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Title: The history of the damnable life and deserved death of Doctor John Faustus 1592
Author: William Rose, - To be updated
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The history of the damnable life and deserved death of Doctor John Faustus 1592" ***
LIFE AND DESERVED DEATH OF DOCTOR JOHN FAUSTUS 1592 ***
Transcriber’s Note: Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold
text by =equal signs=.
Broadway Translations
“_Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety._”
[Illustration: AN ALLEGED FAUST PORTRAIT
BY JAN JORIS VAN VLIET
_After a Sketch by Rembrandt.
About 1630_]
Broadway Translations
THE HISTORY OF THE
_DAMNABLE LIFE and DESERVED DEATH_
OF
DOCTOR JOHN FAUSTUS
1592
TOGETHER WITH
_THE SECOND REPORT OF FAUSTUS_
CONTAINING HIS APPEARANCES AND THE DEEDS
OF WAGNER
1594
_Both modernized and edited by_
WILLIAM ROSE, M.A., PH.D.
LECTURER IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON, KING’S COLLEGE
_With an Introduction_
_With 24 Illustrations chiefly from Woodcuts_
LONDON
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS LTD.
NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO.
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY
THE MAYFLOWER PRESS, WILLIAM BRENDON AND SONS LTD.
CONTENTS
PAGE
_Introduction_ 1
I. _The Historical Personage_ 3
II. _The German Faust Book_ 23
III. _Faust in England_ 42
IV. _The Faust Drama in Germany_ 48
V. _The Wagner Book_ 57
THE HISTORIE OF DR. JOHN FAUSTUS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. _Of his Parentage and Birth_ 65
II. _How Doctor Faustus began to practise
in his Devilish Art, and how he conjured
the Devil, making him to appear and meet
him on the morrow at his own house_ 67
III. _The conference of Doctor Faustus with the
Spirit Mephostophiles the morning
following at his own house_ 70
IV. _The second time of the Spirit’s appearing
to Faustus in his house, and of their
parley_ 72
V. _The third parley between Doctor Faustus and
Mephostophiles about a conclusion_ 74
VI. _How Doctor Faustus set his blood in a saucer
on warm ashes, and writ as followeth_ 76
VII. _How Mephostophiles came for his writing, and
in what manner he appeared, and his sights
he shewed him: and how he caused him to keep
a copy of his own writing_ 77
VIII. _The manner how Faustus proceeded with his
damnable life, and of the diligent service
Mephostophiles used towards him_ 79
IX. _How Doctor Faustus would have married, and
how the Devil had almost killed him for it_ 81
X. _Questions put forth by Doctor Faustus unto
his Spirit Mephostophiles_ 84
XI. _How Doctor Faustus dreamed that he had seen
hell in his sleep, and how he questioned with
his Spirit of matters as concerning hell,
with the Spirit’s answer_ 86
XII. _The second question put forth by Doctor
Faustus to his Spirit, what Kingdoms there
were in hell, how many, and what were their
rulers’ names_ 87
XIII. _Another question put forth by Doctor Faustus
to his Spirit concerning his Lord Lucifer,
with the sorrow that Faustus fell afterwards
into_ 88
XIV. _Another disputation betwixt Doctor Faustus
and his Spirit, of the power of the Devil,
and of his envy to mankind_ 90
XV. _How Doctor Faustus desired again of his
Spirit to know the secrets and pains of hell;
and whether those damned Devils and their
company might ever come into the favour of God
again or not?_ 92
XVI. _Another question put forth by Doctor Faustus
to his Spirit Mephostophiles of his own
estate_ 98
XVII. _Here followeth the second part of Doctor
Faustus his life, and practices, until his
end_ 100
XVIII. _A question put forth by Doctor Faustus to his
Spirit concerning Astronomy_ 101
XIX. _How Doctor Faustus fell into despair with
himself: for having put forth a question unto
his Spirit, they fell at variance, whereupon
the whole route of Devils appeared unto him,
threatening him sharply_ 104
XX. _How Doctor Faustus desired to see hell, and
of the manner how he was used therein_ 110
XXI. _How Doctor Faustus was carried through the
air up to the heavens to see the world, and
how the Sky and Planets ruled: after the
which he wrote one letter to his friend of
the same to Liptzig, how he went about the
world in eight days_ 115
XXII. _How Doctor Faustus made his journey through
the principal and most famous lands in the
world_ 121
XXIII. _How Faustus had a sight of Paradise_ 144
XXIV. _Of a certain Comet that appeared in
Germanie, and how Doctor Faustus was
desired by certain friends of his to know
the meaning thereof_ 146
XXV. _A question put forth to Doctor Faustus,
concerning the Stars_ 147
XXVI. _How Faustus was asked a question concerning
the Spirits that vex men_ 148
XXVII. _How Doctor Faustus was asked a question
concerning the Stars that fall from Heaven_ 149
XXVIII. _How Faustus was asked a question as
concerning thunder_ 149
XXIX. _How the Emperor Carolus Quintus requested
of Faustus to see some of his cunning,
whereunto he agreed_ 150
XXX. _How Doctor Faustus in the sight of the
Emperor conjured a pair of Hart’s horns
upon a Knight’s head that slept out of a
casement_ 154
XXXI. _How the above-mentioned Knight went
about to be revenged of Doctor Faustus_ 155
XXXII. _How three young Dukes being together at
Wittenberg to behold the University,
requested Faustus to help them at a
wish to the town of Menchen in
Bavaria, there to see the Duke of
Bavaria his son’s wedding_ 156
XXXIII. _How Doctor Faustus borrowed money of
a Jew, and laid his own leg to pawn for it_ 160
XXXIV. _How Doctor Faustus deceived an Horse-courser_ 162
XXXV. _How Doctor Faustus ate a load of Hay_ 164
XXXVI. _How Doctor Faustus served the twelve
Students_ 165
XXXVII. _How Faustus served the drunken Clowns_ 165
XXXVIII. _How Doctor Faustus sold five Swine for
six Dollars apiece_ 166
XXXIX. _How Doctor Faustus played a merry jest
with the Duke of Anholt in his Court_ 167
XL. _How Doctor Faustus through his Charms
made a great Castle in presence of the
Duke of Anholt_ 168
XLI. _How Doctor Faustus with his company
visited the Bishop of Saltzburg his
Wine-cellar_ 171
XLII. _How Doctor Faustus kept his Shrovetide_ 172
XLIII. _How Doctor Faustus feasted his guests on
the Ash-Wednesday_ 174
XLIV. _How Doctor Faustus the day following
was feasted of the Students, and of his
merry jests with them while he was in
their company_ 176
XLV. _How Doctor Faustus shewed the fair
Helena unto the Students upon the
Sunday following_ 177
XLVI. _How Doctor Faustus conjured away the
four wheels from a clown’s waggon_ 180
XLVII. _How four Jugglers cut one another’s head
off, and set them on again; and how
Doctor Faustus deceived them_ 182
XLVIII. _How an old man, the neighbour of Faustus,
sought to persuade him to amend his
evil life, and to fall unto repentance_ 183
XLIX. _How Doctor Faustus wrote the second time
with his own blood and gave it to the
Devil_ 186
L. _How Doctor Faustus made a marriage
between two lovers_ 188
LI. _How Doctor Faustus led his friends into
his Garden at Christmas, and shewed
them many strange sights in his nineteenth
year_ 189
LII. _How Doctor Faustus gathered together
a great army of men in his extremity
against a Knight that would have injured
him on his journey_ 190
LIII. _How Doctor Faustus caused Mephostophiles
to bring him seven of the fairest women
that he could find in all those countries
he had travelled in, in the twentieth year_ 192
LIV. _How Doctor Faustus found a mass of
money when he had consumed twenty-two
of his years_ 193
LV. _How Doctor Faustus made the Spirit of
fair Helena of Greece his own Paramour
and bedfellow in his twenty-third
year_ 193
LVI. _How Doctor Faustus made his Will, in
the which he named his servant Wagner
to be his heir_ 194
LVII. _How Doctor Faustus fell in talk with his
servant touching his Testament, and the
covenants thereof_ 195
LVIII. _How Doctor Faustus having but one month
of his appointed time to come, fell to
mourning and sorrow with himself for
his devilish exercise_ 197
LIX. _How Doctor Faustus complained that he
should in his lusty time and youthful
years die so miserably_ 197
LX. _Another complaint of Doctor Faustus_ 198
LXI. _How Doctor Faustus bewailed to think on
Hell, and of the miserable pains therein
provided for him_ 199
LXII. _Here followeth the miserable and lamentable
end of Doctor Faustus, by the which
all Christians may take an example and
warning_ 201
LXIII. _An Oration of Faustus to the Students_ 202
THE SECOND REPORT OF DR. JOHN FAUSTUS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. 221
II. _How certain drunken Dutchmen were abused
by their own conceit and self-imagination,
of seeing the grand Doctor, Doctor
Faustus_ 225
III. _Wagner’s conference with Doctor Faustus,
and how miserably they broke up their
disputations_ 229
IV. _Wagner’s cozenage committed upon the
sellers of his Master’s goods_ 237
V. _The description of Vienna_ 238
VI. _A long discourse betwixt the Devil and
Wagner, and ended with a good Philosophical
repast_ 239
VII. _The arrival of the Messenger at Wittenberg,
and the description of Wagner_ 254
VIII. _The Tragedy of Doctor Faustus seen in
the Air, and acted in the presence of a
thousand people of Wittenberg. An.
1540_ 256
IX. 266
X. _A lamentable history of the death of sundry
students of Wittenberg_ 273
XI. 278
XII. 280
XIII. 280
XIV. 282
XV. _The gifts of Wagner to the Duke, and
three Devils retained for Soldiers to the
same Prince_ 283
XVI. 285
XVII. 286
XVIII. _The second Mocking_ 288
XIX. _The third_ 292
XX. _The fourth and last_ 293
XXI. _The process to the Combat_ 295
XXII. _The Combat_ 300
XXIII. 308
XXIV. 310
XXV. 311
XXVI. 312
XXVII. 314
XXVIII. 316
Appendix A: List of Localities 321
Appendix B: A Ballad of Faustus, about 1670 323
Appendix C: Bibliography 326
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
An alleged Faust Portrait. By Jan Joris van Vliet
(after a Sketch by Rembrandt. About 1630) _Frontispiece_
PAGE
The Seal of Aziel 21
Facsimile of 1592 Title-page 59
The Journey to the Witches’ Sabbath (after P.
Cornelius) 84
The Ride past the Gallows (after P. Cornelius) 123
The Seven Chief Churches of Rome 133
Fresco from Auerbach’s Cellar in Leipzig 210
Fresco from Auerbach’s Cellar in Leipzig 211
View of Wittenberg about 1546 (after Lucas Cranach
the Elder) 217
Luther’s House and Surroundings, 1611 244
The Castle of Wittenberg, 1611 244
A Caricature of the Pope 278
A Caricature of Luther 291
Woodcuts illustrating The History of Doctor Faustus 36
37, 111, 154, 156, 158, 161, 163, 166, 169, 175, 179
FOREWORD
The printed version of the earliest extant English Faust Book that has
been modernized for the present edition is the reprint by H. Logeman in
the _Recueil de Travaux de l’Université de Gand_ [24ᵉ fascicule. Gand,
1900]. This is the only reprint of the unique copy of the English Faust
Book of 1592, which is in the British Museum, and with which I was able
to compare it.
The first edition of the English Wagner Book has likewise only been
reprinted once, after one of the two copies in the Bodleian Library
at Oxford, by Alfred E. Richards in _Literarhistorische Forschungen_
[XXXV. Heft. Berlin, 1907], and this edition I have used for the
present modernization.
Those who wish to read the Faust and Wagner Books in the old
orthography, I would refer to the careful editions of these two
scholars. I have only modernized the old spellings and occasionally,
for the sake of clarity, the punctuation, but have made no syntactical
alterations whatever. Even where, in the case of the Wagner Book, the
syntax sometimes obscured the meaning, I have thought it best to let it
stand.
The versions printed by Thoms in his _Early English Prose Romances_
are later than those printed in this volume. His Faust Book is undated,
but the British Museum Catalogue gives it the suppositional date 1700.
His Wagner Book reproduces the text of 1680. His introduction is, of
course, out of date and practically useless.
W. R.
INTRODUCTION
The story of the man who sells his soul to the powers of evil in
return for material gain, is one of the most ancient in the history
of humanity. It is perhaps as old as humanity, for when the light of
self-consciousness first began to dawn on man, he no doubt desired to
know more than his limited intellect could tell him, or to possess
something that the world could not or would not give him. When he
looked around, and was frightened at his own littleness, he created
gods for his protection, and these gods he endeavoured to propitiate,
until they became his tyrants. They were the symbols of his hopes and
fears, so that when he was propitiating his gods he was stereotyping
the limitations of his own mind. And the most important of those
limitations was that he must not look beyond his manufactured gods for
the hidden causes of things. A profound instinct nevertheless urged him
to probe beyond, and the resulting spiritual unrest, which has always
manifested itself spasmodically in the human race, underwent various
personifications at different times. The elements of the Faust story
were already present in the Garden of Eden—the Tree of Knowledge,
the personification of Evil in the Serpent, and the Woman who was
tempted to overstep the bounds of what was permitted by the orthodox
authority, in order to grasp the Forbidden Fruit. It is significant
for the peculiar construction of the human mind, that it was always
the Spirit of Evil which led the way to spiritual emancipation. In
order to give concrete expression to his almost unconscious thirst for
greater knowledge, man had to pretend to himself that this craving was
pernicious. His very attempts to free himself from superstition provide
the strongest evidence of the tortuous way in which his mind had to
work, for it could only rise to a higher conception of its own worth by
playing a game of self-deception.
The Faust problem was not peculiar to the Christian era. The Jews had
their Solomon and the Greeks their Prometheus, but it was only at the
end of the Middle Ages, when the old world was in the melting-pot, that
there arose the most famous of all these legends, the most curious
element in which is perhaps the fact that there was at the source of it
an actual person.
I
_The Historical Personage_
The first record of an actual magician or adventurer of the name of
Faust occurs in a letter written in Latin by the Abbot Trithemius of
Würzburg, formerly of the Benedictine monastery of Sponheim, near
Kreuznach in the Palatinate, to the mathematician and Court astrologer,
Johann Virdung, on the 20th of August, 1507. The learned abbot, whose
name is the Latinized form of Johannes Tritheim, writes to his friend
in Heidelberg to warn him against a certain Faust from whom the
astrologer is expecting a visit:—
“That man, about whom you have written to me, Georgius Sabellicus,
who has ventured to call himself the prince of necromancers is a
vagabond, an empty babbler and a knave: worthy to be whipped, that
he might no longer profess publicly abominable matters which are
opposed to the holy Church. For what are the titles which he assumes,
other than the signs of a most stupid and senseless mind, which
proves that he is a fool and no philosopher? Thus he has adopted the
following title: _Magister Georgius Sabellicus_, _Faustus junior_,
fountain of necromancers, astrologer, _magus secundus_, chiromancer,
aëromancer, pyromancer, second in hydromancy. Behold the foolish
temerity of the man; what madness is necessary to call oneself the
fountain of necromancy. A man who is, in truth, entirely devoid of
education, should rather call himself a fool than a _magister_.
But his wickedness is not unknown to me. When some years ago I was
returning from the March of Brandenburg, I met this man in the town
of Gelnhausen, where I was told in the inn of many frivolous things
promised by him with great audacity. When he heard of my presence, he
fled forthwith from the inn and could not be persuaded by anyone to
present himself to me.
He sent to me also by a citizen the advertisement of his foolishness,
which I remember he sent to you. In that town I was told by priests,
that he had said in the presence of many people that he had attained
such great knowledge and memory of all wisdom, that if all the works
of Plato and Aristotle, together with all their philosophy, had been
absolutely wiped out of human memory, he would restore them, like a
second Hebrew Ezra, by his genius, totally and more excellently than
before.
When I was later on in Speyer, he came to Würzburg, and is said to
have boasted with similar conceit in the presence of many people, that
the miracles of our Redeemer Christ are no cause for astonishment;
he himself could do everything that Christ had done, as often as and
whenever he wished. This year, during the last days of Lent, he came
to Kreuznach, where he made vast promises in a similar swaggering
manner, and said that in alchemy he was the most perfect of any that
had ever lived, and knew and could perform whatever the people wished.
During this time the office of schoolmaster in this town was vacant,
and it was conferred upon him through the intercession of Franz
von Sickingen, the steward of your prince, a man who is exceedingly
ardent with regard to mystical matters. But soon afterwards he began
to practise a most infamous kind of fornication, forsooth, with the
boys, and he fled, when the matter came to light, from his imminent
punishment.
This is what is evident to me, according to the most certain
testimony, concerning that man whose visit you are awaiting with such
eagerness.”
The accusations of the abbot are to be taken with a pinch of salt, for
he was himself suspected of dabbling in magic, and his indignation may
have been coloured by more than a tinge of jealousy. He is known to
have declaimed before the Emperor Maximilian against the followers of
the black art, and there is a letter, written by him only four days
before the above epistle to Virdung, in which he protests against
the imputing to him of magic practices. He was even rumoured to have
conjured up the spirits of the dead in the presence of the Emperor. At
any rate, he does not seem to have been anxious for popular inclusion
among the necromancers. Neither is it at all certain that there is any
truth in the scandal about the school at Kreuznach, for that was the
sort of vice which it was usual to attribute to dissolute magicians.
It cannot be explained why Faust should have called himself _junior_,
for there is no trace of any earlier magician of the same name.
Whether _Sabellicus_ was his real name, and _Faustus junior_ a kind
of professional title, or whether George Faust attached the title
_Sabellicus_ to his name as an allusion to the magic art of the
Sabines, is likewise a mystery. It will be noticed that he is called
_George_, and the same Christian name occurs again, six years later, in
the second existing reference to Faust.
Conrad Mutianus Rufus (Conrad Mut, Canon at Gotha, called Rufus on
account of his red hair), a friend of Reuchlin and Melanchthon, and one
of the most cultured of the Humanists, makes the following statement in
a letter written from Erfurt to his friend Heinrich Urbanus on the 7th
of October, 1513:—
“There came a week ago to Erfurt a certain chiromancer named Georgius
Faustus, _Helmitheus Hedebergensis_, a mere braggart and fool. The
professions of this man and of all the fortune-tellers are vain. The
rude people marvel at him, the priests should denounce him. I heard
him swaggering at the inn. I did not reprove his boastfulness, for why
should I bother about the foolishness of others?”
These two George Fausts are obviously the same person. The term
_Helmitheus Hedebergensis_ may be meant for _Hemitheus Hedelbergensis_,
half-god of Heidelberg, where the charlatan perhaps pretended to have
studied.[1] There was a Bachelor named Johann Faust, of Simmern,
at Heidelberg in the year 1509, but it is unlikely that he has any
connection with our Faust.
There is a legend that Faust was given asylum at the monastery of
Maulbronn by the Abbot Entenfuss in the year 1516, and that he there
pursued his alchemistic activities. The well-known “Faust tower” which
is still shown there was, however, not built until nearly a hundred
years later.
The next reference we find is an entry in the account book of the
Bishop of Bamberg by the latter’s chamberlain, under the date 12th of
February, 1520:—
“Item 10 gulden given and presented to Doctor Faustus _philosophus_
in honour of his having cast for my gracious master a nativity
or _indicium_, paid on Sunday after Scholastica by the order of
Reverendissimus.”
A less flattering entry is that in the minutes of the resolutions of
the Town Council of Ingolstadt in 1528:—
“To-day, Wednesday after St. Vitus, 1528. The fortune-teller shall
be ordered to leave the town and spend his penny elsewhere.” This is
supplemented by another entry in the record of expulsions: “To-day,
Wednesday after St. Vitus, 1528, one who calls himself Dr. Jörg
Faustus of Heidelberg has been told to spend his penny elsewhere, and
has promised not to resent or mock such summons of the authorities.”
It will be noticed that the same Christian name again occurs, in
conjunction with the reference to Heidelberg.
There is then a gap of some eleven years before we meet the name again
in the _Index Sanitatis_ of the physician Philipp Begardi of Worms,
published in 1539:—
“There is also to be found a renowned and bold man; I did not wish
to have mentioned his name, but it will not be hidden or unknown.
For some years ago he wandered through almost every province,
principality and kingdom, made his name known to everybody, and
boasted loudly of his great art, not only in medicine, but also in
chiromancy, necromancy, physiognomy, crystal-gazing and more of such
arts. And not only boasted, but also gave himself out to be and
wrote himself as a famous and experienced master. He also himself
acknowledged and did not deny, that he was, and was called Faust, and
signed himself _Philosophus Philosophorum_, etc. There has, however,
been a great number of people, who have complained to me, that they
have been swindled by him. His promises were as great as those of
Thessalus. Similarly his fame, like that of Theophrastus also; but the
fulfilment, as I learn, was found to be very small and fraudulent; yet
he was not slow in taking money, and at his departure many people were
cheated. But what can one do about it, gone is gone.”
When Philipp von Hutten, the cousin of the more famous Ulrich von
Hutten, was about to start on his first expedition to Venezuela in
1534, Faust prophesied that the voyage would be unfortunate, and he was
right, for von Hutten, in a description of the voyage written in 1540,
writes: “I must acknowledge that the philosopher Faustus divined it
correctly, for we have had a very bad year.” A rival fortune-teller,
Joachim Camerarius, who had declared that the voyage would be lucky,
asks in a letter to a friend, written in 1536, what Faust can prophesy
about the German Emperor’s next battle with the King of France.
Johann Gast, a protestant clergyman at Basle, relates two anecdotes of
Faust in the edition of his _Sermones Convivales_ which appeared in
1548:—
“_Concerning the Necromancer Faust._
He once turned into a very wealthy monastery, in order to spend the
night there. A brother sets before him ordinary, weak, not very tasty
wine. Faust asks him for better wine from another barrel, which is
usually given to distinguished guests. The brother says: ‘I haven’t
the keys. The prior is asleep, and I may not rouse him.’ Faust
replies: ‘The keys lie in that corner; take them and open that barrel
on the left and bring me a drink!’ The brother refuses and declares
that he has no permission from the prior to give the guests other
wine. When Faust hears this, he says: ‘In a short time thou wilt
experience strange things, inhospitable brother!’ Early next morning
he went away full of bitterness, without taking leave, and sent a
raging devil into the monastery, who made an uproar day and night, and
set everything in motion in the church and in the rooms of the monks,
so that they had no peace, whatever they did. At last they consulted
as to whether they should abandon the monastery or totally destroy
it. They therefore announced their misfortune to the Count Palatine,
who took the monastery under his protection and sent away the monks,
to whom he allows every year what they need, keeping the rest for
himself. Some assert that even now, when monks enter the monastery,
there arises such a tumult, that the inhabitants have no peace. The
devil knows how to manage that.
_Another Instance of Faust._
When I was dining with him in the great College at Basle, he gave the
cook birds of various kinds, concerning which I did not know where he
had bought them or who had given them to him, since at that time none
was being sold in Basle, and they were birds such as I have never seen
in our neighbourhood. He had with him a dog and a horse, which, as
I believe, were devils, since they could do everything. Some people
told me that the dog had sometimes assumed the form of a servant and
brought him food. The wretched man came to a terrible end; for the
devil strangled him; his corpse lay on the bier on its face all the
time, although it was turned round five times.”
The chronicler appears to have been a superstitious person, and he is
the first to refer to Faust as being in league with the Devil, for
Trithemius had looked upon him as a dissolute, wandering scholar, and
Begardi thought him little more than a common charlatan. None of the
last three authorities quoted above has mention of Faust’s Christian
name, but he appears as _Johannes_ in a book compiled by Johannes
Manlius (Johann Mennel) in 1563, _Locorum Communium Collectanea_, which
consists mainly of reports of conversations with Melanchthon, to whom
the following reminiscence is also to be attributed:—
“I knew a man named Faustus of Kundling, a little town near my home.
When he studied at Cracow, he had learned Magic, which was formerly
keenly studied there and where public lectures were delivered about
this art. Later he wandered about in many places and spoke about
secret things. When he wanted to create a sensation at Venice, he
announced that he was going to fly into the heavens. The devil then
lifted him up in the air, but let him fall to earth again, so that
he nearly gave up the ghost. A few years ago, this Johannes Faustus
sat very downcast on his last day in a village in the duchy of
Württemberg. Mine host asked him why he was so downcast, this not
being his custom or habit; for he was usually a graceless rogue, who
led a dissolute life, so that at one time and another his love affairs
had nearly brought him to his death. He thereupon replied to the host
in that village: ‘Do not be frightened to-night!’ At midnight the
house was shaken. Since on the next morning Faustus had not risen
and it was already noon, the host went into his room and found him
lying beside the bed with his face twisted round, as the devil had
killed him. During his life, he kept a dog, which was the devil....
This Faustus escaped from our town of Wittenberg, when the excellent
prince, duke Johann, had given the order that he was to be arrested.
In a similar way, he is said to have escaped likewise in Nuremberg.
At the beginning of the meal, he felt warm; he immediately rose from
the table and paid his scot to the host. He was hardly outside the
door when the minions came and asked for him. This magician Faustus,
an infamous beast, a cesspool (_cloaca_) of many devils, boasted that
all the victories which had been won by the imperial armies in Italy,
had been obtained for them by him through his magic, which was a most
shameless lie.”
This story is repeated by Andreas Hondorff in his _Promptuarium
Exemplorum_, which appealed five years later, in 1568:—
“Such a necromancer was Johann Faustus, who practised many tricks
through his black art. He had with him always a black dog, which was a
devil. When he came to Wittenberg he would have been arrested by order
of the Prince Elector, if he had not escaped. The same would have
happened to him in Nuremberg also, where he likewise escaped. But this
was his reward. When his time was up, he was in a tavern in a village
of Württemberg. Upon the host asking him why he was so downcast, he
replied, ‘Do not be afraid to-night, if you hear a great banging and
shaking of the house.’ In the morning he was found lying dead in his
room, with his neck twisted round.”
