Browere's Life Masks of Great Americans 13

Browere's Life Masks of Great Americans 13

XIV

 

_Richard Rush_

 

 

The clean-cut features of Richard Rush recall a statesman and a scholar

of “ye olden tyme.” Born in Philadelphia, the eldest son of that signer

of the Declaration of Independence who, both politician and physician,

has been termed the Sydenham of America,--Doctor Benjamin Rush,--and a

kinsman of William Rush, the first American sculptor, mentioned in the

second chapter of this book,--Richard Rush was bred to the bar, and

gained distinction, soon after attaining his majority, by his defence of

William Duane, the editor of the “Aurora” newspaper, accused of

libelling Governor McKean. When only thirty he entered public life by

becoming Attorney-General of Pennsylvania, and at thirty-four was a

member of the cabinet of President Madison, as Attorney-General of the

United States. Three years later, he was for a brief period

 

[Illustration: RICHARD RUSH

 

Age 45]

 

Secretary of State, and then minister from the United States to Great

Britain, being recalled, in 1825, to become Secretary of the Treasury

under John Quincy Adams. It was at this period that Browere made his

mask. Rush was subsequently candidate for Vice-President on the ticket

with John Quincy Adams when Mr. Adams sought a second term.

 

The career of Richard Rush was not only public, but it was important,

and not the least of his wide-spread benefits were his successful

efforts in securing for this government the munificent legacy of James

Smithson; this was the foundation upon which has been reared the

Smithsonian Institution, which has done so much for scientific pursuits

in this country. James Smithson was a natural son of Hugh Smithson, Duke

of Northumberland, and died in Genoa, June 27, 1829, aged about

seventy-five years. He was a graduate of Oxford, and took up the study

of natural philosophy, for his expertness in several branches of which

he was made a member of the Royal Society and of the French Institute.

He travelled extensively, and formed a very valuable cabinet of minerals

which came into possession of the Institute founded by his liberality,

but which was unfortunately destroyed in the Smithsonian fire of 1865.

 

Smithson’s illegitimate birth seems to have engendered a desire for

posthumous fame, as he wrote: “The best blood of England flows in my

veins; on my father’s side I am a Northumberland, on my mother’s I am

related to kings; but it avails me not. My name shall live in the

memory of man when the titles of the Northumberlands and the Percys are

extinct and forgotten.” To carry out this desire he bequeathed his whole

property, after the expiration of a life estate, “to the United States

for the purpose of founding an institution at Washington, to be called

the Smithsonian Institution, for the increase and diffusion of knowledge

among men.”

 

Although Smithson died in 1829, the United States Government was not

advised of the gift until six years afterward, when the life estate fell

in, and the will was thrown into chancery. It was then that Richard Rush

was appointed, by President Jackson, special representative of the

government to pursue and secure the property. He was successful, and

returned to this country, in August of 1838, with the legacy, amounting

to upwards of half a million of dollars. Nothing was done for quite

eight years toward carrying into effect the bequest of Smithson, except

to ask advice, from eminent scholars and educators, as to the best means

of fulfilling the testator’s intention. The consensus of opinion was in

favor of a university or school for higher education, but Mr. Rush

objected to a school of any kind, and proposed a plan which more nearly

corresponded, than any other of the early ones, with that which was

finally adopted. Thus, both in securing the legacy, and directing the

curriculum of the institution, Richard Rush took a most important part.

 

Mr. Rush’s last official service was as minister to France, during the

eventful years of 1847 to 1851 and he was the first representative of a

foreign power to recognize the new republic. He had a fine literary

sense, which he did not fail to cultivate, and his “Narrative of a

Residence at the Court of London,” and “Washington in Domestic Life,”

from the papers of Tobias Lear, are standard works. It may not be

without interest to add that Mr. Rush was the author of the famous game

“Twenty Questions,” which has been thought worthy of the consideration

of some of the brightest minds in Europe and in America.

