 | The Step-Mother |  |
SCENE IV.
Enter PAMPHILUS.Sostra.
My dear boy, Pamphilus!
Pam.
My mother, save you!
[disordered.
Sostra.
I'm glad to see you safe return'd.—How does
Your wife?
Pam.
A little better.
Sostra.
Grant it, heav'n!
—But why d'ye weep, and why are you so sad?
Pam.
Nothing, good mother.
Sostra.
What was all that bustle?
Tell me, did pain attack her suddenly?
Pam.
It did.
Sostra.
And what is her complaint?
A fever.
Sostra.
What! a quotidian?
Pam.
So they say.—But in,
Good mother, and I'll follow.
Sostra.
Be it so.
[Exit.
Pam.
Do you run, Parmeno, to meet the servants,
And give your help in bringing home the baggage.
Par.
As if they did not know the road!
Pam.
Away!
[Exit Parmeno.
The behaviour of Pamphilus in this scene is most faithfully copied from nature. Being shocked with the discovery he has made, he leaves the house in great anguish, which, though he wishes to dissemble, he is unable to conceal. He cannot receive his mother as he ought, or give an answer of above two words: and finding himself unfit for conversation or company, he finds means to remove Sostrata and Parmeno as soon as possible. When any unexpected grief takes hold of us, witnesses lay a constraint on our behaviour, and we are apt to wish to be alone in order to deliver ourselves up entirely to the natural emotions of the mind. There is a very superior instance of the like beauty in Othello, in the scene where the Moor is worked up to jealousy by Iago. He first testifies his uneasiness by half-words and short speeches; but soon finding it impossible to smother his disorder much longer, he orders Iago to leave him; upon which he immediately bursts into an agony of passion.
| The Step-Mother | |