desire to build a theatre that might be regarded as worthy of 
 our metropolis ; and at last my ambition is realised, and, by the co- 
 operation of IVIr. Richard A. Robertson, I am enabled to offer this 
 one. I should, however, be unworthy of this success, did I now fail 
 to acknowledge the unvarying kindness with which the public of 
 New York has cheered me in my professional pathway. For two 
 years I have been absent from you ; and in that time I have worked 
 hard, and endured mvich anxiety — as was naturally the case, with 
 such an enterprise as this upon my hands. But now I have returned, 
 once moi'e, I trust, to enjoy your favour. When the Winter Garden 
 was burnt down I had been announced to play Romeo ; and it has 
 seemed to me fitting that I should resume my professional labours 
 before you, precisely at the point where they were so abniptly ended. 
 For defects in the working of the scenery to-night I solicit your 
 indulgence. I sincerely thank you for your presence." 
 
 An address, in verse, written for the occasion by the 
 dramatist and actor, Edmund Falconer, of London, was 
 printed in the play-bill of the night, but was not spoken. 
 The performance of Romeo and Juliet was followed with 
 eager attention, and at many points the pleasure of the 
 assemblage broke forth in applause. Booth presented 
 a carefully studied ideal of Romeo, different from that 
 which is usually offered — its peculiarity being uncom- 
 mon fidelity to nature in preserving the immaturity of 
 the sentimental period of youth. The Verona lover 
 
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THE FIRST PLAYBILL AT BOOTH'S THEATRE. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 57 
 
 was made boyish until the explosive point in the third 
 act, when Romeo avenges Mercutio by killing Tybalt. 
 After that he was shown to be rapidly matured, under 
 the pressure of calamity and grief. That view of 
 Shakespeare's conception found ardent admirers. An- 
 other notable peculiarity of the performance was its 
 presentation of the street-fight between the Montagues 
 and the Capulets. Edwin Adams played Mercutio ; 
 Mark Smith, Friar Lawrence; Fenno, Capulet; Hind, 
 Montague ; Langdon, Tybalt ; Charles Peters, Peter ; 
 Fanny Morant, the Nurse. Mark Smith was stage- 
 manager ; Waller was prompter : but Smith proved 
 careless in stage direction and he soon gave place to 
 Waller, in that office. The scenery was magnificent. 
 Romeo and Juliet ran for ten weeks, and earned upward 
 of sixty thousand dollars. 
 
 Othello was brought out, with excellent appointments, 
 on April 12, and it ran until May 29. Booth acted 
 Othello. That tragedy, as the analysis and portrayal 
 of jealousy, aroused by suspicion of outrage against the 
 affections and the marriage bond, leaves nothing to be 
 thought or said. As the embodiment of a harrowing 
 and pathetic story, it overwhelms the mind with horror 
 and the heart with anguish. As a study of human 
 nature, it pierces to the lowest depth of its subject, and 
 delineates character and passion with a breadth of view 
 and a firmness of touch that are wonderful. As a work 
 of art it is perfect — being, in construction, the best of 
 Shakespeare's plays. Those truths are clearer to the 
 reader of the play than they can be to the spectator of 
 its representation. Othello is not spoken precisely as 
 Shakespeare wrote it — ^and no thinker could wish to 
 
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S8 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 see it so used ; for the poet has pursued his theme 
 to every issue, sparing neither loathsome image nor foul 
 word, nor veiling nor extenuating the unclean passions 
 and hellish villany that are his instruments. Even when 
 modified upon the stage Othello seems the dissection 
 of something excrescent and dreadful — the distinctly 
 brutal side of human nature. Yet literature would 
 be incomplete without it, and no lover of the drama 
 would desire to see it banished from the theatre. It 
 should be claimed, though, as the right of sensibility and 
 taste, that a work so terrible shall not be lightly presented. 
 That claim was satisfied in Booth's revival. Booth was 
 the most poetic Othello our stage has known — pre- 
 senting an ideal far higher and finer than the more 
 popular one of Signor Salvini, because neither sensual 
 nor ferocious. Booth in Othello was faithful to the poet 
 and faithful to the best traditions of the English stage. 
 He laid much stress upon the magnanimity of the Moor's 
 nature ; he emphasised the undertone of sadness which, 
 as the result of ecstatic happiness, runs through the 
 character ; and he made the killing of Desdemona a 
 solemn and terrible sacrifice. He did not possess the 
 stalwart figure that is commonly associated with Othello, 
 but he gave to him a picturesque and impressive aspect, 
 and he imparted his soul, his passion, and his misery as 
 they are expressed in Shakespeare. The tragedy had 
 forty-two successive presentations, and in closing its ca- 
 reer Booth closed his first engagement at his new house. 
 Edwin Adams,! who had acted Mercutio and lago, in 
 
 1 Edwin Adams, — an actor of exceptional cliarm and talent, in romantic 
 drama, and a man of singular gentleness and simplicity, — was born, near 
 Boston, Mass., February 3, 1834; went on the stage August 29, 1S53; rose 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 59 
 
 the two Shakespearian revivals that have been men- 
 tioned, succeeded Booth, on May 31, and acted till 
 July 31, in The Lady of Lyons, Narcisse, The Marble 
 Heart, Wild Oats, and Enoch Arden. Jel?ferson, as Rip 
 Van Winkle — that perfect exposition of lovely tempera- 
 ment, delicious humour, and imaginative and pathetic 
 experience — appeared on August 2, and acted till 
 September 18. Miss Kate Bateman followed, and with 
 twenty-four performances of Leah and thirty-six of Mary 
 Warner, carried the season on till the last of November. 
 
 to favour, and, after a career of some vicissitudes, died, in Philadelphia, 
 October 28, 1877. While he was on his death-bed, Booth, who was acting 
 in Philadelphia, visited him, and wrote to me, in a characteristic strain, 
 as follows : — 
 
 " As often as my duties permit, I visit poor Adams; nearly every day. 
 The dear, good boy patiently endures the tortures of his terrible disease. 
 The hearts of all who see him now, and who know how free his life has 
 been from ill toward others, must ache — as mine does. Like Mercutio, 
 he gasps forth an occasional jest; yet reverently realises the awfulness of 
 his position. His clear conscience, and his mind sparkling with harmless 
 mirth, break, now and then, through the clouds which gather, closer and 
 closer, daily, about his poor, frail body. There is not ^ passing shadow 
 on the soul whose greatest sin was the neglect of its tenement. He is 
 thoughtful and resigned; and oh! so patient in the midst of his great 
 sufferings. His chief regret is for his wife, who is most devoted to him, 
 and who has nursed him for eighteen months, as only a loving woman can 
 do ! God grant that the promised pecuniary relief, at least, may be 
 afforded her." 
 
 The desired relief was obtained, by performances for the benefit of 
 Adams, in New York and Philadelphia, October 12, and Pittsburgh, October 
 17. The net receipts were ^381. Edward A. Sothern was chairman of 
 the Benefit committee. — Everybody loved Edwin Adams. The references 
 to him in newspaper articles and in private letters were all in one strain. John 
 T. Raymond wrote : "Poor Ned Adams. We began our career almost the 
 same day. We went to Philadelphia together, and began there, in The Sol- 
 dier's Daugliter. He, poor fellow, was tlie liit of the evening. We were 
 together when he first met IVIary — now his widow. God bless his memory ! " 
 
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60 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 The first original play performed in the new theatre — 
 Arthur Matthison's dramatisation of Enoch Ardcn — was 
 presented on the off-nights of Miss Bateman's engage- 
 ment.^ Hackett, as Falstaff, played from November 
 29 till December 25. Mrs. Emma Waller came then, 
 and strongly impressed the public by her vigorous and 
 pathetic performance of Meg Merrilies. Mrs. Waller, 
 now retired from the stage, had the advantages of a 
 stately presence ; a strong physique ; a clear, melodious, 
 sympathetic voice ; thorough training and abundant 
 experience in that good old school which produced 
 Ellen Tree, Mrs. Barrett, and Charlotte Cushman ; the 
 grand style of demeanour that suits the heroines of the 
 higher order of drama ; an equal capacity for depicting 
 woman-like softness and the pomp and dignity of imagi- 
 native ideals ; and a devotion, which never faltered, to 
 the highest ambitions and worthiest purposes connected 
 with the stage. On January 5, 1870, Booth reappeared, 
 in Hamlet, the stage accessories being fine beyond pre- 
 cedent, and he continued to play that part till March ig. 
 He- was subsequently seen as Sir Giles, Claude Melnotte, 
 and Macbeth. John S. Clarke, as De Boots and Mr. 
 
 1 Booth received from Tennyson the subjoined letter, in reference to 
 the production of Enoch Ai-den at Bootli's theatre. 
 
 Blackdown, Halsemere, September 9, 1869. 
 
 Dear Sir, — I have just heard from Mr. Arthur Matthison of the success 
 that has attended your production of Enoch Ardcn, at your theatre in 
 New Yorl^:, and I have received Mr. Winter's critique upon it. I thinl< it 
 is hardly necessary for me to say how much gratified I am by the account 
 of the success which has attended your spirited efforts in bringing out this 
 drama. 
 
 I am, sir, your obliged and faithful servant, 
 
 A. TenAyson, 
 Edwin Booth, Twenty-third street, New York. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 61 
 
 Toodle, began an engagement on April i8, and subse- 
 quently, appearing as Bob Tyke, Babington Jones, Gos- 
 ling, and Tom Tackle, he remained till May 28. J. H. 
 McVicker, in Charles Gayler's comedy of Taking the 
 Chances, then filled a short engagement. The play of 
 The Huguenot was brought forward on June 14, and 
 kept on the stage till July 4, when the theatre was 
 closed. It reopened on August 15, when Jefferson once 
 more — and for a period of five months — delighted 
 the public with his Rip Van Winkle. He acted the part 
 one hundred and forty-nine times in succession, and his 
 engagement extended till January 7, 1871. On January 
 9, Booth reappeared, presenting Richelieu, which was 
 revived with such splendour of scenes and dresses as 
 not even this theatre, famed for richness and beauty 
 of stage embellishments, had before displayed. That 
 piece was kept on the stage eight weeks, and it had 
 forty-eight representations. On March 6, Booth pro- 
 duced Much Ado about Nothing, and appeared, for the 
 first time in New York, as Benedick. Fourteen per- 
 formances were given, and it was then succeeded, on 
 March 20, by Othello, Booth acting the Moor, and Law- 
 rence Barrett lago. A revival of 77^:1? FooTs Revenge 
 occurred on April 3, and Booth enacted Bertuccio. 
 On April 24 A Winter s Tale was brought out, with 
 Lawrence Barrett as Leontes. The stage setting of 
 that piece cost about forty thousand dollars. It ran till 
 June 3. On June 5, W. G. Wills's beautiful play of 
 The Man of Airlie was enacted, with Barrett as James 
 Harebell ; and this — a noble addition to the literature 
 of the stage — was performed till the close of the the- 
 atrical year, and the closing of the house, on July 4. A 
 
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62 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 new theatrical year began on August 14, when Lotta 
 was brought forward, in John Brougham's drama of 
 Little Nell — based on the Old Curiosity Shop of Dick- 
 ens. Lotta's performances extended till September 25. 
 Charlotte Cushman, returning to the stage after ten 
 years of retirement — a retirement from which the illus- 
 trious actress emerged in all the stateliness and intellect- 
 ual fire of other days — then began an engagement, as 
 Queen Katharine, in Shakespeare's Henry the Eighth. 
 William Creswick likewise appeared at that time -"^ as 
 Cardinal Wolsey. Those actors were afterward seen in 
 Macbeth, and Miss Cushman thrilled the public with her 
 startling embodiment of Meg Merrilies. John E. Owens 
 appeared as Caleb Plummer, on November 6. One of 
 the most splendid and most successful achievements of 
 Edwin Booth's career in Booth's theatre was his pro- 
 duction oi Julius CcEsar, — Christmas night, 1871, — in 
 which at different times he represented Brutus, Cassius, 
 and Antony, and in which Lawrence Barrett gained 
 lasting fame as Cassius. That revival of the great 
 Roman play was one of the highest artistic achieve- 
 ments and one of the most imposing spectacles of the 
 modern stage — well worthy to be recorded and re- 
 membered with Charles Kean's sumptuous presentment 
 of The Tempest. The tragedy was repeated eighty-five 
 
 1 Three years later, on December 27, 1875, Messrs. Jarrett and Palmer 
 being then managers of Booth's theatre, Julius Casar was again presented 
 there. The scenery that Booth had provided was once more used, with 
 the addition of a funeral fire-scene, originally devised for the conclusion 
 of Coriolanus, at Niblo's Garden. E. L. Davenport as Brutus, Lawrence 
 Barrett as Cassius, F. C. Bangs as .\ntony, Milnes Levick as Cnssar, H. 
 A. Weaver as Casca, Mary Wells as Portia, and Rosa Rand as Calphurnia, 
 were then included in the cast. The run extended to April 8, 1876. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH ■ 63 
 
 times — until March i6, 1872. This array of facts and 
 dates has a barren aspect but a worthy significance. It 
 shows, in Booth's mind, a conscientious sense of the 
 obligations ta public morality and the cause of education 
 that rest on a theatrical manager ; and it shows that the 
 affairs of his theatre were conducted in a steadfast spirit 
 of sympathy with what is pure and good in dramatic art.^ 
 In 1 87 1 Booth purchased his partner's interest in the 
 theatre, and became its sole proprietor. In 1873 he 
 retired from it. In 1874 he failed, and the theatre then 
 passed out of his hands. It was leased, after his 
 withdrawal, by Junius Brutus Booth, Jarrett and Palmer, 
 Augustin Daly, and others, and many efforts were made 
 — mostly in vain — to establish it in public favour. 
 Edwin's elder brother, Junius, became manager of Booth's 
 theatre, in June 1873, and directed it for one season, — 
 in the course of which he effected a revival of Shakes- 
 peare's Kin^ John, himself playing King John, and 
 his wife, Agnes Booth, playing Constance. Subse- 
 quently he produced That Lass d Lowrie's and made 
 a hit as the ruffian Lowrie. He had previously been 
 seen at Booth's theatre, — in February 1872, — as Cas- 
 sius, in Julms CcBsar. Jarrett and Palmer managed 
 Booth's theatre from May i, 1874 (opening it on August 
 15) till April, 1877; and during their reign many stars 
 appeared and many productions were accomplished. 
 John McCullough, Katherine Rogers, Mr. and Mrs. Bar- 
 
 i " Booth's theatre," said Jefferson, " is conducted as a theatre shquld 
 be — like a church behind the curtain and lilce a counting-house in front 
 of it." " I have been," said Dion Boucicault, " in every theatre, I think, 
 in civilised Christendom, and Booth's is the only theatre that I have seen 
 properly managed." — Boucicault first appeared at Booth's theatre on Sep- 
 tember 23, 1872. 
 
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64 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 ney Williams, Charlotte Cushman, George Vandenhoff, 
 Joseph Jefferson, John S. Clarke, George Fawcett Rowe, 
 Matilda Heron, George Rignold, Adelaide Neilson, Clara 
 Morris, Barry Sullivan, George Belmore, Clara Louise 
 Kellogg, George L. Fox, Mrs. Emma Waller, Genevieve 
 Ward, E. L. Davenport, Lawrence Barrett, Dion Bouci- 
 cault, Milnes Levick, Agnes Booth, F. C. Bangs, and F. 
 B. Warde were among the actors made prominent upon 
 that stage, and presentments were effected of ]'enice 
 Preserved, September 12, 1874; Henry V., February 8, 
 1875 ; Julius CcBsar, December 27, 1875 ; Sardatiapalus, 
 August 14, 1876 ; and King Lear, — with Lawrence Bar- 
 rett as Lear, — December 4, 1876. Charlotte Cushman 
 took leave of the New York stage, at Booth's theatre, 
 under that management, November 7, 1874, as Lady 
 Macbeth. The theatre was finally closed, on April 30, 
 1883, with a performance of Romeo and Juliet — the 
 same piece with which it had been opened, fourteen 
 years before. Mme. Modjeska played Juliet. A little 
 later the house was demolished, and its site is now 
 (1893) occupied by shops. 
 
 Once, in the history of Booth's theatre, chance placed 
 a rare opportunity within the reach of Booth, and 
 caprice or negligence allowed it to pass. John S. Clarke, 
 who was in London, apprised him that the lease of the 
 Lyceum theatre could be obtained, and proposed that 
 Booth should hire and manage the Lyceum, retaining 
 his theatre at home, and should divide the time between 
 London and New York; and Clarke suggested that 
 Adelaide Neilson and the Yokes family should be 
 engaged for Booth's theatre, so that Booth could imme- 
 diately proceed to London and produce Hamlet, Riche- 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 65 
 
 Hell, and other great plays, with which his name was 
 auspiciously associated. Booth acceded to that plan, 
 and the requisite negotiations were begun; but some- 
 thing went wrong, there was lack of decisive action, 
 and at a critical moment H. L. Bateman, who was in 
 London, applied for the Lyceum lease and obtained 
 it; and later, under the Bateman management, arose 
 the golden star of Henry Irving. If Booth had leased 
 the Lyceum theatre, at that time, he would have had 
 control of the tragic field, alike in England and Amer- 
 ica; and although he would neither have felt the 
 desire nor had the power to prevent the rise of that 
 fine genius, yet, as Irving was comparatively unknown, 
 and as no formidable rival was in sight. Booth must 
 necessarily have directed the current of theatrical 
 affairs, almost entirely according to his judgment and 
 will. Bateman's plan was to present his daughter. Miss 
 Kate Bateman, in Leali. Bateman early saw the bril- 
 liant capability and the wonderful charm of Henry 
 Irving, and he was not slow to provide that actor with 
 an opportunity. The production of Tlie Bells, indeed, 
 was accomplished through Irving's repeated and urgent 
 solicitation, and therefore was only another instance of 
 the universal truth that genius achieves its own success. 
 Still, but for Bateman's sovereignty at the Lyceum, 
 Irving might not have found so easily or so soon the 
 prominence that was essential for his magnificent tri- 
 umph ; and but for Booth's vacillation. Booth and 
 Clarke, and not Bateman, would have had the Lyceum. 
 The mainspring of Booth's nature was love of the 
 beautiful ; the chief motive of his conduct a noble am- 
 bition for intellectual success. Devotion to ideals and 
 
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66 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 nobility of purpose, however, are not necessarily either 
 always or often a passport to the admiration of man- 
 kind. The cause of Booth's advancement was the 
 power of genius, combined with personal charm. He 
 sought to exalt the standard of dramatic art — not be- 
 cause he was specifically interested in the public welfare 
 but because he was naturally prone to symmetry and 
 loveliness of expression. He wished to establish, in the 
 principal city of his native land, a theatre of the highest 
 order, to be devoted to plays and actors of the best 
 kind. For the accomplishment of that object he was 
 willing to give, and did give, the resolute, zealous effort 
 of the best years of his life, together with all the wealth 
 that he could acquire. He first organised the Winter 
 Garden, which was burnt down, and he then established 
 Booth's theatre, which was hampered by his injudi- 
 cious financial arrangements, at the beginning, and was 
 needlessly and unwisely taken from him, at the end. 
 In those enterprises he did not seek for personal gain, 
 but for the maintenance of dramatic art.^ He was sin- 
 cere and he was unselfish. Those who were near to 
 him, and knew him, recognised the excellence of his 
 motives and the magnanimity of his conduct; but the 
 public in general cared little for his aims and less for 
 his labours. People do not attend the theatre because 
 
 1 " I had no desire for gain. My only hope was to establish the pure, 
 legitimate drama in New York, and by my example to incite others, actors 
 and managers, to continue the good work. . . . Our object (referring to 
 Clarke and himself, in the Winter Garden) was solely to elevate the tone 
 of our art, without even half an eye to the dollar; for we well knew there 
 were not 'miUions in it.' No; we would take our chances of making 
 money outside of New York, and be satisfied with the glory of the good 
 work we would accomplish there." — MS. Note ev E. B., 1874. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 67 
 
 its manager is actuated by a worthy purpose, but 
 because the theatre provides them with entertainment. 
 The community admired and followed Booth because 
 he was a delightful actor and a fascinating man. His 
 relations with those two theatres, however, — his motives 
 in their establishment and his experience in their con- 
 duct, — cast an instructive light alike upon his character 
 and his career. 
 
 There was always, during Booth's lifetime, a desire, 
 which, at various seasons and places, made itself mani- 
 fest in the Press, to depreciate his achievements, to 
 asperse his motives, and to degrade his renown. Such 
 a desire invariably shows itself, with reference to all 
 persons of exceptional ability and worth. With the 
 lower order of human beings the virtues of such per- 
 sons "serve them but as enemies." Booth began with 
 youth, beauty, genius, abihty, an auspicious name, 
 many advantages of circumstance, and abundant good- 
 fortune. That was enough to win enemies for him, and 
 enemies, accordingly, he had. They were chiefly jour- 
 nalists, and their grievance, fomented by the tongue of 
 falsehood, grew out of the fact that Booth gave no par- 
 ticular attention to the Press, and did not think himself 
 the creation of the newspapers. It is one of the delu- 
 sions of many writers upon the stage that they "make " 
 and " unmake " the reputation of actors — the fact being 
 that an actor either wins or repels the public, and thus 
 either succeeds or fails, precisely in proportion to his 
 possession or lack of personal charm. Commentators 
 may stimulate the flow of the current, but they do not 
 determine its direction. The too prevalent newspaper 
 notion, on the other hand, is that the Press settles every- 
 
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68 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 thing ; and, in accordance with that notion, it was, in 
 some quarters, customary to ascribe the reputation of 
 Booth to the pen of his associate, William Stuart — 
 the fugacious O'FIaherty, of the Winter Garden. That 
 person was supposed to have lured the community into 
 admiration of Booth, by writing articles about him in 
 the newspapers. The truth is that Booth's ascendency 
 as an actor had been gained, and his popularity estab- 
 lished, before he ever saw Stuart ; and it is also true 
 that, during the period of his business association with 
 that disloyal friend, and for some time afterward. Booth 
 received from the hands of Stuart more injury than 
 benefit. Stuart was an exile. He had made an unfort- 
 unate error in England, and had thought proper to leave 
 that country. He came to America, changed his 
 name, and presently found occupation as a writer for 
 the Press and as a theatrical agent. In 1853 he was 
 a contributor to the New York Tribune, then managed 
 by Charles A. Dana, and for that journal he wrote a 
 series of articles antagonistic to Edwin Forrest. In 
 later years he assured me that he was at that time inex- 
 perienced as a playgoer, ignorant of the stage, and un- 
 skilled in the subject, and that his plan simply was, to 
 write a description of the character to be presented, and 
 then to set against it a scathing account of the perform- 
 ance, as something wholly at variance with the author 
 and with truth, and in that way to assail Forrest and 
 make him ridiculous. To Stuart the whole matter was a 
 bitter jest — and such, indeed, was everything else in 
 life. Stuart's writings were trenchant and glib. He 
 had little or no capacity of thought, but he had ample 
 resources of invective, a sufficient command of satirical, 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 69 
 
 caustic humour, and a subtle instinct that taught him 
 precisely how and where to wound. He it was who 
 invented the ridiculous story, still current, that a stanza 
 of " Woodman, spare that tree," a puerile song by Gen. 
 George P. Morris, — who had given Stuart employment 
 on the Home Journal, and was, therefore, the proper 
 object of his satire, — being quoted, in a debate in the 
 English House of Commons, so affected the sensibilities 
 of the members that it put an end to the session. 
 At home Stuart had been engaged in politics. His 
 knowledge of practical affairs was extensive ; his per- 
 ception of human nature was uncommonly acute ; his 
 animal spirits were abundant ; and he could assume, at 
 will, the comrade, the philanthropist, the philosophe'r, 
 and the saint. It was not until you came to know him 
 well that you discovered, beneath his outside varnish of 
 effusive geniality, a bitter and censorious disposition, and 
 a nature so warped by vanity, worldliness, and thwarted 
 ambition that he saw all things with a suspicious eye, 
 believed ill of everybody, and, while he would flatter 
 and cringe for advantage, could not speak the name 
 even of a benefactor without detraction and ridicule. 
 That individual had been, by chance, associated with 
 the success of Matilda Heron — whom also he claimed 
 to have "made" — as Camille, and at that time had 
 offered to Booth, by telegraph, the part of Armand 
 Duval, — an offer which Booth had declined. At the 
 later time of the Jarrett benefit, when they first met, 
 Stuart was an agent for Wallack's theatre, and after 
 that performance he again made a business proposi- 
 tion to Booth, for a repetition of lago, and also for an 
 engagement at Wallack's. That overture likewise was 
 
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70 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 repelled. Booth, at that period, notwithstanding his 
 intemperance, — which he had not yet conquered, but 
 which afterwards he utterly subdued, — and notwith- 
 standing his consequent neglect of his business and 
 disregard of his reputation, was in the prime of pub- 
 lic favour. The mere announcement that he would 
 act at Niblo's Garden, as lago, to the Othello of 
 Charles Pope, — the performance being for the bene- 
 fit of Benjamin Baker, who had been his agent, — suf- 
 ficed to attract an audience that crowded that great 
 theatre in every part. His engagements with Jackson, 
 a little later, at the Winter Garden, were in the highest 
 degree prosperous ; so that never at any time did he 
 stand in need of the missionary services of Stuart ; and, 
 indeed, nothing could be more foolish than the preten- 
 sion that Stuart ever, under any circumstances, did 
 anything to " make the reputation " of Booth. It 
 was not till the autumn of 1862 that Stuart suc- 
 ceeded in getting into Booth's service ; his object being 
 to obtain complete control of the Winter Garden, and 
 of Booth as a remunerative star. At that time the 
 owners of the theatre, the La Farge family, finding that 
 Booth and Clarke wished to hire it, gave them the 
 preference over Jackson, and they subsequently per- 
 mitted Stuart to come in as a partner, with a third 
 interest in the profits, and a salary for his services in 
 the front of the house. Booth and Clarke were to re- 
 ceive nothing, as actors, until the play, whatever it 
 might be, had earned the cost of its production, when 
 they were to get half of the nightly net profits. Upon 
 the basis of that agreement the astute O'Flaherty pros- 
 pered; and, but that his folly out-ran his discretion, 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 71 
 
 he might long have enjoyed the rewards of sagacity 
 and persistence. A splenetic cynic, however, always 
 sooner or later discloses his true nature. Stuart was 
 willing to live by the stage, but he despised it; he 
 held all actors in the greatest contempt; and, espe- 
 cially, he disliked those persons to whom he was under 
 the obligation of gratitude. Self-interest should have 
 kept him silent. It did not. He habitually spoke of 
 Booth with ridicule and aspersion. He represented to 
 the journalists that Booth was a dull man, who detested 
 and derided them, while to Booth he spoke of the jour- 
 nalists as bores and blackguards. I have myself heard, 
 not without protest, his disparagement of Booth ; and 
 Booth told me that Stuart begged him to avoid the 
 people of the Press, any one of whom, he declared, 
 would murder his grandmother for a sixpence. In 
 certain resentful moods Stuart^ would say anything. 
 His particular horror was that an actor should, in the 
 public esteem, be rated higher than such men as him- 
 self, and when that feeling prevailed. Booth became the 
 principal theme of his jocular satire and contemptuous 
 scorn. All the stock misrepresentations of Booth that 
 have drifted through the American press originated with 
 him. Yet, all the while he was privately disparaging the 
 actor he did not scruple to profit by him, and when the 
 first lease, for one year, of the Winter Garden expired, he 
 privately obtained its renewal, to himself, as sole lessee. 
 Stuart's extraordinary diplomacy and plausible amiabil- 
 ity, however, sufficed to keep him long in the tolerance, 
 
 1 William Stuart — Edmund O'Flaherty of Knockbane — was born in 
 Galway, Ireland, July 7, 1821, and he died in New York, December 27, 1886, 
 aged 65. He was buried in the Cenjetery of the Holy Cross, in Brooklyn. 
 
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72 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 if not the favour, even of those who knew how false he 
 was. Booth had been aware of his duplicity, and natu- 
 rally desirous to be rid of him, for some time before the 
 burning of the Winter Garden ; but Booth was of a gentle 
 and indolent temperament, averse to action, and incapable 
 of giving pain.i The burning of the theatre terminated 
 the partnership, and thereafter, against much importu- 
 nity. Booth refused all further association with Stuart 
 — a proceeding which was ascribed to black ingratitude. 
 
 Two other manufacturers of genius and renown also 
 claimed the " making " of Edwin Booth. One was 
 Benjamin Baker, already mentioned, once a stage-man- 
 ager at Sacramento, — where Booth did him the favour 
 to act, in a farce, for his benefit, — and at the last an 
 officer in the service of the Actors' Fund. Baker's 
 claim was, that he had " picked Edwin Booth out of the 
 quartz, in California." The other " creator " was William 
 Wheatley, who customarily declared that his liberality 
 and good management, when Booth acted with him 
 at the Arch Street theatre, Philadelphia, had given 
 him fame and fortune. In both cases the pretension 
 was ludicrous. Those who knew Wheatley, though, 
 will be surprised at his moderation — for he was not 
 quite clear that he had not made the world. 
 
 In the building and management of Booth's theatre 
 the experience of Booth was less painful than it had 
 been in the Winter Garden, but it was not less trouble- 
 some. The determination to establish and maintain a 
 theatre of the highest order was predominant in his 
 mind, and at first, after he lost the Winter Garden, his 
 
 1 "I entertain for Stuart nothing harsher than a feeling of pity that one 
 of such ability to please all, and to make all respect, if not love him, should 
 be so utterly lost to truth." — MS. Note by E. B., 1874. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 73 
 
 resolve was thenceforth to proceed alone. Within five 
 weeks after the burning, however, he had made the 
 error of seeking another partnership, and of admitting 
 to association with his enterprise a commonplace busi- 
 ness speculator, kindly enough, and brisk and shrewd, 
 but of ordinary taste and meagre abilities, and in no 
 way fitted to be associated with a theatre, otherwise 
 than, possibly, as a janitor. In the Winter Garden he 
 had been affiliated with an insidious schemer. In Booth's 
 theatre he had the misfortune to become implicated 
 with a commonplace tradesman. Robertson knew noth- 
 ing about the theatre, or about actors, or about the 
 proper conduct of theatrical art. He was a vain person, 
 inflated by his association with Booth, — who at one 
 time liked him for pleasant social qualities, and ad- 
 mired his apparent wisdom and skill in business, — and 
 he saw, in that association, the opportunity of making 
 himself conspicuous and rich. Booth had " no head 
 for figures," and was easily both confused and im- 
 pressed by those florid arithmetical paintings of mone- 
 tary schemes in which the financial expert is com- 
 monly so picturesque, and persuasive. Robertson was 
 a financier. The only condition upon which Booth 
 insisted, in the partnership agreement pertaining to the 
 building of Booth's theatre, was that the theatre should 
 eventually become his individual property. It was esti- 
 mated that the building would cost ^500,000. It was 
 agreed that Robertson should invest from $75,000 to 
 ;^ 1 50,000, and that Booth should invest the rest, — the 
 estate standing in the name of Booth. The partnership 
 was to continue five years. Booth was to receive four- 
 sevenths of the profits of the theatre, and Robertson was 
 
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74 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 to receive three-sevenths — and at the end of five years 
 Robertson was to receive a bonus of ^100,000, and yield 
 to Booth the sole title to the theatre. It was further 
 agreed that Booth should have the right to cancel the 
 partnership, at any time, upon payment to Robertson 
 of all that he had invested, together with the bonus of 
 ^100,000.^ The selection of a site had been left to Ma- 
 gonigle, who chose the land in Twenty-third street — and 
 straightway the work began. Booth paid for it, land and 
 all, acting in the provinces, and remitting large sums of 
 money for that purpose. Robertson, from time to time, 
 contributed paper,^ which the theatre was eventually to 
 redeem, and did redeem, partly, it is presumable, out of 
 his share of the profits. In that way Booth's theatre 
 was built. Shortly before it was opened, Robertson, 
 dissatisfied with his contract, prevailed on Booth to give 
 him, without consideration, in addition to what had 
 already been allowed, three-sevenths of the real estate. 
 "He struck at the proper moment," Booth afterwards 
 wrote (February 1876), "just as my fire was hottest, 
 blowing me to a white heat. To get that theatre open I 
 would have said ' yes,' had he asked for all of it." Under 
 those circumstances, when Booth's theatre opened, Rob- 
 ertson, originally a silent partner, for the purpose of 
 starting the theatre, had become a part owner of the 
 real estate ; and he at once began to participate in the 
 
 1 " If his five years' share of profit did not yield the ^75,000, or as much 
 more as he should have invested, I should make up the deficiency. In 
 brief, he was to receive ^175,000 sure, and as much more as might accrue 
 from his three-sevenths share, during the term of our co-partnership.'' — 
 MS. Note by E. B., 1876. 
 
 2 " Robertson certainly never invested a cent of solid money in Booth's 
 theatre." — MS. Note by E. B., February 1S76. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 75 
 
 management, objecting that there was an excess of de- 
 votion to " high art." Under his influence and upon 
 his urgency Miss Lotta was presented — a charming 
 woman and a sprightly performer, but inappropriate to 
 a classic theatre. Robertson then proposed to purchase 
 Booth's interest, — offering mortgaged lands, valued at 
 ^250,000, — with the avowed design of converting the 
 theatre into a popular variety house. " I appreciate 
 your delicacy and artistic feeling," he said to Booth, 
 " and I cannot expect you to stoop to that ; but it will 
 make no difference to me, as a man of business. I shall 
 revolutionise the whole method of management." Booth 
 declined that offer, but closed with a proposal that he 
 should buy the interest of Robertson, — most of which 
 he had originally given. An accountant was employed, 
 to ascertain that interest. It was found that the land 
 had cost ^250,000. The cost of the building could not 
 be determined — for the reason that Booth's treasurer, 
 his brother Joseph, had inextricably blended with the 
 construction account the cost of producing Romeo and 
 Juliet and A Winter's Talc. Those accounts could not 
 be separated. A basis of computation was reached, 
 however, and Booth purchased his partner's interest, 
 October 1871, for ^240,000, — giving ^100,000 in money, 
 and conveying valuable real estate at Long Branch, New 
 London, and Harlem.^ 
 
 1 " I had made him a free gift of it, and now I must buy it at this figure, 
 merely to get rid of him. I had no money, but my real estate would do as 
 well — Mary's Long Branch place, six acres at New London, and two lots 
 and a house at Harlem. ... He managed to get every foot of real estate 
 out of my possession, except the Twenty-fourth street property, which he 
 could not touch, it being in Edwina's name." — MS. Note by E. B., 
 February 1876. 
 
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76 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 It has been customary to speak of Booth's theatre 
 as "a failure." Booth managed it for over four years, 
 and almost everything that he presented upon its 
 stage was accepted and sustained by the public. The 
 net profits of the house, during its first year, were 
 $102,000; during its second year, $85,000; during its 
 third year, $70,000. A mortgage of $100,000 was 
 lifted. The floating debt was reduced from $66,000 to 
 $24,000. The decline in receipts, obviously, was due to 
 a natural subsidence of public curiosity with reference 
 to a new enterprise. Booth retired from management 
 in June 1873, because he had grown weary, and be- 
 cause his health, equally of mind and body, was suffer- 
 ing under the strain of care. At that time the total 
 debt of the theatre, secured by mortgage, was $350,000. 
 Booth thereafter received income, from rents of the 
 theatre, at the annual rate of $73,000. His bankruptcy 
 did not occur until nearly a year after his retirement, 
 and the one was in no way consequent upon the other.-' 
 
 ■^ " Booth secured the site and purchased the ground, making a cash pay- 
 ment and leaving a heavy encumbrance. R. A. Robertson became asso- 
 ciated with Booth, and undertoolc the erection of the building — the 
 understanding being that he was to furnish the money, with the exception 
 of what Booth could earn during the time the building was in progress. 
 Here was the first wrong step. Booth, of course, had confidence in 
 Robertson's ability, and the work went on. Money seemed to be ready, 
 at all times, but it was obtained, on the credit of Booth's name, by a system 
 of shaving on short loans, entirely wrong in an undertaking so large. The 
 theatre was a success, as a theatrical enterprise, but the heavy debt was 
 carried at a heavy expense, and no financial scheme seemed to be adopted. 
 Several mortgages had been given, at short time and high rates, instead of 
 being consolidated and carried for ten years, so that the profits of the 
 business and Booth's outside earnings might, in that time, — and would, — 
 have paid every dollar; and the monument erected in the cause of art 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 77 
 
 The financial tempest of 1 873-74, in which many stalwart 
 financial houses were shaken, caused embarrassment in 
 the affairs of Booth. The foreclosure of mortgages on 
 his theatre property was imminent. An injudicious as- 
 signment was effected. And, finally, another superser- 
 viceable counsellor, — impelled by that wilful perversity 
 of self-opinion, which in some natures accompanies a 
 troublesome propensity to regulate the affairs of other 
 people, — led him into bankruptcy.^ Booth was an 
 unskilful financier, but Booth's theatre was not a fail- 
 ure. Things that are vacuous and trivial have always 
 
 would have been the property of its rightful owner, who had toiled so 
 long and hard to achieve his laudable ambition. . . . Booth bought 
 R. out and assumed all outstanding liabilities — amounting to more than 
 the enterprise was to have cost, at the original estimate. The panic 
 
 of 1873 came, and everybody wanted the money due, then and there. 
 November 14, 1873, Booth yielded to bad advice, and conveyed the 
 entire property, for no consideration, being led to believe that it would be 
 protected, and carried, till a favourable sale could be made and the property 
 pay the debts. This scheme proved futile, and then, by further advice. 
 Booth filed a petition for voluntary bankruptcy, January 26, 1874. . . . 
 The assignee had possession of the property from November 14, 1873, to 
 March 27, 1874. . . . There is no doubt, had Booth been in the hands of 
 proper attorneys, his property could have been saved for him — for such 
 was its true value it could have been bonded for all the indebtedness; but 
 Booth had no faculty for handhng such matters. . . Had Booth's 
 financial affairs been conducted with anything like the ability he displayed 
 in artistic matters, only success would have been the result; but, unfortu- 
 nately, he was of a confiding nature." — MS. Note by James H. McVicker, 
 1876-77. 
 
 1 Booth was released from the legal meshes of bankruptcy, and from 
 the clutches of the lawyers, in March, 1S75, by the sagacious and practical 
 action of James H. McVicker, of Chicago, who bought every claim 
 against him, became his sole creditor, and allowed him the necessary time 
 for paying all. Booth, at that period, could earn ^75,000 a year, and he 
 soon paid Mr. McVicker. Booth's theatre, however, had been sold. 
 
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78 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 had the largest audience, and probably always will 
 have it — mankind being what it is. But there was 
 a public that steadily followed Booth, and sustained 
 him in all his worthy works. His experience after 
 his bankruptcy proved his prestige — for he paid his 
 debts and earned another fortune. He surely might 
 have carried his theatre had he chosen to remain 
 at the head of it. His burden, indeed, was made 
 heavier than it ought to have been, by his unprac- 
 tical conduct and his heedless trust in others. The 
 original cost of his theatre ought to have been, and 
 might have been, much smaller. The business affilia- 
 tion that he formed was unfortunate. His simplicity 
 made him the easy prey of craft. For those reasons, 
 and because he was indifferent to popular applause, 
 averse to society, except of a chosen few, and of a tem- 
 perament inclining to moods of dejection, apathy, and 
 gloom, he was at some disadvantage as a manager. He 
 had, indeed, executive faculty, but its operation was 
 fitful and evanescent. He disliked drudgery, and he 
 soon tired of detail. He possessed prodigious power of 
 the will. He was capable of great effort and long 
 endurance. His character had extraordinary stability. 
 Yet the temperament that made him fine in Hamlet 
 unfitted him for the incessantly vigilant and energetic 
 administration of practical affairs. He was a dreamer ; 
 and in every part of his life, as it was known to me 
 during an intimacy extending over a period of about 
 thirty years, I saw the operation of Hamlet's propensity 
 to view all things as transitory and immaterial, and to 
 let everything drift. He was happier as an actor than 
 as a manager. Life would have been easier for him if 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 79 
 
 he had avoided management ; but he did not fail in it, 
 nor did the better class of the public fail in sympathy 
 with his theatre and in practical support of it.^ 
 
 Long after Booth's theatre closed, when he was in 
 England in 1880, he wrote to me as follows: "I see 
 that a Rev. Mr. Somebody has been abusing actors, 
 etc., and refers, as is frequently done by such persons, 
 to the failure of Booth's, and my letter to the Christian 
 
 1 Booth's bankruptcy was recorded by me, in the Ne%a York Tribune, 
 February 7, 1874, in these words: — 
 
 " Five years ago, after struggling through many troubles and much afflic- 
 tion, Booth found himself in a professional position that warranted him in 
 the undertaking of a great theatrical enterprise. Had he consulted per- 
 sonal comfort and the chances of personal fortune alone — as he might 
 have done, with the approbation of worldly minds, and with brilliant pros- 
 pect of individual gain — he would not then have entered upon theatrical 
 management, and to-day he would have been a wealthy as well as a popu- 
 lar and famous actor. Other motives than the prudent care of number 
 one do, however, sometimes enter into the conduct of life. Booth was not 
 unmindful of the debt which an artist owes to his profession, and he did 
 not fail to realise that much was expected of him by the public that had, in 
 such liberal measure, given him its affectionate sympathy and admiration. 
 He made, therefore, the higher choice, and he erected in New York a 
 theatre worthy of the capital city of the nation. No man was ever ani- 
 mated by a more single-hearted devotion to the cause of art than Booth 
 displayed in that achievement; and he never lapsed from the high princi- 
 ples and good motives with which he began his work. As long as he man- 
 aged Booth's theatre its stage was pure : intellectual and refined persons 
 could find pleasure and benefit in the contemplation of it. His career as a 
 manager was unsullied by even the least concession to a depraved taste, 
 and it was marked by a constant tenderness toward the honest ambition of 
 earnest, ingenuous youth, and by a steady, practical charity toward the indi- 
 gent and suffering, both in the dramatic profession and out of it. His 
 renown remains, and he will have the sympathy of the public, alike in his 
 misfortune and disappointment, and in that manly resumption of work 
 with which he has already confronted fate, and addressed himself to the 
 future." 
 
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80 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 Union. When occasion again offers, I wish you would 
 set them right, by stating positively that Booth's 'failure' 
 was owing solely to his ignorance of finance, and not on 
 account of his ' moral ' theatre — which was a success, 
 but for the financial mismanagement. Also that my 
 letter was not directed against the theatre, but against a 
 certain class of managers and plays. Several times 
 these allusions have been made, in support of their 
 false doctrines. If the theatre had cost but a couple 
 of hundred thousand, instead of over a million, it 
 never would have changed hands nor have ruined its 
 proprietor." 
 
 Booth's letter to Tlie Cliristian Union (now TJie Out- 
 look), to which he thus refers, was written in reply to a 
 request for an article on the drama, and was published 
 in the Christmas number of that paper, in 1878 : — 
 
 Dear Sir: — On my arrival here I found your favour of the ist 
 inst., but have been prevented from answering it until to-day. 
 
 Having no literary ability whatever, I must decline your flattering 
 invitation ; nor do I know liow to aid the worthy cause you advo- 
 cate. Could I do so, be assured it should be freely done. 
 
 My knowledge of the modern drama is so very meagre that I 
 never permit my wife or daughter to witness a play ^\■ithout previously 
 ascertaining its character. This is the method I pursue. I can sug- 
 gest no other ; unless it might be by means of a " dramatic censor," 
 — whose taste or judgment might, howe\er, be frequently at fault. 
 
 If the management of theatres could be denied to speculators, 
 and placed in the hands of actors who \'alue their reputation and 
 respect their calling, the stage would at least afford healthy recrea- 
 tion, if not, indeed, a wholesome stimulus to the e.xercise of noble 
 sentiments. But while the theatre is permitted to be a mere shop 
 for gain, — open to every huckster of immoral gim-cracks, — there 
 is no other way to discriminate between the pure and base than 
 through the experience of others. Yours truly, 
 
 Edwin Booth. 
 December, 1878. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 81 
 
 In the days of his management of the Winter Garden, 
 Booth received a letter from a clergyman, saying that 
 he wished to see Booth in Richelieu and other charac- 
 ters, and would like, if possible, to be admitted to the 
 theatre by a side or rear door, as he preferred to run no 
 risk of being seen, by any of his parishioners, entering 
 at the front. To that communication Booth replied, in 
 these words : " There is no door in my theatre through 
 which God cannot see." The notion that the stage is 
 not a proper resort for members of the church has, of 
 late years, been dying out of the religious mind. It 
 dies, however, somewhat slowly, — and that is much to 
 be regretted. The stage can prosper without the church, 
 but the church ought not to dispense with the stage. 
 The religious community, everywhere, is as well entitled 
 as any other to the advantages of the theatre, and it 
 surely ought to recognise, in practice, what it cannot fail 
 to perceive in fact, that the stage often is, and always 
 can be made, a powerful influence for the welfare of 
 mankind ; and it ought to endeavour to use that influ- 
 ence for its own good, instead either of furtively conniv- 
 ing at what it publicly censures, or idly denouncing what 
 it can neither arrest, embarrass, nor destroy. It was the 
 great divine, John Wesley, who objected against letting 
 the devil have all the good music. Christians of our 
 day would be equally sensible to object to a satanic 
 monopoly of good acting. There are some people who 
 think that nothing has been discovered until it has 
 been discovered by them ; but, this controversy has, 
 practically, long been ended. The church can do noth- 
 ing to injure the stage. It might do much to improve 
 it, and it might augment, in so doing, its own utility 
 
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82 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN' BOOTH 
 
 and beauty, and its abiding hold upon the affections of 
 its votaries. 
 
 The players whom Booth assembled at his theatre 
 were artists of tried and proved ability. Several of 
 them had been successful stars. Edwin Adams, in 
 The Dead Heart, Enoch Arden, and other plays of 
 the romantic school, was an actor of singular ability, 
 tenderness, and power. James W. Wallack, Jr.,^ in the 
 King of the Commons, The Iron Mask, Werner, Henry 
 Dunbar, and Oliver Twist, was versatile, passionate, 
 picturesque, and deeply impressive — possessing an im- 
 aginative mind and great charm of personality. Mark 
 Smith, whose range included Squire Broadlands, Sir 
 William Fondlove, Dogberry, and Sir Peter Teazle, was 
 a singing as well as an acting comedian, of the first order. 
 Voices such as were possessed by those three actors have 
 seldom been heard. The voice of Adams was perfect 
 music. Wallack's tones went directly to the heart. 
 Mark Smith's clear articulation and smooth, melodious 
 vocalism were an infallible delight. Waller was an actor 
 of fine stature, elastic tread, dark, romantic aspect, 
 and manly grace, and in whatever part he acted his 
 imagination and tremulous sensibility united to make 
 him fine and true. James Stark, an old California 
 favourite, famous in Richelieu, was a conscientious and 
 thorough artist. D. C. Anderson, who in his younger 
 days had been an effective representative of the parts 
 
 1 Wallack was specially engaged by Booth, for the production of The 
 Bells, which was acted at Booth's theatre, for the first time in America, 
 August 19, 1872. Wallack played Mathias — the part that has been 
 made famous by the wonderful acting of Henry Irving. He was the son 
 of Henry John Wallack, and was born in London, February 24, 181S. He 
 died on May 24, 1873, deeply lamented. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 83 
 
 that are typified by Gratiano and Mercutio, was pro- 
 ficient in the old men, and, whether in the line of Polo- 
 nius or in that of Dominie Sampson, never failed to 
 please. Fenno, with his white hair, rosy countenance, 
 and bland demeanour, excelled in parts requiring dig- 
 nity and benignant grace. Thomas J. Hind, formal, 
 gentle, eccentric, was a model of correctness and care, 
 whether as the kindly parent or the crusty uncle. 
 Charles R. Thorne, Jr., yet in his youth, was an image 
 of romantic grace, pleasant both to see and hear, and 
 he early gave evidence of elemental power. Lawrence 
 Barrett was in the bloom of youthful manhood, ambi- 
 tious, earnest, and remarkable for sombre imagination, 
 restless intellect, and fierce energy. Mrs. Emma Waller, 
 next to Charlotte Cushman, was the most powerful tragic 
 actress upon the American stage, in that period — the 
 only one, indeed, except Mrs. D. P. Bowers, with whom 
 such characters as Lady Macbeth, Hermione, Constance, 
 Queen Katharine, Meg Merrilies, and the Duchess of 
 Malfi were readily feasible. Mary Wells, who had 
 genuine comic humour as well as gentle gravity, could 
 play anything, from Queen Gertrude to Mrs. Willoughby. 
 Fanny Morant, the best Mrs. Candour that ever walked 
 the stage, had not yet lost her ample beauty, and was 
 brilliant in the execution of all that she attempted. One 
 of the common and most persistent misrepresentations 
 of Booth alleged that, from dread of damaging com- 
 parisons, he would not allow good actors to appear with 
 him. Nothing could be further from the truth. He 
 was never so well pleased as when his professional 
 associates were artists of the highest order. A stock- 
 company composed of Barretts, Wallacks, Gilberts, and 
 
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84 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 Jeffersons has not, in our time, been practicable; but 
 Booth's company, as long as he continued in manage- 
 ment, was the best that he could get. Besides the 
 players just mentioned, Charles Fisher, Charles W. 
 Couldock, George Clarke, Frank Mayo, D. H. Harkins, 
 Milnes Levick, Joseph Wheelock, E. J. Buckley, Charles 
 Barron, F. C. Bangs, Barton Hill, Augustus Pitou, 
 W. E. Sheridan, Theodore Hamilton, John Norton, 
 Maurice Barrymore, John A. Lane, W. R. Floyd, Louis 
 Aldrich, Humphrey Bland, A. H. Davenport, Edwin 
 Varrey, Charles Walcot, Jr., George Becks, Frank Law- 
 lor, J. B. Mason, Edwin Cleary, Samuel Piercy, James 
 Lewis, F. B. Warde, Otis Skinner, John Drew, and 
 Eben Plympton were, at various times, his associates; 
 and their testimony was unanimous that he treated 
 them, not merely with professional justice but with 
 considerate liberality. Mrs. Chanfrau, Ada Clifton, 
 Effie Germon, Blanche de Bar, Rose Eytinge, Ida Ver- 
 non, Bella Pateman, Clara Jennings, Agnes Booth, 
 Rachael Noah, Jeffreys Lewis, Annie Clarke, Elizabeth 
 Robins, and Ellen Meyrick were among his leading 
 ladies. William Davidge, Edward Lamb, Owen Fawcett, 
 Robert Pateman, Charles Peters, Thomas Placide, Alfred 
 Hudson, Sol Smith, Jr., and Vining Bowers were among 
 his low comedians. When he had ceased to manage, 
 and was traveUing as a star, the players with whom he 
 was associated, whether competent or otherwise, were 
 provided by managers, — Booth having no voice in their 
 selection. His censors, when dissatisfied with his sup- 
 port, ignored that fact; nor did they reflect that, because 
 of Booth's marked superiority as a tragedian, even good 
 actors seemed to be less good when they acted in his 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 85 
 
 company, and that almost all actors, when they appear 
 in Shakespeare, are sometimes dwarfed by the poetic 
 standard with which they invite comparison. 
 
