and An English Gentleman by H. J. Byron (1871) at the Haymarket. Sothern continued to act mostly in London until 1876, but also toured extensively in the British provinces, North America and Europe. Sothern became popular with Robertson's crowd, including with the Haymarket's manager, John Baldwin Buckstone, actor J. L. Toole, and dramatists Byron and W. S. Gilbert, who later wrote three plays for him, Dan'l Druce, Blacksmith (1876), The Ne'er-do-Weel (1878), and Foggerty's Fairy (1881). Sothern left England to tour in America in early 1876 and wrote to Gilbert to be ready with a play by October that would feature him in a serious role. This play eventually became Dan'l Druce. However, Sothern produced but did not star in the play. Gilbert soon wrote another play for Sothern, this time a comedy, The Ne'er-do-Weel. Sothern was not pleased with the work, and Gilbert offered to take it back. Although it was eventually produced, Sothern did not appear in it. Sothern had already paid Gilbert for the play, and Gilbert was unable immediately to pay him back. After various arrangements between Gilbert and Sothern involving American productions of another Gilbert play, Engaged (1877), Gilbert finally promised, in 1878, to write a new play for Sothern. This was to be Foggerty's Fairy. Sothern never appeared in any of these works. His biographer T. Edgar Pemberton noted that one role he regretted not playing was Cheviot in Engaged. Instead, Sothern continued to tour and perform Dundreary and other works. In October 1877 at the Academy of Music in New York, he played the title role in Othello. Sothern's next great role was the title role, Fitzaltamont, in a hit revival of Byron's The Crushed Tragedian (1878, originally named The Prompter's Box) at the Haymarket. The Era admired "the sepulchral tones, the glaring eyeballs, the long hair, the wonderful 'stage walk', the melodramatic attitudes" of his portrayal. He next appeared in The Hornet's Nest by Byron at the Haymarket. The Crushed Tragedian was not a great success in London, but it became a hit in New York. The Philadelphia Inquirer raved, "With what elaboration of detail does the actor embody his conception! There is not a gesture, not an intonation, not a movement, but seems to illustrate the character portrayed. He strides across the stage and it is as though he were wading through a sea of gore; he mutters to himself ‘Ha!