New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-02-12
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
JIrN!US AND EDWIN BOOTH.


This is the third of the series of youmesin which,
through the energetic and liberal enterprise Of Mr.
Laurence Hutton and Messrs. James 4. Osgood d
Co., the history of the stage in America is being cast
into compendious. authentic, accessible ana per-
manent form. The first volume was the Life Of Ed
win Forrest written by Lawrence Barrett The
second vas the Life of the Jeersons of four genera
tions written by William Winter. The present book
Is biography of Junius BTutus Booth and Edwin
Booth, father and son, and is the work of ASIA
Booth Clarke, daughter of J. b. Booth and wife OF
the eminent comedian John S. Clarke, OF Philadel-
phia and London. Mrs Clarke has sketched her
father in about hundred pages and her brother IN
about fifty. and has performed her difficult task
with dignity delicate taste and gentle feeling. Her
manner is simple and direct. She has evidently
sa riiced anal sis and description 70 the necessary
of bringing the material facts of the subject within
brief compass and. while reverent and affection
ate in spirit she has wisely avoided the air of per-
sonal eulogy. BY a free of the words of other
writer's carefully culled from the journals of the
past to record the riumphs and celebrate the VIZ
tues of her honored relatives.
The work, however, is not so much memoir as a
collection of materials upon which n memoir might
be written There is little or no background to the
picture there are hut few references TO the persons
with whom the elder Booth associated there Is
no exposition of the state of the Stage in his time
upon the darker aptcrs in his expericnce-so gro
teSque so humorous, sad, deplorably miserable
there Is scarcely touch; nor has even the attempt
been made 10 state, III sympathetic form, the sub
stance and salient qualities of his nature As an actor
The chief facts of his career are set down. The
tonishing effects that he produced denoted and
this testimony is rounded with tribute to ms
mental power and moral worth There the biog-'
rapher rests Tho ketch of Edwin Booth is still
more reticent and guarded-a rapid synopsis OF
events with scarcely any comment al all. Much is
gained though. when the public obtains clear and
Trustworthy record of facts aud THIS Mrs Clarke has
gwen. To do much more would require volumeat
least twice as large this one mood entirely I'M
trammelled and mans knowledge of the men, If
Thomas Flynn or the late James Cakes had write EN-
life of the elder Booth. while 1t might not have
been as delicate it must have preserved far more Of
the essential character of the and OF the flavor
and fragrance of his being and thus have been far
more valuable aid for the study of that human ma
tnre when underlies all dramatic art Yet Mrs.
Clarke a. far as she goes has wrought exceedingly
well and while her readers might not be able. out
of what she has here set down, TO construct the I'M
ace of a great and overwhelming genius they as
suredly can deduce from it the idea of an original
and formidable personality, austere yet gentle
philosopher and dominant power upon the stage
of his time The daughter has c"mmemorated the
parent. 1t will be the task of future historian to
depict on afnpler canvas, and in holder and
richer coors the actor and the man.
The life of Junius Bruins Booth was full of in
cidents and yet,-aside from occurrences within his
own mind, on the theatre of his own intellectual
and spiritual experience,-it did not comprise many
important events. He lived a few months more than
Hfty-six years. He was born in Saint Pancras Par
ish London, in May, 1896, and he died, board of
a steamboat in the Mississippi River, November 30,
1852 His grandfather, John Booth silver
smith. HIS grandm, ther Elizabeth Wilkes, was a
relative of that pernicious but able demagogue,
Wilkes the AgtatOr His father, Richard Booth,
was lawyer, and a Bntlon who believed in
"Wllkes and Liberty" and reVerenced the charac-
ter of Washingto "a very different nan from the
member for MiddeSex Junius well educated
and he early showed taste for literature and the
arts His first ESSAYS at the practical business of
life were experimental. He tried printing; he tried
the British Navy; he tried painting and sculpture;
and he tried the law but all these trials came to
nothing At last he hit upon the right avocatiOn,
and became an actor This was in lSl3-and he re-
manned on the stage from that time till the end of
his days, period of thirty years so that he
had professional career lasting four years longer
than that of CiaITick and least ten years longer
than that of Kean.
He began modestly, CdmpiilO, iii TObin's fire
comedy of " The Honeymoon" December 13, 1913,
at Deptford, at a salary of pound a week.
Then for three years he led the life of a strolng
player-a lite which to hardy youth of seventeen
must have been pleasant one, more especially as
it involved trip 10 the Continent. One of the
first writers, strange TO say whose favorable opinion
he attracted was that malignant and filthy villain
Anthony Pasquin DR. Thomas Williams, who gave
him sound, practical advice. in a small way, ex-
tremely characteristic Of the man. Booths first
appearance in London was made in the course of
this noyitiate when he came forth, at Covent Gar
den as Sirius, in LAS You Like It," and when Miss
Sally Booth, who of the players there, con-
siderately suggested that he should add TO his
name so that hers might not be disgraced by any
Implied association or relationship with him. After
that he took the provinces again. and presently at
Brighton an accidental opportunity arrived for him
TO win exceptional distinction. kean had been an
nounced here, to plavST Giles Orcredch but he did
not come and Booth assigned as a substitute
for the famous actOr--then in the second or third
year of his sudden and enormous success. 1t was
perilous ordeal but the young aspIant passed IT
with honor and then the tide of his fortunes m1ne
diately began to rise On February II, 1917, he
was allowed a trial night at Covent Garden, as
Richard Ill., and he acted there with such splendid
ability that the adherents of Kean-and even Kean
hiInself-presentiy became alarmed at the apparl-
ton of so dangerous "a rival.
Many pages have been written about the troubles
which thereupon ensucd betwixt COvent Garden |
and Drury Lane. 1t seems certain that an effort
was made-in which Kean active partici- |
pant-to lure Booth away from the former theatre,
10 engage him at the latter. TO make him play with
Kean at "a disadvantage to himself and then finally
10 shelve him. To some extent the scheme sue
ceeded. Booth, never worldly wise person. was
only in his twenty-irst year at this time, and he
fell an easy prey TO the wiles of his enemies. lie
could not obtain the salary that he wanted at
Covent Garden; he was under contract; he was
II