 Booth was neither acquisitive of admiration nor jealous 
 of actors who received it. To the distinguished foreign 
 tragedian visiting America he was ever the first to extend 
 a hand of welcome. In the Winter Garden days he - 
 invited that famous German actor, Bogumil Davison 
 (Obiit. February 2, 1872, aged 54), to act with him, and 
 a production of Othello was then effected, — December 
 29, 1866, with Davison as Othello, Booth as lago, 
 and Mme. Methua-Scheller as Desdemona, — the power 
 and beauty of which were extraordinary : no actor 
 could ever have surpassed Davison's pathos, in the pas- 
 sage succeeding the vindication of Desdemona. When 
 Fechter first came to New York [his first appear- 
 ance in America was made on January 10, 1870, at 
 Niblo's Garden], Booth, who was acting Hamlet, at 
 Booth's theatre, cordially offered to stand aside and 
 allow the famous Anglo-Frenchman to take his place — 
 and Fechter would have seized that opportunity had he 
 not foolishly preferred, with his customary perverse 
 and insane temper, to ascribe to Booth's alleged hostil- 
 ity every Press notice which had not hailed him as a 
 paragon. One of Booth's pleasant recollections was 
 that of his professional association with Fanny Janaus- 
 chek. He greeted as a privilege, even after his health 
 had begun to break, the opportunity of acting in com- 
 pany with Salvini.i He frequently recalled with enthu- 
 
 ^ Booth and Salvini acted together, April 26, 28, and 30, and May i, / 
 1886, at the Academy of Music, New York, in Othello and Hamlet. The 
 former play was performed three times; the latter once. Salvini — speaking 
 
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86 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 siasm his professional affiliation with excellent and 
 famous German actors, when he travelled in Germany. 
 Meeting M. Coquelin, in Paris, in 1880, and finding 
 that eminent comedian desirous of playing lago, he 
 promised to act Othello with him, if he should ever 
 come to America. And when he spoke of his season 
 with Henry Irving at the London Lyceum, he said it 
 was a time of much happiness. It has been my fortune 
 personally to know almost all the prominent actors of 
 the last thirty years, and to hear many of them descant, 
 in various moods, upon their brothers and sisters of the 
 dramatic profession : I never knew an actor whose mind 
 was more free than that of Booth from envy and bitter- 
 ness. The prosperity of other actors gave him pleasure, 
 and their adversity gave him pain. His judgment, at 
 the same time, was absolutely impartial, while his speech, 
 when occasion required it, was absolutely frank. When 
 it was proposed to erect a public monument to commem- 
 orate John McCullough, he declined to participate in the 
 
 Italian — played Othello and the Ghost. Booth played lago and Hamlet. 
 Mrs. D. P. Bowers played Emilia and Queen Gertrude. Miss Marie Wain- 
 wright played Desdemona and Ophelia. C. A\". Couldock played Brabantio 
 and Polonius. Alexander Salvini played Cassio and Laertes. Barton Hill 
 played the Doge and the King. John A. Lane played Montano and Ho- 
 ratio. All in English. The manager was Charles H. Thayer. Booth acted 
 Macbeth, with Fanny Janauschek as Lady Macbeth, at the Boston theatre 
 November 3, 1S68, — Janauschek speaking German. A friend who was 
 present wrote to me, at the time, as follows : " Booth's Macbeth was nearly 
 perfect in delivery, remarkable in suggestive and illustrative business, and 
 lit up with frequent flashes of genius. Janauschek was very fine, especially 
 throughout the murder scene. Her ' Give me the daggers ' vifas tremend- 
 ously effective. Altogether her performance was sharply defined and 
 vigorous. There was, however, a lack of adequate dignity in the banquet 
 scene, and her manner was spasmodic in the sleep-walking passage." 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 87 
 
 movement. " I admire and respect McCullough's mem- 
 ory," he said; "but while my father, a much greater 
 actor, remains without a pubhc monument, I cannot see 
 the justice of the proposed memorial." 
 
 With the more celebrated and prominent of his com- 
 patriots on the American stage, Booth's relations, while 
 seldom those of intimacy, were usually those of esteem 
 and kindness. Forrest, indeed, who had been friendly 
 to the elder Booth, and wlto had known Edwin from 
 childhood, resented the fame of the younger actor, and 
 gradually came to view him with aversion. The fact 
 that Booth acted in company with Catherine Sinclair, — 
 Mrs. Forrest, — when in California, embittered Forrest's 
 mind against him, and prevented friendship between 
 them. Forrest, on two or three occasions, saw Booth 
 act, but he was not heard to express approval. I never 
 .heard Booth speak of Forrest otherwise than with ap- 
 preciative consideration for that cynical veteran. He 
 much admired Charlotte Cushman, and several times 
 acted with her, in Macbeth. It was to Booth that she 
 expressed her peculiar view of that character. " Your 
 rehearsal," she said, "is very interesting — but Macbeth 
 was the great ancestor of all the Bowery ruffians." 
 Once, at the Academy in Philadelphia, Booth and Miss 
 Cushman acted together for two weeks, presenting 
 Macbeth, the Merchant of Venice, Henry the Eighth, and 
 Katherine and Petrnchio. The first time Charlotte 
 Cushman acted in New York as Hamlet she wore 
 Booth's Hamlet robe. Booth maintained relations of 
 kindly cordiality with J. W. Wallack, Jr., Charles 
 Kean, John Albaugh, John Gilbert, J. H. Hackett, 
 Charles Pope, C. W. Couldock, John McCullough, 
 
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88 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 E. A. Sothern,! Henry Edwards, Charles Fisher, John 
 Brougham, W. J. Florence, Benjamin G. Rogers, James 
 E. Murdoch, and many other contemporary players. 
 
 Booth's ideal of acting was high. The elements of 
 the stage that he disliked were its drudgery and its 
 triviality. He was impatient of the labour of rehearsal, 
 and he was annoyed by the ignorance and vanity of the 
 lower order of actors, whom he commonly designated 
 
 1 Edward Askew Sothern, born in Liverpool, England, April i, 1826; 
 died in London, at No. I Vere street, January 20, 1881 : the famous Dun- 
 dreary. Booth, who was acting in London at the time of Sothern's death, 
 wrote to me as follows, January 22, i88i : — 
 
 "After I had finished Othello last evening, January 21, I was told of 
 poor Sothern's death. I had passed an hour with him on Monday, and I 
 really thought he might die while I was at his bedside — he was so 
 emaciated and weak. They had taken him to Bournemouth, at the doc- 
 tor's suggestion; but he suffered so much there that he was hurried back 
 to London. The journey there and back was enough to overwhelm a 
 man in his condition. Poor fellow ! 
 
 " What a full company of players has made its exit this twelvemonth 
 past ! And how strange it is that so many utterly worthless men are per- 
 mitted to remain, while the good ones are taken away ! And how sad it 
 seems that when the good fellow — who has had such hosts of friends — 
 goes to his grave (very often, of late, at all events, it has happened), he 
 should be so poorly attended. Think of Brougham and of Floyd. I don't 
 know what is to be done in Sothern's case. I've heard nothing; and, on 
 account of a very severe cold (which I fear to aggravate while I am acting), 
 I shall not be able to take part in the funeral, beyond visiting the house of 
 mourning. I doubt very much if there'll be many, of all the hundreds 
 that flocked around him in life, that will follow his corse, or think of him 
 after to-day." 
 
 Sothern was buried in the beautiful cemetery at Southampton, on 
 January 25. His sons, Lytton and Edward, were present, together with 
 Sir John Rae Reid, Captain Fred Rasch, Horace Wall, and Robert Wynd- 
 ham, of Edinburgh. The cable incorrectly reported the presence there of 
 Dion Boucicault — one of Sothern's worst enemies, and one whose name 
 was odious to him. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 89 
 
 as "dogans." He rarely spoke of individual actors, 
 and he never spoke of them unkindly. His opinions of 
 acting, however, were not less definite for not being 
 proclaimed. He saw no surprising merit in the acting 
 of Lester Wallack, or in the style of which that capital 
 comedian was conspicuously representative. He named 
 Jefferson as a great comedian, and he ^expressed une- 
 quivocal admiration for the spontaneous, flexible acting 
 of Ada Rehan. He declared Charles Kean, in the part 
 of Louis the Eleventh, to be stronger than Henry Irving. 
 He thought Clarke to be funnier in private hfe than 
 in public. He saw Frederick Lemaitre, then in his 
 decadence — as Don Caesar de Bazan, and he was dis- 
 appointed in him.i He enjoyed comic caricature on the 
 stage, and he particularly liked the burlesques of his own 
 Hamlet and Richelieu, that were presented at the Olym- 
 pic, by George L. Fox.^ The judgment of actors about 
 
 ^ In Paris he visited the Ocleon, where he nearly went to sleep over an 
 uninteresting performance ; and the Comedie Frangaise, where a repre- 
 sentation of Augier's L'Aventuriere, the original of jRobertson's Home, 
 disappointed him in the case of Mile. Croizette and others, but greatly 
 pleased him in the case of M. Coquelin. The most enjoyable play he saw 
 in Paris was at the Porte St. -Martin, where he took his daughter to see 
 a drama which he had witnessed, in company with Iier mother, many 
 years before; and it is significant of the perennial character of French' 
 actresses, and the gallantry of Time toward those ladies, that Booth 
 recognised, in the representative of the heroine, the same woman, quite 
 unchanged, who sustained that part nearly twenty years ago. — London 
 Letter, by Clinton W. Stuart, January 26, 1881. 
 
 2 George L. Fox was a man of no intellectual power, but he was very 
 expert in his peculiar vocation. He made clowning a -fine art. His field 
 was not high, but within it he was a chieftain. His vein of humour was real 
 and rich. His drollery was spontaneous and irresistible. He took dehght 
 in his occupation, and therefore he had a firm grasp upon sympathy. 
 His artistic method was sure and clear. He knew the precise value of 
 
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90 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 each other is seldom sound. They see but little acting, 
 except it be associated with their own, and they are not 
 in the habit of considering the subject in a broad spirit. 
 They are fortunate, accordingly, — although they sel- 
 dom know it, — in the fact that reviews of their pro- 
 ceedings are not generally furnished by men of their 
 own craft. " I should be sorry," John McCullough said 
 to me, " to be found dead, playing such a part as Louis 
 the Eleventh." 
 
 Booth had a genial regard for Edwin L. Davenport, 
 — long the American Hamlet, — and he several times 
 acted with him in Othello, Davenport playing the Moor, 
 and Booth playing lago. Davenport [1816-1877], 
 was an actor of extraordinary versatility. I have seen 
 him act, in one evening, Shakespeare's Brutus and 
 Roaring Ralph Stackpole, in the Indian play of The 
 Jibbinainosay. He was massive and weird in Mac- 
 beth. His Duke Aranza, in The Honeyvioon, was peer- 
 less. His D'Artagnan and St. Marc were authentic 
 types of nobility, freely and broadly exhibited under the 
 varying lights of humour and pathos. His Sir Giles 
 Overreach was a sinister and grisly embodiment of 
 worldly craft and insensate villany. His Othello was, 
 
 repose contrasted with movement. His stillness was sometimes the most 
 vivid and humorous action, in its practical effect. By a single gesture he 
 could flash an entire process of thought upon the beholder's comprehen- 
 sion. His assumption of perfect innocence, and of docile goodness that is 
 unjustly and cruelly abused, w^as one of the best bits of art, and oiae of 
 the funniest spectacles, that the stage has afforded. Fox's clown was not 
 a common mummer, and he might well have said, " Mislike me not for 
 my complexion." He enriched the harmless enjoyment of his time; he 
 gained rank and honour by legitimate means, and he wore them with 
 modesty and grace. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 91 
 
 in construction, as nearly jDcrfect as it is possible for a 
 work of art to be. Mind, grace, force, variety, and occa- 
 sional flashes of fire were characteristic of Davenport's 
 acting. It was deficient in soul. His nature was not 
 spiritual, and hence his otherwise excellent Hamlet was 
 as metallic as the rapier that he carried ; but it had 
 distinct purpose and definite and adequate execution. 
 He was proud, and justly so, of his performance of 
 Sir Giles Overreach, and he often expressed the inten- 
 tion of making a specialty of that character. He told 
 me that it would one day become as popular in his 
 hands as Rip Van Winkle had become in those of Jef- 
 ferson. He forgot that Sir Giles is abhorrent to the 
 human heart, and, accordingly, that the better it is acted 
 the more it will be disliked, and the more it is disliked 
 the more it will be avoided. People can be startled, 
 once and again, by a superb exhibition of brilliant 
 wickedness and horror; but they cannot be charmed by 
 it. There is, to be sure, a fascination in evil, and this, 
 sometimes, is beautiful and potent. But it does not 
 strike deep, and it does not endure. Humanity fears a 
 monster, the moment it realises his presence ; and what 
 it fears it soon hates. The safety of the actor who 
 embodies Sir Giles, Richard the Third, and Pescara 
 is that his hearers do not apprehend his work as a fact. 
 They see it as an illusion ; and what they admire is the 
 skill with which he converts a man into a fiend. Awful 
 strifes of passion, and awful depths of iniquity and 
 suffering are suggestively laid open to their view, by 
 his art ; and, he, therefore, shines out as a wonderful, 
 dreadful sorcerer. But the honours he wears are only 
 for a day, if he stops at that order of achievement, and 
 
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92 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 does nothing to captivate affectionate sympathy. Daven- 
 port went to his grave unsatisfied in his ambition as to 
 Sir Giles. Everybody admired it, and everybody re- 
 frained as much as possible from seeing it. Davenport, 
 however, was a rare actor, and to see him as William, 
 in Black-eyed Susan, was to see acting of a high 
 order. When he went to England, with Mrs. Mowatt, 
 playing Claude Melnotte and kindred parts, the eccen- 
 tric Knowles, of Manchester, said to him, after the first 
 performance in that city, " You are the star — not 
 Mrs. Mowatt;" and Knowles straightway commanded 
 that Davenport's name should be starred in the bill. 
 Wherever he went he was admired; and yet, for lack 
 of intrinsic royalty, he missed the sceptre that at one 
 time it seemed destined he should wield. 
 
 A contemporary whom Booth admired as an actor, 
 and whom he valued much as a friend, was John E. 
 Owens (1823-1886), at whose prince-like home, Aig- 
 burth Vale, near Baltimore, he was, in old times, a fre- 
 quent visitor. Owens was a man of uncommon mind, 
 sterling character, and rare personal charm, and he 
 was a comedian of the first order. His acting was 
 remarkable for wealth and brilliancy of animal spirits, 
 and for richness and spontaneity of humour. While 
 his method in art was marked by minute elaboration of 
 details, the current of his humour suffused with rosy 
 light the whole mechanical structure, giving it unity, 
 warmth, and colour. He acted many parts, but was 
 especially felicitous in Joshua Butterby and Solon Shin- 
 gle. In Joshua Butterby he presented a compound of 
 ridiculous mental vacuit)-, comic pertness, and absurd 
 self-assertion. The character is unlovable ; yet the 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 93 
 
 comedian commended it by the fortunate excess of his 
 personal drollery. The element of farce, in the skil- 
 ful method of Owens, was not permitted to dull the 
 point of the fine and useful satire, nor to blur the tints 
 of eccentric character. In TJie Victims Butterby re- 
 volves around a selfish sentimentalist, of the literary 
 class, whose egotism has blinded his sense of duty. 
 The theme thus exhibited is a simpleton's admiration 
 for a moral coward ; and the drift of the play is satire 
 of the blue-stocking element in literature, combined 
 with condemnation of sentimental imposture in the con- 
 duct of life. The Victims is a piece that must have 
 exerted a thoroughly good influence — for there is noth- 
 ing like the bow of humour to send home to their centre 
 the arrows of truth and wit. In Solon Shingle Owens 
 expended his strength upon a portraiture of eccentric 
 character, distinctively American, and, of a certain sort, 
 natural — even to the utmost line of literalness. The 
 unity of that embodiment, in dress, movement, gesture, 
 peculiarity of facial expression, vocalism and manner, 
 was marvellous. Owens never ceased to study, and to 
 strengthen his art. His bubbling humour kept his audi- 
 ence in continual delight, and few actors have given so 
 much pleasure or left so sweet a memory. 
 
 With John S. Clarke, who married his sister Asia, 
 Booth was associated from his youth, and he always 
 expressed for him a great personal regard. It is the 
 peculiarity of the fine strain of art that its charm is elu- 
 sive ; a charm felt rather than perceived ; easy to recog- 
 nise but difficult to define. The acting of John S. Clarke 
 — who has now in a great measure withdrawn from the 
 stage — was sincere ; it was urged by a clear, firm. 
 
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94 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 propulsive purpose ; it was original in character ; and it 
 was compact and pointed in style. The power that 
 Clarke exercised, to please and captivate, to stimulate 
 laughter and inspire affectionate liking, may, doubtless, 
 be ascribed to temperament. He is a humourist. Life 
 strikes his mind at the comic angle, and his constitutional 
 methods of response to its influence are either drolly 
 playful or downright comic. Yet, as an artist, he leaves 
 nothing to chance, and the first implications of his act- 
 ing are deep feeling and strong thought. There was 
 no heedless, accidental quality in his art. There was 
 neither hesitation, nor uncertainty, nor excess, nor error. 
 The spectator was not wearied by inefficiency nor vexed 
 by vain pretension. The spring of victory in his act- 
 ing was the perfect control that he exercised over his 
 powers, — his complete understanding of himself, his 
 minute and thorough perception of cause and effect in 
 stage art, and his consummate skill in deducing the one 
 from the other. Wealth and variety of pathos and spirit- 
 uality were not implied by his personations, — although, 
 indeed, there was pathos in his acting of Bob Tyke, — but 
 they were richly fraught with original character, drollery, 
 intense earnestness, clear meaning distinctly revealed and 
 unerringly projected, and the unity of texture and sym- 
 metry of form that should characterise a dramatic ideal 
 thoroughly fashioned and adequately expressed. When 
 Clarke came upon the stage in an assumed character he 
 filled it, to the utmost ; and he never lapsed out of it. 
 His method was, in all things, a studied one, and though 
 his ways were, in all things — or almost all — grotesque, 
 each of his portrayals was distinctly individual. De 
 Boots, Toodle, Pangloss, Waddilovc, Acres, Bob Tyke, 
 
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JOSEPH JEFFERSON AND JOHN S. CLARKE 
 As Dr. Pangloss and Zekiel Homespun. 
 From original in possession of W. Winter. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 95 
 
 and Redmond Tape — were all different persons. There 
 is a lasting power of conquest in the art that understands 
 itself and goes straight to its purpose. Clarke made De 
 Boots and Toodle, and other such eccentric char- 
 acters, natural and probable human creatures, rather 
 than figments of a grotesque fancy. As represented 
 by him, those parts suggested a background of experi- 
 ence and the versimilitude of daily life. He was 
 happy in the introduction of delicate points of busi- 
 ness, which served to augment and more clearly define 
 the texture of the parts, without, however, in any way 
 changing it. He acted with the ease of second nat- 
 ure, that makes the observer oblivious of the effort 
 and skill which alone could produce such effects of illu- 
 sion and enjoyment. Nothing more ludicrous has been 
 heard upon the stage than the tone in which Clarke, as 
 De Boots, mentioned the approach of "that man who 
 has such a lively interest in my nose," or the tone of 
 self-opinionated complacency with which, as Toodle, the 
 comedian said : " He went to his grave, and died there." 
 In lace-work the most delicate threads count — and 
 Clarke's mechanism was always lace. The period in 
 which Booth lived was rich in manifestations of splendid 
 talent upon the stage, especially in comedy — Mathews, 
 Burton, Owens, Blake, Gilbert, Hackett, Burke, Jeffer- 
 son, Warren, Sothern, Brougham, Buckstone, Clarke, 
 Lewis, Toole, Rowe, Florence, Holland, Davidge, Le 
 Moyne, Wallack, Raymond, Setchell, Stoddart, Beckett, 
 and Mark Smith being conspicuous in the brilliant 
 throng through which he moved, a dark, sad, stately 
 figure, shadow-like in the sun. 
 
 Never until Henry Irving arose did Booth meet with 
 
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96 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 a rival. He had eclipsed Forrest. He had nothing to 
 fear from either Davenport, Brooke, Murdoch, Adams, 
 Dillon, Marshall, Wallack, Fechter, Lawrence Barrett, 
 or John McCullough. He stood alone in the public 
 favour, and for many years he had the realm of the 
 tragic drama entirely at his command. He was assailed, 
 indeed, but he was never shaken. Not till Henry Irving 
 came to America did Booth ever have reason to under- 
 stand that his star had passed its meridian and was 
 beginning to descend. There is an inevitable fate in 
 such changes. The great actor passes away, with his 
 time. The celebrity, whoever he may be, is fortunate 
 who does not linger on the scene after his period has gone. 
 One of the sweetest of Booth's characteristics was the 
 gentle patience, the cheerful resignation, with which he 
 accepted the new order of things. He did not defer to 
 the new lights of art. He did not believe in the new 
 school. The tradition of his father and of Edmund 
 Kean was his law. Yet, if the public was drifting away 
 from that old faith, he was content to be left alone at 
 its altar. He allied with himself the intellectual, indom- 
 itable Lawrence Barrett and the gentle and lovely Mod- 
 jeska, and he stood fast, to the end, by the old-fashioned 
 standard of poetic tragedy, the grand manner, the 
 elocutionary not less than the mimetic art. But he 
 did not wish to obtrude himself or to insist on his 
 views. The periods of his engagements grew shorter 
 and shorter, and little by little he relaxed his grasp 
 upon the stage and went into retirement. The death 
 of Lawrence Barrett, March 20, 1891, gave him a great 
 shock and much intensified his inclination to with- 
 draw into private life. I never heard him, however, 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 97 
 
 speak a harsh word about any actor or about the pubhc. 
 His day, as well he knew, had been very brilliant. He 
 had reigned in splendour. He was willing to accept the 
 evening twilight, when it came, and be at peace. He 
 was on the stage for nearly forty-two years — from Sep- 
 tember 18, 1849, till April 4, 1 89 1, — and, steadily to the 
 last, he was the devoted, unselfish, gentle apostle of 
 acting and of actors, and, steadily to the last, although 
 his enthusiasm had waned and his powers had begun to 
 fail, the community followed him with respect, and even 
 with affectionate homage. 
 
 After his relinquishment of Booth's theatre. Booth 
 never again participated in theatrical management. 
 All his labours in that field were over and done with, 
 by the time he came to forty years. During the last 
 twenty years of his life he was simply a travelling star. 
 He did not act continuously, but allowed himself inter- 
 vals of retirement and rest, residing for the most part in 
 New York, though for a while in Boston, but repairing 
 now and then to a country home that he had established 
 at Cos-Cob, not far from Stamford, Connecticut, and later 
 to Newport. At Cos-Cob, on August 17, 1875, while driv- 
 ing in company with Dr. Kellogg, of the Poughkeepsie 
 Lunatic Asylum, — author of a thoughtful and valua- 
 ble treatise on the insanity of some of Shakespeare's 
 characters, a good companion book to Dr. Connolly's 
 exposition of the insanity of Hamlet, — he was thrown 
 from his carriage, hurled against a telegraph pole, 
 and severely hurt.^ His left arm was broken and two 
 
 ^ News of that disaster reached me about midnight, at the N.Y. 
 Tribune, in the form of an abrupt announcement that Booth was dead. 
 Inquiry presently ascertained that this report was rumour. Direct commu- 
 
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98 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 of his ribs were bruised, and for several weeks he 
 remained disabled. He recovered, however, and on 
 October 25, 1875, he reappeared upon the stage, in the 
 Fifth Avenue theatre, New York. The next year 
 brought one of the most interesting episodes of his 
 professional life, — a tour through the southern States, 
 from which he had long been absent. That tour began 
 at Baltimore, January 3, 1876, and ended at Bowling 
 Green, March 3. It was guided by John T. Ford, 
 one of the ablest theatrical managers in America, 
 and long the leading theatrical director in the South, 
 and it was attended with much prosperity. In Balti- 
 more, Booth appeared fourteen times, before audiences 
 representative of the culture and beauty of that refined 
 city, and of the county in which he was born. In Rich- 
 mond he acted seven times, and he then visited, in 
 succession, Charlotte, Columbia, Augusta, Charleston, 
 Savannah, Macon, Columbus, Montgomery, Atlanta, 
 
 nication with Cos-Cob was, at that hour, impossible. The an.xious suspense 
 of that night has not been forgotten. The following paragraph, written 
 by me, appeared in the Trilmne, the next morning : — 
 
 " It is thought that the accident to Edwin Booth may result fatally. 
 Mr. Booth, however, is a man of strongly-knit and wiry physique, and 
 capable of great endurance; and from this fact, and from the fact that he is 
 of a firm, patient, resolute nature, a happier result may be anticipated. The 
 loss of Edwin Booth would be a great, an irremediable calamity to the 
 American stage. He is now in the meridian of his powers and his fame — 
 ripened by a larger experience of both renown and adversity than falls to 
 the lot of most men; and, since misfortune and success have but strength- 
 ened in him a noble devotion to what is noblest in his art, while develop- 
 ing and augmenting his capacities to serve its cause, it is not too much to 
 say that around him are clustered the highest hopes of the future of our 
 theatre. In few instances are pri^-ate virtues so closely wedded to public 
 eminence as in the case of Edwin Booth ; and the community would feel, 
 in losing him, that it had lost an exemplar, an ornament^ a friend." 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 99 
 
 Chattanooga, Nashville, and Bowling Green. Fifty- 
 two performances, in all, were given by him, the char- 
 acters that he represented being Hamlet, Othello, 
 Richelieu, Richard the Second, King Lear, Shylock, 
 Cardinal Wolsey, lago, and Petruchio. Booth had not 
 acted south of Baltimore, on the Atlantic coast, since 
 1859, "when he appeared in most of the cities named. 
 He was therefore a novelty, and the inhabitants of the 
 South, for many miles around the places that he was 
 announced to visit, came in crowds to the cities in which 
 he appeared. The hotels were thronged. Legislatures 
 regulated their hours of meeting, with a special view to 
 attendance upon his performances. Social parties gave 
 precedence to the theatre. Crowds of people gathered 
 as early as daylight, in many instances, to buy tickets. 
 Northern citizens who chanced to be passing the winter 
 in the South were eager applicants for places. There 
 was a multitude at every stopping-place, to welcome the 
 actor ; and often, at way-stations, the doors of the cars 
 had to be locked, in order to keep out the rush of spec- 
 tators. No actor had ever caused such excitement, or 
 received such a tribute, in the southern country. Booth 
 richly repaid the welcome, — acting with such intensity 
 and fire as he had not surpassed, even in his earlier 
 days. His impersonation of Richard the Second was an 
 extraordinary success — particularly in Baltimore, Rich- 
 mond, Charleston, and Savannah, places in which the 
 inhabitants have ever been exacting in their views of the 
 acted drama. The part of Richard the Second, which, 
 prior to his time, had long been disused, was adopted by 
 Booth in the fall of 1875, and thereafter was made a 
 specialty by him ; and his assumption of it was in a 
 
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100 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 high degree poetical and pathetic. The stage in the 
 South received a fresh impetus of vitahty from Booth's 
 brilHant tour, and long enjoyed the benefit of a conse- 
 quent revival of dramatic interest. Booth and Ford 
 parted at Cave City, Kentucky — the manager taking 
 his company, of twenty-seven persons, to Baltimore. 
 Before beginning the homeward journey the actors 
 presented to Ford a gold cross, as a token of friend- 
 ship, and to commemorate the Booth expedition. The 
 most remunerative business of the tour was done at 
 Nashville, Baltimore, and Atlanta. Booth's health was 
 benefited by travel, and his spirit was much cheered by 
 the sympathy of the southern people. On March 13 he 
 appeared at Louisville, and on March 27 in Cincinnati. 
 On April 6 he began an engagement at McVicker's 
 theatre, Chicago, and while there, on April 23, he gave 
 a special performance for the benefit of the Shakespeare 
 Memorial, at Stratford-upon-Avon. Later — in June — 
 he sent a personal contribution of five hundred dollars 
 to the treasury of that institution, and the council con- 
 trolling it thereupon elected him to be one of its govern- 
 ors. ^ In the latter part of May he gave a performance 
 in Baltimore, to aid the ladies of Maryland in their cele- 
 bration of the American centennial. He passed several 
 weeks of the summer at Cos-Cob, Connecticut, and with 
 his mother, at Long Branch, and late in August, 1876, he 
 left Chicago,^ on his journey to California — the scene 
 
 1 In the summer of 1880 Booth visited Stratford-upon-Avon and he was 
 received there with cordial respect and hospitahty. At the birthplace of 
 Shakespeare he was the recipient of a great compliment — being invited to 
 write his name, " high up," upon the Actors' Pillar. 
 
 2 Just before leaving Chicago Booth wrote as follows, to his sister, Mrs. 
 J. S. Clarke : — 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 101 
 
 of his early trials and his first success, which he was 
 now to see again after an absence of twenty years. 
 He was received there with enthusiasm, and in San 
 Francisco, where he filled an engagement of eight 
 weeks, the receipts exceeded $96,000. 
 
 After his return from California Booth's public life 
 flowed smoothly, in the customary channel. He had 
 become a wandering star. On November 20, 1876, he 
 appeared at the theatre in West Fourteenth street. New 
 York, then called the Lyceum, under the management 
 of J. H. McVicker, as Hamlet, and there he con- 
 tinued to act till January 26, 1877. Hamlet vidiS acted 
 nine times. The Fool's Revenge, produced November 
 27, received seven representations. Booth acting Ber- 
 tuccio. Richard the Second, brought forward on De- 
 cember 4, was seven times repeated. Othello, presented 
 on December 11, received six performances, Booth 
 and Frederick Robinson alternating the characters of 
 Othello and lago. The Merchant of Venice, first given 
 on December 1 3, was acted five times. Ricliclien was pre- 
 sented December 18, and acted eight times. Much Ado 
 About Nothing had two performances, December 23 and 
 January 6 — both in the morning. Richard the Third, 
 
 " Your letter from England, dated June 20, has just reached me. It 
 travelled around the country, halted at the dead letter office, and has been 
 rescued and forwarded to me here, on the eve of my departure for CaH- 
 fornia. John McCuUough has provided for our especial accommodation a 
 Pullman car ; we are to stop when and where we like, and are comfortably 
 supplied with every convenience of a home. I am in good health and 
 spirits, and disposed to take the world easily. I do not see that I have 
 any other blessing to ask of God, excepting always His assistance to that 
 point where I may best serve my fellow-men. I've had a dream of such a 
 privilege being mine —the dream of many years ; perhaps I shall reahse 
 it, ere I die." — That dream, no doubt, was of the Players' Club. 
 
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102 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 produced on Christmas night, was seven times repre- 
 sented, as was also Brutus — first given on New Year's 
 night. King Lear, January 8, was acted four times ; 
 Tlie Lady of Lyons, November 25, at a matinee, thrice. 
 The Stranger was performed on December 2, at a 
 matinee, and on January 20. Don Ccesar de Bazan 
 was given on December 9 and January 26. Ruy Bias, 
 produced at a matinee, December 30, was acted four 
 times. The Taming of the Shrezv, January 11, received 
 three performances. Fifteen pieces were presented, 
 and Booth was seen as Hamlet, Claude Melnotte, 
 Bertuccio, The Stranger, Richard the Second, Don 
 Caesar de Bazan, Othello, lago, Shylock, Richelieu, 
 Benedick, Richard the Third, Ruy Bias, Brutus, King 
 Lear, and Petruchio. That mention indicates the general 
 character of the engagements that he filled at this time 
 and during the rest of his career. Clara Jennings acted, 
 with competent ability, the leading female characters 
 in those plays. McVicker was seen as Dogberry, 
 Peter, and the First Grave-digger. Booth's season 
 began in prosperity ; but, in common with other theat- 
 rical enterprises of that day, it was seriously damaged 
 by the consequences of the fatal burning of the Brook- 
 lyn theatre. The receipts did not exceed $50,000. 
 Booth's acting — while on certain nights, when de- 
 pressed in spirits, he somewhat disappointed the spec- 
 tator, by lack of power and fire — showed imagination, 
 a strong grasp of Shakespearian ideals, and the repose 
 of consummate dramatic art. In Hamlet, lago, Riche- 
 lieu, Richard the Second, Bertuccio, and the lurid parts 
 of Brutus, Booth certainly was one of the first trage- 
 dians of the world. Those works were unique. They 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 103 
 
 embellished the stage. They impressed and charmed 
 the best intellect and taste of the age; and they pre- 
 serve his name in a just renown. 
 
 Booth in his time played many parts, but his usual 
 repertory, after his reputation became established, in- 
 cluded seventeen characters: Hamlet, Richelieu, lago, 
 Bertuccio, King Lear, Shylock, Richard the Second, 
 Richard the Third, Cardinal Wolsey, Macbeth, Othello, 
 Marcus Brutus, Lucius Brutus, Benedick, Petruchio, 
 Ruy Bias, and Don Ca2sar de Bazan. In addition to 
 those parts he also sometimes acted Sir Giles Overreach, 
 Sir Edward Mortimer, Pescara, Claude Melnotte, and 
 The Stranger. He was always desirous of obtaining 
 new plays, but he did not want tragedies. He felt the 
 need of relief from the tension and strain of tragic char- 
 acters, and he said that the style of a tragedian is 
 lightened, and made more flexible and natural, by the 
 habit of acting now and then in comedy. He read 
 many manuscripts of new plays that were offered to 
 him, but he seldom or never found a piece that he could 
 practically adopt. A tragedy on the subject of Henry 
 the Seeond, written by Messrs. Hollister and Champlin, 
 jDleased him much, and came near to being a success on 
 the stage. That piece he produced at New Orleans, in 
 the season of 1859-60. One scene of it, in which King 
 Henry, at the council board, seizes a battle-axe, and in 
 one of those tempests of passion for which the fiery 
 Plantaganet, in actual life, was notorious, aims to 
 strike down the offending Becket, he much admired, 
 saying that it was almost as effective as the somewhat 
 similar scene, of the condemnation of Hastings, in 
 Shakespeare's tragedy of Richard the Third. He pro- 
 
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104 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 duced at the Boston theatre a romantic drama by Edmund 
 Falconer, called Loves Ordeal, appearing in it as Eugene 
 de Morny, but he soon discarded it. He was an inter- 
 esting actor in romantic drama, but his greatness was 
 that of the tragedian. In 1877, acting upon a sugges- 
 tion made by me, — that measures should be taken to 
 preserve a record of his stage-business in the various 
 parts, — he carefully cut and arranged the text of fif- 
 teen of the plays in his repertory, inserting many stage- 
 directions, and those pieces were published, with my 
 introductions and notes, under the name of The Prompt 
 Book. They are an authentic memorial to Booth's prac- 
 tical knowledge of his profession, and to his scholarship, 
 judgment, taste, and artistic method. The first of them 
 was Richard the Third. Booth restored the original text 
 of that tragedy, and acted it according to Shakespeare, 
 in 1876. His version is adapted, but, aside from two or 
 three phrases, it does not contain a line that is not in 
 the original piece. The public, however, has always 
 preferred Gibber's Richard, and probably always will. 
 The other books of Booth's series are Hamlet, Macbeth, 
 Otiiello, King Lear, Richard the Second, Henry the 
 Eighth, JMuch Ado abont Nothing, The JLerchant of Venice, 
 Katherine and Pctntchio, Ricliclien, The FooTs Revenge, 
 Brnttis, Ruy Bias, and Don Cccsar de Baaan. The inten- 
 tion was that each play-book should contain all the 
 aids that are essential for the production of the play. 
 Twenty years earlier Booth had begun the arrangement 
 of the text of some of the stock plays, and in the Win- 
 ter Garden time he had printed several of them, under 
 the supervision of Henry L. Hinton, a young actor in 
 his company : those books he discarded. 
 
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LAUNT THOMPSON, SCULP. ARTOTVPE, E. BIERSTAOT 
 
 BOOTH AS HAMLET. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 105 
 
 As a manager Booth, incidentally, produced Arthur 
 Matthison's play on Tennyson's poem of Eiiocit Arden, 
 and likewise a tragic piece entitled Jonquil, or Only a 
 Heart, by William Young. The latter piece was brought 
 out at Booth's theatre, April 1 5, 1871. It is in four acts, 
 and the scene is Paris. The hero is a poor artist ; the 
 heroine a dancing girl. These two marry, and the wife 
 repudiates the husband and breaks his heart. The 
 situations are effective. The piece resembles Bclphegor 
 and the Marble Heart — showing the evil that may be 
 wrought by a fickle or a cruel woman. Lawrence 
 Barrett played Jonquil. Neither of those plays has 
 survived. Booth also reproduced in America the drama 
 of Time and Tide, by Palgrave Simjoson. 
 
 Prominent and influential actors are customarily re- 
 proached because they do not exhibit an eager alacrity 
 in the production of new plays. The reproach is unjust. 
 New plays, as a rule, should be thrown into the fire. 
 The good new play is the rare exception. Almost every 
 man who can write anything believes that he can write 
 a play. The late Lester Wallack once asked me why I 
 had not written a comedy for him, and when, in reply, I 
 told him that I did not pretend to be a writer of plays, 
 he said, with a smile : " You are the only man of letters 
 that ever made me that answer." I asked him, there- 
 upon, what answer he had genei-ally received. " Writ- 
 ers always say," he declared, " that they don't write 
 comedies for me, because the taste of the public is so 
 low that nothing good would be appreciated." The de- 
 lusion that if a man is a writer he can write a play as 
 readily as he can write anything else is widely preva- 
 lent ; and yet not one writer in a thousand possesses 
 
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106 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 the peculiar talent and exceptional impulse that are 
 essential for that species of composition. When Lord 
 Byron became a director of Drury Lane theatre, — an 
 office that he held for a short time in 1815, — he heard 
 the same complaint that is made now, the complaint 
 that good dramatists receive no practical encourage- 
 ment ; and he caused an examination to be made, and 
 he participated in it, of the manuscript plays that were 
 then in the Drury Lane library. They numbered about 
 five hundred. " I do not think," he subsequently wrote, 
 in his Detached Thoughts, " that of those which I saw 
 there was one which could be conscientiously tolerated. 
 There never were such things as most of them." Similar 
 research, in our time, reaches a similar conclusion. The 
 acted drama has existed in the United States of America 
 for about one hundred and fifty years ; yet it would be 
 difficult, if not impossible, to name as many as forty 
 persons, among American authors, who, in the course 
 of all that time, have written good plays. The rea- 
 son is simple. Writers think only, or chiefly, of the 
 shaping of their thoughts into felicitous words. Even 
 so great a writer as Thackeray, whose story of Lovcl 
 the Widozvcr was originally written as a play, failed in 
 his endeavour to employ the dramatic form. That form 
 was not natural to him ; it was not his appropriate 
 instrument. The essence of a play is action. The 
 drama must, first, address the eye ; afterward, the ear. 
 Examination of the structure of the great plays of 
 Shakespeare reveals the fact that the movement of them 
 could proceed without language. The most dramatic 
 of them is Othello, and in that the celerity, harmony, 
 and cumulative force of the movement are marvellous. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 107 
 
 Words are essential ; and in Shakespeare's plays they 
 are often precious beyond expression ; but, for the pur- 
 poses of the stage, dramatic vitality is more essential 
 than words. If leading actors, like Booth, were in the 
 habit of rejecting good plays, their course would be 
 open to censure. Their rejection of rubbish ought to 
 inspire public gratitude. 
 
 In 1880 Booth fulfilled a project which for some 
 time he had entertained, of making a visit to Europe. 
 A banquet in his honour occurred in New York, at 
 Delmonico's, on June 15, 1880, — at which speeches were 
 delivered by John R. Brady, Rev. Robert Collyer, Law- 
 rence Barrett, Lester Wallack, Joseph Jefferson, Rev. 
 F. C. Ewer, William Warren, Whitelaw Reid, E. C. 
 Stedman, Charles P. Daly, Algernon S. Sullivan, Noah 
 Brooks, Horace Porter, George Shea, W. S. Andrews, 
 and Parke Godwin, and a poem was read by the present 
 writer, — and on June 30, accompanied by his wife 
 and daughter, he sailed for England. Arrangements 
 for his appearance in London had not been made ; 
 but, under the guidance of John S. Clarke, a contract 
 was soon effected, and after a visit to Stratford- 
 upon-Avon and a summer tour in Switzerland, includ- 
 ing a disappointing view of the Passion Play at Ober- 
 ammergau. Booth appeared, on November 6, at the 
 new Princess's theatre, under the management of 
 Messrs. Walter Gooch and Henry Jackson, as Hamlet. 
 The choice of that part, advised and strongly urged by 
 Mrs. Booth, was not, perhaps, judicious, since it seemed 
 to challenge comparison with the reigning favourite of 
 the London stage, Henry Irving. Booth was apprised 
 that the newspapers in general would be hostile to him. 
 
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108 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 and the anticipation of harsh treatment thereupon made 
 him stern and cold. He told me afterward that his 
 embodiment of Hamlet, on the opening night of that 
 London season, was the most inflexible performance 
 that he ever gave. Doubtless, however, he exaggerated 
 the hardness of the impersonation, for by many compe- 
 tent judges among the English it was much admired. 
 The cautious and gelid manner commonly adopted by 
 the London press, and sometimes carried to a ludi- 
 crous extreme, is not always accompanied by either 
 depth of thought, wisdom of judgment, or sincerity of 
 feeling. Some of the London journals talked down 
 to Booth from an Olympian height which they had not 
 previously been supposed to occupy. In the main, how- 
 ever, he was received with honour. Many pages might 
 be filled with tributes from the newspapers. Booth's 
 embodiments of Richelieu, Bertuccio, lago, and Lear 
 elicited public sympathy and enthusiastic favour. Lear 
 was produced on February 14, 1881. Booth was re- 
 called after each act, and three times after the scene 
 of the recognition of Cordelia, — a passage in which his 
 acting probably has not been excelled. In Lear he 
 was at his best of passion and pathos, and but that 
 he had fascinated his public with Hamlet and Riche- 
 lieu, that embodiment would have been regarded as the 
 greatest of his works. He surpassed his father in that 
 part, and his father, according to Hazlitt, surpassed, in 
 Lear, that writers idol, Edmund Kean. When Booth, 
 as a young man, first acted Lear he presented the Tate 
 version, which, as modified by John Philip Kemble, had 
 long been in common use. Subsequently he discarded 
 that version, and for upwards of ten years he left the 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 109 
 
 piece untouched, in order that he might forget Tate. 
 That done, he reverted to the great tragedy, and pro- 
 duced it [at Chicago, in October, 1870, for the first 
 time] as it stands in Shaliespeare.^ Among the fa- 
 mous Englishmen who saw Booth's performance of it, 
 at the Princess's, were Dean Stanley, Charles Reade, 
 and Tennyson. The poet saw it on March 7, and in- 
 vited the actor to dine with him the next day. " Most 
 interesting, most touching and powerful," said Tennyson, 
 speaking to Booth at dinner, "but not a bit like Lear." 
 Booth's acting version of the tragedy, on the other 
 hand, was declared by the Spectator to be " far more 
 clear and cogent than the original play,'' and Booth's 
 embodiment was designated, by the Academy, "a pro- 
 found study of mental condition incident upon old age 
 
 1 Booth's first impersonation in New Yorli of Shakespeare's Lear was 
 given at the Fifth Avenue theatre, on November 16, 1875, and the follow- 
 ing record of it was made by me, in the Tribune of the next day : — 
 
 " The night was wet and bleak, but the house was crowded, and Booth's 
 impersonation of the majestic and awful part of Lear was seen, with eager 
 attention, by a crowd of sympathetic spectators, often thrilled by his mag- 
 netic fire, and often Ufted out of ordinary composure by his melting 
 pathos. The performance was uneven, and it has room to grow; but it 
 will be recognised, in the coming on of time, as one of the greatest of 
 Booth's achievements. He wrought the loftiest effects with the frenzy of 
 the monarch, at the close of act second, with the scene of the recognition 
 of Cordelia, and with the death scene. He expressed, with extraordinary 
 truth and power, the old man's dread of impending insanity, the helpless- 
 ness of breaking age, and the outraged tenderness of paternal love. A 
 more afflicting image of miserable age and shattered royalty — not of 
 name and office merely, but of nature — has not been seen on the stage 
 than Booth presented, in the awakening of Lear and his recognition of 
 Cordelia. In certain particulars he disappointed — seeming to possess 
 the part, not seeming to be possessed by it. He lacked massiveness in the 
 earlier scenes, and his brain was too compact in others. Booth was called 
 out at the end of every act, and twice at the end of act fourth." 
 
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110 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 and the long habit of authority still half retained when 
 it should be wholly laid aside." The Era, in an article 
 from the competent pen of E. L. Blanchard, said that 
 " in the mad scenes of the fourth act ; in the commun- 
 ings with poor Tom, the philosopher ; in the keen satire 
 at the expense of those who are supposed to administer 
 justice ; and in the joyful recognition of the returned 
 Cordelia, and in the grief which, with her untimely 
 death, brings the king's crowning sorrow and calls him 
 from a wicked world, Booth's delivery and acting were 
 superb : and we are disposed to say that nothing finer 
 of the kind has been known upon the English stage." 
 Similar testimony was borne by the experienced and 
 accomplished Sala, in the Ilhtstratcd London News. 
 " Among the touches of pure art," said that writer, 
 " the most conspicuous were the passages in which 
 Lear expressed, not only by words, but by mien and 
 gesture, his miserable consciousness that he was totter- 
 ing on the narrow border line between reason and 
 unreason. The despairing persuasion that he was go- 
 ing mad, his piteous admission that he might not be 
 altogether in his right mind, his abandonment of 
 delirium, his strange foregatherings and mutterings 
 and meanings, with the simulated Tom o' Bedlam ; 
 Lear's restoration to reason, and his exquisite, pathetic 
 recognition of Cordelia, with his final agonised lament 
 over her dead body, were all rendered with astonishing 
 truth, nerve, and absence of exaggeration. In his ear- 
 lier scenes with the Fool I hold him to be fully equal to 
 Macready." 
 
 A letter from Booth, during the run of that tragedy, 
 indicates its reactionary effect upon himself, in the dis- 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 111 
 
 tressing circumstances under which he was obliged to 
 continue acting. "The strain of Lear every night," 
 he wrote, " is in itself enough to drain the life of a 
 stronger man than I ; but add to this the anxiety on 
 Mary's account, and loss of sleep, and you may guess 
 how sa7ic I am. I sometimes feel as though my brain 
 were tottering on the verge. Perhaps acting mad every 
 night has something to do with it. I once read of a 
 French actress who went mad after a continued run of 
 an insane character she loersonated." At another time, 
 adverting to his art, Booth said: "When I am enrapt 
 in a character I am personating there seems to be 
 another and a distinct individuality, another me, sitting 
 in judgment on myself." 
 
 The first engagement at the Princess's, — lasting 
 one hundred and nineteen nights, — closed on March 
 26, with Shylock and Petruchio. Booth, however, had 
 formed the plan of giving a series of Morning Perform- 
 ances in London, to include a round of parts, and he 
 now proposed to Henry Irving that those performances 
 should occur at the Lyceum theatre. Irving at once 
 accepted that proposal, but a little later suggested a 
 combination between Booth and himself, with the pur- 
 pose of presenting Othello, and alternating the char- 
 acters of Othello and lago — the performances to be 
 given at night. That plan, conceived by Irving, and 
 suggested in a spirit of rare and fine generosity, was 
 adopted, and on May 2, 1881, Booth made his first 
 appearance at the Lyceum theatre, performing Othello.^ 
 
 1 "There was at the Lyceum" — so wrote a careful and conscientious 
 observer, Mr. Joseph Hatton — "a thoroughly representative assemblage, 
 with the addition of an extra amount of electricity in the atmosphere. 
 
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112 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 Irving was lago — which he played for the first time in 
 his life. The matchless Ellen Terry embodied Des- 
 demona. The picturesque William Terriss assumed 
 Cassio. Mead, with his sonorous and superb voice, pre- 
 sented Brabantio. Mrs. Pauncefort appeared as Emilia, 
 and Mr. Pinero as Roderigo. The engagement was 
 for three performances a week, and it was to last a 
 month. More than ;£'4000 had been received at the 
 Lyceum, in advance, for tickets, prior to the opening 
 night. The success of the venture was great. The 
 
 The gallery seemed crowded unto overflowing, the front being packed 
 with human beings. In the upper circles, between the pit and the gal- 
 lery, were many of the distinguished people you expect to find in the 
 stalls; but the prices had been doubled, and they therefore occupied seats 
 which it is not considered infra dig. to occupy at the Italian opera. The 
 stalls and boxes were full of well-known people, including all the leading 
 critics, many of the usual habitues of the house, and some eminent citizens 
 of the United States. Baroness Burdett-Coutts occupied her usual box, 
 with her husband and a party. In another box were Miss Booth, Mrs. J. S, 
 Clarke, and Miss Clarke. On the opposite side were the American Min- 
 ister and Consul-General Hoppin. In the stalls were Mr. McHenry, Dr. 
 Critchett, Mr. and Mrs. Sala, Mr. and Mrs. George Lewis, Mrs. Keeley, 
 the famous actress, a girlish young lady of about eighty. Chevalier 
 Wykoff, Mr. and Mrs. Wyndham, formerly of the Edinburgh theatre; 
 Mr. and Mrs. Michael Gunn, of Dublin; Mr. and Mrs. Saville Clarke; 
 Lady Hardy and Miss Hardy; Mr. Mowbray Morris, of the Times; 
 Mr. Clement Scott; Mr. and Mrs. Comyns Carr; Professor Tyndall; Mr. 
 and Mrs. G. H. Boughton, and many others. Irving was picturesque, as a 
 Venetian gallant and soldier should be; as gay in banter, and in the 
 drinking scene with Cassio, as the situations require. In the Cyprian 
 incident of Desdemona's graciousness to Cassio he made his short reflec- 
 tive speeches while he leaned against a vine-clad archway, plucking and 
 eating the grapes, as he watches and notes, and engenders the plot 
 against his comrade Cassio and his chief the Moor. The reading of 
 lago was full of fresh and ingenious interpretation ; and the character 
 stood out clear-cut and origmal, a revelation alike of the poet's conception 
 and the actor's power." 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 113 
 
 Morning Post of May 3 said : " Booth's Othello, while 
 possessing all the beauty and finish it formerly exhibited, 
 has more concentration, more force, and more balance. 
 Irving's lago was one of his finest performances. In 
 the great scene of the temptation, Booth and Irving 
 afforded each other admirable support. A triumph 
 more undisputed theatrical annals do not record." 
 
 Irving, in acting lago, adopted or hit upon the 
 felicitous treatment that Booth had long employed in 
 the dark-street scene, where Cassio is set upon by Rod- 
 erigo and stealthily wounded by lago. Tlie London 
 Times, impressed by the novelty of the proceeding, 
 commended it, as " singularly happy," in the following 
 words : — 
 
 " It is in the last scene of the fourth act, a narrow, dimly-lighted 
 street, made darker yet by the tall houses that close it in. Rod- 
 erigo lies dead upon the ground, and Cassio wounded and alone 
 with his deadliest foe. As the scene is here played, no others are 
 with the two. The night is dark, and the town very silent. As 
 lago bends over the wounded man the thought flashes across him, 
 Why not get rid of the two at one happy stroke ? and with the 
 thought he raises his sword. Another moment and Cassio is gone 
 to join Roderigo, but, ere the moment can pass, the called-for suc- 
 cour comes, and the murderer's hand is stayed. Whether there be 
 warrant for this in any of the texts we know not, but the effect is 
 very fine.'' 
 
 The effect is very fine, but that business was original 
 with Edwin Booth ; was long ago and always done by 
 him ; and there is no record that it was done upon the 
 stage prior to his time. 
 
 The engagement at the Lyceum ended on June 19. 
 On the last night of that remarkable season Booth 
 addressed to the public these farewell words, which are 
 
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114 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 significant, as showing the spirit with which he was 
 animated, in his relations with the London public : — 
 
 " It is, to me, a strange sensation to speak any other words tlian 
 those set down for me. Yet I feel that I cannot let an occasion 
 like tlie present pass witliout breaking the silence. It is a pleasant 
 duty to acknowledge to you the gratification it has been to me to 
 see, nightly, such splendid audiences as have here assembled. I 
 feel that I owe you a debt of gratitude for your appreciation of my 
 efforts to please you. My visit to the Lyceum has been an uninter- 
 rupted pleasure. I have to thank my friend, Mr. Irving, for his 
 generous hospitality, and the talented lady with whom I have had 
 the honour of playing, for her pleasant companionship and kind 
 assistance. Indeed, to all on the stage, and all associated with the 
 Lyceum theatre, my best thanks, for the courtesy and consideration 
 which I have received, are due, and are most heartily tendered. 
 Believe me, the kind and generous treatment I have received, from 
 the gentlemen of the press, and from all with whom I have been 
 associated during this engagement, and the generous reception I 
 have met with at your hands, must ever be among the pleasantest 
 recollections of my long professional career. I hope to have the 
 pleasure of appearing before you again, at no distant day. In the 
 meantime I thank you most heartily, and bid you, for the present, 
 adieu." 
 
 In a letter written to me at that time, with reference 
 to his London Lyceum engagement, Booth said : " Its 
 success is very great, in all respects, and only my 
 domestic misery prevents it from being the happiest 
 theatrical experience I have ever had. I wish I could 
 do as much for Henry Irving, in America, as he has 
 done here for me." 
 
 The domestic misery was the illness of Mrs. Booth, 
 which had advanced rapidly, depleting her strength, 
 and almost subduing a marvellous power of endurance 
 and will. Her return home was deemed essential, and 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 115 
 
 Booth therefore abandoned his purpose of making a 
 tour of the British provincial theatres in the fall of 1881, 
 and sailed with her for New York, arriving there at the 
 end of June, after an absence of one year. 
 
