<h2><SPAN name="II" id="II"></SPAN>II</h2>
<p>BEFORE THE CITY-GATE</p>
<p>(<i>Pedestrians of all kinds come forth</i>.)</p>
<p>SEVERAL APPRENTICES</p>
<p>Why do you go that way?</p>
<p>OTHERS</p>
<p>We're for the Hunters' lodge, to-day.</p>
<p>THE FIRST</p>
<p>We'll saunter to the Mill, in yonder hollow.</p>
<p>AN APPRENTICE</p>
<p>Go to the River Tavern, I should say.</p>
<p>SECOND APPRENTICE</p>
<p>But then, it's not a pleasant way.</p>
<p>THE OTHERS</p>
<p>And what will <i>you</i>?</p>
<p>A THIRD</p>
<span style="margin-left: 6em;">As goes the crowd, I follow.</span><br/>
<p>A FOURTH</p>
<p>Come up to Burgdorf? There you'll find good cheer,<br/>
The finest lasses and the best of beer,<br/>
And jolly rows and squabbles, trust me!</p>
<p>A FIFTH</p>
<p>You swaggering fellow, is your hide<br/>
A third time itching to be tried?<br/>
I won't go there, your jolly rows disgust me!</p>
<p>SERVANT-GIRL</p>
<p>No,—no! I'll turn and go to town again.</p>
<p>ANOTHER</p>
<p>We'll surely find him by those poplars yonder.</p>
<p>THE FIRST</p>
<p>That's no great luck for me, 'tis plain.<br/>
You'll have him, when and where you wander:<br/>
His partner in the dance you'll be,—<br/>
But what is all your fun to me?</p>
<p>THE OTHER</p>
<p>He's surely not alone to-day:<br/>
He'll be with Curly-head, I heard him say.</p>
<p>A STUDENT</p>
<p>Deuce! how they step, the buxom wenches!<br/>
Come, Brother! we must see them to the benches.<br/>
A strong, old beer, a pipe that stings and bites,<br/>
A girl in Sunday clothes,—these three are my delights.</p>
<p>CITIZEN'S DAUGHTER</p>
<p>Just see those handsome fellows, there!<br/>
It's really shameful, I declare;—<br/>
To follow servant-girls, when they<br/>
Might have the most genteel society to-day!</p>
<p>SECOND STUDENT (<i>to the First</i>)</p>
<p>Not quite so fast! Two others come behind,—<br/>
Those, dressed so prettily and neatly.<br/>
My neighbor's one of them, I find,<br/>
A girl that takes my heart, completely.<br/>
They go their way with looks demure,<br/>
But they'll accept us, after all, I'm sure.</p>
<p>THE FIRST</p>
<p>No, Brother! not for me their formal ways.<br/>
Quick! lest our game escape us in the press:<br/>
The hand that wields the broom on Saturdays<br/>
Will best, on Sundays, fondle and caress.</p>
<p>CITIZEN</p>
<p>He suits me not at all, our new-made Burgomaster!<br/>
Since he's installed, his arrogance grows faster.<br/>
How has he helped the town, I say?<br/>
Things worsen,—what improvement names he?<br/>
Obedience, more than ever, claims he,<br/>
And more than ever we must pay!</p>
<p>BEGGAR (<i>sings</i>)</p>
<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Good gentlemen and lovely ladies,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So red of cheek and fine of dress,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Behold, how needful here your aid is,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And see and lighten my distress!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Let me not vainly sing my ditty;</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He's only glad who gives away:</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A holiday, that shows your pity,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shall be for me a harvest-day!</span><br/>
<p>ANOTHER CITIZEN</p>
<p>On Sundays, holidays, there's naught I take delight in,<br/>
Like gossiping of war, and war's array,<br/>
When down in Turkey, far away,<br/>
The foreign people are a-fighting.<br/>
One at the window sits, with glass and friends,<br/>
And sees all sorts of ships go down the river gliding:<br/>
And blesses then, as home he wends<br/>
At night, our times of peace abiding.</p>
<p>THIRD CITIZEN</p>
<p>Yes, Neighbor! that's my notion, too:<br/>
Why, let them break their heads, let loose their passions,<br/>
And mix things madly through and through,<br/>
So, here, we keep our good old fashions!</p>
<p>OLD WOMAN (<i>to the Citizen's Daughter</i>)</p>
<p>Dear me, how fine! So handsome, and so young!<br/>
Who wouldn't lose his heart, that met you?<br/>
Don't be so proud! I'll hold my tongue,<br/>
And what you'd like I'll undertake to get you.</p>
<p>CITIZEN'S DAUGHTER</p>
<p>Come, Agatha! I shun the witch's sight<br/>
Before folks, lest there be misgiving:<br/>
'Tis true, she showed me, on Saint Andrew's Night,<br/>
My future sweetheart, just as he were living.</p>
<p>THE OTHER</p>
<p>She showed me mine, in crystal clear,<br/>
With several wild young blades, a soldier-lover:<br/>
I seek him everywhere, I pry and peer,<br/>
And yet, somehow, his face I can't discover.</p>
<p>SOLDIERS</p>
