Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-09-30
Edwin Booth in London.

American triumphs III England have
lccolne familiar since the victory of
itp yacht America. but even Jhn Bull
mus :4ave been aghast when an Ameri-
cau Lufse won the Derby. 1t was
-urrrss which followed hard upon that
of Edwin Booth at the theater. But
they are all triumphs in the family.
litq Iois had been under English train
Of E1gIIsh jockeys; and Edwin Booth
/, .At. fon of AL Englishnan. The
greatest Of American tragedIaUs," as
he Biz .raPhtcaL Dictionary says. was
borEiu Londop.' Tie father of Edwin,
Il e FL Ter g 10Th, did net come to this
c,uh,rv until he was twenty four years
old. Tie stage, tor, is here largely
English. It's traditions, and many,
;"rhula most, of its great uames, are
English. lu very obvious sense
Edwin Booth, playing 10 London, Is
going home; ami indeed the English
speaking race everywhere goes home
when it returns to the British island.
II was with al instructive affection,
which did not show him less an Ameri-
can, that Hawthorne called his book of
English sketches " Our Old Home" and
the lrucst and most faithful Americas
heart Often recogniz .s its own feeling
in i ,ughton's pathetic picture of the
return of the May flower.
The welcome of the younger Booth
in London recalls the permanent wei
come which the elder Booth commanded
in this country. He led wild and
wayward life, and toward the end it was
always doubtful whether he would be
announced. Bot it was prOdlgiOus
appearance when there was no dIssp-
polntment. The Easy Chair saw him
long ago IN small city where an old
barn had been transformed into thea
ter, and where the accessories were
auusiugly imperfect and unsatisfactory.
The barn held but few hundreds OF
persons. and Was very much of the kind
/ of play house in which the Crummles
company appeared. and MIR. Folai'
lntOned deep tragedy. But to mex
perIenced eyes it had all the charm
which Charles Lamb found III Drury
Lane or the Hsymarket-a charm
which the perfectly appointed metro
polltan theaters of later day do not
rival. To the young mind the name
Booth was merely that Of the most
famous actor Of the time. But to the
elders who had seen Edmund k.an,
and whose rapt delight aud awe had
been fifty expressed by the elder Dana
in the very first number of the Idle
Man." he was interesting as the one
man who had rivalled K.an in the favor
of the English audience. Cooke. also.
and Conway, they remembered, and
now they were to scan critically AL
had already allotted.
That first evening III a theater Was
absolutely unique, until long afterwsrd
III Paris Rachel passed across the stage.
rne play was the "Iron Chest" and
Booth AZ Sir Eiward Mortimer was
narrowing lie was overwhelming. 1t
Is AL unrelieved. somber tragedy, anu
it is incoL ceivable that people should
deliberately go to see it for pleasure
But its effect upon that audience MAS
indescribable. There were gusts Of pas
siouate action which swept the actor
about the stage AZ If whirled by tor
uado, and the Easy Chair recalls per
fect]y the feeling of satisfaction in its
young heart that, whatever happened.
the terrible man could not be whiried
INTO the balcony where it was sitting,
holding very hard Ivy protecting
hand. The deep. penetrating, aid Ill
tiuitely pathetic tone of b Oth's voice
was exquisite As sometimes in fine
oratory, it was the music of the iutoDa-
ton, more than the words spoken,
which went ringing and thrilling to
the heart. The Intense gloom OF the
play was AN atmosphere which always
recurs when the name of Sir Edward
Mortimer or OF the elder Booth is
mentioned. What Dana said of ksau
is singularly true to the recollection of
Booth lin this dismal drama: In his
highest-wrought passion, when every
limb and muscle are alive and culver
ing, and his gestures are buried ami
violent, nothing appears ranted or
Overacted, because he makes us feel
that, with all this, there is something
still Within hiu vainly struggling for
Itterance." Powerful as tho action
was, it was felt 10 be made quate to tn,
actual passion.
The younger Booth resembles the
elder only III an occasional intensity of
feeling and expression. For the rest.
he would be described in the compari
son as graceful, refined. classical
words which would not naturally oc
cur in speaking of the elder. He con
trasts with him as Macready would
contrast with Edmund Kean. The
whirlwinds of passion, without mere
defamation end rant, vanished with
the elder Booth.
The English welcome of the younger
has been so cordial that Mr.. Irving
ought to give America the opportunity
of showing him how heartily ais"
America would welcome the Euglish
uaan. - Editors Easy Chair, in Harpers
Magazine.
A writer in the Lfdger mentions a