 " I never was received more heartily in my life," he said, to a 
 representative of the New York Times, "than by the audiences 
 drawn together when I played in London. I have had a most de- 
 lightful experience, socially, professionally, and in every respect, 
 with the exception of the unfortunate illness of my wife. But for 
 that I should still be among the many friends whom I have made 
 in England. I left New York just one year ago to-day, the last 
 Wednesday in June, and I then intended to remain abroad at least 
 two years. I had made my arrangements for a provincial tour, my 
 company was engaged, and I was to start through the provinces as 
 soon as I finished my engagement with Irving; but Mrs. Booth's 
 illness obliged me to give up all my plans. It was a hard struggle 
 for me to play, knowing that she was sick, and liable to die at any 
 moment, and that fact placed me under a great disadvantage on the 
 stage. But I laboured hard to forget my troubles, when I entered 
 the theatre, and, considering everything against me, I think that I 
 did fairly well. From the first night of my appearance to the last 
 my audiences were full of enthusiasm, and during my stay abroad I 
 was overwhelmed with courtesies. On all hands I was treated with 
 kindness. Even the critics, I am inclined to think, treated me with 
 fairness. At first they seemed a little disposed to ' damn with faint 
 praise,' but on the whole they evinced a very kindly spirit toward me. 
 My engagement with Irving was one of the most agreeable that I 
 ever played. He is one of the most delightful men I ever met ; 
 always obliging, and always kind in every possible way. He is very 
 popular in London, both socially and professionally, and, I think, 
 deservedly so. He is a very superior actor, and is gifted with a 
 remarkable talent for stage management — two qualifications for tlie 
 stage which are seldom found united in the same person. Irving, 
 with all his popularity, is a very modest man, and altogether charm- 
 ing, and if he visits America he will be liked no less for his qualities 
 as a man than for his powers as a great actor." 
 
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116 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 After his return from England in 1881, Booth resided 
 at the Windsor hotel and elsewhere in New York, and 
 made frequent visits to his mother, at Long Branch ; to 
 his old and attached friend, E. C. Benedict, at Greenwich, 
 Connecticut ; and to his relative, J. H. Magonigle, at 
 Mount Vernon. The dramatic season of 1881-82 he 
 passed in America, beginning it on October 3 at Booth's 
 theatre, New York. The fatal end of Mrs. Booth's ill- 
 ness has already been recorded. Domestic dissension 
 augmented and embittered the sorrow of that sad time. 
 On a memorable day of storm and darkness Booth 
 followed the body of his wife to the grave, in Chicago, 
 accompanied by his daughter and by Mr. Laurence 
 Hutton and the present biographer; and so ended one 
 of the most mournful chapters in his history. His 
 wanderings that year carried him far and wide. On 
 May 31, 1882, he again sailed for England, — accom- 
 panied by his daughter and by their physician. Dr. 
 St. Clair Smith, — and on June 26 he began his second 
 season at the Princess's theatre, which was devoted 
 to Richelieu and TJie FooF s Revenge, and which ended 
 on August 5. Once, on August 3, for the benefit 
 of Wynn Miller, his manager, Booth gave a perform- 
 ance of Don Casar tie Bazan, which was hailed by the 
 press as a work of singular brilliancy. Booth's gain 
 in that London venture was considerable, particularly 
 by performances given at a house associated with melo- 
 drama, and toward the close of the London season; 
 and he expressed himself to me with great warmth, as 
 to the sympathy and kindness of his London audiences. 
 In August he went into Switzerland, with his daughter, 
 and, on returning to England, entered upon the fulfil- 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 117 
 
 merit of a series of provincial engagements which had 
 been interrupted, in 1881, by domestic affliction. He 
 appeared at Sheffield, September 11, remaining there 
 a week, and acting Richelieu, Hamlet, Othello, and 
 Bertuccio. His tour was conducted according to the 
 subjoined plan : — 
 
 Sept. 
 
 , 11-16. 
 
 Theatre Royal, 
 
 Sheffield. 
 
 6 Nights 
 
 ii 
 
 18. 
 
 u ct 
 
 York. 
 
 I 
 
 li 
 
 U 
 
 ig-22. 
 
 Londesboro' theatre, 
 
 Scarborough. 
 
 4 
 
 i£ 
 
 '*■ 
 
 23- 
 
 Spa rooms, 
 
 Harrowgate. 
 
 I 
 
 ii 
 
 u 
 
 25-30- 
 
 Theatre Royal, 
 
 Newcastle. 
 
 6 
 
 ii 
 
 Oct. 
 
 2-4. 
 
 u u 
 
 Dundee. 
 
 3 
 
 ii 
 
 " 
 
 5-7- 
 
 i^ ii 
 
 Aberdeen. 
 
 3 
 
 ii 
 
 " 
 
 9-14. 
 
 Gaiety theatre. 
 
 Glasgow. 
 
 6 
 
 ii 
 
 a 
 
 16-21. 
 
 Theatre Royal, 
 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 6 
 
 ii 
 
 " 
 
 23-28. 
 
 " 
 
 Hull. 
 
 6 
 
 i.i 
 
 " 
 
 30-Nov. 4. 
 
 Grand theatre, 
 
 Leeds. 
 
 6 
 
 ii 
 
 Nov. 
 
 6-18. 
 
 Gaiety 
 
 Dubhn. 
 
 12 
 
 a 
 
 L^ 
 
 20-25. 
 
 Prince's " 
 
 Manchester. 
 
 6 
 
 a 
 
 Nov. 
 
 27-Dec. g. 
 
 Alexandra " 
 
 Liverpool. 
 
 13 
 
 ii 
 
 Dec. 
 
 11-16. 
 
 Theatre Royal, 
 
 Birmingham. 
 
 6 
 
 a 
 
 Booth's English company included Mr. and Mrs. Pate- 
 man, Mrs. Billington, Samuel Fisher, J. G. Shore, E. H. 
 Brooke, Lin Rayne, H. George, E. Price, Ellen Mey- 
 rick (now Mrs. Frederick Burgess ^) as leading lady, Kate 
 Neville, and Leslie Bell. At York he had an ovation, 
 
 1 As this book is passing through the press, August 1893, I iie3.i of 
 the death of Frederick Burgess. He was the manager of the Moore & 
 Burgess Minstrels, at St. James's Hall, London. He was a man of fine 
 abilities and exceptional gentleness. He had a wide knowledge of men 
 and books, and his life was adorned by many acts of kindness and grace. 
 He possessed one of the amplest and richest libraries in England. His 
 collection of Garrick and Kean relics was extraordinary. His home, 
 Burgess Hall, at Finchley, where he loved to assemble hosts of friends, 
 and at which Edwin Booth was an honoured guest, was a place as delightful 
 
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118 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 and at Scarborough, which was crowded with fashiona- 
 ble visitors, the excitement aroused by his acting was 
 great. On Sunday, September 17, Booth drove to 
 Chatsworth, and visited the beautiful country-seat of 
 the Duke of Devonshire, going also to the grave of 
 Lord Frederick Cavendish, — murdered by Irish ruffians 
 in Dublin, May 1882, — whose remains were laid in 
 Edensor churchyard, in the park of Chatsworth. From 
 Scarborough he went to Harrowgate and thence to 
 Newcastle, where his first house was light, but on 
 each succeeding evening the theatre was crowded. He 
 then gave a week to Dundee and Aberdeen, at double 
 prices, and in both those cities his success made a feast 
 for the populace. The theatre was crowded each night ; 
 hundreds of persons had to be turned away ; and when, 
 on Sunday, October 8, he left Aberdeen, the railway 
 station was crowded with spectators, who had come to 
 give him a farewell greeting. The next city was Glas- 
 gow, where also Booth had a week of excellent business. 
 Thence he went to Edinburgh ; and there, as at Aber- 
 deen and Dundee, the audience rose and cheered him 
 at the end of his performances. For Scotland, indeed, 
 the enthusiasm over Booth was extraordinary. An 
 accident occurred to him at Dundee, where, in the com- 
 bat scene in Hamlet, he was stabbed in the right arm 
 by the sword of Laertes. The next night, acting in Tlie 
 Fool's Revenge, he still further injured his wounded arm, 
 in his fall, so that for several nights he could not use it. 
 
 as hospitality, taste, and every appliance of culture and refinement could 
 malce it. He was eccentric and reticent, but lie was deeply appreciative 
 and full of sensibility and goodness; and as King Charles the Second 
 said, of the poet Cowley, " he has not left a better man in England." 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 119 
 
 At Hull, on the last night of his appearance, more than 
 a thousand persons paid for admission to the pit. In 
 Leeds the tragedian had a good week, notwithstanding 
 that he followed the exceedingly popular opera company 
 of Carl Rosa, and that a heavy rain prevailed most of 
 the time. Booth crossed, on Sunday, November 5, from 
 Holyhead to Kingstown, having a distressingly rough 
 voyage, and on November 6, appeared in Dublin, to a 
 crowded house. In that capital the welcome accorded 
 to him was enthusiastic. His Richelieu was greatly 
 admired. His Hamlet was viewed with more critical 
 eyes, and was lessened by comparison with the per- 
 formances of Henry Irving and Barry Sullivan, long 
 favourites in Dublin. His Bertuccio, however, was 
 deemed magnificent. He acted with uncommon vigour, 
 and wherever he appeared the local managers requested 
 him to make a return visit. 
 
 Christmas, 1882, Booth passed at Morley's hotel, Lon- 
 don, that cosy hermitage in the very centre of the world. 
 He had seen Irving's production of Muck Ado About 
 Notliiiig, at the Lyceum, and of that he wrote to me, 
 saying: " MncJi Ado is superbly 'staged' and finely 
 acted. Irving's ideal and treatment of the hero are 
 excellent, and Miss Ellen Terry's Beatrice is perfect — 
 save for a little lack of power in the great scene with 
 Benedick. The scenery and ' sets ' are the finest I ever 
 saw. . ." Booth left London on December 27, and 
 went directly to Berlin. His engagement there, at the 
 Residenz theatre, began on January 11, 1883, and was 
 renewed on January 23, for twelve additional perform- 
 ances. He appeared there as Hamlet, King Lear, and 
 lago. The death of Prince Charles, which put the 
 
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120 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 German Court into mourning, somewhat impaired the 
 pleasure of the engagement. The Crown Prince and 
 Princess had several times attended the theatre, to see 
 Booth, and had manifested a deep interest in his per- 
 formances ; and it was expected that " a command " 
 would be given for him to act before the Emperor. 
 The Crown Prince, indeed, expressed the wish that this 
 should occur. Those royal honours are important and 
 influential at the capital of an empire ; and it is pleas- 
 ant for Booth's countrymen to remember that their 
 representative tragedian was thus graciously received. 
 On the first night of his Lear the leaders of Ber- 
 lin society were present, excepting only those whom 
 etiquette compelled to observe Court mourning. The 
 Press of Berlin bore eloquent testimony to the affluent 
 vigour and delicate and polished art of his acting. Be- 
 fore leaving Berlin he gave a performance for the bene- 
 fit of the Widows' and Orphans' Fund, of the Berlin 
 Press Association. At the close of the Berlin engage- 
 ment his German professional associates presented to 
 him, as a token of friendship and admiration, a wreath 
 made of laurel leaves, of dead silver, interspersed with 
 polished silver berries, and bound by a silver ribbon, the 
 folds of which bear the following inscription : " To Mr. 
 Edwin Booth, the unrivalled tragedian, in kind remem- 
 brance of his first engagement in Germany, January and 
 February 1883. Presented by the Directors and ladies 
 and gentlemen of the Residenz theatre, Berlin." The 
 wreath is mounted on a cushion of pale-blue velvet 
 trimmed with white cord. It was presented to Booth, 
 upon the stage of the Residenz theatre, on February 
 II, a member of the dramatic company delivering, in 
 English, the subjoined address : — 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 121 
 
 " Mr. Booth : On behalf of our Director, Herr Neumann, and the 
 ladies and gentlemen who have had the honour of supporting you 
 during your stay in Berlin, I am desired to say a few words. We 
 congratulate ourselves upon the happy train of circumstances that 
 induced you to appear at the Residenz theatre. We feel that, for 
 the last month, we have sat at the feet of the greatest master of that 
 art of which we are all humble but aspiring students, and we cannot 
 let you leave us without thanking you sincerely for the instruction 
 we have received. Not alone for your artistic genius will you be 
 affectionately remembered. Your kind assistance to us in our efforts 
 to support you to the best of our ability will ever be remembered, 
 — and regard for the man will go hand in hand with admiration for 
 the artist. I have now to beg your acceptance of this wreath, as a 
 souvenir of your first German engagement. We trust that we shall 
 have the pleasure of seeing you again in our city, where you may 
 always be sure of a cordial welcome, both before and behind the 
 curtain." 
 
 During his tour of Germany, Booth was compelled 
 to make unusual exertions, since he had to appear with 
 a new company of German actors in each of the cities 
 that he visited. On February 22 he ended an engage- 
 ment at Hamburg. A branch of silver bay-leaves 
 was presented to him upon the stage, that night, by 
 the actors of the Hamburg theatre, and Herr Formes 
 delivered to him a graceful speech, in English. He 
 then went to Bremen, where he acted five times, to 
 crowded houses, as Hamlet, Lear, and Othello. On 
 March 9 he made his entrance at Hanover, and acted 
 Othello, before an enthusiastic multitude. On March 
 18, 19, 20, and 21 he performed at Leipsic, appearing 
 as Hamlet, Othello, and Lear. He paused on his 
 journey, but did not act, at Dresden and at Prague, 
 on the road to Vienna; and he was compelled, by other 
 engagements, to decline invitations to act at Coburg 
 
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122 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 and at Weimar. At Vienna he appeared in the Stadt 
 theatre, March 30, and attracted and pleased great 
 crowds of the inhabitants. The season ended on 
 April 7, in that city.^ Booth's tour was successful 
 beyond precedent in Germany.^ Wynn Miller, who 
 conducted the business of the expedition, manifested 
 judgment, taste, and energy. Booth had excellent 
 health and was cheered by precisely the kind of recog- 
 nition that he most valued, — so that, at the last, he was 
 only slightly fatigued, notwithstanding the great and 
 continuous efforts he had been obliged to make, and 
 the heavy responsibility incident to his difficult and deli- 
 cate venture, on a foreign stage and before an audience 
 unacquainted with his language. There was no element 
 of fashion, caprice, accident, or mountebank advertise- 
 ment in the success of Booth. His natural endowments, 
 simple individuality, steadfast endurance, patience, la- 
 bour, and high purpose made him what he was. He 
 stood at .the head of his profession by virtue of genius, 
 
 ^ At the time of the Breakfast to that distinguished German actor, Lud- 
 wig Barnay, at Delmonico's, New Yorlc, March 19, 18S3, a message was sent 
 to Booth, but it arrived too late to admit of a reply by ocean telegraph. 
 Booth wrote ; " I am sorry that I did not know of the Barnay Breakfast, 
 in time to send my greeting; but, as the telegram got into the mails, I 
 did not receive it until long after the ' wittles ' were disposed of. I hope 
 the feast was every way successful." 
 
 2 The collection of German professional mementos that he brought 
 home is considerable and interesting. At Berlin they gave him a silver 
 wreath, at Bremen another, and at Leipsic a third, together with an en- 
 graved portrait and a death-mask of the renowned German actor, Ludwig 
 Devrient. In Hamburg he received a silver bough, and in Hanover a 
 silver goblet. At most of those towns public ceremonials attended the 
 presentation of those tokens. Booth's German trophies are now preserved 
 among the relics at the Players' Club, New York. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 123 
 
 personal power, scholarship, and genuine and splendid 
 achievement; and his influence upon the dramatic art, 
 wherever exerted, was an influence for good. This was 
 deeply felt abroad, and the tragedian was urged to pro- 
 long his wanderings, and to act in Italy, Spain, France, 
 and Russia ; but he was tired of travel, and preferred 
 to return home. He came back in June 1883, and, de- 
 clining a public reception, repaired to his home at New- 
 port, where he passed the summer. 
 
 The visit that Booth made to Germany was one of 
 the most delightful episodes of his life. He greatly 
 enjoyed it, and he cherished the recollection of it, 
 and often spoke of it with pleasure. A distinguished 
 German actor, to whom he had shown much kindness 
 in New York, and who strongly urged him to visit 
 Germany, and especially to play Richelieu there, had 
 hastened home and brought out a German translation of 
 Richelieic, in order that it might not, upon Booth's arrival, 
 affect the German public as a novelty : but that was the 
 only inauspicious incident of the expedition. 
 
 Booth never again went abroad. The last ten years 
 of his life were passed in intermittent professional occu- 
 pation, and in peaceful domestic and social experience. 
 On November 5, 1883, he resumed acting, at the Globe 
 theatre, Boston, and he remained in active publicity 
 until April Si 1884, visiting New York, Brooklyn, 
 Philadelphia, and Baltimore. On November 17, 1884, 
 he appeared at the Boston Museum, and from that date, 
 until April 18, 1885, making a tour of the country, he 
 acted under the management of Montgomery Field, 
 the accomplished director of that theatre. On May 7, 
 1885, a memorable representation of Macbeth occurred 
 
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124 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 in New York, at the Academy of Music, Lady Macbeth 
 being presented by Mme. Ristori, and Macbeth by 
 Booth. He had established his residence at No. 29 
 Chestnut street, Boston — in a quaint house, which is 
 now a school for girls — and there, on May 16, 1885, 
 his daughter, Edwina, was married to Mr. Ignatius R. 
 Grossman. The season of 1885-86 began on November 
 23, in Brooklyn, and, with an intermission of one month, 
 continued during fourteen weeks. Only a few places 
 were visited. The season of 1886-87 began on Sep- 
 tember 13, 1886, at Buffalo, and was a season of 
 extended travel. In the course of it Booth appeared at 
 Minneapolis and St. Paul, Wisconsin, and his receipts 
 for one week, divided between those two cities, exceeded 
 $18,000. It was remembered, as significant of the rapid 
 growth of new western settlements, that at about the 
 time of Booth's first appearance on the stage (1849), 
 savage Indians made an attack on a little, lonely fort of 
 logs, which stood on the site now occupied by the 
 Merchants' hotel, in St. Paul, and that the building of 
 Minneapolis did not begin till eight years later. In 
 1887 Booth formed a professional alliance with that ad- 
 mired actor, Lawrence Barrett, his tried and devoted 
 comrade, who became his manager. The plan had been 
 suggested by Barrett ; it was based equally upon per- 
 sonal regard and professional interest, and it proved 
 exceedingly fortunate. The first Booth and Barrett 
 season, lasting forty weeks, began on September 13, 
 1887, at Buffalo, with a production of Jtduis CcBsar. 
 The dramatic company comprised Edward J. Buckley, 
 Benjamin G. Rogers, Owen Fawcett, John A. Lane, P. 
 H. Hanford, Minna Gale, Gertrude Kellogg, Elizabeth 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 125 
 
 Robins, and others. The repertory included Julms 
 Ccesar, Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, The Mer- 
 chant of Venice, Katherine and Petruchio (The Tamino- 
 of the Shrew), The Fool's Revenge, Don Ccesar de Bazan, 
 The Kings Pleasure, and David Garrick. Booth acted 
 Brutus, Hamlet, Macbeth, Lear, Shylock, Petruchio, Ber- 
 tuccio, and Don Caesar. Barrett acted Cassius, Laer- 
 tes, Macduff, Edgar, Bassanio, Gringoire, and Garrick. 
 Othello and lago were alternated. This combination of 
 forces was everywhere hailed with delight, and until the 
 sudden, untimely, and deeply lamented death of Barrett, 
 March 20, 1891, it steadfastly prospered and pleased. 
 The two actors were kindred in spirit, in love of art 
 and beauty, and in devoted ambition. They had often 
 been associated in the past, and they possessed many 
 memories in common. Barrett, in social hours, was by 
 turns earnest and playful. He understood the peculiar 
 temperament of Booth — his pensive melancholy and 
 his occasional grim reticence — and he could humour it ; 
 and he possessed, for practical public affairs, adminis- 
 trative ability of the first order. Booth disliked re- 
 hearsals and methodical business,^ nor was it ever 
 easy for him to keep his attention concentrated upon 
 any one subject for any great length of time. Barrett's 
 executive efficiency proved of great service, and Booth 
 was cheered, likewise, by his companionship.^ In every 
 
 1 " Dates and the order of events in regular sequence are among my 
 impossibilities." — MS. Note by E. B., February 18, 1876. 
 
 ^ Some of their experiences were comic, and both actors were delight- 
 fully humorous when recounting their adventures. In November 1887, 
 they opened, under extraordinary circumstances, a new opera house, in 
 Kansas City. The roof was not on, and Othello was played in one scene, 
 boxed to keep out the wind. The actual moon was visible. The audience, 
 
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126 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 way that was a happy alliance. There came, indeed, a 
 time when Booth's powers began to wane. It was 
 while travelling and acting with Barrett that he had the 
 first stroke of dangerous illness — a-, paralysis, caused 
 by smoking tobacco, affecting his articulation — - which 
 befell him at Rochester, New York, on April 3, 1889. 
 Yet almost till the last his acting retained vestiges of 
 power, and steadfastly till the last it retained its charm 
 of intrinsic nobility and fine distinction. In the season 
 of 1889-90 Mme. Modjeska was associated with Booth, 
 and the allurement of his performances was much en- 
 hanced by the fine spirit and delicate art of that lovely 
 actress. Mme. Modjeska appeared in Portia, Ophelia, 
 Cordelia, Desdemona, Lady Macbeth, and other char- 
 acters, and augmented her substantial fame. 
 
 Mme. Modjeska was noble in Portia, — her action 
 and demeanour being charged with sweet dignity and 
 sparkling variety. The sentiment of the character was 
 emphasised by her, rather than the playful mirth of it, 
 and she was more convincing in its serious moments 
 than in its raillery and banter. That Portia is a woman 
 very much in love, whose passion is to reveal itself 
 through her careless elegance and cheery grace of 
 manner, no actress except Ellen Terry has indicated. 
 The Portias reserve themselves for the trial scene, and 
 release their whole weight in the oration on mercy. 
 Mme. Modjeska was appropriately eloquent and touch- 
 ing at that point, and she was pleasing from first to 
 last. The acting of Mme. Modjeska diffused at all 
 times the charm of fine intelligence and gentle sensi- 
 
 shivering with cold, wore hats and o^■ercoats, but the spectators were good- 
 natured and accepted the performance in hearty kindness. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 127 
 
 bility, and of a subtle, expressive mechanism, guided 
 with definite purpose and impelled with unerring skill. 
 There are characters that stir the springs of feeling in 
 her nature more deeply than Portia stirs them; that 
 seem more real to her mind and are made more real in 
 her treatment. But all that she did, in her professional 
 association with Booth, was interesting, because it was 
 marked with enticing personality and dramatic force. 
 
 Booth had great misfortunes and troubles, yet he was 
 usually lucky. Things often happened well for him, — 
 at the right time and place. He was aware of this and 
 spoke of it. His luck was illustrated in his escape from 
 ■ the assassin's bullet, at McVicker's theatre, Chicago, 
 April 23, 1879. He was acting Richard the Second, 
 and had reached the soliloquy in the prison scene of 
 the fifth act, when suddenly a man in the upper gal- 
 lery fired at him twice, with a pistol. ^ The bullets 
 barely missed their mark — -but they missed. One of 
 
 1 The subjoined account of that attempt at murder appeared in the 
 Dial, June 16, 1893, from the pen of an eye-witness : — 
 
 " The last act was in progress, and the king was alone in the dungeon 
 of Pomfret Castle. Seated, he was reciting the great soliloquy : — 
 ' I have been studying how I may compare 
 This prison where I live, unto the world; 
 And, for because the world is populous, 
 And here is not a creature but myself, 
 I cannot do it: — yet I'll hammer it out.' 
 
 At this moment a pistol shot came from the right (looking from the stage) 
 of the first balcony. I was seated near the front of the house, and looking 
 around, saw a man leaning over the balcony railing, and raising his pistol 
 for a second shot. The shot was fired, and then Mr. Booth slowly rose, 
 stepped to the front of the stage and looked inquiringly towards the bal- 
 cony. He saw the would-be assassin, saw the pistol raised for a third shot, 
 turned around, and very deUberately walked back out of sight. In the 
 meanwhile, his assailant was seized from behind, and was not permitted 
 to pull the trigger for the third time. What particularly impressed me 
 
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128 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 them Booth caused to be set in a gold cartridge, 
 and he kept it as a memento. The wags of the press 
 subsequently intimated that this deed was done in con- 
 sequence of Booth's restoration to the stage of such 
 a declamatory and oratorical person as Shakespeare's 
 Richard the Second, whom they declared to be intolera- 
 ble. The shots were fired by a stage-struck lunatic, 
 named Mark Gray, who fancied that Booth was an 
 obstacle in the way of his attainment of histrionic glory. 
 He was promptly captured and confined. He said that 
 he was a clerk, resident at St. Louis, twenty-three 
 years old, had been for three years preparing to kill 
 Booth, and was surprised at his failure, which he much 
 regretted. This engaging person remained for some 
 time in a lunatic asylum, at Elgin, Illinois, but ultimately 
 was liberated, through the intercession of benevolent 
 friends.^ 
 
 Booth did not take a formal farewell of the theatre. 
 His active professional career closed, as it had begun, 
 by chance. The last appearance that he made as an 
 actor occurred at the Academy of Music, Brooklyn, on 
 
 about the whole affair was the coolness displayed by Mr. Booth. He was 
 playing the part of a king, and did not for a moment forsake the kingly 
 impersonation. After a short time, Mr. Booth reappeared, begged the 
 audience to excuse him for a few moments longer, while he should speak to 
 his wife, finally came upon the stage again, and finished the act." 
 
 1 Booth, who went to see his assailant, in prison, subsequently wrote as 
 follows, to an attorney at Chicago : " I trust that our friend Gray may 
 become gray indeed — yea, positively hoary-headed — in kind but careful 
 confinement, or if earlier released, that his exit may be from this earthly 
 stage of his dramatic exploits to that celestial scene where idiots cease from 
 shooting and actors are at rest. If he be ever again at liberty my own life 
 I shall not value worth a rush. But I hope the Elgin guardians will not 
 be deceived by his seeming harmlessness." 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 129 
 
 April 4, 1891, in Hamlet, the character with which his 
 temperament was most congenial, and with which, in 
 the history of the stage, his name will be associated. 
 His present biographer was in the audience, and wrote 
 a record of that last appearance, in the Neiv York 
 Tribune, April 5, 1891, as follows: — 
 
 Edwin Booth ended his season yesterday afternoon 
 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, giving a perform- 
 ance of Hamlet, which was followed with deep interest 
 and received with affectionate admiration by a multi- 
 tude as numerous as could be crowded into that great 
 theatre. Each scene was observed with a vigilance 
 keener than that of critical taste — the vigilance of the 
 heart. How much and how truly Booth is respected 
 and loved might readily be seen in the faces of that 
 eager throng. 
 
 Booth played Hamlet, in that mood of poetic exal- 
 tation, pensive melancholy, and exquisite refinement 
 for which his acting of the part has long been distin- 
 guished, and in that tone of settled spiritual pain — that 
 atmosphere of profound, inexorable grief — which is in- 
 separable from a right embodiment of Shakespeare's 
 conception. Poetry in the art of acting cannot be car- 
 ried further than it is by Edwin Booth ; and as he now 
 passes into his chosen retirement, whether it be long or 
 short, there will be a darkness upon the Shakespearian 
 drama, until his gentle, gracious figure comes once more 
 upon the scene, and his voice of eloquence and beauty 
 speaks again. 
 
 After the last curtain the applause continued for a 
 long time. The audience rose, and there was loud 
 cheering, and Booth was recalled, again and again. In 
 
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130 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 response to the last of those calls — the sympathy and 
 sincerity of which could not be doubted — the tragedian 
 came forward and said : — 
 
 " I scarcely know what to say, and, indeed, I can only make my 
 usual speech — of thanks and gratitude. I thank you for your great 
 kindness. It will never be forgotten. I hope that this is not the 
 last time I shall have the honour of appearing before you. When I 
 come again I hope that I shall be able to give greater attention than I 
 have ever given to whatever part I may play. I hope that my health 
 and strength may be improved, so that I can serve you better ; and 
 I shall always try to deserve the favour you have shown." 
 
 Those were the last words that Booth spoke upon the 
 stage. 
 
 The last public service done by Booth was his insti- 
 tution of the Players' Club. On the last night of the 
 year i8S8 a scene of uncommon beauty and significance 
 was visible in a house in Gramercy Park. On that 
 night, and just before the death of the old year, the 
 members of the Players' Club, founded by Booth, 
 assembled for the first time, and were formally installed 
 in their home. The assemblage began to convene about 
 eleven o'clock, and soon upward of a hundred gentle- 
 men were gathered in the cheerful parlour and around 
 a spacious fireplace, awaiting the signal for the begin- 
 ning of a new career of festival and happy fellowship. 
 Among the players were Edmon S. Connor, James E. 
 Murdoch, and John Gilbert, the oldest actors, of national 
 reputation, then surviving in America. All three of 
 them have since died. It was nearly twelve o'clock 
 when Booth, as founder of the club and its first presi- 
 dent, taking his place upon a dais in front of the hearth- 
 stone, formally addressed his associates, and in a brief 
 speech, marked by deep feeling, gentle dignity, and 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 131 
 
 winning sweetness of manner, together with sincerity 
 and simplicity of language, presented to them the title- 
 deeds to their club-house, the building No. i6 Gramercy 
 Park, which, with its unique furniture, works of art, 
 and fine decorations, was his personal gift to the club. 
 The applause that greeted him came from the hearts of 
 all who heard his voice — for every heart felt the abso- 
 lute earnestness of his words, and recognised the fine 
 generosity of his conduct. No speech was ever in 
 better taste, nor was there ever a good deed done with 
 more grace, humility, and sweetness. Augustin Daly, 
 Vice-President of the Players, responded to Booth's 
 address, fitly remarking upon the opulence and signifi- 
 cance of the gift, and accepting the club-house, not 
 alone in the name of the Players now existent, but also 
 in the name of generations of Players yet to come. 
 Lawrence Barrett, who had a principal hand in helping 
 Booth to accomplish the . organisation of the club, fol- 
 lowed Mr. Daly, and after a fervent expression of his 
 sympathy with the purpose of the Players, read a 
 touching letter from Booth's daughter, Mrs. Edwina 
 Booth Grossman, presenting a wreath of laurel, to be 
 placed on her father's head, and enclosing a poem com- 
 memorative of the occasion, by Thomas W. Parsons, the 
 author of the noble ode on Dante. Barrett read the 
 lines with cordial feeling. At one hne, beginning, 
 " Tragedian, take the crown," a deep-toned clock sud- 
 denly and solemnly boomed forth the midnight hour. 
 To Booth, the letter and tribute from his beloved 
 daughter and the poem from his old friend were unex- 
 pected, and those who stood near and saw his emotion, 
 knew that his heart was deeply touched. Not often in 
 
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132 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 a lifetime occurs a moment so memorable and so fraught 
 with feeling as that moment was when Lawrence Bar- 
 rett extended to Booth the wreath of laurel sent from a 
 daughter's love, and then and there consecrated with 
 the blessing of a host of friends. Booth said a few 
 faltering words in reply, and directed the lighting of the 
 Yule-log, also his daughter's gift, and summoned and 
 set in motion the loving-cup of the Players. On a 
 paper attached to the wreath from his daughter was 
 written the inscription, from Shakespeare, " Hamlet 
 — King — Father." The loving-cup is one that was 
 given to William Warren, October 28, 1882,^ in honour 
 of his fiftieth year upon the stage, by Edwin Booth, 
 Joseph Jefferson, Mary Anderson, Lawrence Barrett, 
 and John McCullough — a massive, handsome vessel, 
 inscribed with those names. Warren, who died on 
 September 21, 1888, bequeathed it to Jefferson, and 
 Jefferson gave it to the Players. When this had cir- 
 culated, the formal services to dedicate the club came to 
 an end, the supper-room was opened, and the Players, 
 obeying the Shakespearian injunction to "apprehend 
 nothing but jollity," devoted the rest of the night to the 
 enjoyment of their festival. 
 
 1 Booth was in Scotland at the time, but he remembered the occasion, 
 and he wrote to Warren these words, from Aberdeen, October 6, 1882: 
 " Your goodness, both as man and actor, mingles vividly with my earHest 
 memories. I well remember my father's warm regard for you, and his 
 admiration of your acting, and I fancy that I inherited an affection that 
 many years have strengthened. 
 
 "That your anniversary will be the occasion of an outpour of tenderest 
 emotions from all hearts in Boston you need not be assured. But there 
 are many hearts elsewhere (and, you know, " there is a world elsewhere ") 
 that will beat in sympathy — many friends who regret, as I do, the inability 
 to ' assist ' at your fete — at your well-earned coronation. God bless you. 
 
 " Edwin Booth." 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 133 
 
 In that way was ushered in a Happy New Year for 
 the metropolitan stage. In Booth's design, to which 
 he gave an expression so substantial and so practical, 
 the establishment of the Players was to augment the 
 social comfort and influence of actors, and thus to exert 
 a beneficial power upon the stage. The club-house is 
 one of rare beauty ; but it is not upon opulent and 
 lovely surroundings that the tragedian chiefly depended, 
 in his enterprise of fraternal affection and professional 
 honour. He sought to estabHsh an institution in which 
 influences of learning and taste should be brought to 
 bear upon the members of the stage — a place where 
 they might find books and pictures, precious relics of 
 the great players of the past, intellectual communion 
 with minds of their own order, and with men of educa- 
 tion in other walks of life, refinement of thought and 
 of manners, innocent pleasure, and sweet, gracious, en- 
 nobling associations. He wished the Players' Club to 
 represent all that is best in the dramatic profession, 
 to foster the dramatic art, and to exalt the standard of 
 personal worth among the actors of America. 
 
 The Players' Club was incorporated on January 7, 
 1888 — the incorporators being Lawrence Barrett, 
 William Bispham, Edwin Booth, Samuel Clemens, 
 Augustin Daly, Joseph F Daly, John Drew, Henry 
 Edwards, Laurence Hutton, Joseph Jefferson, John A. 
 Lane, James Lewis, Brander Matthews, Stephen H. 
 Olin, A. M. Palmer, and Gen. William T. Sherman. 
 The first board of officers was constituted as follows: 
 President, Edwin Booth ; vice-president, Augustin Daly ; 
 secretary, Laurence Hutton ; treasurer, William Bisp- 
 ham. The officers are elected annually, by a Board of 
 
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134 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 Directors, which is permanent. The first Board of 
 Directors included Edwin Booth, Augustin Daly, Law- 
 rence Barrett, A. M. Palmer, Laurence Hutton, Joseph 
 F. Daly, Henry Edwards, Joseph Jefferson, and William 
 Bispham. The directors must be citizens of the United 
 States, or persons long resident therein, and identified 
 with American art, literature, or drama. At least five 
 of the directors must be actors, managers, or drama- 
 tists. Any male person who is twenty-one years of age 
 is eligible for membership, if in any way connected 
 with artistic life — be it only as " a patron or connois- 
 seur of the arts." The membership is limited to five 
 hundred persons, half of them resident and half non- 
 resident. An annual club-dinner is given, on each New- 
 Year's Eve. It was Booth's desire that at least ten per 
 cent of the members should be actors. The good re- 
 sults of such an organization proceed from its indirect 
 influence — the existence of an opulent and flourishing 
 social club, representative of actors, being at once a 
 source of beneficial enjoyment to its dramatic mem- 
 bers, and a token to the community of the solidity and 
 worth of the dramatic profession. 
 
 In the Players Club, in rooms on the third floor, 
 reserved for his private residence. Booth passed the 
 last four years of his life, and there he died, June 8, 
 1893, in the sixtieth year of his age. 
 
 The illness that came upon Booth at Rochester, April 
 3, 1889, was a slight stroke of paralysis. He described 
 the occurrence to me, a few days later, immediately 
 after his return to New York. He was in a carriage, 
 with Lawrence Barrett, driving to the theatre, when he 
 first noticed that his articulation had become impeded. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 135 
 
 He thought the difficulty would soon cease and he did 
 not try to make it known. On entering the stage-door 
 he was unable to respond to the greeting of the janitor, 
 and, this being the first night of the engagement, he 
 was mortified at being compelled to seem churlish toward 
 a stranger. He repaired to his room and put on the 
 dress of Othello, trusting and expecting that his speech 
 would soon be restored. It was not till he had reached 
 the stage and attempted to speak that he found himself 
 incapable of clear utterance. The performance pro- 
 ceeded but a little way when he broke down altogether, 
 and the curtain was dropped. Barrett, startled and 
 overwhelmed, made a brief speech to the audience, 
 saying that Booth was disabled and probably would 
 never act again. He recovered, though, and in a short 
 time resumed his tour; but he steadily declined, from 
 that day. 
 
 A great element in Booth's character, however, was 
 patience, and nothing in his life so became him as the 
 beautiful spirit of resignation with which he accepted 
 the inevitable transit into the sere and yellow, and the 
 ever-increasing distress and misery of his last illness. 
 It was my privilege often to be in his company. When 
 he founded the Players Club he asked me to join it, 
 and to be its Librarian, and he proposed that we should, 
 together, in that club and with the aid of its library, com- 
 pile and write a history of the theatre in America ; and 
 that design would have been accomplished, had it not 
 presently been resolved by the directors that profes- 
 sional reviewers of the stage were not eligible for mem- 
 bership, and had I not found that, in order to remain in 
 the club, I should have to sever my relations with the 
 
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136 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 Press. Our design miscarried — to his deep regret as 
 well as mine ; but this did not prevent our frequent 
 meetings and his free talk upon every subject that 
 interested his mind. One of those subjects was the 
 mutation of public taste with respect to the stage. 
 Booth was aware that the school of acting repre- 
 sented by him .had, in a considerable degree, gone out 
 of fashion, and he was thoroughly acquainted with the 
 changes that have passed over the theatre in our time. 
 He could remember the period before the "society lady" 
 trooped upon the scene, before the whole community 
 turned actor, and before the doctrine came up that the 
 true art of acting consists in doing, upon the stage, 
 exactly what people do in actual life. He did not adopt 
 that foolish theory, and, as he looked around upon the 
 actors and writers of the new age, he did not admire 
 its results. He knew that art is romantic, and that the 
 moment romance is sacrificed to reality acting becomes 
 worse than useless and the stage is dead. He believed 
 that there is a difference between the ideal and the 
 actual ; between poetry and prose ; between the interest- 
 ing and the commonplace. He thought that an actor 
 can be natural without being literal, and he believed 
 that the contemporary taste for what is called " nature " 
 — but really is prosaic and spiritless photography — 
 will run its course and expire, and that the commu- 
 nity will revert to its old allegiance to romance and 
 beauty. Those views I believe to be sound. The art of 
 acting, — and this is true, also, of each of the other 
 arts, — is controlled and fashioned by the popular 
 caprice, only in the absence of great leaders of thought 
 and feeling. When a Garrick, a Booth, or an Irving 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 137 
 
 arises, he leads the public and he moulds the stage; 
 and this he does, not with the conscious purpose of 
 pleasing the community, but with the spontaneous 
 impulse to fulfil himself. It is the instinctive desire of 
 personal expression, much more than a wish to please 
 or benefit the public, and much more than a wish to 
 interpret the dramatic conceptions of other minds, that 
 drives an artistic temperament to the stage. The origi- 
 nal, propulsive spring and power of acting is a rich, 
 exuberant, vital dramatic personality, and that also is 
 its essential need. Such a force does not take its law 
 from its audience. As long as Booth retained his health 
 and his spirits he had no need to consider the fancies 
 of the public. He swayed those fancies and he satisfied 
 them. The public mandate may control a jester; it can- 
 not regulate a genius. 
 
 The facts of Booth's career and the achievements of 
 his art show that his ambition was controlled and directed 
 by moral integrity and by a spirit spontaneously chival- 
 ric in the conduct of life. He attained, in the esteem 
 of his countrymen, to the high and. honourable rank of 
 the representative tragedian of the time. Success of 
 that kind is not the result of accident. Favorable cir- 
 cumstances may have accelerated its attainment, but 
 they never could have placed within the grasp of an 
 unworthy man the gracious and pure reward of the sin- 
 cere devotion of genuine ability to the service of a great 
 art. That reward comes only to men of a high order 
 of intellect, combined with indomitable energy, patience, 
 and the innate consciousness of power which sustains 
 the mind through trouble, toil, neglect, temporary fail- 
 ure, disappointment, dejection, bereavement, the per- 
 
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138 I.IFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 plexing annoyance of care, the acute knowledge of being 
 misunderstood and misrepresented, the insolence of envy, 
 and the antagonisms and slanders of sleepless malice. 
 All those Edwin Booth had to encounter ; and over them 
 all — and in spite of hereditary attributes dangerous to 
 symmetry of character and happiness of life — he rose 
 into triumph; the triumph of upright, beneficent con- 
 duct and illustrious reputation. That result was due 
 to the force of natural talents, high ambition, tireless 
 endeavour, sincerity, moral worth, and, over all, the 
 glamour of genius : — 
 
 " The untaught strain 
 That sheds beauty on the rose." 
 
 The sovereign element in Booth's nature was the 
 profound and intense power, equally of emotion and 
 of intellect, with which he interpreted humanity in the 
 highest, most beautiful, and most difficult forms of art. 
 His brain was firmly knitted ; his feelings were concen- 
 trated; and his acting, therefore, was vitalised by a 
 prodigious sincerity. He could not at all times summon 
 the fire of inspiration : he was, on some occasions, frigid 
 and formal: but when thoroughly aroused, — as in the 
 arras scene of Hamlet, the anathema scene of Richelieu, 
 the frantic threat scene of King Lear, the supplication 
 scene of Bertuccio, the street scene of Shylock, the 
 imprecation scene of Brutus, the tent scene of Rich- 
 ard, and the fight of Macbeth, — he rose to sublime 
 passion, and he overwhelmed the auditor equally with 
 the copious volume of his feeling and the splendour 
 of his artistic utterance. In those moments the fire of 
 his temperament seemed volcanic; and, looking back 
 now to those revelations of his soul, it is not difficult to 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 139 
 
 understand the nervous disturbance and distress with 
 which he was long oppressed, the moodiness and stern 
 abstraction to which he was subject, the apathy into 
 which he sometimes drifted, and the comparatively early 
 extinction of his marvellous vitality. 
 
 In the presence of any professional achievement by 
 Edwin Booth, the observer's mind was conscious of per- 
 fect adequacy and noble fulfilment. The embodiment, 
 whatever might be the part, was genuine. It filled the 
 eye. It awakened- the heart. It inspired and satisfied 
 the imagination. It was followed with keen interest 
 and unfailing delight, and it was treasured with affec- 
 tionate remembrance. The observer never felt, recall- 
 ing Booth's performances, that while he had been look- 
 ing at them he had been wasting time. Much of 
 the material and many of the persons customarily 
 shown upon the stage can neither be seen with pleasure 
 nor remembered with patience. The acting of Booth, 
 on the contrary, exemplified the substantial and perma- 
 nent worth of dramatic art — its beauty, its nobility, its 
 beneficence ; and therein it displayed the reason why 
 the stage should exist. If it were not for the coming 
 of such an actor, now and then, to whom Nature has 
 given a great soul, as well as suitable physical equip- 
 ment and mimetic and interpretative faculty, the theatre 
 would be a wilderness of trash, and perhaps the most 
 tedious nuisance in the social world. In Booth's execu- 
 tion of his ideals there was apparent, in great and ever- 
 growing fullness, the quality of living rather than act- 
 ing. His figures were unconscious of an audience and 
 of surroundings. They crossed the stage like embodied 
 phantoms from a land of dreams. The curtain was 
 
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140 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 drawn aside and the gazer looked, through some vast 
 casement or cathedral arch, into the luminous world of 
 the past, beholding its actual denizens, living their 
 actual lives. Booth's embodiments of Lucius Brutus 
 and of Richelieu, for instance, revealed historical pic- 
 tures, animated with the spirit of a great man, and as 
 diffusive of spiritual experience as they were expressive 
 of dramatic art. The sanctity of the affections, the 
 grandeur of power when allied to goodness, the eternal 
 youth of the human soul — those are the sum of good 
 that was carried away in remembrance of his supreme 
 achievements. Youth passes; hopes are withered; 
 riches take wings ; health declines ; the shadows 
 gather ; the dark ocean whispers, and waits for all : 
 but the true heart, the righteous mind, and the "strong 
 will are sufficient unto themselves, and predominant 
 over chance and change, and will stand firm forever. 
 Acting which is productive of that result accomplishes 
 the utmost and the best that could be claimed for its 
 province in human society. 
 
 In conversations with me, in the last years of his 
 life. Booth spoke much of his father, of domestic and 
 personal affairs, of religion and the spiritual life, and 
 of many other subjects that occupied his thoughts. 
 The habitual tone of his mind, during his last days, 
 was exceedingly gentle. He would now and then 
 evince, by a satirical word, some impatience of the 
 self-seeking with which he was but too frequently 
 importuned. More often he would become humorous, 
 and when he spoke, as he frequently did, of his illness 
 and of the countless curative measures that had been 
 recommended to him, he was especially comic. With 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 141 
 
 respect to the use of medicine, he approved of the 
 method of that esteemed actress, the late Mrs. Vincent, 
 of the Boston Museum, who, whenever ill, always ob- 
 tained whatever remedy was prescribed, placed it in a 
 bureau, and left it there — declaring, next day, that she 
 felt much better. He said that he had never cared 
 much for acting, and latterly had not cared for it at all. 
 " I don't care to read old plays, any more," he said, 
 "but I like to read about the old dramatists. I cannot' 
 imagine what could have been the charm of Garrick's 
 performance of Abel Drugger." He was reminiscent, 
 in a very gentle strain, of Lawrence Barrett, and de- 
 scribed their last performance, in Richelieu} and the 
 final parting, on the next day, Thursday, March 19, 
 1 89 1 — Barrett, on his death-bed, yet brave, and hopeful 
 of recovery, bidding him to stay away, lest he might 
 himself get ill. He mentioned, in affectionate terms, 
 several absent friends, — Aldrich, Furness, Hutton, 
 Jefferson, and John S. Clarke. " I shall, probably, 
 never act again," he said, " and I don't want to travel. 
 I have been travelling all my life. What I want now 
 
 1 Lawrence Barrett made his last appearance on the stage, on Wednes- 
 day evening, March 18, 1891, at the Broadway theatre, New York. The 
 play was Richelieu. Booth acted the Cardinal; Barrett, De Mauprat. 
 Booth was informed, early in the evening, that Barrett, who had arrived 
 and repaired to his dressing-room, seemed to be very ill. "I immediately 
 went to him," said Booth. "He was seated in a chair, against the wall, 
 and had not yet taken off his hat or overcoat. The coat-collar was 
 turned up, so as almost to hide his face, and he had been crying. He 
 became calm at once. I urged him to go home, but he insisted on play- 
 ing, and he managed to get as far as the end of the third act; but when 
 he bent over me, after I was on the Cardinal's bed, he whispered, ' I 
 cannot go on.' " Barrett died on March 20, and on March 24 he was 
 buried, at Cohasset, Massachusetts, beside the sea. 
 
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142 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 is to Stay in one place, with things that I like around 
 me." He then recalled, with evident pleasure, his 
 professional season with Irving, in London (i 88 1). "I 
 enjoyed every hour of it," he continued, "and so I did 
 the season in Germany." He spoke of his first visit to 
 Paris, made in 1 860-61, under the Empire, in company 
 with George H. Boughton, the artist, whom he cordially 
 liked, and he declared that the city was then entirely 
 delightful to him. " I was always of a boyish spirit," 
 he said, " and if my physical health were good I should 
 still be very boyish ; but there was always an air of 
 melancholy about me, .that made me seem much more 
 serious than I ever really was." In another conver- 
 sation he mentioned having acted Captain Murphy 
 Maguire, in The Scrioics Family, with Matilda Heron as 
 the Widow Delmaine. That was in his California days. 
 " Some of the German actors," he said, " when they play 
 Shylock, make him speak with a Jewish accent, or in a 
 sort of dialect. My father," he added, " used to play 
 Shylock in that way." He mentioned J. B. Roberts, 
 as Roderick Dhu. Many profile paste-board images 
 had been made, to represent Roderick's men, who were 
 to start up, in the bracken, at their chieftain's call ; but 
 the machinery employed to raise them proved defective, 
 and at Roderick's whistle his paper warriors arose, 
 wrong side outward, in every conceivable posture, but 
 mostly in a state of forward oscillation. " The effect," 
 said Booth, "was extremely ludicrous." We were 
 speaking of the memoirs that are written by actors. 
 "With few exceptions," he said, "they are all alike. 
 The same comic mishaps occur to everybody on the 
 stage. I could fill pages with stories of that kind." 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 143 
 
 The humorous side of Booth's nature was delightful. 
 It appeared in his familiar talk, in his reminiscences 
 and anecdotes, and sometimes in his letters. The atti- 
 tude that he maintained toward the world, was, publicly, 
 that of brilHant achievement ; privately, that of reserve 
 and silence. In the presence of strangers, in the ordi- 
 nary intercourse of social life, he was cold and formal ; 
 but in the company of intimate friends his shy and frigid 
 manner vanished, and he became genial and playful. 
 He was uncommonly apt in telling comic stories, — his 
 fine dark eyes, mobile features, and expressive voice 
 giving effect to every word ; but he talked freely only 
 when in the society of those whom he knew well and 
 with whom he felt at ease. Speaking of that peculiarity,^ 
 he once mentioned to me an amusing incident of his 
 experience at a dinner party at the Boston house of 
 Oliver Wendell Holmes. The company, he said, was 
 large, and the conversation animated. He had taken 
 no part in it, except that of a listener. Something 
 presently suggested an anecdote to him, and he began 
 to speak to his nearest neighbour. Instantly there was 
 attentive silence all round the table. " I never got 
 beyond the first sentence," Booth added, " for the sud- 
 den stillness and the general attention so startled me 
 that I completely forgot what I had intended to say, 
 
 1 A comment made by Booth, when referring to his Winter Garden 
 days, denotes his temperament and also his sense of the impression that 
 it sometimes made upon the minds of others : — 
 
 " The labour I underwent at that time, with domestic afflictions weighing 
 heavily upon me, made me very unfit for social enjoyment of any kind, and 
 I was forced to shut myself up a great deal. This, of course, made people 
 think me haughty, self-conceited, and ' Hamlet-y ' all the time; whereas 
 I was very weary and unhappy." — MS. Note by E. B., 1874. 
 
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144 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 and so stuck fast and said nothing." People often 
 thought him distant and haughty, when he was only 
 constrained by excess of modesty. Beneath his reserve 
 there was, in fact, abundance of kindness, and, in spite 
 of many troubles, and latterly of radical ill-health, he 
 kept, to the last, the sportive disposition of a boy. " I 
 don't enjoy going to funerals," he said, when asked 
 to be one of the pall-bearers at the funeral of John 
 Brougham. 1 At the instance of Lawrence Barrett he 
 attended the funeral of E. P. Whipple, in Boston; but 
 the queer facial contortions of the officiating clergyman 
 quite overcame his gravity and his patience. " I knew 
 Mr. Whipple slightly," he remarked to Barrett, as they 
 left the church ; " but I never thought I should be so 
 sorry for his death." 
 
 Booth, in his private life, was controlled by a keen 
 sense of duty and by strong affections. As a son he 
 was tenderly devoted, thoughtful of everything that 
 could solace and soothe the declining years of an aged 
 mother, provident of blessings, and tireless in deeds of 
 gentle kindness and love. His reverence for the mem- 
 ory of his father always remained a passionate emotion. 
 Portraits of his father and mother were hung in his 
 bed-room, and there also he kept the portrait of his Mary 
 
 1 The funeral of John Brougham occurred at the Church of the Trans- 
 figuration, in Twenty-ninth street, New York, on June 9, 1880. The pall- 
 bearers were John R. Brady, S. L. AI. Barlow, Edwin Booth, William 
 Winter, F. C. Bangs, Charles Phelps, Noah Brooks, and John W. Carroll. 
 
