William E. Burton: Actor, Author, and Manager: A Sketch of his Career with Recollections of his PerformancesKeese, William L. (William Linn)
General
William E. Burton: Actor, Author, and Manager: A Sketch of his Career with Recollections of his Performances
Keese, William L. (William Linn)
Actors -- Biography; Burton, William E. (William Evans), 1802-1860; Theatrical managers -- Biography
Miss Lizzie Weston, whose beauty, dramatic aptitude, and versatility,
won nightly plaudits, and whose performance was not without much that
was highly meritorious, signalized a career more or less checkered by
uniting her fortunes with those of the late Charles Mathews, during his
starring tour in 1858, and is now the widow of that famous actor.
Miss Malvina, a sister of Mrs. Barney Williams, was a _danseuse_ at
Burton's,--for it was the fashion in the old days to beguile the lazy
time between the pieces with a Terpsichorean interlude; and we remember
but one instance of her appearance in any other character, and that was
a minor part in the farce of "A School for Tigers." She became Mrs. Wm.
J. Florence in 1853, and has since shared her husband's fortunes and
honors. Miss Agnes Robertson made her débût in New York at the Chambers
Street Theatre, October 22, 1853, as _Milly_ in "The Young Actress," and
has since been well known as the wife of Dion Boucicault.
A more illustrious alliance--so soon to end in piteous sorrow--was the
portion of Mary Devlin. She was a minor actress at Burton's, but a woman
of rare and lovely character. So much so, that she won the heart of
Edwin Booth, and became his wife, and the idol of his home, till death
early called her from his side. It was in memory of this sweet and
gentle lady, that the poet Thomas William Parsons penned the following
exquisite stanzas:
"What shall we do now, Mary being dead,
Or say, or write, that shall express the half?
What can we do but pillow that fair head
And let the spring-time write her epitaph?
"As it will soon in snow-drop, violet,
Wind-flower, and columbine, and maiden's tear,--
Each letter of that pretty alphabet
That spells in flowers the pageant of the year.
"She was a maiden for a man to love,
She was a woman for a husband's life,
One that had learned to value far above
The name of Love the sacred name of Wife.
"Her little life-dream, rounded so with sleep,
Had all there is of life--except gray hairs:
Hope, love, trust, passion, and devotion deep,
And that mysterious tie a Mother bears.
"She hath fulfilled her promise and hath past:
Set her down gently at the iron door!
Eyes! look on that loved image for the last:
Now cover it in earth--her earth no more!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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