the list of subscribers including the names of
many well-known citizens. The Winter Garden Theatre was managed by
Booth and his brother-in-law, the clever actor, J. S. Clarke, until
Booth bought out Clarke and assumed the entire management himself. In
1865 the terrible tragedy occurred which blighted Booth's whole
after-life, and for a time drove him from the stage. He did not act
again until 1866; in 1867 the theatre was destroyed by fire, and in
1868 the corner-stone of a new building, to be known as Booth's
Theatre, was laid, and in a short time New York was in possession, for
the first time, of a thoroughly appointed, comfortable, and handsome
theatre. This building was made famous by a number of Shakespearian
revivals that for beauty, magnificence, and scenic poetry have, we
believe, never been equalled. We doubt if "Hamlet," "Julius Caesar," or
"Romeo and Juliet," have ever been presented with more satisfying
completeness to the eye and to the imagination than in this theatre by
Mr. Booth and his company. Although the theatre was in existence for
thirteen years, from 1868 to 1882, when it was finally closed, Mr.
Booth's management lasted only about half that time. The speculation
was not a fortunate one for the actor; the expenses ate up all the
profits, and Mr. Booth was bankrupted by his venture. He paid all his
debts, however, and went bravely to work to build up a new fortune. He
made a tour of the South, which was one long ovation, and in a season
of eight weeks in San Francisco he took in $96,000.

In 1880 he went to England and remained there two years. In 1882 he
visited Germany, acting in both countries with great success, and in
1883 he returned home and made a tour of America, repeating everywhere
his old triumphs, and winning golden opinions from all classes of his
countrymen.

Edwin Booth died in New York, June 7, 1893, at the Players' Club,
where he had lived for the last few years of his life. This was a
building erected by his own munificence, fitted up with luxurious
completeness, and presented to a society of his professional brethren
for the use and behoof of his fellow-artists, reserving for himself
only the modest apartment where he chose to live, in sympathetic touch
with those who still pursued the noble art he had relinquished.

Mr. Booth was twice married. By his first wife, Miss Mary Devlin, who
died in 1863, he had one child, a daughter; by the second, Miss
McVicker, he had no childre