in the autumn of the latter year Miss Cushman went to England,
where, after much effort, she obtained an opening in London, at the
Princess's, and in 1845 made her memorable success as Bianca. "Since the
first appearance of Edmund Kean, in 1814," said a London journal of
that time, "never has there been such a _debut_ on the stage of an
English theatre." Her engagement lasted eighty-four nights (it was an
engagement to act with Edwin Forrest), and she recorded its result in a
letter to her mother, saying: "All my successes put together since I
have been upon the stage would not come near my success in London, and I
only wanted some one of you here to enjoy it with me, to make it
complete." She acted Bianca, Emilia, Lady Macbeth, Mrs. Haller, and
Rosalind. A prosperous provincial tour followed, and then, in December,
1845, she came out at the Haymarket, as Romeo, her sister Susan
appearing as Juliet. Her stay abroad lasted till the end of the summer
of 1849, and to that period belongs her great achievement as Queen
Katharine.

From the fall of 1849 till the spring of 1852 Miss Cushman was in
America, and she was everywhere received with acclamation, gathering
with ease both laurels and riches. When she first reappeared, October 8,
1849, at the old Broadway theatre, New York--as Mrs. Haller--she
introduced Charles W. Couldock to our stage, on which he has ever since
maintained his rank as a powerful and versatile actor. He acted the
Stranger and subsequently was seen in the other leading characters
opposite to her own. Miss Cushman's repertory then included Lady
Macbeth, Queen Katharine, Meg Merrilies, Beatrice, Rosalind, Bianca,
Julia, Mariana, Katharine, the Countess, Pauline, Juliana, Lady Gay
Spanker, and Mrs. Simpson. Her principal male characters then, or later,
were Romeo, Wolsey, Hamlet, and Claude Melnotte. In 1852 she announced
her intention of retiring from the stage, and from that time till the
end of her days she wavered between retirement and professional
occupation. The explanation of this is readily divined, in her
condition. There never was a time, during all those years, when she was
not haunted by dread of the disease that ultimately destroyed her life.
From 1852 to 1857 she lived in England, and in the course of that period
she acted many times, in different cities. In December 1854, when dining
with the Duke of Devonshire, at Brighton, she read _Henry VIII._ to the
Duke and his guests, and in that way