 

[Illustration]

 

 

 

 

XV

 

_Edwin Forrest_

 

 

For many years Edwin Forrest was regarded as the greatest of American

tragedians, his nearest rival being his namesake Edwin Booth. Now that

the great leveller, death, has claimed them both, it may be questioned

if Forrest’s supremacy is maintained. The animal was so uppermost in

Forrest’s nature and person that he was unsuited to the delineation of

the finer types of character, and therefore his greatest achievements

were in robust parts requiring physical power, where he could rant and

rage at will. In youth he must have had a singularly handsome face, and

he was but twenty-one, in 1827, when Browere made his life mask. It was

during an engagement at the old Bowery theatre, New York, when Forrest

was playing “William Tell.” It will be observed that the head, which is

finely classical, of the Roman type, appears to be bald, while Forrest

took great pride in his

 

[Illustration: EDWIN FORREST

 

Age 21]

 

luxurious locks. This effect happened in this wise. Forrest was a novice

on the stage and had just made his first appearance as _William Tell_.

Browere saw the performance, and was so struck with the personality of

the young actor that he asked permission to take his mask. Forrest

consented, but was so afraid the material of the mould might cling to

his hair, that he insisted upon wearing a skull-cap during the

operation. Some faces change so much from youth to age that it is

difficult, if not impossible, to trace any resemblance of the beginning

in the end. But the characteristics of feature and __EXPRESSION__ in

Browere’s bust of Forrest are also to be found in his latest

photographs.

 

The tragedian was born in old Southwark, Philadelphia, March 9, 1806,

and was “stage struck” almost from infancy, playing girl’s parts when

only twelve years old. In his fifteenth year he made his début at the

Walnut Street theatre, Philadelphia, as young _Norval_ in the tragedy of

“Douglas”; and before he was twenty-one had gained considerable

reputation and had played Othello before a New York audience. From this

time he enjoyed a vacillating reputation, but was always the stage idol

of the masses, while his intense personality kept him from appealing to

the refinements of intellect. He died at Philadelphia, December 12,

1872, leaving his fortune, books and paintings to a home for aged actors

to be called the Forrest Home; but his estate was largely crippled by

claims for unpaid alimony due to his divorced wife, so the home is not

exactly what Forrest intended that it should be.

 

 

 

 

XVI

 

_Martin Van Buren_

 

 

The latest work that we have from the hand of Browere, is the bust from

the life mask of “the Little Magician,” as Martin Van Buren was called,

made in 1833, the year before Browere’s death. Van Buren was then in his

fifty-first year, and he lived until July 24, 1862. His life covered a

longer era and his career witnessed greater changes in national life

than those of any other man who has occupied the presidential chair. He

was born and died in Kinderhook, Columbia county, New York; studied law

with William P. Van Ness, the friend of Burr; and was admitted to the

bar on attaining his majority. He was fitted by taste and temperament

for politics, and politics were fitted for him.

 

As early as his eighteenth year, before he had a vote, Van Buren was

chosen to take part in a local nominating

 

[Illustration: MARTIN VAN BUREN

 

Age 51]

 

convention; and as soon as he could act, as well as speak, he became an

ardent adherent of the Jeffersonian democracy. His first office was

surrogate of his native county, which place he held for five years; and

when, in 1811, the proposed recharter of the United States Bank was the

leading question of Federal politics, Van Buren took an active part

against the measure. The following year he was elected to the Senate of

New York, and supported President Madison and the War with England,

drawing up the resolution of thanks, voted by the legislature, to

General Jackson for his victory at New Orleans.

 

In 1815, Van Buren became Attorney-General of New York, from which

office he was removed four years later, owing to his refusal to adhere

to De Witt Clinton, whose policy, excepting as regarded the canal, he

did not approve. The politics of New York were in a most feverish and

topsy-turvy state, and the many factions could not combine to elect a

United States senator in 1818-19, until Van Buren, by his moderation and

his genius for political organization, brought about order and harmony,

and Rufus King, a political opponent of Van Buren, was chosen to the

high office. Two years later Van Buren was rewarded by being also sent

to the Senate, and about the same time was chosen delegate to the

convention which reviewed the Constitution of New York. In this body he

sought to limit the elective franchise to householders, that this

invaluable right of citizenship might not be cheapened and the rural

districts overborne by the cities. Unfortunately he was in the minority,

or such a beneficent provision might have spread over the length and

breadth of the land, so that the elective franchise would have retained

the value of its high prerogative, and not become the valueless and

unwieldy burden that it now is. Van Buren also opposed an elective

judiciary, in both of which positions he was in opposition to his own party.