Hum. But, as you are picking up people from all quarters, are the old gentleman and his lady, the young girl, and the maid and man, who came hither last night, all to be players? and why are they accommodated here in the tiring-room, as if it were an ordinary lodging?
Sev. You shall know all in due time and order. Ho!—Harry!—Who waits there? [Enters a Servant.] Is the whole house come?
Serv. They are all here, sir, except the thunderer and the candle-snuffer; they say it is a mistake, and that they are never required to come to rehearsal.
Sev. Tell them they shall forfeit; the thunderer shall pay two groats; they—they shall be fined a day's pay. [Exit Servant.]—My dear friend, while the company is assembling in the several apartments, I will explain further: You are to know that old master Pincers is a rich northern attorney, who understands the law much better as it is the business of it to punish offenders, than as it is to protect the innocent. The young girl is a ward left under his care, and has a very considerable estate in that country. He has brought her up to town to settle her.
Hum. In the playhouse?
Sev. Pray, hear. In the playhouse? no. Of all things in nature, stage-plays (as he calls them) are his aversion. But they are no less Miss Dolly's delight. As I had my education, that is to say, ate and drank, conversed and lay some years every night at Gray's Inn, I made a notable pleader before our bench of justices in Cumberland, and grew very intimate with Mr. Pincers. He took such a fancy to my promising parts—for, you must know, I pretended to be a rogue to gain his good-will—that, with a hint of five hundred pounds reward for my share in the transaction, he communicated to me a design of disposing of this young lady by way of sale.
Hum. Good—and thought you a proper broker to find out a husband, or rather a purchaser.
Sev. Right. "Mr. Severn," said he, "you know there is nothing more common than to observe that orphans are a prey, by reason of their great wealth, and marry unhappily."
Hum. And therefore——
Sev. And therefore he would have a receipt for all her fortune, for delivering half of it to the man who should marry her—"which," said he, "shall be no fraud to the gentleman; for he shall settle only an equivalent for ten thousand pounds, which is the moiety. By this means," continued my conscientious friend, "I shall observe how he behaves to this poor girl; and can, if he deserves it, leave the other moiety to them by my will."