There is a casual reference to Faust in the _Table-talk of Martin
Luther_, edited by Johannes Aurifaber (Johann Goldschmidt) in 1566:—
“But when in the evening, at table, mention was made of a necromancer
named Faustus, Doctor Martin says earnestly, ‘the devil does not
employ the services of magicians against me; had he been able to do me
hurt, he would have done it long ago. He has no doubt had me often by
the head, but he never-the-less had to let me go again.’”
In a chronicle concluded in the same year by the Count Froben Christoph
von Zimmern, the scene of Faust’s death is given as Staufen in
Breisgau:—
“But that the practice of such art (of soothsaying) is not only
godless, but extremely perilous, that is undeniable, as is proved
by experience, and we know how it went with the famous necromancer
Faustus. He, after many wonderful things which he did during his life,
about which one could write a special treatise, was at last, at an
advanced age, slain by the evil spirit in the province of Staufen in
Breisgau.”
And there is further a reference to his revenge on the inhospitable
monks:—
“About that time (i.e. after 1539), Faustus died at, or at least not
far from Staufen, the little town in Breisgau. During his life, he
was a strange necromancer, who in our times could be found in German
provinces and had so many strange dealings, that he will not easily be
forgotten for many years. He lived to be an old man, and, as is said,
died wretchedly. Many people have thought that he was killed by the
evil spirit, whom in his lifetime he only called his brother-in-law
(_Schwager_). The books which he left behind have come into the
possession of the lord of Staufen, in whose province he died, and
many people have afterwards tried to obtain them, and in my opinion
desired in them a perilous and unlucky treasure. He charmed a spirit
into the monastery of the monks of Lüxheim in Wasgau, which they could
not get rid of for many years, and which troubled them strangely; for
the sole reason that they had once been unwilling to give him shelter
for the night, that was why he had procured for them this turbulent
visitor; at the same time, it is said, that a similar spirit was
attached to the former abbot of St. Diesenberg by an envious wandering
scholar.”
The last considerable reference, before the publication of the
folk-book, is in the edition of _De Praestigiis Daemonum_ by Johannes
Wierus (Johann Weyer, or Wier), which appeared in 1568. A German
edition of this book was published eighteen years later. Wierus was one
of the most distinguished and enlightened physicians of his time, and
he fought for years, at first with some success, against the fanatical
persecution of witches which was providing human torches in every
village in Germany. In this book on the illusions of the devils, he
protests against the witch-burnings, and it is noticeable that he does
not definitely refer to Faust’s alleged compact with the Devil:—
“When formerly at Cracow in Poland necromancy was taught publicly,
there came one of the name of Johannes Faustus, of Kundling, who in a
short time understood this art so well, that a short time ago, before
the year 1540, he practised it to the amazement of many and with many
lies and frauds in Germany, publicly and without fear. What a strange
hoaxer and adventurer he was, and what strange tricks he was able to
perform, I will here only demonstrate to the reader by one instance,
but with the instruction that he promise me beforehand that he will
not imitate him. When on one occasion this necromancer Faustus on
account of his wicked tricks was imprisoned at Battenburg, which lies
on the River Maas and borders on the Duchy of Geldern, in the absence
of the Count Hermann, the chaplain of that place, Dr. Johann Dorsten,
a pious, simple man, showed him much kindness, because he had promised
to teach him many good arts and make him a profoundly experienced man.
Therefore, when he saw that Faust was very fond of drink, he sent him
wine so long till the barrel was empty. But when the magician Faustus
noticed that, and the chaplain also prepared to go to Graven to get
a shave, he told him that if he would procure for him more wine, he
would teach him an art, how to remove his beard without a razor or
anything. When the chaplain forthwith agreed, he bade him take some
arsenic and rub well his beard and chin with it, not telling him to
prepare it beforehand and mix it with other things. When he did this,
his chin began to burn, so that not only the hair fell out, but the
skin and flesh came off as well.
I knew another man who had a black beard, and was yellowish of
face on account of his melancholy complexion. When he visited the
magician Faust, the latter said to him: ‘Really, I thought you were
my brother-in-law, my sister’s husband; and so I looked immediately
at your feet, to see whether you had long, crooked claws!’ Thus he
compared the good man, because he was swarthy, to the devil, and
called him also, as was always his custom, his brother-in-law. But he
received his reward at last. For, as is said, he was found dead one
morning beside his bed in a village in Württemberg, his face turned
towards his back, and the previous night there was such a turmoil in
the house, that the whole house shook.”
And lastly, there is a reference to Faust’s conjuring up the dead in
Wolffgang Bütner’s _Epitome Historiarum_, in 1576:—
“I have heard that Faustus, at Wittenberg, showed to the students and
to an exalted man N——, Hector, Ulysses, Hercules, Æneas, Samson, David
and others, who came forth with fierce bearing and earnest countenance
and disappeared again, and princely personages are also said to have
been present at the time and to have looked on.”
At this point it will be well to summarize what we have learnt about
Faust from contemporary references. The difficulty with regard to
his Christian name has already been mentioned. If his real name was
_Georg_, it may have been forgotten and replaced by the more common one
of _Johann_, or there may have been two magicians of the name of Faust,
the older one named Georg and the later one Johann, who may have taken
the name of Faust because it had already been rendered famous by his
predecessor. The latter hypothesis is, however, extremely unlikely, and
there seems very little reason to doubt that all the references are
to the same individual. It has been suggested that the name Johann
may have originated through confusion with Johann Fust, the printer,
but the latter died in the year 1466, and it was only during the
seventeenth century that the Faust legend was attributed to him. The
earliest investigators thought that the whole story was a mere legend,
and possibly invented by the monks as an expression of their hatred
of the inventor of printing, though as a matter of fact, it was only
through financial sharp practice that Fust obtained possession of the
printing outfit of the real inventor, Gutenberg.
As early as 1683, however, a professor of theology at Wittenberg
brought forward evidence of the actual existence of an individual of
the name of Faust.[2]
According to Manlius-Melanchthon, Faust was born in Knittlingen and
studied at the University of Cracow, though he appears later to have
said he came from Heidelberg. About the year 1505, the Abbot Trithemius
came in contact with him at Gelnhausen, though he did not speak to
him, and does not even say that he actually saw him. He was later in
Würzburg, and in 1507 he came to Kreuznach where he obtained a post
as schoolmaster, though he was soon compelled to flee on account of
alleged immorality. In the year 1513, he was in Erfurt, where he
called himself the half-god of Heidelberg. He may have stayed at
Maulbronn during the year 1516, but we hear nothing definite until
he casts the horoscope of the Bishop of Bamberg in 1520. Eight years
later, he was expelled from Ingolstadt, and six years after we find
Philipp von Hutten seeking his advice about a forthcoming expedition.
Another five years elapse, and a physician of Worms refers to the
complaints of people who had been swindled by him; the remark “gone is
gone” may allude to the disappearance or death of Faust, though it is
more likely that it refers to the money of the victims. The Zimmern
Chronicle mentions the village of Staufen, near Freiburg in Breisgau,
as the scene of his death, and gives the date as some time after 1539.
Wierus places the period of his activity before 1540, and when Gast
writes in 1548, he refers to Faust as being already dead. He appears to
have travelled extensively, for there are additional allusions to his
presence in Wittenberg, Nuremberg, Battenburg on the Maas, and Basle,
where Gast met him.
There seems no doubt that Doctor Faust surpassed all the wandering
scholars of his time both in pretensions and notoriety. His attempts
to fly and to conjure up spirits, to say nothing of the boast that
he could restore lost manuscripts of classical authors, are all
intelligent anticipations of what has been done or pretended in the
present century. He was rather indiscreet in declaring that he had
helped the Imperial armies to victory in Italy, but he may have been
emboldened by patronage such as that of Philipp von Hutten and the
Bishop of Bamberg, though the distinguished humanists and reformers
would have nothing to do with the braggart. The students appear to
have been greatly impressed by him and he certainly imposed on the
uneducated people.
Soon after his death the historical facts become blurred, and the
mysterious circumstances surrounding his disappearance may have given
an additional impulse to the subsequent legend, which appears, indeed,
to have started even during his lifetime. The later contemporary
references are already coloured with imaginative detail, and anecdotes
relating to his various pranks, real or alleged, were circulating among
all classes of the people. These soon became the nucleus of a large
collection of stories, some of which had formerly been related of other
magicians and were now fathered on Faust, until in the year 1587,
scarcely fifty years after his death, the first printed account of
the life of “Dr. Johann Faust, the notorious Magician and Necromancer”
was published, as a warning to all readers, at Frankfort-on-the-Main.
It is astonishing that he should so soon have become a myth, but an
explanation may perhaps be sought in the ferment and unrest of an age
which stands between the medieval and the modern, when old conceptions
were tumbling and new worlds, both material and intellectual, were
being discovered. Literature was no longer a diversion for the upper
classes, and the dreams and traditions of the people were finding their
way into print. Till Owlglass, the Wandering Jew, Doctor Faust are all
types in which have been concentrated the lore and myth of centuries.
In these representative figures, the people have focussed their
longings and their aversions, their hopes and fears, and none of the
wizards of popular superstition was more familiar to them than the man
who had put forth his pretensions in all the market-places of Germany.
The Zimmern Chronicle declares that when Faust died, he left
behind him various books which came into the possession of the lord
of Staufen, and that many people had endeavoured to obtain these
works. Whether there is any truth in this statement is a matter for
considerable doubt, but the booksellers were not long in turning the
belief to their own advantage and supplying the demand for books of an
occult nature. There were at first manuscripts in circulation, which
gave instructions how to practise the various magic arts attributed to
Faust, the most famous of them being the _Höllenzwang_, or _Conquest of
Hell_. They were usually disposed of secretly by disreputable people
at exorbitant prices,[3] but later the publishers brought out volumes
which they ascribed to the authorship of Faust, and some of these were
even supplied with false dates, to give them an appearance of antiquity.
One such manuscript bears the following title:—
“Secret and hidden, highly-authenticated Magic Writings, for the
advantage of all, which have been truly tested by me, Doctor Johann
Faust, and found trustworthy in each and every case, to the purpose
that I have set down herein honestly and without falseness or deceit
the principles of all the arts of the world, how I have practised
them all myself and come thereby to great fortune; likewise I have
presented openly everything which I have herein recounted to my
successors, necromantic as well as cabalistic, that I may be well
remembered; all Spirits have been subject to me through these my
Writings, they have been compelled to fetch for me and do all my
bidding. Nothing further have I written but these twelve parts. Let
him who finds and obtains them use them with caution and take strict
heed of all therein, that you may not endanger body and life, against
which I warn you in all sincerity.”
[Illustration: THE SEAL OF AZIEL
From Faust’s _Triple Conquest of Hell_.]
A _Höllenzwang_ printed in the year 1607 explains in greater detail the
benefits to be attained by its aid:—
“Dr. Johann Faust’s Juggler’s Bag, concerning all kinds of unheard-of,
secret, merry feats, mysteries and inventions whereby a man may
interpret dreams, tell fortunes, open locked doors, cure the gout,
recognize adulterers and fornicators, inspire strange men, women
and maids with love, increase his height by some ells, make himself
invisible or invulnerable, change his shape, rouse the thunder and
lightning, collect and disperse snakes, catch pigeons, fish or birds
in his hands, overcome his enemies, and perform other innumerable,
incredible and extravagant feats, both merry and advantageous,
together with five other extravagant, excellent and authentic
devices. Now for the first time from the Original written with his
own hand by Dr. Faust, published for the particular pleasure of all
artists by Johann de Luna, Christoph Wagner’s former disciple and
well-experienced in the Magic Arts.”[4]
[Footnote 1: H. Düntzer: Dei Sage von Dr. Joh. Faust [Scheible’s
Kloster, 1847].]
[Footnote 2: J. G. Neumann: _Disquisitio historica de Fausto
Praestigiatore_.]
[Footnote 3: One enthusiast in Holland is said to have paid eight
thousand gilders for four magic seals contained in a book of this kind.]
[Footnote 4: K. Engel: _Zusammenstellung der Faust-Schriften vom 16.
Jh. bis Mitte 1884_ [Oldenburg, 1885], pp. 150 and 158.]
II
_The German Faust Book_
It was not long before a publisher saw the business possibilities
of the legend, for in the autumn of the year 1587 there appeared at
Frankfort-on-the-Main the first printed account of the life and death
of Faust:—
_Historia Von D. Johann Fausten, dem weitbeschreyten Zauberer unnd
Schwartzkünstler, Wie er sich gegen dem Teuffel auff eine benandte
zeit verschrieben, Was er hierzwischen für seltzame Abentheuwer
gesehen, selbs angerichtet und getrieben, bisz er endtlich seinen
wol verdienten Lohn empfangen. Mehrertheils ausz seinen eygenen
hinderlassenen Schrifften, allen hochtragenden, fürwitzigen und
Gottlosen Menschen zum schrecklichen Beyspiel, abscheuwlichen Exempel,
und treuwhertziger Warnung zusammen gezogen, und in den Druck
verfertiget. Iacobi IIII. Seyt Gott underthänig, widerstehet dem
Teuffel, so fleuhet er von euch. Cum Gratia et Privilegio. Gedruckt
zu Franckfurt am Mayn, durch Johann Spies. M.D.LXXXVII. [History
of D. Johann Faust, the notorious Magician and Necromancer, how he
sold himself for a stipulated Time to the Devil, What strange Things
he saw, performed and practised during this Time, until at last
he received his well-merited Reward. For the most Part extracted
and herewith printed from his own posthumous Writings as an awful
and abominable Example and sincere Warning to all presumptuous,
inquisitive and godless Persons. “Submit yourselves to God. Resist
the Devil, and he will flee from you” (James iv). Cum Gratia et
Privilegio. Printed at Frankfort-on-the-Main by Johann Spies.
M.D.LXXXVII.]_
The story is preceded by a dedication to two friends of the publisher,
and a _Preface to the Christian Reader_, in the former of which there
is reference to the widespread popularity of the legend: “Since many
years ago there was great and universal talk in Germany about the
various adventures of Doct. Johannes Faustus, the notorious magician
and necromancer, and everywhere there is a great demand for the history
of the said Faustus at entertainments and gatherings, and since
likewise there is now and then mention in the works of some modern
historians of this magician, his devilish arts and fearful end, it has
often been a matter of astonishment to me that nobody has composed a
regular account of this fearful story and published it as a warning to
the whole of Christendom. I have also not hesitated to enquire from
scholars and wise people whether this history has perhaps already been
written down by anyone, but I have never been able to discover anything
certain, until recently it was communicated and sent to me by a good
friend in Speyer, with the request that I should publish and present it
as a fearful example of devilish deceit, murder of body and soul, as a
warning to all Christians.” This dedication is dated Monday, the 4th
of September, 1587, and signed by Johann Spies himself. The Preface
to the Christian Reader, amid much quoting of the Bible, declares
that, “The exorcisers of the devil seldom come to a good end, as is to
be seen in the case of Dr. Johann Faustus, who was alive within the
memory of man, signed a compact and league with the devil, experienced
many strange adventures and practised abominable infamy and vice, with
guzzling, swilling, fornication and all kinds of sensual pleasure,
until at last the devil gave him his deserved reward and wrung his neck
in a dreadful manner.”
This little volume must have been enormously popular, for although it
appeared so late in the season, there were before the end of the year
at least four reprints, a new original edition, and a further edition
containing eight new chapters. The _editio princeps_ (of which there is
a copy in the British Museum) contains 69 chapters.
It is not long since an older version of the _Historia_ in manuscript,
dating from the seventies or early eighties of the sixteenth century,
was discovered.[5] It contains a different preface and two more
chapters, one of which describes how Faust releases a nobleman and old
schoolfellow named von Reuttpüffel from captivity in Turkey, and brings
him home just after his wife has married again. The story is told with
all the hearty bawdiness of the time, and the wife is made to feel
thankful that her vigorous first husband has returned to her, after
her single, disappointing experience with the second one. There are in
addition a few prophecies made by Faust in his last year concerning
the Papacy, including one concerning the Massacre of St. Bartholomew
in 1572. It was written, of course, after the event. The preface
states that the manuscript was translated from the Latin, but whether
the first version of the Faust book was really written in any other
language than German it is impossible to say.
It is already obvious from the Preface to the Faust book that the
publication of the wicked life and dreadful doom of Faust was intended
as a warning to all who could not find peace and content in the bosom
of the Church, but would seek to explore beyond, with the treacherous
aid of science, which at that time, of course, included magic.
Curiosity in theological matters was regarded as an unhealthy symptom,
and was only playing into the hands of the Devil, who, in the words
of the Epistle of Peter, quoted in the Preface, as a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Faust represents the spirit
of enquiry, which was regarded as fatal to the soul, but nobody seems
to have wondered whether a soul that had to be so jealously guarded and
could be so easily lost was worth having at all. The strong Lutheran
tendency which was a characteristic of the activities of Spies as a
publisher, is also a marked feature of the Faust book. Martin Luther
himself shared the prevailing view of the time, that the world is
divided into two camps, that of God and that of the Devil, and the
latter is mentioned frequently in his writings. Faust can, with some
reservation, be looked upon as the great counterpart of Luther; they
are the two poles of the sixteenth century. In the book, the contrast
is all the more striking since it does not appear as an intentional
element in the work. The views of Luther are not definitely defended,
but are taken as a matter of course, and the contrast between the
theologian and the sceptic develops naturally from the theme, though
the Lutheran doctrine occasionally comes prominently to the fore. Both
the Faust of the legend and Luther were Doctors of Theology and closely
connected with Wittenberg, the cradle of the Reformation. Starting from
the same point, they reached goals which were diametrically opposed.
They both lectured on the culture of antiquity, and they had both been
in Rome, but whereas Luther had set out with feelings of reverence,
only to return in disappointment and indignation, Faust was merely
amused and contemplated with cynical complacency the license of the
Vatican, where the priests were no better than himself. Luther married
in accordance with the tenets of the Church, but Faust rejected the
sacrament of marriage for the pagan Helena. Luther based his faith on
the Bible, Faust was not content to accept the Holy Writ, but sought to
penetrate the forbidden mysteries beyond it. Faust entered into league
with the Devil, while Luther hurled his inkstand at him.[6]
It is true that it was not in the spirit of Luther to conceive of
the defection from orthodox theology as defection from God, and the
ridicule to which the Church of Rome and its priests are exposed in
the Faust book, even the Devil himself appearing in the guise of a
monk, would quite possibly even have appealed to his robust sense of
humour. Nevertheless, there seems little reason to doubt that the book
was written from the Lutheran standpoint. Since, however, in the field
of German literary research, it seems impossible for any definite
point of view, with whatever weight of proof it may be supported,
to be maintained for very long, before a scholar brings forward its
exact opposite, which he defends with equally weighty evidence, there
has recently been an attempt to prove that the tendency of the Faust
book was not Lutheran but Catholic.[7] The author of this theory does
not deny that the intention of some passages is obviously hostile
to Catholicism, but he declares that they are later interpolations,
and endeavours to prove that the book is a parody on Luther, who is
represented as a modern Bacchus and companion of the Devil. The first
direct anti-clerical reference is the taunt at the celibacy of the
clergy in Faust’s conversation with Mephostophiles concerning the
former’s desire to take a wife. The Devil endeavours to dissuade him
by declaring that marriage is a divine institution, but Faust retorts
that the monks and nuns do not marry. This passage is lacking in the
Wolfenbüttel MS. In the chapter which deals with the journey through
Europe, Faust remarks at Cologne that the Devil is in the Church of
St. Ursula with the 11,000 virgins. The MS. has _Tempel_ instead of
_Teufel_. When Faust arrives in Rome, he spends three days and nights
invisible in the pope’s palace, finding that “these pigs at Rome are
fattened and all ready to roast and cook,” and after his experience in
the harem at Constantinople, he mounts up in the air in the vestments
of a pope. These last two adventures are also to be found in the
MS., but Dr. Wolff declares them to be interpolations. His evidence,
however, is not convincing, and there is little reason to assume that
the spirit of any literary version of the Faust book which may have
been extant before 1587 was different from the tendency of the edition
published by Spies.
The development from historical fact to legend was influenced
considerably by contact with other myths of the same type. There were
numerous alleged covenanters with the Devil in the Middle Ages, of
whom the most akin to Faust was Theophilus of Adana. But Theophilus
was saved eventually from eternal damnation by the intervention of the
Virgin Mary, and if the Faust book had really been of Catholic origin,
there is little doubt that the Madonna and the Saints would have saved
him. The fires of Hell are essential to the spirit of the Faust book;
the pact is irrevocable. Many features formerly attributed to other
wizards were transferred to Faust, including the Devil in the form of
a black dog which always accompanied Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim,
the enchanted garden conjured up by Albertus Magnus for the Emperor in
the midst of winter, and the exorcising of the spirit of Alexander the
Great and other Greek heroes by the Abbot Trithemius. The incident
of Helena may be due to the connection with Simon Magus, who was
accompanied on his journeys by a courtesan named Helen. The fame of all
these magicians sank into obscurity, and the one figure that carried on
into future centuries the memory of their deeds was Faust.
When the oral legend was cast into literary form, the anonymous author
appears to have consulted many works of reference. The long chapter
which describes the journey of Faust and Mephostophiles, as well as
the description of Paradise, is based on the _Book of Chronicles_ of
Hartmann Schedel, which appeared in 1493. The peculiar zig-zag nature
of the journey is due to the fact that Schedel gives the towns in
chronological order, according to the supposed year in which they were
founded, and the author of the Faust book has copied them mechanically.
Similarly he has taken from the German-Latin dictionary of the Swiss
humanist Dasypodius, in alphabetical order, the list of fish, game
and wine with which Faust entertains his guests at the court of the
Count (really Prince) of Anhalt. For example, the fish are mentioned
in the following order: _Aal_, _Barben_, _Bersing_, _Bickling_,
_Bolchen_, _Aschen_, _Forell_, _Hecht_, _Karpffen_, _Krebs_, _Moschel_,
_Neunaugen_, _Platteissen_, _Salmen_ and _Schleyen_, and the wines are
_Burgunder_, _Brabänder_, _Coblentzer_, _Crabatischer_, _Elsässer_,
_Engelländer_, _Frantzösische_, _Rheinische_, _Spanische_, etc. The
conversations concerning the physical sciences and celestial phenomena
can be traced to _Elucidarius_, a collection of scientific dialogues.
Augustin Lercheimer’s (pseudonym for Professor Hermann Witekind of
Heidelberg) _Christliche Bedenken und Erinnerung von Zauberei_, which
first appeared in 1585, was formerly thought to have been a direct
source of the Faust book, but it is possible that Lercheimer himself
borrowed from an earlier manuscript of the Faust book. He anticipates
modern science when He protests against the witch-burnings, and
declares that witches should be sent to the physician rather than to
the judge. In the third edition of his book, which was published in
1597, Lercheimer denounces the Faust book as a libel on the University
and Church of Wittenberg:—
“It is all malicious lies.... He had neither house nor yard at
Wittenberg or elsewhere, was never at home, lived like a vagabond,
was a parasite, guzzled, swilled and lived by his conjuring. How
could he have a house and yard by the outer gate of the town in the
Scheergasse, since there never was a suburb and therefore no outer
gate? Neither was there ever a Scheergasse there. That in such a
University, a man whom Melanchthon used to call a cesspool of many
devils should have been made Master, to say nothing of Doctor of
Theology, which would be an eternal disgrace to the degree and
honourable title, who believes that?... About all the other vanity,
lies and _Teufelsdreck_ in the book, I will say nothing.... It is, to
be sure, nothing new and no cause for surprise that such calumnies are
issued by the enemies of our religion, but it is unwarrantable and
lamentable that our printers also should publish such books without
shame, whereby honest people are slandered and inquisitive youths led
to attempt similar magic feats; to say nothing of the abuse of the
beautiful and noble art of printing, which has been conferred on us by
God.”
The fact that Lercheimer, who was an ardent adherent of Luther, should
have condemned the book in such terms, cannot be regarded as evidence
of its anti-Lutheran tendency.
Another important manuscript was discovered recently in Nuremberg.[8]
A certain Christoph Rosshirt, a teacher of Nuremberg, who had studied
in Wittenberg, copied into an album about the year 1575, amidst other
matter, anecdotes relating to various magicians, including Doctor
Faust. It will be noticed that Faust’s Christian name is given here as
_George_. The Faust stories are four in number:—
1. When Dr. Georgius Faustus is lecturing to the students at the
University of Ingolstadt on philosophy and necromancy, he invites
some friends to dinner, and tells them that the food and drink they
are enjoying come from the wedding-feast of the King of England.
He instructs them to hold on to the edge of the towel when water
is brought for them to wash their hands, and he will take them to
the dance at the King’s wedding. When they are discovered in the
ball-room, they are taken for spies and arrested. They are condemned
to be hanged, but Faust rescues them in the same way that he had
brought them there. They wash their hands in England and dry them in
Germany.
2. Faust asks a Jewish merchant at the Frankfort Fair to change him
some French money into good talers. The merchant promises to call on
Faust at his inn and bring him the money, but when he arrives, Faust
is lying on a couch, apparently asleep. The Jew puts his bag of talers
on the table and shakes Faust by the arm, but cannot rouse him; he
becomes annoyed and shakes him violently by the leg, which comes off
in his hand. He rushes in terror from the house, leaving behind him
cloak and money-bag which are shared by Faust and his servant.
3. Faust sells a swineherd in Bamberg some fat pigs, but warns him
against driving them into flowing water. On the next day the swineherd
neglects the warning and the pigs are turned into bundles of straw. By
this time Faust is well on the way to Nuremberg.
4. On the evening before he is due to fulfil his pact with the Devil,
Faust arrives at a village inn and asks for a room for the night. In
the tap-room there is a crowd of drunken, noisy peasants, who refuse
to be quiet when Faust asks them. The magician bewitches them so that
they remain sitting with their mouths wide open, and he is able to
have his last meal in peace. He pays his bill, tips all the servants,
and goes to bed, but is persuaded by the host to disenchant the
drunken clowns. On the next morning, Faust is found dead in bed.
