The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-03 00:00:00

MISS CHARLOTTE CUSHMAN.
(From the New Yorh Albion of Oct. l 3 )
Miss Cushman has fairly taken the town by storm.
Her re-appearance in this country as Mrs. Haller, at
the Broadway Theatre, on Monday evening, was in
every sense of the term a complete triumph ; estab-
lishing the fact, that her European reputation has not
been over-rated, and that she is indeed in all the
essentials of high art and decided genius, the most
thorough artist now existing, either on the English
or American stage. Her Rosalind on Tuesday even-
ing, and Lady Macbeth on Wednesday, far trans-
cended in their execution, and in the effects produced
on the audience, the efforts of her first night, and
have altogether produced an enthusiasm in the minds
of the play-going public, that will carry her trium-
phantly through her brief stay of twelve months
among us. She will also, we trust, improve the in-
terests of dramatic aet in this country ; for her strik-
ingly original style, so finished, subdued, and natural,
and yet so earnestly intense, will create a school of
acting, that must in time entirely supersede the
coarse, unnatural, galvanised, and spasmodic school,
now too prevalent amov, us, on the one hand ; and
the inflated, chanting, whining, artificial style, which
is as equally opposed to true acting on the other. Miss
Cushman is already educating her audiences to receive
these salutary reforms, so long and so loudly called
for by all critical and refined admirers of histrionic
art; and most certainly a death-blow will be given
to many long cherished conventionalisms, wherever
she appears as the grand missionary of stage reform.
Garrick did not more effectually upset the prevalent
stage abuses of his day, than would this gifted woman I
overturn our stereotyped stage defects, were she to
remain in our midst, albeit she might find carping
Quins, who would declare her salutary reforms to be
‘• heresies." When Miss Cushman left this country
for England, she had attained a very enviable reputa-
tion, as an earnest, intense, and original actress. She
was nut, perhaps, fully appreciated by the masses of
her countrymen; yet those who were real judges of
acting, were convinced that she possessed all the
elements of a great artiste. We feel proud of ranking
ourselves among the latter number, and we confidently
felt, and predicted through the pages of the Albion,
her success in England. But we must confess that
we were not quite prepared for the triumphant charac-
ter of that success. We did not believe that she would
at once be recognised by the leading critics of the
London and provincial press as the legitimate succes-
sor of the Siddons and the O'Neill ; nor did we anti-
cipate the simultaneous endorsement of the first
literary characters of the English nation, in support
of this decision. We have seen her in three great
test parts, and we no longer wonder at the universal
verdicts of the English critics and the British literati.
We see how close and acute a student she has been
while absent from us—how deeply she has observed
all the essentials of her profession, necessary in form-
ing the great artist—how studiously she has reformed
certain defects of style acquired in her probationary
career—how the innate faculties of her mind have
been developed and trained under the fosterage of
capable and appreciative criticism—and we no longer
marvel at her Transatlantic triumphs. We can now
readily imagine how the public crowded to her Bianca
end Lady Macbeth—how the Haymarket was
thronged for weeks to witness her marvellous perso-
nation of Romeo, or was fascinated with her Rosa-
lind and Viola, and how her Meg Merrilies has been
pronounced by Douglas Jerrold to be the wonderful
performance of modern times. Let any of our readers
who may have been sceptical on these apparently
over-wrought expressions of approbation of Miss
Cushman's powers, place themselves under the influ-
ence of her acting in any of her strictly favourite
parts, with unprejudiced minds, and they will readily
accede to the warmest eulogiums of her European
admirers.
We are indulging •too much in generalities in our
remarks on this gifted actress, but it would require a
volume to record all the points we have noticed as
worthy of observation, in her delineation of Mrs.
Haller, Rosalind and Lady Macbeth. With all our
desire to convey to the readers of the Albion our dis-
tinct impressions, we must necessarily deal in gene-
rals, rather than in details, in the limited space allotted
to us in a newspaper column.
The great points that struck us in Miss Cushman's
Mrs. Haller were the entire absence of the usual stage
trickery of the part, and the truly subdued and
irseellestesa/ rendering of the character, by which she
converted its mawkish sentimentality, and its more
pernicious moral, into something approaching to
nature and propriety. This truly Germanic specimen
of false sentimentalism was portrayed as the victim of
remorse and deeply-rooted despair every look,
every gesture, and every tone indicated the concen-
trated pangs of conscience•stricken guilt. She can-
not look any one directly in the face—she appears to
dread detection in every movement surrounding
her she is constantly suppressing her emo-
tions, and appears unable to risk even the
utterance of the commonest expression, fearful that
she may betray her guilty secret. As the action of
