Editing Edwin Forrest (section)

==New York success==
[[File:Edwin Forrest 001.JPG|thumb|left|175px|Forrest at 21]]

In 1826, he had a great success at the [[Bowery Theatre]] in New York City as [[Othello]]. The management employed him at a salary far below his worth, and he was at once offered increased payment at another theatre; but he refused to break his word, and carried out the contract to his own detriment. This strict sense of honor was characteristic of him throughout his career.<ref name="appletons"/>

His New York success was repeated in every city he visited. British writer [[Thomas Hamilton (writer)|Thomas Hamilton]] marveled at, and dissented from, the acclaim that Forrest enjoyed at that time:<blockquote>He is a coarse and vulgar actor, without grace, without dignity, with little flexibility of feature, and utterly common-place in his conceptions of character. There is certainly some energy about him, but this is sadly given to degenerate into rant. The audience, however, were enraptured. Every increase of voice in the actor was followed by louder thunders from box, pit, and gallery, till it sometimes became matter of serious calculation, how much longer one's tympanum could stand the crash.<ref>Hamilton, Thomas, ''Men and Manners in America'', [https://archive.org/details/menmannersinamer00hamiiala/menmannersinamer00hamiiala/page/35/mode/1up?view=theater p.35] (Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard, 1833) (retrieved June 16, 2024).</ref></blockquote>In 1829 Forrest was featured as Metamora in the play ''[[Metamora; or, The Last of the Wampanoags]]'' by [[John Augustus Stone]]. After a few years of profitable labor, during which he had encouraged native talent by liberal offers for new American plays, he went to Europe for rest and travel and larger observation, and was received with much courtesy by actors and scholars.<ref name="appletons"/>

He returned to Philadelphia in 1831, and played there and in New York and elsewhere with triumphant success until September 1836, when he sailed for England, this time professionally, and made his first appearance at [[Drury Lane]] as Spartacus in ''[[The Gladiator (1831 play)|The Gladiator]]'' in 1836. The play was not a success, although his own role was noted favorably. During a season of ten months he performed in that historic theatre the parts of Macbeth, Othello, and King Lear. His social triumphs were as great as were his professional; he was entertained by [[William Macready]] and [[Charles Kemble]], and at the end of the season was complimented by a dinner at the [[Garrick Club]], presided over by [[Thomas Talfourd]].<ref name="appletons"/>

During this engagement he married, in June 1837, Miss [[Catherine Norton Sinclair]], daughter of John Sinclair, a popular English singer. He returned to Philadelphia in November of the same year and began an engagement. His wife made a deep impression wherever she was presented, and it was argued that domestic happiness would be the fitting crown of his public career. But these predictions were disappointed.<ref name="appletons"/>