to heal properly and Melmoth reluctantly had to give up her acting career. On 12 August 1812, after announcing her retirement from the stage, Melmoth gave her last performance – a 'benefit performance' to raise funds for her retirement – playing Fiammetta in The Tale of Mystery at the Olympic Theatre. Later life Following her 1812 retirement, Melmoth supported herself on the proceeds of a 'respectable tavern' which she had already purchased while still acting, and opened a school for elocution in Washington Street, New York. Later she purchased a cottage in Red Hook Lane, Brooklyn (on present-day Carroll Street) where she established a boarding house and a school which she ran until her death. Her pupils included children from some of the wealthiest and best-known Brooklyn families, including the Cornell, Pierpoint, Cutting, Jackson, and Luquer families. John McCloskey, later Cardinal Archbishop of New York, was one of her pupils. She died, aged 74, on 28 September 1823 and was buried in the Catholic graveyard surrounding the original St. Patrick's Cathedral on Mott and Prince streets in Manhattan. The Washington Quarterly obituary said of her "her talent, particularly in the higher walks of tragedy, was very generally acknowledged. She was much esteemed for her excellent private character." References External links Gay Smith, (2010) Lady Macbeth in America: From the Stage to the White House, (New York: Palgrave Macmillan), chapter on Charlotte Melmoth The Cambridge Guide to the American Theatre A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians (Vol 10) on Google Books John Green: Theatre in Belfast 1736–1800 A History of the City of Brooklyn. Including The Old Town And Village Of Brooklyn, The Town Of Bushwick, And The Village And City Of Williamsburgh. Vol.II. Chapter II on Google Books 19th-century English actresses English Shakespearean actresses 18th-century English actresses English stage actresses 18th-century American actresses American stage actresses 1740s births 1823 deaths British expatriate actresses in the United States Place of birth unknown