 . The funeral of W. J. Florence, in which also Booth participated, 
 occurred at the cathedral in Twenty-ninth street, New York, November 
 23, 1891. The pall-bearers were A. M, Palmer, Cl.iyton McMichael, Edwin 
 Booth, William Winter, John Russell Young, C. Vilas, Col. Fearing, and 
 D. Hecksher. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 145 
 
 and that of his ill-fated brother, John Wilkes, whose 
 terrible act and miserable catastrophe he never ceased 
 to deplore. He was not a demonstrative friend ; but in 
 affliction and trouble he was constant, tender, and true.^ 
 He never forgot a kindness. Those who were good to 
 him in his early life, when he was poor and often severely 
 tried, were remembered by him in the days of his pros- 
 perity, and he was never so happy as when he could do 
 them service. The first engagements that he made for 
 Booth's theatre were those of D. C. Anderson and 
 D. W. Waller, old California friends, and to the widow" 
 of Anderson he bequeathed a legacy, in his last will. 
 An early engagement for that theatre, also, was that of 
 the aged " Polly " Druramond, who had long outlived 
 his usefulness, and was in penury. Drummond was the 
 first husband of the actress known to our theatre, from 
 1825 to 1853, as the beautiful Mrs. Barrett. He ap- 
 peared on Booth's stage in the character of An Old 
 Man, Cousin to Capulet, who prattles at the masque in 
 Romeo and Juliet ; as the Priest, in Hamlet ; and as the 
 Physician, in Macbeth. Booth employed him from sheer 
 kindness. He was always doing good deeds. An in- 
 advertent heedlessness of the right thing at the right 
 time was, indeed, constitutional with him, and he was 
 not a philanthropist ; but whenever he heard of suf- 
 fering he was wishful to relieve it, and his career was 
 not only brilliant with achievement for art but beautiful 
 with service for humanity. At all times confiding, and 
 
 ^ One instance of his thoughtful affection and gentle goodness was his 
 gift of many volumes to the Arthur Winter Memorial Library, in the 
 Staten Island Academy, in several of which he wrote: " With affectionate 
 remembrance of Artie, from his father's friend, Edwin Booth." 
 
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146 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 therefore easily amenable to influence, he was not at all 
 times sagacious as to his associates. In early life he 
 sometimes pinned his faith to engaging but unworthy 
 persons, and he suffered for that error. It is not an 
 unusual experience, with broad, kindly, trustful natures, 
 who have not yet learned by experience the pettiness, 
 selfishness, treachery, and malice that are in the world, 
 and what comfort many persons find in the utterance 
 of detraction and spite. In mature years, however, 
 Booth's friendship was not rashly bestowed. Among 
 the men whom he especially loved and trusted were 
 William Bispham, John Henry Magonigle, E. C. Bene- 
 dict, T. B. Aldrich, Charles E. Carryl,^ Eastman Johnson, 
 Lorrimer Graham, and Laurence Hutton. He had but 
 few intimates. The friends who cherished gentle 
 thoughts of him, however, were legion. No man was 
 ever more deeply honoured or more dearly loved. 
 
 One of Booth's thoughtful and gentle deeds was the 
 restoration of the monument that marks the grave of 
 George Frederick Cooke, in the old burying ground of 
 St. Paul's chapel, in New York. Cooke, a stranger, far 
 from home, died in New York in 1812, and his remains 
 were laid in the strangers' vault in that chapel, where 
 they rested nine years. In 1821 Edmund Kean, who 
 was acting at the Park, caused the body of his famous 
 exemplar and predecessor in the tragic art to be disin- 
 terred, and laid in a grave in the churchyard, over 
 which he erected the tomb — a plain rectangular pillar 
 
 ' Booth was fond of children, and very kind to them. One of his pets 
 was Constance, the Uttle daughter of Charles E. Carryl, and he kept her por- 
 trait in sight, on his mantel-shelf, at the Players. During one of his later 
 seasons on the New York stage, remembering the child's birthday, he sent 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 147 
 
 surmounted with an urn — that still marks the spot. 
 At that time Kean obtained the bone of Cooke's fore- 
 finger of the right hand, which had been so conspicuous 
 and effective in his acting, and Dr. Francis took posses- 
 sion of his skull. Those acts of reverential desecration 
 are recorded by Dr. Francis, in his book on Old Neiv 
 York. In 1846 the tomb of Cooke had fallen into 
 decay, and Charles Kean, who had come to New York 
 to act, repaired the structure that his father had erected. 
 Time dealt with it severely, however, and in 1873 it 
 
 to her a box at the Broadway theatre, for The Fool's Revenge. On her 
 arrival, with a party of friends, an usher presented to her a bunch of white 
 roses, and the following lines : — 
 
 Bertuccio's Wishes for Manie Happie Returns 
 OF THE Dave, 
 
 To V 
 Ladye Constance on her Twelfth Birthday. 
 
 Fair ladye bright, 
 Thy knobby knight — 
 Bertuccio bight — 
 Poor twisted wight! 
 On crooked knees 
 Presenteth these — 
 True emblems, sure, 
 Of thy sweet self — 
 Twelve rose-buds pure. 
 No more, no fewer, 
 To number your 
 Birthday — ye twelfth. 
 May many years 
 Of joyful days 
 Be thine, sweet maid, 
 And all thy tears 
 With smiles be shed ! 
 Rest thou in peace. 
 For now PU cease ; 
 My say is said. 
 
 The child was deeply impressed by this, and when Booth, on a call 
 before the curtain, chanced to bow towards the box, she quite upset his 
 gravity by rising and making him a curtsey in return. 
 
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148 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 was seen to be again dilapidated. Edward A. Sothern 
 observed this, and by his direction, and under the super- 
 vision of Thomas E. Mills, of Wallack's theatre, the 
 tomb was renovated, in 1874, the stones composing it 
 being bound together with iron anchors and cement. 
 The monument seemed then likely long to resist decay 
 and tempest. Yet sixteen years later it was found to 
 be crumbling, and, in 1890, it was thoroughly repaired 
 by Edwin Booth. I went with him one summer after- 
 noon (May 31, 1890) to that churchyard, after the 
 work of restoration had been completed, and we stood 
 together a long time, in silence, at the sepulchre of the 
 great actor. It was near sunset, and birds were circling 
 about the church spire, and the grass was stirring in 
 the gentle evening wind. No word was spoken. Booth's 
 thoughts, I well knew, were busy with the solemn mean- 
 ing of the scene — its lonely aspect of inevitable and 
 inscrutable finality, its pathos, its monition: — 
 
 "The paths of glory lead but to the grave." 
 
 The inscriptions on Cooke's tomb are as follows : — 
 
 South side : 
 
 ERECTED TO THE MEMORY 
 
 OF 
 
 GEO. FREDK. COOKE. 
 
 •BY 
 
 EDMUND KEAN 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Theatre Royal, Drary Lane, 
 
 1821. 
 
 Three kingdoms claim his birth. 
 
 Both hemispheres pronounce his worth. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 149 
 
 North side : 
 
 REPAIRED BY CHARLES KEAN, 
 1846. 
 
 East side : 
 
 REPAIRED BY E. A. SOTHERN, 
 
 Theatre Royal, Haymarket, 
 
 1874- 
 
 West side : 
 
 REPAIRED BY EDWIN BOOTH, 
 
 Booth seldom participated in public proceedings of 
 any kind, apart from those of the theatre. He was 
 averse to speech-making, and he possessed no conspicu- 
 ous talent for that art. Yet there were occasions when 
 he was induced to speak in public, and he spoke well. 
 His delivery of a portion of Stoddard's fine poem on 
 Shakespeare, at the dedication of the Shakespeare mon- 
 ument in Central Park, May 23, 1872, was spirited and 
 brilliant. He was much agitated, on that occasion, yet he 
 bore himself with composure, and, although speaking in 
 the open air, he made every word effective, and he much 
 enhanced the beauty of an imposing ceremony. His 
 present biographer enjoyed that effort, upon a " coign of 
 vantage" in the top of a neighbouring tree. Booth did 
 not like to give readings or recitals, but whenever he 
 did give them he produced a fine effect. His delivery 
 of Manfred, and of Collins's ode on The Passions, was 
 copious, various, and splendid. The former he read 
 at the Academy of Music, New York, before the Phil- 
 
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150 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 harmonic Society, May 7, 1869; the latter, at Steinway 
 Hall, New York, February 12, 1870.^ The address that 
 he delivered on the opening night of Booth's theatre was 
 written, and he carried the manuscript during the de- 
 livery of it. At the dedication of the Poe monument, 
 in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, May 4, 
 1885, he delivered an address that was deemed judicious 
 and appropriate, and it was spoken in an impressive 
 manner. He made a felicitous speech, also, at the ded- 
 ication of the Actors' monument, in Evergreens Ceme- 
 tery, Long Island, New York, June 6, 1887. 
 
 Upon the soul and scope of Booth's dramatic genius 
 comment cannot take the form of absolute precision.' 
 The subtle odour of the jasmine is not more illusive than 
 the secret of the charm which at once kindles and hal- 
 lows the intellect, making it potent to beguile mankind 
 of equal admiration and love. Spiritual personality 
 eludes definition. In the endless study of acting, more- 
 over, the conclusions of analysis are never universally 
 accepted. To comprehend an actor's ideal of an 
 author's conception and to compare it with your own, 
 assenting if the two agree and dissenting if they differ, 
 is the usual method. It seldom leads a student to 
 unqualified admiration of all the ideals of an actor, and 
 it often leaves judges, of liberal culture and discrim- 
 ination, in the attitude of controversy. It is defec- 
 
 1 A symphony, by Edward Mollenhauer, on CoUins's ode on The Pas- 
 sions, was performed at Steinway Hall, Saturday evening, February 
 12, 1870. Booth's elocution, in the delivery of the poem, was delightfully 
 graceful and effective, although, as the ode had to be read in detached 
 parts, with intervals of music, the effect of transition from one passion 
 to another was, necessarily, sacrificed. Mollenhauer's music evinced not 
 only poetic sensibility but poetic faculty. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 151 
 
 tive, furthermore, in its insistence upon design rather 
 than execution. Acting is not literature; neither is it 
 theory. 
 
 The province of the actor is kindred with that of the 
 poet — who is a commentator upon human life, in the 
 realm of the ideal as well as in the realm of fact. If 
 the actor possess genius, he will become the interpreter 
 of humanity, and its helper and guide ; and that, no 
 doubt, is why a great actor is so much honoured in life, 
 and so much deplored in death. Edwin Booth was a 
 benefactor to thousands, revealing to them, in forms and 
 colours of beauty, and in startling shapes of power 
 and terror, the complex mechanism of human nature 
 and the wonderful possibilities of spiritual destiny. To 
 be is more than to do, and the personality of Booth was 
 greater than his achievement. By birth and heredity 
 he possessed faculties and qualities that most actors 
 pass laborious lives in the fruitless effort to emulate — 
 the faculties and qualities, namely, of genius and per- 
 sonal charm, that constitute distinction and lead directly 
 to conquest. His face, his voice, his person, his demean- 
 our, and his brilliant, indomitable spirit — those were 
 his authentic preordination to empire and renown. As 
 a young man his beauty was extraordinary. His dark 
 eyes flashed with superb fire, not alone of physical vital- 
 ity, but of imagination, emotion, and exaltation of the 
 soul. In mature years the same nobility of presence 
 continued to subsist, but it was softened and hallowed 
 by experience and grief. Alike in youth and age, in 
 bloom and in decline, he was exceptional and rare, a strik- 
 ing product of nature, and as such a puissant and pre- 
 dominant force. He needed not to seek after novelties; 
 
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152 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 he was himself a novelty. The old plays were adequate 
 for his purpose, because, in his inspired expression of 
 their thought and feeling, character and action, he 
 made them ever new. His success was that of a great 
 personality, — specially shown in the equilibrium of 
 his intellectual life and its freedom from fret and 
 fume. All his mistakes and most of his troubles rfe- 
 sulted from the amiable weakness with which he some- 
 times permitted himself to become entangled with 
 paltry, scheming, unworthy people. By himself, — 
 isolated, introspective, strange, wayward, variable, 
 moody, yet noble, gentle, affectionate, generous, — he 
 was incarnate victory. 
 
 The salient attributes of Booth's art were imagination, 
 insight, grace, intense emotion, and melancholy refine- 
 ment. In Hamlet, Richelieu, Othello, lago. King Lear, 
 Bertuccio, and Lucius Brutus they were conspicuously 
 manifest. But the controlling attribute, — that which 
 imparted individual character, colour, and fascination to 
 his acting, — was the thoughtful, introspective habit of a 
 stately mind, abstracted from passion and suffused with 
 mournful dreaminess of temperament. The moment 
 that charm began to work, his victory was complete. 
 It was that which made him the true image of Shake- 
 speare's thought, in the glittering halls of Elsinore, on 
 its midnight battlements, and in its lonely, wind-beaten 
 place of graves. 
 
 Under the discipline of sorrow, and through "years 
 that bring the philosophic mind," Booth drifted further 
 and further away from things dark and terrible, whether 
 in the possibilities of human life or in the world of im- 
 agination. That is the direction of true growth. In 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 153 
 
 all characters that evoked his essential spirit — in 
 characters which rest on spiritualised intellect, or on 
 sensibility to fragile loveliness, the joy that is unattain- 
 able, the glory that fades, and the beauty that perishes 
 — he was peerless. Hamlet, Richeheu, Faust, Manfred, 
 Jacques, Esmond, Sydney Carton, and Sir Edward Mor- 
 timer are all, in different ways, suggestive of the per- 
 sonality that Booth was fitted to illustrate. It is the 
 loftiest type that human nature affords, because it is the 
 embodied supremacy of the soul, and because therein 
 it denotes the only possible escape from the cares and 
 vanities of a transitory world. 
 
 The last two or three years of Booth's life were years 
 of difficult endeavour and patient endurance for him, 
 and of anxious solicitude for his friends. He passed 
 most of the time, after April, 1891, at the Players' 
 Club ; but he made occasional excursions to Newport 
 and Narragansett Pier, he visited Jefferson, at Buzzard's 
 Bay, he spent a few days in Boston, and he lived for a 
 while at Lakewood, New Jersey. His health failed 
 gradually, but with an obvious and dreadful certainty. 
 He was aware of his condition. He knew that the end 
 of his earthly life was near ; but he did not brood over 
 it, and he did not fear it. He had often said, with 
 Hamlet, " the readiness is all," and he was prepared to 
 answer the summons whenever it might come. There 
 were moments when, in his human weakness, he grew 
 helpless and forlorn. One such moment I well remem- 
 ber, — a sorrowful evening, — when, looking with sad, 
 wistful eyes, he said, " I don't know what is to become 
 of- me. My strength is going. I grow weaker, all the 
 time ; and if I cannot play the parts well, I must quit 
 
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154 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 acting. I don't know what to do." It was hard to 
 counsel him to quit acting, but that counsel was given. 
 He loved to talk of Shakespeare and the Shakespeare 
 country, and to plan little walking-tours in lovely War- 
 wickshire. "People would not let me ramble about 
 there as I liked," he said. "There were entertain- 
 ments, and I was made a lion. It was done in kind- 
 ness, but I wish I could have gone about without 
 being known and without attracting attention." Upon 
 any topic associated with the name of Shakespeare 
 he dwelt with keen interest. The crazy notion that 
 Shakespeare's plays were written by Bacon amused 
 him, and he expressed a mild wonder at the possibility 
 of even a passing credence for such egregious folly. 
 In reading, in meditation, in the society of his beloved 
 daughter and her children, in talk with his friends, 
 and in observance of the orders of his physician, he 
 passed through the wearisome ordeal of those months 
 of decline. At most times he was composed and firm ; 
 at all times he was patient ; and he died, as he had 
 lived, in the poise and serenity of a steadfast character, 
 and in calm reliance on his unclouded conviction of a 
 life beyond the grave. 
 
 It was my fortune to be far away from him — at 
 Mentone, in Southern California — in his last days, and 
 when he died ; but I was frequently and fully advised 
 of his state. A stroke of paralysis came upon him 
 on the night of April 19, 1893. From that hour he 
 lingered, — sometimes in a semi-conscious condition, 
 more often in stupor or delirium, — till the night of 
 June 7, when he sank rapidly, and so expired. His 
 death occurred at 1.17 o'clock on Wednesday morning, 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 155 
 
 June 8.1 A moment before he drew his last breath, all 
 the electric lights in the Players' Club and in the 
 neighbourhood by chance grew dim, and were extin- 
 guished ; but the current was re-established the instant 
 before he passed away. At his bedside, during his 
 last hours, were his daughter and her husband; his 
 affectionate and devoted friends, Magonigle, William 
 Bispham, and Charles E. Carryl ; his faithful physi- 
 cian, Dr. St. Clair Smith ; and two nurses. His funeral 
 occurred on June 9, at the Church of the Transfigura- 
 tion, in 29th street, New York. Bishop Henry C. 
 Potter, Rev. Dr. George H. Houghton, and Rev. C. W. 
 Bispham, of Washington, conducted the service. More 
 than three thousand persons attended those obsequies. 
 The remains were conveyed to Boston, the same day, 
 and were laid in the grave, at beautiful Mount Auburn, 
 in the neighbourhood of that city, in presence of a great 
 company of mourners. The funeral train reached the 
 cemetery at sunset. The day had been overcast and 
 drear; but after the procession had halted, and just as 
 the clergyman. Rev. Dr. Frisby, of Boston, began to 
 read the committal service for the dead, the clouds 
 parted, and the purple glory of the sinking sun poured 
 upon the coffin in a sudden flood of light, and illumined 
 
 iThe death of Booth elicited expressions of sorrow from the Press of 
 all nations, and from many societies and individuals of distinction and 
 importance. The following cable dispatch was received from the leader 
 of the English stage : — ■ 
 
 London, June 8, 1893. 
 
 My Dear Winter : I am grieved beyond measure at the sad news 
 
 of poor dear Booth's death. The world is poorer to-day by a great and 
 
 true man. All love. 
 
 Henry Irving, 
 
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156 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 the whole solemn scene as with the splendour of heaven. ^ 
 Long after the burial ceremonies were completed, and 
 the grave had been filled, the people lingered at the 
 spot, and at length, forming themselves into a proces- 
 sion, they passed around it, and loving hands cast 
 flowers upon it, until a heap of roses was all that could 
 be seen. 
 
 Booth was almost the last of the actors who are 
 interesting. He was unique. He stood apart. He 
 pursued his natural course, without solicitude as to 
 
 ^ Booth's pall was borne by Charles P. Daly, Horace Howard Furness, 
 Joseph Jefferson, A. M. Palmer, William Bispham, T. B. Aldrich, and East- 
 man Johnson. 
 
 Aldrich followed the remains to Boston, and was present at the burial, 
 and he sent the scene to me, in tliese tender and lovely words : — 
 
 PoNKAPOG, Mass., June 12, 1893. 
 Dear Will : We reached Mount Auburn a few minutes before 
 sunset. Just as Edwin was laid in the grave, among the fragrant pine- 
 boughs which lined it, and softened its cruelty, the sun went down. I never 
 saw anything of such heart-breaking lovehness as this scene. There in 
 the tender afterglow two or three hundred men and women stood silent, 
 with bowed heads. A single bird, in a nest hidden somewhere near by, 
 twittered from time to time. The soft June air, blowing across the upland, 
 brought with it the scent of syringa blossoms from the slope below. Over- 
 head and among the trees the twilight was gathering. " Good night, sweet 
 Prince ! " I said, under my breath, remembering your quotation. Then I 
 thought of the years and years that had been made rich with his presence, 
 and of the years that were to come, — for us not many, surely, — and if 
 there had not been a crowd of people, I would have buried my face in the 
 greensward and wept, as men may not do, and women may. And thus 
 we left him. 
 
 Some day, when I come to New York, we must get together in a 
 corner at the Players, and talk about him, — his sorrows and his genius, 
 and his gentle soul. 
 
 Ever affectionately, 
 
 Tom. 
 
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LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH 157 
 
 public opinion or private censure. He had no vanity, 
 no envy, no pettiness. He cared much more to deserve 
 approbation than to possess it. He held his rank by 
 merit, and he never wished to hold it by any other 
 means. He was never a manipulator of newspapers, 
 nor a seeker after notoriety. He was himself — original, 
 genuine, simple, sincere. He respected the conventions 
 of others, but he was not conventional. He was con- 
 siderate of those around him, and appreciative of their 
 sympathy, and wishful for their welfare ; but he was 
 not dependent on them ; he was sufficient unto himself. 
 His resources were within his mind. He liked solitude, 
 and he lived much alone — reading, musing, pondering 
 upon his art, and, especially, thinking of that one 
 other subject which interested him, religion. The charm 
 of his nature was blended composure, gentleness, and 
 distinction. He had the constant spirit of a believer, 
 the grave impartiality of a philosopher, and the pensive, 
 dream-like temperament of a poet. He thus diffused an 
 influence of strength, grace, and peace. His mood, at 
 times, became hstless and apathetic, and he allowed 
 everything to drift ; but his conduct of life was neither 
 feverish nor flurried. At all times he reacted upon his 
 circumstances and his associates, as an influence that 
 composes and exalts. The vitalising element of his art 
 was the romantic, imaginative, spiritual element. With 
 the paganism of this age, — its materialistic tendency, 
 its keen, hard, voluptuous desire and purpose to get 
 everything out of animal existence that sensuality can 
 yield, — he had no fellowship. His earthly life con- 
 stantly anticipated a heavenly life to come ; and, there- 
 fore, alike in his personal conduct and his public 
 
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158 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 embodiments, there was an ever-present and cogent 
 attribute of noble and ennobling exaltation. Upon the 
 marge of that illimitable ocean of mystery which en- 
 circles this world he stood, in awe and wonder, rever- 
 ently gazing on its depths. Into that great sea he has 
 vanished. Out across those sombre waters he has gone 
 his lonely way. Farewell ! A long farewell ! No soul 
 ever endured more sweetly the burden of mortal trials, 
 or made more bravely that dark voyage into the great 
 unknown. 
 
 On one of those sad days, after Booth was stricken, 
 and when he was waiting for death, I wrote these 
 words, thinking of him, three thousand miles away, 
 and knowing that we were never to meet again, this 
 side the grave : — 
 
 Be patient and be wise ! The eyes of Deatli 
 
 Look on us with a smile : lier soft caress, 
 
 That stills the anguish and that stops the breath, 
 
 Is Nature's ordination, meant to bless 
 
 Our mortal woes with peaceful nothingness. 
 
 Be not afraid ! The Power that made the light 
 
 In your kind eyes, and set the stars on high, 
 
 And gave us love, meant not that all should die — 
 
 Like a brief day-beam quenched in sudden night. 
 
 Think that to die is but to fall asleep 
 
 And wake refreshed where the new morning breaks, 
 
 And golden day her rosy \igour takes 
 
 From winds that fan eternity's far height, 
 
 And the « hite crests of God's perpetual deep. 
 
 Note. — The reader of this memoir is advised to read also for addi- 
 tional facts and thoughts bearing upon this subject, essays written by me, 
 on Junius Brutus Booth and Edwin Booth, in my SAulAkus of the Stage, 
 first and second series. 
 
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ARTOTYPe, E B1ERSTA0T, 
 
 BOOTH AS HAMLET. 
 
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II. 
 
 THE ART OF EDWIN BOOTH. 
 
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" In the first seat, in robe of various dyes, 
 A noble wildness flashing from his eyes, 
 Sat Shakespeare. — In one hand a wand he bore, 
 For mighty wonders fam'd in days of yore ; 
 The other held a globe, which to his will 
 Obedient turn'd, and own'd the master's skill : 
 Things of the noblest kind his genius drew, 
 And look'd thro' Nature at a single view : 
 A loose he gave to his unbounded soul, 
 And taught new lands to rise, new seas to roll ; 
 Call'd into being scenes unknown before, 
 And, passing Nature's bounds, was something more." 
 
 Churchill. 
 
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II. 
 
 THE ART OF EDWIN BOOTH. 
 
 HAMLET. 
 
 |OOTH'S impersonation of Hamlet was one 
 of the best known works of the dramatic 
 age. In many minds the actor and the 
 characterjiad become identical, and it is 
 not to be doubted that Booth's performance 
 of Hamlet will live, in commemorative dramatic history, 
 with great representative embodiments of the stage — 
 with Garrick's Lear, Kemble's Coriolanus, Edmund 
 Kean's Richard, Macready's Macbeth, Forrest's Othello, 
 and Irving's Mathias, and Becket. That it deserved 
 historic permanence is the conviction of a great body 
 of thoughtful students of Shakespeare and of the art 
 of acting, in Great Britain and Germany as well as in 
 America. In the elements of intellect, imagination, 
 sublimity, mystery, tenderness, incipient delirium, and 
 morbid passion, it was exactly consonant with what the 
 best analysis has determined as to the conception of 
 Shakespeare ; while in sustained vigour, picturesque 
 variety, and beautiful grace of execution, it was a 
 model of executive art, — of demeanour, as the atmos- 
 phere of the soul, — facial play, gesticulation, and 
 fluent and spontaneous delivery of the text ; a delivery 
 that made the blank verse as natural in its effect as 
 
 I6l 
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162 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 blank verse ought to be, or can be, without ever drop- 
 ping it to the level of colloquialism and commonplace. 
 /^ In each of Booth's performances a distinguishing 
 
 '^N attribute was simplicity of treatment, and that was 
 significantly prominent in his portrayal of Hamlet. 
 The rejection of all singularity and the avoidance of 
 all meretricious ornament resulted in a sturdy artistic 
 honesty, which could not be too much admired. The 
 
 '^(figure stood forth, distinct and stately, in a clear light. 
 The attitudes, movements, gestures, and facial play 
 
 , /Combined in a fabric of symmetry and of always ade- 
 quate expression. The text was spoken with ample 
 vocal power and fine flexibility. The illustrative "busi- 
 ness " was strictly accordant with the wonderful dignity 
 and high intellectual worth of Shakespeare's creation. 
 The illusion of the part was created with an almost 
 magical sincerity, and was perfectly preserved. Booth's 
 Hamlet was — as Hamlet on the stage should always 
 be — an imaginative and poetic figure ; and yet it was 
 natural. To walk upon the stage with the blank verse 
 stored in memory, with every particle of the business pre- 
 arranged, with every emotion aroused yet controlled, 
 and every effect considered, known, and pre-ordained, 
 and yet to make the execution of a design seem invol- 
 untary and spontaneous, — that is the task set for the 
 actor, and that task was accomplished by Booth. 
 
 Much is heard about " nature " in acting, and about 
 the necessity of "feeling," on the part of an actor. The 
 point has been too often obscured by ignorant or care- 
 less reasoning. An actor who abdicates intellectual 
 supremacy ceases to be an actor, for he never can 
 present a consistent and harmonious work. To yield to 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 163 
 
 unchecked feeling is to go to pieces. The actor who 
 makes his audience weep is not he who himself weeps, 
 but he who seems to weep. He will have the feeling, 
 but he will control it and use it, and he will not show 
 it in the manner of actual life. Mrs. Siddons said of 
 herself that she had got credit for the truth and feeling 
 of her acting, when she was only relieving her own 
 heart of its grief ; but Mrs. Siddons knew how to act, 
 whatever were her personal emotions, — for it was she 
 who admonished a young actor, saying, " You feel too 
 much." Besides, every artist has a characteristic, in- 
 dividual way. If the representative of Hamlet will 
 express the feelings of Hamlet, will convey them to his 
 audience, and will make the poetic ideal an actual 
 person, it makes no difference whether he is excited or 
 quiescent. Feeling did not usually run away with Dion 
 Boucicault : yet he could act Daddy O'Dowd so as to 
 convulse an audience with sympathy and grief. Jeffer- 
 son, the quintessence of tenderness, has often accom- 
 plished the same result with Rip Van Winkle. In one 
 case the feeling was assumed and controlled ; in the 
 other, it is experienced and controlled. Acting is an 
 art, and not a spasm ; and when you saw Booth as 
 Hamlet you saw a noble exemplification of that art, 
 — the ideal of a poet, supplied with a physical investi- 
 ture and made actual and natural, yet not lowered to the 
 level of common life. 
 
 The tenderness of Hamlet toward Ophelia — or, 
 rather, toward his ideal of Ophelia — was always set 
 in a strong light, in Booth's acting of the part. He 
 likewise gave felicitous expression to a deeper view 
 of that subject — to Hamlet's pathetic realisation that 
 
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164 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 Ophelia is but a fragile nature, upon which his love 
 has been wasted, and that, in such a world as this, 
 love can find no anchor and no security. The forlorn 
 desolation of the prince was thus made emphatic. 
 One of the saddest things in Hamlet's experience is 
 his baffled impulse to find rest in love — the crush- 
 ing lesson, not only that Ophelia is incompetent to 
 understand him, but that the stronger and finer a 
 nature is, whether man or woman, the more inevitably 
 it must stand alone. That hope by which so many fine 
 spirits have been lured and baffled, of finding another 
 heart upon which to repose when the burden of life be- 
 comes too heavy to be borne alone, is, of all hopes, the 
 most delusive. Loneliness is the penalty of greatness. 
 Booth was definite, also, as to the " madness " of 
 Hamlet.-' He was not absolutely mad, but substan- 
 tially sane, — guarding himself, his secrets, and his 
 purposes by assumed wildness ; yet the awful lone- 
 liness of existence to which Hamlet has been se- 
 
 ' In reply to a question on this subject, Booth wrote the following letter, 
 which was printed by its recipient, in the Nasliville (Tenn.) Banner : — 
 
 Dear Sir : The subject to which you refer is, as you well know, one of 
 endless controversy among the learned heads, and I dare say they will 
 " war " over it " till time fades into eternity." I think I am asked the 
 same question nearly three hundred and sixty-five times a year, and I 
 usually find it safest to side with both parties in dispute, being one of 
 those, perhaps, referred to in the last line of the following verse : — ■ 
 " Genius, the Pythian of the beautiful, 
 Leaves her large truths a riddle to the dull ; 
 From eyes profane a veil the Isis screens, 
 And fools on fools still ask what Hamlet means." 
 
 Yet, I will confess that I do not consider Hamlet mad, — except in 
 
 " craft." My opinion may be of little value, but 'tis the result of many 
 
 weary walks with him, " for hours together, here in the lobby." 
 
 Truly vouiis, 
 
 Edwin Booth. 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 165 
 
 questered by his vast, profound, all-embracing, con- 
 templative intellect, and by the mental shock and 
 wrench that he has sustained, was allowed to colour 
 his temperament. That idea might, in its practical 
 application, be advantageously carried much further 
 than it ever was by any actor; for, after the ghost-scene, 
 the spiritual disease of the Dane would augment its 
 ravages, and his figure should then appear in blight, 
 disorder, dishevelment, and hopeless misery. Poetic 
 gain, however, may sometimes be dramatic loss. To 
 Hamlet the dreamer, Booth usually gave more emphasis 
 than to Hamlet the sufferer — wisely remembering there- 
 in the value of stage effect for an audience. His Ham- 
 let was a man to whom thoughts are things and actions 
 are shadows, and who is defeated and overwhelmed by 
 spiritual perceptions too vast for his haunted spirit, by 
 griefs and shocks too great for his endurance, by wicked 
 and compelling environments too strong for his nerve- 
 less opposition, and by duties too practical and onerous 
 for his diseased and irresolute will. That was as near 
 to the truth of Shakespeare as acting can reach, and it 
 made Hamlet as intelligible as Hamlet can ever be. 
 
 To a man possessing the great intellect and the 
 infinitely tender sensibility of Hamlet, grief does not 
 come in the form of dejection, but in the form of a 
 restless, turbulent, incessant agonising fever of vital 
 agitation. He is never at rest. The grip that misery 
 has fastened upon his soul is inexorable. Contempla- 
 tion of the action and reaction of his spirit and his 
 anguish is, to a thoughtful observer, kindred with observ- 
 ance of the hopeless suffering of a noble and beloved 
 friend who is striving in vain against the slow, insidious, 
 
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166 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 fatal advance of wasting disease, which intends death, 
 and which will certainly accomplish what it intends. The 
 spirit of Hamlet is indomitable. It may be quenched, 
 but it cannot be conquered. The freedom into which it 
 has entered is the awful freedom that misery alone can 
 give. Beautiful, desolate, harrowed with pain, but ever 
 tremulous with the life of perception and feeling, it 
 moves among phantom shapes and ghastly and hideous 
 images, through wrecks of happiness and the glimmer- 
 ing waste of desolation. It is a distracted and irresolute 
 spirit, made so by innate gloom and by the grandeur of 
 its own vast perceptions. But it is never supine. 
 
 That pathetic condition of agonised unrest, that vital- 
 ity of exquisite torture in the nature and experience 
 of Hamlet, was indicated by Booth. He moved with 
 grace ; he spoke the text with ease, polish, spontaneous 
 fluency, and rich and strong signiiicance. The noble 
 ideal and the clear-cut execution were obvious. But he 
 crowned all by denoting, with incisive distinctness and 
 with woful beauty, the pathetic vitality of the Hamlet 
 experience. His impersonation had wealth of emotion, 
 exalted poetry of treatment, and a dream-like quality that 
 could not fail to fascinate ; but, above all, when at its 
 best, it had the terrible reality of suffering. There was 
 no "realism" in it, no fantastic stage business, no la- 
 boured strangeness of new readings : it was a present- 
 ment of the spiritual state of a gifted man, whom nature 
 and circumstance have made so clear-sighted and yet so 
 wretchedly dubious that his surroundings overwhelm him, 
 and life becomes to him a burden and a curse. Hamlet 
 is a mystery. But, seeing that personation, the thinker 
 saw what Shakespeare meant. Many a human soul has 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 167 
 
 had, or is now enduring, this experience, confronted 
 with the duty of fulfilling a rational life, yet heart- 
 broken with personal affliction, and bewildered with a 
 sense of the awful mysteries of spiritual destiny and 
 the supernal world. This is the great subject that 
 Booth's performance of Hamlet presented — and pre- 
 sented in an entirely great manner. His scenes with ) 
 the Ghost had a startling weirdness. His parting from 
 Ophelia had the desolate and afflicting and therefore 
 right effect of a parting from love, no less than from v 
 its object. His sudden delirium, in the killing of the 
 concealed spy upon Hamlet's interview with the Queen, 
 was wonderfully fine, and it always evoked a prodigious 
 enthusiasm. 
 
 Booth's Hamlet did not love Ophelia. He had left 
 behind not only that special love, but love itself — 
 which was something that he remembered but could no 
 longer feel. His Hamlet retained, under all the shocks" 
 of spiritual affliction, and through all the blight of 
 physical suffering, a potent intellectual concentration 
 and a princely investiture of decorous elegance : it was 
 not a Hamlet of collapse and ruin : it was neither 
 "fat" nor "scant of breath" — neither lethargic with 
 the languor of misery, nor heavy with the fleshly 
 grossness of supine sloth and abject prostration. The 
 heart was corroded with sorrow, but the brain stood - 
 firm. Yet there were moments when the sanity of 
 Booth's Hamlet lapsed into transient frenzy. A pa- 
 thetic, involuntary tenderness played through his man- 
 ner toward Ophelia, whom once he has loved and 
 trusted, but whom he now knows to be a frail nature, 
 however lovely and sweet. The pervasive tone of the 
 
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168 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 embodiment was that of a sad isolation from humanity, 
 a dream-hke vagueness of condition, — as of one who 
 wanders upon the dusky confines of another world, — 
 and a drifting incertitude, very eloquent of the ravages 
 of a terrible spiritual experience. The latter attribute 
 was the poetic charm of Booth's Hamlet, and the poetic 
 charm, the fine intellectuality, and the graceful execu- 
 tion of the work gave it at once extraordinary beauty 
 and remarkable influence. 
 
 Acting, at its best, is the union of perfect expression 
 with a true ideal. Booth's ideal of Hamlet satisfied the 
 imagination more especially in this respect, that it left 
 Hamlet substantially undefined. The character, or 
 rather the temperament, was deeply felt, was imparted 
 with flashes of great energy, and at moments was made 
 exceedingly brilliant ; but, for the most part, it was lived 
 out in a dream, and was left to make its own way. 
 There was no insistence on special views or on being 
 specifically understood. And this mood mellowed the 
 execution and gave it flexibility and warmth. Booth 
 was an actor of uncertain impulses and conditions, and 
 he was rightly understood only by those who saw him 
 often, in any specified character. Like all persons of 
 acute sensibility, he had his good moments and his bad 
 ones — moments when the genial fire of the soul was 
 liberated, and moments when the artistic faculties could 
 only operate in the hard, cold mechanism of professional 
 routine. Sometimes he seemed lethargic and indiffer- 
 ent. At other times he would put forth uncommon 
 power, and in the ghost scenes and the great third act, 
 would create a thrilling illusion and lift his audience 
 into noble excitement. At its best his performance of 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 169 
 
 Hamlet exalted the appreciative spectator by arousing a 
 sense of the pathos of our mortal condition as contrasted 
 with the grandeur of the human mind and the vast pos- 
 sibilities of spiritual destiny ; and therein it was a per- 
 formance of great public benefit and importance. 
 
 Booth's Hamlet was poetic. The person whom he 
 represented was not an ancient Dane, fair, blue-eyed, 
 yellow-haired, stout, and lymphatic, but was the dark, sad, 
 dreamy, mysterious hero of a poem. The actor did not 
 go behind the tragedy, in quest of historical realism, but, 
 dealing with an ideal subject, treated it in an ideal man- 
 ner, as far removed as possible from the plane of actual 
 life. Readers of the play of Hamlet are aware that 
 interest in the Prince of Denmark is not, to any con- 
 siderable extent, inspired by the circumstances that sur- 
 round him, but depends upon the quality of the man — 
 his spirit and the fragrance of his character. There is an 
 element in Hamlet no less elusive than beautiful, which 
 lifts the mind to a sublime height, fills the heart with a 
 nameless grief, and haunts the soul like the remembered 
 music of a gentle voice that will speak no more. It 
 might be called sorrowful grandeur, sad majesty, ineffa- 
 ble mournfulness, grief-stricken isolation, or patient spir- 
 itual anguish. Whatever called, the name would probably 
 be inadequate ; but the power of the attribute itself can 
 never fail to be felt. Hamlet fascinates by his person- 
 ality ; and no man can succeed in presenting him who 
 does not possess in himself that peculiar quality of fas- 
 cination. It is something that cannot be drawn from 
 the library, or poured from the flagon, or bought in the 
 shops. Booth possessed it — and that was the first 
 cause of his great success in the character, 
 
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170 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 Booth's Hamlet was likewise spiritual. Therein the 
 actor manifested not alone the highest quality that can 
 characterise acting, but a perfectly adequate intuitive 
 knowledge of the Shakespearian conception. It is not 
 enough, in the presentation of this part, that an actor 
 should make known the fact that Hamlet's soul is 
 haunted by supernatural powers : he must also make it 
 felt that Hamlet possesses a soul such as it is possible for 
 supernatural powers to haunt. In Shakespeare's pages 
 it may be seen that — at the beginning, and before his 
 mind has been shocked and unsettled by the awful 
 apparition of his father's spirit in arms — Hamlet is a 
 man darkly prone to sombre thought upon the nothing- 
 ness of this world and the solemn mysteries of the world 
 beyond the grave ; and this mental drift does not flow 
 from the student's fancy, but is the spontaneous, pas- 
 sionate tendency of his soul — for, in the very first self- 
 communing passage that he utters, he is found to have 
 been brooding on the expediency of suicide ; and not 
 long afterwards he is found avowing the belief that the 
 powers of hell have great control over spirits as weak 
 and melancholy as his own. A hint suffices. The soul 
 of Hamlet must be felt to have been — in its original 
 essence and condition, before grief, shame, and terror 
 arrived, to burden and distract it — intensely sensitive to 
 the miseries that are in this world ; to the fact that it is 
 an evanescent pageant, passing, on a thin tissue, over 
 what Shakespeare himself has greatly called "the blind 
 cave of eternal night ; " and to all the vague, strange 
 influences, sometimes beautiful, sometimes terrible, that 
 are wafted out of the great unknown. Booth's embod- 
 iment of Hamlet was so thoroughly saturated with this 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 171 
 
 feeling that often it seemed to be more a spirit than a 
 man. 
 
 The statement of those felicities indicates Booth's 
 natural adaptability and qualification for the character. 
 Nature made it in him " a property of easiness " to be 
 poetic and spiritual, according to the mood in which 
 Hamlet is depicted. Hence the ideal of Shakespeare 
 was the more easily within his grasp, and he stood 
 abundantly justified — as few other actors have ever been 
 — in undertaking to present it. The spiritualised intel- 
 lect, the masculine strength, the feminine softness, the 
 over-imaginative reason, the lassitude of thought, the 
 autumnal gloom, the lovable temperament, the piteous, 
 tear-freighted humour, the princely grace of condition, 
 the brooding melancholy, the philosophic mind, and the 
 deep heart, which are commingled in the poet's concep- 
 tion, found their roots and springs in the being of the 
 man. Booth seemed to live Hamlet rather than to act 
 it. His ideal presented a man whose nature is every- 
 thing lovable ; who is placed upon a pinnacle of earthly 
 greatness ; who is afflicted with a grief that breaks his 
 heart and a shock that disorders his mind ; who is 
 charged with a solemn and dreadful duty, to the fulfil- 
 ment of which his will is inadequate ; who sees so 
 widely and understands so little the nature of things in 
 the universe that his sense of moral responsibility is 
 overwhelmed, and his power of action arrested ; who 
 thinks greatly, but to no purpose ; who wanders darkly 
 in the border-land between reason and madness, haunted 
 now with sweet strains and majestic images of heaven, 
 and now with terrific, uncertain shapes of hell ; and 
 who drifts aimlessly, on a sea of misery, into the ob- 
 
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172 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 livion of death. This man is a type of beings upon 
 the earth to whom life is a dream, all its surroundings 
 too vast and awful for endurance, all its facts sad, action 
 impossible or fitful and fruitless, and of whom it can 
 never be said that they are happy till the grass is grow- 
 ing on their graves. That type Booth displayed, with 
 symmetery and grace of method, in an artistic form 
 which was harmony itself. If to be true to Shake- 
 speare, in that vast, complex, and difficult creation, and 
 to interpret the truth with beautiful action, is to attain 
 to greatness in the dramatic art, then surely Booth was 
 a great actor. 
 
 Booth's method in the scenes with the Ghost would 
 endure the severest examination, and in those sublime 
 situations he fully deserved the tribute that Gibber pays 
 to the Hamlet of Betterton. Those are the test scenes, 
 and Booth left his spectators entirely satisfied with the 
 acting of them. 
 
 ■' If I were to pause upon special points in the exe- 
 cution, — which, since they illumine the actor's ideal 
 and vindicate his genius, are representative and deeply 
 significant, — I should indicate the subtlety with which, 
 almost from the first, the sense of being haunted was 
 conveyed to the imagination ; the perfection with which 
 the weird and awful atmosphere of the ghost-scenes was 
 preserved, by the actor's transfiguration into tremulous 
 suspense and horror ; the human tenderness and heart- 
 breaking pathos of the scene with Ophelia ; the shrill, 
 terrific cry and fate-like swiftness and fury that electri- 
 fied the moment of the killing of Polonius ; and the des- 
 olate calm of despairing surrender to bleak and cruel 
 fate, with which Hamlet, as he stood beside the grave 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 173 
 
 of Ophelia, was made so pitiable an object that no man 
 with a heart in his bosom could see him without tears. 
 Those were peaks of majesty in Booth's impersonation. 
 Thought is not compelled, in remembering Booth's 
 Hamlet, to stop short with the statement that the 
 thing was well done. It may go further than that, 
 and rejoice in the conviction that the thing itself was 
 right. There are in the nature of Hamlet — -which 
 is grace, sweetness, and grandeur corroded by grief and 
 warped by incipient insanity — depths below depths of 
 misery and self-conflict ; and doubtless it was a sense 
 of this that made Kemble say that an actor of the part 
 is always finding something new in it ; but Booth's 
 ideal of Hamlet possessed the indescribable poetic 
 element which fascinates, and the spiritual quality 
 which made it the ready instrument of " airs from 
 heaven or blasts from hell." The heart had been 
 broken by grief. The mind had been disordered by a 
 terrible shock. The soul, — so predisposed to brooding 
 upon the hollowness of this fragile life and the dark- 
 ness of futurity that already it counsels suicide before 
 the great blow has fallen and the prince confronts 
 his father's wandering ghost, — was full of vast, fan- 
 tastic shapes, and was swayed by strange forces of 
 an unknown world. The condition was princely, the 
 manner exalted, the humour full of tears, the thought 
 weighed down with a wide and wandering sense of 
 the mysteries of the universe ; and the power of action 
 was completely benumbed. That is Shakespeare's 
 Hamlet, and that nature Booth revealed; — in aspect, 
 as sombre as the midnight sky; in spirit, as lovely 
 as the midnight stars. That nature, furthermore, he 
 
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174 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 portrayed brilliantly, knowing that sorrow, however 
 powerful in the element of oppression, cannot fascinate. 
 The Hamlet that is merely sorrowful, though he might 
 arouse pity, would not inspire affection. It is the per- 
 sonality beneath the anguish that makes the anguish 
 so stately, so awful, so majestic' By itself the infinite 
 grief of Hamlet would overwhelm with the monotony 
 of gray despair; but, since the nature that shines 
 through it is invested with the mysterious and fascinat- 
 ing glamour of beauty in ruin, the grief becomes an 
 active pathos, and the sufferer is loved as well as pitied. 
 Nor does it detract from the loveliness of the ideal, that 
 it is cursed with incipient and fitful insanity. Thought 
 is shocked by the word and not the thing, when it 
 rejects this needful attribute of a character otherwise 
 eternally obscure. No one means that Hamlet needs 
 a strait-jacket. The insanity is a cloud only, and only 
 now and then present — as with many sane men whom 
 thought, passion, and suffering urge at times into the 
 border-land between reason and madness. That lurid 
 gleam was first conspicuously evident in Booth's Ham- 
 let after the first apparition of the Ghost, and again 
 after the climax of the play scene ; but, flowing out of 
 an art-instinct too spontaneous always to have direct 
 intention, it played intermittently along the whole line 
 of the personation, and added weight and weirdness 
 and pathos to remediless misery. 
 
 Booth's embodiment of Hamlet was a pleasure to the 
 eye, a delight to the sense of artistic form and moving, 
 a thrilling presence to the imagination, and a sadly 
 significant emblem to the spiritual consciousness. 
 Booth was never at any time inclined, when impersonat- 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 175 
 
 ing Hamlet, to employ those theatrical expedients that 
 startle an audience and diffuse nervous excitement. 
 Except at the delirious moment when the prince rushes 
 upon the arras, and stabs through it the hidden spy 
 whom he wildly hopes is the king, his acting was never 
 diverted from that mood of intellectual concentration '' 
 which essentially is the condition of Hamlet. In that/ 
 moment his burst of frensied eagerness — half horror,\ 
 and half-exultant delight — liberated the passion that i 
 smoulders beneath Hamlet's calm, and it was irresisti- ' 
 bly enthralling. There were indications of the same 
 passion, in the delivery of the soliloquy upon the 
 artificial grief of the player, at the climax of the play 
 scene, and in the half-lunatic rant over Ophelia's grave. 
 But those variations only served to deepen the darkness 
 of misery with which his embodiment of Hamlet was/ 
 saturated, and the gloomy grandeur of the haunted \ 
 atmosphere in which it was swathed. ■ — 
 
 Booth's ideal of Hamlet was a noble person over- 
 whelmed with a fatal grief, which he endures, for the 
 most part with a patient sweetness that is deeply 
 pathetic, but which sometimes drives him into delirium 
 and must inevitably cause his death. In the expression 
 of that ideal, which is true to Shakespeare, he never 
 went as far as Shakespeare's text would warrant. He 
 never allowed his votaries to see Hamlet as Ophelia 
 saw him, in that hour of eloquent revelation when, — 
 without artifice and in the unpremeditated candour of 
 involuntary sincerity, — his ravaged and blighted figure 
 stood before her, in all the pitiable disorder of self- 
 abandoned sorrow. To show Hamlet in that way would 
 be to show him exactly as he is in Shakespeare ; but 
 
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176 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 in a theatrical representation that expedient, while it 
 might gratify the few, would certainly repel the many. 
 Real grief is not attractive, and the grief of Hamlet 
 is real ; it is not simply a filial sorrow for the death of 
 his beloved father ; a mournful shame at his mother's 
 hasty marriage with his uncle ; an affliction of the 
 haunted soul because it knows that his father's spirit 
 is condemned to fast in fires and to walk the night. It 
 is deeper still. It is an elemental misery, coexistent 
 with his being ; coincident with his conviction of the 
 utter fatuity of this world and with his mental paralysis 
 of comprehension, — awe-stricken and half insane, — in 
 presence of the unfathomable mystery that environs 
 man's spiritual life. Entirely and literally to embody 
 the man whose nature is convulsed in that way would 
 be to oppress an audience with what few persons under- 
 stand, and most persons deem intolerable, the reality of 
 sorrow. Hamlet upon the stage must be interesting, 
 and, in a certain sense, he must be brilliant; and Booth 
 always made him so. But that noble actor — so fine 
 in his intuitions, so just in his methods — could not be 
 otherwise than true to his artistic conscience. He 
 embodied Hamlet not simply as the picturesque and 
 interesting central figure in a story of intrigue, half 
 amatory and half political, in an ancient royal court, 
 but as the representative type of man at his highest 
 point of development, vainly confronting the darkness 
 and doubt that enshroud him in this pain-stricken, tran- 
 sitory mortal state, and — because his vision is too com- 
 prehensive, his heart too tender, and his will too weak 
 for the circumstances of human life — going to his 
 death at last, broken, defeated, baffled, a mystery among 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 177 
 
 mysteries, a disastrous failure, but glorious through it 
 all, and infinitely more precious, to those who even 
 vaguely comprehend his drift, than the most successful 
 man that ever was created. 
 
 Treating Hamlet in that spirit Booth was not content 
 merely to invest him with symmetry of form, poetry of 
 motion, statuesque grace of pose, and the exquisite 
 beauty of musical elocution, and to blend those gracious 
 attributes with dignity of mind and spontaneous, un- 
 erring refinement of temperament and manner. He 
 went further, because he illumined the whole figure 
 with a tremulous li ght of,, a.a:oJiisexi vitality. That was 
 the true ideal of Hamlet — in whose bosom burns the 
 fire that is not quenched. Students of Shakespeare, 
 — who are, of course, students of human life and of 
 themselves, and who think that perhaps they are in 
 this world for some higher purpose than the consumption 
 of food and the display of raiment, — could think upon 
 it, and gather strength from it. Booth's art, in the 
 acting of Hamlet, was art applied to its highest purpose, 
 and invested with dignity, power, and truth. 
 
 KING LEAR. 
 
 Shakespeare's tragedy of King Lear presents a 
 subject to be approached with reverent humility and 
 studious thought. No task can be more diificult than 
 that of saying the right word on " such high things " 
 as this. The stupendous play, — a vast, turbulent, cos- 
 mical representation of the conquest of good by evil, 
 under conditions most piteous and harrowing, — rebukes 
 
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178 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 the temerity of definition and measurement. The colos- 
 sal proportions of its great central figure — his passion, 
 his misery, his defeat, ruin, and death — are such as well 
 may awe the mind into silence. Yet the tragedy is pro- 
 duced, and the part is acted, and no doubt the public 
 interest is served, alike in that proceeding and in reflec- 
 tion upon it. 
 
 No thoughtful person needs to be told that, in the 
 moral and spiritual scheme of human life there is but 
 little than can be understood. A philosopher might say 
 that this world could just as well have been created 
 for the perfect happiness of the human race as for any- 
 thing else. Yet all experience has shown that this was 
 not the purpose of nature or fate. The human race is 
 acquainted with happiness, but also it is acquainted 
 with grief. Every one of its blessings is held by the 
 slenderest of threads, and all its footsteps fall upon 
 a gossamer crust of the elements, underneath which is 
 " the blind cave " of night and death. But every thinker 
 is willing to assume the prevalence of a beneficent pur- 
 pose ; and more and more, in the flight of years, every 
 human being realises that afHiction and sorrow purify 
 and ennoble the spirit and life of man. Why this should 
 be so we do not understand. Why evil should exist, or 
 ever should prevail, we do not know. Why misery in 
 so many forms, or in any form, should steep many thou- 
 sands of creatures in tears and gloom and bitterness, we 
 cannot comprehend. All we know is that those are the 
 conditions under which humanity is placed, and that 
 those conditions were created not by man but by his 
 Maker. 
 
 This is the mystery of life — and this is the mystery 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 179 
 
 of the tragedy of King Lear, in which the whole awful 
 and pathetic pageant of life is enclosed as in a crystal. 
 And just as in actual human experience the spectacle 
 of a cruel calamity overwhelming the noble and gentle 
 and good of our race, will convulse our hearts with grief, 
 and afterward lift us into a sublime region of moral and 
 spiritual elevation, so, in contemplation of this appalling 
 tragedy, the spectacle of greatness despoiled, love de- 
 feated, virtue and sweetness trodden down by wicked- 
 ness and cruelty, and all that is right and noble and 
 beautiful overthrown and crushed in a tempest and 
 chaos of evil and agony, will have the same effect, — 
 to smite our hearts with a sharp pang of suffering, and 
 at last to lift us out of the weakness and all the other 
 trammels of humanity, and set us free in the triumph- 
 ant life of the soul. The royal and magnificent king 
 himself, the lovely and loving Cordelia, the faithful and 
 affectionate Kent, the human and gentle Gloster, the 
 true-hearted, sensitive, tender, pathetic Fool, the simple, 
 noble and manly Edgar — -they are all delivered to 
 misery, some of them to excruciating torments, and all 
 but one of them to death. Lear's pathway is through 
 the hell of madness. Cordelia is hanged. Gloster, — ■ 
 his eyes torn out, and his old heart broken, — expires 
 in a delirium of joy and pain. " I'll go to bed at noon," 
 says the poor and broken Fool. " I have a journey, sir, 
 shortly to go," says the loyal Kent, who will not survive 
 his master. Edgar alone remains, — -but wounded with 
 a grief that never can be healed. The wicked agents 
 of all this misery perish likewise ; but this scarcely 
 affects the result. Evil has conquered, and goodness 
 has gone down, in acute, protracted, lamentable an- 
 
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180 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 guish. The spectacle afflicts, but it ennobles. It is 
 the greatness of the tragedy of King Lear that it causes 
 this effect. 
 
