Life and Art of Edwin Booth

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Please do not assume that a book's appearance in 'The Builder' library means it can be used in any manner anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liability can be quite severe. The Webmaster LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH WILLIAM WINTER THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GIFT OF Phliip J.D. Van Dyke BOOTH AS HAMLET. From the portrait from life by Oliver I. Lay by permission of Mrs. Lay. ' LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH BY WILLIAM WINTER 'He's goJie, and with hiyn what a world are dead NEU^ EDITION, REVISED lUta gork MACiMlLLAN AND COMPANY AM) LONDON 1894 : Copyright, 1893, By MACMILLAN AND CO. Nezv edition, revised, Copyright, 1894, By MACMILLAN AND CO. Norfajootj 53rcgs J. S. Cushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith. Boston, Mass., U.S.A. PA/ REMEMBERING OLD AND HAPPY TIMES I DEDICATE THIS MEMORIAL OF OUR FRIEND AND COMRADE eHtitotn 33ootij FOREVER LOVED AND HONOURED AND FOREVER MOURNED There is a loorld elseiohere lGS7a;i'i ; PEEFACE. [July 28, 1S98.] Lv writing this memoir of Edwin Booth I have largely expanded my sketch of him that ivas published in 1872, in association vnth portraits by William J. Ilennessy, under the title of Edwin Booth in Twelve Dramatic Characters. That sketch, brief, meagre, and now superseded, has long been out of print. I have also drawn upon scat- tered essays of mine, in the Neio York Trib- une since 1865, and in other publications. This biography rests upon intimate personal knoidedge of the subject, and upon informa- tion furnished to me by Booth himself. He was aware that I intended to write his Life, and he expressed approval of that intention : for he knew that I honoured and loved him. that I had followed his career vnth sympathy and studious attention, ever since his return from California, in 1856 ; and that I was acquainted with it, and vnth his views and feelings respecting it. The story is that of 9 lO PREFACE. a dreamer^ who, nevertheless, threw himself into the strife of action; a simple gentle- man, loho ivas often perplexed and bewil- dered, " among the thorns and dangers of this world.'''' The chief public work of Booth's life ivas 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 ivhat maimer that loork loas done, and for what reasons it ended in adversity, this narrative could not omit to declare, even though the record contains some cen- sure 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. TJpjon Booth'' s art and iuflue?ice as an actor, and upon his character and conduct, I have endeavoured to cast ample light. His importance to the world is the justifica- tion of his biography. The commemorative vjords that it was my privilege to write, in the Tribune, on the morning after his death [he died on June 7, 1893], iirill perhaps best express at once the reason for this book, and the conviction and feeling with which it has been written : — A blow that has long been expected has at last fallen, and Edwin Booth is dead. s; PREFACE. II By this death the community loses the fore- most and the best of American actors^ and one of the greatest tragedians that have ever lived. To the sufferer himself the end came as a merciful release from misery. Booth'* illness, obviously from the first, teas of a fatal character, and the wasting pain icith which it icas accompanied not only could not be cured but could scarcely be mitigated. To ?iis friends — and no man vms ever blessed with more profound and constant affection — the loss is a bitter bereavement but they have a reason for submission and patience, ichen they consider ichat he has been spared, and they have a great consola- tion v;hen they remember what a noble character he developed; what a beautiful life he lived; with ichat undeviating p>urpose and splendid integrity he used the faculties of genius for the benefit of art ; what an ideal of purity, stateliness, and grace he fulfilled; what blessings of goodness he diffused, and what a stainless and radiant example he has left. If it be success — and in the full sense of that word it certainly is success — so to live that the world shall be better for your presence, and your felloio-creatures shall be strengthened and.ennobled by your influence, Booth had a life of splendid tri- 12 PREFACE. umpli : 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 he never paltered with it. His sense of humour was especially acute ; yet it never made him finvolous, still less did it ever degrade him to the level of the common- place. His mind was noble ; his spirit was grave, contemplative, and intense ; his tem- perament, 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 thoughtful of himself or more considerate of others. No man was ever more genuine. 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 justified by his deed. In single- ness of purpose, in devotion to spiritual, moral, and intellectual beauty, in allegiance to art, in poise of character, in cheerful patience, in benignity and sweetness, in fidelity to duty, in simplicity and dignity of PRKFACK. 13 life, in scope and height of artistic purpose, and in worth of artistic achievement, whether as a man or as an actor, he was an excep- tional 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 world — about the compelling power of the public taste. The practical recognition of those forces as rules of conduct is the resource of intrinsi- cally weak and subordinate minds. Origi- nal, powerful, and independent, Booth walked in the pathway that teas natural to him, fulfilled his destiny, 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 consideration of any theory as to the alleged desire of the multitude. He proceeded on the simple doctrine that the best plays in the language are the plays that ought to be presented, and that the highest style of dramatic art is the style that ought to be displayed. Those plays he produced, and of that style of art he was a conspicu- ous and victorious exponent. He gave the people, not what they are supposed to icant, but what they ought to have ; and he so im- 14 PREFACE. pressed them by his siiicerittj, and so fasci- nated them by his genius, that during a stage career offorty-tuin years they foiloiued his leadership with ever-increasing admira- tion, sympathy, confidence, and delight. In thousands of homes, all over the land, the feeling of the hour is not simply regret for the death of a great actor, hut sorrow for the loss of a personal friend.

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