Pet. Ay, sure, did I. He's coming out 'to-day, for the first time.

Mrs. H. I rejoice to hear it.

Pet. He said that he was obliged to you for all; and before dinner would crawl up to thank you.

Mrs. H. Good Peter, do me another service.

Pet. Ay, a hundred, if you'll only let me have a good long stare at you.

Mrs. H. With all my heart! Observe when old Tobias comes, send him away. Tell him I am busy, or asleep,

or unwell, or what you please. Pet. I will, I will.

Sol. [Without, L.] There, there, go to the post-office. Mrs. H. Oh! here comes Mr. Solomon.

Pet. What! Father?-Ay, so there is. Father's a main clever man he knows what's going on all over the world.

:

Mrs. H. No wonder; for you know he receives as many letters as a prime minister and all his secretaries.

Enter SOLOMON, L.-Peter crosses behind, R.

Sol. Good morning, good morning to you, Mrs. Haller. It gives me infinite pleasure to see you look so charmingly well. You have had the goodness to send for your humble servant. Any news from the Great City? There are very weighty matters in agitation. I have my letters,

too.

Mrs. H. [Smiling.] I think, Mr. Solomon, you must correspond with the four quarters of the globe.

Sol. Beg pardon, not with the whole world, Mrs. Haller; but, [consequentially,] to be sure, I have correspondents, on whom I can rely, in the chief cities of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America.

Mrs. H. And yet I have my doubts whether you know what is to happen this very day, at this very place.

Sol. At this very place! Nothing material. We meant to have sown a little barley to-day, but the ground is too dry; and the sheep-shearing is not to be till to

morrow.

Pet. No nor the bull-baiting tillSol. Hold your tongue, blockhead! business.

Get about your

Pet. Blockhead! There again! I suppose I'm not to open my mouth. [To Mrs. Haller.] Good bye! [Erit, R. Mrs. H. The Count will be here to-day.

Sol. How! What.

Mrs. H. With his lady, and his brother-in-law, Baron Steinfort.

Sol. My letters say nothing of this. You are laughing at your humble servant.

Mrs. H. You know, sir, I'm not much given to jesting.

Sol. Peter!-(Crosses, R.) Good lack-a-day !—His Right Honourable Excellency the Count Wintersen, and her Honourable Excellency the Countess Wintersen, and his Honourable Lordship Baron Steinfort--And, Lord have mercy! Nothing in proper order!- Here, Peter! Peter!

Enter PETER, R.

Pet. Well, now; what's the matter again?

Sol. Call all the house together directly! Send to the gamekeeper; tell him to bring some venison. Tell Rebecca to uncase the furniture, and take the covering from the Venetian looking glasses, that her Right Honourable Ladyship the Countess may look at her gracious countenance and tell the cook to let me see him without loss of time: and tell John to catch a brace or two of carp. And tell-and tell-and tell-tell Frederick to friz my Sunday wig. Mercy on us-tell-There-Go! [Exit Peter, R.] Heavens and earth! So little of the new furnishing of this old castle is completed!—Where are we to put his Honourable Lordship the Baron?

Mrs. H. Let him have the little chamber at the head of the stairs; it is a neat room, and commands a beautiful prospect.

Sol. Very right, very right. [Crosses, L.] But that room has always been occupied by the Count's private secretary. Suppose!-Hold, I have it. You know the little lodge at the end of the park: we can thrust the secretary into that.

Mrs. H. You forget, Mr. Solomon; you told me that the Stranger lived there.

Sol. Pshaw! What have we to do with the Stranger?Who told him to live there? He must turn out.

Mrs. H. That would be unjust; for you said that you let the dwelling to him, and by your own account he pays well for it.

Sol. He does, he does. But nobody knows who he is. The devil himself can't make him out. To be sure, I lately received a letter from Spain, which informed me that a spy had taken up his abode in this country, and from the description

Mrs. H. Aspy! Ridiculous! Every thing I have heard

bespeaks him to be a man who may be allowed to dweil any where. His life is solitude and silence.

Sol. So it is.

Mrs. H. You tell me, too, he does much good.

Sol. That he does.

Mrs. H. He hurts nothing; not the worm in his way. Sol. That he does not.

Mrs. H. He troubles no one.

Sol. True! true!

Mrs. H. Well, what do you want more?

Sol. I want to know who he is. If the man would only converse a little, one might have an opportunity of pumpng; but if one meets him in the lime walk, or by the river, it is nothing but-"Good morrow;"-and off he marches. Once or twice I have contrived to edge in a word -"Fine day." .”—“Yes.”—“ Taking a little exercise, I perceive."" Yes;"-and off again like a shot. The devil take such close fellows, say I. And, like master like man; not a syllable do I know of that mumps, his servant, except that his name is Francis.

Mrs. H. You are putting yourself into a passion, and quite forget who are expected.

