power to fetch or carry the said John Faustus, body and soul, into their habitation wheresoever.

By me,

JOHN FAUSTUS.

Meph. Speak, Faustus, do you deliver this as your deed?

Faust. Aye, take it, and the devil give thee good of it.

Meph. So now, Faustus, ask me what thou wilt. Faust. First I will question thee about hell. Tell me where is the place that men call hell? Meph. Under the heavens.

Faust. Aye, so are all things else; but where abouts?

Meph. Within the bowels of these elements;
Where we are tortured and remain for ever.
Hell hath no limits *, nor is circumscribed
In one self place; but where we are is hell;
And where hell is there must we ever be:
And, to be short, when all the world dissolves,
And every creature shall be purified,

All places shall be hell that are not heaven.
Faust. I think hell is a mere fable.

Meph. Ah! think so still, till experience change thy mind.

Faust. Why, dost thou think that Faustus shall be damned?

Meph. Aye, of necessity, for here's the scroll In which thou hast given thy soul to Lucifer. Faust. Aye, and body too; and what of that?

* This description is both morally and poetically beautiful.

Think'st thou that Faustus is so fond to imagine, That after this life there is any pain?

No, these are trifles, and mere old wives tales. Meph. But I am an instance to prove the contrary;

For I tell thee I am damn'd, and now in hell. Faust. Nay, an this be hell, I'll willingly be damn'd:

What sleeping, eating, walking, and disputing? But, leaving this, let me have a wife,

The fairest maid in Germany;

For I am wanton and lascivious,

And cannot live without a wife.

Meph. Well, Faustus, thou shalt have a wife. [He fetches in a Woman Devil.

Faust. What sight is this?

Meph. Now, Faustus, wilt thou have a wife? Faust. Here's a hot whore indeed; no, I'll no wife.

Meph. Marriage is but a ceremonial toy,
And if thou lovest me think no more of it:
I'll cull thee out the fairest courtezans,

And bring them every morning to thy bed:
She whom thine eye shall like, thy heart shall

have;

Were she as chaste as was Penelope,
As wise as Saba, or as beautiful
As was bright Lucifer before his fall.
Here take this book, and peruse it well;
The iterating of these lines brings gold;
The framing of this circle on the ground
Brings thunder, whirlwinds, storms, and lightning;
Pronounce this thrice devoutly to thyself,

And men in harness shall appear to thee,
Ready to execute what thou command'st.

Faust. Thanks, Mephostophilis, for this sweet book,

This will I keep as chary as my life. [Exeunt. Enter WAGNER solus.

Wag. Learned Faustus,

To know the secrets of astronomy,

Graven in the book of Jove's high firmament,
Did mount himself to scale Olympus' top,
Being seated in a chariot burning bright,
Drawn by the strength of yoked dragon's necks:
He now is gone to prove cosmography,
And, as I guess, will first arrive at Rome,
To see the Pope, and manner of his court,
And take some part of holy Peter's feast,
That on this day is highly solemnized. [Exit.
Enter FAUSTUS, in his Study, and MEPHO-

STOPHILIS.

Faust. When I behold the heav'ns, then I repent, And curse thee, wicked Mephostophilis, Because thou hast deprived me of these joys. Meph. "Twas thine own seeking, Faustus, thank thyself*.

But think'st thou heav'n such a glorious thing? I tell thee, Faustus, it is not half so fair

As thou, or any man that breathes on earth.

* When Faustus, in the bitterness of sorrow, seeks some palliative to his upbraiding conscience, in the allurement and excitement of Mephostophilis; how morally beautiful, but how caustic is the reply of this fiend, "It was thine own seeking, Faustus, thank thyself."

Faust. How prov'st thou that?

Meph. 'Twas made for man, then he's more excellent.

Faust. If heav'n was made for man, 'twas made

for me;

I will renounce this magic, and repent.

Enter the two ANGELS.

Good Ang. Faustus, repent, yet heaven will pity thee.

Bad Ang. Thou art a spirit, God cannot pity thee.

Faust. Who buzzeth in mine ears I am a spirit? Be I a devil, yet God may pity me; Yea, God will pity me if I repent.

Bad Ang. Ah! but Faustus never will repent! [Exeunt Ang.

Faust. My heart is harden'd, I cannot repent: Scarce can I name salvation, faith, or heaven: Swords, poisons, halters, and envenom'd steel, Are laid before me to dispatch myself;

And long ere this I should have done the deed,
Had not sweet pleasure conquer'd deep despair:
Have I not made blind Homer sing to me,
Of Alexander's love, and Enon's death?
And hath not he that built the walls of Thebes,
With ravishing sounds of his melodious harp,
Made music with my Mephostophilis ?
Why should I die then, or basely despair?
I am resolv'd Faustus shall not repent.

Come, Mephostophilis, let us dispute again*,

* The remainder of this scene, an ostentatious display of school-learning, with which the authors before Shakspeare abound, may be passed over without loss to the reader.

REESE LIBRARY

OF THE

UNIVERSITY

CALIFORNIA

And reason of divine astrology:

Speak, are there many spheres above the moon;
Are all celestial bodies but one globe,

As is the substance of this centric earth?
Meph. As are the elements such are the heav'ns;
Even from the moon unto th' imperial orb,
Mutually folded in each other's spheres,
And jointly move upon one axletree,

Whose termine is termed the world's wide pole:
Nor are the names of Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter
Feign'd, but are evening stars.

Faust. But have they all one motion, both situ et tempore?

Meph. All move from east to west in four-andtwenty hours upon the poles of the world; but differ in their motions upon the place of the zodiac.

Faust. These slender questions Wagner can decide;

Hath Mephostophilis no greater skill?

Who knows not the double motion of the planets?
That the first is finish'd in a natural day;
The second thus; Saturn in 30 years, Jupiter in

12, Mars in 4; the Sun, Venus, and Mer-
cury in a year; the Moon in 28 days:
these are freshmen's questions; but tell
me, hath every sphere a dominion or in-
telligentia?

Meph. Aye.

Faust. How many heavens or spheres are there? Meph. Nine: the seven planets, the firmament, and the imperial heaven.

Faust. But is there none, cœlum igneum et chrystallinum?