en them.

PAM. Go, Parmeno, and let them know I'm come.

(_Noise within._)

PAR. Ha! what's all this?

PAM. Hush!

PAR. I perceive a bustle,
And running to and fro.--Come this way, Sir!
--To the door!--nearer still!--There, there, d'ye hear?

(_Noise continues._)

PAM. Peace; hush! (_Shriek within._) Oh Jupiter, I heard
a shriek!

PAR. You talk yourself, and bid me hold my tongue.

MYRRHINA (_within_). Hush, my dear child, for Heaven's sake!

PAM. It seem'd
The voice of my wife's mother. I am ruin'd!

PAR. How so?

PAM. Undone!

PAR. And why?

PAM. Ah, Parmeno,
They hide some terrible misfortune from me!

PAR. They said your wife Philumena was ill:
Whether 'tis that, I can not tell.

PAM. Death, Sirrah!
Why did you not inform me that before?

PAR. Because I could not tell you all at once.

PAM. What's her disorder?

PAR. I don't know.

PAM. But tell me,
Has she had no physician?

PAR. I don't know.

PAM. But why do I delay to enter straight,
That I may learn the truth, be what it will?
--Oh my Philumena, in what condition
Shall I now find thee?--If there's danger of thee,
My life's in danger too. (_Exit._

SCENE II.

_PARMENO alone._

It were not good
That I should follow him into the house:
For all our family are odious to them.
That's plain from their denying Sostrata
Admittance yesterday.--And if by chance
Her illness should increase (which Heav'n forbid,
For my poor master's sake!), they'll cry directly,
"Sostrata's servant came into the house:"
Swear,--"that I brought the plague along with me,
Put all their lives in danger, and increas'd
Philumena's distemper."--By which means
My mistress will be blam'd, and I be beaten.

SCENE III.

_Enter SOSTRATA._

SOSTRA. Alas, I hear a dreadful noise within.
Philumena, I fear, grows worse and worse:
Which AEsculapius, and thou, Health, forbid!
But now I'll visit her. (_Goes toward the house._)

PAR. Ho, Sostrata!

SOSTRA. Who's there?

PAR. You'll be shut out a second time.

SOSTRA. Ha, Parmeno, are you there?--Wretched woman!
What shall I do?--Not visit my son's wife,
When she lies sick at next door!

PAR. Do not go;
No, nor send any body else; for they
That love the folks, to whom themselves are odious,
I think are guilty of a double folly:
Their labor proves but idle to themselves,
And troublesome to those for whom 'tis meant.
Besides, your son, the moment he arriv'd,
Went in to visit her.

SOSTRA. H