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.