THE HAMLET MEDAL. Ar the close of his presentation speech [p. 42], Judge Fullerton hung the medal upon the actor's neck. Booth replied: : 66 It is impossible for me to respond in fitting terms to the graceful, eloquent, and very complimentary words just spoken. While accepting the beautiful token of your appreciation of my professional merits, I am still more proud to have your estimation of me as a man. It behooves me to say that I am thankful. Beggar that I am, I am poor in thanks." Accustomed to conceal my feelings beneath the player's mask, I find it difficult to express them. Therefore I beg you will receive these three simple words, I thank you, the very utmost of my ability in speech-making, sincere expression of an humble and grateful heart. Then, turning to the audience, Booth said: — as the To you, to whom I owe so much, who have so generously sustained me, I beg leave, likewise, to tender my most grateful acknowledgments. The debt I owe you can never be paid, but I trust that my future endeavours as an actor, and my conduct as a man, will ever deserve your approval and support. THE WILKES BOOTH TRAGEDY. EDWIN BOOTH, ESQ. Letters. PARKER HOUSE, BOSTON, 7 O'CLOCK, A.M. My Dear Sir: A fearful calamity is upon us. The President of the United States has fallen by the hand of an assassin, and I am shocked to say suspicion points to one nearly related to you as the perpetrator of this horrid deed. God grant it may not prove so! With this knowledge, and out of respect to the anguish which will fill the public mind as soon as the appalling fact shall be fully revealed, I have concluded to close the Boston theatre until further notice. Please signify to me your co-operation in this matter. In great sorrow, and in haste, I remain, yours very truly, HENRY C. JARRETT. FRANKLIN SQUARE, BOSTON, April 15, 1865. HENRY C. JARRETT, ESQ. My Dear Sir: With deepest sorrow and great agitation, I thank you for relieving me from my engagement with yourself and the public. The news of the morning has made me wretched indeed, not only because I have received the unhappy tidings of the suspicions of a brother's crime, but because a good man, and a most justly honoured and patriotic ruler, has fallen, in an hour of national joy, by the hand of an assassin. The memory of the thousands who have fallen in the field, in our country's defence, during this struggle, cannot be forgotten by me, even in this, the most distressing day of my life. And I most sincerely pray that the victories we have already won may stay the brand of war and the tide of loyal blood. While mourning, in common with all other loyal hearts, the death of the President, I am oppressed by a private woe not to be expressed in words. But whatever calamity may befall me and mine, my country, one and indivisible, has my warmest devotion. BOOTH'S THEATRE. EDWIN BOOTH. PRECAUTION FOR THE PUBLIC SAFETY. IN Booth's theatre ample precaution was taken against fire. Between the flies were rows of perforated pipes through which the water could be forced and sprayed upon the hanging scenery. The pipes were controlled by valves in each flygallery, upon which, during performances, a corps of stage carpenters was always stationed. There were five hundred feet of regulation" hose, with fire-butts in each corner 66 of the auditorium and the stage. Mr. Magonigle caused the members of the mechanical department of the theatre to be organised into a fire-brigade, with the master carpenter as the chief. A large bell hung over the proscenium-arch, which was known as the "fire-bell," and it was never to be used for any other purpose than to sound a fire-alarm. The stage, above and below, and the auditorium, were divided into districts, and, in case of alarm, the bell would indicate the location of the fire, so as to send the brigade to the exact place of danger. Fire rehearsals occurred, at intervals of two weeks-the exact time being known only to the business manager, the chief, and the janitor. [The family of the latter lived in the theatre, and he was apprised in order that there might be no needless trouble.] These precautions were so much appreciated by the insurance companies that they considered the risk of fire one and a half or two per cent less than at any other theatre in the city, at that time. THE BOOTH FESTIVAL, JUNE 1880. (From the N. Y. Tribune, May 31 and June 8, 1880.) It was made known some time ago that Edwin Booth would go to England this summer, and it is probable that he will make a professional appearance in London and other European capitals. His career on the American stage has been one of nobly ambitious effort, splendid achievement and commanding importance; and it seems eminently proper, on the eve of his departure from his native land, that his fellow-citizens should formally testify their sense of the worth of his labours, and their appreciation of his character. Booth has always upheld the highest standard in theatrical affairs, and largely to his personal example and influence it is due that we possess a stage that with all its defects is yet worthy of intellectual respect, and can rightly be viewed as a credit to our civilisation. Those views have prompted Mr. Booth's friends to arrange for him a farewell banquet, at which the voice of appreciation and the kindly sentiment of the American public with regard to him may make itself heard with no uncertain sound. This tribute takes the form of a breakfast, which is to occur on June 15, at Delmonico's, in this city, and at which the attendance of representative men not residents of New York alone, but of other cities-will be large. The committee of arrangements consists of the Hon. John R. Brady, chairman; George W. Carleton, treasurer; Lester Wallack, Joseph Jefferson, Lawrence Barrett, Whitelaw Reid, William Winter, Algernon S. Sullivan, Charles Watrous, Laurence Hutton, E. C. Stedman, Jervis McEntee, J. R. Osgood, the Rev. H. W. Bellows, Horace Porter, and S. R. Gifford. The letters which have passed between Mr. Booth and his friends, expressing the motive, spirit, and design of the proposed tribute, are an essential part of the dramatic record. TO EDWIN BOOTH, ESQ. NEW YORK, May 22, 1880. Dear Mr. Booth: In view of your projected journey to Europe, it is the earnest desire of your many friends in this community to give an expression, not less cordial because formal and public, to the high esteem in which you are held, and to their sense of the honour you have reflected upon the American stage, and the excellent and ennobling influence which, throughout a long, arduous, and brilliant career as an actor, and also as a manager, you have exercised upon the American public. Acting upon this desire, and wishful, while doing you honour, and expressing their affectionate good-will, to signalise your departure, and to speed you to a generous welcome on the other side of the Atlantic, your friends beg that you will accept the testimonial of a farewell breakfast, to be given at Delmonico's, on Tuesday, June 15, at 12 M. You will there meet, not only with many comrades of your own profession, but with representatives of other vocations, all of whom are united in a grateful admiration and a profound and constant esteem, not alone for your noble achievements as an actor, but for those virtues which have made your public career a model of integrity and your home life a blessing to all who have known you. GENTLEMEN: The gratification with which I receive your flattering offer is not wholly unalloyed — for this is the first tribute of the kind that I have been bold enough to accept, and my pleasure is mingled with the trepidation of the novice. The character of "distinguished guest" is a new one for me, and my inexperience may make my assumption of it unworthy both of the occasion and the high opinion of my abilities that you have been pleased to express. Like many "a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage," in the vain endeavour to express the emotions that inspire him, I may only succeed in "signifying nothing." But, though my outward action fails to show "the native act and figure of my heart," believe me, all within is gratitude for your affectionate consideration; and the feeling of the moment is only darkened by a sense of my own unworthiness. As a mere empty compliment, I might decline the favour; but as the expression of an affectionate good-will, such as no man has more cause than I have to cherish in his "heart of heart," and as |