the play increase, and events lay bare her actual po-
sition, her convulsive bursts of grief and remorse aro
absolutely thrilling, from their intensity and truth-
fulness : and yet even these are so artistically subdued,
that she appears to suppress them from an innate
sense of propriety and sincerity, and as if she shrunk
from making her sorrows the occasion for a treas.
Her acting in those passages, which have become the
stereotyped points of the stage, showed consummate
strokes of art. As such, Miss Cushman apparently
discards them altogether, or at least conveys to the
mind of the spectator an unconsciousness of having
them thrust upon the attention. The audience on
Monday night evidently missed their usual clap-traps:
but they listened, looked, and wondered with rapt
attention. They did not applaud vociferously—but
their deep silence was the unmistakeable evidence of
the favourable impressions they were receiving; while
the loud bursts of applause at the fall of the curtain,
and the uproarious testimonials of approbation be-
stowed upon the actress, when she appeared to respond
to the call of the whole house, were perhaps more
satisfactory testimonials to the truth of her acting,
than are the rounds of applause bestowed on other
representations of the part in the accustomed points
established by usage and precedent. We wish, how-
ever, that Miss Cushman would discard this play.from
her list. Mrs. Haller is unworthy of kergreatpowers,
and the piece itself is a disgraceful appendage to the
drama in this age of intelligence and refinement.
On Tuesday evening we attended the representation
of Rosalind with some misgivings, for physically,
Miss Cushman must suffer by comparison with others
of her gifted cotemporaries. She cannot realize the
Rosalind of the poet in the first act, and therefore
until her assumption of male attire, she has to be
placed in the unenviable position of a player who is
compelled to draw upon the credulity of the audience.
She is the delicate, beautiful Rosalind, by suference
rather than in reality. Miss Cushman gets over the
difficulty, however, with infinite tact; she plays the
first act with great care, rendering the language with
a true Shaksperian appreciation of its point and
beauty, and doing all with consummate and artistic
skill—particularly the sudden
,impression of love at
first sight, when introduced to Orlando. The anxiety
and interest she exhibits in her bye-play at the
wrestling match, and the parting from Orlando in the
seine scene, were delicious specimens of natural act-
ing. But with the donning of the hose and doublet,
and arrayed at " all points like a man," the change of
garb was not more complete than was the whole style
and character of her acting. She carried the
" —swashing and martial outside,"
as if she were born to it, and indeed did what we have
seen no other actress do in the part—that is, truly
keep up the simulated impersonation of the boy
throughout. This mere physical embodiment of the
character is, however, but an accessory to the main
beauty of the personation. She gives such a vivid
rendering of tha wit, spirit, and epigrammatic sharp-
ness of the text, that with all our familiarity with its
beauties, we felt as if we appreciated it truly for the
first time. Her scenes with Orlando, where she so
delightfully " plays the knave with him"—were pe-
culiarly marked. Her wit gushed as if it were but
the overflowing of her natural gifts—not as if she
were saying good things for applause sake. No strain
for points—no effort—the is no painted and tinselled
actress, reciting speeches with the most approved
elocutionary expression, making the most of clap-
trap, and looking around for the usual applause that
follows—but she was the real, sprightly, frolicsome
woman who, in her impenetrable disguise, could play
upon the feelings of her lover, while she covertly
probed the depth of his affection—and this too as
naturally as if it were an ordinary colloquy in every-
day life. We have witnessed many stage triumphs in
our day, but we unhesitatingly say that we never
remember more intense enjoyment exhibited by an
audience, than did Miss Cushman's auditory evince
during the scene in the third act with Orlando on
Tuesday evening; nor do we think that heartier ap-
plause was ever rendered in a theatre—than those
three or four unanimous rounds which, like the escape
of steam from a safety-valve, were thundered out at
the close of the scene, as testimonials of the pent-up
delight the audience had experienced. We could di-
late on other innumerable beauties—but we must
devote a few words to her Lady Macbeth.
It is acknowledged, we believe without dispute, that
Miss Cushman is the best representative of this part
now upon the stage. The English critics who remem-
ber Mrs. Siddons, say that she approaches the excel-
lence that incomparable woman attained in this mag-
nificent creation. We endeavoured to divest ourselves
of all the prestige Miss Cushman has acquired in her
performance of this great part, and looked at it on
Wednesday impartially, yet with all our remembrances
of Mrs. Siddons awakened as fresh as if we had only
seen her a month ago—and we are bound in all honesty
to say, that Miss Cushman has not yet attained to the
standard of the Siddons. She has, however, done
wonders with the part. If she has not restored it to
the stage in all its sublimity and magnificence of 1

