My first performance was wretched, and I thought Seymour looked ashamed of me; but my mother said she should have been mortified if I had done better the first time. The next I gained credit; but on the third day I found the party in great distress. The Letitia Hardy had been sent for to a dying father, and there was no one to undertake her part. You may easily guess that Seymour immediately told tales of me, and I undertook that prominent character: but I did not shrink from it, for my husband was to act with me; and Letitia Hardy was not more eager to charm Doricourt, than I to charm my husband. You know there is a minuet to be danced, and a song to be sung; and as Le Piq and Madame Rossi were the first dancers when I was young, I had taken lessons of both in London, and was said to dance a minuet well. Pendarves was equally celebrated in that dance; and as we rehearsed our minuet often at home, each declared the other perfect; nor was the little song less warmly applauded, which I substituted for the original, and adapted to a Scotch air. It applied to my own situation and feelings as well as to those of the heroine, and was as follows: SONG. If now before this splendid throng With timid voice, but daring aim, I strive to wake my pensive song And urge the minstrel's tuneful claim; One wish alone the anxious task can move, The wish to charm the ear of HIM I LOVE. If in the dance with eager feet I seek a grace before unknown, And dare the critic eye to meet, Nor heed though scornful numbers frown; This wish to fear superior bids me prove, The wish to charm the eye of HIM I LOVE. And if, my woman's fears resign'd, I thus my loved retirement leave, My humble vest with roses bind, And jewels in my tresses weave; One wish alone could such vast efforts move, The wish to _fix the heart_ of HIM I LOVE. The rehearsals meanwhile were pleasanter than I expected. My husband was forced to be a great deal with me, as he had to rehearse so much with me; and Lady Martindale chose to practise her ballet in her own apartment, in sight of a long glass. Therefore I had not to bear, as I expected, my husband's complete neglect; and I could smile at the meanness which led her to come in while I was rehearsing, and lament, as she looked on, loud enough for Seymour and me to hear, that the _charmante_ Henrietta Goodwin was summoned away, and could not perform the heroine, because she did it _à ravir_. I saw Pendarves change colour often when she said this, and she said it daily; but as he thought I much excelled Miss Goodwin, he attributed it to female envy, and perhaps to jealousy of me as his wife.