<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;">Castles, with lofty</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Ramparts and towers,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Maidens disdainful</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 4em;">In Beauty's array,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Both shall be ours!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Bold is the venture,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Splendid the pay!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Lads, let the trumpets</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 4em;">For us be suing,—</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Calling to pleasure,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Calling to ruin.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Stormy our life is;</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Such is its boon!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Maidens and castles</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Capitulate soon.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Bold is the venture,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Splendid the pay!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 4em;">And the soldiers go marching,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Marching away!</span><br/></p>
<p>FAUST AND WAGNER</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>Released from ice are brook and river<br/>
By the quickening glance of the gracious Spring;<br/>
The colors of hope to the valley cling,<br/>
And weak old Winter himself must shiver,<br/>
Withdrawn to the mountains, a crownless king:<br/>
Whence, ever retreating, he sends again<br/>
Impotent showers of sleet that darkle<br/>
In belts across the green o' the plain.<br/>
But the sun will permit no white to sparkle;<br/>
Everywhere form in development moveth;<br/>
He will brighten the world with the tints he loveth,<br/>
And, lacking blossoms, blue, yellow, and red,<br/>
He takes these gaudy people instead.<br/>
Turn thee about, and from this height<br/>
Back on the town direct thy sight.<br/>
Out of the hollow, gloomy gate,<br/>
The motley throngs come forth elate:<br/>
Each will the joy of the sunshine hoard,<br/>
To honor the Day of the Risen Lord!<br/>
They feel, themselves, their resurrection:<br/>
From the low, dark rooms, scarce habitable;<br/>
From the bonds of Work, from Trade's restriction;<br/>
From the pressing weight of roof and gable;<br/>
From the narrow, crushing streets and alleys;<br/>
From the churches' solemn and reverend night,<br/>
All come forth to the cheerful light.<br/>
How lively, see! the multitude sallies,<br/>
Scattering through gardens and fields remote,<br/>
While over the river, that broadly dallies,<br/>
Dances so many a festive boat;<br/>
And overladen, nigh to sinking,<br/>
The last full wherry takes the stream.<br/>
Yonder afar, from the hill-paths blinking,<br/>
Their clothes are colors that softly gleam.<br/>
I hear the noise of the village, even;<br/>
Here is the People's proper Heaven;<br/>
Here high and low contented see!<br/>
Here I am Man,—dare man to be!</p>
<p>WAGNER</p>
<p>To stroll with you, Sir Doctor, flatters;<br/>
'Tis honor, profit, unto me.<br/>
But I, alone, would shun these shallow matters,<br/>
Since all that's coarse provokes my enmity.<br/>
This fiddling, shouting, ten-pin rolling<br/>
I hate,—these noises of the throng:<br/>
They rave, as Satan were their sports controlling.<br/>
And call it mirth, and call it song!</p>
PEASANTS, UNDER THE LINDEN-TREE<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(<i>Dance and Song</i>.)</span><br/>
<p><span style="margin-left: 5em;">All for the dance the shepherd
dressed,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 5em;">In ribbons, wreath, and gayest vest</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Himself with care arraying:</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Around the linden lass and lad</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Already footed it like mad:</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Hurrah! hurrah!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Hurrah—tarara-la!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 5em;">The fiddle-bow was playing.</span><br/>
<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 5em;">He broke the ranks, no whit afraid,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 5em;">And with his elbow punched a maid,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Who stood, the dance surveying:</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 5em;">The buxom wench, she turned and said:</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 5em;">"Now, you I call a stupid-head!"</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Hurrah! hurrah!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Hurrah—tarara-la!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 5em;">"Be decent while you're staying!"</span><br/>
<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Then round the circle went their
flight,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 5em;">They danced to left, they danced to
right:</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Their kirtles all were playing.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 5em;">They first grew red, and then grew
warm,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 5em;">And rested, panting, arm in arm,—</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Hurrah! hurrah!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Hurrah—tarara-la!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 5em;">And hips and elbows straying.</span><br/>