The Queen will hold a Privy Council on Tuesday
next, the 6th instant, at Windsor Castle.
Their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Cambridge
and the Hereditary Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg
Strelitz visited the British Museum yesterday.
His Serene Highness Prince Hermann of Saxe
Weimar left town yesterday evening for the con-
tinent.

A deputation from the Board of Directors of the
Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway
Company, consisting of Mr. F. nuirord,
(Chairman), Messrs. G. B. Thorneycroft, Michael
Graysbrook, and William Mathews (Directors), Mr.
Charles Bedford (Solicitor), and Mr. Noel Thomas
Smith (Secretary), had an interview with the Com-
missioners of Railways on Thursday, at the office of
the Board of Trade.

The Chevalier Bunsen, Prussian Minister, transacted
business yesterday at the Foreign-office.
Dispatches for the Earl of Elgin, Governor of Ca-
nada, and for the Governors of the other North Ame-
rican colonies, were sent off last evening from the Co-
lonial•office.

A deputation, consisting of Mr. Brunel, Captain
O'Brien, Mr. ard, and Mr. Blandford, for Trow-
bridge Trustees, had an interview with the Commis-
sioners of Railways on Thursday.

HEALTH of the QUEEN DOWAGER.
(From the Court Circular.)
" The Priory, November 2, 1849.
" The Queen Dowager was rather restless and
harassed by her cough in the early part of the night,
but slept towards the morning.
" Her Majesty is suffering from slight oppression
this morning.

" DAVID DAVIES, M.D."

ENTERTAINMENT B Y THE LORD
MAYOR ELECT.
A sumptuous entertainment was given last night,
at the London Tavern, by the Lord Mayor Elect, to
a number of his private friends and the various officers
of the City. Covers were laid for about fifty per-
sons. Among the company were Alderman Copeland,
Alderman Humphery, Alderman Sir William Mag-
nay, Alderman Gibbs, Alderman Sir George Carroll,
Alderman Hooper, Alderman Musgrove, Alderman
Moon, Alderman Sidney, Alderman Carden, Mr.
Sheriff Nicoll, the Chamberlain, the Town Clerk, the
City Solicitor, Under-Sheriffs Wire and Millard, Mr.
Commissioner Harvey, Mr. Secondary Potter, Messsrs.
Ryland and Locke, City pleaders ; Mr. John Wood,
chairman of the corn and coal committees ' • Mr. De-
puty Brittan ' • Rev. Charles Marshall, chaplain to the
Lord Mayor Elect; Mr. Stone, &c.
The usual loyal and constitutional toasts having
been given,
The Loam. Maroa ELECT proposed the health of
the Aldermen 'of the City of London, to whom
the City was much indebted for the care and
vigilence they showed in preserving the peace and
watching over the privileges of the citizens.
The toast was drank with great cordiality.
Alderman COPELAND returned thanks, and after
alluding to the assistance the Aldermen received from
Mr. Commissioner Harvey and his police in preserving
the peace of the City, proposed " The Health of the
Lord Mayor Elect," who, he was confident would
preserve the ancient privileges of the citizens unim-
paired during his year of office, as well as maintain
the dignity attached to the Mayoralty.
This toast was drunk with loud applause.
The LORD MAYOR ELECT returned thanks, and
stated that though he was conscious of his own defici-
encies, yet he would to the utmost of his power
devote himself to the duties of his office. He trusted
that at the close of his official career the citizens
would have no reason to say that the dignity of the
Mayoralty had been tarnished in his hands.—(Cheers.)
The healths of the Lord Mayor, of the Sheriffs, the
Chamberlain, and the other officers of the City were
then severally proposed, and the company did not
separate till a late hour.

-The dinner, which was furnished by Messrs. Bathe
and Breach, was one of the most sumptuous descrip-
tion, comprising every delicacy of the season, and
fully carrying out the views of the Lord Mayor
Elect, that no cost should be spared in its preparation.
Mr. Higgs officiated as toast-master on the occa-
sion.

MADAME SONTAG AT NORWICH.—Madame Sontag
excited last week the greatest enthusiasm at Norwich,
although singing in that immense area, St. Andrew's
Hall, with only a pianoforte seecAnpaniment, was not an
auspicious circumstance. Every one of her songs was
encored at both concerts. At the second, being ap-
plauded in every direction in Rode's variations, she was
ultimately obliged to re-appear for an encore. The ac•
companyist having during the interval touched a few
notes of " Home ! sweet Home !" rapturously received
at the previous concert, a tempest of applause arose, and
Madame Sontag was induced to sing that exquisite bal-
lad twice, with thrilling pathos.
THE GALWAY ESTATES.—The public sale of these
estates was resumed yesterday at the Auction Mart, and
a large number of persons were again present to witness
the proceedings. Mr. Wainwright put up 28 lots, viz.,
the nurabers ranging from 36 to 64 in the catalogue, but
not one purchase was made, each lot being either passed
over without a bid or bought in by the vendors, The
Pale will last for tIY9 days icrngsr.