As some of these stories had already been in circulation about other
magicians, it is obvious that Faust was already becoming in popular
imagination the prototype, and it is possible to see the myth in
progress of development. The magician who sold his soul to the Devil
was not a new factor in the superstitious fantasy of the people, but it
was convenient to father all the floating rumours on some outstanding
personality of whom everybody had heard and who had, in the memory of
many, boasted in public of his wicked art. It is of interest to note
that whereas Bütner declares that it was at Wittenberg, the leading
Lutheran University, that Faust conjured up the Greek heroes, this
Nuremberg manuscript transfers his teaching activities in philosophy
and necromancy to the centre of Catholic doctrine, Ingolstadt. Later on
the scene is shifted to Erfurt, the seat of humanism.
The enlarged edition which appeared in 1587, with a different sequence
of chapters and eight new ones added, has drawn for its new matter
mainly on the _De Praestigiis Daemonum_ of Wierus and the _Christliche
Bedenken und Erinnerung von Zauberei_ of Augustin Lercheimer, where
the anecdotes are related for the most part about other magicians. The
title-page of this edition states that it was printed by Spies, but his
printer’s ornament is lacking, so the statement is most probably false.
The stories are as follows:—
1. Faust meets a peasant who has lost his horse, and tells him that he
has just seen a man riding away on it. The peasant hurries after the
supposed thief and there is a gory fight, until he notices that the
other man’s horse is a stallion, whereas his own was a gelding.
2. Faust meets a priest in Cologne hastening to church with his
breviary in his hand, and turns the sacred book into a pack of cards.
3. Faust enters an inn, where he is refused entertainment, as there
is no food in the house. He taps the window with his finger, and says
“Bring what you have”; then putting his hand outside the window, he
draws in a large dish full of boiled pike and a large can of good
Rhine wine.
4. A castle in which Faust is living is besieged by the Spanish troops
of the Emperor Charles. He shoots fragments from a tree under which a
Spanish colonel is sitting, although the latter is not visible from
the castle, and catches the Spanish cannon-balls in his hands.
5. Faust swallows a servant in an inn, because he fills the glasses
too full, and washes the morsel down with a bucket of water. The
servant is afterwards discovered in the yard all wet and dripping.
6. Faust cuts off a man’s head in an inn, but is prevented from
setting it on again by the mysterious influence of one of the
spectators; so he causes a lily to grow on the table, from which he
slices off the head, and immediately one of the spectators falls
decapitated from his seat. Faust then sets the first man’s head on his
shoulders again.
7. Faust invites some gentlemen to dinner, but when they arrive they
find the table empty. Their host bids his spirit fetch food from a
neighbouring wedding-party, and after the feast the guests ask him to
show them one of his tricks. He causes a vine to grow on the table,
with grapes for each of his guests, and tells each one to pick his
own fruit with one hand and put his knife to the stalk with the other,
but to be very careful not to cut. He then leaves the room, and when
he returns they are all grasping their own noses with one hand and
holding their knives in dangerous proximity with the other.
8. Faust teaches a chaplain how to remove his beard with arsenic.
The edition of 1589 is important, because it contains the six extra
“Erfurt Chapters,” which were most probably based on local tradition
in that town. Faust is seen here as a lecturer at the University. The
following is a summary of these extra chapters:—
[Illustration]
1. Some students invite Faust to accompany them to the Leipzig Fair,
and after they have inspected the town and the University they come
to a wine-cellar, where some draymen are endeavouring without success
to roll out a huge barrel. Faust mocks their efforts, and they return
his jeers with interest, but the owner of the barrel offers to make
a present of the contents to whoever can lift it out. Faust goes
into the cellar, sits astride the barrel as though it were a horse
and rides out. The host has to keep his promise, and Faust shares the
contents with his companions.
[Illustration]
2. Faust was for some years at Erfurt and lectured at the University.
On one occasion, when he is lecturing on Homer, the students request
him to conjure up the ancient heroes of Greece. He promises to do
so at his next lecture, which is consequently very fully attended.
The heroes duly appear in their armour—Menelaus, Achilles, Hector,
Priam, Alexander, Ulysses, Ajax, Agamemnon and others, followed by the
one-eyed giant Polyphemus, with the extremities of a man he is eating
still projecting from between his teeth. The spectators are terrified,
but Faust laughs and orders the spirits to go away again, which they
all do with the exception of Polyphemus, who looks as though he
would like to devour one or two of the students. However, he also is
persuaded to retire, but the students do not ask Faust to repeat the
experiment.
3. Faust offers to bring to light the lost comedies of Terence and
Plautus, though only for a sufficient length of time to enable them
to be copied. The theologians and members of the University council,
however, think that there are enough books in existence from which the
students can learn Latin, and in any case there is the possibility of
the Devil inserting in the newly discovered works all kinds of poison
and bad examples, and the disadvantage might outbalance the gain. So
Faust is not given the opportunity this time of proving his skill.
4. While Faust is in Prague, a friend of his, who is giving a party in
Erfurt, desires his presence, and presently there is a knock at the
door and Faust is seen to have just alighted from his horse. He says
he cannot stay long as he must be back in Prague on the morrow. He
gets intoxicated, and asks the guests whether they would not like to
try some foreign wines. He thereupon bores four holes in the table and
puts plugs into them. Glasses are fetched, Faust draws the plugs and
serves each man with the wine he desires. It appears that his horse,
who is devouring all the oats in the stable and looking for more, is
really Mephostophiles. Early in the morning Faust rides away, and the
guests who accompany him to the door see his horse rise with him into
the air.
5. Faust invites some friends to his lodging, and when they arrive
there is neither food nor drink, fire nor smoke. Their host raps on
the table with his knife, and a servant comes in. Faust asks, “How
swift are you?” and the reply is, “Like an arrow.” “No,” says Faust,
“you cannot serve me, go back whence you came.” He raps again, and
another servant enters, who tells Faust that he is as swift as the
wind. He also is sent away. A third servant is as swift as thought and
is accepted by Faust, who orders him to bring food and drink for the
feast. The goblets are put on the table empty, but Faust asks each of
his guests what kind of wine or beer he would like, holds the goblet
out of the window and draws it in again full of the desired liquor.
6. A famous Franciscan monk, named Dr. Kling, who was well acquainted
with Dr. Martin Luther, endeavours to convert Faustus. But Faust
declares it would be dishonourable to go back on his pact with
the Devil, which he has signed with his own blood. “The Devil has
honourably kept his part of the bargain, therefore I will keep mine.”
The monk reports this conversation to the Rector and Council of the
University, and Faust is compelled to quit Erfurt.
These stories are also to be found in a seventeenth-century manuscript
chronicle of Thuringia and the town of Erfurt, based on an Erfurt
Chronicle of the previous century which is now lost. The author of this
earlier chronicle appears to have heard the anecdotes, in the year
1556, from a neighbour of the Franciscan monk who tried to convert
Faust. The story of how Faust rode the barrel of wine out of the cellar
is recorded in two paintings on the wall of Auerbach’s wine-cellar in
Leipzig, which bear the date 1525, but are in reality no earlier than
the seventeenth century. The wine-cellar itself was not built till
1530.
There were further editions of the Faust book in 1590 and 1592, as
well as a rhymed version, which appeared at Tübingen in the winter
of 1587-8. It is probably the authors of this book who are referred
to in the complaint of the ducal commissioners to the senate of the
University of Tübingen, which is recorded in the minutes of the senate
on the 15th of April, 1588. The publisher and authors are ordered to be
incarcerated for a couple of days, and sternly reprimanded.
In the year 1599 there was published at Hamburg a considerably enlarged
edition, of which the end of each chapter was adorned with an edifying
commentary, called an _Erinnerung_, or Remonstrance, and it is this
version which became the basis of the subsequent editions. The story
becomes more anti-Catholic than in the earlier editions, and the
anti-papal moral is driven home in each _Erinnerung_. The editor, Georg
Rudolf Widman, has successfully eliminated any element of titanism or
poetry which may have been present in the original book, and Faust
becomes merely a young man led astray by the Church of Rome. Widman
has even been delicate enough to condense the Helena episode to a mere
reference in a footnote.
Widman’s version was again subjected to re-arrangement in the year
1674, by the Nuremberg physician Johann Nicolaus Pfitzer, who modified
the former polemic against the Catholic Church, and in 1725 Pfitzer’s
version was published in abbreviated form by an anonymous editor
who called himself a _Christlich-Meynender_, or Man of Christian
Sentiments. This volume is exceedingly slim, but it was sold
everywhere and became the popular chap-book. It is important in that
it contains the germ of the Gretchen episode in Goethe’s drama. Faust
tries to seduce a servant-girl, but she is proof against temptation and
he offers to marry her; Lucifer, however, dissuades him and gives him
Helena instead.
[Footnote 5: By Gustav Milchsack in the library at Wolfenbüttel,
and edited by him in _Historia D. Johannis Fausti des Zauberers_
[Wolfenbüttel, 1892-7]. Milchsack promised at the time to follow
up this publication with a second volume containing the results of
his researches, but he has not yet done so, and according to German
custom, other scholars have hitherto refrained from trespassing on his
preserves, so the problems raised by the discovery of this manuscript
have not yet been fully investigated.]
[Footnote 6: W. Scherer: _Das älteste Faustbuch_ [Berlin, 1884].]
[Footnote 7: Eugen Wolff: _Faust und Luther_ [Halle, 1912].]
[Footnote 8: By Wilhelm Meyer, and edited by him in _Nürnberger
Faustgeschichten_ [Munich, 1895].]
III
_Faust in England_
The earliest mention of Faust in England is in a translation by R. H.
of a book by Ludwig Lavater, _Of Ghostes and Spirites_, published in
1572:—
“There are also conjurers founde even at this day, who bragge of
themselves that they can so by inchauntments saddle an horse, that in
a fewe houres they will dispatch a very long journey. God at the last
will chasten these men with deserved punishment. What straunge things
are reported of one Faustus a German, which he did in these our dayes
by inchauntments?”
_The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John
Faustus_, which was published in London in 1592, was, as the title-page
announces, newly printed and in places amended, so there must have
been an earlier edition of which all trace is lost. This was in all
likelihood translated from the _editio princeps_ of 1587, but as we are
uncertain of its date, it is not impossible that one of the slightly
later German editions was used. There occurs in the Stationers’
Registers under the date 28th of February, 1589, the entry of “A ballad
of the life and deathe of Doctor FAUSTUS the great Cunngerer. Allowed
under the hand of the Bishop of London.”
This ballad has been preserved only in later versions of the
seventeenth century,[9] and it is not possible to say definitely
whether or no it was founded on the English translation of the German
Faust book, though that is the most likely theory. There is little
doubt that the latter appeared before the ballad. In any case, _The
Tragical History of Doctor Faustus_, by Christopher Marlowe, which was
in all probability on the stage as early as 1589, was based directly,
as is shown by internal evidence, on the English Faust book, and it
is unlikely that Marlowe was acquainted with the German version.[10]
So even if the ballad was founded on Marlowe’s tragedy, which is very
improbable, and not on the English Faust book, the latter must have
been published an astonishingly short time after the appearance of the
original German _Historia_. The translator is called P. F. _Gent._
(i.e. Gentleman, and not, as some editors have thought, his surname),
but in later editions these initials appear as P. R. or P. K. His
identity cannot be established, and it is not even possible to estimate
definitely his knowledge of German. To quote Logeman; “That P. F....
must have known some German is of course evident from the whole of the
translation and more especially from some passages where a smaller
light would have blundered. But that his own cannot have shone very
brightly is apparent from the number of lesser and greater blunders
in which we have caught our translator, and also from the fact that
some passages which present considerable difficulties will be found
to have been omitted.” We cannot, however, judge a sixteenth-century
translator by present-day standards, for he was at liberty to adapt
or modify as he listed. For example, where the German original states
that Faust blew in the pope’s face, the translator renders _blew_ by
_smote_, thus altering the whole sense, and it is doubtful whether the
false translation is due to P. F.’s sense of humour or his ignorance
of German. The description of Florence is even more confused than in
the original, and he adds strange lore of his own, such as the mythical
story of the Brazen Virgin on the bridge at Breslaw, who was used for
the disposal of unruly children. It is possible that P. F. had really
visited eastern Germany and the Polish or Galician regions, such as
Prague and Cracow, but it is just as likely that he obtained his extra
knowledge from a travelled friend. He frequently tones down the German
author’s denunciation of Faust’s wicked ways, and emphasizes the
fantasies and cogitations rather than the presumption and arrogance of
the sorcerer. The English Faust book is therefore the first step in the
deepening of the Faust character, and this conception is developed by
Marlowe.[11]
There is in the original legend of Faust little of that titanic
discontent with the spiritual limits of humanity, which is now regarded
as the fundamental characteristic of the Faustian nature. It is not the
desire to solve the riddle of the universe that drives him to the pact
with the Devil, but the less worthy desire for power and pleasure. It
is true that “he took to himself eagles’ wings and wanted to fathom
all the causes in heaven and earth,” but the Promethean defiance which
some scholars have sought to establish as his guiding motive, was a
preconception implanted in their own minds by a study of the Faust of
Goethe. The Faust of the _Historia_ obliges the Devil to answer all his
questions and shows afterwards a lively interest in the organization
of heaven and hell, but the first-fruits of the pact are food, wine
and women. Even Marlowe’s Faustus promises himself merely treasure,
delicacies and power from intercourse with the spirits; philosophy,
medicine, law and theology are all inadequate for the man who longs to
“raise the wind, or rend the clouds,” but when his league with hell has
endowed him with supernatural powers, the only use he finds for them is
to gratify his sensual desires or indulge in practical jokes. It cannot
be said that Marlowe has realized in his tragedy the potentiality of
the legend, though he seems to have had an inkling of it. The Helen
episode gives rise to the finest poetical passage in the play:—
“Was this the face that launch’d a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?”—
and the final scene, with Faust’s death presaged by the striking of
the clock, is impressive, but the author has done little to raise the
conception to a higher plane.
After the production of Marlowe’s play the name of Faustus appears
to have become a household word, and there are various allusions
to the character in contemporary writings, including a reference
in Shakespeare’s _Merry Wives_. William Prynne relates in his
_Histrio-Mastix, The Players’ Scourge_, 1663, a curious incident
which occurred during a performance. He is quoting the tragic end of
many who have been slain in playhouses in London, “Nor yet to recite
the sudden fearful burning even to the ground, both of the Globe and
Fortune Playhouses, no man perceiving how these fires came: together
with the visible apparition of the Devil on the Stage at the Belsavage
Playhouse, in Queen Elizabeth’s days (to the great amazement both of
the Actors and Spectators) whiles they were there profanely playing the
History of Faustus, ... there being some distracted with that fearful
sight.”
There was no further development of the theme in this country, for it
degenerated into a subject for farce and pantomime. There were further
editions of the English Faust book, and in the year 1664 there was
published in London _The History of Doctor John Faustus; Compiled in
Verse, very pleasant and Delightfull_, with a doggerel dedication to
the reader:—
“Reader, I would not have you think,
That I intend to waste my ink,
While Faustus Story I reherse,
And here do write his life in verse.
For seeing Fryer Bacons Story,
(In whom Oxford still may glory)
For want of better pen comes forth,
Compos’d in Rymes of no great worth:
I call’d my Muse to task, and pend
Faustus life, and death, and end.
And when it cometh forth in print,
If you like it not, the Devil’s in’t.”
A farce by the actor W. Mountford, _Life and Death of Doctor Faustus,
with the Humours of Harlequin and Scaramuch_, was acted at the Queen’s
Theatre in Dorset Gardens between 1684 and 1688, and revived later at
the theatre in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. It was borrowed for the most part,
with the exception, of course, of the harlequinade, from Marlowe.
The poet Alexander Pope declares that Faust was the subject of a set of
farces, which lasted in vogue two or three seasons, and in which both
Drury Lane and Covent Garden strove to outdo each other for some years.
John Thurmond, a dancing master, composed a _Harlequin Dr. Faustus_,
which was performed at Drury Lane, and published in the year 1724, and
there is a record of a _Harlequin Dr. Faustus, Pantomime; altered from
the Necromancer_, by a Mr. Woodward, which was acted at Covent Garden
as late as 1766. These are but casual references to what must have been
numerous Faust farces, and there were in addition performances of Faust
puppet-plays in the Punch and Judy Theatre of Martin Powell opposite
St. Paul’s Church in Covent Garden. Neither the pantomimes nor the
puppet-plays appear to derive from Marlowe, but since the appearance
of the latter’s tragedy, the Faust story appears definitely to have
abandoned the epic form for the dramatic, and it is in its original
home, Germany, that further development took place. Although in England
the theme degenerated until it was employed for the most insipid type
of theatrical entertainment, it was the English dramatist who first
gave it the form in which, two centuries later, it was to inspire the
greatest of all the poets who have sought to express the strivings of
humanity in the figure of Faust.
[Footnote 9: See Appendix B.]
[Footnote 10: _Marlowe’s Faustus, etc._, edited by A. W. Ward [4th ed.,
Oxford, 1901], and _Faustus-Notes_, by H. Logeman [Gand, 1898].]
[Footnote 11: R. Rohde: _Das Englische Faustbuch und Marlowes Tragödie_
[Halle, 1910].]
IV
_The Faust Drama in Germany_
Throughout the stagnant literary period of the seventeenth century and
the first half of the eighteenth, it was not the various editions of
the Faust book that kept the legend green in Germany, but the popular
drama which developed from Marlowe’s _Faustus_. Towards the end of
the sixteenth century, companies of English actors began to tour the
Continent, and in their repertories were the plays of the Elizabethans,
much mangled and adapted to the taste of their uncultivated audiences.
The popularity of these _English Comedians_, as they were called,
was greatest in Germany, and we find traces of them throughout the
first half of the seventeenth century. Acting as a profession began
in Germany with these English companies. At first they played only
in English, but later they produced German translations of their
repertory, even German original plays, and recruited their ranks from
among German actors. Soon German troupes were formed on the same
lines, who still, however, called themselves “English Comedians,”
since the advertisement was of value. The English actors laid great
weight on visual effect, for the language difficulty had at first to be
surmounted. The actors themselves were for the most part minstrels and
dancers, and the most important character was the clown who appeared in
every production, however tragic it might be. Even when the play was
performed in English, the clown spoke German, and he was known under
various names, such as _Pickelhäring_, while later on he was called
_Hans Wurst_. The plays were not written down and there was plenty
of scope allowed for gagging, so that eventually they were distorted
out of all recognition and were practically the work of the actors
themselves. Among the plays which were produced and gradually adapted
in this manner was Marlowe’s tragedy, and in its more spectacular form
it provided the public with the two somewhat contradictory essentials,
plenty of coarse humour and plenty of blood.
The earliest record of a performance of Marlowe’s play by the English
strolling players is one at Gräz in 1608. In 1626, a _Tragödia von Dr.
Faust_ was produced at Dresden on the 7th of July, and this was no
doubt also Marlowe’s play. We know what the main outline of the popular
drama must have been from a comparison of the various puppet-plays
which were performed in comparatively recent times in Germany and
Austria, for when the Faust drama ceased to be performed by living
actors, it was taken over by the proprietors of marionette theatres,
and in this form it survived till well into the nineteenth century. The
main points which the popular drama possessed in common with Marlowe’s
tragedy were the expository opening monologue, the appearance of the
good and evil angels, and the presaging of Faust’s impending end by
the striking of the clock. The humorous and melodramatic scenes had
no doubt been supplemented and exaggerated by other hands even on the
English stage. There is no ground for assuming that there was already a
Faust play of German origin on the German stage before the arrival of
the English Comedians.
The following is an amusing specimen of the type of programme which
was issued by the strolling players. It refers to a performance by the
famous Neuber troupe in Hamburg, on the 7th of July, 1738[12]:—
“The wicked Life and fearful End of the World-famous Arch-sorcerer D.
Johann Faust.
The following Scenes will be presented, among others: A great outer
Court in the underworld Palace of Pluto, by the Rivers Lethe and
Acheron. On the River comes Charon in a Boat, and to him Pluto on a
fiery Dragon, followed by the whole of his underworld Retinue and
Spirits.
Dr. Faust’s Study and Library. An agreeable Spirit of the upper World
will sing the following touching Aria, accompanied by tender Music:
[A song of three verses.]
A Raven flies out of the Air and fetches the Manuscript of Dr. Faust.
Hans Wurst breaks in accidentally on his Master, Dr. Faust’s Magic. He
must stand still and cannot move from the spot until he has taken off
his Shoes. The Shoes then dance together in a merry Manner.
An insolent Court-menial, who mocks Dr. Faust, is endowed with a pair
of Horns.
A Peasant buys a Horse from Dr. Faust, and as soon as he rides it, the
Horse turns into a Bundle of Hay. The Peasant wants to call Dr. Faust
to Account, Faust pretends to be asleep, the Peasant tugs him and
pulls off his Leg.
Hans Wurst wants to have a lot of Money, and to please him,
Mephostophiles causes him to rain Money.
The lovely Helena sings, to the Accompaniment of pleasant Music, an
Aria which is unpleasant to Dr. Faust, for it presages his Doom.
Dr. Faust takes Leave from his Famulus Christoph Wagner. Hans Wurst
also departs, and the Spirits fetch Dr. Faust to the Accompaniment of
Fire-works, which play in an ingenious Manner.
The underworld Palace of Pluto is seen once more. The Furies have
Possession of Dr. Faust and dance a Ballet round him, because they
have brought him safely into their Domain.
The Rest will be more pleasant in the Seeing then here in the Reading.
Commencement at half past four, in the so-called Opera House in the
Goosemarket at Hamburg.”
Another programme from Frankfort of the year 1742 announces that after
the play there will be a dance, after the dance a ballet, and if time
permits, after the ballet there will be a merry comedy.
It will thus be seen to what depths the story of Faust had fallen,
before the time came to raise it to the plane of the world’s
greatest tragedies. It was Lessing who first saw the potentialities
of the theme, and he pointed them out in the famous seventeenth
_Literaturbrief_ of the 16th of February, 1759, which commenced a new
era for German literature, henceforth to turn away from French models
and seek inspiration from Shakespeare. The stilted superficiality
of French literature was to yield to the more congenial vigour of
the English. It is true that Lessing did not recognize the worth
of Marlowe, who stood in the shadow of his greater contemporary,
but he declares that the old German plays had possessed much of the
English quality. “To mention only the best known of them: _Doctor
Faust_ has a number of scenes, which could only have been imagined
by a Shakespearean genius. And how deeply was, and in part still is,
Germany in love with her Doctor Faust! One of my friends possesses
an old draft of this tragedy, and he has communicated a scene to me
in which there is undoubtedly much that is great.” He then prints a
scene, which was really composed by himself, and among his papers after
his death were found sketches relating to his plan for a Faust drama.
It is certain that Lessing intended to reject the obsolete orthodox
view that Faust must necessarily pay for his sins by an eternity of
damnation. The Catholic theologians had permitted sorcerers to be saved
by repentance, but the spirit of the Reformation demanded that Faust
forfeit his soul, and from this inevitable doom there was no appeal.
The age of Enlightenment, on the other hand, looked upon the intellect
as supreme, and it was obviously absurd that Faust’s attempt to solve
an intellectual problem should lead to the loss of his soul. It is to
Lessing that is due the fundamental change in the conception of the
Faust problem, whereby Faust is not damned, but saved. The longing to
penetrate the mysteries of the universe is no longer regarded as an
instinct implanted in humanity by the Devil.
So far as we can judge from the fragments, Lessing’s Faust was to be
driven to the pact solely by his thirst for knowledge. Goethe was to
create the eternal type, the man who seeks to encompass the universe,
who demands complete and ultimate satisfaction for the limitless
craving of the human soul. The first impulse to create a Faust drama of
his own came to Goethe from a marionette version of the popular drama,
a performance of which he saw in Leipzig in his student days, for he
never saw it performed by living actors, and neither the Folk book nor
Marlowe’s tragedy came into his hands until much later. It was a task
which occupied him all his life. His original draft, the _Urfaust_, has
only been discovered in manuscript in recent times, but in the year
1790 he published _Faust. A Fragment._ The first part of the completed
tragedy appeared in 1808, and the second part in 1833, a year after
Goethe’s death.
The fundamental difference between Goethe’s conception of the problem
and all that had gone before is typified in the fact that it is not a
_pact_ into which Faust enters with Mephisto, but a _wager_. There are
indeed two wagers. In the Prologue in Heaven, Mephisto discusses Faust
with the Lord and says,[13]
“What will you bet? There’s still a chance to gain him,
If unto me full leave you give,
Gently upon _my_ road to train him!”
The Lord enters into the spirit of the thing and replies,
“As long as he on earth shall live,
So long I make no prohibition,
While Man’s desires and aspirations stir,
He cannot choose but err.
* * * * *
A good man, through obscurest aspiration,
Has still an instinct of the one true way.”
The opening monologue, which shows Faust in his study fighting with
the realization that “here, poor fool! with all my lore I stand, no
wiser than before,” is an echo of the initial monologue of Marlowe’s
tragedy, which came to Goethe through the medium of the popular drama
and the puppet-show. Hitherto the pact had been for a definite period
of twenty-four years, during which Faust was to enjoy all that the
Devil could give him and then to fulfil without hope of mercy his
part of the bargain. Goethe’s Faust, however, demands more than the
fulfilment of transitory desires. He wants to grasp the moment of
supreme satisfaction, and if Mephisto cannot give him that, Faust’s
soul remains his own:—
“When on an idler’s bed I stretch myself in quiet,
There let, at once, my record end!
Canst thou with lying flattery rule me,
Until, self-pleased, myself I see,—
Canst thou with rich enjoyment fool me,
Let that day be the last for me!
The bet I offer!...
* * * * *
When thus I hail the Moment flying:
‘Ah, still delay—thou art so fair!’
Then bind me in thy bonds undying,
My final ruin then declare!”
That is the important point. Mephisto plunges Faust in the pleasures of
revelry, love, power and classic beauty, but in spite of his burning
craving for supreme happiness, he is incapable of enjoying the blissful
moment. There never is a fleeting moment to which he can say “Ah,
still delay—thou art so fair!” There is no absolute truth or absolute
beauty, and therefore no absolute happiness. The blissful moment does
not exist, and the only satisfaction which man is free to enjoy is in
striving after an imaginary absolute. Faust never becomes absorbed in a
moment of ecstasy and therefore the Devil loses the wager. By using his
power unselfishly to further the lot of others, he is the instrument of
his own salvation; he redeems himself by an ever higher and purer form
of activity, as Goethe himself said, and dies with the conviction that
“He only earns his freedom and existence,
Who daily conquers them anew.”