<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Now, don't be so familiar here!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 5em;">How many a one has fooled his dear,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Waylaying and betraying!</span><br/>
<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 5em;">And yet, he coaxed her soon aside,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 5em;">And round the linden sounded wide.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Hurrah! hurrah!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Hurrah—tarara-la!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 5em;">And the fiddle-bow was playing.</span><br/></p>
<p>OLD PEASANT</p>
<p>Sir Doctor, it is good of you,<br/>
That thus you condescend, to-day,<br/>
Among this crowd of merry folk,<br/>
A highly-learned man, to stray.<br/>
Then also take the finest can,<br/>
We fill with fresh wine, for your sake:<br/>
I offer it, and humbly wish<br/>
That not alone your thirst is slake,—<br/>
That, as the drops below its brink,<br/>
So many days of life you drink!</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>I take the cup you kindly reach,<br/>
With thanks and health to all and each.</p>
<p>(<i>The People gather in a circle about him</i>.)</p>
<p>OLD PEASANT</p>
<p>In truth, 'tis well and fitly timed,<br/>
That now our day of joy you share,<br/>
Who heretofore, in evil days,<br/>
Gave us so much of helping care.<br/>
Still many a man stands living here,<br/>
Saved by your father's skillful hand,<br/>
That snatched him from the fever's rage<br/>
And stayed the plague in all the land.<br/>
Then also you, though but a youth,<br/>
Went into every house of pain:<br/>
Many the corpses carried forth,<br/>
But you in health came out again.</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>No test or trial you evaded:<br/>
A Helping God the helper aided.</p>
<p>ALL</p>
<p>Health to the man, so skilled and tried.<br/>
That for our help he long may abide!</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>To Him above bow down, my friends,<br/>
Who teaches help, and succor sends!</p>
<p>(<i>He goes on with</i> WAGNER.)</p>
<p>WAGNER</p>
<p>With what a feeling, thou great man, must thou<br/>
Receive the people's honest veneration!<br/>
How lucky he, whose gifts his station<br/>
With such advantages endow!<br/>
Thou'rt shown to all the younger generation:<br/>
Each asks, and presses near to gaze;<br/>
The fiddle stops, the dance delays.<br/>
Thou goest, they stand in rows to see,<br/>
And all the caps are lifted high;<br/>
A little more, and they would bend the knee<br/>
As if the Holy Host came by.</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>A few more steps ascend, as far as yonder stone!—<br/>
Here from our wandering will we rest contented.<br/>
Here, lost in thought, I've lingered oft alone,<br/>
When foolish fasts and prayers my life tormented.<br/>
Here, rich in hope and firm in faith,<br/>
With tears, wrung hands and sighs, I've striven,<br/>
The end of that far-spreading death<br/>
Entreating from the Lord of Heaven!<br/>
Now like contempt the crowd's applauses seem:<br/>
Couldst thou but read, within mine inmost spirit,<br/>
How little now I deem,<br/>
That sire or son such praises merit!<br/>
My father's was a sombre, brooding brain,<br/>
Which through the holy spheres of Nature groped and wandered,<br/>
And honestly, in his own fashion, pondered<br/>
With labor whimsical, and pain:<br/>
Who, in his dusky work-shop bending,<br/>
With proved adepts in company,<br/>
Made, from his recipes unending,<br/>
Opposing substances agree.<br/>
There was a Lion red, a wooer daring,<br/>
Within the Lily's tepid bath espoused,<br/>
And both, tormented then by flame unsparing,<br/>
By turns in either bridal chamber housed.<br/>
If then appeared, with colors splendid,<br/>
The young Queen in her crystal shell,<br/>
This was the medicine—the patients' woes soon ended,<br/>
And none demanded: who got well?<br/>
Thus we, our hellish boluses compounding,<br/>
Among these vales and hills surrounding,<br/>
Worse than the pestilence, have passed.<br/>
Thousands were done to death from poison of my giving;<br/>
And I must hear, by all the living,<br/>
The shameless murderers praised at last!</p>
<p>WAGNER</p>
<p>Why, therefore, yield to such depression?<br/>
A good man does his honest share<br/>
In exercising, with the strictest care,<br/>
The art bequeathed to his possession!<br/>
Dost thou thy father honor, as a youth?<br/>
Then may his teaching cheerfully impel thee:<br/>
Dost thou, as man, increase the stores of truth?<br/>
Then may thine own son afterwards excel thee.</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>O happy he, who still renews<br/>
The hope, from Error's deeps to rise forever!<br/>
That which one does not know, one needs to use;<br/>
And what one knows, one uses never.<br/>
But let us not, by such despondence, so<br/>
The fortune of this hour embitter!<br/>
Mark how, beneath the evening sunlight's glow,<br/>
The green-embosomed houses glitter!<br/>
The glow retreats, done is the day of toil;<br/>
It yonder hastes, new fields of life exploring;<br/>
Ah, that no wing can lift me from the soil,<br/>
