New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-07-01
William Winter, Poet and Dean
OF Dramatic Critics, Dies at s
Writer for Many Years in the Service of The
Tribune Was Intimate of Longfellow, Who In
Hucnced His Early Career-A Man of Winning
Personality, He Was Beloved by Stage Folk

most distinguished hgures IN literature
and on the stage. He knew the Eng
lish countryside. with all that 1t
breathes OF an historical and a poetic
past, as few among Englishmen them
selves have known il, and wherever Ia
fingered TO reflect on the ancient glo-
ries of the land and TO write those let
tiers which so often have enchanted the
readers of this journal he made last
ing friends. In Standardization par
ticularly was he held in honor, for his
devotion 10 Shakespeare's town was
unique. Profoundly versed as he was
in the works of the dramatist. and
saturated with the atmosphere of the
exquisite Warwickshire country, his
writings on Stafford and its neigh
borhood played an important part IN
that movement of travel toward Eng
lands greatest literary shrine which
has constituted one Of the most salient
phenomena of the century.
FRS: and last Winter published many
books, a number of them consisting Of
letters ard criticisms originally print.
ed in The Tribune, and others issued
Independently. He made. several col
lecticns Of his poems, but'the bibliog-
raphy of his ks-eXceedinGly volu-
minous-is richest in titles pointing 10
his inSatiable interest in tho theatre.
he prepared an edition of the plays
customarily used by Edwin Booth, he
edited the fragment of autobiography
left by John Brougham who had set
out to write the history of his career
at Winters straightforward among
the memoirs prepared by him are those
of Joseph jefferson. Ada Rehan, John
Gilbert, Richard Mansfield and other
distinguished actors. From 1909, when
he left the staff of this paper, down to
The day of his death. he was rs indus
trious "a ever, adding several impor-
tant volumes of biographical and crit
zeal literature to the prodigious list
which stands 10 his credit.
Style Compared to Lambs
Winters style has been said to recall
the eighteenth century; he has been
compared, and justly. to Charles Lamb;
but Winter WAS invariably himself; he
was a man of genius, and he stamped
his own quality upon everything that
he did. lie disclamed the facility that
was attributed TO him in virtue Of the
delightful fuidity of his style; he
wrote, he would say, with difficulty, and
with a solicitude for the integrity of
his productions which very nearly
amounted 10 trepidation. Yet If there
was one impression more than another
which Winter conveyed it was that he
approached his theme with such store
Of experience and knowledge, with
such swift insight, with such absolute
command Of the means Of literary ex-
preston. that the words fell from his
pen in spontaneous and efortless per
lection. OF no writer for the press IN
his time, and of none of his contem-
poraries laboring in other paths of let
tiers. could itbe more fifty said that he
touched nothing which he did not
adorn. His knowledge Of literature as
well as of the drama was deep. and IN
the use that he made Of it he was actu-
atee necessarily by an answering de-
votion to the indubitable masters.
Cautious readers sometimes complained
that with him Shakespeare was touch
stone too frequently used. He had, 1t
is true. q passion for the immortals;
a reverence for the monuments OF Eng
lish literature. He was constantly
reading Shakespeare; he was constant
ly reading Boswell also. He was
learned in the memoirs and historical
writings generally Of the Elizabethan
era and of the last century. lie loved
Scott and Byron, of whom, indeed, he
could not speak without enthusiasm.
All the great names of English litera-
ture, in fact. were to him symbols OF
spiritual and intellectual sensations
which never lost their zest, and 1t was
the mark of his individuality that,
while writing as though in the com
pany of the poets and romancers, the
dramatists and prose writers he knew
80 well. his generation for them was
powerless 70 force his own work into
the channels characteristic of any one
writer of the past.
His Personality Winning
The personality of William Winter
was winning. OF middle height, with
delicate features, blue eyes and dark,
silky hair that in his last years turned
to silver and crowned him in pictu-
rescue disol der, he was an original and
attractive figure. His talk, like his
written criticism. was brilliantly orig
inal and peculiarly endearing. IL was
full of substance; often vehement, but
never without the most beguiling vi
vacity; never without kindling charm.
Mrs. Winter survives him, with three
of their five children--Pe William
jefferson and one daughter, Viola.
Arthur Winter, who died young, In
1886, is commemorated in the Arthur
Winter Memorial Library in Staten Isl
and Academy, which Mr.. Winter found
ed in that year. Louis Winter, another
son, died in California in 1905.