When Mephisto summons his devils to carry the soul to hell, a host
of angels flies from heaven to repel them, and as they bear Faust’s
immortal soul into the upper air, they proclaim
“Whoe’er aspires unweariedly
Is not beyond redeeming.”
The Devil had not given Faust the blissful moment, but had only
enabled him to find a compromise between dream and reality by creative
work. Faust’s craving remained unfulfilled, and his reconcilement to
the conditions of life was only temporary. But as that is the only
possibility, as man’s highest aspirations never can be completely
satisfied, the wager was from the first destined to be unfulfilled.
In Goethe’s _Faust_ the theme received the highest treatment of which
it was capable. At the time when he first came in contact with the
story, Faust dramas were being announced by authors from all corners of
Germany, and perhaps it would not be too much to say that every German
poet since Goethe has cherished the hope of some day creating his own
Faust. Of the tragedies, farces, operas, pantomimes, ballets, novels,
short stories, poems, folk-songs and even parodies on the subject, it
may be said that their name is legion, and it appears to have been cast
into every possible art-form. It will, perhaps, suffice to mention here
a dance-poem which was written by the poet Heinrich Heine in 1851 for
performance at Drury Lane. Lumley, the director of the theatre, had
already made preparations for the production, when it was laid aside as
unsuitable. One of the latest treatments of the theme is _Faust and the
City_, by Lunacharski, the Minister of Education in Soviet Russia.
[Footnote 12: K. Engel: _Zusammenstellung der Faust-Schriften_
[Oldenburg, 1885], pp. 188 ff.]
[Footnote 13: Bayard Taylor’s translation.]
V
_The Wagner Book_
The first edition of the German Wagner book was published anonymously,
without mention even of its place of origin, in 1593, under a title of
which the following is a translation:—
_Second part of D. Johann Faust’s History, in which is described the
Pact of Christopher Wagner, Faust’s former Disciple, contracted with
the Devil, called Auerhan, who appeared to him in the form of an Ape,
also his adventurous Ribaldries and Pranks, which he performed with
the Aid of the Devil, and fearful End which at last overtook him._
_Together with an excellent Description of the New Isles, what People
live therein, what Fruits grow there, what Religion and Idol-worship
they have there, and how they are captured by the Spaniards, all drawn
from his posthumous Writings and, for it is very amusing to read, put
into Print. By Fridericus Schotus Tolet: Now at P. 1593._
Unlike the publisher of the Faust book, the author of the Wagner
book appears to have taken all precautions to hide his identity, for
Fridericus Schotus is a pseudonym, and Tolet is Toledo, where there
were supposed to be celebrated schools of magic. At the end of
his book the author declares that he has translated from a Spanish
original, printed seventy years ago, which he received from a Brother
Martin of the Order of St. Benedict. That is obviously false, since the
Faust legend did not exist in 1523, and certainly could not have been
in print in Spain. The author also declares that he has refrained from
saying anything that might be considered detrimental to the Church of
Rome, but this promise he has not kept very successfully. In an edition
which appeared in the following year, the town of origin is given as
“Gerapoli,” which is fictitious and may contain an anagram of “Prague,”
since the first edition states that it was published at “P.”
The Wagner story is essentially a paraphrase of the Faust legend, and
the author keeps to the outline of his hero’s character which is given
in the Faust book. The sole difference is in some of the external
incidents.
The English Wagner book was licensed about six months after the German
Wagner book, according to an entry in the Stationers’ Registers under
the 16th of November, 1593, and the date on the title-page is 1594.
It is _not_ a translation of the German Wagner book, but an extremely
faint imitation, into which the author has introduced many new details.
He appears only to have taken the basic idea, though there are
occasional quotations from the German book, and it is practically an
independent work. The 1680 edition was, in fact, translated into German
and published in Scheible’s _Kloster_.
WILLIAM ROSE.
1925.
[Illustration:
THE
HISTORIE
of the damnable
life, and deserved death of
_Doctor John Faustus_,
Newly imprinted, and in convenient
_places imperfect matter amended_;
according to the true Copie printed
_at_ Franckfort, _and translated into
English by_ P. F. _Gent._
Seene and allowed.
BY WISDOM PEACE
BY PEACE PLENTY
_Imprinted at London by Thomas Orwin, and are to be_
solde by Edward White, dwelling at the little North
doore of Paules, at the signe of the Gun. 1592.]
_HERE FOLLOWETH THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK_
Page
Of the parentage and birth of Doctor Faustus. 65
How Doctor Faustus began to practise in his
Devilish art, and how he conjured the Devil,
making him to appear and to meet him on the
morrow at his own house 67
The conference of Doctor Faustus with the Spirit
Mephostophiles on the next morning at his
own house 70
The second time of the Spirit’s appearing to
Faustus in his house, and of their parley 72
The third parley between Doctor Faustus, and
Mephostophiles, about a conclusion 74
How Doctor Faustus set his blood in a Saucer
on the warm ashes and wrote 76
How Mephostophiles came for his writing, and
in what manner he appeared, and his sights
he shewed him, and how he caused him to keep
a copy of his own writing 77
The manner how Faustus proceeded with his
damnable life, and of the diligent service that
Mephostophiles used towards him 79
How Doctor Faustus would have married, and
how the Devil had almost killed him for it 81
Questions put forth by Doctor Faustus unto his
Spirit Mephostophiles 84
How Doctor Faustus dreamed that he had seen
Hell in his sleep, and how he questioned with
the Spirit of matters concerning Hell, with the
Spirit’s answer 86
The second question put forth by Doctor Faustus
to his Spirit, what Kingdoms there were in Hell,
how many, and what were the rulers’ names 87
Another question put forth by Doctor Faustus
to his Spirit concerning his Lord Lucifer, with
the sorrow that Faustus fell afterwards into 88
Another disputation betwixt Doctor Faustus and
his Spirit of the power of the Devil, and of his
envy to mankind 90
How Doctor Faustus desired again of his Spirit
to know the secrets and pains of Hell, and
whether those damned Devils and their company
might ever come into the favour of God
again or not 92
Another question put forth by Doctor Faustus
to his Spirit Mephostophiles of his own estate 98
The second part of Doctor Faustus his life, and
practices until his end 100
A question put forth by Doctor Faustus to his
Spirit, concerning Astronomy 101
How Doctor Faustus fell into despair with himself:
for having put forth a question unto his
Spirit, they fell at variance, whereupon the
whole rout of Devils appeared unto him,
threatening him sharply 104
How Doctor Faustus desired to see Hell, and of
the manner how he was used therein 110
How Doctor Faustus was carried into the air up to
the heavens to see the world, and how the Sky
and Planets ruled: after the which he wrote
a letter to his friend of the same to Lyptzig,
how he went about the world in eight days 115
How Doctor Faustus made his journey through
the principal and most famous lands in the
world 121
How Faustus had a sight of Paradise 144
Of a certain Comet that appeared in Germany,
and how Doctor Faustus was desired by certain
friends of his to know the meaning thereof 146
A question put forth to Doctor Faustus, concerning
the Stars 147
How Faustus was asked a question concerning
the Spirits that vex men 148
How Doctor Faustus was asked a question concerning
the Stars that fall from Heaven 149
How Faustus was asked a question concerning
thunder 149
The third part, how the Emperor Carolus quintus
requested of Faustus to see some of his cunning,
whereunto he agreed 150
How Doctor Faustus in the sight of the Emperor
conjured a pair of Hart’s horns upon a Knight’s
head that slept out of a casement 154
How the Knight sought to be revenged of Faustus 155
A merry conceit of Faustus with three young
Dukes 156
How Faustus borrowed money of a Jew 160
How Faustus deceived an Horse-courser 162
How Doctor Faustus ate a load of Hay 164
How Faustus played a jest with twelve Students 165
How Faustus served the drunken Clowns 165
How Faustus sold five Swine 166
How Faustus played a merry conceit with the
Duke of Anholt 167
How he made a Castle in the presence of the
Duke of Anholt 168
How they robbed the Bishop of Saltzburg his
Cellar 171
How Faustus kept his Shrovetide 172
Faustus his feast to his friends on the
Ash-Wednesday 174
How the next day he was feasted of his friends 176
How he shewed his friends the fair Helena of
Greece 177
How Faustus conjured away the four wheels of
a Clown’s waggon 180
How he deceived the four Jugglers 182
How an old neighbour of Faustus gave him
counsel to amend his life 183
How Faustus wrote again the second time, with
his own blood, and gave it to the Devil 186
How he made a marriage betwixt two Lovers 188
Of his rare flowers at Christmas in his Garden 189
How he gathered together a great army of men 190
How he gat for himself seven fair Ladies 192
How he found treasure in the 22. year of his time 193
How he made fair Helena his Paramour 193
How he made his Will 194
His talk with his servant 195
Five complaints of Doctor Faustus before his end 197
His miserable end, with his Oration to his friends 201
=A Discourse of the most famous Doctor John Faustus of Wittenberg in
Germanie, Coniurer, and Necromancer: wherein is declared many strange
things that he himselfe hath seene, and done in the earth and in the
Ayre, with his bringing vp, his trauailes, studies, and last end=
CHAPTER I
_Of his Parentage and Birth_
John Faustus, born in the town of Rhode, lying in the province of
Weimer in Germanie, his father a poor husbandman, and not able well
to bring him up: but having an uncle at Wittenberg, a rich man, and
without issue, took this J. Faustus from his father, and made him his
heir, in so much that his father was no more troubled with him, for
he remained with his uncle at Wittenberg, where he was kept at the
University in the same city to study Divinity. But Faustus being of a
naughty mind and otherwise addicted, applied not his studies, but took
himself to other exercises: the which his uncle often-times hearing,
rebuked him for it, as Eli oft-times rebuked his children for sinning
against the Lord: even so this good man laboured to have Faustus apply
his study of Divinity, that he might come to the knowledge of God and
his laws. But it is manifest that many virtuous parents have wicked
children, as Cain, Ruben, Absolom, and such-like have been to their
parents: so this Faustus having godly parents, and seeing him to be
of a toward wit, were very desirous to bring him up in those virtuous
studies, namely, of Divinity: but he gave himself secretly to study
Necromancy and Conjuration, in so much that few or none could perceive
his profession.
But to the purpose: Faustus continued at study in the University, and
was by the Rectors and sixteen Masters afterwards examined how he had
profited in his studies; and being found by them, that none for his
time were able to argue with him in Divinity, or for the excellency
of his wisdom to compare with him, with one consent they made him
Doctor of Divinity. But Doctor Faustus within short time after he had
obtained his degree, fell into such fantasies and deep cogitations,
that he was marked of many, and of the most part of the Students was
called the Speculator; and sometime he would throw the Scriptures from
him as though he had no care of his former profession: so that he
began a very ungodly life, as hereafter more at large may appear; for
the old proverb saith, Who can hold that will away? so, who can hold
Faustus from the Devil, that seeks after him with all his endeavour?
For he accompanied himself with divers that were seen in those Devilish
Arts, and that had the Chaldean, Persian, Hebrew, Arabian, and Greek
tongues, using Figures, Characters, Conjurations, Incantations, with
many other ceremonies belonging to these infernal Arts, as Necromancy,
Charms, Soothsaying, Witchcraft, Enchantment, being delighted with
their books, words, and names so well, that he studied day and night
therein: in so much that he could not abide to be called Doctor of
Divinity, but waxed a worldly man, and named himself an Astrologian,
and a Mathematician: and for a shadow sometimes a Physician, and did
great cures, namely, with herbs, roots, waters, drinks, receipts, and
clysters. And without doubt he was passing wise, and excellent perfect
in the holy scriptures: but he that knoweth his master’s will and doth
it not, is worthy to be beaten with many stripes. It is written, no man
can serve two masters: and, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God: but
Faustus threw all this in the wind, and made his soul of no estimation,
regarding more his worldly pleasure than the joys to come: therefore at
the day of judgment there is no hope of his redemption.
CHAPTER II
_How Doctor Faustus began to practise in his Devilish Art, and how he
conjured the Devil, making him to appear and meet him on the morrow at
his own house_
You have heard before, that all Faustus’ mind was set to study the arts
of Necromancy and Conjuration, the which exercise he followed day and
night: and taking to him the wings of an Eagle, thought to fly over
the whole world, and to know the secrets of heaven and earth; for
his Speculation was so wonderful, being expert in using his Vocabula,
Figures, Characters, Conjurations, and other Ceremonial actions, that
in all the haste he put in practice to bring the Devil before him. And
taking his way to a thick Wood near to Wittenberg, called in the German
tongue Spisser Waldt: that is in English the Spissers Wood (as Faustus
would often-times boast of it among his crew being in his jollity),
he came into the same wood towards evening into a cross way, where
he made with a wand a Circle in the dust, and within that many more
Circles and Characters: and thus he passed away the time, until it
was nine or ten of the clock in the night, then began Doctor Faustus
to call for Mephostophiles the Spirit, and to charge him in the name
of Beelzebub to appear there personally without any long stay: then
presently the Devil began so great a rumour in the Wood, as if heaven
and earth would have come together with wind, the trees bowing their
tops to the ground, then fell the Devil to blare as if the whole Wood
had been full of Lions, and suddenly about the Circle ran the Devil as
if a thousand Wagons had been running together on paved stones. After
this at the four corners of the Wood it thundered horribly, with such
lightnings as if the whole world, to his seeming, had been on fire.
Faustus all this while half amazed at the Devil’s so long tarrying,
and doubting whether he were best to abide any more such horrible
Conjurings, thought to leave his Circle and depart; whereupon the Devil
made him such music of all sorts, as if the Nymphs themselves had
been in place: whereat Faustus was revived and stood stoutly in his
circle aspecting his purpose, and began again to conjure the Spirit
Mephostophiles in the name of the Prince of Devils to appear in his
likeness: whereat suddenly over his head hanged hovering in the air a
mighty Dragon: then calls Faustus again after his Devilish manner, at
which there was a monstrous cry in the Wood, as if Hell had been open,
and all the tormented souls crying to God for mercy; presently not
three fathoms above his head fell a flame in manner of a lightning,
and changed itself into a Globe: yet Faustus feared it not, but did
persuade himself that the Devil should give him his request before he
would leave: Often-times after to his companions he would boast, that
he had the stoutest head (under the cope of heaven) at commandment:
whereat they answered, they knew none stouter than the Pope or Emperor:
but Doctor Faustus said, the head that is my servant is above all on
earth, and repeated certain words out of Saint Paul to the Ephesians
to make his argument good: The Prince of this world is upon earth and
under heaven. Well, let us come again to his Conjuration where we
left him at his fiery Globe: Faustus vexed at the Spirit’s so long
tarrying, used his Charms with full purpose not to depart before he
had his intent, and crying on Mephostophiles the Spirit; suddenly the
Globe opened and sprang up in height of a man: so burning a time, in
the end it converted to the shape of a fiery man. This pleasant beast
ran about the Circle a great while, and lastly appeared in manner of
a gray Friar, asking Faustus what was his request. Faustus commanded
that the next morning at twelve of the clock he should appear to him
at his house; but the Devil would in no wise grant. Faustus began again
to conjure him in the name of Beelzebub, that he should fulfil his
request: whereupon the Spirit agreed, and so they departed each one his
way.
CHAPTER III
_The conference of Doctor Faustus with the Spirit Mephostophiles the
morning following at his own house_
Doctor Faustus having commanded the Spirit to be with him, at his hour
appointed he came and appeared in his chamber, demanding of Faustus
what his desire was: then began Doctor Faustus anew with him to conjure
him that he should be obedient unto him, and to answer him certain
Articles, and to fulfil them in all points.
1. That the Spirit should serve him and be obedient unto him in all
things that he asked of him from that hour until the hour of his death.
2. Farther, anything that he desired of him he should bring it to him.
3. Also, that in all Faustus his demands or Interrogations, the Spirit
should tell him nothing but that which is true.
Hereupon the Spirit answered and laid his case forth, that he had no
such power of himself, until he had first given his Prince (that was
ruler over him) to understand thereof, and to know if he could obtain
so much of his Lord: therefore speak farther that I may do thy whole
desire to my Prince: for it is not in my power to fulfil without his
leave. Shew me the cause why (said Faustus). The Spirit answered:
Faustus, thou shalt understand, that with us it is even as well a
kingdom, as with you on earth: yea, we have our rulers and servants,
as I my self am one, and we name our whole number the Legion: for
although that Lucifer is thrust and fallen out of heaven through his
pride and high mind, yet he hath notwithstanding a Legion of Devils at
his commandment, that we call the Oriental Princes; for his power is
great and infinite. Also there is an host in Meridie, in Septentrio, in
Occidente: and for that Lucifer hath his kingdom under heaven, we must
change and give ourselves unto men to serve them at their pleasure. It
is also certain, we have never as yet opened unto any man the truth of
our dwelling, neither of our ruling, neither what our power is, neither
have we given any man any gift, or learned him anything, except he
promise to be ours.
Doctor Faustus upon this arose where he sat,[14] and said, I will have
my request, and yet I will not be damned. The Spirit answered, Then
shalt thou want thy desire, and yet art thou mine notwithstanding: if
any man would detain thee it is in vain, for thine infidelity hath
confounded thee.
Hereupon spake Faustus: Get thee hence from me, and take Saint
Valentine’s farewell and Crisam[15] with thee, yet I conjure thee that
thou be here at evening, and bethink thyself on that I have asked thee,
and ask thy Prince’s counsel therein. Mephostophiles the Spirit, thus
answered, vanished away, leaving Faustus in his study, where he sat
pondering with himself how he might obtain his request of the Devil
without loss of his soul: yet fully he was resolved in himself, rather
than to want his pleasure, to do whatsoever the Spirit and his Lord
should condition upon.
[Footnote 14: A mistranslation of the German text, “entsetzt sich
darob,” i.e. “was terrified at this.”]
[Footnote 15: Saint Valentine’s sickness is epilepsy. Crisam is Gk.
_chrisma_, a composition of oil and balm.]
CHAPTER IV
_The second time of the Spirit’s appearing to Faustus in his house, and
of their parley_
Faustus continuing in his Devilish cogitations, never moving out of
the place where the Spirit left him (such was his fervent love to the
Devil) the night approaching, this swift flying Spirit appeared to
Faustus, offering himself with all submission to his service, with
full authority from his Prince to do whatsoever he would request, if
so be Faustus would promise to be his: this answer I bring thee, and
an answer must thou make by me again, yet will I hear what is thy
desire, because thou hast sworn me to be here at this time. Doctor
Faustus gave him this answer, though faintly (for his soul’s sake),
That his request was none other but to become a Devil, or at the least
a limb of him, and that the Spirit should agree unto these Articles as
followeth.
1. That he might be a Spirit in shape and quality.
2. That Mephostophiles should be his servant, and at his commandment.
3. That Mephostophiles should bring him anything, and do for him
whatsoever.
4. That at all times he should be in his house, invisible to all men,
except only to himself, and at his commandment to shew himself.
5. Lastly, that Mephostophiles should at all times appear at his
command, in what form or shape soever he would.
Upon these points the Spirit answered Doctor Faustus, that all this
should be granted him and fulfilled, and more if he would agree unto
him upon certain Articles as followeth.
First, that Doctor Faustus should give himself to his Lord Lucifer,
body and soul.
Secondly, for confirmation of the same, he should make him a writing,
written with his own blood.
Thirdly, that he would be an enemy to all Christian people.
Fourthly, that he would deny his Christian belief.
Fifthly, that he let not any man change his opinion, if so be any man
should go about to dissuade, or withdraw him from it.
Further, the Spirit promised Faustus to give him certain years to live
in health and pleasure, and when such years were expired, that then
Faustus should be fetched away, and if he should hold these Articles
and conditions, that then he should have all whatsoever his heart
would wish or desire; and that Faustus should quickly perceive himself
to be a Spirit in all manner of actions whatsoever. Hereupon Doctor
Faustus his mind was so inflamed, that he forgot his soul, and promised
Mephostophiles to hold all things as he had mentioned them: he thought
the Devil was not so black as they used to paint him, nor Hell so hot
as the people say, _etc._
CHAPTER V
_The third parley between Doctor Faustus and Mephostophiles about a
conclusion_
After Doctor Faustus had made his promise to the Devil, in the morning
betimes he called the Spirit before him and commanded him that he
should always come to him like a Friar, after the order of Saint
Francis, with a bell in his hand like Saint Anthony, and to ring it
once or twice before he appeared, that he might know of his certain
coming: Then Faustus demanded the Spirit, what was his name? The
Spirit answered, my name is as thou sayest, Mephostophiles, and I am
a prince, but servant to Lucifer: and all the circuit from Septentrio
to the Meridian, I rule under him. Even at these words was this wicked
wretch Faustus inflamed, to hear himself to have gotten so great a
Potentate to be his servant, forgot the Lord his maker, and Christ his
redeemer, became an enemy unto all mankind, yea, worse than the Giants
whom the Poets feign to climb the hills to make war with the Gods: not
unlike that enemy of God and his Christ, that for his pride was cast
into Hell: so likewise Faustus forgot that the high climbers catch the
greatest falls, and that the sweetest meat requires the sourest sauce.
After a while, Faustus promised Mephostophiles to write and make his
Obligation, with full assurance of the Articles in the Chapter before
rehearsed. A pitiful case, (Christian Reader), for certainly this
Letter or Obligation was found in his house after his most lamentable
end, with all the rest of his damnable practices used in his whole
life. Therefore I wish all Christians to take an example by this wicked
Faustus, and to be comforted in Christ, contenting themselves with that
vocation whereunto it hath pleased God to call them, and not to esteem
the vain delights of this life, as did this unhappy Faustus, in giving
his Soul to the Devil: and to confirm it the more assuredly, he took a
small penknife, and pricked a vein in his left hand, and for certainty
thereupon, were seen on his hand these words written, as if they had
been written with blood, Ô HOMO FUGE: whereat the Spirit vanished,
but Faustus continued in his damnable mind, and made his writing as
followeth.
CHAPTER VI
_How Doctor Faustus set his blood in a saucer on warm ashes, and writ
as followeth_
I, Johannes Faustus, Doctor, do openly acknowledge with mine own hand,
to the greater force and strengthening of this Letter, that siththence
I began to study and speculate the course and order of the Elements,
I have not found through the gift that is given me from above, any
such learning and wisdom, that can bring me to my desires: and for
that I find, that men are unable to instruct me any farther in the
matter, now have I Doctor John Faustus, unto the hellish prince of
Orient and his messenger Mephostophiles, given both body and soul, upon
such condition, that they shall learn me, and fulfil my desire in all
things, as they have promised and vowed unto me, with due obedience
unto me, according unto the Articles mentioned between us.
Further, I covenant and grant with them by these presents, that at the
end of twenty-four years next ensuing the date of this present Letter,
they being expired, and I in the meantime, during the said years be
served of them at my will, they accomplishing my desires to the full
in all points as we are agreed, that then I give them full power to
do with me at their pleasure, to rule, to send, fetch, or carry me
or mine, be it either body, soul, flesh, blood, or goods, into their
habitation, be it wheresoever: and hereupon, I defy God and his Christ,
all the host of heaven, and all living creatures that bear the shape
of God, yea all that lives; and again I say it, and it shall be so. And
to the more strengthening of this writing, I have written it with mine
own hand and blood, being in perfect memory, and hereupon I subscribe
to it with my name and title, calling all the infernal, middle, and
supreme powers to witness of this my Letter and subscription.
John Faustus, approved in the Elements,
and the spiritual Doctor.
CHAPTER VII
_How Mephostophiles came for his writing, and in what manner he
appeared, and his sights he shewed him: and how he caused him to keep a
copy of his own writing_
Doctor Faustus sitting pensive, having but one only boy with him,
suddenly there appeared his Spirit Mephostophiles, in likeness of a
fiery man, from whom issued most horrible fiery flames, in so much that
the boy was afraid, but being hardened by his master, he bade him stand
still and he should have no harm: the Spirit began to blare as in a
singing manner. This pretty sport pleased Doctor Faustus well, but he
would not call his Spirit into his Counting house, until he had seen
more: anon was heard a rushing of armed men, and trampling of horses:
this ceasing, came a kennel of hounds, and they chased a great Hart in
the hall, and there the Hart was slain. Faustus took heart, came forth,
and looked upon the Hart, but presently before him there was a Lion
and a Dragon together fighting, so fiercely, that Faustus thought they
would have brought down the house, but the Dragon overcame the Lion,
and so they vanished.
After this, came in a Peacock, with a Peahen, the cock brustling of his
tail, and turning to the female, beat her, and so vanished. Afterward
followed a furious Bull, that with a full fierceness ran upon Faustus,
but coming near him, vanished away. Afterward followed a great old
Ape, this Ape offered Faustus the hand, but he refused: so the Ape ran
out of the hall again. Hereupon fell a mist in the hall, that Faustus
saw no light, but it lasted not, and so soon as it was gone, there lay
before Faustus two great sacks, one full of gold, the other full of
silver.
Lastly, was heard by Faustus all manner Instruments of music, as
Organs, Clarigolds,[16] Lutes, Viols, Citterns,[17] Waits,[18]
Hornpipes, Flutes, Anomes,[19] Harps, and all manner of other
Instruments, the which so ravished his mind, that he thought he had
been in another world, forgot both body and soul, in so much that
he was minded never to change his opinion concerning that which he
had done. Hereat, came Mephostophiles into the Hall to Faustus, in
apparel like unto a Friar, to whom Faustus spake, thou hast done me a
wonderful pleasure in shewing me this pastime, if thou continue as
thou hast began, thou shalt win me heart and soul, yea and have it.
Mephostophiles answered, this is nothing, I will please thee better:
yet that thou mayest know my power and all, ask what thou wilt request
of me, that shalt thou have, conditionally hold thy promise, and give
me thy handwriting: at which words, the wretch thrust forth his hand,
saying, hold thee, there hast thou my promise: Mephostophiles took
the writing, and willing Faustus to take a copy of it, with that the
perverse Faustus being resolute in his damnation, wrote a copy thereof,
and gave the Devil the one, and kept in store the other. Thus the
Spirit and Faustus were agreed, and dwelt together: no doubt there was
a virtuous housekeeping.