Upon its track to follow, follow soaring!<br/>
Then would I see eternal Evening gild<br/>
The silent world beneath me glowing,<br/>
On fire each mountain-peak, with peace each valley filled,<br/>
The silver brook to golden rivers flowing.<br/>
The mountain-chain, with all its gorges deep,<br/>
Would then no more impede my godlike motion;<br/>
And now before mine eyes expands the ocean<br/>
With all its bays, in shining sleep!<br/>
Yet, finally, the weary god is sinking;<br/>
The new-born impulse fires my mind,—<br/>
I hasten on, his beams eternal drinking,<br/>
The Day before me and the Night behind,<br/>
Above me heaven unfurled, the floor of waves beneath me,—<br/>
A glorious dream! though now the glories fade.<br/>
Alas! the wings that lift the mind no aid<br/>
Of wings to lift the body can bequeath me.<br/>
Yet in each soul is born the pleasure<br/>
Of yearning onward, upward and away,<br/>
When o'er our heads, lost in the vaulted azure,<br/>
The lark sends down his flickering lay,—<br/>
When over crags and piny highlands<br/>
The poising eagle slowly soars,<br/>
And over plains and lakes and islands<br/>
The crane sails by to other shores.</p>
<p>WAGNER</p>
<p>I've had, myself, at times, some odd caprices,<br/>
But never yet such impulse felt, as this is.<br/>
One soon fatigues, on woods and fields to look,<br/>
Nor would I beg the bird his wing to spare us:<br/>
How otherwise the mental raptures bear us<br/>
From page to page, from book to book!<br/>
Then winter nights take loveliness untold,<br/>
As warmer life in every limb had crowned you;<br/>
And when your hands unroll some parchment rare and old,<br/>
All Heaven descends, and opens bright around you!</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>One impulse art thou conscious of, at best;<br/>
O, never seek to know the other!<br/>
Two souls, alas! reside within my breast,<br/>
And each withdraws from, and repels, its brother.<br/>
One with tenacious organs holds in love<br/>
And clinging lust the world in its embraces;<br/>
The other strongly sweeps, this dust above,<br/>
Into the high ancestral spaces.<br/>
If there be airy spirits near,<br/>
'Twixt Heaven and Earth on potent errands fleeing,<br/>
Let them drop down the golden atmosphere,<br/>
And bear me forth to new and varied being!<br/>
Yea, if a magic mantle once were mine,<br/>
To waft me o'er the world at pleasure,<br/>
I would not for the costliest stores of treasure—<br/>
Not for a monarch's robe—the gift resign.</p>
<p>WAGNER</p>
<p>Invoke not thus the well-known throng,<br/>
Which through the firmament diffused is faring,<br/>
And danger thousand-fold, our race to wrong.<br/>
In every quarter is preparing.<br/>
Swift from the North the spirit-fangs so sharp<br/>
Sweep down, and with their barbéd points assail you;<br/>
Then from the East they come, to dry and warp<br/>
Your lungs, till breath and being fail you:<br/>
If from the Desert sendeth them the South,<br/>
With fire on fire your throbbing forehead crowning,<br/>
The West leads on a host, to cure the drouth<br/>
Only when meadow, field, and you are drowning.<br/>
They gladly hearken, prompt for injury,—<br/>
Gladly obey, because they gladly cheat us;<br/>
From Heaven they represent themselves to be,<br/>
And lisp like angels, when with lies they meet us.<br/>
But, let us go! 'Tis gray and dusky all:<br/>
The air is cold, the vapors fall.<br/>
At night, one learns his house to prize:—<br/>
Why stand you thus, with such astonished eyes?<br/>
What, in the twilight, can your mind so trouble?</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>Seest thou the black dog coursing there, through corn and<br/>
stubble?</p>
<p>WAGNER</p>
<p>Long since: yet deemed him not important in the least.</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>Inspect him close: for what tak'st thou the beast?</p>
<p>WAGNER</p>
<p>Why, for a poodle who has lost his master,<br/>
And scents about, his track to find.</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>Seest thou the spiral circles, narrowing faster,<br/>
Which he, approaching, round us seems to wind?<br/>
A streaming trail of fire, if I see rightly,<br/>
Follows his path of mystery.</p>
<p>WAGNER</p>
<p>It may be that your eyes deceive you slightly;<br/>
Naught but a plain black poodle do I see.</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>It seems to me that with enchanted cunning<br/>
He snares our feet, some future chain to bind.</p>
<p>WAGNER</p>
<p>I see him timidly, in doubt, around us running,<br/>
Since, in his master's stead, two strangers doth he find.</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>The circle narrows: he is near!</p>
<p>WAGNER</p>
<p>A dog thou seest, and not a phantom, here!<br/>
Behold him stop—upon his belly crawl—His<br/>
tail set wagging: canine habits, all!</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>Come, follow us! Come here, at least!</p>
<p>WAGNER</p>
<p>'Tis the absurdest, drollest beast.<br/>
Stand still, and you will see him wait;<br/>
Address him, and he gambols straight;<br/>
If something's lost, he'll quickly bring it,—<br/>
Your cane, if in the stream you fling it.</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>No doubt you're right: no trace of mind, I own,<br/>