Sol. So I do-Mercy on us!-There now, you see what misfortunes arise from not knowing people.

Mrs. H. 'Tis near twelve o'clock ! If his lordship has stolen an hour from his usual sleep, the family must soon be here. I go to my duty; you will attend to yours, Mr. Solomon. [Exit, R.

Sol. Yes, I'll look after my duty, never fear. There goes another of the same class. Nobody knows who she is, again. However, thus much I do know of her, that her Right Honourable Ladyship the Countess, all at once, popped her into the house, like a blot of ink upon a sheet of paper. But why, wherefore, or for what reason, not a soul can tell." She is to manage the family within doors." She to manage! Fire and faggots! Havn't I managed every thing within and without, most reputably, these twenty years? I must own I grow a little old, and she does take a deal of pains: but all this she learned of me. When she first came here-Mercy on us! she didn't know that linen was made of flax. But what was to be expected from one who has no foreign correspondence?

[Exit, L

END OF ACT I

SCENE I-A Drawing Room in the Castle, with Sofa and Chairs.

Enter SOLOMON, L.-Rural music heard L. without.

Pet. [Without, L] Stop; not yet, not yet; but make way there, make way, my good friends, tenants, and villagers.-John, George, Frederick ! Good friends, make

way.

Sol. It is not the Count: it's only Baron Steinfort. Stand back, I say; and stop the music!

Enter BARON STEINFORT, L. ushered in by Peter, who mimicks and apes his father.

I have the honour to introduce to your lordship myself, Mr. Solomon, who blesses the hour in which fortune allows him to become acquainted with the Honourable Baron Steinfort, [Baron passes Solomon and throws himself on the Sofa,] brother-in-law of his Right Honourable Excellency Count Wintersen, my noble master..

Pet. Bless our noble master! [Peter is on R. of Sofa. Bur. Old and young, I see they'll allow me no peace. [Aside.] Enough, enough, good Mr. Solomon, I am a soldier. I pay but few compliments, and require as few from others.

Sol. I beg pardon, my lord-We do live in the country to be sure, but we are acquainted with the reverence due to exalted personages. [Sitting beside the Baron, L. Pet. Yes-We are acquainted with exalted personages. Bar. What is to become of me -Well, well, I hope we shall be better acquainted. You must know, Mr. Solomon, I intend to assist, for a couple of months at least, in attacking the well stocked cellars of Wintersen.

Sol. Why not whole years, my lord?-Inexpressible would be the satisfaction of your humble servant. And, though I say it, well-stocked indeed are our cellars. have, in every respect, here managed matters in so frugal and provident a way, that his Right Honourable Excellency the Count will be astonished. [Baron yawns.] Extremely sorry it is not in my power to entertain your lordship.

Pet. Extremely sorry.

Sol. Where can Mrs. Haller have hid herself?
Bar. Mrs. Haller! Who is she?

Sol. Why, who she is, I can't exactly tell your lordship. Pet. No, nor I.

Sol. None of my correspondents give any account of her. She is here in the capacity of a kind of a superior housekeeper. Methinks, I hear her silver voice upon the stairs. [Crosses, R. Peter crosses behind to L.] I will have the honour of sending her to your lordship in an instant. Bar. Oh! don't trouble yourself.

Sol. No trouble whatever! I remain, at all times, your honourable lordship's most obedient, humble, and devoted [Exit, bowing, R. [Exit, bowing, L.

servant.

Pet. Devoted servant.

Bar. Now for a fresh plague. Now am I to be tormented by some chattering old ugly hag, till I am stunned with her uoise and officious hospitality. Oh, patience! what a virtue art thou!

Enter MRS. HALLER, R. with a courtsey; BARON rises, and returns a bow, in confusion.

[Aside.] No, old she is not. [Casts another glance at her. No, by Jove, nor ugly.

Mrs. H. I rejoice, my lord, in thus becoming acquainted with the brother of my benefactress.

Bar. Madam, that title shall be doubly valuable to me, since it gives me an introduction equally to be rejoiced at. Mrs. H. Without attending to the compliment.] This lovely weather, then, has enticed the Count from the city. Bar. Not exactly that. You know him. Sunshine or clouds are to him alike, as long as eternal summer reigus in his own heart and family.

Mrs. H. The Count possesses a most cheerful and amiable philosophy. Ever in the same happy humour; ever enjoying each minute of his life. But you must confess, my lord, that he is a favourite child of fortune, and has much to be grateful to her for. Not merely because she has given him birth and riches, but for a native sweetness of temper, never to be acquired; and a graceful suavity of manners, whose school must be the mind. And, need i enumerate among fortune's favours, the hand and affections of your accomplished sister?

Bar. [More and more struck.] True, madam. My good easy brother, too, seems fully sensible of his happiness, and is resolved to retain it. He has quitted the