[Footnote 16: A stringed musical instrument, or clarichord.]
[Footnote 17: A kind of guitar.]
[Footnote 18: A wind instrument.]
[Footnote 19: This instrument is unknown.]
CHAPTER VIII
_The manner how Faustus proceeded with his damnable life, and of the
diligent service Mephostophiles used towards him_
Doctor Faustus having given his soul to the Devil, renouncing all the
powers of heaven, confirming this lamentable action with his own blood,
and having already delivered his writing now into the Devil’s hand,
the which so puffed up his heart, that he had forgot the mind of a
man, and thought rather himself to be a spirit. This Faustus dwelt in
his uncle’s house at Wittenberg, who died, and bequeathed it in his
Testament to his Cousin Faustus. Faustus kept a boy with him that was
his scholar, an unhappy wag, called Christopher Wagner, to whom this
sport and life that he saw his master follow seemed pleasant. Faustus
loved the boy well, hoping to make him as good or better seen in his
Devilish exercise than himself; and he was fellow with Mephostophiles:
otherwise Faustus had no more company in his house; but himself, his
boy and his Spirit, that ever was diligent at Faustus’ command, going
about the house, clothed like a Friar, with a little bell in his hand,
seen of none but Faustus. For his victual and other necessaries,
Mephostophiles brought him at his pleasure from the Duke of Saxon,
the Duke of Bavaria, and the Bishop of Saltzburg: for they had many
times their best wine stolen out of their cellars by Mephostophile:
Likewise their provision for their own table, such meat as Faustus
wished for, his Spirit brought him in: besides that, Faustus himself
was become so cunning, that when he opened his window, what fowl
soever he wished for, it came presently flying into his house, were
it never so dainty. Moreover, Faustus and his boy went in sumptuous
apparel, the which Mephostophiles stole from the Mercers at Norenberg,
Auspurg, Franckeford, and Liptzig: for it was hard for them to find a
lock to keep out such a thief. All their maintenance was but stolen
and borrowed ware: and thus they lived an odious life in the sight of
God, though as yet the world were unacquainted with their wickedness.
It must be so, for their fruits be none other: as Christ saith through
John, where he calls the Devil a thief, and a murderer: and that found
Faustus, for he stole him away both body and soul.
CHAPTER IX
_How Doctor Faustus would have married, and how the Devil had almost
killed him for it_
Doctor Faustus continued thus in his Epicurish life day and night,
and believed not that there was a God, hell, or Devil: he thought
that body and soul died together, and had quite forgotten Divinity
or the immortality of his soul, but stood in his damnable heresy day
and night. And bethinking himself of a wife, called Mephostophiles to
counsel; which would in no wise agree: demanding of him if he would
break the covenant made with him, or if he had forgot it. Hast not thou
(quoth Mephostophiles) sworn thyself an enemy to God and all creatures?
To this I answer thee, thou canst not marry; thou canst not serve
two masters, God, and my Prince: for wedlock is a chief institution
ordained of God, and that hast thou promised to defy, as we do all, and
that hast thou also done: and moreover thou hast confirmed it with thy
blood: persuade thyself, that what thou dost in contempt of wedlock, it
is all to thine own delight. Therefore Faustus, look well about thee,
and bethink thyself better, and I wish thee to change thy mind: for if
thou keep not what thou hast promised in thy writing, we will tear thee
in pieces like the dust under thy feet. Therefore sweet Faustus, think
with what unquiet life, anger, strife, and debate thou shalt live in
when thou takest a wife: therefore change thy mind.
Doctor Faustus was with these speeches in despair: and as all that have
forsaken the Lord, can build upon no good foundation: so this wretched
Faustus having forsook the rock, fell in despair with himself, fearing
if he should motion Matrimony any more, that the Devil would tear him
in pieces. For this time (quoth he to Mephostophiles) I am not minded
to marry. Then you do well, answered his Spirit. But shortly and that
within two hours after, Faustus called his Spirit, which came in his
old manner like a Friar. Then Faustus said unto him, I am not able to
resist nor bridle my fantasy, I must and will have a wife, and I pray
thee give thy consent to it. Suddenly upon these words came such a
whirlwind about the place, that Faustus thought the whole house would
come down, all the doors in the house flew off the hooks: after all
this, his house was full of smoke, and the floor covered over with
ashes: which when Doctor Faustus perceived, he would have gone up the
stairs: and flying up, he was taken and thrown into the hall, that
he was not able to stir hand nor foot: then round about him ran a
monstrous circle of fire, never standing still, that Faustus fried as
he lay, and thought there to have been burned. Then cried he out to
his Spirit Mephostophiles for help, promising him he would live in all
things as he had vowed in his handwriting. Hereupon appeared unto him
an ugly Devil, so fearful and monstrous to behold, that Faustus durst
not look on him. The Devil said, what wouldst thou have Faustus? how
likest thou thy wedding? what mind art thou in now? Faustus answered,
he had forgot his promise, desiring him of pardon, and he would talk
no more of such things. The Devil answered, thou were best so to do,
and so vanished.
[Illustration: THE JOURNEY TO THE WITCHES’ SABBATH
After P. Cornelius]
After appeared unto him his Friar Mephostophiles with a bell in his
hand, and spake to Faustus: It is no jesting with us, hold thou that
which thou hast vowed, and we will perform as we have promised: and
more than that, thou shalt have thy heart’s desire of what women soever
thou wilt, be she alive or dead, and so long as thou wilt, thou shalt
keep her by thee.
These words pleased Faustus wonderful well, and repented himself that
he was so foolish to wish himself married, that might have any woman in
the whole City brought to him at his command; the which he practised
and persevered in a long time.
CHAPTER X
_Questions put forth by Doctor Faustus unto his Spirit Mephostophiles_
Doctor Faustus living in all manner of pleasure that his heart could
desire, continuing in his amorous drifts, his delicate fare, and costly
apparel, called on a time his Mephostophiles to him: which being come,
brought with him a book in his hand of all manner of Devilish and
enchanted arts, the which he gave Faustus, saying: hold my Faustus,
work now thy heart’s desire: The copy of this enchanting book was
afterward found by his servant Christopher Wagner. Well (quoth Faustus
to his Spirit) I have called thee to know what thou canst do if I
have need of thy help. Then answered Mephostophiles and said, my Lord
Faustus, I am a flying spirit: yea, so swift as thought can think, to
do whatsoever. Here Faustus said: but how came thy Lord and master
Lucifer to have so great a fall from heaven? Mephostophiles answered:
My Lord Lucifer was a fair Angel, created of God as immortal, and being
placed in the Seraphims, which are above the Cherubims, he would have
presumed unto the Throne of God, with intent to have thrust God out
of his seat. Upon this presumption the Lord cast him down headlong,
and where before he was an Angel of light, now dwells he in darkness,
not able to come near his first place, without God send for him to
appear before him as Raphael: but unto the lower degree of Angels that
have their conversation with men he was come, but not unto the second
degree of Heavens that is kept by the Archangels, namely, Michael and
Gabriel, for these are called Angels of God’s wonders: yet are these
far inferior places to that from whence my Lord and Master Lucifer
fell. And thus far Faustus, because thou art one of the beloved
children of my Lord Lucifer, following and feeding thy mind in manner
as he did his, I have shortly resolved thy request, and more I will do
for thee at thy pleasure. I thank thee Mephostophiles (quoth Faustus)
come let us now go rest, for it is night: upon this they left their
communication.
CHAPTER XI
_How Doctor Faustus dreamed that he had seen hell in his sleep, and how
he questioned with his Spirit of matters as concerning hell, with the
Spirit’s answer_
The night following, after Faustus his communication had with
Mephostophiles, as concerning the fall of Lucifer, Doctor Faustus
dreamed that he had seen a part of hell: but in what manner it was,
or in what place he knew not: whereupon he was greatly troubled in
mind, and called unto him Mephostophiles his Spirit, saying to him, my
Mephostophiles, I pray thee resolve me in this doubt: what is hell,
what substance is it of, in what place stands it, and when was it made?
Mephostophiles answered: my Faustus, thou shalt know, that before the
fall of my Lord Lucifer there was no hell, but even then was hell
ordained: it is of no substance, but a confused thing: for I tell thee,
that before all Elements were made, and the earth seen, the Spirit of
God moved on the waters, and darkness was over all: but when God said,
let it be light, it was so at his word, and the light was on God’s
right hand, and God praised the light. Judge thou further: God stood
in the middle, the darkness was on his left hand, in the which my Lord
was bound in chains until the day of judgment: in this confused hell is
nought to find but a filthy, Sulphurish, fiery, stinking mist or fog.
Further, we Devils know not what substance it is of, but a confused
thing. For as a bubble of water flieth before the wind, so doth hell
before the breath of God. Further, we Devils know not how God hath laid
the foundation of our hell, nor whereof it is: but to be short with
thee Faustus, we know that hell hath neither bottom nor end.
CHAPTER XII
_The second question put forth by Doctor Faustus to his Spirit, what
Kingdoms there were in hell, how many, and what were their rulers’
names_
Faustus spake again to Mephostophiles, saying: thou speakest of
wonderful things, I pray thee now tell me what Kingdoms is there in
your hell, how many are there, what are they called, and who rules
them: the Spirit answered him: my Faustus, know that hell is as thou
wouldst think with thyself another world, in the which we have our
being, under the earth, and above the earth, even to the Heavens;
within the circumference whereof are contained ten Kingdoms, namely:
1. Lacus mortis.
2. Stagnum ignis.
3. Terra tenebrosa.
4. Tartarus.
5. Terra oblivionis.
6. Gehenna.
7. Herebus.
8. Barathrum.
9. Styx.
10. Acheron.
The which Kingdoms are governed by five kings, that is, Lucifer in
the Orient, Beelzebub in Septentrio, Belial in Meridie, Astaroth in
Occidente, and Phlegeton in the middest of them all: whose rule and
dominions have none end until the day of Doom. And thus far Faustus,
hast thou heard of our rule and Kingdoms.
CHAPTER XIII
_Another question put forth by Doctor Faustus to his Spirit concerning
his Lord Lucifer, with the sorrow that Faustus fell afterwards into_
Doctor Faustus began again to reason with Mephostophiles, requiring
him to tell him in what form and shape, and in what estimation his
Lord Lucifer was when he was in favour with God. Whereupon his Spirit
required of him three days’ respite, which Faustus granted. The three
days being expired, Mephostophiles gave him this answer: Faustus,
my Lord Lucifer (so called now, for that he was banished out of the
clear light of heaven) was at the first an Angel of God, he sat on the
Cherubims, and saw all the wonderful works of God, yea he was so of God
ordained, for shape, pomp, authority, worthiness, and dwelling, that he
far exceeded all other the creatures of God, yea our gold and precious
stones: and so illuminated, that he far surpassed the brightness of the
Sun and all other Stars: wherefore God placed him on the Cherubims,
where he had a kingly office, and was always before God’s seat, to the
end he might be the more perfect in all his beings: but when he began
to be high-minded, proud, and so presumptuous that he would usurp the
seat of his Majesty, then was he banished out from amongst the heavenly
powers, separated from their abiding into the manner of a fiery stone,
that no water is able to quench, but continually burneth until the end
of the world.
Doctor Faustus, when he had heard the words of his Spirit, began to
consider with himself, having diverse and sundry opinions in his
head: and very pensively (saying nothing unto his Spirit) he went
into his chamber, and laid him on his bed, recording the words of
Mephostophiles; which so pierced his heart, that he fell into sighing
and great lamentation, crying out: alas, ah, woe is me! what have I
done? Even so shall it come to pass with me: am not I also a creature
of God’s making, bearing his own Image and similitude, into whom he
hath breathed the Spirit of life and immortality, unto whom he hath
made all things living subject: but woe is me, mine haughty mind, proud
aspiring stomach, and filthy flesh, hath brought my soul into perpetual
damnation; yea, pride hath abused my understanding, in so much that I
have forgot my maker, the Spirit of God is departed from me. I have
promised the Devil my Soul: and therefore it is but a folly for me to
hope for grace, but it must be even with me as with Lucifer, thrown
into perpetual burning fire: ah, woe is me that ever I was born. In
this perplexity lay this miserable Doctor Faustus, having quite forgot
his faith in Christ, never falling to repentance truly, thereby to
attain the grace and holy Spirit of God again, the which would have
been able to have resisted the strong assaults of Satan: for although
he had made him a promise, yet he might have remembered through true
repentance sinners come again into the favour of God; which faith the
faithful firmly hold, knowing they that kill the body, are not able to
hurt the soul: but he was in all his opinions doubtful, without faith
or hope, and so he continued.
CHAPTER XIV
_Another disputation betwixt Doctor Faustus and his Spirit, of the
power of the Devil, and of his envy to mankind_
After Doctor Faustus had a while pondered and sorrowed with himself
of his wretched estate, he called again Mephostophiles unto him,
commanding him to tell him the judgment, rule, power, attempts,
tyranny and temptation of the Devil, and why he was moved to such kind
of living: whereupon the Spirit answered, this question that thou
demandest of me, will turn thee to no small discontentment: therefore
thou shouldst not have desired me of such matters, for it toucheth the
secrets of our Kingdom, although I cannot deny to resolve thy request.
Therefore know thou Faustus, that so soon as my Lord Lucifer fell from
heaven, he became a mortal enemy both to God and man, and hath used
(as now he doth) all manner of tyranny to the destruction of man, as
is manifest by divers examples, one falling suddenly dead, another
hangs himself, another drowns himself, others stab themselves, others
unfaithfully despair, and so come to utter confusion: the first man
Adam that was made perfect to the similitude of God, was by my Lord his
policy, the whole decay of man: yea, Faustus, in him was the beginning
and first tyranny of my Lord Lucifer used to man: the like did he
with Cain, the same with the children of Israel, when they worshipped
strange Gods, and fell to whoredom with strange women: the like with
Saul: so did he by the seven husbands of her that after was the wife
of Tobias: likewise Dagon our fellow brought to destruction thirty
thousand men, whereupon the Ark of God was stolen: and Belial made
David to number his men, whereupon were slain sixty thousand, also he
deceived King Solomon that worshipped the Gods of the heathen: and
there are such Spirits innumerable that can come by men and tempt them,
drive them to sin, weaken their belief: for we rule the hearts of Kings
and Princes, stirring them up to war and bloodshed; and to this intent
do we spread ourselves throughout all the world, as the utter enemies
of God, and his Son Christ, yea and all those that worship them: and
that thou knowest by thyself Faustus, how we have dealt with thee. To
this answered Faustus, why then thou didst also beguile me. Yea (quoth
Mephostophiles) why should not we help thee forwards: for so soon as we
saw thy heart, how thou didst despise thy degree taken in Divinity, and
didst study to search and know the secrets of our Kingdom; even then
did we enter into thee, giving thee divers foul and filthy cogitations,
pricking thee forward in thine intent, and persuading thee that thou
couldst never attain to thy desire, until thou hast the help of some
Devil: and when thou wast delighted with this, then took we root in
thee; and so firmly, that thou gavest thyself unto us, both body and
soul the which thou (Faustus) canst not deny. Hereat answered Faustus,
Thou sayest true Mephostophiles, I cannot deny it: Ah, woe is me
miserable Faustus; how have I been deceived? had not I desired to know
so much, I had not been in this case: for having studied the lives of
the holy Saints and Prophets, and thereby thought myself to understand
sufficient in heavenly matters, I thought myself not worthy to be
called Doctor Faustus, if I should not also know the secrets of hell,
and be associated with the furious Fiend thereof; now therefore must
I be rewarded accordingly. Which speeches being uttered, Faustus went
very sorrowfully away from Mephostophiles.
CHAPTER XV
_How Doctor Faustus desired again of his Spirit to know the secrets and
pains of hell; and whether those damned Devils and their company might
ever come into the favour of God again or not?_
Doctor Faustus was ever pondering with himself how he might get loose
from so damnable an end as he had given himself unto, both of body
and soul: but his repentance was like to that of Cain and Judas, he
thought his sins greater than God could forgive, hereupon rested his
mind: he looked up to heaven, but saw nothing therein; for his heart
was so possessed with the Devil, that he could think of nought else but
of hell, and the pains thereof. Wherefore in all the haste he calleth
unto him his Spirit Mephostophiles, desiring him to tell him some more
of the secrets of hell, what pains the damned were in, and how they
were tormented, and whether the damned souls might get again the favour
of God, and so be released out of their torments or not: whereupon
the Spirit answered, my Faustus, thou mayest well leave to question
any more of such matters, for they will but disquiet thy mind, I pray
thee what meanest thou? Thinkest thou through these thy fantasies to
escape us? No, for if thou shouldst climb up to heaven, there to hide
thyself, yet would I thrust thee down again; for thou art mine, and
thou belongest unto our society: therefore sweet Faustus, thou wilt
repent this thy foolish demand, except thou be content that I shall
tell thee nothing. Quoth Faustus ragingly, I will know, or I will not
live, wherefore dispatch and tell me: to whom Mephostophiles answered,
Faustus, it is no trouble unto me at all to tell thee, and therefore
sith thou forcest me thereto, I will tell thee things to the terror of
thy soul, if thou wilt abide the hearing. Thou wilt have me tell thee
of the secrets of hell, and of the pains thereof: know Faustus, that
hell hath many figures, semblances, and names, but it cannot be named
nor figured in such sort unto the living that are damned, as it is unto
those that are dead, and do both see and feel the torments thereof:
for hell is said to be deadly, out of the which came never any to
life again but one, but he is as nothing for thee to reckon upon, hell
is bloodthirsty, and is never satisfied; hell is a valley, into the
which the damned souls fall: for so soon as the soul is out of man’s
body, it would gladly go to the place from whence it came, and climbeth
up above the highest hills, even to the heavens; where being by the
Angels of the first Mobile denied entertainment (in consideration of
their evil life spent on the earth) they fall into the deepest pit or
valley which hath no bottom, into a perpetual fire, which shall never
be quenched: for like as the Flint thrown into the water, loseth not
his virtue, neither is his fire extinguished; even so the hellish fire
is unquenchable: and even as the Flint stone in the fire being burned
is red hot, and yet consumeth not: so likewise the damned souls in
our hellish fire are ever burning, but their pains never diminishing.
Therefore is hell called the everlasting pain, in which is neither
hope nor mercy: So is it called utter darkness, in which we see
neither the light of Sun, Moon, nor Star: and were our darkness like
the darkness of the night, yet were there hope of mercy, but ours is
perpetual darkness, clean exempt from the face of God. Hell hath also
a place within it called Chasma, out of the which issueth all manner
of thunders, lightnings, with such horrible shriekings and wailings,
that oft-times the very Devils themselves stand in fear thereof: for
one while it sendeth forth winds with exceeding snow, hail, and rain
congealing the water into ice; with the which the damned are frozen,
gnash their teeth, howl and cry, and yet cannot die. Otherwhiles, it
sendeth forth most horrible hot mists or fogs, with flashing flames
of fire and brimstone, wherein the sorrowful souls of the damned lie
broiling in their reiterated torments: yea Faustus, hell is called a
prison wherein the damned lie continually bound; it is also called
Pernicies, and Exitium, death, destruction, hurtfulness, mischief, a
mischance, a pitiful and an evil thing, world without end. We have
also with us in hell a ladder, reaching of an exceeding height, as
though it would touch the heavens, on which the damned ascend to seek
the blessing of God; but through their infidelity, when they are
at the very highest degree, they fall down again into their former
miseries, complaining of the heat of that unquenchable fire: yea
sweet Faustus, so must thou understand of hell, the while thou art so
desirous to know the secrets of our Kingdom. And mark Faustus, hell
is the nurse of death, the heat of all fire, the shadow of heaven and
earth, the oblivion of all goodness, the pains unspeakable, the griefs
unremovable, the dwelling of Devils, Dragons, Serpents, Adders, Toads,
Crocodiles, and all manner of venomous creatures, the puddle of sin,
the stinking fog ascending from the Stygian lake, Brimstone, Pitch,
and all manner of unclean metals, the perpetual and unquenchable fire,
the end of whose miseries was never purposed by God: yea, yea Faustus,
thou sayest, I shall, I must, nay I will tell thee the secrets of our
Kingdom, for thou buyest it dearly, and thou must and shalt be partaker
of our torments, that (as the Lord God said) never shall cease: for
hell, the woman’s belly, and the earth are never satisfied; there
shalt thou abide horrible torments, trembling, gnashing of teeth,
howling, crying, burning, freezing, melting, swimming in a labyrinth
of miseries, scalding, burning, smoking in thine eyes, stinking in thy
nose, hoarseness of thy speech, deafness of thine ears, trembling of
thy hands, biting thine own tongue with pain, thy heart crushed as in a
press, thy bones broken, the Devils tossing firebrands upon thee, yea
thy whole carcass tossed upon muck-forks from one Devil to another,
yea Faustus, then wilt thou wish for death, and he will fly from thee,
thine unspeakable torments shall be every day augmented more and more,
for the greater the sin, the greater is the punishment: how likest thou
this, my Faustus, a resolution answerable to thy request?
Lastly, thou wilt have me tell thee that which belongeth only to God,
which is, if it be possible for the damned to come again into the
favour of God, or not: why Faustus, thou knowest that this is against
thy promise, for what shouldst thou desire to know that, having already
given thy soul to the Devil to have the pleasure of this world, and
to know the secrets of hell? therefore art thou damned, and how canst
thou then come again to the favour of God? Wherefore I directly answer,
no; for whomsoever God hath forsaken and thrown into hell, must there
abide his wrath and indignation in that unquenchable fire, where is no
hope nor mercy to be looked for, but abiding in perpetual pains world
without end: for even as much it availeth thee Faustus, to hope for the
favour of God again, as Lucifer himself, who indeed although he and
we all have a hope, yet is it to small avail, and taketh none effect,
for out of that place God will neither hear crying nor sighing; if
he do, thou shalt have as little remorse, as Dives, Cain, or Judas
had: what helpeth the Emperor, King, Prince, Duke, Earl, Baron, Lord,
Knight, Squire or Gentleman, to cry for mercy being there? Nothing:
for if on the earth they would not be Tyrants, and self-willed, rich
with covetousness; proud with pomp, gluttons, drunkards, whoremongers,
backbiters, robbers, murderers, blasphemers, and such-like, then were
there some hope to be looked for: therefore my Faustus, as thou comest
to hell with these qualities, thou must say with Cain, My sins are
greater than can be forgiven, go hang thyself with Judas: and lastly,
be content to suffer torments with Dives. Therefore know Faustus, that
the damned have neither end nor time appointed in the which they may
hope to be released, for if there were any such hope, that they but by
throwing one drop of water out of the Sea in a day, until it were all
dry: or if there were an heap of sand as high as from the earth to the
heavens, that a bird carrying away but one corn in a day, at the end of
this so long labour; that yet they might hope at the last, God would
have mercy on them, they would be comforted: but now there is no hope
that God once thinks upon them, or that their howlings shall never be
heard; yea, so impossible, as it is for thee to hide thyself from God,
or impossible for thee to remove the mountains, or to empty the sea, or
to tell the number of the drops of rain that have fallen from Heaven
until this day, or to tell what there is most of in the world, yea and
for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle: even so impossible it
is for thee Faustus, and the rest of the damned, to come again into
the favour of God. And thus Faustus hast thou heard my last sentence,
and I pray thee how dost thou like it? But know this, that I counsel
thee to let me be unmolested hereafter with such disputations, or else
I will vex thee every limb, to thy small contentment. Doctor Faustus
departed from his Spirit very pensive and sorrowful, laid him on his
bed, altogether doubtful of the grace and favour of God, wherefore he
fell into fantastical cogitations: fain he would have had his soul at
liberty again, but the Devil had so blinded him, and taken such deep
root in his heart, that he could never think to crave God’s mercy,
or if by chance he had any good motion, straightways the Devil would
thrust him a fair Lady into his chamber, which fell to kissing and
dalliance with him, through which means, he threw his godly motions in
the wind, going forward still in his wicked practices, to the utter
ruin both of his body and soul.
CHAPTER XVI
_Another question put forth by Doctor Faustus to his Spirit
Mephostophiles of his own estate_
Doctor Faustus, being yet desirous to hear more strange things, called
his Spirit unto him, saying: My Mephostophiles, I have yet another suit
unto thee, which I pray thee deny not to resolve me of. Faustus (quoth
the Spirit) I am loth to reason with thee any further, for thou art
never satisfied in thy mind, but always bringest me a new. Yet I pray
thee this once (quoth Faustus) do me so much favour, as to tell me the
truth in this matter, and hereafter I will be no more so earnest with
thee. The Spirit was altogether against it, but yet once more he would
abide him: well (said the Spirit to Faustus), what demandest thou of
me? Faustus said, I would gladly know of thee, if thou wert a man in
manner and form as I am; what wouldest thou do to please both God and
man? Whereat the Spirit smiled saying: my Faustus, if I were a man
as thou art, and that God had adorned me with those gifts of nature
as thou once haddest; even so long as the breath of God were by, and
within me, would I humble myself unto his Majesty, endeavouring in all
that I could to keep his Commandments, praise him, glorify him, that I
might continue in his favour, so were I sure to enjoy the eternal joy
and felicity of his Kingdom. Faustus said, but that have not I done.
No, thou sayest true (quoth Mephostophiles) thou hast not done it, but
thou hast denied thy Lord and maker, which gave thee the breath of
life, speech, hearing, sight, and all other thy reasonable senses that
thou mightest understand his will and pleasure, to live to the glory
and honour of his name, and to the advancement of thy body and soul,
him I say being thy maker hast thou denied and defied, yea wickedly
thou hast applied that excellent gift of thine understanding, and
given thy soul to the Devil: therefore give none the blame but thine
own self-will, thy proud and aspiring mind, which hath brought thee
into the wrath of God and utter damnation. This is most true (quoth
Faustus), but tell me Mephostophiles, wouldst thou be in my case as I
am now? Yea, saith the Spirit (and with that fetched a great sigh) for
yet would I so humble myself, that I would win the favour of God. Then
(said Doctor Faustus) it were time enough for me if I amended. True
(said Mephostophiles), if it were not for thy great sins, which are
so odious and detestable in the sight of God, that it is too late for
thee, for the wrath of God resteth upon thee. Leave off (quoth Faustus)
and tell me my question to my greater comfort.