Is in the beast: I see but drill, alone.</p>
<p>WAGNER</p>
<p>The dog, when he's well educated,<br/>
Is by the wisest tolerated.<br/>
Yes, he deserves your favor thoroughly,—<br/>
The clever scholar of the students, he!</p>
<p>(<i>They pass in the city-gate</i>.)</p>
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<h2><SPAN name="III" id="III"></SPAN>III</h2>
<p>THE STUDY</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>(<i>Entering, with the poodle</i>.)</p>
<p><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Behind me, field and meadow
sleeping,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">I leave in deep, prophetic night,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Within whose dread and holy keeping</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The better soul awakes to light.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The wild desires no longer win us,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The deeds of passion cease to chain;</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The love of Man revives within us,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The love of God revives again.</span><br/></p>
<p>Be still, thou poodle; make not such racket and riot!<br/>
Why at the threshold wilt snuffing be?<br/>
Behind the stove repose thee in quiet!<br/>
My softest cushion I give to thee.<br/>
As thou, up yonder, with running and leaping<br/>
Amused us hast, on the mountain's crest,<br/></p>
<p>So now I take thee into my keeping,<br/>
A welcome, but also a silent, guest.</p>
<p><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Ah, when, within our narrow chamber</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The lamp with friendly lustre glows,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Flames in the breast each faded
ember,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And in the heart, itself that knows.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Then Hope again lends sweet
assistance,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And Reason then resumes her speech:</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">One yearns, the rivers of existence,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The very founts of Life, to reach.</span><br/></p>
<p>Snarl not, poodle! To the sound that rises,<br/>
The sacred tones that my soul embrace,<br/>
This bestial noise is out of place.<br/>
We are used to see, that Man despises<br/>
What he never comprehends,<br/>
And the Good and the Beautiful vilipends,<br/>
Finding them often hard to measure:<br/>
Will the dog, like man, snarl <i>his</i> displeasure?</p>
<p>But ah! I feel, though will thereto be stronger,<br/>
Contentment flows from out my breast no longer.<br/>
Why must the stream so soon run dry and fail us,<br/>
And burning thirst again assail us?<br/>
Therein I've borne so much probation!<br/>
And yet, this want may be supplied us;<br/>
We call the Supernatural to guide us;<br/>
We pine and thirst for Revelation,<br/>
Which nowhere worthier is, more nobly sent,<br/>
Than here, in our New Testament.<br/>
I feel impelled, its meaning to determine,—<br/>
With honest purpose, once for all,<br/>
The hallowed Original<br/>
To change to my beloved German.<br/></p>
<p>(<i>He opens a volume, and commences</i>.)<br/>
'Tis written: "In the Beginning was the <i>Word</i>."<br/>
Here am I balked: who, now can help afford?<br/>
The <i>Word?</i>—impossible so high to rate it;<br/>
And otherwise must I translate it.<br/>
If by the Spirit I am truly taught.<br/>
Then thus: "In the Beginning was the <i>Thought</i>"<br/>
This first line let me weigh completely,<br/>
Lest my impatient pen proceed too fleetly.<br/>
Is it the <i>Thought</i> which works, creates, indeed?<br/>
"In the Beginning was the <i>Power,"</i> I read.<br/>
Yet, as I write, a warning is suggested,<br/>
That I the sense may not have fairly tested.<br/>
The Spirit aids me: now I see the light!<br/>
"In the Beginning was the <i>Act</i>," I write.<br/>
<br/>
If I must share my chamber with thee,<br/>
Poodle, stop that howling, prithee!<br/>
Cease to bark and bellow!<br/>
Such a noisy, disturbing fellow<br/>
I'll no longer suffer near me.<br/>
One of us, dost hear me!<br/>
Must leave, I fear me.<br/>
No longer guest-right I bestow;<br/>
The door is open, art free to go.<br/>
But what do I see in the creature?<br/>
Is that in the course of nature?<br/>
Is't actual fact? or Fancy's shows?<br/>
How long and broad my poodle grows!<br/>
He rises mightily:<br/>
A canine form that cannot be!<br/>
What a spectre I've harbored thus!<br/>
He resembles a hippopotamus,<br/>
With fiery eyes, teeth terrible to see:<br/>
O, now am I sure of thee!<br/>
For all of thy half-hellish brood<br/>
The Key of Solomon is good.<br/>
<br/></p>
<p>SPIRITS (<i>in the corridor</i>)</p>
