The Lyne and Pauncefort engagement following each other in such close succession and in an extra season, and that season a mid-summer one, had given the theatre-going public a very gratifying sufficiency of theatricals, and consequently it was not thought advisable to open the theatre again until the ensuing October Conference; so the house was closed up for a period of five weeks and reopened on the 5th of October, just in time to catch the Conference gatherings. Although both Lyne and Pauncefort were in the vicinity, neither of them were engaged until after the Conference dates were passed. The management could rely on full houses during the Conference and could not see the policy of sharing up the profits with a star when the stock company could fill the house to its capacity. The Conference over, the following week T. A. Lyne opened his third engagement and played up to the 10th of December; a very long engagement, lasting eight weeks. Pauncefort should naturally, according to all professional ways of looking at it, have filled this time; and no doubt would have had the preference over Lyne if the managers had not been handicapped by the strong prejudice of the "President" against this actor; for he was the newer and more attractive star. Lyne had already played two long engagements and exhausted his repertoire, besides Pauncefort had introduced us to a more modern and popular school, and from financial considerations alone, any manager would have given him the preference, but he did not get back into the theatre for a second engagement until after Lyne had played everything he knew; still he lingered in the vicinity. He went out through the provinces--played smaller towns, such as Springville and Provo, with their home companies--and dabbled in merchandising, shipping fruit to Montana; it was bringing big prices just then. On the 17th of December, 1864, George Pauncefort began his second engagement in "A Bachelor of Arts" and "Black-Eyed Susan." It was during this engagement that "Hamlet" and "Macbeth" had their initial performances in the Salt Lake Theatre. Both of these plays were marked events in the history of the theatre, more particularly "Macbeth," which called into requisition the Tabernacle choir to play the witches and sing the music of the play, which was ably conducted by Prof. C. J. Thomas. "Macbeth" was the last play of this engagement and closed the second Pauncefort season on January 7th, 1865--a brief season of three weeks--after waiting around about four months. Why this engagement ended so suddenly in the very height of its brilliancy is somewhat puzzling to understand, as there was no other star to follow, and the stock company played unassisted by any stellar attraction up till May 20th, which closed the season of '64 and '65. Pauncefort shortly after the closing of his engagement went to San Francisco, where he remained for more than two years playing there at intervals. CHAPTER VII. SEASON '65 AND '66.