 The elements and attributes of Lear are not ob- 
 scurely furnished. He comes before us, at the first, an 
 old man, but not decrepit — a man who is beginning to 
 break, but who is not yet broken. His aspect is mas- 
 sive, majestic, and venerable. He still wears dominion 
 in his countenance. He is exceedingly tender in heart 
 and magnanimous in disposition. His age is that of 
 simplicity and goodness ; but his mind is blindly suspi- 
 cious of its own decadence, and he will prove exacting, 
 irrational, fiery, capricious, and unpleasant, after the 
 fashion of choleric and selfish senility. In the fibre of 
 his character, however, — in his essential personality 
 and interior spirit, — he is, above all things else, large, 
 spacious, and noble. He is not a common man grown 
 old. He must, all his life, have carried the stamp and 
 the magnetic allurement and domination of a great 
 and charming nature. He must have captured hearts 
 and ruled minds by something beautiful and strong in 
 his fate. He does not hold royalty by lineage or by 
 human law alone, but by divine endowment. He is 
 born to the purple. He is a mountain in the midst of a 
 plain ; and the crumbling of his mind and fortunes is 
 like the fall of the avalanche. Vitalised with that im- 
 maculate and charming excellence, endowed with that 
 innate majesty, and invested with that personal grand- 
 eur, he becomes the most colossal figure that ever was 
 reared in the pantheon of the human imagination ; and 
 his experience, his suffering, his frenzy, his senile in- 
 sanity, and the whirlwind of agony in which he dies. 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 181 
 
 become tremendous and overwhelming. It is not old 
 Brabantio, or old Capulet, or old Shylock who goes mad 
 under the strokes of unkindness, the wear of age, the 
 ravages of tempest, and the human woes and spiritual 
 perplexities of life : it is old Lear ; and when that 
 awful figure totters, with streaming white hair and 
 blazing eye-balls, across the thunder-riven heath, un- 
 der the night, and through the storm, he breaks our 
 hearts, not alone with afflicting sense of the torment 
 into which he has fallen, but of the stately };;,et lovable 
 nobility from which he fell. King Lear is an august 
 and splendid personality, and he bears the authentic 
 sceptre of sorrow. We see him torn from all moorings 
 and driven out upon the gale-swept ocean-wastes of 
 misery ; but it is less for what he suffers than for what 
 he is, that we pity, and love, and reverence, and deplore 
 him. The highest and best elements of our human 
 nature are felt to be crystallised and combined in that 
 woful, terrific image of shattered royalty ; and so his 
 misery comes home to us with a keen personal force. 
 There are many denotements of this imperial fascina- 
 tion, which is the pervading and characteristic quality 
 of Lear, and which has enthroned him in the love of 
 the world. It is the soul of the character. It links to 
 the ruined monarch all the virtues that surround his 
 time and person. It holds the heart-strings of the 
 celestial Cordelia. It holds the devotion of the wise 
 and honest Kent. Nothing, indeed, can be more sig- 
 nificant of what Lear is than the passionate fealty of 
 this follower, who, " from the first of difference and 
 decay," has attended his steps, and who will not be left 
 by him, even at the brink of the grave. 
 
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182 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 The drift of Shakespeare is not explained ; it is only 
 stated. We can no more assume to comprehend this 
 work than we can to comprehend infinity. But its 
 effect is clearly perceptible ; and, since it has that 
 effect, it ought to be read and it ought to be acted. 
 People are better for reading and seeing King Lear. 
 Each spectator will derive his own lesson from its 
 pageantry of woe. A perfectly adequate stage pre- 
 sentment of the tragedy will, probably, never be seen 
 
 — for there are insurmountable difficulties in the way 
 of the essential comprehension of the whole subject by 
 each and every person concerned in its exposition. 
 Much, however, is feasible, and much has been accom- 
 plished. The character, feelings, and experience of 
 Lear himself are not obscure. No true student will 
 be baffled by them. The part has been well acted on 
 the American stage, in our time, by Forrest, by Brooke, 
 by Charles Kean, by Charles Dillon, and by John Mc- 
 Cullough ; and it was acted supremely well by Edwin 
 Booth. It is a character beyond the reach of foreign- 
 ers, and only to be assumed by a man whose native 
 language is the language of Shakespeare. The failure 
 made in it by Salvini, Rossi, Barnay, and Sonnenthal 
 was a sufficient proof of that. 
 
 Booth early selected Lear as a subject for his study, 
 and it was long a close companion of his deepest feel- 
 ings and most earnest thoughts. At first he acted Lear, 
 
 — as his father and as Forrest had done, — in the old 
 Tate version, modified by Kemble. Then, in order to 
 forget that, and to absorb the requisite feeling directly 
 from the original, he laid the part aside for a long 
 period. In 1878 he revived it, in his own version of 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 183 
 
 the original piece. Lear's madness is incipient at the 
 outset, and its development ensues, not upon his de- 
 thronement as a king, but upon his desecration as a 
 father. He must be royal, but he must possess a heart 
 more royal than all the crowns and dominations of the 
 earth — a boundless wealth of affection and tenderness. 
 If not, he can neither feel the blow nor utter the re- 
 sponse. Lear is often said to be a part within the reach 
 of only a big man. That is a mistake. But Lear requires 
 a great heart. This above all. And then, — since even 
 amid the chaos of his madness the elements of a splen- 
 did intellect and a glorious imagination shine forth, like 
 meteors in a tempest, — he requires a character regal 
 with the innate sovereignty of the brain. We never 
 know that brain in its perfection. The blight has begun 
 before the monarch is disclosed. But we must feel it 
 in what we see. That ideal of Lear Booth suggested 
 in his embodiment, and that is the "man more sinned 
 against than sinning " who is drawn in Shakespeare's 
 play. The actor's execution was level with his ideal. 
 He made iio points. He never was theatrical. He rose 
 naturally, on the surges of passionate emotion, to the 
 terror of the father's curse, and to the frenzy of the 
 monarch's futile threat. He showed the awful suffer- 
 ings of a decaying brain which yet is dimly conscious 
 of its own decay, and he showed the vacant, pathetic, 
 terrible levity of accomplished madness. The most 
 electrical moment of the performance was that of the 
 imprecation of " the terrors of the earth." The highest 
 moment was that of Lear's recognition of Cordelia. 
 But it was the splendid restraint of affluent power, all 
 along the line of the work, that made it entirely worthy 
 
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184 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 in the eyes of judgment — the faculty, which Booth 
 possessed in such fehcity, of seeming to be utterly 
 abandoned to his feelings, yet all the while of holding 
 those feelings with a grip of steel, and thus overwhelm- 
 ing an audience, without being himself submerged. It 
 -^ was the human point of view from which he approached 
 the character. His Lear was the fond father and the 
 broken old man. It was the great heart, shattered by 
 cruel unkindness, that he first, and most of all, dis- 
 played. But not the less did he express the outraged 
 majesty of Lear, his towering though diseased will, his 
 righteous wrath, and his whirlwind of frenzied passion. 
 Tender beyond tears, forlorn beyond expression, as his 
 acting was, in the recognition of Cordelia, he became, 
 before Gloster's gates, a presence that was terrible; 
 and he broke away, at that terrific speech about " re- 
 venges," in a tumult of distracted and abortive fury, as 
 pitiable as it was thrilling, and fully equal with the 
 magnificent situation. 
 
 But it was in the two aspects of madness — at first in- 
 cipient, then accomplished — that he denoted his keen- 
 est insight. The sense of relief succeeding the sense 
 of torture, the vague imagery, the broken thoughts, 
 the ghastly, haunting phantoms, and, interpenetrating 
 all, the suggestion of what must have been the massive 
 royalty and celestial goodness of this nature, which is 
 so great, even in its ruin — all was embodied and ex- 
 pressed with absolute truth. In the fantastic garniture 
 of flowers Booth made it plainly and pitiably evident 
 that the sanity of the poor, deserted, heart-broken man 
 is fluent and wandering. That passage and the subse- 
 quent surrender are remembered as the perfection 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 185 
 
 of pathos. The favorite delusion that no one but 
 a physical giant can act King Lear was rebuked in 
 Booth's achievement. Large men, such as Forrest, 
 Brooke, Dillon, and Salvini, have generally been pre- 
 ferred in the part. But Charles Kean was one of the 
 best Lears of the stage, and Booth made it to pass 
 unnoticed that he was of slight frame and medium 
 stature. He looked "every inch a king." Lear 
 is a character of which the peaks stand boldly up, 
 in clear, white light; but the passages which lie be- 
 tween are mostly veiled in shadow ; and so they remain, 
 unless the part be acted with a vast ground-swell of 
 emotion, and with a volume of physical force, enormous 
 even in decay, which utters itself involuntarily, without 
 the show of effort. That emotion Booth amply pos- 
 sessed ; the exuberance of physique he lacked. Not 
 the less, in the splendid portraiture and suggestion of 
 a true Shakespearian ideal, he employed an artistic 
 method so clear, firm, and free that it seemed entirely 
 spontaneous : no spectator remembered that he was 
 merely acting : and he spoke the glorious verse of 
 Shakespeare with a glittering eloquence that was at 
 once music and beauty. 
 
 MACBETH. 
 
 Charlotte Cushman said of Macbeth that he is the 
 great ancestor of all the Bowery ruffians. That ancient 
 view of the character has had many exponents and has 
 led to many deplorable exhibitions ; but practically it is 
 now discredited and cast aside. Kemble rejected it ; 
 
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186 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 SO did Macready ; so did Henry Irving ; and so, in the 
 mature period of his career, did Edwin Booth. No 
 thinker, perhaps, ought to marvel that it has exten- 
 sively prevailed ; for the intricacy of Macbeth is pre- 
 cisely of a kind that was likely to cause its acceptance. 
 Miss Cushman could only explain to her own satisfac- 
 tion the discrepancy between his words and acts by 
 assuming that most of the time he was drunk ; and of 
 Lady Macbeth's habitual state she had the same opin- 
 ion. " That which hath made them drunk hath made 
 me bold." But this was an alternative as needless as 
 it was extravagant. In the presence of Macbeth we 
 confront a man whose views are noble, whose language 
 is by turns tender, piteous, poetic, and sublime, but 
 whose deeds are infernal, and whose life suddenly sup- 
 plements a career of spotless personal purity and ad- 
 mirable heroism with a culmination of frantic depravity 
 and hideous wickedness. He murders the sleeping 
 Duncan. He murders the sleeping chamberlains. 
 He causes the murder of Banquo. He causes the 
 murder of Lady Macduff and her children. He casts 
 the atrocious stigma of parricide upon Malcolm and 
 Donalbain. There is no limit to his iniquity. The 
 obvious view of such a man would apprehend him as a 
 ruffian developed from a hypocrite ; and as such, in 
 fact, he has commonly been presented on the stage. 
 But this could not have been the intention of Shake- 
 speare, because this doctrine makes Macbeth merely a 
 butcher in the shambles, or a homicidal lunatic slashing 
 right and left in a crowd; whereas Macbeth is never 
 shown in the exultant commission of a crime, but always 
 in a state of suffering upon the borders of it, and 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 187 
 
 always as the type of an experience that awakens 
 pity. No spectator would be sorry for the Bowery 
 ruffian. Every spectator is thrilled by Macbeth and is 
 sorry for him. The crimes that he commits are pre- 
 meditated, and yet when done they are done against his 
 will. He perceives in advance both their monstrous 
 evil and the appalling consequences to himself that 
 must result from them. It is not until he becomes 
 frenzied with desperation that he yields to the mad im- 
 pulse of indiscriminate and illimitable havoc. Up to 
 that time his condition and conduct present a perfectly 
 heart-rending example of the discomfiture and gradual 
 defeat and ultimate ruin of a great soul that is con- 
 quered by the powers of hell. 
 
 If Macbeth be judged by his actions, and it be con- 
 ceded that those actions are done of his own volition, 
 he is a monster. If he be judged by his words he is 
 one of the most imaginative and eloquent of poets. If 
 he be judged by his feelings, he is one of the greatest 
 of human sufferers. The plan of Shakespeare, ap- 
 parently, was to depict a great and noble nature, con- 
 taining the germs of evil, and to show it in agony and 
 ruin, under the victorious influence of an infernal malig- 
 nity. Macbeth, viewed as a man who wades by choice 
 through a sea of blood, may present a terrible spectacle, 
 but he is far less sublime and pathetic, and therefore 
 far less a magnificent creation, than Macbeth viewed 
 as a man of grand attributes, and even of tenderness, 
 helpless in the hands of a cruel and horrible destiny. 
 Macbeth suffers. His capacity of remorse is equal 
 with his capacity of ambition ; and as long as a man 
 can suffer remorse the soul of goodness is not yet dead 
 
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188 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 within him. With every crime that his fiend-driven 
 mind conceives there comes an instant perception of its 
 moral and spiritual consequences and an instant horror 
 of its iniquity — till at length he is submerged in 
 wickedness, and " returning were as tedious as go o'er." 
 Shakespeare knew that human nature, in even its 
 grandest forms, may fail, through an inherent weak- 
 ness, and that it is always in danger from spiritual 
 agencies of evil. The historic legend of Macbeth, 
 which he found in Holinshed, gave to him the impulse 
 to show this part of the truth of our human life, in a 
 poetic emblem. The tragedy is a crystal, and humanity 
 conquered by sin is the heart of it. 
 
 All around the tragedy of Macbeth there is a bleak, 
 sepulchral, ghastly atmosphere. The light thickens. 
 The bat wheels and circles. Sounds of lamentation are 
 in the air. Baleful eyes suddenly gleam out of the 
 dusk and suddenly disappear. The presence of evil 
 spirits is distinctly felt. The angel that Macbeth serves 
 glides by on evil wings, unseen, but not unknown. 
 Shakespeare meant this by his ultra-natural machinery 
 — by the witches and the apparitions. Macbeth and 
 his wife are great creatures conquered by fiends. They 
 had, no doubt, evil elements in themselves, at the start. 
 Every human being contains evil elements. But they 
 surrendered to the evil. Shakespeare has painted their 
 surrender, and their awful sufferings in consequence of 
 it. Nowhere else in literature has the pathos of hope- 
 less desolation been expressed as it is in the isolated 
 state of those two wretches, so lonely on the eminence 
 of their guilt that each of them is separated not only 
 from all the rest of the human race, but from the other. 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 189 
 
 One of them dies, an infuriated brute ; the other, a re- 
 morseful suicide. Both had been greatly criminal, but 
 both had suffered greatly. Shakespeare certainly must 
 have had something more important in view in writing 
 Macbeth than the little scrap of morality which teaches 
 that we must not yield to our evil propensities. He was 
 not a dealer in either platitudes or abstractions. The 
 man and the woman in Macbeth are invested with some 
 of the greatest attributes of human nature ; and the in- 
 terest, the weight, the substance, the importance, the 
 meaning of the piece is made dependable upon the 
 display of the ruin of those attributes by the powers 
 of evil. It is a sublime, pathetic, afflicting picture of 
 Fate, and there is no precept connected with it, and no 
 moral to be deduced from it, — any more than there is 
 from a cyclone or an earthquake. 
 
 Booth's embodiment of Macbeth underwent various 
 changes, all for the better, as he advanced in experience. 
 At first he gave great prominence and emphasis to the 
 martial aspect of the part. He was the soldier, and 
 his combat, at the close, was superb in its malignant 
 frenzy. Later he gave great prominence to the torn, 
 distracted, convulsed, tempest-haunted state of the help- 
 less human being. His utterance of the contention of 
 good and evil in Macbeth's soul was intensely real and 
 profoundly eloquent — so that it revealed a sufferer and 
 not simply a miscreant, and thus it came home to the 
 heart with a sense of actual and corrosive agony. His 
 personality in the scene of the king's murder had the 
 grandeur of colossal wickedness — a grandeur impossi- 
 ble except to a great imagination greatly excited — so 
 that the terrible strain of suspense was completely sus- 
 
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PHOTO. BY SAfiO 
 
 BOOTH AS lAGO. 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 191 
 
 vague in his treatment of it. In that part, as in King 
 Lear, his advancement was brilliant and remarkable. 
 While making Macbeth a brawny person, however, he 
 not the less enwreathed him with a mystical, haunted 
 atmosphere, and, by giving strong emphasis to the 
 humanity that is woven with the wickedness, revealed 
 the depth of terrible suffering upon which the character 
 is built. At such points as " Now o'er the one-half 
 world," and " Methought I heard a voice cry ' sleep no 
 more,' " Booth attained to a tragic power of tone, a 
 thrilling vibration and wild excitement, not to be 
 described ; while his illumination of the character, by 
 means of the pathos that he employed throughout the 
 sequel of the murder scene, was deeply impressive. In 
 the banquet scene his sustained frenzy and delirious 
 passion, before the imagined spectre, unseen by all 
 eyes other than his own, imparted terrific reality to an 
 invisible horror, and were in the highest degree imagina- 
 tive and powerful. There was another illuminative 
 moment, at the close of that scene — one of those fine 
 moments when the actor merged himself in the mean- 
 ing of the poet, and thought was personified. Booth, 
 at the climax, presented the fiend-conquered and desolate 
 king, holding the crown in his hand and gazing upon it 
 with eyes that were woful with all the anguish and 
 desperation it had cost. Still another eloquent instant 
 was the pause after " Abide within, I'll call upon you 
 straight" — a pause in which repentance and helpless 
 human agony were seen, for one heart-rending moment, 
 in conflict with the demon that impels his victim to yet 
 deeper deeps of crime and misery. Booth's eloquent 
 delivery of the blank verse was full, resonant, melodious. 
 
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192 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 sustained, and the verse was made to seem the language 
 of nature without ever being degraded to the colloquial 
 level of prose and common life. His listeners heard 
 from his lips the perfect music of the English tongue. 
 
 OTHELLO AND lAGO. 
 
 Those persons who write upon the plays of Shake- 
 speare must necessarily walk in a beaten track, and no 
 one can be quite sure that the thought which suggests 
 itself to his mind has not been uttered many times al- 
 ready. It ought to be said, however, and it cannot be 
 too scrupulously remembered, that the manner in which 
 a play is represented upon the stage is of less impor- 
 tance to the listener than the spirit of the influence which 
 flows out of the representation. An expert opinion as 
 to whether a theatrical performance is, technically, good 
 or bad may be salutary, but it is much less essential 
 than the mental habit of considering whether the drift 
 of a theatrical performance sets in favour of beauty and 
 right. Breadth of view, directed upon general princi- 
 ples, should transcend the scrutiny of particulars. Com- 
 ment on the drama is written for the reader, not for the 
 actor. The portrayal of Othello, accomplished by Booth 
 was impressive ; but, the total effect of the tragedy, 
 with him as with other exponents of it, was that of 
 grim horror and unmitigated affliction. Both in the 
 theme and the treatment of the theme that piece is 
 heart-rending and terrible. The mind cannot dwell 
 upon it without an effort. No one of Shakespeare's 
 great plays is less stimulative to such reflection as a 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 193 
 
 sensitive mind cares to communicate. You leave a 
 performance of Othello with mingled emotions of con- 
 sternation, disgust, and grief. You feel as if you had 
 seen a murder or attended an execution. This is not the 
 case with either Lear, Hamlet, Macbeth, or even Richard 
 the Third; and the reason, probably, is that in no one 
 of those pieces has Shakespeare laid his hand, as he has 
 in Othello, directly upon the most harrowing experience 
 that is possible to human nature. 
 
 The fundamental topic of the piece is jealousy. Cole- 
 ridge, that profound and most instructive of all the 
 writers on Shakespeare, long ago noted, for students of 
 such a matter, the elemental difference that Shakespeare 
 meant to show between Othello and Leontes, — his rep- 
 resentative victims of this passion. Each is a type of 
 jealousy, but Othello is made jealous against his will, 
 whereas Leontes is jealous by nature. These are the 
 words of Coleridge : " Jealousy is a vice of the mind, a 
 culpable tendency of the temper, having certain well- 
 known and well-defined effects and concomitants, all of 
 which are visible in Leontes . . . and not one of which 
 makes its presence in Othello ; such as, first, an excita- 
 bility by the most inadequate causes, and an eagerness to 
 snatch at proof ; secondly, a grossness of conception and 
 a disposition to degrade the object of the passion by 
 sensual fancies and images ; thirdly, a sense of shame 
 of his own feelings, exhibited in a solitary moodiness of 
 humour, and yet, from the violence of the passion, forced 
 to utter itself, and therefore catching occasions to ease 
 the mind by ambiguities, equivoques, by talking to those 
 who cannot, and who are known not to be able to, 
 understand what is said to them, — in short, by soliloquy 
 
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194 LIFE AXD ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 in the form of dialogue, and hence a confused, broken, 
 and fragmentary manner; fourthly, a dread of vulgar 
 ridicule, as distinct from a high sense of honour or a 
 mistaken sense of duty ; and lastly, and immediately 
 consequent on this, a spirit of selfish vindictiveness." 
 
 Booth's embodiment of lago filled the imagination and 
 left the intellect satisfied. His embodiment of Othello 
 was affluent with feeling, eloquent, picturesque, and it 
 was admirable for sustained power and symmetry. Yet 
 it sometimes seemed to lack reality. Booth was a man 
 of slight figure, and he was over-intellectual for that 
 character. In actual life the Moors are not large men ; 
 and, judging Othello according to the standard of actual 
 life, he may be fitly presented by a man of the average 
 size. But Shakespeare's Moor is the hero of a poetical 
 tragedy — a tragedy that deals with the facts of life, 
 not in their commonplace, everyday form, but in an 
 exalted and exaggerated form. There may not be a 
 good assignable reason for the preference, but it is 
 certain that the ideal of Othello suggested in the 
 poetic words of Shakespeare, is best satisfied by the 
 presence of a man of large physique. And it is 
 essential, furthermore, that the representative of Othello 
 should convey less the idea of mind than the idea of 
 physical solidity accompanied by wealth of feeling. 
 The Moor is self-centred in personal integrity and calm 
 good-nature, until he becomes a lover ; then his whole 
 being is suffused with passionate tenderness ; but he 
 is never a thinker. The presence of high mentality 
 in the organisation of Othello would save him unharmed 
 from the hatred and the snares of his enemy. The pres- 
 ence of that attribute, — involuntary and unavoidable, — 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 195 
 
 in Booth's embodiment of him combined with light- 
 ness of stature to invest the performance, noble and 
 right as it was, in plan and feeling, with an air of arti- 
 fice — as though it were not always in earnest. 
 
 On the other hand its characteristic beauties — more 
 especially at a time when a degraded ideal of the Moor 
 was generally accepted as one of the grandest spectacles 
 that ever the stage displayed — were especially worthy 
 of attention and respect. Booth did not make Othello's 
 love for Desdemona a sensual love, nor his sacrifice of 
 her beautiful and blameless life an act of ferocious 
 slaughter, suggestive of the African jungle and red- 
 olent of the menagerie. His impersonation was poetic. 
 He made it felt and understood that Othello loves 
 Desdemona with a certain awe and adoration of her 
 heavenly beauty, and in a spirit of humble self- 
 abnegation. There is something almost forlorn in the 
 pathetic devotion of that grand, simple nature, that 
 rugged, stalwart warrior, now become helpless in the 
 hands of a mere girl. And when the night of horror 
 comes, and in the awful calm of despair that has suc- 
 ceeded to frenzy the wretched man must kill what he 
 loves beyond his hope of heaven, it is as an act of 
 inexorable justice, and not as an act of murder, that 
 the blow is struck. Booth's ideal of Othello was the 
 right ideal, and his execution of it kept the smoothness 
 of a bird's flight. The tint of artifice in it — by no 
 means prominent and not always present — grew out 
 of a lack of perfect correspondence between the actor 
 and the part. Yet it was a vindication of the stage 
 tradition that has descended from Edmund Kean, and 
 it was an example to actors of the new age. In 
 
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196 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 pathos it was potent ; and, especially in the third and 
 fifth acts, its art was extremely beautiful. Booth's 
 influence upon his audience was irresistible. At three 
 points he often reached as high an altitude as a tra- 
 gedian can ever reach, in Othello : in the farewell ; in 
 the frenzy, at " Never pray more " ; and in the heart- 
 broken desolation of " Had it pleased heaven." Those 
 efforts were extraordinary, and the public always rec- 
 ognised them with responsive emotion. 
 
 In spontaneous contempt for goodness and simplic- 
 ity, — which he regards, without comprehending them, 
 as the attributes of an ass, — lago undervalues both 
 the strength of Othello's nature and the strength of 
 abstract virtue. It would be an error to deduce Othello 
 from lago's ideal of him. The Moor undoubtedly is, 
 as Kemble said of him, " a slow man," but he is not a 
 weak one. He must be made formidable, in order to 
 justify the enginery of diabolic intellect that is put in 
 action against him. 
 
 lago is a man without either heart or conscience, and 
 without subservience to even animal passion, who loves 
 evil for its own sake and who revels in the commission 
 of it ; but Shakespeare has elevated him, and set him 
 apart from other men, by investing him with a lurid 
 and hideous grandeur — the wicked power of an ade- 
 quate, proud, audacious, unconquerable intellect. He 
 is not like Lucifer, — " on whose front the thunder-scars 
 were graven," — for the angel, though fallen, is an 
 angel still ; immortal in suffering not less than in revolt. 
 But lago is devoid of soul, is incapable of feeling, is 
 coldly, speciously, sweetly rancorous ; and there is noth- 
 ing in him that arouses, or deserves, one spark of com- 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 197 
 
 passion. " For this slave," — says Ludovico, — and no 
 one ever dreams of dissenting from his grisly sentence — 
 
 " If there be any cunning cruelty, 
 That can torment hun much and hold hhn long, 
 It shall be his." 
 
 Nevertheless lago does, and should, inspire that sort of 
 admiration which attends monstrous, glittering, hellish, 
 self-centred strength. It was the felicity of Booth's 
 embodiment of the character that he aroused that admi- 
 ration ; and he did so, not only by technical proficiency 
 of execution at every point, but by a lithe, clean, rapier- 
 like elasticity, both physical and mental, and by a cool, 
 sardonic, involuntary, cruel, veiled humour, which was 
 made to play, like a lambent flame of hell, over the 
 whole structure of the work. In his saying " Pleasure 
 and action make the hours seem short" ; in his tone of 
 devotional entreaty, at " Do not rise yet " ; in the spe- 
 ciousness of his tender solicitude and bland sympathy, 
 at " Is my lord angry " ; in the sweet serenity and inex- 
 orable purpose of evil with which he uttered, " I'll set 
 down the stops that make this music " ; in the horrible 
 power of his final speech, " From this time forth I never 
 will speak word'-; and in the sudden glare of hateful 
 glee and exultation with which he started forward to 
 gloat over the suicide and death of Othello, he made 
 this prodigy of wickedness live in the actual form of 
 nature, as it lives in Shakespeare's page. 
 
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198 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 SHYLOCK. 
 
 Booth did not make Shylock a type of religious 
 fanaticism, but a fierce Jew, animated, indeed, by strong 
 emotions of race and religion, but chiefly impelled by 
 personal hatred and greed. The ideal was not pitched 
 at that lofty height which many thinkers, — notably 
 Victor Hugo and Ludwig Borne, whose papers on Shy- 
 lock are among the best that exist, — have declared to 
 be imperative. It was a Shylock who hated Antonio 
 and wished to destroy him, less because he is a foe 
 of the " sacred nation " than because he is a formidable 
 obstacle in the way of successful usury. Thus it walked 
 upon the earth, and not above it, awakening terror, but 
 inspiring neither veneration nor pity. Booth, indeed, 
 had moments of pathos, when Shylock was expressing 
 the anguish of a father who is sacrificed by filial in- 
 gratitude, and the prostration of a proud spirit that is 
 subdued by the irresistible weight of arbitrary power. 
 But the pathos was not allied with either beauty of 
 nature or fineness of conduct : it sprang out of the in- 
 voluntary sensibility of the actor and out of the musical 
 cadences of his sympathetic voice. The observer re- 
 ceived no suggestion of latent sensibility in Shylock, but 
 beheld him as a malignant, vindictive avenger of per- 
 sonal wrong. Booth's expression of the character was 
 marked by lucidity, symmetry, natural identification, and 
 many graces of elocution and action. He dressed the 
 Jew with grizzled hair, a red cap, a gaberdine, pointed 
 red shoes, and otherwise equally correct and suitable 
 trappings. His best effects were wrought with the 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 199 
 
 passage ending, "It shall go hard but we will better 
 the instruction," and with the jubilant and terrible "I 
 thank God," in response to news of Antonio's mis- 
 fortunes. There was no rant in the street scene, and 
 there was no theatrical embellishment anywhere along 
 the line of the performance. All was natural, coherent, 
 intense, impressive. The spirit of the trial scene was 
 diabolic. A certain craft and a subtle, grim humour 
 entered into the mental condition of Shylock, and sharply 
 contrasted with its oriental dignity and concentrated 
 passion. The embodiment was fraught with explosive 
 and tumultuous passion in the scene with Tubal — but 
 everywhere else it was as solid as adamant. Booth's 
 identification with the grim, self-centred, revengeful, im- 
 placable personality of Shakespeare's Jew was complete, 
 and his expression of it was so spontaneous and smooth 
 that it produced that clear, rounded, final effect of nature 
 which is the crown of illusion. No impersonation could 
 more convincingly demonstrate the authority and dis- 
 tinction of a great actor. In Booth's ideal of Shylock 
 the intense, malignant, ferocious malevolence of the 
 vindictive Hebrew predominated over everything else 
 of human nature that there is in his constitution. Shy- 
 lock was not made the representative of the Mosaic 
 deity, neither was he specially urged as the champion 
 of the Hebrew faith. He was a Jew, but more par- 
 ticularly he was a man ; and while he hated his enemy 
 for being a Christian, he hated him more for being just 
 and benevolent in his dealings — the foe of usury and 
 the friend of cheerful ways. In Shylock's envenomed 
 hostility toward Antonio, Booth indicated something of 
 lago's loathing for Cassio : " There is a daily beauty 
 
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200 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 in his life, that makes me ugly." That ideal of the part 
 is simple, direct, and effective. Douglas Jerrold said 
 that Edmund Kean's embodiment of Shylock was like a 
 chapter out of the book of Genesis — rneaning that it was 
 austere and terrible — incarnating the idea of religious 
 retribution and the doctrine of an eye for an eye. Booth's 
 assumption of it was a fiend-like man, cold and deadly 
 in outward seeming, but fiercely impelled by the pent-up 
 fires of hatred, malice, and cruelty. The humanity was 
 vitiated, but it was humanity — not religious frenzy. 
 To the expression of that ideal Booth brought intense 
 feeling, a wonderfully expressive countenance, power of 
 eye and voice, lion repose, and the capacity of sudden, 
 electrical action. In the street scene his acting was 
 ablaze with delirium that yet was governed and directed. 
 In the trial scene his presentment was marked by that 
 awful composure of inherent evil which may be noted 
 in the observant stillness of a deadly reptile, aware of 
 its potency and in no haste, although unalterably de- 
 termined, to make use of it. In that performance, like- 
 wise, as in all Shakespearian performances. Booth spoke 
 the text of the poet with beautiful precision and purity. 
 No one of Shakespeare's plays is ever acted, anywhere 
 or by anybody, precisely as it stands in Shakespeare. 
 Booth cut the text with great freedom in making his 
 play-book of The Merchant of Venice, and omitted the 
 whole of the fifth act ; but Booth never had such a 
 Portia as Ellen Terry, whose exquisite loveliness in that 
 character suffused the whole play with living poetry 
 and made the fifth act, in particular, a gem of brilliancy 
 and beauty, indispensable to the piece. 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 201 
 
 RICHARD THE SECOND. 
 
 Richard the Second is almost unknown upon the 
 stage, and it is neglected in the closet. It used, how- 
 ever, to be acted, though never with the concomitant 
 of popularity. Edmund Kean's elocution, in playing 
 Richard the Second, was accounted superb, and Ma- 
 cready's impersonation is recorded as scholarlike and 
 excellent. The elder Booth sometimes played the part, 
 but ultimately discarded it. 
 
 Richard the Second came to the throne of England 
 in 1377, when he was only eleven years old; and he 
 died in 1399, in the thirty-fourth year of his age, and 
 the twenty-third of his reign. He was an indolent man, 
 profuse in expenditure, and addicted to feasting ; and 
 he wasted the revenues of the kingdom in making 
 ostentatious parade, or in giving bounties to unworthy 
 favourites. He was a weak ruler, not because he lacked 
 natural talents and courage, but because he lacked pru- 
 dence in design and vigour in action, and was cursed 
 with a violent temper and a supine disposition. In 
 actual life he seems to have been an excessively unin- 
 teresting person. He kept numerous cooks and scul- 
 lions, and, doubtless, ate many good dinners; but he 
 did not possess sufficient stability to admit of his serv- 
 ing even as a successful figurehead. The powerful 
 and arrogant nobles of his time knocked him about the 
 royal sconce with great freedom ; and, though he rallied 
 now and then, and dealt blows in return, he was finally 
 discomfited, deposed, and slain. 
 
 Shakespeare has given free rein to his imagination 
 
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202 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 in delineating the character of that monarch, and has 
 expended great wealth of diction upon the portrayal of 
 his disastrous experience. In the pages of the poet he 
 becomes, — apart from shallowness, frivolity, and petu- 
 lant capriciousness, — a majestic, sad-minded person, 
 by turns passionate and contemplative. His incapacity 
 for action seems almost kindred, as to motive or funda- 
 mental cause, with that of Hamlet. Life overwhelms 
 him with its vastness of surroundings and its inherent 
 mystery. Shakespeare has enriched a barren historic 
 tradition with human goodness, poetic sweetness, and 
 many traits of winning character, and has thus made 
 Richard the Second interesting. He has not, however, 
 invested him with the interest of action. The play is 
 a pageant rather than a drama. It begins in 1398, 
 introduces twenty-eight persons, concerns itself mainly 
 with the closing scenes in the king's life, shows much 
 talking and suffering, "dispersedly in England and 
 Wales," sketches a few incidental individuals boldly 
 and briefly, utters magnificent speeches, and leaves 
 the reader sorry for a fellow-creature who suffered 
 much, and still more sorry over the suggested lesson of 
 "man's inhumanity to man.'' As a history, the play 
 follows Froissart and Holinshed, particularly the latter. 
 Johnson noticed that many passages in it occur in 
 Holinshed. Shakespeare is also thought to have con- 
 sulted Daniel's poem of Civil Warns. The account 
 that the king was starved to death is rejected, in favour 
 of the account that he was set upon and killed by his 
 guards, led by Sir Piers Exton, in Pomfret Castle. It 
 is rather as a poem, than as a history, that the play is 
 valuable. 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 203 
 
 One reason — perhaps a good one — why the charac- 
 ter of Richard the Second has failed to win a public 
 sympathy sufficient to give it enduring vitality upon 
 the stage may, perhaps, be the fact that it has lacked 
 a representative capable of investing it with sympa- 
 thetic attraction. That attribute was supplied in the 
 performance given by Booth. He was intensely pa- 
 thetic in the lachrymose speeches of the poor king, 
 and portions of his elocution were marked by noble 
 pomp and mournful beauty. 
 
 Booth's impersonation of Richard the Second im- 
 pressed the imagination more and more deeply, the 
 more it was considered. It was an embodiment of 
 afflicted majesty ; the complete expression of a kindly, 
 weak nature, saturated with the conviction" of its own 
 royalty, but distracted and tossed about in agonised 
 tumult, by sorrow at the indignities it must suffer, 
 and by resentment against its wronger. This is but 
 saying that it harmonised with the ideal which Shake- 
 speare has, with such beautiful art, imposed upon the 
 cold and barren basis of history. There was some- 
 thing beyond accuracy, however — an element of singu- 
 larity, that thrilled the performance with living light. 
 Booth's Richard the Second was a man who would 
 attract interest by his distinction, and would arouse 
 sympathy by innate piteousness. His manifestations, 
 during the earlier scenes, were marked by strength, 
 petulance, wrath, and the resolve that should accom- 
 pany arbitrary conduct : yet all the time there was a 
 quality of forlorn wistfulness about him, seeming to 
 denote that fate had already marked him off for mis- 
 fortune's minion, and foredoomed him to failure and 
 
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204 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 ruin. The spectacle of a king's distress at the defec- 
 tion of his subjects — no matter how eloquent the 
 language might be, in which he should express his 
 anguish — could be contemplated with composure ; but 
 that king, as personified by Booth, became an object 
 of compassionate admiration. Pity might be won for 
 him, even from a reader of the play, by what he suf- 
 fers and by what he says ; but the quickening of the 
 more ardent emotions is dependent on the human nat- 
 ure that an actor pours into the part ; and in that 
 consisted the underlying and pervading excellence of 
 Booth's embodiment. His Richard the Second was 
 suffused with innate goodness, natural majesty, and the 
 tenderness of grief. He was a noble person, unjustly 
 and foully treated. The spectator viewed him with 
 affectionate interest and remembered him as the em- 
 blem of misfortune, pathetic suffering, and a will too 
 weak to withstand a turbulent world. 
 
 Booth's impersonation, inhabiting a drama whereof 
 the burden is suffering rather than action, did not, ex- 
 cept in a few communities, impress itself upon the 
 public mind. Richard the Second has never flourished 
 on the stage. But Booth greatly succeeded in present- 
 ing a novel dramatic figure, and he was very vital. 
 The embodiment not only affected the feelings while it 
 was passing, but it was found, on retrospection, to have 
 a powerful grasp upon the intellect. The passionate 
 sincerity of it was so profound, and the unity of it so 
 complete, that the observer remembered the unhappy 
 king as a great man whom he had personally known, and 
 over whose bitter suffering he had personally mourned. 
 Part of that result was due to the actor's thorough 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 205 
 
 identification with a lofty ideal ; part of it was also due 
 to that fire of genius with which he burned certain 
 dramatic moments and wonderful words into the mem- 
 ory. I can but mention — for it cannot be translated' 
 into language — his majesty and mournful sweetness of 
 action, look, and voice, in the scenes of spiritual fluctuation 
 and mental conflict, in the third act. The " Arm, arm, 
 my name," was given with a splendid force, worthy of 
 the best tradition that attaches to it. The speech, " If 
 he serve God, we'll serve him too," was vibrant with 
 tearful eloquence. The imprecation, " Terrible hell 
 make war upon their spotted souls for this," was shot 
 forth like an arrow of lightning, and is remembered 
 side by side with Hamlet's " Is it the king ? " The great 
 speech, " Of comfort no man speak," sounded the very 
 knell of despair. The " I'll be buried in the king's 
 highway " expressed self-pity and the forlorn degrada- 
 tion of ruined greatness as no other voice of our time 
 has uttered them. And the anguish of a great spirit 
 forced to submit to unjust and cruel authority was 
 denoted in the speech, " Your heart is up, I know, thus 
 high at least," with a force and pathos that easily 
 touched the spring of tears. It may be in human 
 nature to disdain the vanquished : no human being who 
 looked on that defeated king could fail to give him 
 respect as well as compassion. One of the most char- 
 acteristic points was made by Booth with 
 
 " Down f down I come ; like glistering Phaeton, 
 Wanting the manage of unruly jades." 
 
 It was in the afflicting abdication scene, however, that he 
 wrought the most potent effect. There the king becomes 
 
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206 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 delirious with grief, and at that point, accordingly, there 
 is large scope for action. The strain upon the actor is 
 great ; for the scene is long, the agony begins at a high 
 pitch and grows constantly higher, the moods vary, 
 and the language is fraught with a sonorous eloquence 
 and loftiness of movement most exacting to mind, 
 heart, nerves, and voice.^Booth bore the, test in such 
 a way as to make the spectators forget that he was 
 merely acting. The " So Judas did to Christ " im- 
 parted a thrill of awe. The " Fiend, thou torment'st 
 me ere I come to hell" was electrifying, and therein 
 perfectly adequate to the dramatic moment and to 
 the aroused longing for a burst of defiance. After 
 that came the image of desolation, in the dungeon 
 scene — a grandly imaginative historical painting, as 
 Booth presented it, in that famous soliloquy on the 
 prison and the world — and then the murder scene, 
 which Booth made dreadfully real, by the lurid im- 
 petuosity of his action, and by his heart-rending yell of 
 agony when struck by the assassin's dagger. Booth's 
 Richard the Second was, intellectually, worthy to stand 
 beside his Hamlet — for it was as subtly conceived and 
 as thoroughly executed, and it was equally hallowed 
 with the atmosphere of poetry. 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 207 
 
 RICHARD THE THIRD. 
 
 The character of Gloster is that worst of human 
 monsters — a wicked man of genius. The ugliness of 
 his soul is symbolised by the ugliness of his body. 
 Bitter, fiery, arrogant, cruel, crafty, impelled by a devil- 
 ish energy which never halts nor flags, he is determined 
 to rule a world which he despises and contemns, and by 
 which he is feared and hated. His intellect is tower- 
 ing and royal. He looks down upon human passions 
 and makes them his playthings. He uses all men, and 
 he trusts no one. He is alone, and he walks alone, in 
 his blood-stained, haunted pathway to imperial power. 
 He knows himself, and he is never fooled. His hypoc- 
 risy deceives others ; it never deceives him. He can 
 take on all moods, at will, and can secretly exult over 
 the duplicity of each. He is the wit, the courtier, the 
 lover, the man of the world, the frank, affable com- 
 panion, the rough, plain-spoken, honest creature, the 
 soldier, the statesman, and the king. Within the black 
 silence of his soul, his infernal genius sits and broods, 
 like a scoffing demon. Something of all this he may 
 have been in life, — if the old chronicles of his reign 
 can be trusted, which is very doubtful, — but Shake- 
 speare has made him all of this, in the consummate 
 ideal of poetry. He can counterfeit piety with the 
 ministers of God ; he can sneer at a mother's blessing ; 
 and, with heaven-defying blasphemy, he can scoff at 
 himself as "the Lord's anointed." But he is human, 
 and bears a conscience, and through that the ever- 
 watchful Nemesis strikes him at last. During the 
 
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208 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 earlier and larger part of his career, — although the 
 subtle interpreter of him will indicate that his remorse 
 and his miserable sufferings are almost coincident with 
 his crimes, and are all the while slowly gathering way, 
 — not Niagara itself is more steadfast in its course 
 than is the current of his tremendous and hellish will. 
 But, when his crimes and his remorse are at their 
 worst, a mother's curse smites him, through crown and 
 mail and royal robes, and from that moment his genius 
 begins to wither. His awful deeds rush back upon him. 
 The grave gives up its dead, to haunt him. Fear, — a 
 new phantom, more hideous than the rest, — appals his 
 soul ; and he leaps, in fiend-like fury and viper-like 
 malignity, to a desperate and bloody death. Richard 
 is a compound of fiend and man. He suffers terribly. 
 His wife, Anne, says of him, that she never rested in 
 quiet when he was present, because of his dreadful 
 dreams and nightly paroxysms of agony. He is viper 
 enough, at times of action ; but there are human drops 
 in his viper blood, and they make him an image of 
 remorse not less than of baleful wickedness. In Cibber 
 he is almost all viper. It is not till toward the last that 
 he breaks; and even then the spectator, — unless he 
 derives illustrative light from knowledge of the origi- 
 nal, — wonders at his weakness. 
 
 Booth embodied his ideal with the fervent vitality of 
 inspiration. Even when he used Gibber's form he acted 
 in Shakespeare's spirit. The cold malignity, the sar- 
 donic ease, the dreadful complacency and alertness of 
 evil were, for a long time, blended into one unshaded 
 current of light ; but presently the fiery anguish of 
 remorse burnt through the ice of glittering wickedness, 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 209 
 
 and the prince became a type of frightful conflict and 
 misery. There was no distortion, whether of limp, or 
 hump, or costume, or elocution, and there was no effort 
 to make points. The lightning-like play of feeling, the 
 quick transitions of mood, the truthful interpretation of 
 Richard's subtle irony, and of his fiery courage, the 
 beautiful pictorial effects of posture and grouping, and, 
 above all, the pervasive fire — those attributes com- 
 mended the embodiment, with irresistible force, to sym- 
 pathy and judgment. The crowning beauty of the^ 
 impersonation was reached in the tent scenes. In the 
 moments when supernatural overshadowings were to 
 influence human nature, the intuitions and the subtle 
 magnetism of Booth lifted him to the level of the 
 highest imagination. He was superb in the delirium 
 after the ghost scene, and he was marvellous in the 
 energy of the final charge and the viper-like plunge of 
 the headlong death. 
 
 Booth restored Shakespeare's Richard the Third to 
 the stage in 1876-77. Prior to that time he had always 
 presented the Gibber version. His first performance, in 
 New York, of Gloster, according to the original piece, 
 was given at Booth's theatre, January 7, 1878. The 
 ambitious and wicked prince was made to appear, not 
 as a raging ruffian, but as a wily and winning diplo- 
 matist, a blunt, frank soldier, an audacious man of 
 action, and, above all, a human being capable of re- 
 morse, and redeemed from helHsh depravity by that_ 
 capability of human nature. Booth's Richard was not 
 the expression of so great a nature, in the tempestuous 
 emotions, as that of his father, who, by persons that 
 remembered Cooke and Edmund Kean, was declared 
 
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210 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 to be the best Richard of the stage ; but it was a 
 better expression than was made by any of the old 
 tragedians of what Gloster is, in the pages of Shake- 
 speare. The personal portraiture was life-like. There 
 is a semblance of Richard, in the House of Lords, of 
 which Booth, in that character, was the close repro- 
 duction; and he did not overlook that fine description 
 and subtle portrayal, alike of face, figure, and character, 
 which may be read in Bulwer Lytton's illuminative 
 novel of Tlie Last of tlie Barons. Booth's expression 
 of the dissimulative part of Gloster's conduct was beau- 
 tiful in its diabolic, glittering, serpent-like, specious 
 craft. He was tremendous, likewise, in the electrical 
 moments, as in dealing the doom on Hastings, the 
 repulse on Buckingham, and the threat on Stanley, and 
 in the death scene. But he revealed the whole terrible 
 soul of Richard, and reached one of the loftiest heights 
 of emotion that ever were gained by tragic art, in the 
 agonising soliloquy which rounds the dream scene. 
 The great moments were thrown into great relief — • and 
 that was a finer art process than the old one, which, in 
 this character, strove to make all the moments great, 
 and commonly culminated in scarlet and flaring exag- 
 geration. The performance was full of delicate lights 
 and shades, and had a deep, interior quality. When 
 Booth played Richard according to Gibber he made 
 him finer than Gibber's text warrants — because he got 
 the light from Shakespeare to illumine that version. 
 When he acted him according to Shakespeare he was 
 consistent, and he was able to trace in all the fine lines 
 of intellectual wiliness and of humanity which belong 
 to the picture. His utterance of the awful remorse 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 211 
 
 speech with which Richard wakes from his last sleep 
 was overwhelming in its power and terrible in its depth 
 of woe. Had he done nothing else, that would have 
 stamped the work as an effort of dramatic genius of the 
 highest order. His passion, in the council scene, was 
 electrical. He was almost ludicrously felicitous in 
 Richard's hypocrisy — as in the bit about the mother's 
 blessing, and the scene with the mayor and citizens. 
 His " make me die a good old man," and his " call him 
 again " were the perfection of devilish craft. But he 
 reached a loftier altitude of free genius when he de- 
 picted Richard withering under his mother's curse, and, 
 on the night before the battle, moodily aware of his 
 impending doom. In that gloomy and sinister scene 
 he laid bare the heart of the fiend-driven, tortured, 
 agonised, and suffering wretch, with convincing truth 
 and with harrowing emotion. ^ 
 
 There are two ways in which the student may test 
 an actor's personation of Richard. One is, to compare it 
 with the standard of history ; the other is, to compare 
 it with the standard of poetry. The latter is the true 
 
 1 Shakespeare's Richard III. is dubious histovy, and, altliough it con- 
 tains superb passages, and single lines and phrases of great feHcity and 
 beauty, it cannot be considered the best order of poetry. Nobody, surely, 
 was ever ennobled by contemplation of the sinister and dreadful hero whom 
 it deUneates. It is, however, a great play, because it gives great oppor- 
 tunities for acting. A contemporary actor who might, perhaps, main- 
 tain it on our stage is Richard Mansfield. He did not, in his performance, 
 equal Edwin Booth, as Gloster, neither did he discredit the Kean and 
 Booth tradition of the part; but he did much to make it a moral and 
 pathetic force, to invest it v^'ith the attributes of humanity, and thus to 
 freight it with impressive meaning. Mansfield's embodiment taught that 
 evil in the human soul, however audacious and puissant, is powerless to 
 oppose the eternal law of final good in the moral universe. 
 
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212 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 one — for it is not Richard as he is described by More 
 and Hume, but Richard as he Uves in Shakespeare, that 
 the actor should try to represent, and that the student 
 naturally expects to see. Those two Richards are not 
 identical. So far, indeed, as the incidents are con- 
 cerned, by means of which the story of the king is told 
 and the character illustrated, the poet and the historian 
 walk hand in hand. Shakespeare had no Hume to 
 consult; but he had More's Life and Hall's Chronicle, 
 and he apparently had other sources of misrepresenta- 
 tion, which, together with those, Hume subsequently 
 followed. Legendary lore may have been one of those 
 sources — since, when Shakespeare was a boy, aged 
 men must still have been living, who remembered the 
 battle of Bosworth, — at which, indeed, one of his an- 
 cestors was present. As to historical facts, poetry and 
 prose possess about an equal authority. But they differ 
 widely in their estimates of character. The Richard 
 of More and of Hume was a ruffian, of the true English 
 bull-dog species. His body was deformed ; his coun- 
 tenance was harsh and forbidding ; his manners were 
 blunt ; he reached forth and took with the strong hand 
 everything that he wanted ; he murdered, without scru- 
 ple and without duplicity, everybody that stood in his 
 way ; he was so little crafty that he could scarce 
 even disguise his emotions or his purposes ; he lived 
 in a constant savage fret ; he was a dangerous bully, 
 and such an out-and-out cut-throat that, even in an age 
 when murder was common, people looked upon him 
 as monstrous, and not to be endured. "This is too 
 ridiculous ! " was the exclamation of Artemus Ward's 
 squatter sovereign, when he beheld the mangled remains 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 213 
 
 of his wife and children, and the charred timbers of 
 his cabin, destroyed by Indians ; and that is what the 
 Richmond faction seem to have thought, in their final 
 disposition of Richard the Third. Shakespeare, pre- 
 serving the superficial peculiarities of that Gloster, has 
 endowed him with a commanding, audacious intellect, 
 wide knowledge of human nature and affairs, ample 
 capacity as a governor, craftiness worthy of Louis the 
 Eleventh, or of lago, insight, an ardent temperament, 
 and the fascinating quality of a man of genius. That 
 ideal was presented by Booth, — ambition being its 
 motive, and a deformed man's rage against fate its 
 spring of endless bitterness. His method, full of origi- 
 nal prompting and informed by wise experience, was 
 singularly beautiful. The transitions, — made with the 
 celerity and vividness of lightning, — showed Richard's 
 subtle wit and devilish irony, his duplicity and his tre- 
 mendous intensity of purpose and courage, with over- 
 whelming force. The hypocrisy of his " call him 
 again," was so astounding as to be absolutely ludi- 
 crous, and his auditors laughed at it, with a shiver of 
 horror. The delirium, after the dream, touched the 
 height of pathos, in its truth and its terrible prostration. 
 And the death — as of some malignant viper — fitly 
 rounded a symmetrical embodiment. Booth's Richard 
 burned with a fierce flame of intellect, grew steadily in 
 development and broadened as it grew, and at every 
 point showed a keen and just intelligence ; and, in the 
 closing scenes, it was, to the letter, precisely what 
 Shakespeare meant. Booth's dressing of the part was 
 particularly careful and rich. He wore the sumptuous 
 apparel for which Gloster was distinguished, the long, 
 
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214 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 brown hair, the ring upon the third finger of the left 
 hand, and he had the habit of sheathing and unsheath- 
 ing a dagger. 
 