<p><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Some one, within, is caught!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Stay without, follow him not!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Like the fox in a snare,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Quakes the old hell-lynx there.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Take heed—look about!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Back and forth hover,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Under and over,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And he'll work himself out.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">If your aid avail him,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Let it not fail him;</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">For he, without measure,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Has wrought for our pleasure.</span><br/></p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>First, to encounter the beast,<br/>
The Words of the Four be addressed:<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Salamander, shine glorious!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Wave, Undine, as bidden!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Sylph, be thou hidden!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Gnome, be laborious!</span><br/></p>
<p>Who knows not their sense<br/>
(These elements),—<br/>
Their properties<br/>
And power not sees,—<br/>
No mastery he inherits<br/>
Over the Spirits.</p>
<p><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Vanish in flaming ether,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Salamander!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Flow foamingly together,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Undine!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Shine in meteor-sheen,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Sylph!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Bring help to hearth and shelf.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Incubus! Incubus!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Step forward, and finish thus!</span><br/></p>
<p>Of the Four, no feature<br/>
Lurks in the creature.<br/>
Quiet he lies, and grins disdain:<br/>
Not yet, it seems, have I given him pain.<br/>
Now, to undisguise thee,<br/>
Hear me exorcise thee!<br/>
Art thou, my gay one,<br/>
Hell's fugitive stray-one?<br/>
The sign witness now,<br/>
Before which they bow,<br/>
The cohorts of Hell!</p>
<p>With hair all bristling, it begins to swell.</p>
<p><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Base Being, hearest thou?</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Knowest and fearest thou</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The One, unoriginate,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Named inexpressibly,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Through all Heaven impermeate,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Pierced irredressibly!</span><br/></p>
<p>Behind the stove still banned,<br/>
See it, an elephant, expand!<br/>
It fills the space entire,<br/>
Mist-like melting, ever faster.<br/>
'Tis enough: ascend no higher,—<br/>
Lay thyself at the feet of the Master!<br/>
Thou seest, not vain the threats I bring thee:<br/>
With holy fire I'll scorch and sting thee!<br/>
Wait not to know<br/>
The threefold dazzling glow!<br/>
Wait not to know<br/>
The strongest art within my hands!</p>
<p>MEPHISTOPHELES</p>
<p>(<i>while the vapor is dissipating, steps forth from behind the<br/>
stove, in the costume of a Travelling Scholar</i>.)<br/>
Why such a noise? What are my lord's commands?</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>This was the poodle's real core,<br/>
A travelling scholar, then? The <i>casus</i> is diverting.</p>
<p>MEPHISTOPHELES</p>
<p>The learned gentleman I bow before:<br/>
You've made me roundly sweat, that's certain!</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>What is thy name?</p>
<p>MEPHISTOPHELES</p>
<p>A question small, it seems,<br/>
For one whose mind the Word so much despises;<br/>
Who, scorning all external gleams,<br/>
The depths of being only prizes.</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>With all you gentlemen, the name's a test,<br/>
Whereby the nature usually is expressed.<br/>
Clearly the latter it implies<br/>
In names like Beelzebub, Destroyer, Father of Lies.<br/>
Who art thou, then?</p>
<p>MEPHISTOPHELES</p>
<p>Part of that Power, not understood,<br/>
Which always wills the Bad, and always works the Good.</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>What hidden sense in this enigma lies?</p>
<p>MEPHISTOPHELES</p>
<p>I am the Spirit that Denies!<br/>
And justly so: for all things, from the Void<br/>
Called forth, deserve to be destroyed:<br/>
'Twere better, then, were naught created.<br/>
Thus, all which you as Sin have rated,—<br/>
Destruction,—aught with Evil blent,—<br/>
That is my proper element.</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>Thou nam'st thyself a part, yet show'st complete to me?</p>
<p>MEPHISTOPHELES</p>
<p>The modest truth I speak to thee.<br/>
If Man, that microcosmic fool, can see<br/>
Himself a whole so frequently,<br/>
Part of the Part am I, once All, in primal Night,—<br/>
Part of the Darkness which brought forth the Light,<br/>
The haughty Light, which now disputes the space,<br/>
And claims of Mother Night her ancient place.<br/>