CHAPTER XVII
_Here followeth the second part of Doctor Faustus his life, and
practices, until his end_
Doctor Faustus having received denial of his Spirit, to be resolved any
more in such-like questions propounded; forgot all good works, and fell
to be a Calendar maker by help of his Spirit; and also in short time
to be a good Astronomer or Astrologian: he had learned so perfectly
of his Spirit the course of the Sun, Moon, and Stars, that he had the
most famous name of all the Mathematicks[20] that lived in his time;
as may well appear by his works dedicated unto sundry Dukes and Lords:
for he did nothing without the advice of his Spirit, which learned
him to presage of matters to come, which have come to pass since his
death. The like praise won he with his Calendars, and Almanacs making,
for when he presaged upon any change, Operation, or alteration of the
weather, or Elements; as wind, rain, fogs, snow, hail, moist, dry,
warm, cold, thunder, lightning: it fell so duly out, as if an Angel of
heaven had forewarned it. He did not like the unskilful Astronomers
of our time, that set in Winter cold, moist, airy, frosty; and in the
Dog-days, hot, dry, thunder, fire, and such-like: but he set in all his
works, day and hour, when, where, and how it should happen. If anything
wonderful were at hand, as death, famine, plague, or wars, he would set
the time and place in true and just order, when it should come to pass.
[Footnote 20: i.e. Mathematicians.]
CHAPTER XVIII
_A question put forth by Doctor Faustus to his Spirit concerning
Astronomy_
Doctor Faustus falling to practice, and making his Prognostications,
he was doubtful in many points: wherefore he called unto him
Mephostophiles his Spirit, saying: I find the ground of this science
very difficult to attain unto: for that when I confer Astronomia and
Astrologia, as the Mathematicians and ancient writers have left in
memory, I find them to vary and very much to disagree: wherefore I
pray thee to teach me the truth in this matter. To whom his Spirit
answered, Faustus, thou shalt know that the practitioners or
speculators, or at least the first inventors of these Arts, have done
nothing of themselves certain, whereupon thou mayest attain to the true
prognosticating or presaging of things concerning the heavens, or of
the influence of the Planets: for if by chance some one Mathematician
or Astronomer hath left behind him anything worthy of memory: they
have so blinded it with Enigmatical words, blind Characters, and such
obscure figures; that it is impossible for an earthly man to attain
unto the knowledge thereof, without the aid of some Spirit, or else the
special gift of God; for such are the hidden works of God from men:
yet do we Spirits that fly and fleet in all Elements, know such, and
there is nothing to be done, or by the Heavens pretended, but we know
it, except only the day of Doom. Wherefore (Faustus) learn of me, I
will teach thee the course and recourse of ♄. ♃. ♂. ☉. ♀. ☿ and ☽.[21]
the cause of winter and summer, the exaltation and declination of the
Sun, the eclipse of the Moon, the distance and height of the Poles,
and every fixed Star, the nature and operation of the elements, fire,
air, water, and earth, and all that is contained in them, yea herein
there is nothing hidden from me, but only the fifth essence, which once
thou hadst Faustus at liberty, but now Faustus thou hast lost it past
recovery; wherefore leaving that which will not be again had, learn
now of me to make thunder, lightning, hail, snow, and rain: the clouds
to rend, the earth and craggy rocks to shake and split in sunder, the
Seas to swell, and roar, and over-run their marks. Knowest not thou
that the deeper the Sun shines, the hotter he pierces? so, the more
thy Art is famous whilst thou art here, the greater shall be thy name
when thou art gone. Knowest not thou that the earth is frozen cold
and dry; the water running, cold and moist; the air flying, hot and
moist; the fire consuming, hot and dry? Yea Faustus, so must thy heart
be enflamed like the fire to mount on high: learn, Faustus, to fly
like myself, as swift as thought from one kingdom to another, to sit
at princes’ tables, to eat their daintiest fare, to have thy pleasure
of their fair Ladies, wives and concubines, to use their jewels, and
costly robes as things belonging to thee, and not unto them: learn of
me, Faustus, to run through walls, doors, and gates of stone and iron,
to creep into the earth like a worm, to swim in the water like a fish,
to fly in the air like a bird, and to live and nourish thyself in the
fire like a Salamander; so shalt thou be famous, renowned, far-spoken
of, and extolled for thy skill: going on knives, not hurting thy feet;
carrying fire in thy bosom, and not burning thy shirt; seeing through
the heavens as through a Crystal, wherein is placed the Planets, with
all the rest of the presaging Comets, the whole circuit of the world
from the East to the West, North and South: there shalt thou know,
Faustus, wherefore the fiery sphere above ♄ and the signs of the Zodiac
doth not burn and consume the whole face of the earth, being hindered
by placing the two moist elements between them, the airy clouds and the
wavering waves of water: yea, Faustus, I will learn thee the secrets of
nature, what the causes that the Sun in summer being at the highest,
giveth all his heat downwards on the earth; and being in winter at
the lowest, giveth all his heat upward into the heavens: that the snow
should be of so great virtue, as the honey; and the Lady Saturnia ♓
[22] in Occulto more hotter than the Sun in Manifesto. Come on my
Faustus, I will make thee as perfect in these things as myself, I will
learn thee to go invisible, to find out the mines of gold and silver,
the fodines[23] of precious stones, as the Carbuncle, the Diamond,
Sapphire, Emerald, Ruby, Topaz, Jacinth, Garnet, Jasper, Amethyst, use
all these at thy pleasure, take thy heart’s desire: thy time Faustus
weareth away, then why wilt thou not take thy pleasure of the world?
Come up, we will go visit Kings at their own courts, and at their most
sumptuous banquets be their guests, if willingly they invite us not,
then perforce we will serve our own turn with their best meat and
daintiest wine: Agreed, quoth Faustus; but let me pause a while upon
this thou hast even now declared unto me.
[Footnote 21: The symbols of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus,
Mercury, and the Moon.]
[Footnote 22: The symbol of Pisces in the Zodiac.]
[Footnote 23: Mines.]
CHAPTER XIX
_How Doctor Faustus fell into despair with himself: for having put
forth a question unto his Spirit, they fell at variance, whereupon the
whole route of Devils appeared unto him, threatening him sharply_
Doctor Faustus revolving with himself the speeches of his Spirit, he
became so woeful and sorrowful in his cogitations, that he thought
himself already frying in the hottest flames of hell, and lying in
his muse, suddenly there appeared unto him his Spirit, demanding what
thing so grieved and troubled his conscience, whereat Doctor Faustus
gave no answer: yet the Spirit very earnestly lay upon him to know the
cause; and if it were possible, he would find remedy for his grief,
and ease him of his sorrows. To whom Faustus answered, I have taken
thee unto me as a servant to do me service, and thy service will be
very dear unto me; yet I cannot have any diligence of thee farther than
thou list thyself, neither dost thou in anything as it becometh thee.
The Spirit replied, my Faustus, thou knowest that I was never against
thy commandments as yet, but ready to serve and resolve thy questions,
although I am not bound unto thee in such respects as concern the
hurt of our Kingdom, yet was I always willing to answer thee, and so
I am still: therefore my Faustus say on boldly, what is thy will and
pleasure? At which words, the Spirit stole away the heart of Faustus,
who spake in this sort, Mephostophiles, tell me how and after what sort
God made the world, and all the creatures in them, and why man was made
after the Image of God?
The Spirit hearing this, answered, Faustus thou knowest that all this
is in vain for thee to ask, I know that thou art sorry for that thou
hast done, but it availeth thee not, for I will tear thee in thousands
of pieces, if thou change not thine opinions, and hereat he vanished
away. Whereat Faustus all sorrowful for that he had put forth such a
question, fell to weeping and to howling bitterly, not for his sins
towards God, but for that the Devil was departed from him so suddenly,
and in such a rage. And being in this perplexity, he was suddenly taken
in such an extreme cold, as if he should have frozen in the place
where he sat, in which, the greatest Devil in hell appeared unto him,
with certain of his hideous and infernal company in the most ugliest
shapes that it was possible to think upon, and traversing the chamber
round about where Faustus sat, Faustus thought to himself, now are they
come for me though my time be not come, and that because I have asked
such questions of my servant Mephostophiles: at whose cogitations, the
chiefest Devil which was his Lord, unto whom he gave his soul, that
was Lucifer, spake in this sort: Faustus, I have seen thy thoughts,
which are not as thou hast vowed unto me, by virtue of this letter,
and shewed him the Obligation that he had written with his own blood,
wherefore I am come to visit thee and to shew thee some of our hellish
pastimes, in hope that will draw and confirm thy mind a little more
stedfast unto us. Content quoth Faustus, go to, let me see what pastime
you can make. At which words, the great Devil in his likeness sat him
down by Faustus, commanding the rest of the Devils to appear in their
form, as if they were in hell: first entered Belial in form of a Bear,
with curled black hair to the ground, his ears standing upright: within
the ear was as red as blood, out of which issued flames of fire, his
teeth were a foot at least long, as white as snow, with a tail three
ells long (at the least) having two wings, one behind each arm, and
thus one after another they appeared to Faustus in form as they were
in hell. Lucifer himself sat in manner of a man, all hairy, but of a
brown colour like a Squirrel, curled, and his tail turning upwards on
his back as the Squirrels use, I think he could crack nuts too like
a Squirrel. After him came Beelzebub in curled hair of horse-flesh
colour, his head like the head of a Bull, with a mighty pair of horns,
and two long ears down to the ground, and two wings on his back, with
pricking stings like thorns: out of his wings issued flames of fire,
his tail was like a Cow. Then came Astaroth in form of a worm, going
upright on his tail; he had no feet, but a tail like a slow-worm: under
his chaps grew two short hands, and his back was coal-black, his belly
thick in the middle, and yellow like gold, having many bristles on his
back like a Hedgehog. After him came Chamagosta, being white and gray
mixed, exceeding curled and hairy: he had a head like the head of an
Ass, the tail like a Cat, and Claws like an Ox, lacking nothing of an
ell broad. Then came Anobis; this Devil had a head like a Dog, white
and black hair in shape of a Hog, saving that he had but two feet, one
under his throat, the other at his tail: he was four ells long, with
hanging ears like a Bloodhound. After him came Dythycan, he was a short
thief in form of a Pheasant, with shining feathers, and four feet: his
neck was green, his body red, and his feet black. The last was called
Brachus, with four short feet like an Hedgehog, yellow and green: the
upper side of his body was brown, and the belly like blue flames of
fire; the tail red, like the tail of a Monkey. The rest of the Devils
were in form of insensible beasts, as Swine, Harts, Bears, Wolves,
Apes, Buffs, Goats, Antelopes, Elephants, Dragons, Horses, Asses,
Lions, Cats, Snakes, Toads, and all manner of ugly odious Serpents and
Worms: yet came in such sort, that every one at his entry into the
Hall, made their reverence unto Lucifer, and so took their places,
standing in order as they came, until they had filled the whole Hall:
wherewith suddenly fell a most horrible thunder-clap, that the house
shook as though it would have fallen to the ground, upon which every
monster had a muck-fork in his hand, holding them towards Faustus as
though they would have run a tilt at him: which when Faustus perceived,
he thought upon the words of Mephostophiles, when he told him how the
souls in hell were tormented, being cast from Devil to Devil upon
muck-forks, he thought verily to have been tormented there of them
in like sort. But Lucifer perceiving his thought, spake to him, my
Faustus, how likest thou this crew of mine? Quoth Faustus, why came
you not in another manner of shape? Lucifer replied, we cannot change
our hellish form, we have shewed ourselves here, as we are there; yet
can we blind men’s eyes in such sort, that when we will we repair unto
them, as if we were men or Angels of light, although our dwelling be
in darkness. Then said Faustus, I like not so many of you together,
whereupon Lucifer commanded them to depart, except seven of the
principal, forthwith they presently vanished, which Faustus perceiving,
he was somewhat better comforted, and spake to Lucifer, where is my
servant Mephostophiles, let me see if he can do the like, whereupon
came a fierce Dragon, flying and spitting fire round about the house,
and coming towards Lucifer, made reverence, and then changed himself
to the form of a Friar, saying, Faustus, what wilt thou? Saith Faustus,
I will that thou teach me to transform myself in like sort as thou
and the rest have done: then Lucifer put forth his Paw, and gave
Faustus a book, saying hold, do what thou wilt, which he looking upon,
straightways changed himself into a Hog, then into a Worm, then into
a Dragon, and finding this for his purpose, it liked him well. Quoth
he to Lucifer, and how cometh it that all these filthy forms are in
the world? Lucifer answered, they are ordained of God as plagues unto
men, and so shalt thou be plagued (quoth he) whereupon, came Scorpions,
Wasps, Emmets, Bees, and Gnats, which fell to stinging and biting
him, and all the whole house was filled with a most horrible stinking
fog, in so much, that Faustus saw nothing, but still was tormented;
wherefore he cried for help saying, Mephostophiles my faithful servant,
where art thou, help, help, I pray thee: hereat his Spirit answered
nothing, but Lucifer himself said, ho ho ho Faustus, how likest thou
the creation of the world, and incontinent it was clear again, and the
Devils and all the filthy Cattle were vanished, only Faustus was left
alone; seeing nothing, but hearing the sweetest music that ever he
heard before, at which he was so ravished with delight, that he forgot
the fears he was in before: and it repented him that he had seen no
more of their pastime.
CHAPTER XX
_How Doctor Faustus desired to see hell, and of the manner how he was
used therein_
Doctor Faustus bethinking how his time went away, and how he had
spent eight years thereof, he meant to spend the rest to his better
contentment, intending quite to forget any such motions as might
offend the Devil any more: wherefore on a time he called his Spirit
Mephostophiles, and said unto him, bring thou hither unto me thy Lord
Lucifer, or Belial: he brought him (notwithstanding) one that was
called Beelzebub, the which asked Faustus his pleasure. Quoth Faustus,
I would know of thee if I may see hell and take a view thereof? That
thou shalt (said the Devil) and at midnight I will fetch thee. Well,
night being come, Doctor Faustus awaited very diligently for the coming
of the Devil to fetch him, and thinking that he carried all too long,
he went to the window, where he pulled open a casement, and looking
into the Element, he saw a cloud in the North more black, dark, and
obscure, than all the rest of the Sky, from whence the wind blew most
horrible right into Faustus his chamber, filled the whole house with
smoke, that Faustus was almost smothered: hereat fell an exceeding
thunder-clap, and withal came a great rugged black Bear, all curled,
and upon his back a chair of beaten gold, and spake to Faustus, saying,
sit up and away with me: and Doctor Faustus that had so long abode the
smoke, wished rather to be in hell than there, got on the Devil, and
so they went together. But mark how the Devil blinded him, and made him
believe that he carried him into hell, for he carried him into the air,
where Faustus fell into a sound sleep, as if he had sat in a warm water
or bath: at last they came to a place which burneth continually with
flashing flames of fire and brimstone, whereout issued an exceeding
mighty clap of thunder, with so horrible a noise, that Faustus awaked,
but the Devil went forth on his way and carried Faustus thereinto,
yet notwithstanding, howsoever it burnt, Doctor Faustus felt no more
heat, than as it were the glimpse of the Sun in May: there heard he
all manner of music to welcome him, but saw none playing on them; it
pleased him well, but he durst not ask, for he was forbidden it before.
To meet the Devil and the guest that came with him, came three other
ugly Devils, the which ran back again before the Bear to make them
way, against whom there came running an exceeding great Hart, which
would have thrust Faustus out of his chair, but being defended by the
other three Devils, the Hart was put to the repulse: thence going on
their way Faustus looked, and behold there was nothing but Snakes, and
all manner of venomous beasts about him, which were exceeding great,
unto the which Snakes came many Storks, and swallowed up all the whole
multitude of Snakes, that they left not one: which when Faustus saw,
he marvelled greatly: but proceeding further on their hellish voyage,
there came forth of a hollow cliff an exceeding great flying Bull, the
which with such a force hit Faustus his chair with his head and horns,
that he turned Faustus and his Bear over and over, so that the Bear
vanished away, whereat Faustus began to cry: oh, woe is me that ever I
came here: for he thought there to have been beguiled of the Devil, and
to make his end before his time appointed or conditioned of the Devil:
but shortly came unto him a monstrous Ape, bidding Faustus be of good
cheer, and said, get upon me; all the fire in hell seemed to Faustus to
have been put out, whereupon followed a monstrous thick fog, that he
saw nothing, but shortly it seemed to him to wax clear, where he saw
two great Dragons fastened to a waggon, into the which the Ape ascended
and set Faustus therein; forth flew the Dragons into an exceeding dark
cloud, where Faustus saw neither Dragon nor Chariot wherein he sat,
and such were the cries of tormented souls, with mighty thunder-claps
and flashing lightnings about his ears, that poor Faustus shook for
fear. Upon this came they to a water, stinking and filthy, thick like
mud, into the which ran the Dragons, sinking under with waggon and all;
but Faustus felt no water but as it were a small mist, saving that the
waves beat so sore upon him, that he saw nothing under and over him
but only water, in the which he lost his Dragons, Ape, and waggon;
and sinking yet deeper and deeper, he came at last as it were upon an
high Rock, where the waters parted and left him thereon: but when the
water was gone, it seemed to him he should there have ended his life,
for he saw no way but death: the Rock was as high from the bottom as
Heaven is from the earth: there sat he, seeing nor hearing any man,
and looked ever upon the Rock; at length he saw a little hole, out of
the which issued fire; thought he, how shall I now do? I am forsaken
of the Devils, and they that brought me hither, here must I either
fall to the bottom, or burn in the fire, or sit still in despair: with
that in his madness he gave a leap into the fiery hole, saying: hold
you infernal Hags, take here this sacrifice as my last end; the which
I justly have deserved: upon this he was entered, and finding himself
as yet unburned or touched of the fire, he was the better appayed,[24]
but there was so great a noise as he never heard the like before, it
passed all the thunder that ever he had heard; and coming down further
to the bottom of the Rock, he saw a fire, wherein were many worthy
and noble personages, as Emperors, Kings, Dukes, and Lords, and many
thousands more of tormented souls, at the edge of which fire ran a
most pleasant, clear, and cool water to behold, into the which many
tormented souls sprang out of the fire to cool themselves; but being
so freezing cold, they were constrained to return again into the fire,
and thus wearied themselves and spent their endless torments out of
one labyrinth into another, one while in heat, another while in cold:
but Faustus standing thus all this while gazing on them were thus
tormented, he saw one leaping out of the fire and screeching horribly,
whom he thought to have known, wherefore he would fain have spoken unto
him, but remembering that he was forbidden, he refrained speaking.
Then this Devil that brought him in, came to him again in likeness of
a Bear, with the chair on his back, and bade him sit up, for it was
time to depart: so Faustus got up, and the Devil carried him out into
the air, where he had so sweet music that he fell asleep by the way.
His boy Christopher being all this while at home, and missing his
master so long, thought his master would have tarried and dwelt with
the Devil for ever: but whilst his boy was in these cogitations, his
master came home, for the Devil brought him home fast asleep as he sat
in his chair, and so he threw him on his bed, where (being thus left
of the Devil) he lay until day. When he awaked, he was amazed, like a
man that had been in a dark dungeon; musing with himself if it were
true or false that he had seen hell, or whether he was blinded or not:
but he rather persuaded himself that he had been there than otherwise,
because he had seen such wonderful things: wherefore he most carefully
took pen and ink, and wrote those things in order as he had seen: the
which writing was afterwards found by his boy in his study; which
afterwards was published to the whole city of Wittenberg in open print,
for example to all Christians.
[Illustration]
[Footnote 24: i.e. pleased.]
CHAPTER XXI
_How Doctor Faustus was carried through the air up to the heavens to
see the world, and how the Sky and Planets ruled: after the which he
wrote one letter to his friend of the same to Liptzig, how he went
about the world in eight days_
This letter was found by a freeman and Citizen of Wittenberg, written
with his own hand, and sent to his friend at Liptzig a Physician, named
John Victor, the contents of which were as followeth.
Amongst other things (my loving friend and brother) I remember yet the
former friendship had together, when we were schoolfellows and students
in the University at Wittenberg, whereas you first studied Physic,
Astronomy, Astrology, Geometry, and Cosmography; I to the contrary
(you know) studied Divinity: notwithstanding now in any of your own
studies I am seen (I am persuaded) further then your self: for sithence
I began I have never erred, for (might I speak it without affecting
my own praise) my Calendars and other practices have not only the
commendations of the common sort, but also of the chiefest Lords and
Nobles of this our Dutch Nation: because (which is chiefly to be noted)
I write and presaged of matters to come, which all accord and fall out
so right, as if they had been already seen before. And for that (my
beloved Victori) you write to know my voyage which I made into the
Heavens, the which (as you certify me you have had some suspicion of,
although you partly persuaded yourself, that it is a thing impossible)
no matter for that, it is as it is, and let it be as it will, once it
was done, in such manner as now according unto your request I give you
here to understand.
I being once laid on my bed, and could not sleep for thinking on my
Calendar and practice, I marvelled with myself how it were possible
that the Firmament should be known and so largely written of men,
or whether they write true or false, by their own opinions, or
supposition, or by due observations and true course of the heavens.
Behold, being in these my muses, suddenly I heard a great noise, in so
much that I thought my house would have been blown down, so that all my
doors and chests flew open, whereat I was not a little astonied, for
withal I heard a groaning voice which said, get up, the desire of thy
heart, mind, and thought shalt thou see: at the which I answered, what
my heart desireth, that would I fain see, and to make proof, if I shall
see I will away with thee. Why then (quoth he) look out at thy window,
there cometh a messenger for thee, that did I, and behold, there stood
a Waggon, with two Dragons before it to draw the same, and all the
Waggon was of a light burning fire, and for that the Moon shone, I was
the willinger at that time to depart: but the voice spake again, sit up
and let us away: I will, said I, go with thee, but upon this condition,
that I may ask after all things that I see, hear, or think on: the
voice answered, I am content for this time. Hereupon I got me into the
Waggon, so that the Dragons carried me upright into the air. The Waggon
had also four wheels the which rattled so, and made such a noise as if
we had been all this while running on the stones: and round about us
flew out flames of fire, and the higher that I came, the more the earth
seemed to be darkened, so that methought I came out of a dungeon, and
looking down from Heaven, behold, Mephostophiles my Spirit and servant
was behind me, and when he perceived that I saw him, he came and sat by
me, to whom I said, I pray thee Mephostophiles whither shall I go now?
Let not that trouble thy mind, said he, and yet they carried us higher
up. And now will I tell thee good friend and schoolfellow, what things
I have seen and proved; for on the Tuesday went I out, and on Tuesday
seven-nights following I came home again, that is, eight days, in
which time I slept not, no not one wink came in mine eyes, and we went
invisible of any man: and as the day began to appear, after our first
night’s journey, I said to my Spirit Mephostophiles, I pray thee how
far have we now ridden, I am sure thou knowest: for methinks that we
are ridden exceeding far, the World seemeth so little: Mephostophiles
answered me, my Faustus believe me, that from the place from whence
thou earnest, unto this place where we are now, is already forty-seven
leagues right in height, and as the day increased, I looked down upon
the World, there saw I many kingdoms and provinces, likewise the
whole world, Asia, Europa, and Africa, I had a sight of: and being so
high, quoth I to my Spirit, tell me now how these Kingdoms lie, and
what they are called, the which he denied not, saying, see this on
our left hand is Hungaria, this is also Prussia on our left hand, and
Poland, Muscovia, Tartascelesia,[25] Bohemia, Saxony;: and here on
our right hand, Spain, Portugal, France, England, and Scotland: then
right out before us lie the Kingdoms of Persia, India, Arabia, the
King of Alchar, and the great Cham: now are we come to Wittenberg, and
are right over the town of Weim in Austria, and ere long will we be
at Constantinople, Tripolie, and Jerusalem, and after will we pierce
the frozen Zone, and shortly touch the Horizon, and the Zenith of
Wittenberg. There looked I on the Ocean Sea, and beheld a great many
of ships and Galleys ready to the battle, one against another: and
thus I spent my journey, now cast I my eyes here, now there, toward
South, North, East, and West, I have been in one place where it rained
and hailed, and in another where the Sun shone excellent fair, and so
I think that I saw the most things in and about the world, with great
admiration that in one place it rained, and in another hail and snow,
on this side the Sun shone bright, some hills covered with snow never
consuming, others were so hot that grass and trees were burned and
consumed therewith. Then looked I up to the heavens, and behold, they
went so swift, that I thought they would have sprung in thousands.
Likewise it was so clear and so hot, that I could not long gaze into
it, it so dimmed my sight: and had not my Spirit Mephostophiles covered
me as it were with a shadowing cloud, I had been burnt with the extreme
heat thereof, for the Sky the which we behold here when we look up from
the earth, is so fast and thick as a wall, clear and shining bright as
a Crystal, in the which is placed the Sun, which casteth forth his rays
or beams over the universal world, to the uttermost confines of the
earth. But we think that the Sun is very little: no, it is altogether
as big as the world. Indeed the body substantial is but little in
compass, but the rays or stream that it casteth forth, by reason of the
thing wherein it is placed, maketh him to extend and shew himself over
the whole world: and we think that the Sun runneth his course, and that
the heavens stand still: no, it is the heavens that move his course,
and the Sun abideth perpetually in his place, he is permanent, and
fixed in his place, and although we see him beginning to ascend in the
Orient or East, at the highest in the Meridian or South, setting in the
Occident or West, yet is he at the lowest in Septentrio or North, and
yet he moveth not. It is the axle of the heavens that moveth the whole
firmament, being a Chaos or confused thing, and for that proof, I will
shew thee this example, like as thou seest a bubble made of water and
soap blown forth of a quill, is in form of a confused mass or Chaos,
and being in this form, is moved at pleasure of the wind, which runneth
round about that Chaos, and moveth him also round: even so is the whole
firmament or Chaos, wherein are placed the sun, and the rest of the
Planets turned and carried at the pleasure of the Spirit of God, which
is wind. Yea Christian Reader, to the glory of God, and for the profit
of thy soul, I will open unto thee the divine opinion touching the
ruling of this confused Chaos, far more than any rude German Author,
being possessed with the Devil, was able to utter; and to prove some
of my sentence before to be true, look into Genesis unto the works of
God, at the creation of the world, there shalt thou find, that the
Spirit of God moved upon the waters before heaven and earth were made.
