cities. He went into Germany in the autumn of 1882, and was there received with extraordinary enthusiasm. In 1883 he returned home and resumed his starring tours of America. Booth acted many parts in his day, but of late years his repertory had been limited to Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Othello, Iago, Wolsey, Richard III, Shylock, Richard II, Benedick, Petruchio, Richelieu, Payne's Brutus, Bertuccio (in “The Fool's Revenge,” by Tom Taylor), Ruy Blas, and Don Cæsar de Bazan. He published an edition of these plays, in fifteen volumes, the text cut and adapted by himself for stage use, with introductions and notes by William Winter (Boston, 1877-'8).
BOOTH, Mary H. C., poet, b. in Connecticut in
1831; d. in New York city, 11 April, 1865. She
married a journalist, and went to reside in
Milwaukee, Wis., about 1850. She lived in Zurich,
Switzerland, several years for the benefit of her
health, and while there corresponded with American
journals. In 1804, just before her return to
the United States, she published a volume of poetry,
partly original and partly translated, entitled
“Wayside Blossoms among Flowers from German
Gardens” (Milwaukee). She reached New York
in the last stage of consumption, but succeeded,
before her death, in preparing a revised edition of
her poetry (Philadelphia, 1805).
BOOTH, Mary Louise, author, b. in Millville,
now Yaphank, N. Y., 19 April, 1831; d. in New
York city, 5 March, 1889. She was descended on her
father's side from John Booth, who came to America
about 1649, while her mother was the granddaughter
of a refugee of the French revolution. At an
early age she became a contributor to various journals.
In 1845 and 1846 she taught in her father's
school at Williamsburg, L. I., but gave up that
pursuit on account of her health, and devoted herself to
literature. Besides writing tales and sketches for
newspapers and magazines, she translated from the
French “The Marble-Worker's Manual” (New
York, 1856) and “The Clock and Watch Maker's
Manual.” She translated Mery's “André Chenier”
and About's “King of the Mountains” for “Emerson's
Magazine,” which also published original
articles from her pen. She next translated Victor
Cousin's “Secret History of the French Court: or,
Life and Times of Madame de Chevreuse” (1859).
The same year appeared the first edition of her
“History of the City of New York,” which was the
result of great research. After its publication Miss
Booth assisted O. W. Wight in making a series of
translations of the French classics, and she also
translated Edmund About's “Germaine” (Boston,
1860). During the civil war she engaged in the
patriotic task of translating the writings of eminent
Frenchmen in favor of the cause of the union, and
these were published in rapid succession: Gasparin's
“Uprising of a Great People” and “America
before Europe” (New York, 1861), Edouard Laboulaye's
“Paris in America” (New York, 1865), and
Augustin Cochin's “Results of Emancipation” and
“Results of Slavery” (Boston, 1862). For this
work she received praise and encouragement from
President Lincoln, Senator Sumner, and other
statesmen. During the entire war she maintained
a correspondence with Gasparin, Cochin, Henri
Martin, Laboulaye, Montalembert, and other
European sympathizers with the union. She also
translated at that time the Countess de Gasparin's
“Vesper,” “Camille,” and “Human Sorrows,” and
Count Gasparin's “Happiness.” Documents
forwarded to her by French friends of the union
were translated and published in pamphlets, issued
by the union league club, or printed in the New
York journals. Miss Booth's next undertaking
was a translation of Henri Martin's “History of
France.” The two volumes treating of “The Age
of Louis XIV.” were issued in 1864, and two others,
the last of the seventeen volumes of the original
work, in 1866 under the title of “The Decline of
the French Monarchy.” It was intended to follow
these with the other volumes from the beginning,
but, although two others were translated by Miss
Booth, the enterprise was abandoned for lack of
success, and no more were printed. Her
translation of Martin's abridgment of his “History of
France” appeared in 1880. She also translated
Laboulaye's “Fairy Book,” and Macé's “Fairy
Tales.” An enlarged edition of the “History of
the City of New York” was printed in 1867, and a
second revised edition, brought down to date, in
1880. Miss Booth was the editor of “Harper's
Bazar” since its establishment in 1867.
BOOTH, Newton, senator, b. in Salem, Ind., 25
Dec, 1825: d. in Sacramento, Cal., 14 July, 1892.
He was graduated at Asbury University, after
which he studied law, and was admitted to the bar.
Subsequently he removed to California, and engaged in business as a wholesale grocer in Sacramento. In 1857 he returned to Terre Haute, where
he practised his profession until 1860, when he
again went to California. He was elected to the
state senate in 1863, and in 1871 to the governorship on an independent ticket. This office he resigned in 1875, when he was elected to the U. S.
senate as an anti-monopolist. He took his seat on
9 March, 1875. and served until 3 March, 1881.
Subsequently he engaged in commercial occupations in California.
BOOTT, Elizabeth, artist, b. in Cambridge,
Mass. She studied painting on the continent, of
Europe, ending her studies in Paris with Couture,
remained in that city, and devoted herself mainly
to figure-painting. She sent a portrait to the
Philadelphia centennial exhibition. Some of her
pictures were exhibited in Boston in 1877; and at
the mechanics' fair in Boston in 1878 she exhibited
“Head of a Tuscan Ox” and “Old Man Reading.”
At the national academy exhibition of 1886 she
had “Hydrangias” and “Old Woman Spinning.”
BORDA, Jean Charles de, French navigator, b. in Dax, 4 May, 1733; d. in Paris, 20 Feb., 1799. When a young man, he served in both the army and navy. He commanded the ship "Solitaire" with great distinction during the American war of independence, rose to the rank of major-general, and by his scientific knowledge was of great service to the Count d'Estaing. He was chosen a member of the academy in 1756, and contributed valuable papers to it on the subjects of projectiles and the construction of ships. In 1771 he was employed by the government on an expedition to ascertain the value of chronometers in determining longitudes. In 1771, 1774, and at a later period, he made voyages to America for scientific purposes, of which he published an account. He was one of the commissioners, with Delambre and Mechain, to determine an arc of the meridian as a basis for the metric system of weights and measures, and was sent on several expeditions to decide this question. He invented an instrument for measuring the inclination of the magnetic needle. His corrections of the seconds pendulum are still in use; but his reputation rests principally on his improvement of the reflecting circle, on which instrument he published a work (2 vols., Paris, 1787). He also published several able treatises on hydraulics, wrote on mathematics and navigation, and constructed logarithmic tables for the centesimal division of