And yet, the struggle fails; since Light, howe'er it weaves,<br/>
Still, fettered, unto bodies cleaves:<br/>
It flows from bodies, bodies beautifies;<br/>
By bodies is its course impeded;<br/>
And so, but little time is needed,<br/>
I hope, ere, as the bodies die, it dies!</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>I see the plan thou art pursuing:<br/>
Thou canst not compass general ruin,<br/>
And hast on smaller scale begun.</p>
<p>MEPHISTOPHELES</p>
<p>And truly 'tis not much, when all is done.<br/>
That which to Naught is in resistance set,—<br/>
The Something of this clumsy world,—has yet,<br/>
With all that I have undertaken,<br/>
Not been by me disturbed or shaken:<br/>
From earthquake, tempest, wave, volcano's brand,<br/>
Back into quiet settle sea and land!<br/>
And that damned stuff, the bestial, human brood,—<br/>
What use, in having that to play with?<br/>
How many have I made away with!<br/>
And ever circulates a newer, fresher blood.<br/>
It makes me furious, such things beholding:<br/>
From Water, Earth, and Air unfolding,<br/>
A thousand germs break forth and grow,<br/>
In dry, and wet, and warm, and chilly;<br/>
And had I not the Flame reserved, why, really,<br/>
There's nothing special of my own to show!</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>So, to the actively eternal<br/>
Creative force, in cold disdain<br/>
You now oppose the fist infernal,<br/>
Whose wicked clench is all in vain!<br/>
Some other labor seek thou rather,<br/>
Queer Son of Chaos, to begin!</p>
<p>MEPHISTOPHELES</p>
<p>Well, we'll consider: thou canst gather<br/>
My views, when next I venture in.<br/>
Might I, perhaps, depart at present?</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>Why thou shouldst ask, I don't perceive.<br/>
Though our acquaintance is so recent,<br/>
For further visits thou hast leave.<br/>
The window's here, the door is yonder;<br/>
A chimney, also, you behold.</p>
<p>MEPHISTOPHELES</p>
<p>I must confess that forth I may not wander,<br/>
My steps by one slight obstacle controlled,—<br/>
The wizard's-foot, that on your threshold made is.</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>The pentagram prohibits thee?<br/>
Why, tell me now, thou Son of Hades,<br/>
If that prevents, how cam'st thou in to me?<br/>
Could such a spirit be so cheated?</p>
<p>MEPHISTOPHELES</p>
<p>Inspect the thing: the drawing's not completed.<br/>
The outer angle, you may see,<br/>
Is open left—the lines don't fit it.</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>Well,—Chance, this time, has fairly hit it!<br/>
And thus, thou'rt prisoner to me?<br/>
It seems the business has succeeded.</p>
<p>MEPHISTOPHELES</p>
<p>The poodle naught remarked, as after thee he speeded;<br/>
But other aspects now obtain:<br/>
The Devil can't get out again.</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>Try, then, the open window-pane!</p>
<p>MEPHISTOPHELES</p>
<p>For Devils and for spectres this is law:<br/>
Where they have entered in, there also they withdraw.<br/>
The first is free to us; we're governed by the second.</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>In Hell itself, then, laws are reckoned?<br/>
That's well! So might a compact be<br/>
Made with you gentlemen—and binding,—surely?</p>
<p>MEPHISTOPHELES</p>
<p>All that is promised shall delight thee purely;<br/>
No skinflint bargain shalt thou see.<br/>
But this is not of swift conclusion;<br/>
We'll talk about the matter soon.<br/>
And now, I do entreat this boon—<br/>
Leave to withdraw from my intrusion.</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>One moment more I ask thee to remain,<br/>
Some pleasant news, at least, to tell me.</p>
<p>MEPHISTOPHELES</p>
<p>Release me, now! I soon shall come again;<br/>
Then thou, at will, mayst question and compel me.</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>I have not snares around thee cast;<br/>
Thyself hast led thyself into the meshes.<br/>
Who traps the Devil, hold him fast!<br/>
Not soon a second time he'll catch a prey so precious.</p>
<p>MEPHISTOPHELES</p>
<p>An't please thee, also I'm content to stay,<br/>
And serve thee in a social station;<br/>
But stipulating, that I may<br/>
With arts of mine afford thee recreation.</p>
<p>FAUST</p>
<p>Thereto I willingly agree,<br/>
If the diversion pleasant be.</p>
<p>MEPHISTOPHELES</p>
<p>My friend, thou'lt win, past all pretences,<br/>
More in this hour to soothe thy senses,<br/>
Than in the year's monotony.<br/>
That which the dainty spirits sing thee,<br/>
The lovely pictures they shall bring thee,<br/>
Are more than magic's empty show.<br/>
Thy scent will be to bliss invited;<br/>
Thy palate then with taste delighted,<br/>
Thy nerves of touch ecstatic glow!<br/>
All unprepared, the charm I spin:<br/>
We're here together, so begin!</p>
<p>SPIRITS</p>