Mark how he made it, and how by his word every element took his place:
these were not his works, but his words; for all the words he used
before, he concluded afterwards in one work, which was in making man:
mark reader with patience for thy soul’s health, see into all that was
done by the word and work of God, light and darkness was, the firmament
stood, and their great ☉ and little light ☽ in it: the moist waters
were in one place, the earth was dry, and every element brought forth
according to the word of God: now followeth his works he made man like
his own image, how? out of the earth? The earth will shape no image
without water, there was one of the elements. But all this while where
was wind? all elements were at the word of God, man was made, and in a
form by the work of God, yet moved not that work, before God breathed
the Spirit of life into his nostrils, and made him a living soul, here
was the first wind and Spirit of God out of his own mouth, which we
have likewise from the same seed which was only planted by God in Adam,
which wind, breath, or spirit, when he had received, he was living and
moving on earth, for it was ordained of God for his habitation, but the
heavens are the habitation of the Lord: and like as I shewed before
of the bubble or confused Chaos made of water and soap, through the
wind and breath of man is turned round, and carried with every wind;
even so the firmament wherein the Sun and the rest of the Planets are
fixed, moved, turned, and carried with the wind, breath, or Spirit of
God, for the heavens and firmament are movable as the Chaos, but the
Sun is fixed in the firmament. And farther my good schoolfellow, I was
thus nigh the heavens, where methought every Planet was but as half
the earth, and under the firmament ruled the Spirits in the air, and
as I came down I looked upon the world and the heavens, and methought
that the earth was enclosed in comparison within the firmament, as the
yolk of an egg within the white, and methought that the whole length
of the earth was not a span long, and the water was as if it had been
twice as broad and long as the earth, even thus at the eight days end
came I home again, and fell asleep, and so I continued sleeping three
days and three nights together: and the first hour that I waked, I fell
fresh again to my Calendar, and have made them in right ample manner
as you know, and to satisfy your request, for that you writ unto me,
I have in consideration of our old friendship had at the University
of Wittenberg, declared unto you my heavenly voyage, wishing no worse
unto you, than unto myself, that is, that your mind were as mine in all
respects. Dixi.
Doctor Faustus the Astrologian.
[Footnote 25: Probably a corruption of Tartary and Silesia.]
CHAPTER XXII
_How Doctor Faustus made his journey through the principal and most
famous lands in the world_
[Illustration: THE RIDE PAST THE GALLOWS After P. Cornelius]
Doctor Faustus having over-run fifteen years of his appointed time, he
took upon him a journey, with full pretence to see the whole world:
and calling his spirit Mephostophiles unto him, he said: thou knowest
that thou art bound unto me upon conditions, to perform and fulfil my
desire in all things, wherefore my pretence is to visit the whole face
of the earth visible and invisible when it pleaseth me: wherefore, I
enjoin and command thee to the same. Whereupon Mephostophiles answered,
I am ready my Lord at thy command and forthwith the Spirit changed
himself unto the likeness of a flying horse, saying, Faustus sit up, I
am ready. Doctor Faustus loftily sat upon him, and forward they went:
Faustus came through many a land and Province; as Pannonia, Austria,
Germania, Bohemia, Slesia, Saxony, Missene, During, Francklandt,
Shawblandt, Beyerlandt, Stiria, Carinthia, Poland, Litaw, Liefland,
Prussia, Denmarke, Muscovia, Tartaria, Turkie, Persia, Cathai,
Alexandria, Barbaria, Ginnie, Peru, the straits of Magelanes, India,
all about the frozen Zone, and Terra Incognita, Nova Hispaniola,
the Isles of Terzera, Mederi, S. Michael’s, the Canaries, and the
Tenorrifocie, into Spaine, the Mayne Land, Portugall, Italie, Campania,
the Kingdom of Naples, the Isles of Sicilia, Malta, Majoria, Minoria,
to the Knights of the Rhodes, Candie, or Creete, Ciprus, Corinth,
Switzerland, France, Freesland, Westphalia, Zeland, Holland, Brabant,
and all the seventeen Provinces in Netherland, England, Scotland,
Ireland, all America, and Island, the out Isles of Scotland, the
Orchades, Norway, the Bishopric of Breame, and so home again: all these
Kingdoms, Provinces, and Countries he passed in twenty-five days, in
which time he saw very little that delighted his mind: wherefore he
took a little rest at home, and burning in desire to see more at large,
and to behold the secrets of each Kingdom, he set forward again on his
journey upon his swift horse Mephostophiles, and came to Treir, for
that he chiefly desired to see this town, and the monuments thereof;
but there he saw not many wonders, except one fair Palace that belonged
unto the Bishop, and also a mighty large Castle that was built of
brick, with three walls and three great trenches, so strong, that it
was impossible for any prince’s power to win it; then he saw a Church,
wherein was buried Simeon, and the Bishop Popo: their Tombs are of
most sumptuous large Marble stone, closed and joined together with
great bars of iron: from whence he departed to Paris, where he liked
well the Academy; and what place or Kingdom soever fell in his mind,
the same he visited. He came from Paris to Mentz, where the river of
Mayne falls into the Rhine; notwithstanding he tarried not long there,
but went to Campania in the Kingdom of Neapolis, in which he saw an
innumerable sort of Cloisters, Nunneries, and Churches, great and high
houses of stone, the streets fair and large, and straight forth from
one end of the town to the other as a line, and all the pavement of the
City was of brick, and the more it rained in the town, the fairer the
streets were; there saw he the Tomb of Virgil; and the highway that he
cut through that mighty hill of stone in one night, the whole length
of an English mile: then he saw the number of Galleys, and Argosies
that lay there at the City head, the Windmill that stood in the water,
the Castle in the water, and the houses above the water where under
the Galleys might ride most safely from rain or wind; then he saw the
Castle on the hill over the town, and many monuments within: also
the hill called Vesuvius, whereon groweth all the Greekish wine, and
most pleasant sweet Olives. From thence he came to Venice, whereat he
wondered not a little to see a City so famously built standing in the
Sea: where, through every street the water ran in such largeness, that
great Ships and Barks might pass from one street to another, having
yet a way on both sides the water, whereon men and horse might pass;
he marvelled also how it was possible for so much victual to be found
in the town and so good cheap, considering that for a whole league off
nothing grew near the same. He wondered not a little at the fairness of
Saint Mark’s place, and the sumptuous Church standing therein called
Saint Mark’s; how all the pavement was set with coloured stones, and
all the rood or loft of the Church double gilded over. Leaving this,
he came to Padoa, beholding the manner of their Academy, which is
called the mother or nurse of Christendom, there he heard the Doctors,
and saw the most monuments in the town, entered his name into the
University of the German nation, and wrote himself Doctor Faustus the
insatiable Speculator: then saw he the worthiest monument in the world
for a Church, named S. Anthony’s Cloister, which for the pinnacles
thereof and the contriving of the Church, hath not the like in
Christendom. This town is fenced about with three mighty walls of stone
and earth, betwixt the which runneth goodly ditches of water: twice
every twenty-four hours passeth boats betwixt Padoa and Venice with
passengers, as they do here betwixt London and Gravesend, and even so
far they differ in distance: Faustus beheld likewise the Council house
and the Castle with no small wonder. Well, forward he went to Rome,
which lay, and doth yet lie, on the river Tybris, the which divideth
the City in two parts: over the river are four great stone bridges, and
upon the one bridge called Ponte S. Angelo is the Castle of S. Angelo,
wherein are so many great cast pieces as there are days in a year, and
such Pieces that will shoot seven bullets off with one fire, to this
Castle cometh a privy vault from the Church and Palace of Saint Peter,
through the which the Pope (if any danger be) passeth from his Palace
to the Castle for safeguard; the City hath eleven gates, and a hill
called Vaticinium,[26] whereon S. Peter’s Church is built: in that
Church the holy Fathers will hear no confession, without the penitent
bring money in his hand. Adjoining to this Church, is the Campo Santo,
the which Carolus Magnus built, where every day thirteen Pilgrims have
their dinners served of the best: that is to say, Christ and his Twelve
Apostles. Hard by this he visited the Church-yard of S. Peter’s, where
he saw the Pyramid that Julius Cæsar brought out of Africa: it stood
in Faustus his time leaning against the Church wall of Saint Peter’s,
but now Papa Sixtus hath erected it in the middle of S. Peter’s Church
yard; it is twenty-four fathoms long and at the lower end six fathoms
four square, and so forth smaller upwards, on the top is a Crucifix
of beaten gold, the stone standeth on four Lions of brass. Then he
visited the seven Churches of Rome, that were S. Peter’s, S. Paul’s,
S. Sebastian’s, S. John Lateran, S. Laurence, S. Mary Magdalen, and S.
Marie Majora: then went he without the town, where he saw the conduits
of water that run level through hill and dale, bringing water into
the town fifteen Italian miles off: other monuments he saw, too many
to recite, but amongst the rest he was desirous to see the Pope’s
Palace, and his manner of service at his table, wherefore he and his
Spirit made themselves invisible, and came into the Pope’s Court, and
privy chamber where he was, there saw he many servants attendant on
his holiness, with many a flattering Sycophant carrying of his meat,
and there he marked the Pope and the manner of his service, which he
seeing to be so unmeasurable and sumptuous; fie (quoth Faustus), why
had not the Devil made a Pope of me? Faustus saw notwithstanding in
that place those that were like to himself, proud, stout, wilful,
gluttons, drunkards, whoremongers, breakers of wedlock, and followers
of all manner of ungodly exercises: wherefore he said to his Spirit,
I thought that I had been alone a hog, or pork of the devil’s, but
he must bear with me yet a little longer, for these hogs of Rome are
already fattened, and fitted to make his roast-meat, the Devil might
do well now to spit them all and have them to the fire, and let him
summon the Nuns to turn the spits: for as none must confess the Nun
but the Friar, so none should turn the roasting Friar but the Nun.
Thus continued Faustus three days in the Pope’s Palace, and yet had
no lust to his meat, but stood still in the Pope’s chamber, and saw
everything whatsoever it was: on a time the Pope would have a feast
prepared for the Cardinal of Pavia, and for his first welcome the
Cardinal was bidden to dinner: and as he sat at meat, the Pope would
ever be blessing and crossing over his mouth; Faustus could suffer it
no longer, but up with his fist and smote the Pope on the face, and
withal he laughed that the whole house might hear him, yet none of them
saw him nor knew where he was: the Pope persuaded his company that
it was a damned soul, commanding a Mass presently to be said for his
delivery out of Purgatory, which was done: the Pope sat still at meat,
but when the latter mess came in to the Pope’s board, Doctor Faustus
laid hands thereon saying; this is mine: and so he took both dish and
meat and fled unto the Capitol or Campadolia, calling his Spirit unto
him and said: come let us be merry, for thou must fetch me some wine,
and the cup that the Pope drinks of, and hereupon Monte Caval will we
make good cheer in spite of the Pope and all his fat abbey lubbers.
His Spirit hearing this, departed towards the Pope’s chamber, where
he found them yet sitting and quaffing: wherefore he took from before
the Pope the fairest piece of plate or drinking goblet, and a flagon
of wine, and brought it to Faustus; but when the Pope and the rest of
his crew perceived they were robbed, and knew not after what sort,
they persuaded themselves that it was the damned soul that before had
vexed the Pope so, and that smote him on the face, wherefore he sent
commandment through all the whole City of Rome, that they should say
Mass in every Church, and ring all the bells for to lay the walking
Spirit, and to curse him with Bell, Book, and Candle, that so invisibly
had misused the Pope’s holiness, with the Cardinal of Pavia, and the
rest of their company: but Faustus notwithstanding made good cheer with
that which he had beguiled the Pope of, and in the midst of the order
of Saint Barnard’s bare-footed Friars, as they were going on Procession
through the market place, called Campa de fiore, he let fall his plate
dishes and cup, and withal for a farewell he made such a thunder-clap
and a storm of rain, as though Heaven and earth should have met
together, and so he left Rome, and came to Millain in Italie, near the
Alps or borders of Switzerland, where he praised much to his Spirit the
pleasantness of the place, the City being founded in so brave a plain,
by the which ran most pleasant rivers on every side of the same, having
besides within the compass or circuit of seven miles, seven small Seas:
he saw also therein many fair Palaces and goodly buildings, the Duke’s
Palace, and the mighty strong Castle, which is in manner half the
bigness of the town. Moreover, it liked him well to see the Hospital of
Saint Mary’s, with divers other things. He did nothing there worthy of
memory, but he departed back again towards Bolognia, and from thence
to Florence, where he was well pleased to see the pleasant walk of
Merchants, the goodly vaults of the City, for that almost the whole
City is vaulted, and the houses themselves are built outwardly, in
such sort that the people may go under them as under a vault: then he
perused the sumptuous Church in the Duke’s Castle called Nostra Donna,
our Lady’s Church, in which he saw many monuments, as a Marble door
most huge to look upon: the gate of the Castle was Bell metal, wherein
are graven the holy Patriarchs, with Christ and his twelve Apostles,
and divers other histories out of the old and new Testament. Then went
he to Sena, where he highly praised the church and Hospital of Santa
Maria Formosa, with the goodly buildings, and especially the fairness
and greatness of the City, and beautiful women. Then came he to Lyons
in France, where he marked the situation of the City, which lay between
two hills, environed with two waters: one worthy monument in the City
pleased him well, that was the great Church with the Image therein; he
commended the City highly for the great resort that it had unto it of
strangers. From thence he went to Cullin, which lieth upon the River
of Rhine, wherein he saw one of the ancientest monuments of the world,
the which was the Tomb of the three Kings that came by the Angel of
God, and their knowledge they had in the star, to worship Christ: which
when Faustus saw, he spake in this manner. Ah, alas good men how have
you erred and lost your way, you should have gone to Palestina and
Bethelem in Judea, how came you hither? or belike after your death you
were thrown into Mare Mediterraneum about Tripolis in Syria; and so
you fleeted out of the Straits of Giblaterra into the Ocean Sea, and
so into the bay of Portugal; and not finding any rest you were driven
along the coast of Galicia, Biskay, and France, and into the narrow
Seas, then from thence into Mare Germanicum, and so I think taken up
about the town of Dort in Holland, you were brought to Cullin to be
buried: or else I think you came more easily with a whirlwind over the
Alps, and being thrown into the River of Rhine, it conveyed you to this
place, where you are kept as a monument? There saw he the Church of S.
Ursula, where remains a monument of the thousand Virgins: it pleased
him also to see the beauty of the women. Not far from Cullin lieth the
town of Ach, where he saw the gorgeous Temple that the Emperor Carolus
Quartus[27] built of Marble stone for a remembrance of him, to the
end that all his successors should there be crowned. From Cullin and
Ach, he went to Geuf, a City in Savoy, lying near Switzerland: it is a
town of great traffic, the Lord thereof is a Bishop, whose Wine-cellar
Faustus, and his Spirit visited for the love of his good wine. From
thence he went to Strasburg, where he beheld the fairest steeple that
ever he had seen in his life before, for on each side thereof he might
see through it, even from the covering of the Minster to the top of the
Pinnacle, and it is named one of the wonders of the world: wherefore he
demanded why it was called Strasburg: his Spirit answered, because it
hath so many high ways coming to it on every side, for Stras in Dutch
is a high way, and hereof came the name, yea (said Mephostophiles) the
Church which thou so wonderest at, hath more revenues belonging to it,
then the twelve Dukes of Slesia are worth, for there pertain unto this
Church fifty-five Towns, and four hundred and sixty-three Villages
besides many houses in the Town. From hence went Faustus to Basile
in Switzerland, whereat the River of Rhine runneth through the town,
parting the same as the River of Thames doth London: in this town of
Basile he saw many rich Monuments, the town walled with brick, and
round about without it goeth a great trench: no Church pleased him but
the Jesuits’ Church, which was so sumptuously builded, and beset full
of Alabaster pillars. Faustus demanded of his Spirit, how it took the
name of Basyl: his Spirit made answer and said, that before this City
was founded, there used a Basiliscus, a kind of Serpent, this Serpent
killed as many men, women, and children, as it took a sight of: but
there was a Knight that made himself a cover of Crystal to come over
his head, and so down to the ground, and being first covered with a
black cloth, over that he put the Crystal, and so boldly went to see
the Basiliscus, and finding the place where he haunted, he expected
his coming, even before the mouth of her cave: where standing a while,
the Basylike came forth, who, when she saw her own venomous shadow in
the Crystal, she split in a thousand pieces; wherefore the Knight was
richly rewarded of the Emperor: after the which the Knight founded this
Town upon the place where he had slain the Serpent, and gave it the
name of Basyl, in remembrance of his deed.
[Illustration: THE SEVEN CHIEF CHURCHES OF ROME Second Half of the 16th
Century]
From Basyl Faustus went to Costuitz[28] in Sweitz, at the head of the
Rhine, where is a most sumptuous Bridge, that goeth over the Rhine,
even from the gates of the Town unto the other side of the stream: at
the head of the River of Rhine, is a small Sea, called of the Switzers
the black[29] Sea, twenty thousand paces long, and fifty hundred paces
broad. The town Costuitz took the name of this; the Emperor gave it to
a Clown for expounding of his riddle, wherefore the Clown named the
Town Costuitz, that is in English, cost nothing. From Costuitz he came
to Ulme, where he saw the sumptuous Town-house built by two and fifty
of the ancient Senators of the City, it took the name of Ulma, for
that the whole lands thereabout are full of Elms: but Faustus minding
to depart from thence, his Spirit said unto him: Faustus think on the
town as thou wilt, it hath three Dukedoms belonging to it, the which
they have bought with ready money. From Ulme, he came to Wartzburg
the chiefest town in Frankelandt, wherein the Bishop all together
keepeth his Court, through the which Town passeth the River of Mayne
that runs into the Rhine: thereabout groweth strong and pleasant wine,
the which Faustus well proved. The Castle standeth on a hill on the
North side of the Town, at the foot whereof runneth the River: this
Town is full of beggarly Friars, Nuns, Priests, and Jesuits: for there
are five sorts of begging Friars, besides three Cloisters of Nuns.
At the foot of the Castle stands a Church, in the which there is an
Altar, where are engraven all the four Elements, and all the orders
and degrees in Heaven, that any man of understanding whosoever that
hath a sight thereof, will say that it is the artificiallest thing
that ever he beheld. From thence he went to Norenberg, whither as he
went by the way, his Spirit informed him that the Town was named of
Claudius Tiberius the Son of Nero the Tyrant. In the Town are two
famous Cathedral Churches, the one called Saint Sabolt, the other
Saint Laurence; in which Church hangeth all the reliques of Carolus
Magnus, that is his cloak, his hose and doublet, his sword and Crown,
his Sceptre, and his Apple. It hath a very gorgeous gilden Conduit
in the market of Saint Laurence, in which Conduit, is the spear that
thrust our Saviour into the side, and a piece of the holy Cross; the
wall is called the fair wall of Norenberg, and hath five hundred and
twenty-eight streets, one hundred and sixty wells, four great, and
two small clocks, six great gates, and two small doors, eleven stone
bridges, twelve small hills, ten appointed market-places, thirteen
common hothouses,[30] ten Churches, within the Town are thirty wheels
of water-mills; it hath one hundred and thirty-two tall ships,[31] two
mighty Town walls of hewn stone and earth, with very deep trenches.
The walls have one hundred and eighty Towers about them, and four
fair platforms, ten Apothecaries, ten Doctors of the common law,
fourteen Doctors of Physic. From Norenberg, he went to Auspurg, where
at the break of the day, he demanded of his Spirit whereupon the
Town took his name: this Town (saith he) hath had many names, when
it was first built, it was called Vindelica: secondly, it was called
Zizaria, the iron bridge: lastly by the Emperor Octavius Augustus,
it was called Augusta, and by corruption of language the Germans
have named it Auspurg. Now for because that Faustus had been there
before, he departed without visiting their monuments to Ravenspurg,
where his Spirit certified him that the City had had seven names,
the first Tyberia, the second Quadratis, the third Hyaspalis, the
fourth Reginopolis, the fifth Imbripolis, the sixth Ratisbona, lastly
Ravenspurg. The situation of the City pleased Faustus well, also the
strong and sumptuous buildings: by the walls thereof runneth the River
of Danubia, in Dutch called Donow, into the which not far from the
compass of the City, falleth nearhand threescore other small Rivers and
fresh waters. Faustus also liked the sumptuous stone bridge over the
same water, with the Church standing thereon, the which was founded
1115, the name whereof is called S. Remedian: in this town Faustus went
into the cellar of an Innholder, and let out all the Wine and Beer that
was in his Cellar. After the which feat he returned unto Mentz[32] in
Bavaria, a right princely Town, the Town appeared as if it were new,
with great streets therein, both of breadth and length: from Mentz to
Saltzburg, where the Bishop is always resident: here saw he all the
commodities that were possible to be seen, for at the hill he saw the
form of Abel[33] made in Crystal, an huge thing to look upon, that
every year groweth bigger and bigger, by reason of the freezing cold.
From hence, he went to Vienna, in Austria: this Town is of so great
antiquity, that it is not possible to find the like: in this Town (said
the Spirit) is more Wine than water, for all under the Town are wells,
the which are filled every year with Wine, and all the water that they
have, runneth by the Town, that is the River Danubia. From hence, he
went unto Prage, the chief City in Bohemia, this is divided into three
parts, that is, old Prage, new Prage, and little Prage. Little Prage is
the place where the Emperor’s Court is placed upon an exceeding high
mountain: there is a Castle, wherein are two fair Churches, in the one
he found a monument, which might well have been a mirror to himself,
and that was the Sepulchre of a notable Conjurer, which by his Magic
had so enchanted his Sepulchre, that whosoever set foot thereon, should
be sure never to die in their beds. From the Castle he came down, and
went over the Bridge. This Bridge hath twenty and four Arches. In
the middle of this Bridge stands a very fair monument, being a Cross
builded of stone, and most artificially carved. From thence, he came
into the old Prage, the which is separated from the new Prage, with an
exceeding deep ditch, and round about enclosed with a wall of Brick.