 BRUTUS, CASSIUS, AND ANTONY. 
 
 Shakespeare's great play of Jidius Ccesar was, at an 
 early day, a favourite with Booth, and it remained a 
 favourite with him to the end of his career. On Christ- 
 mas night, 1871, he revived it, at Booth's theatre, and 
 he presented it there until March 16, 1872. During 
 that run of Julius CcBsar the community saw four dif- 
 ferent ideals of Cassius, three of Brutus, and two of 
 Antony. Lawrence Barrett, J. B. Booth, and William 
 Creswick presented Cassius. Creswick and F. C. Bangs 
 played Brutus. Bangs played Antony. Edwin Booth 
 -acted all three of the characters — and in all of them he 
 excelled his competitors, as to the element of sympathy. 
 That was an attribute peculiar to Booth, and it was 
 manifest, to a greater or less extent, in all his perform- 
 ances. It does not necessarily belong to certain parts in 
 which its presence, nevertheless, enabled him to win 
 pre-eminent favour. There is an obvious distinction 
 between the influence of an electrical individuality and 
 the fact of a true painting of character. In Booth's 
 Cassius there was much of the wild Booth spirit, just 
 as there was in his Pescara, his Sir Giles, his lago, and 
 his Richard. It was full of physical fervour and trem- 
 ulous emotion ; more than that, it was spontaneously 
 poetic. Such a performance, right or wrong, would 
 always be greatly admired. Yet it was somewhat 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 215 
 
 less true to Shakespeare than the Cassius of Lawrence 
 Barrett. 
 
 Barrett's performance of Cassius was not so electrical, 
 nor in method was it so flexible and free. But it was 
 marked by a greater moral fervour and a more ascetic 
 intellect. Its main motive was not so much envy of 
 Caesar, as bitter, burning hatred of imperial despotism. 
 Shakespeare said that 
 
 •' Men may construe things after their fashion, 
 Quite from the purpose of the things themselves." 
 
 A lofty view of Shakespeare's conception of Cassius may, 
 perhaps, be over-refined. The method of study, however, 
 which puts upon Shakespeare's text the highest inter- 
 pretation it will bear seems as rational as any — and it 
 surely will bear the interpretation that invests Cassius 
 with a virtuous and commanding intellect. If ever a fine 
 character was exhibited in dramatic action, — one that 
 ought to enkindle the proud vigour of a noble mind and 
 arouse the fiery energy of an ardent soul, — it is that of 
 the great conspirator for the recovery of Roman free- 
 dom. Not because he is a conspirator, but because he 
 is a great man. Behind his every word and act stands 
 a grand individuality, inspired by noble purpose. He 
 may be an intellectual ascetic ; his nature may have 
 been embittered by disappointed ambition and by sad- 
 dening study of the qualities and deeds of men; but 
 he is a moral enthusiast, a royal asserter of intellectual 
 liberty. He may be envious of Caesar ; but a profound 
 hatred of tyranny is the basis of his feelings and the 
 spring of his conduct. He pervades the play with a 
 permeative vitality, as the sunlight pervades the blue 
 
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216 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 dome of heaven. He is the moving and controlling 
 impulse of its plot. Words more heroic than those he 
 speaks to Casca, on the fearful night immediately pre- 
 ceding the assassination, are scarcely to be matched in 
 literature. His purpose is a good purpose to him ; and 
 if, as he considers, the means by which he pursues it 
 have an ignoble aspect, they are the only means that can 
 succeed ; and, in the end, he atones for the indirection 
 and the crime by an heroic death. Lawrence Barrett 
 carried sympathy with Cassius to the last. There was 
 a human element in him — especially denoted by the 
 manly, tender love that yokes him with Brutus. " It is 
 impossible," says that mourning patriot, speaking over 
 the dead body of his friend, "that ever Rome should 
 breed thy fellow." 
 
 Booth's Cassius was comet-like, rushing, and terrible 
 — not lacking in human emotion, but coloured with 
 something sinister. In Cassius he used the "business'' 
 of his father's Richard, in the moment after the murder 
 of King Henry, — the "business," namely, of striding, 
 with heedless preoccupation, across the head of the 
 dead Caesar. It was an embodiment replete with 
 effect. As Brutus, on the other hand. Booth pre- 
 sented an ideal of character more dependent on its 
 absolute truth than its electrical sympathy. There 
 is a gentle melancholy, a sad abstraction, an autumnal 
 pensiveness about the character of Brutus, which ren- 
 der its greatness and its beauty less obvious than 
 they would be if he were wholly a man of action. 
 His mind is tinged with the pensiveness naturally in- 
 cident to wide range of intellectual vision and large 
 discourse of reason. His temperament is exceptionally 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 217 
 
 >weet. His conduct is moulded by the celestial sense 
 
 — which is the sense of duty. His actions proceed 
 Jeliberately ; always from reason, never from impulse. 
 He is tender in heart, imaginative in mind, exemplary 
 [n life, stately in demeanour. Such a nature wins, but 
 does not startle. It is more difficult to play Brutus 
 than to play Cassius. Brutus is grander, broader, 
 lovelier, more exalted, and more picturesque; but also, 
 in a certain sense, he is passive. In depicting Brutus, 
 
 — his ideal , gentleman, — Shakespeare made a won- 
 derfully keen and pathetic exposition of internal con- 
 flicts. Brutus is quick to suffer but slow to act; and 
 when he does act it is with a reluctance almost as 
 hesitant as the reluctance of Hamlet. Looking upon 
 the world with the wide, intuitive gaze of the philoso- 
 pher, seeing all sides of all subjects, and making allow- 
 ance and finding excuse for all, it 'is difficult for that 
 wise, imaginative, gentle creature to strike the fatal 
 blow, which yet he believes to be necessary and right. 
 Many concurrent forces drive him to the pitch of 
 action ; but, from the hour when Caesar falls beneath 
 his dagger, down to the ghastly day which " ends the 
 work the Ides of March begun," his mind is darkly 
 overshadowed with a sense of impending doom — so 
 keen is his spiritual perception of Nature's inexorable 
 vigilance to punish the shedder of human blood. This 
 nature and experience require excessive poetical sensi- 
 bility in the delineation. The representative of Brutus 
 must entice affection by his personal quality. With 
 Cassius the conquest is of admiration more than affec-, 
 tion, and this is made by means more obviously alert, 
 expeditious, and aggressive. Cassius must be beautifully 
 
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218 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 refined, in his frosty age and intellectual exaltation; 
 but, beyond that, he is the more directly appreciable 
 because he is a fountain of action. His disturbing 
 force is felt by all persons around him. Even Caesar 
 admits that he should fear Cassius if he could fear any- 
 body. His tremendous will and his intense, passionate 
 purpose move the many-sided and equipoised mind of 
 Brutus, and give it heat and direction. All things bend 
 to his inveterate vitality. Booth discriminated between 
 the parts, with excellent discretion. The more his 
 Brutus was seen the more it was loved. His slender 
 figure, so appropriate to Cassius [and, as to appearance, 
 the Cassius of Edwin Booth was the most beautiful of 
 all his stage embodiments], had not the massiveness 
 usually associated with the mental and moral attributes 
 of Brutus. The absence of lurid flash and of telling 
 points lessened the effect of emotional excitement. But 
 the actor's spirit was celestial and his art was superb. 
 Booth's Brutus had little significance for the senses ; it 
 was full of loveliness for the soul. Booth's delivery of 
 the fine Shakespearian periods was full of grave sweet- 
 ness and melancholy beauty, and the touching effect of 
 his melodious elocution was deepened by the exquisite 
 grace of his demeanor and gesture, and by his aspect of 
 wasting thought and almost haggard sorrow. One of 
 the most striking qualities of his assumption of Brutus 
 was the lofty and lovely chivalry of his manner toward 
 Portia. In all Booth's acting, in normal characters, his 
 manner toward woman was ever that of innate delicacy 
 and exquisite refinement. 
 
 Booth's Antony was a triumph. Success in Antony, 
 however, does not mean so much as success in either of 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 219 
 
 hose associated parts. The character is simpler, and 
 he situations in which it is presented are readily appre- 
 lended and utilised. To go back of Shakespeare and 
 ■esort to history — for which proceeding, except with 
 I view to personal appearance, general accessories, 
 ind the particular facts of actual conduct that are 
 reated, there is no warrant — might be to find the real 
 \ntony a different man from the type that the poet has 
 ielineated. But, since the quality and composition of 
 ;he character are Shakespeare's — not Plutarch's nor 
 mother's — it is with Shakespeare's conception alone 
 ;hat thought is concerned. Booth depicted Antony as 
 I person of politic, reckless, somewhat treacherous 
 lature, yet resolute, strong, and fierce. The lights that 
 ire cast upon the character are many and explicit. 
 f\.ntony's talent for crafty policy appears through even 
 ;he delirium of his grief over the murdered body of 
 Dsesar. Later it finds conspicuous expression in his 
 nflammatory speech, — so wonderfully well devised for 
 ts purpose, — to the Roman mob. Still later, in an 
 jmitted scene, he is willing to economise as to pay- 
 nent of the legacies in that much-vaunted will of the 
 amented Caesar; and he cruelly and ruthlessly condemns 
 lis nephew to death, and openly proposes to deceive 
 md befool his associate, Lepidus. Upon his sensuality 
 )f life all opinions are agreed. Brutus, who acknowl- 
 ;dges him for "a wise and valiant Roman," says, also, 
 hat " he is given to sports, to wildness, and much com- 
 mny." Cassar testifies of him that he "revels long o' 
 lights." Cassius calls him "a shrewd contriver," but 
 'a masker and a reveller." To the lighter and more 
 vinning qualities, and to the patrician nobility and refine- 
 
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220 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 ment of Antony, Booth rendered the utmost justice. 
 The darker shades of the character were judiciously 
 repressed. In the prophesy of war the glowing passion 
 of the actor attained to inspiration. That is the difficult 
 climax, which overtops the climax of the assassination. 
 Booth was noble in it, and also in the delivery of the 
 funeral oration. Better elocution has not been heard — 
 whether considered as to its method, or as a spontaneous 
 expression of the varying emotions of the stormy heart 
 and the wily mind. In execution Booth's Antony was 
 wonderfully symmetrical. Antony is a great man in 
 the tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra: vn Julius Ccesar 
 his deeper nature has not yet been awakened. He is a 
 picturesque demagogue, and as such the actor portrayed 
 him. 
 
 Booth took great pleasure in yulius Ccesar and after 
 the alliance was formed with Lawrence Barrett, in 
 1887, he made it a prominent feature in his repertory. 
 The tragedy is one that stirs the imagination with inspir- 
 ing thought of some of the grandest historic figures that 
 ever genius enshrined in the amber of poetry. It dazzles 
 the mental vision with shapes of antique majesty, and it 
 thrills the pulse of sympathetic appreciation with strains 
 of high and matchless eloquence. Those great lessons 
 with which it is so richly freighted, — the lesson of the 
 value of liberty, and the still greater lesson of the pre- 
 dominance of an inexorable morality of purpose in the 
 vast scheme of human advancement, — are taught by it, 
 with potent authority and invincible force. The splen- 
 dour of Roman civilisation, with its royal aspects of 
 stateliness and its marked contrasts of aristocratic pomp 
 and plebeian servility, military prevalence and popular 
 
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ITO BY SARONV. 
 
 PE, e, BIERSTAOT, 
 
 BOOTH AS RICHEL-IEU. 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 221 
 
 isentment, is displayed by it and made actual. The 
 lature repose and autumnal beauty of Booth's mind 
 ad art were conspicuously shown in it. In Brutus 
 e was at the flood of dignity and sweetness, self-com- 
 land, and calm dominance over all the facts of life 
 nd death. He not only embodied the character, but 
 y means of that performance he signified his wide 
 mge of dramatic faculty, his unerring artistic instinct, 
 nd his capacity of self-repression as an actor. The 
 lan of thought, if he attract at all, must attract by 
 is personal quality of charm — by what he is, and not 
 y what he does. In this posture personality tran- 
 cends action. Even in his anger Brutus maintains the 
 loise of an almost stoical nature. He never acts with 
 he impetuosity of impulse, but always with the deliber- 
 tion of reason. He is sweet in temperament, tender 
 a heart, decorous in demeanour, grave, stately, thought- 
 ul, and calm. He does not startle with emphatic and 
 elling points. His range of mental vision is so wide 
 hat he can sympathise with the view of his antagonist 
 s well as with his own view — and the deeds of such a 
 nan must necessarily be judicial and neither impulsive 
 .or romantic. Such a man, indeed, is more a spirit than 
 body — abstract, elusive, rarified, cold. To quench 
 is fire, and to suffuse his embodiment of " the noblest 
 J-oman of them all" with a sad grace and mournful 
 lensiveness was, on the part of Booth, to sacrifice 
 istant popular effect for the sake of truth. The sweet- 
 ess and beauty of his embodiment of Brutus were not 
 t once felt ; yet, when all was over, they were remem- 
 ered. Just so it was, when, years ago, in London, 
 i^uHus Casar was acted, with John Philip Kemble as 
 
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222 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 Brutus and Charles Young as Cassius. Young cap- 
 tured everybody at first, but after a few nights the 
 majesty of Kemble, vindicating the humanity and poetry 
 that are in Brutus, altogether eclipsed him. Booth 
 possessed that majestic quality — that fine solidity of 
 character, "four-square to opposition," and the essen- 
 tial tenderness which appertains to a great heart that 
 has greatly suffered. All that one reads of Kemble's 
 slow, stately, massive walk, in Brutus, as contrasted with 
 Young's quick, nervous, restless pace, as Cassius, was 
 realised in Booth's demeanour in that character, when 
 acting with Barrett. The part requires declamatory 
 treatment at certain points, and the golden purity of 
 Booth's English speaking gave it consummate beauty of 
 expression. His supreme moment as Brutus was that of 
 the apparition — a moment when even the iron compos- 
 ure of the stoic is shattered ; but nothing in the perform- 
 ance was more distinctly and convincingly indicative of 
 the actor's power of impersonation than the predominant 
 look of his eyes, in the quarrel scene. The attribute of 
 authority belongs essentially to Brutus, and Booth made 
 it impressively obvious. Such a look, doubtless, that of 
 Betterton was, when he said, " For your life you durst 
 not." Such a look that of Kynaston was, when, as 
 King Henry the Fourth, he said to Hotspur, " Send us 
 your prisoners." No one who watched the varying 
 expression of Booth's countenance as Brutus, or noted 
 the music of his voice, can forget that extraordinary 
 embodiment. 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 223 
 
 RICHELIEU. 
 
 The artistic and the personal aspects of Booth's act- 
 Qg were closely interwoven, and it is scarcely possible 
 consider them apart. He was an artist, indeed, who 
 anged through about twenty-five of the chief char- 
 acters in dramatic literature — touching Hamlet at one 
 ;xtreme of the chain and Sir Giles Overreach at the other, 
 ie greatly succeeded in both Macbeth and King Lear. 
 The capacity of assuming and sustaining diversified and 
 lontrasted personalities is one, accordingly, which was 
 lot denied to him by even the most exacting judg- 
 nent. Yet the distinctive quality that illumined his 
 Lcting was the personal one of poetic individuality, 
 ie embodied the creations of genius in literature ; but 
 n every instance he suffused them with his personal 
 :harm. This was peculiarly true in his assumption of 
 Richelieu, because the part combines so many of the 
 ileraents that were intrinsic in the man ; and, above all, 
 )ecause there was such a deep and exact correlation of 
 emperament between the two. Taking Richelieu, Ham- 
 et, Lear, lago, and Bertuccio together, the observer had 
 L complete exemplification of Booth, and of his style 
 md method. He was not a " natural " actor, in the 
 ense that he acted as persons do in common life ; but 
 le was a natural actor in a much higher sense — 
 )ecause he produced the effects of nature by artificial 
 neans, by the legitimate exaggerations of art, while 
 •Iways sustaining himself in an ideal region. He was 
 )Ossessed, moreover, in superb abundance, of those 
 neans of utterance — the powerful eyes, the mobile 
 
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224 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 face, the flexible, sonorous voice, the intense concen- 
 tration of eloquent repose, and the force and grace of 
 electrical movement — which render acting not only a 
 process of the intellect and the feelings, but an actual 
 and adequate physical expression of what is passing in 
 the human soul. Given the great situation — as in the 
 fourth act of RicJielicu, or the awful ghost-scenes of 
 Hamlet, or the burst of explosive and deracinating 
 frenzy in which Lear finally breaks away from his in- 
 human children — and the actor filled it, as well for the 
 eye and ear as for the imagination and the mind. This 
 is to exert poetic inspiration, while controlling and direct- 
 ing, with distinct mental purpose and unswerving skill, 
 the personal impulses and mechanical adjuncts that 
 constitute the machinery of dramatic art. And this is 
 what made Booth a great actor. 
 
 Booth's performance of Richelieu was unique and 
 original. He originated the stage treatment — the 
 general scheme and drift of artistic illustration — which 
 that character now receives, whenever it is attempted. 
 He had no model in it, for he never saw either Macready 
 or Forrest act it, — who were its first representatives, the 
 one in England and the other in America, — and his 
 father's attempt in it was farcical. He built up its 
 physical structure out of his imagination, investing it 
 with a sublime mournfulness of isolation upon the sum- 
 mit of power, and touching it with the lights of grim 
 humour and exquisite, courtly grace. As a type of stage 
 illusion his performance of Richelieu was perfect. He 
 saturated the leonine nature of the Cardinal with a 
 gentle and lovely melancholy, not weak, but as lofty as 
 it is tender, and such as hallowed the character and 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 225 
 
 made it as magnetic to the heart as, in its weirdness, it 
 was entrancing to the imagination, and as, in its tre- 
 mendous power, it was impressive to the mind. Those 
 moments in which the solitary old man remembers his 
 lost youth and the dying friend who committed a 
 daughter to his paternal care, and those in which he 
 ruminates upon his age and loneliness — the moments, 
 that is to say, in which the heart irradiates the brain — 
 are brightly illuminative of the nature of Richelieu; 
 and of those Booth perceived and imparted the full 
 significance. He did not strive to be literally historical 
 — although his personal resemblance, when made up 
 .for the part, to a bust of Richelieu which stands in 
 the Louvre, was exact — but he kept close to the poet's 
 ideal of sympathy with all that is virtuous, innocent, 
 beautiful, noble, and right ; and that ideal he made 
 alluring by the charm of personality. Other actors 
 have made Richelieu correct ; have produced startling 
 effects at specific points ; have shown a right instinct as 
 to his force of will, his grim humour, his little vanities, 
 his indirection, his sacerdotal pride and pomp, his intel- 
 lectual poise, his energetic temperament, his kindliness, 
 and his craft ; but Booth, alone in our time, invested 
 him with a sustained, irresistible fascination. The per- 
 formance was completely illusive. It caused the stage 
 to be forgotten. It presented a great man ; and, as is 
 always true with genius, the greatness of that priest and 
 ruler was seen, or, rather, was felt, to be personal, and 
 not official ; inherent in himself, and not dependent 
 on his place and adjuncts. Richelieu, as a mere fact, 
 is wise virtue contending against vice and treason ; 
 strength protecting innocence ; and, therefore, naturally, 
 
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226 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 is Stimulative of human sympathy. But abstract right- 
 eousness alone might neither interest in itself nor 
 gladden in its triumph. Richelieu must be much more 
 than good, and the result of a portrayal of him must 
 far exceed complacent satisfaction. Booth gave him 
 the potency of innate charm ; made him lovable by a 
 grace that was ingrained and a beauty of the soul that 
 hallowed and exalted — not only the man himself but 
 all who beheld him. To that actor was known the 
 austere majesty and sad isolation of a thinker who is 
 poised above his time. By him was understood the 
 loneliness of the unselfish heart which, grown old in 
 sorrow, no longer nourishes the least hope or dream of 
 happiness for itself, but lovingly impels endeavour for 
 the happiness of others. It was noble and beautiful 
 exaltation of spirit that made Booth's embodiment of 
 Richelieu at once fascinating and beneficent. The act- 
 ing, also, gave exquisite touches of deft simulation. 
 The refinement of it suggested the gossamer texture, 
 the aristocratic hue and the faint fragrance of old lace. 
 Even in its moments of banter, or what might almost 
 be named frivolity, it was permeated and controlled by 
 perfect taste. Booth was especially fine in the delicate 
 tracery with which, during the first act, the character is 
 unfolded, and in the delivery of the soliloquies. To be 
 adequate in soliloquy is more difficult on the stage than 
 to be adequate in anything else, and our generation 
 has not seen Booth's superior in the utterance of it. 
 
 In the character of Richelieu the thoughtful, poetic 
 quality of Booth's acting, together with its vital spirit, 
 magnetic power, and complex, delicate, polished, and 
 always seemingly spontaneous mechanism, were impres- 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 227 
 
 sively displayed. There has been no nobler figure on 
 the modern stage — no figure more fascinating in the 
 contrasted elements of its constitution. It was grandly 
 austere, and yet tenderly romantic ; solidly founded on 
 the repose of the philosopher, yet fiery with the knightly 
 valour of youth ; full of the pathos that invests a lonely 
 spiritual exaltation — the mountain solitude of wisdom 
 and of conquered sorrow — yet lovingly human, and 
 sensitive to every wafture of joy and grief in the com- 
 mon lot of mankind. Lofty and fair as an ideal of 
 powerful goodness protecting the weakness and inno- 
 cence of imperilled virtue, it easily carried the affection 
 of human hearts ; but its supreme excellence was the 
 realisation of an ideal trait — the attainment and expres- 
 sion of the majesty which is possible to a human soul, 
 when, through an ample experience of the conflicts of 
 life, it has risen above all the hopes and fears, all the 
 doubt and weakness, all the passions and feelings of 
 mortality. 
 
 And this was an excellence that art alone cannot 
 supply — a radiation of the spirit of the man within 
 the actor, passing into the character that he assumed, 
 because awakened and lured by a kindred tone in 
 the character, and thus filling and suffusing it with 
 a sublime light. It is not alone significant that Booth 
 built up the part with delicate mechanism ; that he 
 sustained the identity so well as to make his specta- 
 tor forget that it was a fiction ; that he was splendidly 
 vehement in the towering and awful anathema of the 
 Church ; but that, behind the trained power, skill, and 
 many accomplishments of the actor, there was in him an 
 exuberant wealth of the imaginative temperament of 
 
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228 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 genius, never growing dim or weary, never lapsing into 
 routine mannerism, never inadequate to invest a creation 
 of literary fancy with the .stately person and the lofty 
 soul that alone can give it a dramatic existence. The 
 wonder is often felt that an actor should be able to con- 
 tinue, night after night, playing the same part: it is not 
 remembered that this capacity of imaginative living, this 
 inexhaustible temperament of fiire and action, is precisely 
 what constitutes the actor's natural wealth, and authen- 
 ticates his personal preordination to the pursuit wherein 
 he lives. The spectacle of Booth's Richelieu, fine as it 
 was when viewed as art, engaged and impressed thought 
 far more as the exponent of dramatic fitness and a 
 matchless equipment for characters of ideal majesty. 
 The applause that so often hailed his exploit — ringing 
 through the theatre in bursts of lofty cheer — was not 
 for either the general accuracy or the special points of 
 Richelieu, but was the quick, bright, natural, ungovern- 
 able response to the eloquence of genius. 
 
 BERTUCCIO. 
 
 Physical deformity has seldom been borne with 
 patience. It reacts on the nature that it incloses. It 
 saddens or it embitters. A deformed man is usually 
 reticent and secretive. He shrinks from contact or 
 observation. He suspects, on every hand, pity, con- 
 tempt, aversion, or ridicule. He is morbidly sensitive. 
 He withdraws his life from the obvious and sun-lit path- 
 ways of the world, and dwells in solitary and seques- 
 tered places ; and there he nurses his emotions, whether 
 
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OTYPe, t. BIER3TA0T, 
 
 BOOTH AS BERTUCCIO. 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 229 
 
 of love or hate, till they acquire intense strength. If 
 he be a man of deep heart and proud mind, and if his 
 nature be illumined by the light of genius, he will 
 develop an amazing individuality. Pope and Byron 
 come out of literary history as apt examples of that 
 truth. Those, of course, are exponents of an excep- 
 tional class; but as the same human nature runs 
 through all classes the same general results are appar- 
 ent in all the victims of deformity. The deformed man 
 is placed at a disadvantage, and the cruel fact shapes 
 and colours his whole experience. That experience, 
 accordingly, attracts the analytical student of life, and 
 stimulates the imaginative literary artist, by suggesting 
 sharp dramatic contrasts. Sir Walter Scott has delin- 
 eated phases of it, with great vigour of treatment, and in 
 a beautiful atmosphere of romance, in his novel of Tlie 
 Black Divarf. Other authors have touched upon it, 
 with more or less success ; but no other great writer 
 seems to have brooded over it so deeply as Victor Hugo 
 has, for the purposes of art. To remind the reader of 
 his Quasimodo is at once to illustrate this meaning and 
 to suggest a representative embodiment of this excep- 
 tional individuality. Bertuccio, in TJie Fool's Revenge, 
 is, in some respects, a companion portrait; and cer- 
 tainly it is one of the most affecting images in litera- 
 ture, of the misery that laughs. 
 
 'Y'he. FooV s Revenge ivMcAs, the purpose of tragedy — 
 for it overwhelms the mind with terror and the heart 
 with pity, and therein it tends to elevate the moral and 
 spiritual being. It thus exercises as much beneficent 
 force as can be expected to flow from this form of art. 
 It is neatly constructed, in three acts, and tersely 
 
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230 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 written in serviceable blank verse. Its author, Tom 
 Taylor, claimed it as substantially an original work, but 
 he named Victor Hugo's Le Roi S' Amuse as its basis. 
 The drift of it is a rebuke of the wickedness of human 
 quest for revenge. The lesson of it is the ancient 
 Hebrew Bible lesson, that veflgeance is an attribute to 
 God. Its central figure is a deformed man, austere in 
 mind, but tender in heart, who first is embittered by the 
 natural reactionary force of his deformity, and then is 
 tortured into a demoniac condition, by a foul, treacher- 
 ous, oppressive, and cruel spoliation of his domestic 
 peace. That exceptional type of man it presents under 
 the stress of love, misery, wrath, and hatred. The 
 wretched creature has been crazed by the forcible ab- 
 duction of his virtuous and faithful wife, and thereupon 
 he instigates a ruthless villain, — in whose service he 
 lives, as a court jester, the scene and time being Faenza, 
 in Italy, 1488, — to abduct the wife of his enemy. In 
 that hellish work he personally assists ; and thus, by a 
 series of strange accidents, he becomes instrumental in 
 betraying his own daughter into the hands of a libidi- 
 nous and detestable swine. He rescues her, indeed, at 
 the last ; but not until he has passed through the tor- 
 ments of hell, and only when the star of his life goes 
 down in a storm of frenzy and a sea of murder. 
 
 That wretched man and those actions and emotions 
 Booth depicted, with tremendous vigour and appalling 
 sincerity. The first strong situation of the piece, — 
 occurring at the end of the second act, — exacts a 
 tumultuous utterance of sardonic exultation and de- 
 moniac glee, over the success of a scheme of wicked 
 vengeance. It is a night scene; and the deformed 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 231 
 
 jester pervaded it like a raving fiend. The next, — a 
 more terrible crisis, occurring near the end of the piece, 
 — exacts a union of gleeful frenzy with delirious despair, 
 the quick agony that laughs, and the laughter that 
 flows in tears. In those situations Booth yielded up his 
 mind to the splendid fires of natural human passion. 
 Body, soul, action, voice, all the accumulated felicities 
 of art and all the resources of goodness and sensibility 
 were commingled and poured forth, in a concentrated, 
 indomitable flood of eloquence ; and the observer 
 obtained, with shuddering awe, one of those glimpses 
 into the deep foundations of human nature that make 
 us wiser in comprehension of the strange material of 
 which we are made, and the illimitable possibilities of 
 spiritual life that stretch away before us. 
 
 SIR EDWARD MORTIMER. 
 
 Colman's tragedy of The Iron Chest is interesting 
 as a type of a kind of dramatic literature in which our 
 forefathers, of a hundred years ago, found pleasure. It 
 was toward the end of the last century, as readers of 
 stage history are aware, that true melodrama — the 
 admixture of serious play and music — attained to its 
 most prosperous growth ; and it was then that The Iron 
 Chest was produced, at Covent Garden, London, with 
 Kemble in the chief part. Many of the persons who 
 participated in its performance then, and for a long 
 time afterward, were singers. The humorous man 
 sang, and so did the poacher's daughter. The juvenile 
 Wilford joined in a duet with his lass ; old Adam 
 
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232 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 Winterton warbled a little ; and there was a company 
 of robbers, lodged amid the ruins of an ancient abbey 
 — the scene being laid in the south of England, in the 
 lovely fields of Kent or the smiling woods of Sussex — 
 that sang, in capital chorus, — 
 
 " Jolly friars tippled here 
 
 Ere these abbey-walls had crumbled ; 
 Still the ruins boast good cheer, 
 
 Though long ago the cloisters tumbled." 
 
 This sort of play appears to have prevailed for about 
 one generation ; but in time the public taste grew weary 
 of it, and, aside from The Leon Chest and Guy Mamier- 
 ing, scarcely a genuine melodrama of the old school has 
 survived, in actual use, to the present day. Even these 
 are always cut, when acted, and that treatment of them 
 has long been usual. The Iron Chest, as performed in 
 our day, is shorn of its incidental music and also of 
 its band of picturesque robbers, grouped in the moon- 
 light, beneath the broken arches and among the 
 mouldering, moss-covered, ivy-clad stones of its ruined 
 English abbey. 
 
 The essential dramatic vitality of the piece, however, 
 is independent of accessories. With an actor competent 
 to play Sir Edward Mortimer, The Iron Chest would hold 
 a place upon the stage. It presents its central character 
 in situations that admit of vigorous dramatic execution, 
 and it invests him with the unfaltering charm of roman- 
 tic atmosphere. Sir Edward Mortimer is a thoroughly 
 noble person, capable of all goodness and worthy of love 
 and honour. But he has cominitted homicide. Under 
 terrible provocation, and in a moment of frenzy, he 
 has stabbed to the heart " the sinewy savage " who 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 233 
 
 had Struck him down and trampled upon him in a 
 public place. He has escaped detection and has kept 
 his secret. But remorse is gnawing at his heart, and in 
 every minute of his life, by night or day, sleeping or 
 waking, the dread of discovery haunts his soul. The 
 passion of his mind is love of honour — to hold a fair 
 renown in the eyes of men, and to leave an untarnished 
 name, when the grave shall have closed over his ashes. 
 In his prophetic fear that, after his death, if not before, 
 the hideous secret may come to Hght, he has written 
 a confession and defence, and this he must perpetu- 
 ally guard, in his Iron Chest. By chance it once seems 
 on the point of disclosure. His startled and apprehen- 
 sive soul takes needless fright. He springs to his own 
 rescue. He will defeat the purpose of Fate, even 
 though he pursue an innocent youth to ruin, disgrace, 
 and death upon the gallows. His state suggests the 
 apt words that Shakespeare has put into the mouth 
 of the remorseful Queen Gertrude : — 
 
 " To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is, 
 Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss ; 
 So full of artless jealousy is guilt, 
 It spills itself in fearing to be spilt." 
 
 His anxiety and his insane turpitude defeat their 
 purpose, and, in the revulsion of feeling consequent 
 upon a revelation alike of his crime and his wicked 
 machinations of self-defence, he dies in a paroxysm of 
 horrible anguish. There are several splendid moments 
 in the tragedy, for this shipwrecked and wretched man ; 
 but the strong situations are those in which Sir Edward 
 Mortimer tells his story to his secretary, Wilford, — 
 
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234 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 who has half discovered the secret, — and in which the 
 baffled murderer expires. 
 
 Booth, in aspect, in temperament, and in the knowl- 
 edge of grief, filled that character as if he had been 
 born for it, and for nothing else. From the moment 
 when Sir Edward's solemn voice was first heard, speaking 
 "off the scene," an atmosphere of dread and terror 
 seemed suffused everywhere, as by the unseen presence 
 of a guilty, haunted, fore-doomed, suffering, but proud, 
 resolute, indomitable, and splendid human creature. 
 The tone was the suggestive, ominous tone of impending 
 horror, nameless but ghastly, and infinitely pathetic. 
 And thereafter, as the play went on, genius, with its 
 profound intuitions, and dramatic art, with its superb 
 skill, set clearly forth the awful phantasm of a life that 
 sin and suffering have isolated from companionship 
 with the human race. In its expression of this bleak 
 isolation it was among the most pathetic images that 
 ever the stage displayed. 
 
 To any actor, however experienced, there must be 
 uncommon difficulty in the way of playing Sir Edward 
 Mortimer — for the part begins at a high pitch of re- 
 strained nervous excitement ; it is written in a somewhat 
 inflated and flowery strain of blank verse ; and it abounds 
 with "flaws and starts," instantaneous transitions from 
 level speaking to hysteric ejaculation, and from forced 
 repose to wild excitement. The man is dying, by 
 inches, from a grief that he must conceal, and from 
 an inward convulsion of opposite feelings, for which 
 there is no relief but death. Booth met the difficulties 
 of that ordeal with astonishing ability, and from the 
 first spring upon the startled Wilford, at the blundering 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 235 
 
 reference to murder, down to the dreadful paroxysm of 
 mortal agony with which the piece closes, he held his 
 audience spellbound in eager and painful suspense. 
 The illuminative speeches are the apostrophe to honour 
 and the denunciation of curiosity. Those were spoken 
 with all the passion of Mortimer's lacerated heart, 
 which has lost the one and suffered by the other. The 
 scene of the confession passed in a whirlwind of stormy 
 vociferation. The death, without being protracted, and 
 without excess of physical misery, was appalling as a 
 picture and wonderful as art. But perhaps the crown- 
 ing excellence of the embodiment was the actor's truth- 
 ful and impressive expression, — in face, demeanour, 
 condition, manner, and speech, — of the weight and 
 majesty of character that are consequent, in a noble 
 nature, upon settled and hopeless grief, combined with 
 the mingled wildness and lassitude that forerun the 
 dissolution of mortality. The audience, when last I saw 
 this old drama, — a numerous and brilliant one, including 
 many of the old play-goers who are walking beneath 
 the silver flag, — was deeply moved ; and at the fall of 
 the curtain Booth was recalled with cheers. 
 
 PESCARA. 
 
 Among the dramatic works of the past that have 
 kept their hold upon the stage through a long period 
 few are so dark and dreadful, in spirit, incident, 
 atmosphere, and imagery, as Shiel's tragedy of The 
 Apostate. That play has attained to the venerable 
 age of more than three-score years and ten ; it still is 
 
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236 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 occasionally acted ; and, probably, it will keep a place 
 in the practical repertory of the theatre as long as 
 a tragic actor can be found who is competent to 
 embody its most striking character, Pescara, with the 
 robust force, the grisly malignity, the infernal cruelty, 
 and the horrible, glittering speciousness that the part 
 requires. In its original form The Apostate is a 
 tragedy. Pescara falls by the hand of Hemeya; 
 Florinda dies by poison, which she has swallowed in 
 order to escape from the threatened nuptials with 
 Pescara ; and Hemeya also dies by suicide. There is 
 no dramatic necessity, however, for sacriiicing the 
 lovers, at the end, and the practice of the stage has 
 usually been to conclude this story of horrors with a 
 happy close, — by which means the darkness of a 
 terrific picture is much and gratefully relieved. The 
 vicissitudes in the experience of the lovers, and in 
 that of the old Moor, Malec, are brought about in- 
 geniously, and are displayed with pictorial rapidity of 
 movement. The apostasy of Hemeya and his sub- 
 sequent rebellion lead to situations of exciting sus- 
 pense, and become effective weapons in the hands of the 
 adroit Pescara. The character of old Malec is finely 
 drawn, and the sweet paternal and filial relation between 
 him and Hemeya is portrayed in a spirit at once tenderly 
 human and romantic. It is Hemeya who, at the risk of 
 more than his life, rescues Malec, and it is Malec who, 
 at the close, rescues both Hemeya and Florinda. In 
 the original piece the question of Moorish consequences 
 resultant upon Hemeya' s apostasy is set at rest by his 
 suicide. In the stage version this remains unsettled. 
 Rut that is a trivial flaw. The play should be viewed 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 237 
 
 as something disclosed through an ideal atmosphere. 
 The black shadow of the Inquisition impends over it, 
 and out of its sombre background dimly glimmers the 
 stealthy, crafty, furtive, dangerous, repulsive figure of 
 Philip the Second, of Spain. The tone is ultra-romantic ; 
 yet this play has a certain value, as bearing on the illu- 
 mination of an historic period. 
 
 It may be doubted, however, whether the presenta- 
 tion of a type of human nature so hideous as Pescara 
 can have a good effect. He is a depraved and 
 dreadful ruffian, malignant, hateful, cruel, obdurate, 
 treacherous, animated by loathsome lust, and alternat- 
 ing, in his mood, between cold, ingenious malice and 
 savage fury. But the piece was not written for 
 Pescara. It was the heroine, Florinda, upon whom the 
 author bestowed his best of feeling and imagination. 
 The beautiful Miss O'Neil was to play the part, and 
 did play it, and Shiel, like many another man of 
 his time, was infatuated with that prodigy of tearful 
 loveliness. In Florinda all the virtues and all the 
 graces are combined. She is the most affectionate and 
 dutiful of daughters ; the most romantic of maidens ; 
 the sweetest and most ardent of lovers ; the most noble 
 and heroic of women, alike in her principles and her 
 conduct; and she appears, in fine raiment and long 
 hair, in every important juncture of the story, at the 
 most impracticable of times and the most impossible of 
 places. It is only because Pescara acts, while Florinda 
 suffers, that the demon has surpassed the angel, in a 
 dramatic point of view. Evil is restless, and, when com- 
 bined with intellect, it is briUiant ; but goodness is apt 
 to be submissive, inert, and insipid. Besides, Pes- 
 
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238 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 cara, on the stage, has all along been embodied by men 
 of genius. The elder Booth, to whom the part was 
 first allotted, refused to act it, and it was assumed by 
 Macready ; but Booth afterwards played it, and made 
 a great fame in it ; and Edwin Booth retained it in his 
 repertory, and for the most part sustained, as Pescara, 
 the tradition of his father's greatness. Booth invaria- 
 bly conquered admiration by one attribute in which he 
 was pre-eminent — the faculty to assume a sweet pla- 
 cidity of ingenuousness, veiling, but not concealing, a 
 cool, airy, infernal depravity. That was seen in his 
 lago and his Richard the Third ; but in those parts 
 the artistic hypocrisy is intended to deceive, and it does 
 deceive. In Pescara, on the other hand, the lurid light 
 of hell is allowed to play freely, just beneath the 
 mocking "smiles and affability" of simulated kindness. 
 The intention of Pescara is to terrify, even while he 
 pretends to soothe ; and in Booth's acting that attribute 
 of dangerous, jeering, menacing duplicity was so terrible 
 that often it impelled the spectator quite over the line of 
 terror, into the shuddering mood of hysterical laughter. 
 In the story of the dream and in the quarrel with Hemeya 
 that predominant attribute of the character was made 
 brilliantly visible. Booth proved entirely adequate at 
 the thrilling points of the performance — the famous 
 entrance, to part the lovers ; the equally famous 
 " There shall be music, too " ; the baffled cry of 
 " damnation," and the scene of the torture and rescue. 
 There was no effort made to reconcile the character to 
 any accepted standard of human nature. There is, how- 
 ever, but too much reason to believe that such men have 
 existed and do exist. Booth's first appearance in The 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 239 
 
 Apostate was made in his boyhood, at Wilmington, Del- 
 aware, where he played Hemeya. His father acted 
 Pescara, and in that, as in some other characters, his 
 father was his model. 
 
 LUCIUS JUNIUS BRUTUS. 
 
 The question as to the relative excellence of specific 
 personations, — determinable through comparison of the 
 several works of an actor, — though often strenuously 
 discussed, is less important than the large, comprehen- 
 sive question as to the excellence of his influence upon 
 the age in which he lives, expressed in his adequate ful- 
 filment of noble ideals, and in his liberal diffusion of vir- 
 tuous emotion. The puissant embodiment of such char- 
 acters as William Tell and Lucius Junius Brutus does 
 more to keep alive in the popular heart the love of true 
 liberty and the sense of its inestimable worth, than 
 could be accomplished by almost any combination of 
 the wisest and strongest forces of the age. The ob- 
 server will, of course, consider that the author of Bru- 
 tus has not made his ideal either a vast or a represent- 
 ative one, and that to try a personation of Brutus by 
 the standard of the piece itself is not, — as so often is 
 the case in Shakespeare, — to try it by the standard of 
 universal human nature. Brutus is exceptional, abnor- 
 mal, and of an artificially mixed condition, — albeit the 
 fibre of nature runs through him. An actor, accord- 
 ingly, may take large license in his interpretation. 
 
 In its possibilities for acting, the part is greater than 
 the piece, for it comprises some of the attributes that 
 
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240 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 constitute the character of Virginius, and thus it kindles 
 in an actor the robust manliness, splendid dignity, and 
 heroic exaltation that make the perfect ideal of the 
 Roman father. Both men are depicted as fine, tender, 
 simple, magnanimous, just; both are patriotic; both 
 sacrifice all, for the public welfare ; each destroys his 
 only child; each perishes of a broken heart, under a 
 weight of misery so terrible that human nature cannot 
 bear it ; and in each case there is the element of insan- 
 ity, — that of Virginius being real and that of Brutus 
 being assumed. But, while certain of the attributes of 
 character are coincident and certain lines of the experi- 
 ence are parallel, the identities of those two Roman 
 heroes remain distinct, and a competent actor will evince 
 fine intuition and conscientious thoroughness of artistic 
 study in giving to each a separate individuality. Brutus 
 should not be made as delicate in fibre or as sweet in 
 temperament as Virginius, for the life of Brutus has 
 no sunshine in it, but only wrong, violence, and discord. 
 Repressed passion has warped it ; suffering has despoiled 
 and blighted it ; long brooding over the purpose of re- 
 venge has embittered and hardened it ; long simulation 
 of madness has given to it a sardonic light. Virginius, 
 on the threshold of the story, has already won, by the 
 fascination of love. Brutus, beginning at once in a bit- 
 ter and afflicting assumption of gleeful delirium, wins 
 by the fascination of terror. It is not till the thunder- 
 cloud has burst and the lightning launched its bolt that 
 the spell of human tenderness begins to make itself felt 
 — through the workings of the father's heart, and in 
 that awful climax of heroic misery which is at once his 
 victory and his death. 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 241 
 
 Booth manifested an unerring intellectual purpose in 
 individualising Brutus, so as to make terror paramount 
 above pathos, and to crown a life of remediless suffer- 
 ing and consecrated struggle with a death of awful 
 sublimity. Virginius, — a part that Booth never played, 
 — lives in the affections ; Brutus in the imagination. 
 The one burns with a steady light, and is massive and 
 lovable ; the other shines with the portentous glare of 
 the midnight beacon, and is rugged, wild, and brilliant. 
 If the crime upon which the story of Brutus is made to 
 rest were not of such a sinister and odious character, — 
 so foul, hateful, and shocking, — the tragedy would, no 
 doubt, be held in higher esteem. But, in that respect, 
 its suggestions are very horrible. The piece suffers, 
 likewise, from defective construction. Payne's Brutus, 
 as theatrical students are aware, is, to some extent, a 
 cento of different works, and for that reason it produces 
 the effect of a series of episodes of Roman history, 
 rather than a single dramatic narrative. The story of 
 Brutus, the story of Lucretia, the story of Tarquinia 
 and Titus, and the story of Tullia are all knotted 
 together in it, and the latter half of its action is almost 
 disjoined from the former half. The consequence is 
 that, in the reading of the piece, attention is somewhat 
 distracted from a central figure, and Brutus seems to be 
 several persons rather than one. To neutralise this dif- 
 fusion of interest, the actor must, in a representation, so 
 dominate the part as to fuse all its elements and 
 phases together, and make it a unity. To show the 
 steady radiance of reason behind the glare of lunacy, 
 to reveal in fitful glimpses the majesty of iron virtue 
 beneath the vacant aspect of jocular imbecility, to be 
 
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242 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 always one splendid and terrible personification of ideal 
 heroism, while seeming to be a broken and heedless 
 wretch, was to offer a great and thrilling embodiment, 
 and that Booth presented. The execution was invari- 
 ably that of clear-sighted art fulfilling a definite purpose. 
 No actor worthy of the name could go through the tem- 
 pest scene of Payne's tragedy without tremendous 
 emotion. Edmund Kean gave the curse on Sextus in a 
 gasping whisper, all the while clutching convulsively at 
 his throat, as though strangling with passion : and the 
 effect must have been terrific. Booth subdued the 
 tumult of the situation, and augmented its power, by 
 intense concentration, and a low, restrained, but incisive 
 and righteously vindictive utterance, withering, ominous, 
 dreadful, and set off by action that fully conveyed the 
 delirious ecstasy of implacable vengeance. That was 
 the brilliant climax of the tragedy. But the supremely 
 fine part of Booth's Brutus was the judgment scene, — 
 which exhibits the patriot's passionate sense of duty, 
 predominant, through a dreadful struggle, over the ten- 
 der promptings of the father's affectionate heart. The 
 stage never offered anything nobler than that image of 
 moral greatness triumphant in heart-rending grief. The 
 situation, — a broken-hearted father condemning his 
 beloved son to death, for the good of the common- 
 wealth, — would, of itself, do much to allure pity : but 
 only a manly and tender nature could undeviatingly 
 sustain the burden of the scene and keep the illusion 
 unbroken. Volumes of reasoning could not be so elo- 
 quent as that single work, to avouch the dignity of dra- 
 matic art and the social beneficence of a well-ordered 
 stage. The beautiful delicacy of Booth's acting, in the 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 243 
 
 first scene between Brutus and his son Titus, always 
 cast upon his audience the glamour of impressive solem- 
 nity. The sudden access of tenderness, — at once re- 
 strained by prudence, — and then the resumption of 
 levity, made up an image of such forlorn misery as no 
 heart could resist. There was invariably a hush of sus- 
 pense throughout that scene, and at its close a tumult of 
 enthusiasm. The address to the populace, in act third, 
 was an extraordinary example of passionate eloquence, 
 specifically illustrative of the actor's resources of voice, 
 together with his massive pose and large gestures, and 
 his quick sensibility to movements of inspiration. Dur- 
 ing the judgment scene the strained excitement of the 
 auditor became that of painful grief. Not a touch of 
 the actor's consummate art was lost, and every tone of 
 his deep, tender voice, — most melodiously and touch- 
 ingly sad, — found its way to the heart. 
 
 ON BOOTH'S ACTING IN VARIOUS 
 CHARACTERS. 
 
 One of the gravest difficulties in writing about the 
 stage is the need that the occupation seems to impose 
 of universality of sapience and finality of judgment. 
 No man can so entirely comprehend the works of 
 Shakespeare, — in all their height and depth of meaning, 
 and all their variety and subtlety of suggestion, — and, at 
 the same time, so thoroughly probe the natures of the 
 actors who pass before him, as to be able to settle all 
 questions as to compatibility between the two. Some 
 of Booth's Shakespearian ideals may not have matched 
 
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244 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 exactly with Shakespeare's conceptions. There was 
 room for refining on that subject: but that pen would 
 indeed be tedious which should, in observance of his 
 inequalities of condition, follow him through all the 
 great parts that he played. The intellectual concen- 
 tration, the fiery force, the moving eloquence, the poet- 
 ical tone, the innate human goodness and sympathy, 
 and the exquisite grace and finish of his acting were 
 displayed in all of them. He varied much in his spirit- 
 ual altitude and physical state ; but his abilities, and his 
 use of his abilities, were noble ; and the public benefited, 
 in the enjoyment of his works, by the best influences 
 that flow from the stage. 
 
 Reflection upon Booth's Hamlet recognised, with deep 
 delight, its poetry and spirituality of ideal and its per- 
 vading grace of executive treatment. The actor who 
 would truly represent Hamlet must succeed in depicting 
 a condition of misery so profound that it burns and 
 glows with the vitality of its action upon the burdened 
 and tortured soul. There was hopeless dejection in 
 Booth's Hamlet ; there was remediless grief ; there was 
 an overf raught sensibility, which, more than once, — in 
 its tremor, under the vast and awful mysteries of the 
 universe, and its confused and perplexed apprehension 
 of its own woes, — lapses into delirium ; but there was 
 no languor ; and from first to last the personality, 
 unique and invariably sustained, was majestic, noble, 
 forlorn, lovable in its wasted sweetness, pathetic in its 
 ruined hope, and grand in its poise above the delirium 
 of a haunted mind and the havoc of a despoiled and 
 defeated life. Booth acted Hamlet so often and so 
 thoroughly that his mechanism became as firm, finished. 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 245 
 
 and definite as the links in a chain-mail — accurate at 
 every point, and complete through every intricacy. The 
 power of the human imagination, to enable men and 
 women to assume states of mind and pass through 
 phases of experience which it would be ruin and death 
 actually to reach, was never better exemplified than in 
 that impersonation ; and to contemplate that power is 
 to look into ourselves and consider our spiritual destiny, 
 and thus to rise in the dignity of immortal life. 
 
 Booth produced astonishing effects in Macbeth. The 
 sustained frenzy and electrical passion of the scene 
 with the imagined spectre of Banquo, — a scene which, 
 in its whirlwind of horror and fury, was yet controlled 
 and made symmetrical, — created an image of terrific 
 reality in the world of the imagination. The termination 
 of that great scene lives in memory as a beautiful picture 
 of lamentable desolation — the awful pathos of human 
 grandeur in hopeless ruin. If ever Shakespeare's Mac- 
 beth was seen he was seen then, in the image of the 
 haunted king, fiend-driven and utterly forlorn, holding his 
 crown in his hand and gazing upon it with woful eyes, 
 in which was the sickening consciousness of all that the 
 worthless bauble had cost. That was always a remark- 
 ably fine point with Booth, and he reached it with con- 
 summate ability. The hurried entrance, almost a run, 
 at "Our knocking has awaked him," was novel and had 
 an excellent effect. Another admirable touch was the 
 pause after " Abide within, I'll call upon you straight" : 
 irresolution, repentance, agony and the prompting of an 
 infernal spirit were all evinced in that sinister moment. 
 Booth made Macbeth brawny and sinewy, and in that 
 ideal, as in his Richard, he strove to give a due emphasis 
 
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246 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIX BOOTH 
 
 to the humanity that is allied with the wickedness, in 
 order that pity not less than terror might be among the 
 resultant emotions of his art. 
 
 In Othello Booth's acting, though occasionally 
 inadequate, was always correct and always poetical, 
 and now and then it was a magnificent fulfilment of 
 Shakespeare's design. Sometimes, when playing the 
 Moor, he gave the stormy passages of the third act with 
 enormous power. Booth's Othello, I have no doubt, 
 — comparing personal knowledge with historical testi- 
 mony, — was as powerful and as pathetic as that of 
 Edmund Kean ; but only when it was at its best — ^ 
 the actor being then in exactly the mood for an excep- 
 tional effort. It was essential that Booth should be 
 seen often, in each of his characters, if the observer 
 wished to understand and appreciate him ; and in no 
 other part that he played was he so various as in 
 Othello. On some nights the performance would be 
 only conventional. On others it was prodigious, 
 startling, and brilliant. The play-going community 
 has been saturated with strange notions about Othello, 
 derived from observance of the Italian view of the 
 Moor, — presented by Salvini and Rossi, — which makes 
 him a snorting animal in his love and a ferocious beast 
 in his jealousy, concluding his career with a kind of 
 murder such as Bill Sykes commits when he " mashes " 
 Nancy. Persons who relish that kind of an Othello 
 naturally considered Booth's performance tame. He 
 did not, like Rossi, seem to sit upon Desdemona's 
 stomach, nor did he take her scalp. He fulfilled a 
 just and right Shakespearian ideal of pure, gentle, holy 
 love, succeeded by a tempest of jealous frenzy and 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 247 
 
 ended with a terrible act of justice, — a retributive and 
 august sacrifice, — by a man whose overwhelming 
 misery has hardened into a stony despair: and his 
 elocution, throughout that character, was perfect 
 music. 
 