<p><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Vanish, ye darking</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Arches above him!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Loveliest weather,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Born of blue ether,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Break from the sky!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">O that the darkling</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Clouds had departed!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Starlight is sparkling,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Tranquiller-hearted</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Suns are on high.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Heaven's own children</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">In beauty bewildering,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Waveringly bending,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Pass as they hover;</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Longing unending</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Follows them over.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">They, with their glowing</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Garments, out-flowing,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Cover, in going,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Landscape and bower,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Where, in seclusion,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Lovers are plighted,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Lost in illusion.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Bower on bower!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Tendrils unblighted!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Lo! in a shower</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Grapes that o'ercluster</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Gush into must, or</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Flow into rivers</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Of foaming and flashing</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Wine, that is dashing</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Gems, as it boundeth</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Down the high places,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And spreading, surroundeth</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">With crystalline spaces,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">In happy embraces,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Blossoming forelands,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Emerald shore-lands!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And the winged races</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Drink, and fly onward—</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Fly ever sunward</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">To the enticing</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Islands, that flatter,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Dipping and rising</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Light on the water!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Hark, the inspiring</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Sound of their quiring!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">See, the entrancing</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Whirl of their dancing!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">All in the air are</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Freer and fairer.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Some of them scaling</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Boldly the highlands,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Others are sailing,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Circling the islands;</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Others are flying;</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Life-ward all hieing,—</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">All for the distant</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Star of existent</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Rapture and Love!</span><br/></p>
<p>MEPHISTOPHELES</p>
<p>He sleeps! Enough, ye fays! your airy number<br/>
Have sung him truly into slumber:<br/>
For this performance I your debtor prove.—<br/>
Not yet art thou the man, to catch the Fiend and hold him!—<br/>
With fairest images of dreams infold him,<br/>
Plunge him in seas of sweet untruth!<br/>
Yet, for the threshold's magic which controlled him,<br/>
The Devil needs a rat's quick tooth.<br/>
I use no lengthened invocation:<br/>
Here rustles one that soon will work my liberation.</p>
<p>The lord of rats and eke of mice,<br/>
Of flies and bed-bugs, frogs and lice,<br/>
Summons thee hither to the door-sill,<br/>
To gnaw it where, with just a morsel<br/>
Of oil, he paints the spot for thee:—<br/>
There com'st thou, hopping on to me!<br/>
To work, at once! The point which made me craven<br/>
Is forward, on the ledge, engraven.<br/>
Another bite makes free the door:<br/>
So, dream thy dreams, O Faust, until we meet once more!</p>
<p>FAUST <i>(awaking)</i></p>
<p>Am I again so foully cheated?<br/>
Remains there naught of lofty spirit-sway,<br/>
But that a dream the Devil counterfeited,<br/>
And that a poodle ran away?</p>
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