made by Lady Anne about lending her diamond crescent
for Zara’s turban—Miss Georgiana
could never forgive this; and Lady Frances, on her
part, was provoked, beyond measure, by an order from
the duke, her uncle, forbidding her to appear on the
stage. She had some reason to suspect that this
order came in consequence of a treacherous hint in
a letter of Georgiana’s to Lady Trant, which
went round, through Lady Jane Granville to the duke,
who otherwise, as Lady Frances observed, “in
the midst of his politics, might never have heard
a word of the matter.”
Mrs. Falconer had need of all her power over the muscles
of her face, and all her address, in these delicate
and difficult circumstances. Her daughter Arabella,
too, was sullen—the young lady was subject
to her brother John’s fits of obstinacy.
For some time she could not be brought to undertake
the part of Selima; and no other Selima was to be had.
She did not see why she should condescend to play
the confidante for Georgiana’s Zara—why
she was to be sacrificed to her sister; and Sir Robert
Percy, her admirer, not even to be invited, because
the other Percys were to come.
Mrs. Falconer plied her well with flattery, through
Colonel Spandrill; and at last Arabella was pacified
by a promise that the following week “Love in
a Village,” or “The Lord of the Manor,”
should be acted, in which she should choose her part,
and in which her voice and musical talents would be
brought forward—and Sir Robert Percy and
his friends should be the principal auditors.
Recovered, or partly recovered, from her fit of the
sullens, she was prevailed upon to say she would try
what she could do in Selima.
The parts were learnt by heart; the dresses, after
innumerable alterations, finished to the satisfaction
of the heroes and heroines of the drama.
Their quarrels, and the quarrels of their friends
and of their servants, male and female, were at last
hushed to temporary repose, and—the great,
the important day arrived.
The preceding evening, Mrs. Falconer, as she sat quite
exhausted in the green-room, was heard to declare,
she was so tired, that she would not go through the
same thing again, for one month, to be Queen of England.
The theatre at Falconer-court was not very spacious,
but it was elegantly fitted up, extremely well lighted,
and had a good effect. There was a brilliant
audience, an excellent band of music, and the whole
had a gay and festive appearance.
The Percy family, as they came from a great distance,
were late. The house was crowded. Mrs. Falconer
was obliged to seat Mrs. Percy and her daughters with
the Lady Arlingtons on a bench upon the stage:
a conspicuous situation, which had been reserved for
their ladyships.