 No stronger proof of versatility could be given than 
 the fact that Booth was equally perfect in Richelieu 
 and in I ago. The soldier-like ease, the bland good- 
 humour, the devilish coolness, readiness, and inge- 
 nuity, the vein of implacable malignity, — visible in 
 lonely moments and soliloquy, — the hghtning-like 
 transitions, and the fiend-like enjoyment of sheer 
 wickedness for its own sake, all those elements, and 
 others, blended in his lago with all things right and 
 fit as to mechanical treatment, and made it the living 
 reality of Shakespeare's design. The acting of Booth 
 in the dark-street scene, — the showing of the sudden 
 impulse to murder both his victims, at " How silent is 
 this town," — could not be surpassed for its blood- 
 curdling horror : and the horror was used, not for its 
 mere theatrical effect, but to deepen the lines of char- 
 acter and heighten the colours of tragedy. As to cer- 
 tain points Booth adopted the traditions of the stage. 
 His delivery of "She that was ever fair," for example, 
 followed the model that was established in the eighteenth 
 century by John Henderson. But as to other points he 
 invented a new method, of which the street scene " busi- 
 ness," original with him, was a chief beauty. 
 
 As the jester, Bertuccio, so cruelly wronged and so 
 terrible in his scheme of vengeance. Booth gave an 
 embodiment of horrid yet pitiable deformity, mental 
 as well as physical. His demoniac glee, after the 
 
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248 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 abduction scene, and his hysterical outburst of supplica- 
 tion, before the doors of the banquet-hall, were among 
 the most superb achievements in acting known to the 
 modern stage. Booth introduced that character to the 
 American theatre in 1864, and to the end of his days 
 he stood alone in it. 
 
 In 1875 Booth adopted into his repertory the charac- 
 ter of Richard the Second, and with the intellectual class 
 of his auditors his success was unequivocal. In that 
 character he expressed divinely ordained majesty and 
 the bitter anguish and convulsion of the royal soul when 
 overcome and prostrated by fate. Such a topic must 
 necessarily be elusive to the apprehension of most 
 persons. The substance of King Richard — royalty — 
 being unfamiliar, the agony that he expresses must 
 seem remote or motiveless. The actor's sincerity, pas- 
 sion, individualism, and force had to supply the needed 
 element of reality, to vitalise the whole. The draft that 
 the part makes upon the rarer part of the emotional 
 nature — that is to say, upon the spirit — is enormous; 
 and it is exacting, likewise, upon the memory and 
 upon the executive resources. The action passes, for 
 the most part, within the spirit, and, though uttered in 
 strains of wonderful eloquence, is not shown in many 
 outward symbols of deed. The foreground of Booth's 
 performance was the embodiment of an ideal of perfect, 
 unassailable, ingrained majesty. The rest of it was the 
 delirium of a soul that has been cast loose from all 
 moorings, and plunged into a grief so lonely " that God 
 himself" — as the Ancient Mariner so terribly says — 
 " scarce seemed there to be." That idea Booth con- 
 veyed, with a degree of sustained power that conquered 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 249 
 
 intellectual sympathy, and with a depth of emotion and 
 a felicity that touched the heart and satisfied the sense 
 of grace. His variety of method, in the captivity scene, 
 was a brilliant exhibition of the ripe skill and rich re- 
 sources of dramatic art. The lines of imprecation — 
 "Terrible hell make war upon their spotted souls ! " and 
 " Fiend thou torment'st me ere I come to hell " — and 
 the horrid yell of amazement, rage, and pain, in the 
 death scene, were electrical points. The greatness of 
 the embodiment was its perfect sustainment of an ideal 
 at the high level of one of the rarest of Shakespeare's 
 (Conceptions. 
 
 Booth was the first among American actors to re- 
 store the character of Gloster to the stage as Shake- 
 speare gives it, and to present the tragedy according to 
 the original text. Not all the text was spoken, in- 
 deed, in his version, but all that was spoken would be 
 found in the original play. Booth's Richard, accord- 
 ingly, being built upon the poet's words, was a human 
 being, — wicked and terrible, but not a blood-dripping 
 butcher nor a howling bedlamite. His acting of the 
 part gave a clear ideal with spontaneous grace and 
 power. The bland craftiness, the remorseless energy, 
 the leopard-like ferocity, the audacious, blasphemous 
 hypocrisy, the sardonic humour, the iron will, the rest- 
 less necessity of action, and the acute sensibility to 
 remorse, — all of which are elements in the character, — 
 were depicted by him with the artistic ease of second 
 nature, and were blended into a symmetrical and fasci- 
 nating image of beautiful and horrible wickedness. The 
 sudden explosion of wrath against Hastings, in the 
 council scene, had a peculiarly life-like effect, in the 
 
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250 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 illumination of history not less than as a dramatic 
 climax, and the smooth dissimulation, in the scene with 
 the mayor and citizens had, — as was inevitable when 
 Booth caught the perfect mood of Gloster, — a quality 
 of almost comic humour, with its magnificent deceit and 
 diabolical assurance. At the haunted awakening, in 
 the tent, and throughout the agonised self-communing 
 speech that follows, Booth sustained himself in a dra- 
 matic ordeal of the most exacting description, and was 
 the fearful and pitiable embodiment of hopeless re- 
 morse. His treatment of the battle scenes was extraor- 
 dinary. He animated them with passionate fury, and 
 his utterance of that horrible line, " My soul and body 
 on the action, both," has not, in our time, been equalled, 
 for the tragical element of terror. 
 
 The character of Sir Giles Overreach is undeniably 
 strong, but it is horribly repulsive. The opportunities 
 which it affords for the manifestation of wild rage and 
 terrific animal excitement, thrilled by intensely wicked 
 purpose, have always commended it to tragedians. 
 Henderson gained much fame in it; George Frederick 
 Cooke was great in it ; and it enabled the elder Booth 
 to win new laurels. In our time, Edwin L. Davenport 
 and Edwin Booth played it with striking effect. Booth's 
 performance was remarkable for quick transitions of 
 feeling and manner, fervent intensity, and, at the last, 
 an electrical outburst of frenzy, made awful by the com- 
 ing on of death. He was scrupulously attentive to the 
 external traits of this part. The iron-gray hair, the halt- 
 ing walk, the sombre yet richly-coloured costumes, har- 
 monised with the essence of the character and made 
 the embodiment exceedingly picturesque. Booth's own 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 251 
 
 nature was rich in qualities that are foreign to that of 
 Sir Giles, and it was precisely wherein those qualities 
 appeared that his personation became most enthralling 
 to the imagination. He seemed, in many ways, an abler, 
 finer, and more human creature than the worldly-minded 
 villain that Massinger has drawn. A fine nature that has 
 become depraved produces upon human sensibility an 
 effect that is beyond the reach of inherent wickedness. 
 
 Richelieu is a figure much more grand and beauteous, 
 as to soul, than a mere virtuous, powerful, wily ecclesi- 
 astic could possibly be accounted. If in nothing else, 
 there is need, in his fatherly love for Julie, and his 
 anguish over her pitiable condition, of a manhood both 
 heroic and tender. But, deeper than this, there is need 
 for that profound sadness which inevitably appertains 
 to the man of genius who, on the pinnacle of success, is 
 old, infirm, lonely, and imperilled ; for whom the sweet- 
 ness of love and the glory of youth have long since 
 passed away ; and who feels, in the deep recesses of 
 his soul, the evanescence and futility of this world — 
 even while fixing his almost dying grip on empire and 
 power. To suggest this, there is the soliloquy at the 
 beginning of the third act ; the speech, " Her father 
 loved me " ; the sad address to old Joseph ; the allusion 
 to past love ; the senile, almost doting croon over the 
 endangered Julie ; and there is the implied necessity of 
 elevating Richelieu to an eminence above his surround- 
 ings. He is a great man who has matured through 
 great achievements and sufferings, upon the most con- 
 spicuous field of human action ; and he must seem, 
 when represented upon the stage, — if he is to seem 
 noble, romantic, pathetic, and fascinating, — to be se- 
 
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252 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 questered from mankind by the strange spell of a pro- 
 phetic fate. His character is as potential as Caesar's ; 
 his spirit is as magnetic ; he has the temperament that 
 age, experience, and condition render beautifully sad. 
 Timon is not more bitterly wise than Richelieu, nor 
 Jacques more grimly humorous. 
 
 Richelieu is essentially a theatrical part, and pro- 
 found sincerity of temperament, combined with vigor- 
 ous imagination and the perfection of mimetic skill, 
 are required, to make it natural. Booth possessed 
 those attributes and he accomplished that result. The 
 essential principle in his acting of Richelieu was the 
 massive repose of intellectual character. The per- 
 sonality that he revealed was that of self-centred, 
 indomitable power. His Richelieu prevailed and gov- 
 erned, not alone by virtue of office and rank, but by 
 inherent royalty of nature. He was a man born to rule. 
 Booth always expressed, with an effect of great beauty 
 and pathos, the loneliness of a great man, whose mind 
 and experience, in lifting him far above other men, have 
 isolated him from human companionship. The grim 
 humour and the human foibles of the character were not 
 omitted. The execution was marked by exquisite re- 
 finement of manner, curiously suggestive of a youth 
 of fashion, gallantry, sentiment, romance, and courtly 
 associations, long passed away. But all the while 
 the condition presented was that of lofty abstraction 
 and mournful majesty. The power inherent in imagina- 
 tion and feeling, to create a perfect illusion by dramatic 
 art, was, probably, never better denoted than in Booth's 
 presentment of the scene of the threatened excommuni- 
 cation. The demand there is for a formidable and tre- 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 253 
 
 mendous personality, and Booth's crowning success was 
 that he played that scene so as to make his auditors for- 
 get the theatre. In the splendid adequacy of the effort, 
 and in the presentation of Richelieu's dual life — the 
 life of the ecclesiastic statesman interested in practical 
 affairs, and the life of the world-worn, grief-stricken, 
 lonely intellect, isolated upon the pinnacle of its gran- 
 deur — you saw the greatness of Booth's genius. Booth's 
 Richelieu was a noble and touching image of righteous 
 power protecting innocent weakness ; and no person who 
 saw it, with appreciation, could help being exalted in mag- 
 nanimity of spirit and moral worth. It not only de- 
 lighted the artistic sense of a generation of play-goers, 
 but it was the cause of much practical good, in its influ- 
 ence upon society. People were made better for seeing 
 Booth in Richelieu. 
 
 Booth's personation of Lucius Brutus showed his 
 genius in a strong light. The former portion of it was 
 full of singular force ; the latter of intense feeling 
 and manly dignity. The character is the Brutus who 
 avenged Lucretia, drove the Tarquin from Rome, and 
 sacrificed his son on the altar of devotion to his coun- 
 try. The dramatist, John Howard Payne, has illus- 
 trated that heroism in a four-act tragedy, the action 
 of which culminates in the father's condemnation of 
 the son. At first Brutus simulates madness ; then, — a 
 cause for revolt being furnished, in the crime against 
 Lucretia, — his spirit breaks loose, and he sweeps on to 
 vengeance. Booth was especially powerful in the im- 
 precation against Sextus and in the address to the 
 people, from the funeral pyre of Lucretia. But it was 
 when portraying the struggle between natural affection 
 
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254 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 and the sense of justice, that he attained the highest 
 eminence of pathos. 
 
 Booth's impersonation of Cardinal Wolsey, — a part 
 that he adopted into his repertory in 1876, playing it 
 for the first time on December 13, that year, at the 
 Arch Street theatre, Philadelphia, — was massive, sub- 
 tle, picturesque, and remarkable for beauty of elocu- 
 tion. His reading of the farewell speech was deeply 
 pathetic, while his action, — expressive of the iron 
 poise, sleepless vigilance, exalted intellectual refine- 
 ment, and deep-revolving craft of Wolsey, — was, at 
 all points, adequate and effective. He made, with ad- 
 mirable skill, the old, conventional points, upon the 
 line, " How much methinks I might despise this man," 
 and upon the exit of Wolsey with Campeius ; and his 
 portraiture of the wily churchman's self-communing, 
 in the soliloquy on Anne Boleyn and Henry, was deeply 
 weighted with feeling, intense with purpose, and finely 
 diversified in manner. He made Wolsey a man who is 
 always acting a part, and only now and then drops the 
 mask. His performance was not consonant with his- 
 tory, nor was it conformable to matter-of-fact notions, 
 but it was entirely consonant with the poetic ideal. It 
 denoted the royalty of Wolsey's ambition and the 
 height of intellect at which he is poised ; it was fraught 
 with the needful repression ; and, at the last, it revealed 
 a strain of pathetic feeling fully level with the high 
 Shakespearian design. 
 
 In Julius CcBsar, more than in any other of Shake- 
 speare's plays, poetry and history are one. The lan- 
 guage of the poet is frequently an expanded paraphrase 
 of the language of the historian. That fact should be 
 
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DEL W J HENNESSy. 
 
 ARTOTVPE. E. BI6R8TADT, 
 
 BOOTH AS BENEDICK. 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 255 
 
 remembered, in considering the quality of the acting, in 
 any representation of that tragedy. There is a ten- 
 dency on the stage to treat imaginative subjects in a 
 mood of realism — to substitute fact for fancy. In 
 presenting the tragedy of Julius Ccesar, however, this 
 cannot lead the actor far wrong, seeing that fact has 
 been religiously preserved in a halo of poetry. 
 
 Booth acted Brutus — for the second time in his 
 life — at Christmas, 1871. His iirst performance of 
 it was given at the Winter Garden, in 1864, on the 
 occasion of the Shakespeare Benefit. He looked this 
 part perfectly. There is a delusion that Brutus was 
 a large man. In fact the popular idea conceives the 
 noble Roman as invariably gigantic. There were big 
 Romans ; but the big ones were not always the most 
 virtuous. Brutus, like Cassius, was lean and pale — 
 and Booth's physical embodiment of the character was 
 therefore accurate. He invested the performance with 
 a delicate spirit ; and, in the scene of the assassination 
 and that of the midnight spectre, his profound emotion 
 stirred the deepest sympathy. Shakespeare has been 
 as true to the great moral law of the universe as to the 
 fact of history. " They say blood will have blood." A 
 tyrant is slain — but the heart of the slayer is cleft by 
 his own sword, in expiation of the dread sacrifice. 
 There are lessons of the gravest import to be learned 
 from yulius Ccesar. Americans are apt to think that 
 liberty is an invention, of the New World and modern 
 times. It is well to be reminded that others fought 
 and suffered for it before America was heard of, and 
 that the same struggle has long been going on in the 
 world, between the effort of what is good in human 
 
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256 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 nature to establish rational freedom, and what is bad in 
 human nature to establish slavery and the dominion of 
 vice. To appreciate that great play is to learn the value 
 of liberty, and to sympathise with some of the grandest 
 ideals of heroic character and pathetic experience ever 
 offered in literature or in life. 
 
 Booth presented the character of Ruy Bias, in an 
 English adaptation of Victor Hugo's drama. The lan- 
 guage of the piece is fustian, but the story is repre- 
 sentative of an interesting phase of possible human 
 experience. The theme is the same that Bulwer illus- 
 trated in The Lady of Lyons, but in Riiy Bias the cul- 
 mination is tragic. The humble but brilliant youth, 
 who has dared to love a queen, succeeds in lifting him- 
 self to greatness, and in winning the love that he covets ; 
 but this involves the sacrifice of his life. In the English 
 version, Ruy Bias lends itself to ridicule ; but the pur- 
 port of the experience of Ruy Bias is not a theme for 
 laughter. Levity and cynicism are widely prevalent in 
 contemporary society ; yet there still are women capa- 
 ble of inspiring a noble, romantic, self-sacrificing devo- 
 tion, and there still are men whose lives may be absorbed 
 by that influence. Booth impersonated Ruy Bias in an 
 impassioned manner, with remarkable grace and refine- 
 ment, and with carefully elaborated and picturesque 
 treatment of the four situations that make the play. 
 The killing of Don Salluste was managed so as to pre- 
 sent an exciting dramatic picture ; and that culmination 
 always caused a tumult of enthusiasm. 
 
 Booth was fond of playing Don Cnssar de Bazan. 
 The comedy in which that hero figures is one that 
 ought to be often seen, since its humorous situations, 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 257 
 
 surprising incidents, and variety and contrast of charac- 
 ter make it delightful. In pungent and merry lines it 
 is exceptional and remarkable; and the character of 
 Don Caesar glitters through it like a sunbeam. Booth's 
 assumption of that part did not entirely satisfy the 
 old comedy standard, which exacts, in Don Caesar, 
 a swelling port, a buoyant manner, ornate embellish- 
 ment, and the utmost breadth of pictorial treatment. 
 Comedians of the Wallack order used to make a daz- 
 zling show in that character, and the tradition which 
 they established is one that a tragedian, inured to 
 gloomy and passionate demonstrations, could hardly be 
 expected to sustain. Booth's embodiment of Don Caesar 
 was marked by winning sweetness of temperament and 
 by graceful recklessness of demeanour, diversified by 
 occasional thoughtfulness, and now and then by touches 
 of deep feeling — a style kindred with that of Jeffer- 
 son, and therein notable for superlative delicacy, in 
 detail and finish. Booth suggested an ideal of human 
 nature and character upon which it is pleasant to dwell 
 — the ideal of generous manliness, kindly, unselfish, 
 spontaneous goodness, reckless disregard alike of dan- 
 ger and of convention, and a picturesque, gypsy free- 
 dom. It is the natural doctrine of a successful man, — 
 and no one is surprised to hear it from the lips of 
 Henry the Fifth, — ^that "self-love is not so vile a sin 
 as self -neglect." All the same, there is a fascination 
 about the poetic vagabond, and those who saw Booth, 
 in his younger days, as Don Caesar, felt the full force 
 of that allurement. Persons, indeed, who saw Booth's 
 impersonations when he was at his best stored up for 
 themselves such treasures of memory as no industry in 
 
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258 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 reading could compass, — ^for those embodiments were 
 consummate types of the acting that is essentially 
 tragic. It was no common privilege to see such an 
 actor. The time has already come when men of his 
 generation, remembering Edwin Booth in Hamlet, Rich- 
 elieu, and lago, feel the same glow of pride, and the 
 same sense of theatrical scholarship, that their fathers 
 felt, recalling Cooke in Sir Giles, Edmund Kean in 
 Othello and The Stranger, the elder Booth in Richard, 
 Brooke in Master Walter, Forrest in Damon, Macready 
 in Tell or Werner or Macbeth, and the elder Wallack in 
 Shylock. The works of Edwin Booth were the classics 
 of their period in the American theatre. 
 
 It is not the number of parts an actor plays that con- 
 stitutes his strength or reveals his resources ; it is the 
 height, fineness, and diversity of mind and spirit, the 
 depth of feeling, the control of action, the knowledge 
 of human nature, the faculty of simulation, and the 
 trained ability, combined in his treatment of any one 
 part, which, taken all together, make up his sum. It 
 would have been a refreshment, no doubt, to see Booth 
 in new parts, such as Werner and Timon ; but it is 
 not to be supposed that he would have made a fuller 
 exhibition of his powers and resources by extending his 
 repertory. Such as he was, he stood forth in a clear 
 light, manifested and known ; and, as Whipple trench- 
 antly said of the critics of Shakespeare, the little per- 
 sons who thought that they were measuring him, only 
 succeeded in measuring themselves by him. To pos- 
 sess, not merely the text and stage business, but the 
 action and the rich and complex variety of thought 
 and passion that appertain to about twenty-five of 
 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 259 
 
 the great characters in the poetic drama, was to be 
 amply equipped for the profession of acting. That 
 was Booth's pre-eminence. The intellectual obliga- 
 tion, accordingly, was on the side of the public, not 
 the actor. Booth did great things in his day, and 
 always good and never harm. He did not always 
 reach the highest heights in Shakespeare : what actor 
 does .' or, what actor ever did ? His generation, how- 
 ever, had no reason to murmur. So far from com- 
 plaining that such a man did not attempt more, the 
 public might well be thankful that he attempted so 
 much. It will be long, now that Booth has gone, 
 before our stage again presents an actor whose range 
 extends, — not on three-sheet posters, but in mind, spirit, 
 and faculty, — from Hamlet to Overreach, from Richelieu 
 to Don Caesar, from Bertuccio to Brutus. Since Gar- 
 rick, who was almost equally great in Lear and Don 
 Felix, there has seldom been an equal combination of 
 genius and versatility with scholarship and taste. Al- 
 most every great actor of the past was, in some sense, a 
 specialist. John Phillip Kemble was superb in Corio- 
 lanus, but stiff in Hamlet : when he acted Charles 
 Surface, it was called " Charles's martyrdom " ; and 
 when he appeared as Don Felix, the performance was 
 recorded as very much Don and very little Felix. 
 Barry excelled in Romeo ; Macklin in Shylock ; Hen- 
 derson in Falstaff ; Cooke in Sir Giles ; Lewis in Mer- 
 cutio; the elder Booth in Richard; Edmund Kean, — 
 because his heart transcended his mind, — in Othello 
 and the Stranger ; Macready in Macbeth, Werner, and 
 Tell ; the elder Wallack in Reuben Glenroy, the Brig- 
 and, and Don Caesar; Forrest in Virginius and Spartacus. 
 
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260 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 Edwin Booth was a specialist also, — reaching his most 
 natural poise in passionate melancholy and poetical 
 delirium, — and doubtless his genius has been equalled, 
 in the long annals of the English stage ; but Booth was 
 a broader actor, in temperament and adaptability, than 
 most of his predecessors in the illustrious line of Eng- 
 hsh-speaking tragedians ; and his excellence in several 
 directions of artistic effort was without a precedent in 
 recent stage history, and almost without a parallel in 
 the theatre of his time. 
 
 The parts that Booth did play constitute a remark- 
 ably poetic, picturesque, and brilliant group ; and, in 
 assuming those various identities, the actor subjected 
 himself to diversified and exacting tests. Every ele- 
 ment in his nature and every resource of his experience 
 and skill were enlisted to satisfy the requirements of 
 those characters. The wealth that he displayed of 
 imagination, passion, pathos, spiritual sublimity, roman- 
 tic grandeur, grace, gloom, frenzied emotion, intellect- 
 uality, sentiment, humour, frolicsome levity, light and 
 shadow, concentration of mind, and control of personal 
 being and of the means and methods of dramatic art, 
 was wonderful. To achieve only a respectable success 
 in such a round of parts is to accomplish much ; but to 
 have maintained through them all a high altitude of 
 merit, and more than once to have risen to the pinnacle 
 of greatness, is to have established beyond question a 
 rank with the foremost actors of the world, and thus with 
 its most potent sesthetic teachers. Booth did that 
 with brilliant proficiency and spontaneous grace. No 
 actor is endowed and adapted so that he can act all parts 
 equally well. With certain characters the spirit of the 
 tragedian was but partially consonant. His Claude Mel- 
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ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 261 
 
 notte and his Benedick were indifferent ; his Stranger 
 was artificial; his Petruchio was a bluff type of bois- 
 terous frolic. Booth was distinctively tragic, and he 
 required characters of stalwart fibre. He was a poet- 
 ical actor, and his delicate and exquisite genius tended 
 more to beauty and symmetry than to wild and whirl- 
 ing emotion. He never degraded a Shakespearian 
 conception to prose and to clay ; he never substi- 
 tuted a paroxysm for a distinct, round, beautiful 
 ideal. Art should imderstand itself and make itself 
 understood. Acting is the presentment of definite 
 forms transfused with fire, and those artists are its best 
 exponents who best present those^ results. Such an 
 artist was Booth; and to all such artists the-jvorld is 
 delivered. Impatience and apathy, indeed, are their 
 foes. To every intellectual man there comes a time 
 when surrounding dulness and indurated folly and sel- 
 fishness are irksome and irritating; and time, trouble, 
 and sorrow have a way of imbuing, with a sober, russet 
 colour, first the mind and then its works, and so leading 
 in the autumn twilight of indifference. But the tender- 
 ness of a deep heart, the strength of an aspiring soul, 
 and the cheer and promise of Nature may surely be 
 trusted to defeat those tyrants of experience. 
 
 " Though nothing can bring back the hour 
 Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower, — 
 We will grieve not ; rather find 
 Strength in what remains behind ; 
 In the primal sympathy 
 Which having been must ever be ; 
 In the soothing thoughts that spring 
 Out of human suffering ; 
 In the faith that looks through death ; 
 In years that bring the philosophic mind." 
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III. 
 
 MEMORIALS. 
 
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" Vitae bene acta jucundissima est recordatio." 
 
 Cicero. 
 
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III. 
 
 MEMORIALS. 
 
 SARGENT'S PORTRAIT OF EDWIN BOOTH AT 
 "THE PLAYERS." 
 
 That face which no man ever saw 
 And from his memory banished quite, 
 With eyes in which are Hamlet's awe 
 And Cardinal RicheHeu's subtle light, 
 Looks from this frame. A master's hand 
 Has set the master-player here. 
 In the fair temple that he planned 
 Not for himself To us most dear 
 This image of him ! " It was thus 
 He looked ; such pallor touched his cheek ; 
 With that same grace he greeted us — 
 Nay 'tis the man, could it but speak ! " 
 Sad words that shall be said some day — 
 Far fall the day ! O cruel Time, 
 Whose breath sweeps mortal things away, 
 Spare long this image of his prime. 
 That others standing in the place, 
 Where, save as ghosts, we come no more, 
 May know that sweet, majestic face 
 The gentle Prince of Players wore ! 
 
 Thomas Bailey Aldrich. 
 265 
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266 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 THE BOOTH FAMILY. 
 
 Richard Booth Miss Game 
 I I 
 
 Junius Brutus Booth z. Algernon Sidney Booth 3. Jane Booth 
 
 Richard Booth was the son of Elizabeth Wilkes, cousin to 
 John Wilkes, "the agitator" (1727-1797). Richard Booth, 
 an ardent republican, followed his son Junius to America, 
 in 1822, and died on December 29, 1839, aged 76. On the 
 stone that marks his grave, in Greenmount Cemetery, Balti- 
 more, the following vvords are cut, beneath a cross : " Ex vita, 
 ita descedo, tamquam ex hospito, in fervam Reguum in ely- 
 tissimi Ducis illiee ire ad Astra." Richard Booth's wife, whose 
 maiden name was Game, died, in England, at the birth of 
 her daughter, Jane. Of Algernon Sidney Booth I have no 
 record. 
 
 Junius Brutus Booth January 18, 1821. Mary Ann Holmes 
 
 Junius Brutus Booth, Jr., 
 
 Rosalie Ann Booth, 
 
 Henry Byron Booth, 
 
 Mary Ann Booth, 
 
 Frederick Booth, 
 
 Elizabeth Booth, 
 
 Edwin Thomas Booih, 
 
 Asia Sidney Booth (Mrs. J. S. Clarke), 
 
 John Wilkes Booth, 
 
 Joseph Adrian Booth. 
 
 Henry, Mary, Frederick, and Elizabeth died young. Henry's 
 death occurred in 1837, and he was buried at Pentonville, Lon- 
 don. Rosahe died, unmarried, in 18S9, aged 65. Junius 
 Brutus Booth, Jr., was twice married, and several of his children 
 survive. John Wilkes Booth, who shot President Lincoln, was 
 
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MEMORIALS 267 
 
 shot by " Boston Corbett." Asia Booth (Mrs. J. S. Clarke) 
 left several children, one of whom, Creston Clarke, has gained 
 auspicious reputation as an actor. Joseph Adrian Booth is the 
 only surviving child of the great Junius. 
 
 In the preface to her book, called Passages, Incidetits, and 
 Atiecdofes in the Life of Junius Brutus Booth, published, in 
 New York, by G. W. Carleton, in 1866, Mrs. Clarke makes 
 the following reference to a domestic incident in her father's 
 early life : " By a boyish mesalliance, contracted in Brussels in 
 the year 18 14, there was one son, who, if alive, is still a resi- 
 dent of London, and of whom we possess no further knowl- 
 edge." 
 
 A descendant in the line thus indicated was known to 
 Edwin Booth, and was befriended by him, at Reading, in Eng- 
 gland. A newspaper effort was at one time made, in New 
 York, to harrow, distress, and extort money from Edwin Booth, 
 on the score of his father's alleged irregularity ; but it failed to 
 elicit any response. Edwin Booth was too wise a man to care 
 for what Lord Beaconsfield so well characterised as " the hair- 
 brained chatter of irresponsible frivolity." 
 
 Jane Booth James Mitchell 
 
 Cousins to 
 Edwin Booth 
 
 Robert Mitchell, 
 
 of Edentown, North Carolina, 
 
 Charlotte Mitchell {Mrs. Hyde), 
 of Baltimore, Maryland, 
 
 Eliza Mitchell (Mrs. William Ward). 
 
 Jane Booth, with her husband, James Mitchell, and several 
 children, came to America soon after 1821, and she died here, 
 in 1853. Eliza Mitchell, daughter of Jane Booth Mitchell, 
 was an actress in John T. Ford's company, in times prior to 
 the Civil War, and was married to William Ward, also a mem- 
 ber of Ford's company. 
 
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268 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 MRS. CLARKE'S MEMOIR. 
 
 In 1882 Mrs. Clarke's book about her father, altered, ex- 
 panded, and to a large extent rewritten, was published, in 
 association with a sketch of her brother Edwin, under the title 
 of The Elder and the Younger Booth. That volume, to which 
 the reader is referred, is one of five, called the American Actor 
 Sei-ies, edited by Mr. Laurence Hutton, originally published 
 by Messrs. James R. Osgood & Co., and now issued by 
 Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. The series includes the 
 Life of Edwin Forrest, by Lawrence Barrett ; the Life of the 
 Jelfersons, of four generations, by WiUiam Winter ; the Life of 
 Junius Brutus Booth and Edwin Booth, father and son, by 
 Asia Booth Clarke ; the Life of Charles Fechter, by Kate 
 Field ; and the Life of Mary Duff, by Joseph N. Ireland. 
 Mrs. Clarke sketched her father in about a hundred pages, 
 and her brother in about fifty, and performed a difficult 
 task with delicate taste and gentle feeling. Her manner 
 is simple and direct. She evidently sacrificed analysis and 
 description to the necessity of bringing the material facts of 
 the subject within a brief compass ; and, while reverent and 
 affectionate in spirit, she wisely avoided the air of personal 
 eulogy, by a free use of the words of other writers, carefully 
 culled from the journals of the past, to record the triumphs 
 and celebrate the virtues of her honoured relatives. Mrs. 
 Clarke's work, however, is not so much a biography as a 
 collection of materials. There is no background to the 
 picture ; there are but few references to the persons with 
 whom the elder Booth was associated ; there is no exposition 
 of the state of the stage in his time ; upon the darker chapters 
 in his experience — so grotesque, humorous, and sad — there 
 is scarcely a touch ; nor was the attempt made to state, in a 
 sympathetic form, the substance and salient qualities of his 
 nature as an actor. The chief facts of his career are set down ; 
 
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MEMORIALS 269 
 
 the astonishing effects that he produced are denoted ; and this 
 testimony is rounded with a tribute to his mental power and 
 moral worth. The sketch of Edwin Booth is a synopsis of 
 events, with scarcely a comment. For the purpose of biog- 
 raphy there is advantage in possessing a man's knowledge of 
 men. If Thomas Flynn, the comedian, or the late James 
 Oakes, had written a life of the elder Booth, while it might 
 not have been as dehcate, it must have preserved more of his 
 essential character, and thus have been a more valuable aid 
 to the study of that human nature which underlies dramatic 
 art. Junius Booth was an original and formidable person, 
 an austere yet gentle philosopher, and a dominant power upon 
 the stage of his time. Mrs. Clarke's account of the elder 
 Booth's farm at Belair is a fresh and bright piece of writing, 
 and the summary of the actor's character and the account of 
 his funeral evince the warmth of an affectionate heart. 
 
 PLAY-BILL AT THE CENTENARY OF BOOTH'S 
 HAMLET, 1865. 
 
 WINTER GARDEN THEATRE, 
 
 ^854-55. ( hiausurated Monday, September jS, 1854,) 1864-65. 
 
 No. 624 Broadway, opposite Bond Street. 
 iiTH Season. 32D Week. 
 
 Manager . . . ... Mr. William Stuart. 
 
 WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 22, 1865. 
 BENEFIT OF MR. EDWIK BOOTH. 
 
 SOUVENIR PROGRAMME. 
 
 One Hundredth Night of "Hamlet." 
 
 This Evening, for the Final and One Hundredth Consecutive Night Performance, 
 
 " HAMLET," 
 
 A TRAGEDY IN FIVE ACTS, BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. 
 
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270 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 CAST OF CHARACTERS. 
 
 HAMLET Mr. EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 Claudius, King of Denmark S. K. Chester 
 
 Ghost of Hamlet's Father Charles Kemble Mason 
 
 POLONius, Lord Chamberlain G. H. Andrews 
 
 Laertes, Son to Polonius J. G. Hanley 
 
 Horatio, Friend to Hamlet Charles Walcott, Jr. 
 
 OsRic, ^ / Owen Fawcett 
 
 Rosencrantz, {. Courtiers, \ J. DUELL 
 
 GUILDENSTERN, j ' ( .W. F. BURROUGHS 
 
 Marcellus, ) J Mr. Burgess 
 
 Bernardo, J "*<=«■'=. ] Mr. Dillon 
 
 Francisco, a Soldier Nelson Decker 
 
 First Actor Mr. Cline 
 
 Second Actor Mr. Evans 
 
 First Gravedigger E. A. Eberle 
 
 Second Gravedigger Mr. Fitzgerald 
 
 Priest Mr. Everdell 
 
 Gertrude, Queen of Denmark, and Mother to Hamlet, 
 
 Mrs. J. W. Wallack, Jr. 
 
 Ophelia, Daughter of Polonius Mrs. Frank S. Chanfrau 
 
 Actress Mrs. S. K. Chester 
 
 Lords, Ladies, Pages, Officers, Guards. 
 
 ORCHESTRAL SELECTIONS. 
 
 1. O VER TURE. — " Hamlet " Stoepel 
 
 (Introducing the Danish National Hymn.) 
 
 2. INTRODUZOINE AND POLONAISE Meyerbeer 
 
 (Written for the Danish play, " Struensee.") 
 
 3. GALOP. — " Danish Hussars " National 
 
 4. GRAND MARCH. — " Lohengrin " Wagtier 
 
 5. FANTASIE Stoepel 
 
 (On Ophelia's Songs and other Tunes of Shakespeare's Time.) 
 
 The Tragedy has been placed upon the Stage, under the immediate direction 
 
 of Mr. Booth, by J. G. Hanley, Stage Manager. 
 The Music all expressly composed, selected and arranged by ROBERT STOEPEL. 
 
 THE PRODUCTION AND MEMORABLE RUN OF "HAMLET." 
 
 Initial Performance, Saturday Evening, November 26, 1864. 
 
 25th Night Saturday, December 24, 1864. 
 
 50th Night Monday, January 23, 1865. 
 
 75th Night Tuesday, February 21, 1865. 
 
 looth Night Wednesday, March 22, 1865. 
 
 Thursday, March 23, Shakespeare's Play of "Othello." 
 
 Iago Mr. Edwin Booth 
 
 Othello Charles Barron 
 
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MEMORIALS 271 
 
 THE HAMLET MEDAL. 
 
 At the close of his presentation speech [p. 42], Judge Fuller- 
 ton hung the medal upon the actor's neck. Booth replied : — 
 
 It is impossible for me to respond in fitting terms to the grace- 
 ful, eloquent, and very complimentary words just spoken. While 
 accepting the beautiful token of your appreciation of my professional 
 merits, I am still more proud to have your estimation of me as a 
 man. It behooves me to say that I am thankful. " Beggar that I 
 am, I am poor in thanks." Accustomed to conceal my feelings 
 beneath the player's mask, I find it difficult to express them. 
 Therefore I beg you will receive these three simple words, I thank 
 you, — the very utmost of my ability in speech-making, — as the 
 sincere expression of an humble and grateful heart. 
 
 Then, turning to the audience, Booth said : — 
 
 To you, to whom I owe so much, who have so generously 
 sustained me, I beg leave, likewise, to tender my most grateful 
 acknowledgments. The debt I owe you can never be paid, but I 
 trust that my future endeavours as an actor, and my conduct as 
 a man, will ever deserve your approval and support. 
 
 THE WILKES BOOTH TRAGEDY. 
 
 Letters. 
 
 Parker House, Boston, 7 o'clock, a.m. 
 Saturday, April 15, 1865. 
 Edwin Booth, Esq. 
 
 My Dear Sir : A fearful calamity is upon us. The President of 
 the United States has fallen by the hand of an assassin, and I am 
 shocked to say suspicion points to one nearly related to you as the 
 perpetrator of this horrid deed. God grant it may not prove so ! 
 With this knowledge, and out of respect to the anguish which will 
 fill the public mind as soon as the appalling fact shall be fully 
 
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272 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 revealed, I have concluded to close the Boston theatre until further 
 notice. Please signify to me your co-operation in this matter. 
 In great sorrow, and in haste, 
 
 I remain, yours very truly, 
 
 Henry C. Jarrett. 
 
 Franklin Square, Boston, April 15, 1865. 
 Henry C. Jarrett, Esq. 
 
 My Dear Sir : With deepest sorrow and great agitation, I thank 
 you for relieving me from my engagement with yourself and the 
 public. The news of the morning has made me wretched indeed, 
 not only because I have received the unhappy tidings of the sus- 
 picions of a brother's crime, but because a good man, and a most 
 justly honoured and patriotic ruler, has fallen, in an hour of national 
 joy, by the hand of an assassin. The memory of the thousands 
 who have fallen in the field, in our country's defence, during this 
 struggle, cannot be forgotten by me, even in this, the most dis- 
 tressing day of my life. And I most sincerely pray that the victories 
 we have already won may stay the brand of war and the tide of 
 loyal blood. While mourning, in common with all other loyal 
 hearts, the death of the President, I am oppressed by a private 
 woe not to be expressed in words. But whatever calamity may 
 befall me and mine, my country, one and indivisible, has my warmest 
 devotion. 
 
 Edwin Booth. 
 
 BOOTH'S THEATRE. 
 
 PRECAUTION FOR THE PUBLIC SAFETY. 
 
 In Booth's theatre ample precaution was taken against fire. 
 Between the flies were rows of perforated pipes through which 
 the water could be forced and sprayed upon the hanging 
 scenery. The pipes were controlled by valves in each fly- 
 gallery, upon which, during performances, a corps of stage 
 carpenters was always stationed. There were five hundred 
 feet of " regulation " hose, with fire-butts in each corner 
 
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MEMORIALS 273 
 
 of the auditorium and tlie stage. Mr. Magonigle caused tlie 
 members of the mechanical department of the theatre to be 
 organised into a fire-brigade, with the master carpenter as the 
 chief. A large bell hung over the proscenium-arch, which was 
 known as the "fire-bell," and it was never to be used for any 
 other purpose than to sound a fire-alarm. The stage, above 
 and below, and the auditorium, were divided into districts, and, 
 in case of alarm, the bell would indicate the location of the fire, 
 so as to send the brigade to the exact place of danger. Fire re- 
 hearsals occurred, at intervals of two weeks — the exact time 
 being known only to the business manager, the chief, and the 
 janitor. [The family of the latter lived in the theatre, and he 
 was apprised in order that there might be no needless trouble.] 
 These precautions were so much appreciated by the insurance 
 companies that they considered the risk of fire one and a half 
 or two per cent less than at any other theatre in the city, at 
 that time. 
 
 THE BOOTH FESTIVAL, JUNE 1880. 
 
 {From the N. Y. Tribune, May 31 and June 8, 1880.) 
 
 It was made known some time ago that Edwin Booth would 
 go to England this summer, and it is probable that he will 
 make a professional appearance in London and other European 
 capitals. His career on the American stage has been one of 
 nobly ambitious effort, splendid achievement and commanding 
 importance ; and it seems eminently proper, on the eve of his 
 departure from his native land, that his fellow-citizens should 
 formally testify their sense of the worth of his labours, and their 
 appreciation of his character. Booth has always upheld the 
 highest standard in theatrical affairs, and largely to his per- 
 sonal example and influence it is due that we possess a stage 
 
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274 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 that — with all its defects — is yet worthy of intellectual respect, 
 and can rightly be viewed as a credit to our civilisation. 
 
 Those views have prompted Mr. Booth's friends to arrange 
 for him a farewell banquet, at which the voice of appreciation 
 and the kindly sentiment of the American public with regard 
 to him may make itself heard with no uncertain sound. This 
 tribute takes the form of a breakfast, which is to occur on 
 June 15, at Delmonico's, in this city, and at which the attend- 
 ance of representative men — not residents of New York alone, 
 but of other cities — will be large. The committee of arrange- 
 ments consists of the Hon. John R. Brady, chairman ; George 
 W. Carleton, treasurer ; Lester Wallack, Joseph Jefferson, Law- 
 rence Barrett, Whitelaw Reid, William Winter, Algernon S. 
 Sullivan, Charles Watrous, Laurence Hutton, E. C. Stedman, 
 Jervis McEntee, J. R. Osgood, the Rev. H. W. Bellows, Horace 
 Porter, and S. R. Gifford. The letters which have passed 
 between Mr. Booth and his friends, expressing the motive, 
 spirit, and design of the proposed tribute, are an essential part 
 of the dramatic record. 
 
 New York, May 22, 1880. 
 To Edwin Booth, Esq. 
 
 Dear Mr. Booth : In view of your projected journey to Europe, 
 it is the earnest desire of your many friends in this community 
 to give an expression, — not less cordial because formal and 
 public, — to the high esteem in which you are held, and to their 
 sense of the honour you have reflected upon the American stage, 
 and the excellent and ennobling influence which, throughout a long, 
 arduous, and brilliant career as an actor, and also as a manager, 
 you have exercised upon the American public. 
 
 Acting upon this desire, and wishful, — while doing you honour, 
 and expressing their affectionate good-will, — to signalise your de- 
 parture, and to speed you to a generous welcome on the other side 
 of the Atlantic, your friends beg that you will accept the testimonial 
 of a farewell breakfast, to be given at Delmonico's, on Tuesday, 
 June 15, at 12 m. 
 
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MEMORIALS 275 
 
 You will there meet, not only with many comrades of your own 
 profession, but with representatives of other vocations, all of whom 
 are united in a grateful admiration and a profound and constant 
 esteem, not alone for your noble achievements as an actor, but for 
 those virtues which have made your public career a model of in- 
 tegrity and your home life a blessing to all who have known you. 
 Very respectfully, your friends, 
 
 *JOHN R. Brady, William Winter, 
 
 * Rev. H. W. Bellows, * Jervis McEntee, 
 
 * Algernon S. Sullivan, * S. R. Gifford, 
 Charles Watrous, Whitelaw Reid, 
 E. C. Stedman, * Rev. F. C. Ewer, 
 Horace Porter, Laurence Button, 
 
 * Lester Wallack, *J. R. Osgood, 
 Joseph Jefferson, George W. Carleton. 
 
 * Lavi^rence Barrett, 
 
 * Dead. 
 
 Hotel Brunswick, June 2, 1880. 
 
 Gentlemen : The gratification with which I receive your flatter- 
 ing offer is not wholly unalloyed — for this is the tirst tribute of the 
 kind that I have been bold enough to accept, and my pleasure is 
 mingled with the trepidation of the novice. 
 
 The character of " distinguished guest " is a new one for me, and 
 my inexperience may make my assumption of it unworthy both of 
 the occasion and the high opinion of my abilities that you have 
 been pleased to express. 
 
 Like many " a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon 
 the stage," in the vain endeavour to express the emotions that inspire 
 him, I may only succeed in " signifying nothing." But, though my 
 outward action fails to show "the native act and figure of my heart," 
 believe me, all within is gratitude for your affectionate consideration ; 
 and the feeling of the moment is only darkened by a sense of my 
 own unworthiness. 
 
 As a mere empty compliment, I might decline the favour; but 
 as the expression of an affectionate good-will, such as no man has 
 more cause than I have to cherish in his " heart of heart," and as 
 
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276 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 a token of your genuine good wishes for ray success in other lands, 
 I heartily receive it — taking your love, " not with vain thanks, but 
 with acceptance bounteous." 
 
 I can only add that, whatever may be my professional fate in 
 Europe, I shall exert the utmost of my limited ability to merit your 
 indorsement. 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 EDVifiN Booth. 
 
 To Hon. J. R. Brady, Rev. H. W. Bellows, Whitelaw Reid, 
 Joseph Jefferson, William Winter, A. S. Sjllivan, and 
 others . 
 
 POEM BY WILLIAM WINTER. 
 
 Delivered at the Farewell Breakfast in honour of Edwin Booth, given by 
 many of his friends, at Delmonico's, New York, June 15, 1880. 
 
 His barque will fade, in mist and night, 
 
 Across the dim sea-line. 
 And coldly on our aching sight 
 
 The solemn stars will shine — 
 All, all in mournful silence, save 
 
 For ocean's distant roar — 
 Heard where the slow, regretful wave 
 
 Sobs on the lonely shore. 
 
 But, oh, while, winged with love and prayer, 
 
 Our thoughts pursue his track, 
 What glorious sights the midnight air 
 
 Will proudly waft us back! 
 What golden words will flutter down 
 
 From many a peak of fame, 
 What glittering shapes of old renown 
 
 That cluster round his name! 
 
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MEMORIALS 277 
 
 HI. 
 
 O'er storied Denmark's haunted ground 
 
 Will darkly drift again, 
 Dream-like and vague, without a sound, 
 
 The spectre of the Dane ; 
 And breaking hearts will be the wreath 
 
 For grief that knows no tear, 
 When shine on Cornwall's storm-swept heath 
 
 The blazing eyes of Lear. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Slow, 'mid the portents of the storm 
 
 And fate's avenging powers, 
 Will moody Richard's haggard form 
 
 Pace through the twilight hours ; 
 And wildly hurtling o'er the sky 
 
 The red star of Macbeth, — 
 Torn from the central arch on high, — 
 
 Go down in dusty death! 
 
 V. 
 
 But — best of all! will softly rise 
 
 His form of manly grace — 
 The noble brow, the honest eyes. 
 
 The sweetly patient face, 
 The loving heart, the stately mind 
 
 That, conquering every ill. 
 Through seas of trouble cast behind, 
 
 Was grandly steadfast still ! 
 
 VI. 
 
 Though skies might gloom and tempest rave, 
 
 Though friends and hopes might fall. 
 His constant spirit, simply brave. 
 
 Would meet and suffer all — 
 Would calmly smile at fortune's frown. 
 
 Supreme o'er gain or loss ; 
 And he the worthiest wears the crown 
 
 That gently bore the cross! 
 
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278 IJFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 Be blithe and bright, thou jocund day 
 
 That golden England knows ! 
 Bloom sweetly round the wanderer's way, 
 
 Thou royal English rose ! 
 And English hearts [no need to tell 
 
 How truth itself endures !] 
 This soul of manhood treasure well, 
 
 Our love commits to yours ! 
 
 Farewell ! nor mist, nor flying cloud. 
 
 Nor night can ever dim 
 The wreath of honours, pure and proud. 
 
 Our hearts have twined for him ! 
 But bells of memory still shall chime, 
 
 And violets star the sod. 
 Till our last broken wave of time 
 
 Dies on the shores of God. 
 
 GERMAN TROPHIES. 
 
 Tributary offerings received by Booth while acting in Ger- 
 many, and now preserved at the Players' Club, New York, are 
 inscribed as follows : — 
 
 Silver Spray of Laurel Leaves. 
 
 Thalia Theatre, Hamburg. 
 
 Edwin Booth. 
 By the Director and Members. 
 Hamburg, February 21, 1883. 
 
 Silver Crown of Laurel Leaves. 
 
 Bremen Stadt Theatre, February 24-28, 1883. 
 
 Hamlet, Lear, Othello. 
 
 To the great Artist, 
 
 Edwin Booth. 
 
 The Company of the Bremen Stadt Theatre. 
 
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MEMORIALS 279 
 
 Silver Crown of Laurel Leaves. 
 
 Residenz Theatre, Berlin. 
 
 To the unrivalled Artist, 
 
 Edwin Booth, 
 
 as a friendly remembrance of his celebrated first appearance in Germany. 
 
 Dedicated by the Director and Members of the Residenz Theatre at Berlin. 
 
 Silver Wreath of Laurel. 
 
 Stadt Theatre, Leipzig, March 19-21. 
 
 Edwin Booth. 
 
 From the Stadt Theatre at Leipzig. 
 
 The satisfaction with which Booth regarded his professional 
 experience in Germany is pleasantly signified in a letter that 
 he wrote to me, from Berlin, on January 11, 1883 : — 
 
 " My DEAR Will : I have just accomplished the one great object 
 of my professional aspiration. 'Tis after one o'clock, and I am very 
 weary, but cannot go to bed without a line to you. I have not 
 written to you for some weeks, it seems, nor have I heard from you 
 lately. My reason — I wished to send you something of interest. 
 What's yours ? I cannot tell you of my triumph to-night without 
 a gush of egotism — and you know how difficult that is for me. 
 Therefore, I'll let M. tell you the particulars. O, I wish you had 
 been present to-night ! When I am cooler I will try to give you a 
 full account of the night's work. The actors as well as the audience 
 were very enthusiastic, many of the former kissing my hands and 
 thanking me over and over again — for what I know not, unless it 
 was because they recognised in me a sincere disciple of their idol 
 Shakespeare. . . I scratch in great haste, with a wretched pen 
 and scarcely ink enough to fill it. In a future letter I'll be more 
 explicit. . . . Well, this is the realisation of my twenty years' 
 dream ! What shall I do now ? Act in Italy and France ? 
 No. . . . Good-night, dear boy. I thought to have written you 
 a long letter, but I am too tired. Good-night. God bless you. 
 — Edwin." 
 
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280 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 ADDRESS BY EDWIN BOOTH. 
 
 Delivered at the Dedication of the Actors' Poe Memorial, at the Metro- 
 politan Museum of Art, New York, May 4, 1885. 
 
 It was my privilege to have a leading hand in the first 
 dramatic performance that was given for the purpose which 
 to-day is accomplished. For this reason, and, also, because 
 my countrymen have vouchsafed to me a prominent place in 
 the dramatic profession, it is thought proper that I should 
 participate in the exercises of the occasion, speaking on behalf 
 of the actors of New York, and in their name presenting our 
 memorial of Poe to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This duty 
 it is equally an honour and a pleasure to perform. I beheve 
 that I speak the sentiment of the whole dramatic profession, 
 when I declare that the American stage is proud and glad to 
 have been the means of paying this tribute to American htera- 
 ture. The art of the actor is peculiarly sensitive to the bond 
 of fraternity which unites all the arts in one family, but its 
 kindred is nearest and its obhgation is deepest to the art of the 
 poet. Without Shakespeare the stage would lack its chief 
 resources of power, influence, beauty, and renown. Poe was 
 not a dramatic poet. He wrote little in the dramatic form — 
 nothing that was ever acted. Yet he was truly a poet, in his 
 prose as well as in his verse, and every thoughtful actor is 
 aware that the success of theatrical art is considerably due to 
 the influence of poetry on the public mind, an influence which 
 allures it to all that is beautiful, majestic, or otherwise impres- 
 sive in the acted representation of human life. It always 
 would be proper for the stage to honour a true poet. In this 
 instance there was a special reason for the tribute that has 
 been offered. Poe was the child of actors. He has himself 
 referred to his mother, Elizabeth Arnold, as " a woman, who, 
 although well born, hesitated not to consecrate to the drama 
 
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MEMORIALS 281 
 
 her brief career of genius and beauty." This was at a time 
 when the theatre was less respected than it is at present. In 
 the author of The Raven, the Manuscript found in a Bottle, 
 The Fall of the House of Usher, and The Haunted Palace, 
 actors, like other readers, recognise a being of strange endow- 
 ments — a writer who, in the magnificence of his concep- 
 tions, the weirdness of his pictures, and the vitality of his 
 diction, has rivalled even the wonderful originality and splen- 
 dour of Coleridge. But they remember, also, with a sentiment 
 of personal pride, that he was a man of theatrical lineage. 
 While deploring his faults, they exult in his noble intellectual 
 powers and his ever-growing renown. America may hail him 
 as her most original author. The stage will always rejoice in 
 him as one of her children. The gypsy blood that runs in 
 her veins ran also in his, and in the exuberance of his imagi' 
 nation she sees the power and the freedom of her own wild 
 spirit. 
 
 To the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in the name of the 
 actors of New York and of the friends who assisted in their 
 work, I now present this memorial of Edgar Poe. Here may 
 it be preserved, under the reverent protection of American 
 scholarship, a permanent tribute to genius, and a lasting me- 
 mento of sympathy and admiration, until, in the long flight of 
 years, this structure, with all its hallowed memorials of the past, 
 shall have crumbled into dust ! 
 
 ADDRESS BY EDWIN BOOTH. 
 
 Delivered at the Dedication of the Actors' Monument, in Evergreens 
 Cemetery, Long Island, June 6, 1887. 
 
 Comrades : We have met here to-day for a noble purpose. 
 The cause of our assembly is a hallowed one, worthy of the 
 highest eloquence, and I feel but too keenly my inefficiency 
 
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282 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 for the part with which you have honoured me ; yet I trust that 
 the brevity of my discourse will atone for its inadequacy. 
 
