BOOTH, Barton, English actor: b. 1681; d. Hampstead, May 1733. He was of a Lan cashire family, related to Henry Booth, Earl of Warrington, was educated under Dr. Busby, at Westminster School. An early attachment for the drama was fostered by the applause he met with while performing a part in Terence's at the annual exhibition in that semi nary. He ran away from school at the age of 17, and joined Ashbury's company of stroll ing players, with whom he went to Dublin. After performing three years in the Irish capital with great applause, he returned in 1701 to London, and, engaging with Betterton, met with similar success as Maximus in (Valen tinian.) On the death of that manager he joined the Drury Lane Company and there was a great success in 1708 as the ghost in (Hamlet,' and on the production of (Cato' in April 1713, raised his reputation as a tragedian to the highest pitch by his performance of the principal character. It was on this occasion that Lord Bolingbroke presented him from the stage box with 50 guineas — an example which was immediately followed by that nobleman's political opponents. Declamation, rather than
passion, appears to have been his forte, though Cibber speaks of his Othello as his finest char acter. Other roles in which he excelled were Brutus and Henry VIII. He became a pitentee and manager of the theatre in 1713, in conjunc tion with Wilks, Cibber and Doggett, and re tired in 1728. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, where there is a monument to his memory. He was the author of and 2Eneas,' a mask, various songs, etc., and the translator of several odes of Horace. Con sult Cibber, and Character of Barton Booth," in (Lives and Characters of the Most Eminent Actors and Actresses' (London 1753) ; Galt, of the Players' (ib. 1831) ; Genest, of the Stage' (Bath 1832) ; Victor, of the Life of Barton Booth' (London 1733).