The evening light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1881-1883, 1883-02-26
THE LATE EDWIN FORREST.

Edwin Forrest, the greatest actor of the last,
and one of the greatest of any age, is almost
forgotten, although it seems the Judicial BUSH
ness OF his mortuary estate is not yet closed.
There was recently sale Of effects belonging
to it in Philadelphia, and we see by "card''
in the New York Herald signed Catherine
Sinclair, his divorced wife, that she did not
attend such sale, whatever may be the i'm
Portance OF that fact to the public.
The great popularity of Forrest has become
a matter Of tradition. We may read in the
journals of 30 years ago that when he appeared
at the old Broadway, New York, or indeed at
any theatre, the entire block, close upon the
cross streets both ways, was packed with
people seeking admission. but there are few
who remember it. He was noble actor and
noble man, and when the world seemed to
have bestowed upon him everything it had to
give, friends, health, fortune and fame,
there was yet one memorable demand which
God and nature interposed-wife and family.
Forrest had become great artist and grown
to middle age as master in depicting human
passions, but when it came to providing against
the dangers OF the passion which had seized
him he was child, mere child in the hands
of designing woman should he have the mis-
fortune to be captivated by such. This was
precisely what awaited him. He loved with
sincerity as honest and unaffected as his great
genius an English girl, this Catherine Sinclair.
What she knew or did not know of her own
nature. how far she could or could not have
trusted herself in the keeping of a great pas
sion if it had overtaken her, is not question
which comes up here. She had never par
tcle of affection, or of any feeling that re-
sembled it, for Edwin Forrest, and she at
least knew that. He bestowed himself upon
her with that great unreserve which charac-
terized him in all he did. AS a man he was
truth itself, as friend the very soul of fidelity,
as William Leggett, great man early dead,
and the late William Cullen Bryant often at
tested, while as the husband Of the woman,
sincere and affectionate to their utmost reach.
he studied to anticipate her slightest wish and
A'A'hShSN upOh hSl ill hC IDutu iuu ways 10
bestow. He purchased a large area on the
banks of the Hudson river-the most beauti-
full in the world-built upon it palace of
which royalty would be proud, and adorned
and enriched its grounds by art to the full
measure of the most ingenious devices which
money could procure, But the great love of
Forrest wanted some return. He had never
dreamed that he was the victim of a cold and
heartless cruelty of which only worldly women,
mad with love OF self and the slaves of their
own passionate caprice, are capable. To that
he was quickly awakened. The great pas
sionate heat of Forests human love could
not rub against an iceberg and not be chilled,
and he discovered that an iceberg was all it
had to rub against. We do not propose to
write history but to point moral: The
light, the exuberance. all the Joy of Forests
life, were slowly extinguished, and in few
years the life itself went out. He would to-
day be the leading living actor of the world if
he could have been content not to meet
Catherine Sinclair, or, in her place, had met
the one he sought, the ideal Of as passionate
dream Of love.