_Aunt._ Oh! the pretty couple, joking on one another--Well, how do you like your cousin Humphry now? _Niece._ Much better than I thought I should. He's quite another thing than what I took him for--We have both the same passion for one another. _Hump._ We wanted only an occasion to open our hearts, aunt. _Aunt._ Oh, how this will rejoice my brother and Sir Harry! we'll go to 'em. _Hump._ No, I must fetch a walk with a new acquaintance, Mr. Samuel Pounce. _Aunt._ An excellent acquaintance for your husband; come, niece, come. _Niece._ Farewell, rustic. _Hump._ Bye, Biddy. _Aunt._ Rustic! Biddy! Ha! ha! pretty creatures. [_Exeunt._ ACT THE FOURTH. SCENE.--_A Street._ _Enter_ CAPTAIN CLERIMONT _and_ POUNCE. _Cler._ Does she expect me then, at this very instant? _Pounce._ I tell you, she ordered me to bring the painter at this very hour, precisely, to draw her niece; for, to make her picture peculiarly charming, she has now that downcast pretty shame, that warm cheek, glowing with the fear and hope of to-day's fate, with the inviting, coy affection of a bride, all in her face at once. Now I know you are a pretender that way. _Cler._ Enough, I warrant, to personate the character on such an inspiring occasion. _Pounce._ You must have the song I spoke of performed at this window, at the end of which I'll give you a signal. Everything is ready for you; your pencil, your canvas stretched, your----Be sure you play your part in humour. To be a painter for a lady, you're to have the excessive flattery of a lover, the ready invention of a poet, and the easy gesture of a player. _Cler._ Come, come, no more instructions, my imagination out-runs all you can say. Be gone, be gone! [_Exit_ POUNCE. A SONG. I. Why, lovely charmer, tell me why, So very kind, and yet so shy? Why does that cold forbidding air Give damps of sorrow and despair? Or why that smile my soul subdue, And kindle up my flames anew? II. In vain you strive with all your art, By turns to freeze and fire my heart: When I behold a face so fair, So sweet a look, so soft an air, My ravished soul is charmed all o'er, I cannot love thee less nor more. [_After the song_ POUNCE _appears beckoning the_ CAPTAIN.] _Pounce._ Captain, captain. [_Exit_ CAPTAIN. SCENE II.--NIECE'S _Lodgings; two chairs and a table._ _Enter_ AUNT _and_ NIECE. _Aunt._ Indeed, niece, I am as much overjoyed to see your wedding day as if it were my own. _Niece._ But why must it be huddled up so? _Aunt._ Oh, my dear, a private wedding is much better; your mother had such a bustle at hers, with feasting and fooling. Besides, they did not go to bed till two in the morning. _Niece._ Since you understand things so well, I wonder you never married yourself. _Aunt._ My dear, I was very cruel thirty years ago, and nobody has asked me since. _Niece._ Alas-a-day!