New-York tribune., 1874-10-21
MISS CUSHMAN'S REAPPEARANCE.

[71> ooOng appeared only part Of veserday edition The
TRIBUNE
The curtain has once more fallen upon
Charlotte Cushman's personatiOn Of Queen Katharine
shutting out from view wonderful majesty aud pathos,
with which it leaves the 0bservant mind surcharged and
sienced. In these brief and eeting midnight moments
to wrte for this peerless achievement any word OF ade
quate commemoraton will be impossible. Description
performance cannot be needed To name its great
poins-to pause upon ts spender Of intelligence; the
pure and beautiful enunciston Of the magnificent
language the stately demeanor; the natural nuctua-
tiOns OF passion the lapsing from phase TO phase
of emotion, so smooth and continuous that the acting
is not acting but living; the elevation OF mind; the
decacy xure the beautiful portraiture OF spiritual
power and purity predominant over mortal weakness
and the anguish Of sickness and death-al this would
be to follow a backward pathway and CLEAN In
O traversed field The great actress was all that
she ever had been, in this touching type OF de-
throned and tortured majesty and virtue. Her
Identification not alone with the experience but with
the nature of the injured Queen was so entire that
again. as in the old days. 1t made the spectator for
get the stage and look upon the e is not so much
to the noble mpesonaton though as to the impressive
revelation of great soul that would dedicate the
thought and feeling OF this moment. None but woman
of royal could fill Shakespeare's massive and
tender ideal and 1t was IN royalty OF indvidualism
and reality of grandeur and grace and suffering that
and nameless quality about her, like that which
hallows the lonesome sea, In the cleaning, and
on the eve Of tempest llt separates ner from
her race and it makes her their type and voice.
1t flashes from her dark and 1t trembles in her sad
and melting voice. 1t is power and 1t Is sorrow; it is
revelation and prophecy. Back or everything that
she does in stands this mysterious force We call 1t
genius but we cannot describe Feeling and not idea
must serve us now Those who felt her magic will
forget IT, and they will know how impossible II $40
nut that magic into words That she again and again
called before the curtain need scarcely be said Human
not stocks and stones, and under the pathos
Of this Queens struggle with injustice and submission
to destiny and death, every human heart well nigh
broken when Charlotte Cushman acts.
Mr. Vandenhon came forward as Cardinal
WolseM 1t is ten years since he acted, and
he was o little formal; but the refinement, the
symmetry, and the intellectual character OF his
acting were delightful. His Addisonan countenance,
NOBLE gentle and picturesque, expressed with romantic
beauty the mental concentration and the inward
fret Of WOiseys ambitious natnre. His ten
der and finely moduated voice gave every shade OF
meaning in the text. His keen instinct Of harmony
kept the passion OF the Cardinal In deep
repression during all the scenes that precede
that Of his downfall; but through all Of them
could be traced, in the worn face, the
fiery eye the artfuy curbed demeanor, and the spen
ddy intellectual bearing the intense heart and aspiring
mind Within so that when the outbreak came and the
conflicts OF this soul barred the spec
tatOr was startled than afflicted at the passionate
and lamentable fulfmen Of all that had been prom
sed OF power and suffering There were no violent out
bursts in Mr.. Vandenhof g personaOn; and though he
was less simple than could be wished in the final scene,
he was true to high ideal. and he was both grand
and tender 1t Is not easy to do even passing justice 10
such acting as that with which Miss Cushman and Mr..
Vandenho filed this occasion and made 1t solemn and
memorable There times when silence and tears are
r,ttin hot linda an off
The character Of King Henry VIII was assumed by
Mr. John Jack-au actor who OF late years. has devoted
himself with especial fidelity to Shakespearean studies
He dressed the part with admirable accuracy and de-
piced stout, bluff, arrogant coarse English animal, in
the form and colors OF e But this lacked
royalty; and 1t conveyed the idea that 1t had been
studied the prose Of history more than from the
poetry Of Shakespeare who CLOSED the brutal nature
aud horrible conduct Of this monarch in faterng def
erence Queen Elizabeth. To go behind Shakespeare
and act from the side lights that Shakespeare him
self consulted is to build the basis Of prose and cast
away the Ipoetc glamour and elevation. Technically,
Mr.. Jacks performance was strong and fine, though
even here it should be said that more animated man
ner in the great riascene would considerably improve
the lfe-apd.bloOd reality Of the monarch. The trap.
pings in which Henry VIII" was set seemed meager
and cold. Portions OF the scenery were soied. The
PROFESSIONS were clumsy and the guests were frigid
Mr. Charles wheatlelgb, in the scene Of Buckinghams
farewell attained hight OF dignfed sorrow and manly
resignation fully accOdant with the atmosphere OF that
touching passage Miss Henderson filed pretty ideal
Of Anne Boey,t. The theater not oyerfOwingly
crowded been several occasions Of far less
importance and interest; but it entirely fed and
with assembage OF thoughtful, refined, sincere per-
sons-the true flower of the American peope-such as
seldom are seen within garish yhouse Of this day
OF theatrical paste and frippery. Miss Cushman was
called upon the each Of the four passages In
which Queen Katharine is the central figure. After the
trial scene the applause vehement after the death
scene the public displayed itself in fearful
serve and awed gravity. Seldom has an assemblage
been deeply affected never with better or deeper
artistic cause The performance ended ut 115. Henry
VIII" will be repeated till Saturday night, when will
iva MIA IN Mach