Page:A cyclopaedia of female biography.djvu/245

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ents was her younger sister, Mrs. Merriman, and her infant, she having been deserted by her husband.

Bravely and nobly did this down-stricken woman battle with the adverse billows which surrounded and threatened to overwhelm her. She saw that her sister Susan had dramatic talent, put her in the way to cultivate it, and when she had in some degree recovered her strength, encouraged her more timid nature to make a first appearance on the stage by taking herself the male character, which would enable her to support and sustain the young debutante. Success crowned the united efforts of the sisters; they took a high stand together, and for one season performed the leading characters, both male and female, at Philadelphia; of the theatre of which city Miss Cushman soon after assumed the management. When Mr. Macready went to America, he was so pleased with the assistance she rendered him, that he requested her to accompany him to fulfil his engagements through the northern states, which she did.

In 1845, Miss Cushman came to England, resolved to attempt the establishment of a dramatic reputation in this country. She was alone and unfriended, and knew not to whom to look for counsel or assistance; she received offers from the managers of Covent Garden theatre, St. James', and one or two others, and after some hesitation accepted an engagement at the Princess', where she came out as Bianca in Milman's tragedy of "Fazio." Her success was great and unquestioned, and depended entirely upon her own merit and originality. At this theatre she performed for eighty-four nights a range of characters the most diverse and difficult, and all with the same result.

In July, 1846, she was joined in London by her mother and sister Susan, who had become a widow, and who made her first appearance before an English audience in December, at the Haymarket, in the character of Juliet, Charlotte performing Romeo. The sisters afterwards visited the principal towns of Great Britain, and "everywhere, whilst their distinguished talent was acknowledged by the public at large, their personal accomplishments and their qualities of heart and mind won for them the firmest friends."

In 1849, Miss Cushman returned to America, and resumed her performance of leading characters at New York and elsewhere. Susan did not return, having found a second husband, more kind and congenial than the first, in England, where she now resides.

CZARTORYSKI, ISABELLA PRINCESS,

Wife of Prince Adam Czartoryski, was born in Warsaw about the year 1743. She was a lady of refined and cultivated taste in literature, and a lover of nature. Her first published work was on "Gardens," magnificently illustrated, in which she displayed her peculiar talents, and gave much valuable information. She embellished the grounds of her beautiful residence at Pulaway according to the principles set forth in her work, but she did not enjoy it long: it was confiscated to the Russians. She afterwards wrote "The Pilgrim of Doramil," based on Polish history, and intended to promote morality, which work has been much admired. Her daughter has written several excellent stories, depicting the manners and domestic life of the Polish peasantry. Princess Czartoryski died in 1835. Her family is a branch of the Jagellons, rightful heirs to the hereditary throne of Poland.