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OBITUARY.
### William Evans Burton, Comedian.
The artistic and literary world has met with a severe loss in the decease of Mr. William E. Burton, the well known actor, author and manager. The event was not altogether unexpected by the friends of Mr. Burton. For several years past he has been laboring under a chronic disease-enlargement of the heart-brought on no doubt by intense and unceasing application to the duties of his profession, to which was added the care of a large landed estate. Mr. Burton had been advised by his physicians, some time since, to retire altogether from the stage; but his love for his art overbalanced everything else, and he continued to act until about the 1st of January, when he was obliged to relinquish his provincial engagements, and to return to the metropolis. Superadded to his former ailment, dropsical symptoms appeared, and he gradually sank until half-past ten o'clock yesterday morning, when he died.
The career of Mr. Burton has been an exceedingly interesting one, and we therefore present a brief sketch of it. He was born in the city of London, in September, 1802. His father was a printer and publisher, and likewise an author. The son was bred to the business of the father, and after receiving a good elementary education, mastered all the mechanical details of the typographical art. One of the specialities of the business of the elder Burton was the printing of classical works, and the son at a very early age acquired a knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages for the purpose of proof reading. His knowledge of the English classics, and especially of the dramatic authors, was also thorough and profound. The elder Burton died when the subject of our sketch had scarcely attained his majority, and the business was conducted by William in the name of his mother. Like many of his craft, Mr. Burton was passionately fond of the theatre, and cultivated the acquaintance of the actors, with whom he was brought in daily contact by his business. Thence the transition to the stage was easy. He acted as an amateur, playing for his first character Hamlet, and for a long time believed tragedy was his forte. He finally entered a company on what is called the Norwich circuit, and in 1832 appeared at the Haymarket, and made his début there in 1838, as Wormwood, in the farce of "The Lottery Ticket." For years afterwards he was compelled to undergo the usual vicissitudes, privations and disappointments which beset a novice upon the stage. He played anything and everything, and was content to take up with the leavings of other men who had attained a position with the public. By an accident he secured the part of "Paul Pry," and made an encouraging success in it. In 1834 he resolved to come to America, and he arrived in Philadelphia, to which place he came without the advance which is usually given to artists. It was a matter of pride with Mr. B., that he was one of the very few Europeans artists who have come to the United States at their own expense. He made his début in September of the year before named, at the Arch street theatre, as Cornet Ollapod, in "The Poor Gentleman." He remained in Philadelphia several years, acting and writing for the press, and speedily obtained an extended reputation in art and letters. He conducted at this time "The Gentleman's Magazine," and published two volumes of fugitive pieces, generally humorous sketches, which had an extended sale. His magazine articles attracted a great deal of attention and admiration. In his own profession he was recognized as a "star," and as such made a tour through the United States. His first essay in the metropolis was made at the old National theatre in Leonard street, then (1889) under the management of Mr. James Wallack. Mr. Burton played, for a complimentary benefit given to Mr. Wallack, Sir Simon Slack, in "Spring and Autumn." The first piece on this night was the opera of "Amilie," in which the Seguins, Miss Shireff, and Wilson, the tenor assisted. Such an entertainment could not be matched a the present day. When the theatre was burned, Mr. Burton was connected with the management. He returned to Philadelphia in 1840, and fitted up Cooke's circus building, in Chestnut street, for theatrical representation, and called it the National Theatre. He had a very fine company, which at various times included Misses Charlotte and Susan Cushman, Henry and Thomas Placide, and other noted performers. The famous fairy piece the "Naiad Queen" was produced here for the first time in the United States, and netted a small fortune for the manager; he invested the larger amount of his earnings in his friend Nick Biddle's famous United States Bank of Pennsylvania, and suffered severely by the smashing up of that institution. In 1841 he leased the theatre corner of Leonard and Church streets, in this city, and brought his Philadelphia company on here, together with all the beautiful scenery, for the prosecution of the "Naiad Queen." The piece had a fine run, and whilst in the midst of success the building caught fire and was again burned, destroying also all of Mr. Burton's splendid scenery. The building was first burned in 1839, while under the management of Mr. James Wallack. We next find Mr. Burton, nothing daunted by misfortune, the manager o the Arch street theatre, Philadelphia, the theatre at Washington, and the Front street in Baltimore. Next after the Park he had the best company in the country, and was distinguished for the liberal way in which he mounted new pieces. He did "London Assurance" with a real aviary and real fountains, but that the birds wouldn't sing and the fountains wouldn't play. The result of Mr. Burton's managerial speculations in the provinces was not pecuniarily magnificent, and he resolved, in 1848, to have a dash at the metropolis. He selected a spot between the Park and Bowery fires, namely, Palmo's old Opera House in Chambers street. Palmo had made a fortune in a café in Broadway, and lost it in trying to manage Italian Opera. The theatre was afterwards used for model artist exhibitions and travelling shows of all sorts. It was considered as terribly low, and Mr. Burton's speculation was regarded as a suicidal affair. He opened, however, in September, '48, and during the first part of his season lost money nearly every night. He worked on unceasingly, and was almost ubiquitous. He acted one night here, another in Philadelphia, and another in Baltimore, and then repeated the operation for week in and week out. The first hit made at Chambers street was Mr. Brougham's adaptation of "Dombey and Son," cleverly adapted, and admirably acted. (Who that saw the play can forget Burton's "Cuttle," Brougham's "Bunsby," or Raymond's "Toot's.") "Dombey and Son" hai a great run, and may be fairly considered as the foundation of the manager's fortune. The burning of the Park a year after the opening of the new theatre left Mr. Burton master of the fleia. He speedily gathered around him a fine company, aud produced all the new London plays in rapid succession. Above all others, "The Serious Family" took the town by storm. Mr. Barton created the part of Aminidab Sleek, and played it altogether over six hundred times. "The Toodles," altered from an old fashioned domestic drama, "A Farmer's Story," was likewise a terrific hit.
Mr. Burton was now rich again. He bought the theatre for the sum of fifty thousand dollars, built a fine town house in Hudson street and a splendid country residence at Glen Cove, Long Island. He felt, too, that he could do something in the way of illustrating the Shaksperean drama, of which he had a thorough knowledge, and for which he felt the most fervent adoration. He produced several of the great master's plays, and placed them on the stage with a degree of attention to detail and a perfection of ensemble which have never been equalled in this country. "Twelfth Night," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "The Tempest," "The Merry Wives of Windsor," and "A Winter's Tale," were among these revivals. In 1856, Mr. Burton, after a most prosperous career in Chambers street, succumbed to the uptown movement, and purchased the theatre upon the Lafarge estate, Broadway, opposite Bond street, which he opened in September of the year above named, with a powerful array of popular artists. His audience followed him, and the profits of the theatre during the first months of the season were very great. It was at this time that his health began to fail, and the interests of the theatre suffered in consequence. After the first season he retired from the active duties of management, and
