to Girard, Erie County, Pennsylvania, when,
October 15, 1833, was born their gifted son. The boy was blessed with
one brother and two sisters, and death has yet to strike its first blow
in the family.

At the age of thirteen years Denman accompanied his family to the old
home in Swanzey, where for several years he received the advantages of
the education afforded by the district school. For his higher education
he was indebted to the excellent scholastic opportunities afforded by
the Mount Caesar Seminary in Swanzey.

At the age of nineteen he entered the employ of his uncle in Lowell,
Massachusetts, serving as book-keeper in a wholesale store, and in that
city he made his _debut_ as Orasman in the military drama of the FRENCH
SPY.

In 1854, at the age of twenty-one years, he was engaged by John
Nickerson, the veteran actor and manager, as a member of the stock
company of the Royal Lyceum, Toronto. From the first his success was
assured, for aside from his natural adaptation to his profession he
possesses indomitable perseverance, a quality as necessary to the rise
of an artist as genius. On the provincial boards of Toronto he studied
and acted for the next few years, perfecting himself in his calling and
preparing for wider fields. Then he acted the rollicking Irishman to
perfection; the real live Yankee, with his genuine mannerisms and
dialect, with proper spirit and without ridiculous exaggeration, and the
Negro, so open to burlesque. The special charm of his acting in those
characters was his artistic execution. He never stooped to vulgarities,
his humor was quaint and spontaneous, and the entire absence of apparent
effort in his performance gave his audience a most favorable impression
of power in reserve. His favorite characters were Salem Scudder in THE
OCTOROON, and Myles Na Coppaleen in COLLEEN BAWN.

In April, 1862, Mr. Thompson started for the mother country, and there
his reception was worthy a returning son who had achieved a well-earned
reputation. His opening night in London was a perfect ovation, and
during his engagement the theatre was crowded in every part. He met with
flattering success during his brief tour, performing at Edinburg and
Glasgow before his return to Toronto the following fall.

From that time must be dated the career of Mr. Thompson as a _star_
or leading actor and manager, at first in low comedy, so called, or
eccentric drama, and later, in what he has made a classic New England