But it was not only as a player that Mr. Booth excelled; he was a man of letters also, and an author in more languages than one.  He had a taste for poetry which we have observed discovered itself when he was very young, in translations of some Odes of Horace; and in his riper years he wrote several songs, and other original poems, which did him honour.  He was also the author of a masque, or dramatic entertainment, called Dido and Aeneas, which was very well received upon the stage, but which however did not excite him to produce any thing of the same kind afterwards.  His master-piece was a Latin inscription to the memory of a celebrated actor, Mr. William Smith, one of the greatest men of his profession, and of whom Mr. Booth alway spoke in raptures.  It is a misfortune that we can give no particular account of the person this excellent inscription referred to, but it is probable he was of a good family, since he was a Barrister at Law of Gray’s-Inn, before he quitted that profession for the stage.

The inscription is as follows,

Scenicus eximius
Regnante Carolo secundo: 
Bettertono Coaetaneus & Amicus,
Necnon propemodum Aequalis. 
Haud ignobili stirpe oriundus,
Nec literarum rudis humaniorum,
Rem fenicam
Per multos feliciter annos administravit;
Justoque moderamine & morum suavitate,
Omnium intra Theatrum
Observantiam, extra Theatrum Laudem,
Ubique benevolentiam & amorem fibi conciliavit.

In English thus;

An excellent player
In the reign of Charles the Second;
The cotemporary, and friend of Betterton, and almost his equal. 
Descended of no ignoble family,
Nor destitute of polite learning. 
The business of the stage
He for many years happily managed,
And by his just conduct, and sweetness of manners
Obtained the respect of all within the theatre,
The applause of those without,
And the good will, and love of all mankind.

Such the life and character of Mr. Booth, who deservedly stood very high in the esteem of mankind, both on account of the pleasure which he gave them, and the native goodness of heart which he possessed.  Whether considered as a private gentleman, a player, a scholar, or a poet, Mr. Booth makes a very great figure, and his extraordinary excellence in his own profession, while it renders his memory dear to all men of taste, will ever secure him applause amongst those happy few, who were born to instruct, to please, and reform their countrymen.

[Footnote A:  N.B.  As Mr. Theophilus Cibber is publishing (in a work entirely undertaken by himself) The Lives, and Characters of all our Eminent Actors, and Actresses, from Shakespear, to the present time; he leaves to the other gentlemen, concerned in this collection, the accounts of some players who could not be omitted herein, as Poets.]

[Footnote B:  History of the English stage.]

[Footnote C:  Dryden’s All for Love.]