 To consecrate to our dead play-fellows a testimonial of our 
 ever-living sympathy with their trials and disappointments, and 
 of our recognition of their worth, is to discharge a duty we owe, 
 not to them alone, but to ourselves and to our deathless art. 
 
 Time has not grown so very old since the most prominent 
 members of our profession, though admired by the public eye, 
 and lauded by its tongue, were, socially, viewed askance, and 
 regarded as "merely players." Even in the days of our great 
 sire, Shakespeare, those actors only who wore the livery of 
 some titled family were exempted from the brand of vaga- 
 bondage, — ^ which is, in truth, the cruel condition of our caUing. 
 The actor can hardly have a permanent abode ; yet, homeless 
 as he has been, as he may ever be, in the pursuit of his voca- 
 tion, — • which renders all but a fortunate few nomadic, — he 
 has, despite the evil eye of prejudice and the temptations that 
 beset him, struggled for, and found, by the blessed light of 
 civilisation, a welcome residence in the affections of his fellow- 
 beings. 
 
 It is not essential to speak of the " golden opinions from all 
 sorts of people '' that have been earned by theatrical artists of 
 to-day. From all quarters come reports of homage paid to the 
 refining influence of the drama. Like the great world itself, 
 the theatre has its evils ; but, as the real world progresses, 
 slowly, perhaps, but surely, to a higher condition, so surely 
 does the mimic world advance ; and the merits and demerits 
 of the actor are weighed as fairly as are those of other mortals, 
 his virtues as emphatically rewarded, his fame as preciously 
 preserved. 
 
 In England's grand old abbey lie some of our illustrious 
 leaders, while memorials of others of our craft, elsewhere 
 buried, are honoured there, among monuments raised to names 
 of the highest worth and station. In a far humbler form, this 
 
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MEMORIALS 283 
 
 our modest beacon will denote the no less sacred home of the 
 poor player, to whom, with fervent prayer for God's blessing, 
 we, his brothers and sisters, dedicate this shrine of our affec- 
 tionate veneration. 
 
 SPEECH BY WILLIAM WINTER. 
 
 Delivered at a supper in honour of Edwin Booth, given by Augustin 
 Daly and Albert M. Palmer, at Delmonico's, New York, at midnight, 
 March 30, 1889, to signalise his establishment of the Players' Club. 
 
 It was my fortune, many years ago, to be present in the old 
 Boston theatre on a night when that famous American actor, 
 Edwin Forrest, at the close of an exceedingly prosperous 
 engagement, represented Hamlet and delivered a farewell 
 address. I can see him now, as I saw him then, — not the 
 most intellectual nor the most brilliant figure in our theatrical 
 history, but certainly the most colossal, the most imposing, the 
 most definite, impressive, inspired animal individuality that ever 
 has been seen upon the American stage ; and I can hear his 
 voice as I then heard it, when, as he gazed upon a vast assem- 
 blage of the public, and upon the stage that was literally covered 
 with flowers, he said, — in those magnificent, vibrating, organ 
 tones of his, which never in our day have been equalled or 
 approached, — " Here, indeed, is a miracle of culture — a wil- 
 derness of roses, and not a single thorn !" To-night it is my 
 fortune to be present at this memorable feast of tribute to genius 
 and virtue, and to behold his great and famous successor in the 
 leadership of tragic art in America, surrounded by friends, who 
 greet him with affection no less than homage, and who honour 
 themselves rather than him, by every denotement of respect 
 and appreciation they possibly can give to Edwin Booth : and 
 I can imagine that he also, looking upon your eager, happy, 
 affectionate faces, and listening to your genial eloquence, in 
 
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284 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 this scene of light and perfume and joy, of high thought and 
 sweetly serious feeling and gentle mirth, may utter the same 
 exclamation of grateful pride : " Here, indeed, is a miracle of 
 culture — a wilderness of roses, and not a single thorn ! " 
 
 For if a man eminent in public life and illustrious in the 
 realm of art may not indulge a sentiment of honest pride and 
 grateful exultation at such a moment as this, I know not when 
 he may indulge it. Honours are sometimes given where they 
 are not due ; but in those cases, although they are accepted, 
 they are not enjoyed. In the present instance they flow as 
 naturally and as rightly to the object of our esteem as rivers flow 
 to the sea. Edwin Booth adopted the profession of the stage 
 when he was in his sixteenth year, and he has been an actor 
 close on forty years. Looking back upon that long career of 
 ainbitious and noble labour and achievement, I think he must 
 be conscious — I know that we who have observed and studied 
 it are conscious — that he has been animated, in every minute 
 of it, by the passionate desire, not to magnify and glorify him- 
 self, but, through the ministration of a great and beautiful art, 
 to stimulate the advancement of others, to increase the stock of 
 harmless pleasure, to make the world happier and nobler, and 
 to leave the stage a better institution than it was when he found 
 it. Speaking with reference to actors in general, it might per- 
 haps justly be said that it is the infirmity of each one of them 
 to consider himself as the centre of a solar system around which 
 everything else in the creation revolves. Not so with the guest 
 of this occasion, the hero of this festal hour — the favourite of 
 our fancy and the comrade of our love ! For he " has borne 
 his faculties so meek, has been so clear in his great office,'' that 
 whether on the golden summits of prosperity or in the valley 
 of the shadow of loss and sorrow, his gentle humility of dis- 
 position, his simple fidelity to duty, his sohd sincerity of self- 
 sacrificing character, and his absolutely guileless and blameless 
 conduct of life have been equally conspicuous with his supreme 
 
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MEMORIALS 285 
 
 dramatic genius, his artistic zeal, and his glittering renown. 
 Edwin Booth's fame is assured, and I think it stands now at its 
 height ; and no artistic fame of our generation can be accounted 
 brighter ; but the crowning glory of it is the plain fact that an 
 occasion like this, representative to him of the universal senti- 
 ment and acclamation of his time, is simply the spontaneous 
 acknowledgment that grateful sincerity awards to genuine 
 worth. My words about him, on another festival occasion, in 
 this same place, may fitly be repeated now : — 
 
 Though skies might gloom and tempest rave, 
 
 Though friends and hopes might fall, 
 His constant spirit, simply brave, 
 
 Would meet and suffer all — 
 Would calmly smile at fortune's frown, 
 
 Supreme o'er gain or loss ; 
 And he the worthiest wears the crown 
 
 That gently bore the cross ! 
 
 It was not to tell Edwin Booth that he is a great actor, and 
 it was not to tell him that he is dear to the hearts of his friends, 
 that this assemblage has been convened. The burning of in- 
 cense is a dehghtful and often a righteous occupation, and of all 
 the duties that your Shakespeare has taught there is no one that 
 he urges with more strenuous ardour than that of whole-hearted 
 admiration for everything that is noble and lovely in human 
 nature and conduct. Him at least you never find niggard and 
 reticent in his praise. But, as I apprehend it, the motive of 
 this occasion was the desire to express, for our own sake, our 
 sense of obhgation to Edwin Booth for the lesson of his life. 
 As the years drift away, as the shadows begin to slope to the 
 eastward, as the first faint mists mingle with the light of the 
 sinking sun, nothing impresses me so much as the imperative 
 need that we should preserve the illusions of a youthful spirit, 
 and look upon this world, not in the cold and barren light of 
 
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286 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 fact, but through the golden haze of the imagination and the 
 genial feeUngs. To some men and women it is granted that 
 they can diffuse this radiant glamour of ideal charm. Like a 
 delicate perfume that suddenly comes upon you from a withered 
 rose, or a bit of ribbon, or a tress of hair, long hallowed and 
 long preserved ; like a faint, far-off strain of music that floats 
 on a summer breeze across the moonlit sea ; they touch the 
 spirit with a sense of the beauty and glory, the mystery and the 
 pathos of our existence, and we are lifted up and hallowed and 
 strengthened, and all that is bitter in our experience and sordid 
 in our surroundings is soothed and sweetened and glorified. 
 They teach us hope and belief, instead of doubt and despon- 
 dency, and thus, in a world of trouble and sorrow, giving to us 
 the human patience and the spiritual nobility which more than 
 anything else we need, they 
 
 " Shed a something of celestial light 
 Round the familiar face of every day.'' 
 
 It is because Edwin Booth has been in this way a blessing 
 to his generation that we are met to thank him ; and further- 
 more it is because, in a period that greatly requires nobility of 
 practical example, he is a vital and influential and conclusive 
 proof that an actor may know and may fulfil his duty to his 
 time. What that duty is you will not expect any speaker here 
 to declare. I will but ask you to recall what the American stage 
 was when he came upon it, over thirty years ago, and to con- 
 sider what it is now, and to whose influence mainly its advance- 
 ment is due. And I will but add that when you stand beneath 
 the stupendous majesty of St. Paul's cathedral, and look upon 
 the marble which commemorates its great architect, you may 
 read one sentence that is the perfect flower of simplicity and 
 eloquence, — " If you would behold his monument, look around 
 you ! " 
 
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MEMORIALS 287 
 
 BOOTH'S LATEST PROFESSIONAL TOURS. 
 
 Tour of Edwin Booth. Season 1886-1887. 
 1886. 
 
 September 13, 14, 15, Buffalo, N. Y Academy 
 
 " 16, 17, 18, Detroit, Mich Opera House 
 
 " 20, Bay City, Mich " 
 
 " 21, East Saginaw, Mich " 
 
 " 22, Kalamazoo, Mich Academy 
 
 " 23, Grand Rapids, Mich Opera House 
 
 " 24, 25, Milwaukee, Wis " 
 
 " 27, 28, 29, Minneapolis, Minn " 
 
 " 30, October i, 2, St. Paul, Minn " 
 
 October 4 to 16, Chicago, 111 Chicago Opera House 
 
 " 18, St. Louis, Mo Opera House 
 
 " 25, Cleveland, Ohio " 
 
 November i to 27, New York City Star 
 
 " 29, Brooklyn, N. Y Park 
 
 December 6 to 18, Boston, Mass Theatre 
 
 " 20, Worcester, Mass " 
 
 " 21, Holyoke, Mass Opera House 
 
 22, Albany, N. Y " 
 
 " 23, Utica, N. Y " 
 
 " 24, Oswego, N. Y " 
 
 " 25, Syracuse, N. Y " 
 
 " 27, Rochester, N. Y " 
 
 " 28, Bradford, Pa " 
 
 29, Elmira, N. Y 
 
 " 30, Scranton, Pa Academy 
 
 " 31, Wilmington, Del Opera House 
 
 1887. 
 
 January I, Lancaster, Pa Opera House 
 
 " 3 to 15, Philadelphia, Pa " 
 
 " 1 7, Baltimore, Md Theatre 
 
 " 24, Pittsburgh, Pa Opera House 
 
 " 31, Cincinnati, Ohio " 
 
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288 
 
 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 February 7, 8, 9, Louisville, Ky Theatre 
 
 " 10, II, 12, Memphis, Tenn " 
 
 " 14, New Orleans, La Opera House 
 
 " 21, 22, Galveston, Texas 
 
 " 23, Houston, Texas .' 
 
 " 24, Dallas, Texas 
 
 " 25, Austin, Texas 
 
 " 26, San Antonio, Texas 
 
 " 28, March I, 2, Travel. 
 
 March 3, 4, 5, Los Angeles, Cal " 
 
 " 7 to April 2, San Francisco, Cal Theatre 
 
 April . 4 to 9, Yosemite. 
 10, II, Travel. 
 
 12 to 16, Salt Lake City, Utah Theatre 
 
 18, Cheyenne, W. T Opera House 
 
 19 to 23, Denver, Col " 
 
 25, 26, Omaha, Neb " 
 
 27, St. Joseph, Mo " 
 
 28, 29, 30, Kansas City, Mo Coates Opera House 
 
 Tour of Edwin Booth — Lawrence Barrett. 1887-1888. 
 
 September 12, 13, 14, Buffalo, N. Y Academy 
 
 16, 17, Detroit, Mich Opera House 
 
 Minneapolis, Minn Theatre 
 
 Duluth, Minn Opera House 
 
 Eau Claire, Wis " 
 
 Oshkosk, Wis 
 
 30, October I, Mihvaukee, Wis " 
 
 to 22, Chicago, 111 Chicago Opera House 
 
 Kansas City, Mo Warder Opera House 
 
 St. Louis, Mo Olympic Theatre 
 
 Cincinnati, Ohio Grand Opera House 
 
 Cleveland, Ohio Opera House 
 
 Pittsburgh, Pa " 
 
 to December 10, Philadelphia, Pa " 
 
 to 24, Boston, Mass Theatre 
 
 to January 7, New York City Academy 
 
 Baltimore, Md HolUday Theatre 
 
 16, Richmond, Va Theatre 
 
 " 
 
 15. 
 
 " 
 
 19. 
 
 " 
 
 26, 
 
 September 
 
 27. 
 
 " 
 
 28, 
 
 (( 
 
 29. 
 
 October 
 
 3 
 
 " 
 
 24. 
 
 " 
 
 31. 
 
 November 
 
 7. 
 
 " 
 
 14, 
 
 " 
 
 21, 
 
 " 
 
 28 
 
 December 
 
 12 
 
 " 
 
 26 
 
 January 
 
 9. 
 
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MEMORIALS 
 
 289 
 
 January 17, Charleston, S. C Theatre 
 
 18, Savannah, Ga " 
 
 19, Macon, Ga Academy 
 
 20, 21, Atlanta, Ga Opera House 
 
 23, 24, 25, Nashville, Tenn " 
 
 26, 27, 28, Memphis, Tenn Theatre 
 
 30, 31, Chattanooga, Tenn Opera House 
 
 February i, 2, Birmingham, Ala " 
 
 " 3, Montgomery, Ala Theatre 
 
 " 4, Mobile, Ala " 
 
 " 6, New Orleans, La Opera House 
 
 " 13, 14, Galveston, Texas 
 
 " 15, Houston, Texas 
 
 " 16, 1 7, Dallas, Texas 
 
 " 18, Fort Worth, Texas 
 
 " 20, Waco, Texas 
 
 " 21, Austin, Texas 
 
 " 22, 23, San Antonio, Texas 
 
 " 24, 25, 26, Travel. 
 
 " 27, Los Angeles, Cal Opera House 
 
 March 5 to 24, San Francisco, Cal Theatre 
 
 " 26, San Jose, Cal " 
 
 " 27, Stockton, Cal " 
 
 " 28, Sacramento, Cal " 
 
 " 29, 30, 31, Travel. 
 
 April 2, Denver, Col Opera House 
 
 9, 10, II, Omaha, 'Neb ' " 
 
 1 2, Lincoln, Neb " 
 
 1 3, Topeka, Kan " 
 
 14, Wichita, Kan " 
 
 16, Leavenworth, Kan " 
 
 17, St. Joseph, Mo 
 
 18, Des Moines, la " 
 
 19, Cedar Rapids, la " 
 
 20, Dubuque, la " 
 
 21, Davenport, la " 
 
 23, Peoria, 111 
 
 24, Springfield, 111 " 
 
 25, Bloomington, la 
 
 26, Terre Haute, Ind " 
 
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290 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 April 27, Indianapolis, Ind Opera House 
 
 *' 28, Indianapolis, Ind " 
 
 " 30, Lafayette, Ind " 
 
 May I, Fort Wayne, Ind " 
 
 " 2, Kalamazoo, Mich Academy 
 
 " 3, Grand Rapids, Mich Opera House 
 
 " 4, Bay City, Mich 
 
 " 5, East Saginaw, Mich 
 
 " 7, Ann Arbor, Mich 
 
 " 8, Springfield, Ohio 
 
 " 9, Dayton, Ohio 
 
 " 10, II, 12, Louisville, Ky Exposition 
 
 " 14 (week), Williamsburgh, N. Y Amphion Academy 
 
 Tour of Edwin Booth — Lawrence Barrett, i 888-1 889. 
 1888. 
 
 September 10, Kansas City, Mo Warder Opera House 
 
 " 17, 18, 19, Minneapolis, Minn Grand Opera House 
 
 " 20, 21, 22, St. Paul, Minn " " 
 
 " 24 (3 weeks), Chicago, 111 Chicago Opera House 
 
 October 15, Cincinnati, Ohio Grand Opera House 
 
 " 22, St. Louis, Mo Olympic Theatre 
 
 " 29, Idle. 
 
 November 5, Idle. 
 
 " 12 (8 weeks). New York City '. .Fifth Avenue Theatre 
 
 1889. 
 
 January 7, Pittsburgh, Pa Grand Opera House 
 
 " 14, Baltimore, Md HoUiday Street Theatre 
 
 " 21 (4 weeks), Boston, Mass Boston Theatre 
 
 February 18 (3 weeks), Philadelphia, Pa.. .Chestnut Street Opera House 
 
 March 11, Trenton, N. J Taylor's Opera House 
 
 " 12, Bridgeport, Conn New Opera House 
 
 13, New Haven, Conn Hyperion Theatre 
 
 14, Hartford, Conn Roberts' Opera House 
 
 15, Holyoke, Mass Holyoke Opera House 
 
 16, Springfield, Mass Gilmore's Opera House 
 
 18, Providence, R. I Providence Opera House 
 
 25, Williamsburgh, N, Y Amphion Theatre 
 
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MEMORIALS 291 
 
 April I, Scranton, Pa Academy of Music 
 
 2, Elmira, N. Y Opera House 
 
 3, Rochester, N. Y Lyceum Theatre 
 
 " 4. 5. 6. Buffalo, N. Y Academy of Music 
 
 " 8, 9, Toledo, Ohio Wheeler Opera House 
 
 " 10, II, 12, 13, Detroit, Mich Detroit Opera House 
 
 " IS' 16, 17, Cleveland, Ohio Euchd Avenue Opera House 
 
 " 18, Columbus, Ohio Metropolitan Opera House 
 
 " 19, 20, Indianapolis, Ind English's Opera House 
 
 " 22, Burlington, Iowsl Grand Opera House 
 
 " 23, Des Moines, lovi'a Moore's Opera House 
 
 " 24, 25, Sioux City, Iowa Peavey Grand Opera House 
 
 " 26, 27, Omaha, Neb Boyd's Opera House 
 
 " 29, Denver, Col Tabor Grand Opera House 
 
 May 6, 7, 8, Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake Theatre 
 
 " 13, (4 weeks), San Francisco, Cal California Theatre 
 
 June 10, Los Angeles, Cal Grand Opera House 
 
 " 1 7, California Towns. 
 
 " 24, Portland, Ore New Park Theatre 
 
 Tour of Edwin Booth — Mme. Modjeska. 1889-1890. 
 
 September 30 (week), Pittsburg, Pa Grand Opera House 
 
 October 7 (week), Cleveland, Ohio Euclid Avenue Opera House 
 
 " 14 to December 7, New York City Broadway Theatre 
 
 December g. Auburn, N. Y Opera House 
 
 10, Utica, N. Y " " 
 
 11, 12, Syracuse, N. Y Wieting Opera House 
 
 13, 14, Rochester, N. Y Lyceum Theatre 
 
 16 (week), Harlem, N. Y Hammerstein's Opera House 
 
 23, Rest. 
 30, Rest. 
 
 1890. 
 
 January 6, Providence, R. I Providence Opera House 
 
 13, Fall River, Mass Academy of Music 
 
 14, Holyoke, Mass Opera House 
 
 15, Springfield, Mass Gilmore's Opera House 
 
 16, New Haven, Conn Hyperion Theatre 
 
 17, 18, Hartford, Conn Opera House 
 
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292 
 
 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 January 
 February 
 
 March 
 
 April 
 
 May 
 
 20 to February i, Boston, Mass '■ Boston Theatre 
 
 3, Bridgeport, Conn Opera House 
 
 4 to 8, Broolclyn, N. Y Academy of Music 
 
 lo to 22, Philadelphia, Pa Chestnut Street Opera House 
 
 24 to March 8, Baltimore, Md HoUiday Street Theatre 
 
 10 to 29, Chicago, 111 Chicago Opera House 
 
 31 (week), St. Louis, Mo Olympic Theatre 
 
 7 (week), Cincinnati, Ohio Grand Opera House 
 
 14 to 16, Detroit, Mich Detroit Opera House 
 
 1 7, Toledo, Ohio Wheeler Opera House 
 
 18, East Saginaw, Mich Academy of Music 
 
 19, Grand Rapids, Mich Powers' Opera House 
 
 21, 22, Milwaukee, Wis Grand Opera House 
 
 23, Cedar Rapids, Iowa Greene's Opera House 
 
 24, Davenport, Iowa Grand Opera House 
 
 25, Peoria, 111 " " 
 
 26, Decatur, 111 
 
 28, Bloomington, 111 Durley Theatre 
 
 29, Indianapolis, Ind English's Opera House 
 
 30, Vincennes, Ind Opera House 
 
 1 , 2, 3, Louisville, Ky Amphitheatre Auditorium 
 
 5, Dayton, Ohio Opera House 
 
 6, Zanesville, Ohio " 
 
 7, Wheeling, W. Va " 
 
 8, Youngstown, Ohio " 
 
 9, 10, Buffalo, N. Y Star Theatre 
 
 1890-1891. 
 The last Booth and Barrett season began on November 3, 
 1890, at Albaugh's theatre, Baltimore. The record is as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 1890. 
 
 November 3, Baltimore, "1 2 weeks. 
 
 10, " i 
 
 1 7, Philadelphia, 1 2 ^^^y^ 
 
 24, " / 
 
 December i , Boston, 1 2 weeks 
 
 8, " i 
 
 " 15, Providence , . . i week. 
 
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MEMORIALS 293 
 
 Barrett had previously opened the season, without Booth, 
 in the West, and had acted without him for six weeks. 
 
 Booth then rested, — Barrett acting without him for ten 
 weeks. On March 2, 1891, Booth again appeared with Bar- 
 rett, at the Broadway theatre, New York. They acted together 
 there until Barrett's death, on March 20. Booth played one 
 week at the Broadway theatre, and one week (March 30) at 
 the Academy of Music in Brooklyn, making his last appearance 
 there, at a matinee, on April 4, 1891, as Hamlet. 
 
 CHRONOLOGY OF THE LIFE OF BOOTH. 
 
 1833 . . . Edwin Thomas Booth born November 13, at Belair, 
 Maryland. Remarkable shower of meteors. 
 
 1849 . . . First appearance on the stage, at the Boston Museum. J-j 
 
 1850 . . . First appearance on the New York stage, September 27, 
 
 at the National theatre. 
 
 1851 . . . Acted Richard the Third, for the first time. |^ 1 
 
 1852 . . . Went to California with his father. 
 
 Death of the elder Booth, November 30. 
 1854 . . Visited Australia, and the Samoan and Sandwich 
 Islands. 
 
 1856 . . . Left California for the East, in September. 
 
 1857 . . . Appeared at the Boston theatre on April 20, as Sir Giles ': 
 
 Overreach. 
 Appeared at Burton's Metropolitan theatre, New York, j 
 May 14, as Richard the Third. j>2_ ' 
 
 i860 . . . Married to Miss Mary Devlin, July 7. Sailed for Eng- 
 land soon after marriage. 
 
 1861 . . . First appearance in London, at the Haymarket, as Shy- 
 
 lock, September. 
 Edwina Booth born, at Fulham, London, Decem- 
 ber 9. 
 
 1862 . . . Reappeared in New York, at the Winter Garden, Sep- ,s '7 
 
 tember 29. 
 
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294 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 1863 . . Death of Mrs. Booth, February 21. 
 
 Began management of the Winter Garden theatre, 
 September 21. 
 
 1864 . . Acted Bertuccio, March 28, at Niblo's Garden. 
 
 Hamlet was produced at the Winter Garden theatre. 
 November 25. yulius Ccesar was acted at the Winter 
 
 Garden theatre, with Junius, Edwin, and John Wilkes 
 
 Booth in the cast. 
 
 1865 . . . One hundredth night oi Hamlet at the Winter Garden, 
 
 March 22. 
 April 14. Terrible tragedy at Washington. Booth re- 
 tired from the stage. 
 
 1866 . . January 3. Booth reappeared, at the Winter Garden, 
 
 as Hamlet. 
 February i . Fine production of Richelieu, at Winter 
 
 Garden. 
 December 29. Booth and Davison, at Winter Garden, 
 
 acted together, as lago and Othello. 
 
 1867 . . . January 27. Presentation of the Hamlet Medal. 
 
 -J January 28. Revival of The Merchant of Venice, at 
 Winter Garden. 
 March 22-23. The Winter Garden was burnt down. 
 
 1868 . The corner-stone of Booth's theatre was laid, April 8. 
 
 November 3. Booth and Mme. Janauschek acted to- 
 gether, at the Boston theatre, in Macbeth. 
 
 1869 . . , Booth's theatre was opened, February 3, with Romeo 
 
 and Juliet. 
 June 7. Booth was married to Miss Mary F. McVicker. 
 Othello was produced April 12. 
 1 87 1 . . Fine production of Julius Ccesar, at Booth's theatre, 
 Christmas night. 
 
 1873 • • Booth retired from management. 
 
 1874 Booth was led to become bankrupt. 
 
 1875 . . . Booth was released from bankmptcy, in March. 
 
 Was thrown from his carriage, at Cos Cob, Connecticut, 
 
 and seriously injured. 
 October 25. Reappeared in New York, at the Fifth 
 
 Avenue theatre. 
 
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MEMORIALS 295 
 
 1876 . . . Prosperous tour of the Southern States, January 3 to 
 
 March 3. Revisited California, after twenty years' 
 
 absence. 
 November 20. Began long engagement at the theatre 
 
 in Fourteenth Street, New York. Closed the same, 
 
 January 26, 1877. 
 1877-78 . Prompt-Books published : fifteen volumes. 
 
 1879 .. . April 23. Attempt to assassinate Booth, at Chicago, by - 
 
 Mark Gray. 
 
 1880 . . . April. Acted Petruchio, at the Madison Square theatre, 
 
 New York, for the benefit of the Poe Memorial. 1 
 
 1 The poet Poe was the son of an actor and actress. Poe's mother, 
 Miss Elizabeth Arnold, was a member of Solee's Company, which acted 
 in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston, in 1797. That com- 
 pany appeared at the John Street theatre, New York, on August 18, 1797, 
 and performed The Wonder and The Spoiled Child. In the latter piece 
 Miss Arnold acted Maria. Ireland, in his excellent Records, remarks that 
 " she was young and beautiful, and she became a very pleasing comedienne 
 and songstress, and was attached to the Park theatre in 1809." She was 
 an English woman. Her portrait presents a countenance of much simplic- 
 ity. She became the wife of David Poe of Baltimore, a young law-student, 
 with whom she eloped, and who, — being then disinherited by his father, 
 for marrying an actress, — ■ went upon the stage. But Mr. Poe never suc- 
 ceeded as an actor. " The gentleman," says Ireland, " was literally noth- 
 ing." His first appearance in New York was made on July 18, 1806, as 
 Frank, in Fortune'' s Frolic. His wife, however, was talented and attractive. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Poe appear to have led a wandering life. They had three 
 children, — of whom Edgar, the poet, was the second, — and they were in 
 Boston at the time of his birth, January 19, 1809. Mrs. Poe died on 
 December 8, 181 1, of pneumonia, at Richmond, Va., and her husband 
 died three days later, of consumption. He had been a hard drinker, and 
 probably the insanity that springs out of intemperance was transmitted to 
 his son, whose sorrow-laden career is well known to the world. Poe died 
 October 7, 1849 — so long ago that all that related to his private life is 
 fast fading into the oblivion which ought always to enshroud the common- 
 places of human existence and the sins and weakness of human nature. 
 Only the fruits of his genius remain; only the memory of his brilliant 
 powers and achievements is the property of the world. 
 
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296 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 1880 . . June 15. Booth Festival at Delmonico's. 
 
 June 30. Sailed for England. 
 
 November 6. Booth appeared at the Princess's theatre, 
 ■ London, as Hamlet. 
 
 1 88 1 . . . Presented Jii>i£i Lear . 
 
 Season ended, at the London Princess's, March 29. 
 / Appeared at the Lyceum, London, May 2, as Othello, 
 with Henry Irving as lago. 
 June 19. The Lyceum engagement ended. 
 Reappeared in New York, at Booth's theatre, October 3. 
 Death of the second Mrs. Booth, November 13. 
 
 1882 . . May 31. Sailed for England. 
 
 k^ Reappeared at the Princess's theatre, June 26. 
 
 Tour of the English provincial cities, September 1 1 to 
 December 16. 
 
 1883 . Appeared at Berlin, January 11. Visited other German 
 
 cities. Closed his tour of Germany, April 7, at 
 Vienna, and returned to America. 
 
 1885 . . . Delivered address, at the dedication of the Poe Memo- 
 
 rial, May 4. 
 Booth and Mme. Ristori acted together, in Macbeth, at 
 the Academy of Music, New York, May 7. 
 
 1886 . . Booth and Salvini acted together, at the Academy of 
 
 Music, New York, in Hamlet and Othello, April 26, 
 28, and 30, and May i . 
 
 1887 . . . Booth delivered address at dedication of the Actors' 
 
 Monument. 
 The Booth-Barrett combination was formed, September 
 
 13- 
 
 1888 . . . May 21. Booth acted Hamlet. Testimonial in honour, 
 
 and for benefit, of Lester Wallack. Metropolitan 
 Opera House, New York. The cast included : — 
 
 Lawrence Barrett as The Ghost 
 
 Frank Mayo " The King 
 
 John Gilbert '■ Polonius 
 
 Eben Plympton " Laertes 
 
 John A. Lane " Horatio 
 
 Charles Hanford " Rosencrantz 
 
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MEMORIALS 297 
 
 Lawrence Hanley as Guildenstern 
 Charles Koehler " Osric 
 E. H. Vanderfelt « Marcellus 
 Herbert Kelcey " Bernardo 
 Frank Mordaunt " Francisco 
 Joseph Wheelock " First Actor 
 Milnes Levick " Second Actor 
 
 Joseph Jefferson " First Gravedigger 
 W. J. Florence " Second Gravedigger 
 Henry Edwards " Priest 
 Helena Modjeska " Ophelia 
 Gertrude Kellogg " The Queen 
 Rose Coghlan " Player Queen 
 
 [Lester Wallack died September 6, 1888.] 
 
 1888 . . . Booth founded the Players' Club, December 31. 
 
 1889 . . . Mme. Modjeska joined the Booth-Barrett Company. 
 
 Booth had a slight stroke of paralysis, at Rochester, 
 New York, April 3. 
 
 1890 . . . November 13. Booth's 57th birthday was celebrated 
 
 by the people of Belair, his birthplace. His portrait, 
 painted by Louis Dietrich, of Baltimore, was placed 
 in the Belair court-house, and he was entertained at 
 a banquet in Baltimore. Booth and Barrett acted 
 that night at the Lyceum theatre, Baltimore, in 
 yulius Ccesar. 
 The people of Belair presented to Booth a picture on a 
 panel of wood, 12x18 inches, made from the cherry- 
 tree at his father's farm, in which he played when a 
 boy, and which had to be cut down because of its 
 great age. The painting shows a cherry-branch, 
 garnished with cherries, and two birds flying near. 
 [The Booth farm is now owned by family of Kyle. J 
 
 1891 . . . Death of Lawrence Barrett, March 20, at Windsor hotel, 
 
 New York. 
 April 4. Booth's last appearance on the stage. 
 1893 . . . Final illness began, April 19. 
 Death. 
 
 June if. 
 
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298 
 
 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 BOOTH'S LAST APPEARANCE. 
 
 On the occasion of Booth's last appearance on the stage, at 
 the Brooklyn Academy of Music, on Saturday afternoon, April 4, 
 1891, as Hamlet, the characters in the tragedy were cast as 
 follows : — 
 
 Hamlet . . . 
 Ghost . . . 
 King Claudius 
 polonius . . . 
 Laertes . . . 
 Horatio 
 Rosencrantz 
 guildenstern 
 Marcellus 
 Bernardo . . 
 Francisco . 
 
 OSRIC . 
 
 Priest 
 First Actor 
 Second Actor . 
 First Gravedigger 
 Second Gravedigger 
 Ophelia . . . 
 Queen Gertrude 
 Player Queen . 
 
 . . Edwin Booth 
 
 . . Albert Bruning 
 
 Frederic Vroom 
 
 Benjamin G. Rogers 
 
 Beaumont Smith 
 
 . . John A. Lane 
 
 Rankin Duvall 
 
 Edward Vroom 
 
 George Hazleton 
 
 Herbert Pattee 
 
 W. R. S. Morris 
 
 . Charles Rankin 
 
 . . . G. Davidson 
 
 . . . James Taylor 
 
 . Charles Forrest 
 
 Wilfred Clarke 
 
 Frank Lodge 
 
 Minna Gale 
 
 Annie E. Proctor 
 
 . . Keith Wakeman 
 
 TRIBUTES. 
 
 With profound regret I learn of our President's death. Booth 
 was, certainly, the greatest tragic actor of his time, and, beyond dis- 
 pute, the noblest figure, as man and actor, our stage has known this 
 century. We shall not look upon his like again. 
 
 AuGusTiN Daly. 
 London, June s. 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
MEMORIALS 299 
 
 My heart goes out in deepest sorrow to you all. 
 
 Joseph Proctor. 
 
 Boston, June 8. 
 
 The whole world mourns with you. Accept the assurance of ray 
 
 deepest sympathy. 
 
 Wilson Barrett. 
 Memphis, Tennessee, June 8. 
 
 The sympathy of our country, the prayers of our profession, and 
 the love of God be with you in your affliction. 
 
 Thomas W. Keene. 
 New York, June 8. 
 
 Am profoundly grieved over the deatli of tlie illustrious actor, and 
 my honoured friend of many years. 
 
 John Russell Young. 
 Philadelphia, June 8. 
 
 Please accept, from the lodge, and from me, our sincere sympa- 
 thy. We join with you in grief over the death of one who had the 
 love and respect of every member of our fraternity. We shall never 
 look upon his like again. 
 
 Maylin J. Pickering, 
 
 Shakespeare Lodge, A. O. E. 
 Philadelphia, June 8. 
 
 After yourselves, no one can grieve more profoundly than L 
 
 Adam Badeau. 
 Alandale, New Jersey, June 8. 
 
 Deepest sorrow, sympathy, and love. Edwin Booth's noble life 
 is a perpetual blessing. Let us live by his example. 
 
 William Winter. 
 Mentone, California, June 8. 
 
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300 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 Too late to reach you, but use my name if you like. Convey to 
 fellow-members of the Players' Club and to the bereaved family the 
 sincere condolences of one who for nearly forty years was among 
 Mr. Booth's most devoted and admiring friends. 
 
 Parke Godwin. 
 Bar Harbour, AIaine, June S. 
 
 To Clement Scott, New York : — 
 
 Have seen J. L. Toole, John Hare, H. Beerbohra-Tree, Charles 
 Wyndham, W. H. Kendal, George Alexander, and Arthur Chud- 
 leigh, representing the English actors. Lay a wreath upon Booth's 
 grave, from the English actors, whom please represent. We all 
 loved him. 
 
 Henry Irving. 
 
 London, June 8. 
 
 THE BOOTH MEMORIAL WINDOW. 
 
 The window placed by Edwin Booth to commemorate his 
 first wife is in the Bishop Berkeley Memorial Church, a beauti- 
 ful building, situated in a lovely, sequestered place at Newport, 
 Rhode Island. It shows a full-length figure of Mary Devlin 
 Booth, standing, with a dove clasped to her bosom. The 
 figure was copied from a painting of her by W. J. Hennessey. 
 
 THE BOOTH BURIAL PLACE. 
 
 The burial place of- the Booth family is in Greenmount 
 Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland. The spot is marked by 
 a shaft of white marble, set upon a base of gray granite 
 that is covered with thick-clustering iv}-. The height of the 
 structure is fifteen feet six inches, the base being five feet 
 square. Around that monument, — which was erected by 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
MEMORIALS 301 
 
 Edwin Booth, May i, 1858, — are buried members of three 
 generations of the Booth family. Junius Brutus Booth and 
 his wife, Edwin's parents, are buried on the west side of the 
 monument, in one grave, which is marked by two head-stones 
 of white marble. On the east side is the grave of John Wilkes 
 Booth, unmarked. In the north-west corner of the lot, at 
 the feet of her parents, is the grave of Asia Booth, — Mrs. 
 John S. Clarke, — marked by a white marble head-stone, of 
 lovely design. A similar stone marks the grave of Rosalie 
 Booth, — who died in 1889, aged 65, — south of the monu- 
 ment and next to that of Richard Booth, the father of Junius, 
 who died on December 29, 1839, aged 76. The remains of 
 Frederick, Elizabeth, and Mary Ann Booth are buried under 
 the monument. [Henry Byron was buried at Pentonville, 
 London.] The inscriptions upon the monument are as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 South side : 
 
 West side : 
 
 JUNIUS BRUTUS BOOTH. 
 
 Born May i, 1796. 
 Died Nov. 30, 1852. 
 
 In the same grave with Junius Brutus Booth 
 is buried the body of Mary Ann, his wife, who 
 survived him 33 years. 
 
 Here follows a medallion portrait of Junius Brutus Booth. 
 At one time the following lines, — which, however, were erased 
 by order of Edwin Booth, though not before they had got into 
 print, — were cut upon the shaft : — 
 
 " Behold the spot where genius lies. 
 O drop a tear when talent dies ! 
 Of tragedy the mighty chief, 
 His power to please surpassed belief. 
 Hie jacet matchless Booth." 
 
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302 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 East side : 
 
 TO THE MEMORY OF THE CHILDREN OF JUNIUS BRUTUS 
 
 and mary ann booth. 
 
 John Wilkes, 
 Frederick, 
 Elizabeth, 
 Mary Ann, 
 Henry Byron. 
 
 BOOTH'S FUNERAL. 
 
 Early in the morning, Friday, June 9, 1893, the Players 
 assembled at their Club House, No. 16 Gramercy Park, New 
 York, to attend the funeral of Edwin Booth. The assembly 
 was numerous. A large company congregated in the street, 
 and all those spectators uncovered their heads as the hearse 
 passed. The funeral procession was led by two carriages, 
 containing the pall-bearers. Then came the hearse ; and be- 
 hind it followed the carriages of the family and other mourning 
 friends. Last of all walked the Players, led by James Lewis, 
 the comedian, and Judge Joseph F. Daly. The procession 
 moved along the south and west sides of Gramercy Park ; 
 through Twenty-first street to Fifth avenue ; up Fifth avenue 
 to Twenty-seventh street ; through Twenty-seventh street to 
 Madison avenue ; up Madison avenue to Twenty-ninth street ; 
 and westward in Twenty-ninth street, to the Church of the Trans- 
 figuration, which it reached at five minutes past ten o'clock. 
 At the church gate it was met by Bishop Potter and his 
 assistants. Rev. Dr. George H. Houghton, rector of the church, 
 and Rev. C. W. Bispham, of Washington. The coffin of Booth 
 was of light oak, with carved corners and brass ornamentation, 
 bearing this inscription : "Edwin Booth. Born November 13, 
 1833. Died June 8, 1893." A wreath of laurel, tied with 
 
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MEMORIALS 303 
 
 purple ribbon, rested on the lid ; and a wreath of laurel, 
 white roses, and palms, was carried behind it, when it was 
 borne into the church. The pall-bearers were Joseph Jeffer- 
 son, Albert M. Palmer, Charles P. Daly, Eastman Johnson, 
 Horace Howard Furness, William Bispham, and Thomas Bailey 
 Aldrich. Parke Godwin had been named as a pall-bearer; 
 but, being far away, — in a remote part of Maine, — he was 
 unable to attend the funeral. The mourners that followed the 
 coffin were Mr. and Mrs. Ignatius Grossman (Edwina Booth), 
 Mrs. D. C. Anderson, Joseph A. Booth, Mrs. William Bispham, 
 Miss Bispham, Mrs. De Wees, Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Magonigle 
 and their two daughters, Creston Clarke, Junius Brutus Booth, 
 Sidney Booth, Mrs. John B. Schoeffel (Agnes Booth), Mr. and 
 Mrs. Bryan Douglas, and Mrs. Alfred Grossman. As the 
 procession entered the church Chopin's Funeral March was 
 performed, by the organist, Mr. J. P. Dod. The service lasted 
 about fifteen minutes. At twenty-five minutes past ten the 
 procession left the church, the organist performing the Dead 
 March in Saul. Among the persons present were : C. W. 
 Couldock, J. H. Stoddart, Harry Watkins, John Albaugh, Stuart 
 Robson, Joseph Haworth, E. H. Sothern, Sidney Woollett, 
 H. C. Jarrett, Daniel Frohman, F. F. Mackay, Louis Aldrich, 
 Alexander Salvini, J. B. Schoeffel, Charles Barnard, H. C. 
 Miner, M. W. Hanley, Antonio Pastor, H. C. Rockwood, William 
 F. Owen, George Becks, S. M. Kent, Francis Wilson, Evert 
 Jansen Wendell, Richard Hooley, Mme. Ponisi, Mrs. Louisa 
 Eldridge, Mrs. Minna Gale Haynes, Mrs. A. M. Palmer, Mr. 
 and Mrs. E. E. Kidder, Miss Julia Arthur, Chandos Fulton, 
 Mr. and Mrs. H. G. Fiske, R. O. Doremus, W. S. Andrews, 
 Edmund Clarence Stedman, Charles E. Carryl, Austin Brere- 
 ton, Henry E. Dixey, John T. Malone, Charles Hanford, 
 Richard Watson Gilder, Brander Matthews, Arthur F. Bowers, 
 John A. Harrington, Edward A. Dithmar, Hart Lyman, H. E. 
 Rhoades, Willis F. Johnson, W. H. Frost, Frankhn Fyles, 
 
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304 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 Dr. Charles Phelps, I. N. Ford, J. R. Towse, and G. E. 
 Woodberry. Clement Scott, of the London Telegraph, — who 
 chanced to be passing through New York, on his wedding 
 tour, — was present, as the formally appointed representative 
 of Henry Irving, J. L. Toole, E. S. Willard, John Hare, H. 
 Beerbohm-Tree, Charles Wyndham, W. H. Kendal, George 
 Alexander, and A. Chudleigh, of the English stage. Among 
 the flower-pieces placed upon the altar was a massive lyre, 
 made of red roses, sent by those actors, inscribed with the 
 words : " From brother actors of Edwin Booth. We all loved 
 him." A floral star and standard, sent by the Actors' Fund, 
 and a floral piUow, sent by the Forrest Lodge, Actors' Order of 
 Friendship, were also displayed. The vicinity of the church 
 in Twenty-ninth street was densely crowded. After the funeral 
 ceremony was ended, the hearse and carriages, with the body 
 and the mourners, proceeded up Fifth avenue to Forty-third 
 street, and through Forty-third street to the Grand Central 
 railway station, whence the body was conveyed to Boston, — 
 by the train starting at 1 1 a.m., — attended by Mr. and Mrs. 
 Grossman, Mr. and Mrs. Magonigle, Mr. and Mrs. Douglas, 
 Joseph A. Booth, Junius B. Booth, Sidney Booth, and T. B. 
 Aldrich. At half-past five 'the train reached the Boston and 
 Albany station, where still another numerous company was 
 assembled, the dramatic profession being represented by the 
 venerable Joseph Proctor and his wife and daughter, H. M. 
 Pitt, William Seymour, Napier Lothian, George Wilson, Joseph 
 Sullivan, Shirley Smith, George Riddle, Miss Annie Clarke, and 
 Mrs. M. A. Pennoyer. The funeral cortege, proceeding to 
 Mount Auburn, was joined by Gen. W. W. Blackmar, Professor 
 Joseph Pierce, Mrs. Juha Ward Howe, Mrs. Leopold Morse, 
 and other friends; and just at sunset all that was mortal of 
 Edwin Booth was laid in the grave. 
 
 " Pray for him, gentle souls, whoe'er ye be." 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
MEMORIALS 305 
 
 BOOTH'S GRAVE. 
 
 The sepulchre of Edwin Booth is in Anemone Path, near 
 Spruce Avenue, Mount Auburn. He was laid beside his first 
 wife, Mary Devlin. The remains of his infant son, Edgar,^ — 
 child of his second wife, Mary F. McVicker, — are also there 
 buried. The spot is marked by a monument, bearing these 
 inscriptions : — 
 
 North side : 
 
 MARY, WIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH. 
 
 Born May 19, 1840. 
 
 Died Feb. 21, 1863. 
 South side : 
 
 The handful here, that once was Mary's earth, 
 Held, while it breathed, so beautiful a soul, 
 That, when she died, all recognised her birth. 
 And had their sorrow in serene control. 
 
 " Not here ! not here ! " to every mourner's heart 
 The wintry wind seemed whispering round her bier ; 
 And when the tomb-door opened, with a start, 
 We heard it echoed from within, — " Not here ! " 
 
 The verses were written by T. W. Parsons — himself now 
 passed away. 
 
 On a small stone over the grave of the child is the follow- 
 ing inscription : — 
 
 North side : 
 
 EDGAR. 
 
 South side : 
 
 EDGAR, INFANT SON OF EDWIN AND MARY F. BOOTH. 
 
 July 4, 1870. 
 
 iThe boy Edgar, born in Booth's theatre, New York, died almost 
 immediately after his birth, to the great disappointment and grief of his 
 parents. 
 
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306 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 Writing to me on December ii, 1881, from the Vendome, 
 in Boston, Booth made this allusion : — 
 
 " Have been to Mount Auburn to-day, and as I looked at my 
 baby's headstone, I wondered how I should explain to those who 
 visit Molly's grave that it is not her boy lying there beside her : 
 whether I had better place a slab there, to Mary's memory, though 
 buried in Chicago." 
 
 BOOTH'S LETTERS. 
 
 In the course of the many years during which I was blessed 
 with his friendship, Edwin Booth addressed to me between 
 three and four hundred letters. From one of them, which 
 came in a time of bitter affliction, I shall venture to print an 
 extract here, — because, to the friends who mourn for him, it 
 will seem like a personal message from beyond the grave, and 
 it will fitly close this humble and reverent record of his life : — 
 
 Boston, April 23, 1886. 
 Dear Will : . Look forward to the near future, in which 
 life is sure and everlasting. Think of our sorrows, and rejoice 
 that your boy has escaped the common lot of suifering ! Think, 
 as I have thought, in all my many trials that — 
 
 " The worst is not, so long as we can say 
 ' This is the worst.' " 
 
 Consider how brief is the very longest sojourn here ; how soon you 
 will have your boy again. As I sat by what I believed would be 
 Edwina's death-bed, the thought of her dear mother was always 
 present, and I thanked God for her early death, — which spared her 
 the sufferings she would have endured, in the misfortunes that so 
 frequently have befallen me. So let your mind reflect, and grow 
 strong in hope and faith. 
 
 I cannot grieve at death. It seems to me the greatest boon the 
 Almighty has granted us. Consequently 1 cannot appreciate the 
 grief of those who mourn the loss of loved ones, particularly if they 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
MEMORIALS 307 
 
 go early from this hell of misery to which we have been doomed. 
 A friend of mine, who has never known sorrow, told me once that 
 she " had no doubt of heaven being a very delightful place, but, for 
 the present, her home was good enough for her." She goes to 
 church twice every Sunday, too. The shadow of death is now over 
 her home ; and, if it falls, I've no doubt her grief will be excessive 
 — as her happiness has been. . . . 
 
 Man's life is but a span, though it be a century long ; and who 
 knows how soon you and the dear mother may go to join the angel- 
 guide ? When 1 last saw my mother alive, she had just entered her 
 eighty-fourth year, after a weary battle of certainly sixty years of 
 sorrow. Her face was seamed with wrinkles, in every one of which 
 could be plainly seen the ravages of suffering. No one ever loved his 
 parent dearer than I ; and yet, for years, I prayed, — silently, deeply, 
 in my soul, — for her release : and when it came, and I was hastily 
 summoned to her death-bed, I found the weary old woman trans- 
 formed into a most beautiful object, — so beautiful that I would not 
 have believed it to be my poor old mother's corse, had I seen it by 
 mere chance. The natural grief that possessed me, from the moment 
 I was summoned until I raised the cloth from her dear face, ceased 
 at once, and my soul said, "God be thanked ! " And I was happy in 
 her happiness, — which the good God revealed to me in the exqui- 
 site loveliness of her dead features. ... It is God's sign-manual of 
 Immortality. In it I see more than all the books and all the pulpits 
 teach. " I have looked upon the world for (nearly double) four times 
 seven years, and since I could distinguish " good from bad, I have 
 regarded what men term misfortune as the best tonic an apathetic 
 spirit can receive. Horatio, as Hamlet depicts him, — 
 
 "As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing, 
 ■ A man, that Fortune's buffets and rewards 
 
 Has ta'en with equal thanks," 
 
 I have always regarded as the type of the true being. [Your selec- 
 tion of those lines, as a motto for your early sketch of my life, was 
 most appropriate. I hope they will be my epitaph, if I have one, for 
 they are true. J Horatio is not a stoic, but a calm, firm believer : — 
 
 " With meditating that she must die once, 
 I hjive the patience to endure it now." 
 
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308 LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 
 Those are words that have more meaning to me than they con- 
 vey to him who contemns philosophy as " cold comfort." All my 
 life has been passed on " picket duty," as it were. I have been on 
 guard, on the lookout for disasters, — for which, when they come, 
 I am prepared. Therefore I have seemed, to those who do not 
 really know me, callous to the many blows that have been dealt me. 
 Why do not you look at this miserable little life, with all its ups and 
 downs, as I do ? At the very worst, 'tis but a scratch, a temporary 
 ill, to be soon cured, by that dear old doctor, Death — who gives 
 us a life more healthful and enduring than all the physicians, tem- 
 poral or spiritual, can give. You have advised me well, in my 
 perplexities, and I am therefore bold in advising you. God bless 
 
 yo" • Edwin. 
 
 " Dignuin laude virum 
 2Iiisa vctat mori." 
 
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 recommended his earlier volume upon [Shakespeare's] England to many 
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 tic scenery of the mother-country with a mingled affection and sentiment 
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 search of history, but his offerings — praise be to history that they lie upon 
 her shrine — are bits from his wanderings in England, Scotland, and 
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 tated — and the thread runs through all the book — upon the divine poet with 
 whose story and spirit the region is ha.\\o\ved.''''—/o!i7-^ia/ 0/ £ducatwjt. 
 
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 'shadows' of the stage, transforming them into enduring pictures of 
 reality in this charming little book, in wliich we find chapters on Jefferson, 
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 of present interest and future value." — Boston Budget. 
 
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 Philadelphia Record, '^ ' 
 
 "Mr. Winter's exquisite style lends a chai^ 
 ' Shadows,' and there are many passages Oi an^p^ 
 it a valuable contribution to stage literature, "-^j^, 
 
 " It contains sketches of the elder Boot!''- \ ■ 
 original actor ever seen in America ; of Fo-re^^ ; 
 celebrated for his personation of Falstaff ; * )f J" 
 Brougham ; of Mudjeska, and of twenty oth-rs, -. 
 general aspect. An appreciative chapter is on 
 Chicago Herald. ^ , 
 
 " The essays . are significant not only a^ 
 
 the best literary criticism of the drama in our 
 forming with the first series under its title, alreai' 
 complete history of the American stage. 
 
 "Mr, Winter's rare gifts of insight, and his '■ 
 pression are nowhere more conspicuous than in i 
 brace a wide range of subject in their treatment o. 
 in their comment, commemorative and historical, 
 them contemporai-y, but not a few of whom h,->- 
 'shadows' on the other shore." — Neiu York Home / 
 
 " An exceedingly entertaining contribution to 
 ican drama." — Boston Beacon. 
 
 " As long as men and women will want to 
 kings and queens of tragedy and comedy, these ij 
 stage with which llr. Winter has been contempora. 
 delight. . It is a rare intellectual pleasure to reau, 
 and crystalline English, the calm judgments of a man 
 ably facile princefs in his s.n."—Xewarii Daily Advert. 
 
 •< 
 
 ^ Henr 
 
 . Pry" 
 
 o Harry Sta 
 
 lOle Prince," ir 
 
 then had a b 
 
 uV. March 24— "i 
 
 J? acted, with 1 
 
 ■" — Same performai 
 "; -"The Trumpe 
 with Edwin Be 
 
 *iOh 28— "A Liesson To 
 
 "Rldwin Booth as Mens 
 
 -oe was repeated Ma 
 
 . 21— Edwin Booth a 
 
 ^r. To Merchants." 
 
 ;jril 1— "Sister K 
 
 .10th as Charles Ui 
 
 i— "The Heir-at-L 
 
 ' ■ ic Booth as Dicli 
 
 5— "The Trumpeter', 
 
 with Edwin Booth a 
 
 " — "Guy Mannerini 
 
 ^ooth as Colonel IV 
 
 - "A Lesson to Li 
 
 .in Booth as St. 1 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
Digitized by Microsoft®