The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-04-08
NO. 275.
LETTERS FROM THE CAPITAL.
. WAsHINGroE, April S, 1856:

sattled, overturned, bcaJtereu. anu set ~ nuuRnt
Srch an utter and unlooked-for revolution has
lcen wrought in my mind by the reading Of
an able article in the last number of the West
Minister Reuiew, on Mary Stuart. ] confess
hitherto 10 have been one of the blindest and
wilfullest worshippers of this fair, sad-fated
nrincess-sovereign not of Scots alone, but the
queen universal of love and beauty, trebly
crowned by ROYALTY, loneliness and misior-
tune-this regal sorceress, who bewitched the
world, laid her spells on time, and sent her
weird charms down enchanted ages. | never
voluntarily read anything in her disfavor, or pa
tienty heard anything to her disparagement.
swore by Walter Scott, Agnes Strickland, and
the royal lady French biographers and poetical
adorers. With an unsOphisticated trustfulness
an innocent faith in virtuous impossibilites, only
to be surpassed by that displayed by the sturdy
Puritan champions of Lola Montez, the ire
spectacle school commissioners of Boston,
looked upon her beheaded majesty as deeply
injured and much-calumniated woman-one
who it may be, had been wild and Maynard,
but not wicked, to quote from the tender and
touching appeal of the houri-eyed ddnSeuSe
above referred to. But this time was in for it,
before | was aware; and captivated by the
calm strength, the lucid argument, the totally
conclusive reasoning of the paper, | read on
and on, grieyng, but not alas dissenting And
then the proof contained in private letters UNI
der the perfdious Queen own hand--letters OF
"damning import" and of whose authenticity
there can be no reasonable doubt They were
not discredited at the time in the tribunals of
church and state or by the people, though they
were afterwards arbitrarily set aside, but are
now brought forward, and their claims to gen.
uineness strongly urged.
In all her errors, Marys friends have de-
Tended her on the ground that she acted not
for and of herself but was merely the inno-
cent, helpless tool, in INSCRIPTIONS hands
These letters prove her to have had clear,
scheming head, and a bold, pitiless heart of
her own
Well, surely it is strange how things come
round and come out May we not imagine it
possible that at some distant future day, some
easket of letters may be discovered, some curl
GUS private papers may be brought forward, to
prove to the descendants of the Lola Montana
party of our time, that the dancing divinity Of
their respectable forefathers was, after all
long way from being the wisest virtuous-
est, discreetest, best of all her sex "Let her
that thinketh she etandeth, take heed lest she
fall especial Nswhen she pirOuetteS.
So, it is past-my pleasant, early, ng-guard-
ed, carefdlly-nursed faith, not alone in the
proud purity of the weddei-Queen, but in her
warm, impulsive, earnest though often erring
wOmanliness. That generous, impossible, suf-
fering heart, in which We have believed seeing
that death itself could not still it, but that it
has throbbed on, and on, in the song and sor-
row and glory of Scotland, in the life of the
world-was she herself affirmed " as hard as
diamond" All, she herself was the diamond
cold sharp, costly and shining-gving ont light
without Misunderstanding peril, temptation
and destruction, to him who would wear her on
his heart, and wounded to the death the foot
that trod upon her and not that glorious
crushed flower of royal womanhood crimson
ing with its soft appealing beauty the hand of
tyrannous power, and sending its sorrowful fra
GRANGE through all countries and down all time.
She now stands before me, this half mythic
creature of my early romantic dreams, as a
magnificent incarnation of unholy passions-as
the very splendor of sin-as the fair ideal both
of subtle intrigue and defiant crime. The ques-
ton arises what has blinded us to evidences of
guilt and shame we could hardly for moment
dispute if brought against another than Mary
Stuart Not her royalty, nor her misfortunes
for other Queens as unfortunate have sorrowed,
suffered, and been forgotten, since she laid
down her head at Fotheringay Her wondrous
beauty was the spell with which she glamoured
the world. Those splendid eyes are dust and
darkness these two hundred and sixty years
yet their deathless flash blinds the gaze that
would peer too curiously into that stormy pri.
vate history-the impartial biographer hears
on his paper the dropping of tears which have
marked their piteQrs course down those cheeks
; immortal blodU and 10, his stern judg
mt Fl - s3nrover the stout heart
x - ~ 10 Il shaken with the sobs
i ~ 4 thht lovely bosom, and so he
= ~ "A II &1horly tenderness on the faults
Of the beautiful Inner-but to ease his con.
science, gives to those of poor Queen Elizabeth
who had red hair, an angular, grenaderish
figure, and was an old maid, the full measure
of his righteous Reproduction.
The performances of Miss Cushman at the
National Theatre, in our city, have been SUBJ
jects of much interest for the week past She
has been playing a farewell engagement. To
you know need say nothing of the merits OF
this truly great actress ] can tell you little in
that regard which you know not already by
heart; yet, for mine own pleasure will in
dulge myself in few words. To me, it seems
that to all lovers of the hstrionic art the act
ing OF Miss Cushman must be not alone a rare
pleasure, but for the time an absorbing study.
lt takes such wide free, fearless sweep and
yet in artistic detail, combination, balance, and
symmetry is so exquisitely true. And then,
there is about it that captivating indescribable,
irresistible spirit of abandon, the ever-new ex-
haustess enthusiasm of the genuine artist. No
true feeling ever loses its truth in her utter
ance-no great passion is ever dwarfed in her
conception. She may exaggerate, but she never
be-littes-she may oyer-pass the idea OF the
poet or our own, but she never falls behind it,
Her genius is wonderfully strong and individ-
ual-full of glowing vitality, palpitating with
: rich, vigorous life Her power in high tragedy
has much of regal sway and consciousness
somewhat too much, it may be, of arrogance
and herceness at times; but she grasps you,
holds you, and conquers you, finally whether
you rebel or submit at the first She compels
your halt-bewildered admiration, she COM
mands your awe-struck sympathies, she gives
you sudden electric shocks of passion she
storms upon you with all the fire and flood Of
maddened love hate revenge, anguish. and
despair. But this is only the night side of the
plcture-there is another side of sunshine. O!
glad, golden, Italian sunshine In scenes Of
playful tenderness, her voice her look. her
manner, have most subdung sweetness and
peculiar; childlke charm. Yes, chid.like:
Tor there rs always something of pride and SOY.
ere'gnty about child, and, in comedy, she ever
seems to me to be playing with her widest wit
sovereignty and proudly, as though half divining
tnat grave fates sometimes come under forms
OF humorous fancies-as imperial Juno might
nave triied with the cuckoo which nestled in
her bosom, all unknowing that she fondled an
adventurous god, masqucrading under borrowed
plumes
There is another picture of her genius,
neither OF darkness nor full day, but of soft
ana tender moonlight. In scenes of great soul
sounding sorrow, of holy womanly love in ad-
yersty desertion, and death, Miss Cushman's