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80 [[stamped]] 2 [[/stamped]] NEW-YORK CHARLOTTE CUSHMAN. A GREAT LIFE ENDED. There is something so awfully impressive in the vanishing of a great genius and a great force of noble intellect and character out of this world that reverence must pause before the spectacle, no less in humility than in sorrow. The historian of our time will review many important and significant lives, and will lay the laurel upon many a storied tomb; but he will honor no genius more stately or more singular than that which now sleeps in the coffin of Charlotte Cushman. It is difficult if not impossible at once to do justice to such a life. The end——which came yesterday, in Boston——though not unexpected, was sudden; and it comes upon the mind with a solemn force that prompts to silent thought and fond remembrance more than to words. The future will speak of Charlotte Cushman with pride and gladness: the present can only tell her story in the quiet accents of grief. Charlotte Cushman was a member of one of the original Puritan families. Her first ancestor in America——Robert Cushman, a minister——came over with the Pilgrims to New-England. Her father was a merchant of Boston, and she was born in Richmond-st., in that city——being the eldest of five children——on July 23, 1815. Her mother's name was Saunders, and Saunders was her own middle name, though she did not habitually use it. Her birthplace was next door to that of John Gilbert, the comedian, and they used to play together as children. A school-house bearing the name of Cushman now stands on the site of these buildings. Charlotte's father died while she was yet a young girl, and left his family in poverty; and this bereavement was ultimately the means of embarking her upon a public career. Her first appearance was made at a concert in Boston, on March 25, 1830, at which time she made a good impression, and was fortunate enough to attract the notice of generous patron, who subsequently paid the expenses of giving her a thorough musical education. On the 8th of April, 1835, she came out at the Tremont Theater as the Countess Almaviva, in "The Marriage of Figaro." This may be called her first regular professional appearance; and her career upon the stage has, accordingly, extended over a period of a little more than forty years. Miss Cushman's advent was made during an engagement, at the Tremont Theater, of Mrs. Maeder (Clara Fisher), then in the enjoyment of her fresh laurels, and in days made brilliant and memorable, in the history of the American Theater, by the presence of Cooper, Booth, Adams, Sheridan Knowles, Dowton, Charles and Fanny Kemble, Celeste, Mary Duff, Emma Wheatley, and Ellen Tree. The second character assumed by Miss Cushman was Lucy Bertram, in "Guy Mannering." Her success was immediate and decsive, and Mr. and Mrs. Maeder presently secured for her an engagement to sing in New-Orleans. There, however,——whether because of some malign influence of the climate or in consequence of an effort that she made to change her voice,–she totally lost the capacity to sing, and so ended her experience as a vocalist. This disaster made an actress. Mr. Barton, an English tragedian, then acting in New-Orleans, advised her to act, and gave her some instruction; and at length, on the night of this actor's benefit, she appeared as Lady Macbeth. This was the beginning of the dramatic career in which she has since become illustrious. The performance of Lady Macbeth aroused in New- [[torn page]] emotion, during the dark days of the civil war, was strongly aroused. Once she came home to help the cause of the Union, and by a series of professional appearances, made in New-York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, and Washington, earned nearly $10,000 for the Sanitary Commission. Her health, toward the close of this period of residence in Europe——namely, in 1869——was first impaired by encroachments of the disease which has now proved fatal. In 1870 her life was seriously imperiled, and it was thought that she would die. The indomitable spirit prevailed, however, and in 1871 she returned to the United States and resumed her public vocation, appearing as a reader of Shakespeare. In this department she has had no equal, excepting Fanny Kemble; and in simplicity, imaginative weirdness, personal magnetism, humor, and stalwart force of execution, her readings,——in our time,——have never been rivaled. On September 25, 1871, Miss Cushman acted in Booth's Theater as Queen Katharine, in Henry VIII.——Mr. William Creswick personating Wolsey; and in the course of the engagement then begun, which lasted till November 4, she also represented Lady Macbeth and Meg Merrilies. These, together with Bianca, Emilia, Elvira, Helen McGregor, and Nancy, may correctly be specified as the parts in which her genius was revealed upon all of its sides. The ardent public sympathy that Miss Cushman's acting elicited at this time testified in an eloquent and delightful manner to the esteem in which she was held, and to the effect of the power which she was held, and to the effect of the power which she was still able to exert. her New-York engagement was succeeded by a few others, in other cities of the Union. Then for a time she was but seldom seen, and only as a reader. The beautiful readings that she gave at Steinway Hall, in March, 1873, and again at the Academy of Music, in January, February, and April, 1874, must still be fresh in the recollection of many who had the privilege and the happiness to hear them; nor will this community soon forget the excitement and the social and literary demonstrations which accompanied and signalized, in the Autumn of 1874, her final performances on the New-York stage. These, consisting of Queen Katharine, Lady Macbeth, and Meg Merrilies, were given at Booth's Theater, between October 19 and November 7. Her last embodiment here——that of Lady Macbeth, presented on the latter date——was seen by a vast assemblage; and after it was ended an ode by Stoddard, an address by Bryant, a laurel crown, the plaudits of a great multitude, and the tears of proud and saddened friendship were commingled in farewell homage to the queen who, then and there, laid down her scepter and departed from her throne. A few subsequent appearances closed her dramatic career. The most important of these was made in Boston, at the Globe Theater, on May 15, 1875, as Lady Macbeth, when she was the recipient of public homage in that city, and when she tenderly took leave of her native and favorite community. The last months of her life have been passed at Newport, Ashfield, and Boston. Last Summer she was very low in health, at Newport. Later she rallied, but she soon again relapsed, and then the doctors gave her up to die. Toward the last she had recourse to a chemist in Boston, who inspired her indomitable mind with renewed hopes of recovery. Only twenty days ago, in her room at the Parker House, in Boston, she spoke with cheerful confidence of her anticipated restoration to health. Her eyes were bright; her voice was firm——though suffused in every tone with an unconscious sadness most deeply touching and quite indescribable,——and her no- New York Tribune Feb. 19th 1876. Died Feb. 18th at the Parker House Boston.
