358 ARTISTS AND AUTHORS improvised. The obscure "utility" actress was called upon to take Mrs. Chip, pendale's place. She might read the part if she could not commit it to memory but personate Meg Merrilies after some sort she must. She had never espe- cially noticed the part ; but as she stood at the side scene, book in hand, awaiting her moment of entrance, her ear caught the dialogue going on upon the stage between two of the gypsies, " conveying the impression that Meg was no longer to be feared or respected — that she was no longer in her right mind." This fur- nished her with a clew to the character, and led her to present it upon the stage as the weird and startling figure which afterward became so famous. Of course, tne first performance was but a sketch of her later portrayals of Meg Merrilies, yet she made a profound impression. " I had not thought that I had done anything remarkable," she wrote, " and when a knock came at my dressing-room door, and I heard Braham's voice, my first thought was, 4 Now what have I done ? He is surely displeased with me about something.' Imagine my gratifi- cation, when Mr. Braham said, ' Miss Cushman, I have come to thank you for the most veritable sensation I have experienced for a long time. I give you my word, when I saw you in that first scene I felt a cold chill run all over me. Where have you learned to do anything like that ? ' " During her visits to England, Miss Cushman personated Meg Merrilies more often than any other character. In America she was also famous for her per- formance of Nancy, in a melodrama founded upon " Oliver Twist ; " but this part she did not bring with her across the Atlantic. She had first played Nancy during her " general utility " days at the Park Theatre, when the energy and pathos of her acting powerfully affected her audience, and the tradition of her success in the part long " lingered in the memory of managers, and caused them, ever and anon, as their business interests prompted, to bring great pressure to bear upon her for a reproduction of it." Mr. George Vandenhoff describes Nancy as Miss Cushman's "greatest part; fearfully natural, dreadfully intense, horribly real." In the winter of 1842 Miss Cushman undertook the management of the Wal- nut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, which was then in rather a fallen state. Under her energetic rule, however, the establishment recovered its popularity. " She dis- played at that day," writes Mr. George Vandenhoff — who " starred at the Walnut Street Theatre for six nights to small audiences" — "a rude, strong, uncultivated talent. It was not till after she had seen and acted with Mr. Macready — which she did the next season — that she really brought artistic study and finish to her performances." Macready arrived in New York in the autumn of 1843. He notes : " The Miss Cushman, who acted Lady Macbeth, interested me much. She has to learn her art, but she showed mind and sympathy with me — a novelty so refreshing to me on the stage." She discerned the opportunity for study and improvement presented by Macready's visit, and underwent the fatigue of acting on alternate nights in Philadelphia and New York during the term of his en- gagement at the Park Theatre. Her own success was very great. She wrote to her mother of her great reception : of her being called out after the play ; of the
