would lift up my hands; but see, they hold 'em! they hold 'em!

Faust. Why, Lucifer and Mephostophilis. Oh, gentlemen! I gave them my soul for my cunning. All. Oh! God forbid!

Faust. God forbad it, indeed; but Faustus hath done it; for the vain pleasure of four-andtwenty years hath Faustus lost eternal joy and felicity. I writ them a bill with mine own blood; the date is expired; this is the time, and be will fetch me.

1 Scho. Why did not Faustus tell us of this before, that Divines might have prayed for thee?

Faust. Oft have I thought to have done so; but the devil threatened to tear me in pieces if I named God; to fetch me body and soul, if I once gave ear to divinity; and now 'tis too late. Gentlemen, away, lest you perish with me.

2 Scho. Oh! what may we do to save Faustus? Faust. Talk not of me, but save yourselves and depart.

3 Scho. God will strengthen me; I will stay with Faustus.

1 Scho. Tempt not God, sweet friend, but let us into the next room and pray for him.

Faust. Aye, pray for me, pray for me; and what noise soever you hear, come not unto me, for nothing can rescue me.

2 Scho. Pray thou, and we will pray that God may have mercy upon thee.

Faust. Gentlemen, farewell; if I live till morning, I'll visit you; if not, Faustus is gone to hell. All. Faustus, farewell. [Exeunt Scholars.

1

Meph. Ah, Faustus, now thou hast no hope of

Therefore despair, think only upon hell;

For that must be thy mansion there to dwell.
Faust. Oh, thou bewitching fiend! 'twas thy

temptation

Hath robb'd me of eternal happiness.

Meph. I do confess it, Faustus, and rejoice "Twas I, that when thou wert i' the way to heav'n, Dam'd up thy passage; when thou took'st the

2

book

To view the Scriptures, then I turn'd the leaves,
And led thine eye.

What, weep'st thou! 'tis too late, despair!—Fare

well!

Fools that will laugh on earth must weep in hell

[Exit.

Enter the GOOD and BAD ANGELS, at several

Doors.

Good Ang. Oh! Faustus, if thou hadst given

ear to me,

Innumerable joys had followed thee

But thou didst love the world.

Bad Ang. Gave ear to me,

And now must taste hell's pains perpetually.
Good Ang. Oh! what will all thy riches, plea-

sures, pomps..

Avail thee now?

Bad Ang. Nothing but vex thee more,

To want in hell that had on earth such store.

[Music while the throne descends.

Good Ang. Oh, thou hast lost celestial happiness, Pleasures unspeakable, bliss without end!

Hell or the devil had had no power on thee: Hadst thou kept on that way, Faustus, behold In what resplendent glory thou hadst setł In yonder throne, like those bright shining saints, And triumph'd over hell; that hast thou lost: And now (poor soul!) must thy good angel leave er thee;

The jaws of hell are open to receive thee. [Exit. (Hell is discovered.)

Bad Ang. Now, Faustus, let thine eyes with 29 horror stare

Into that vast perpetual torture-house :
There are the furies tossing damned souls
On burning forks; their bodies boil in lead:
There are live quarters broiling on the coals,
That ne'er can die; this ever-burning chair
Is for o'er-tortur'd souls to rest them in;
These that are fed with sops of flaming fire,
Were gluttons, and lov'd only delicates,
And laugh'd to see the poor starve at their gates;
But, yet all these are nothing; thou shalt see
Ten thousand tortures that more horrid be.

Faust. Oh! I have seen enough to torture me! Bad Ang. Nay, thou must feel them, taste the smart of all;

He that loves pleasure, must for pleasure fall: And so I leave thee, Faustus, till anon;

Then wilt thou tremble in confusion.

(The clock strikes eleven.)

Faust. Oh, Faustus!

Now hast thou but one bare hour to live,

[Exit.

And then thou must be damn'd perpetually.

Stand still you ever-moving spheres of heav'n, That time may cease, and midnight never come. Fair Nature's eye, rise, rise again, and make Perpetual day; or let this hour be but a year, A A month, a week, a natural day,

That Faustus may repent and save his soul. A O lente lente currite noctis equi!

The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike,

The devil will come, and Faustus must be damn'd. Oh, I'll leap up to heav'n!-Who pulls me down? See where Christ's blood streams in the firma

ment*:

One drop of blood will save me: oh, my Christ!" Rend not my heart for naming of my Christ; Yet will I call on him. Oh, spare me, Lucifer! Where is it now?-'tis gone!

1

And see, a threatening arm, an angry brow.
Mountains and hills, come, come, and fall on me,
And hide me from the heavy wrath of heav'n!
No! Then will I headlong run into the earth:
Gape, earth!-O no, it will not harbour me.
You stars that reign'd at my nativity,
Whose influence hath allotted death and hell,
Now draw up Faustus, like a foggy mist,
Into the entrails of yon labouring cloud;
That when you vomit forth into the air,
My limbs may

issue from your smoky mouths; But let my soul mount and ascend to heav'n. (The watch strikes.)

Oh! half the hour is past: 'twill all be past anon.

*This whole line is omitted in the edit. 1616.

Oh! if my soul must suffer for my, sin,
Impose some end to my incessant pain..
Let Faustus live in hell a thousand years,
A hundred thousand, and at last be sav'd:
No end is limited to damned souls.

Why wert thou not a creature wanting soul?.
Or why is this immortal that thou hast?

Oh! Pythagoras, Metemsycosis! were that true,
This soul should fly from me, and I be chang'd
Into some brutish beast.

All beasts are happy, for when they die
Their souls are soon dissolv'd in elements;
But mine must live still to be plagu'd in hell.
Curs'd be the parents that engender'd me!..
No, Faustus, curse thyself, curse Lucifer,
That hath depriv'd thee of the joys of heav'n..
(The clock strikes twelve.)

It strikes, it strikes! now, body, turn to air,
Or Lucifer will bear thee quick to hell.
O soul! be chang'd into small water-drops,
And fall into the ocean; ne'er be found.

2

(Thunder.) Enter the DEVILS.
Oh! mercy, heav'n, look not so fierce on me!
Adders and serpents, let me breathe awhile!
Ugly hell, gape not!-Come not, Lucifer -
I'll burn my books!-Oh, Mephostophilis !

Enter the SCHOLARS.

[Exeunt.

1 Scho. Come, gentlemen, let us go visit Faustus, For such a dreadful night was never seen Since first the world's creation did begin; Such fearful shrieks and cries were never heard;

Pray heaven the Doctor have escap'd the danger.