until 1879 or 1880,
of which beholding I will speak when the time comes.

But we had with us for a short time a famous and charming woman of
genius, who made me for a season forget my infatuation for the beautiful
Ella Rogers. This was Charlotte Cushman. The acquaintance then begun was
renewed in Italy, and maintained till the end of her life. Such is the
power of the spiritual in nature and character to dominate and even
render invisible the physical, that I was astonished, in after years, to
hear Charlotte referred to as a woman of plain or unattractive features.
To me, won from the first by the expression, the voice, the sphere, the
warmth, strength, and nobility of her presence, she had always seemed
one of the handsomest as well as most delightful of women. She was in
her fortieth year, but she had already announced her purpose of retiring
from the stage. Some of her best work was done in the following twenty
years. Critics might call her face plain, or ugly, if they chose, but
there was no doubt that its range of expression was vast and poignant,
that it could reflect with immense energy the thoughts of the mind, and
could radiate the very soul of tragedy. Her figure was tall and superb
and her carriage stately without any stiffness, and appalling though she
was as Lady Macbeth or Meg Merrilies, in our little drawing-room she was
only simple, sincere, gentle, and winning. Born actress though she was,
her horizon was by no means restricted to things histrionic; she talked
well on many subjects, and was at no loss for means to entertain even so
small and inexperienced a person as myself. I had never seen a theatre,
and did not know what an actress was, but I loved her, and she was good
to me. It was not the interest of the stories she told me, so much as
the personal influence that went with them, that entranced me. I was
sensible of her kindness, and of the hearty good-will with which she
bent her great and gracious self to the task of making me happy. That
wonderful array of tiny charms on her watch-chain was beautiful and
absorbing, owing less to anything intrinsic in themselves than to some
sparkling and lovable communication from their wearer. If a woman be
only large enough and vigorous enough to begin with, the stage seems to
develop her as nothing else could--to bring out the best in her. It was
perhaps the deep and wide well of human sympathy in Charlotte Cushman
that was at the bottom of her success in her