Unto this is adjoining the Jews’ Town, wherein are thirteen thousand
men, women, and children, all Jews. There he viewed the College and the
Garden, where all manner of savage Beasts are kept; and from thence,
he fetched a compass round about the three Towns, whereat he wondered
greatly, to see so mighty a City to stand all within the walls. From
Prage, he flew into the air and bethought himself what he might do, or
which way to take, so he looked round about, and behold, he had espied
a passing fair City which lay not far from Prage, about some four and
twenty miles, and that was Breslaw in Sclesia; into which when he was
entered, it seemed to him that he had been in Paradise, so neat and
clean was the streets, and so sumptuous was their buildings. In this
City he saw not many wonders, except the Brazen Virgin that standeth
on a Bridge over the water, and under the which standeth a mill
like a powder mill, which Virgin is made to do execution upon those
disobedient town-born children that be so wild, that their parents
cannot bridle them; which when any such are found with some heinous
offence, turning to the shame of their parents and kindred, they are
brought to kiss this Virgin, which openeth her arms, the person then
to be executed, kisseth her, then doth she close her arms together
with such violence, that she crusheth out the breath of the person,
breaketh his bulk, and so dieth: but being dead, she openeth her arms
again, and letteth the party fall into the Mill, where he is stamped
in small morsels, which the water carrieth away, so that not any part
of him is found again. From Breslaw he went toward Cracovia, in the
Kingdom of Polonia, where he beheld the Academy, the which pleased him
wonderful well. In this City the King most commonly holdeth his Court
at a Castle, in which Castle are many famous monuments. There is a
most sumptuous Church in the same, in which standeth a silver altar
gilded, and set with rich stones, and over it is a conveyance full
of all manner silver ornaments belonging to the Mass. In the Church
hangeth the jaw bones of an huge Dragon that kept the Rock before the
Castle was edified thereon. It is full of all manner munition, and
hath always victual for three years to serve two thousand men. Through
the Town runneth a river called the Vistula or Wissel, where over is a
fair wooden bridge. This water divideth the Town and Casmere, in this
Casmere dwelleth the Jews being a small walled Town by themselves, to
the number of twenty-five thousand men, women, and children. Within one
mile of the Town there is a salt mine, where they find stones of pure
salt of a thousand pound, or nine hundred pound, or more in weight,
and that in great quantity. This salt is as black as the Newcastle
coals when it comes out of the mines, but being beaten to powder, it
is as white as snow. The like they have four mile from thence, at a
Town called Buchnia. From thence, Faustus went to Sandetz, the Captain
thereof was called Don Spiket Iordan, in this Town are many monuments,
as the tomb or sepulchre of Christ, in as ample manner as that is at
Jerusalem, at the proper costs of a Gentleman that went thrice to
Jerusalem from that place, and returned again. Not far from that Town
is a new Town, wherein is a Nunnery of the order of Saint Dioclesian,
into which order may none come, except they be Gentlewomen, and well
formed and fair to look upon, the which pleased Faustus well: but
having a desire to travel farther, and to see more wonders, mounting
up towards the East over many lands and Provinces, as into Hungaria,
Transilvania, Shede, Ingratz, Sardinia, and so into Constantinople,
where the Turkish Emperor kept his Court. This City was surnamed by
Constantine the founder thereof, being builded of very fair stone. In
the same the great Turk hath three fair Palaces, the walls are strong,
the pinnacles are very huge, and the streets large: but this liked
not Faustus, that one man might have so many wives as he would. The
Sea runneth hard by the City, the wall hath eleven Gates: Faustus
abode there a certain time to see the manner of the Turkish Emperor’s
service at his table, where he saw his royal service to be such, that
he thought if all the Christian Princes should banquet together,
and everyone adorn the feast to the uttermost, they were not able
to compare with the Turk for his table, and the rest of his Country
service, wherefore it so spited Faustus, that he vowed to be revenged
of him, for his pomp he thought was more fit for himself: wherefore as
the Turk sat and ate, Faustus shewed him a little apish play: for round
about the privy Chamber, he sent forth flashing flames of fire, in so
much, that the whole company forsook their meat and fled, except only
the great Turk himself, him Faustus had charmed in such sort, that he
could neither rise nor fall, neither could any man pull him up. With
this was the Hall so light, as if the Sun had shined in the house, then
came Faustus in form of a Pope to the great Turk, saying, all hail,
Emperor, now art thou honoured that I so worthily appear unto thee as
thy Mahumet was wont to do, hereupon he vanished, and forthwith it so
thundered, that the whole Palace shook: the Turk greatly marvelled what
this should be that so vexed him, and was persuaded by his chiefest
counsellors, that it was Mahumet his Prophet, the which had so appeared
unto them, whereupon the Turk commanded them to fall down on their
knees, and to give him thanks for doing them so great honour, as to
shew himself unto them; but the next day Faustus went into the Castle
where he kept his Wives and Concubines, in the which Castle might no
man upon pain of death come, except those that were appointed by the
great Turk to do them service, and they were all gelded. Which when
Faustus perceived, he said to his Spirit Mephostophiles, how likest
thou this sport, are not these fair Ladies greatly to be pitied,
that thus consume their youth at the pleasure of one only man? Why
(quoth the Spirit) mayest not thou instead of the Emperor, embrace
his fairest Ladies, do what thy heart desireth herein, and I will aid
thee, and what thou wishest, thou shalt have it performed: wherefore
Faustus (being before this counsel apt enough to put such matters in
practice) caused a great fog to be round about the Castle, both within
and without, and he himself appeared amongst the Ladies in all things
as they use to paint their Mahumet, at which sight, the Ladies fell
on their knees, and worshipped him, then Faustus took the fairest
by the hand, and led her into a chamber, where after his manner he
fell to dalliance, and thus he continued a whole day and night: and
when he had delighted himself sufficiently with her, he put her away,
and made his Spirit bring him another, so likewise he kept with her
twenty-four hours’ play, causing his Spirit to fetch him most dainty
fare, and so he passed away six days, having each day his pleasure of
a sundry Lady, and that of the fairest, all which time, the fog was so
thick, and so stinking, that they within the house thought they had
been in hell, for the time, and they without wondered thereat, in such
sort, that they went to their prayers calling on their God Mahumet,
and worshipping of his Image. Wherefore the sixth day Faustus exalted
himself in the air, like to a Pope, in the sight of the great Turk
and his people, and he had no sooner departed the Castle, but the
fog vanished away, whence presently the Turk sent for his Wives and
Concubines, demanding of them if they knew the cause why the Castle
was beset with a mist so long? they said, that it was the God Mahumet
himself that caused it, and how he was in the Castle personally full
six days, and for more certainty, he hath lain with six of us these
six nights one after another. Wherefore the Turk hearing this fell on
his knees, and gave Mahumet thanks, desiring him to forgive him for
being offended with his visiting his Castle and wives those six days:
but the Turk commanded that those whom Mahumet had lain by, should be
most carefully looked unto, persuading himself (and so did the whole
people that knew of it) that out of their Mahumet should be raised a
mighty generation, but first he demanded of the six Ladies if Mahumet
had had actual copulation with them, according as earthly men have, yea
my Lord, quoth one, as if you had been there yourself, you could not
have mended it, for he lay with us stark naked, kissed and colled[34]
us, and so delighted me, that for my part, I would he came two or three
times a week to serve me in such sort again. From hence, Faustus went
to Alkar, the which before time was called Chairam, or Memphis, in this
City the Egyptian Soldan holdeth his Court. From hence the river Nilus
hath his first head and spring, it is the greatest fresh-water river
that is in the whole world, and always when the Sun is in Cancer, it
overfloweth the whole land of Egypt: then he returned again towards
the North-east, and to the Town of Ofen and Sabatz in Hungaria. This
Ofen is the chiefest City in Hungaria, and standeth in a fertile soil,
wherein groweth most excellent wine, and not far from the Town there
is a well, called Zipzar, the water whereof changeth iron into Copper:
here are mines of gold and silver, and all manner of metal, we Germans
call this town Ofen[35], but in the Hungarian speech it is Start. In
the town standeth a very fair Castle, and very well fortified. From
hence he went to Austria, and through Slesia into Saxony, unto the
Towns of Magdeburg and Liptzig, and Lubeck. Magdeburg is a Bishopric:
in this City is one of the pitchers wherein Christ changed the water
into wine at Cana in Galile. At Liptzig nothing pleased Faustus so well
as the great vessel in the Castle made of wood, the which is bound
about with twenty-four iron hoops, and every hoop weigheth two hundred
pound weight, they must go upon a ladder of thirty steps high before
they can look into it: he saw also the new church-yard, where it is
walled, and standeth upon a fair plain, the yard is two hundred paces
long, and round about in the inside of the wall, are goodly places
separated one from each other to see sepulchres in, which in the middle
of the yard standeth very sumptuous: therein standeth a pulpit of white
work and gold. From hence he came to Lubeck and Hamburg, where he made
no abode, but away again to Erfort in Duringen, where he visited the
Freskold, and from Erfort he went home to Wittenberg, when he had seen
and visited many a strange place, being from home one year and a half,
in which time he wrought more wonders than are here declared.
[Footnote 26: A mistake for _Vaticanum_.]
[Footnote 27: This should be Carolus Magnus.]
[Footnote 28: i.e. Constance, which, however, is not in Switzerland.]
[Footnote 29: A mistranslation of the German _Bodensee_.]
[Footnote 30: i.e. hot baths.]
[Footnote 31: Probably a mistranslation of a German word ending in
_-schaft_.]
[Footnote 32: A mistake for Menchen (Munich).]
[Footnote 33: Perhaps “a bell.”]
[Footnote 34: Embraced.]
[Footnote 35: This is Buda. The statement that the Hungarians call
the town “Start” springs from a misunderstanding of his source by the
author of the _German Faust Book_.]
CHAPTER XXIII
_How Faustus had a sight of Paradise_
After this, Doctor Faustus set forth again, visited these countries of
Spain, Portugal, France, England, Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, Poland,
Muscovy, India, Cataia, Africa, Persia, and lastly into Barbaria
amongst the Blackamoors, and in all his wandering he was desirous
to visit the ancient monuments and mighty hills, amongst the rest
beholding the high hill called the Treno Riefe, was desirous to rest
upon it: from thence he went into the Isle of Brittany, wherein he was
greatly delighted to see the fair water and warm Baths, the divers
sorts of metal, with many precious stones, and divers other commodities
the which Faustus brought thence with him, he was also at the Orchades
behind Scotland, where he saw the tree that bringeth forth fruit,
that when it is ripe, openeth and falleth into the water, whereof
engendereth a certain kind of Fowl or Bird: these Islands are in number
twenty-three but ten of them are not habitable, the other thirteen
are inhabited: from hence, he went to the hill of Caucasus, which is
the highest in all that Tropic, it lieth near the borders of Scythia,
hereon Faustus stood and beheld many lands and Kingdoms. Faustus being
on such an high hill, thought to look over all the world and beyond,
for he meant to see Paradise, but he durst not commune with his Spirit
thereof: and being on the hill of Caucasus, he saw the whole land of
India and Scythia, and towards the East as he looked he saw a mighty
clear strike of fire coming from heaven upon the earth, even as it had
been one of the beams of the Sun, he saw in the valley four mighty
waters springing, one had his course towards India, the second towards
Egypt, the third and fourth towards Armenia. When he saw these, he
would needs know of his Spirit what waters they were, and from whence
they came. His Spirit gave him gently an answer, saying; it is Paradise
that lieth so far in the East, the garden that God himself hath planted
with all manner of pleasure, and the fiery stream that thou seest, is
the walls or defence of the garden, but that clear light that thou
seest so far off, is the Angel that hath the custody thereof, with a
fiery sword: and although that thou thinkest thyself to be hard by,
thou hast yet farther thither from hence, than thou hast ever been: the
water that thou seest divided in four parts, is the water that issueth
out of the Well in the middle of Paradise. The first is called Ganges
or Phison, the second, Gihon or Nilus, the third Tigris, and the fourth
Euphrates, also thou seest that he standeth under Libra and Aries right
up towards the Zenith, and upon this fiery wall standeth the Angel
Michael with his flaming sword to keep the tree of life the which he
hath in charge; but the Spirit said unto Faustus, neither thou, nor I,
nor any after us, yea all men whosoever are denied to visit it, or to
come any nearer than we be.
CHAPTER XXIV
_Of a certain Comet that appeared in Germanie, and how Doctor Faustus
was desired by certain friends of his to know the meaning thereof_
In Germanie over the Town of S. Eizleben was seen a mighty great
Comet, whereat the people wondered; but Doctor Faustus being there,
was asked of certain of his friends his judgment or opinion in the
matter. Whereupon he answered, it falleth out often by the course and
change of the Sun and Moon, that the Sun is under the earth, and the
Moon above; but when the Moon draweth near the change, then is the Sun
so strong that he taketh away all the light of the Moon, in such sort
that he is as red as blood: and to the contrary, after they have been
together, the Moon taketh her light again from him, and so increasing
in light to the full, she will be as red as the Sun was before, and
changeth herself into divers and sundry colours, of the which springeth
a prodigious monster, or as you call it, a Comet, which is a figure or
token appointed of God as a forewarning of his displeasure: as at one
time he sendeth hunger, plague, sword, or such-like: being all tokens
of his judgment: the which Comet cometh through the conjunction of the
Sun and Moon begetting a monster, whose father is the Sun, and whose
mother is the Moon, ☉ and ☽.
CHAPTER XXV
_A question put forth to Doctor Faustus, concerning the Stars_
There was a learned man of the Town of Halberstat, named N. V. W.
invited Doctor Faustus to his table, but falling into communication
before supper was ready, they looked out of the window, and seeing many
stars in the firmament, this man being a Doctor of Physic and a good
Astrologian, said: Doctor Faustus, I have invited you as my guest,
hoping that you will take it in good part with me, and withal I request
you to impart unto me some of your experience in the Stars and Planets.
And seeing a Star fall, he said: I pray you, Faustus, what is the
condition, quality, or greatness of the Stars in the firmament? Faustus
answered him: My friend and Brother, you see that the Stars that fall
from heaven when they come on the earth they be very small to our
thinking as candles, but being fixed in the firmament there are many as
great as this City, some as great as a Province or Dukedom, other as
great as the whole earth, other some far greater than the earth: for
the length and breadth of the heavens is greater than the earth twelve
times, and from the height of the heavens there is scarce any earth to
be seen, yea the Planets in the heavens are some so great as this land,
some so great as the whole Empire of Rome, some as Turkie, yea one so
great as the whole world.
CHAPTER XXVI
_How Faustus was asked a question concerning the Spirits that vex men_
That is most true (saith he to Faustus) concerning the Stars and
Planets: but I pray you in what kind or manner do the spirits use or
vex men so little by day, and so greatly by night? Doctor Faustus
answered: because the spirits are by God forbidden the light, their
dwelling is in darkness, and the clearer the Sun shineth, the further
the Spirits have their abiding from it, but in the night when it is
dark, they have their familiarity and abiding near unto us men. For
although in the night we see not the Sun, yet the brightness thereof
so lighteneth the first moving of the firmament as it doth that on
earth in the day, by which reason we are able to see the Stars and
Planets in the night, even so the rays of the Sun piercing upwards
into the firmament, the Spirits abandon the place, and so come near
us on earth in the darkness, filling our heads with heavy dreams and
fond fantasies, with screeching and crying in many deformed shapes:
as sometimes when men go forth without light, there falleth to them a
fear, that their hair standeth on end, so many start in their sleep
thinking there is a Spirit by him, gropeth or feeleth for him, going
round about the house in his sleep, and many such-like fantasies:
and all this is for because that in the night the Spirits are more
familiarly by us than we are desirous of their company, and so they
carry us, blinding us and plaguing us more than we are able to
perceive.
CHAPTER XXVII
_How Doctor Faustus was asked a question concerning the Stars that fall
from Heaven_
Doctor Faustus being demanded the cause why the Stars fell from
heaven, he answered: that is but our opinion; for if one Star fall, it
is the great judgment of God upon us, as a forewarning of some great
thing to come: for when we think that a Star falleth, it is but as a
spark that issueth from a candle or a flame of fire, for if it were a
substantial thing, we should not so soon lose the sight of them as we
do. And likewise, if so be that we see as it were a stream of fire fall
from the firmament, as oft it happeneth, yet are they no Stars, but
as it were a flame of fire vanishing, but the Stars are substantial,
therefore are they firm and not falling: if there fall any, it is a
sign of some great matter to come, as a scourge to a people or country,
and then such Star falling, the gates of heaven are opened, and the
clouds send forth floods, or other plagues, to the damage of the whole
land and people.
CHAPTER XXVIII
_How Faustus was asked a question as concerning thunder_
In the month of August, there was over Wittenberg a mighty great
lightning and thunder, and as Doctor Faustus was jesting merrily in
the market place with certain of his friends and companions being
Physicians, they desired him to tell them the cause of that weather.
Faustus answered: it hath been commonly seen heretofore, that before
a thunder-clap fell a shower of rain or a gale of wind, for commonly
after a wind followeth a rain, and after a rain a thunder-clap: such
things come to pass when the four winds meet together in the heavens,
the airy clouds are by force beaten against the fixed crystalline
firmament, but when the airy clouds meet with the firmament, they are
congealed, and so strike and rush against the firmament, as great
pieces of ice when they meet on the water, the echo thereof soundeth in
our ears, and that we call thunder, which indeed is none other than you
have heard.
=The third and last part of Doctor Faustus his
merry conceits, shewing after what sort he
practised Necromancy in the Courts of
great Princes, and lastly of his
fearful and pitiful end=
CHAPTER XXIX
_How the Emperor Carolus Quintus requested of Faustus to see some of
his cunning, whereunto he agreed._
The Emperor Carolus the fifth of that name was personally with the rest
of his Nobles and gentlemen at the Town of Innsbruck where he kept
his Court, unto the which also Doctor Faustus resorted, and being
there well known of divers Nobles and gentlemen, he was invited into
the Court to meat, even in the presence of the Emperor: whom when the
Emperor saw, he looked earnestly on him, thinking him by his looks to
be some wonderful fellow, wherefore he asked one of his Nobles whom he
should be: who answered that he was called Doctor Faustus. Whereupon
the Emperor held his peace until he had taken his repast, after which
he called unto him Faustus, into the privy chamber, whither being come,
he said unto him: Faustus, I have heard much of thee, that thou art
excellent in the black Art, and none like thee in mine Empire, for men
say that thou hast a familiar Spirit with thee and that thou canst do
what thou list: it is therefore (saith the Emperor) my request of thee
that thou let me see a proof of thine experience, and I vow unto thee
by the honour of mine Imperial Crown, none evil shall happen unto thee
for so doing. Hereupon Doctor Faustus answered his Majesty, that upon
those conditions he was ready in anything that he could, to do his
Highness’ commandment in what service he would appoint him. Well, then
hear what I say (quoth the Emperor). Being once solitary in my house, I
called to mind mine elders and ancestors, how it was possible for them
to attain unto so great a degree of authority, yea so high, that we the
successors of that line are never able to come near. As, for example,
the great and mighty monarch of the world, Alexander Magnus, was such
a lantern and spectacle to all his successors, as the Chronicles make
mention of so great riches, conquering, and subduing so many Kingdoms,
the which I and those that follow me (I fear) shall never be able to
attain unto: wherefore, Faustus, my hearty desire is that thou wouldst
vouchsafe to let me see that Alexander, and his Paramour, the which was
praised to be so fair, and I pray thee shew me them in such sort that I
may see their personages, shape, gesture, and apparel, as they used in
their lifetime, and that here before my face; to the end that I may say
I have my long desire fulfilled, and to praise thee to be a famous man
in thine art and experience. Doctor Faustus answered: My most excellent
Lord, I am ready to accomplish your request in all things, so far forth
as I and my Spirit are able to perform: yet your Majesty shall know,
that their dead bodies are not able substantially to be brought before
you, but such Spirits as have seen Alexander and his Paramour alive,
shall appear unto you in manner and form as they both lived in their
most flourishing time: and herewith I hope to please your Imperial
Majesty. Then Faustus went a little aside to speak to his Spirit, but
he returned again presently, saying: now, if it please your Majesty,
you shall see them, yet upon this condition that you demand no question
of them, nor speak unto them, which the Emperor agreed unto. Wherewith
Doctor Faustus opened the privy chamber door, where presently entered
the great and mighty Emperor Alexander Magnus, in all things to look
upon as if he had been alive, in proportion a strong thick-set man,
of a middle stature, black hair, and that both thick and curled head
and beard, red cheeks, and a broad face, with eyes like a Basilisk,
he had on a complete harness burnished and graven exceeding rich to
look upon; and so passing towards the Emperor Carolus, he made low
and reverent curtsy: whereat the Emperor Carolus would have stood up
to receive and greet him with the like reverence, but Faustus took
hold of him and would not permit him to do it. Shortly after Alexander
made humble reverence and went out again, and coming to the door
his Paramour met him, she coming in, she made the Emperor likewise
reverence, she was clothed in blue Velvet, wrought and embroidered with
pearl and gold, she was also excellent fair like Milk and blood mixed,
tall and slender, with a face round as an Apple, and thus she passed
certain times up and down the house, which the Emperor marking, said to
himself: now have I seen two persons, which my heart hath long wished
for to behold, and sure it cannot otherwise be, said he to himself, but
that the Spirits have changed themselves into these forms, and have
not deceived me, calling to his mind the woman that raised the Prophet
Samuel: and for that the Emperor would be the more satisfied in the
matter, he thought, I have heard say, that behind her neck she had a
great wart or wen, wherefore he took Faustus by the hand without any
words, and went to see if it were also to be seen on her or not, but
she perceiving that he came to her, bowed down her neck, where he saw a
great wart, and hereupon she vanished, leaving the Emperor and the rest
well contented.
CHAPTER XXX
_How Doctor Faustus in the sight of the Emperor conjured a pair of
Hart’s horns upon a Knight’s head that slept out of a casement_
[Illustration]
When Doctor Faustus had accomplished the Emperor’s desire in all things
as he was requested, he went forth into a gallery, and leaning over
a rail to look into the privy garden, he saw many of the Emperor’s
Courtiers walking and talking together, and casting his eyes now this
way, now that way, he espied a Knight leaning out at a window of the
great hall; who was fast asleep (for in those days it was hot) but the
person shall be nameless that slept, for that he was a Knight, although
it was done to a little disgrace of the Gentleman: it pleased Doctor
Faustus, through the help of his Spirit Mephostophiles, to firm upon
his head as he slept, a huge pair of Hart’s horns, and as the Knight
awaked thinking to pull in his head, he hit his horns against the glass
that the panes thereof flew about his ears. Think here how this good
Gentleman was vexed, for he could neither get backward nor forward:
which when the Emperor heard all the Courtiers laugh, and came forth
to see what was happened, the Emperor also when he beheld the Knight
with so fair a head, laughed heartily thereat, and was therewithal well
pleased: at last Faustus made him quit of his horns again, but the
Knight perceived how they came, _etc._[36]
[Footnote 36: There seems to be no explanation for the _etc._ here and
at the end of the following two chapters. Cf. also end of Chapter IV.]
CHAPTER XXXI
_How the above-mentioned Knight went about to be revenged of Doctor
Faustus_
Doctor Faustus took his leave of the Emperor and the rest of the
Courtiers, at whose departure they were sorry, giving him many rewards
and gifts: but being a league and a half from the City he came into a
Wood, where he beheld the Knight that he had jested with at the Court
with others in harness, mounted on fair palfreys, and running with
full charge towards Faustus, but he seeing their intent, ran towards
the bushes, and before he came amongst the bushes he returned again,
running as it were to meet them that chased him, whereupon suddenly all
the bushes were turned into horsemen, which also ran to encounter with
the Knight and his company, and coming to them, they closed the Knight
and the rest, and told them that they must pay their ransom before
they departed. Whereupon the Knight seeing himself in such distress,
besought Faustus to be good to them, which he denied not, but let them
loose, yet he so charmed them, that every one, Knight and others for
the space of a whole month did wear a pair of Goat’s horns on their
brows, and every Palfrey a pair of Ox horns on their head: and this was
their penance appointed by Faustus, _etc._
[Illustration]
CHAPTER XXXII
_How three young Dukes being together at Wittenberg to behold the
University, requested Faustus to help them at a wish to the town of
Menchen in Bavaria, there to see the Duke of Bavaria his son’s wedding_
Three worthy young Dukes, the which are not here to be named, but
being students altogether at the University of Wittenberg, met on
a time altogether, where they fell to reasoning concerning the pomp
and bravery that would be at the City of Menchen in Bavaria, at the
wedding of the Duke’s Son, wishing themselves there but one half hour,
to see the manner of their jollity: to whom one replied, saying to
the other two Gentlemen, if it please you to give me the hearing, I
will give you good counsel that we may see the wedding, and be here
again to-night, and this is my meaning; let us send to Doctor Faustus,
make him a present of some rare thing and so open our minds unto him,
desiring him to assist us in our enterprise, and assure ye he will
not deny to fulfil our request. Hereupon they all concluded, sent for
Faustus, told him their mind, and gave him a gift, and invited him to a
sumptuous banquet, wherewith Faustus was well contented, and promised
to further their journey to the uttermost. And when the time was come
that the Duke his son should be married, Doctor Faustus called unto him
the three young Gentlemen into his house, commanding them that they
should put on their best apparel, and adorn themselves as richly as
they could, he took off his own great large cloak, went into a garden
that was adjoining unto his house, and set the three young Dukes on
his cloak, and he himself sat in the midst, but he gave them in charge
that in any wise they should not once open their mouths to speak, or
make answer to any man so soon as they were out, no not so much as if
the Duke of Bavaria or his son should speak to them, or offer them
courtesy, they should give no word or answer again, to the which they
all agreed. These conditions being made, Doctor Faustus began to
conjure, and on a sudden arose a mighty wind, heaving up the cloak, and
so carried them away in the air, and in due time they came unto Menchen
to the Duke’s Court, where being entered into the outmost court, the
Marshal had espied them, who presently went to the Duke shewing his
Grace that all the Lords and gentlemen were already set at the table,
notwithstanding, there were newly come three goodly Gentlemen with one
servant, the which stood without in the court, wherefore the good old
Duke came out unto them, welcoming them, requiring what they were, and
whence: but they made no answer at all, whereat the Duke wondered,
thinking they were all four dumb; notwithstanding for his honour sake
he took them into his court, and feasted them. Faustus notwithstanding
spake to them, if any thing happen otherwise then well, when I say, sit
up, then fall you all on the cloak, and good enough: well, the water
being brought, and that they must wash, one of the three had so much
manners as to desire his friend to wash first, which when Faustus
heard, he said, sit up, and all at once they got on the cloak, but he
that spake fell off again, the other two with Doctor Faustus, were
again presently at Wittenberg, but he that remained, was taken and laid
in Prison: wherefore the other two Gentlemen were very sorrowful for
their friend, but Faustus comforted them, promising that on the morrow
he should also be at Wittenberg. Now all this while was this Duke
taken in a great fear, and stricken into an exceeding dump, wondering
with himself that his hap was so hard to be left behind, and not the
rest, and now being locked and watched with so many keepers, there was
also certain of the guests that fell to reasoning with him to know
what he was, and also what the others were that were vanished away,
but the poor prisoner thought with himself, if I open what they are,
then it will be evil also with me: wherefore all this while he gave
no man any answer, so that he was there a whole day, and gave no man
a word. Wherefore the old Duke gave in charge, that the next morning
they should rack him until he had confessed: which when the young Duke
heard, he began to sorrow and to say with himself, it may be that
to-morrow, if Doctor Faustus come not to aid me, then shall I be racked
and grievously tormented, in so much that I shall be constrained by
force to tell more than willingly I would do: but he comforted himself
with hope that his friends would entreat Doctor Faustus about his
deliverance, as also it came to pass, for before it was day, Doctor
Faustus was by him, and he conjured them that watched him into such a
heavy sleep, that he with his charms made open all the locks in the
prison, and therewithal brought the young Duke again in safety to the
rest of his fellows and friends, where they presented Faustus with a
sumptuous gift, and so they departed the one from the other, _etc._
[Illustration]
CHAPTER XXXIII
_How Doctor Faustus borrowed money of a Jew, and laid his own leg to
pawn for it_
It is a common proverb in Germanie, that although a Conjurer have all
things at commandment, the day will come that he shall not be worth a
penny: so is it like to fall out with Doctor Faustus, in promising the
Devil so largely: and as the Devil is the author of lies, even so he
led Faustus his mind, in practising of things to deceive the people
and blinding them, wherein he took his whole delight, thereby to bring
himself to riches, yet notwithstanding in the end he was never the
richer. And although that during four and twenty years of his time that
the Devil set him, he wanted nothing; yet was he best pleased when he
might deceive anybody: for out of the mightiest Potentates’ Courts in
all those Countries, he would send his Spirit to steal away their best
cheer. And on a time being in his merriment where he was banqueting
with other Students in an Inn, whereunto resorted many Jews, which when
Doctor Faustus perceived, he was minded to play some merry jest to
deceive a Jew, desiring one of them to lend him some money for a time,
the Jew was content, and lent Faustus threescore dollars for a month,
which time being expired, the Jew came for his money and interest, but
Doctor Faustus was never minded to pay the Jew again: at length the
Jew coming home to his house, and calling importunately for his money,
Doctor Faustus made him this answer: Jew, I have no money, nor know I
how to pay thee, but notwithstanding, to the end that thou mayest be
contented, I will cut off a limb of my body, be it arm or leg, and the
same shalt thou have in pawn for thy money, yet with this condition,
that when I shall pay thee thy money again, then thou also give me
my limb. The Jew that was never friend to a Christian, thought with
himself, this is a fellow right for my purpose, that will lay his limbs
to pawn for money, he was therewith very well content; wherefore Doctor
Faustus took a saw, and therewith seemed to cut off his foot (being
notwithstanding nothing so) well, he gave it to the Jew, yet upon this
condition, that when he got money to pay, the Jew should deliver him
his leg, to the end he might set it on again. The Jew was with this
matter very well pleased, took his leg and departed: and having far
home, he was somewhat weary, and by the way he thus bethought him, what
helpeth me a knave’s leg, if I should carry it home, it would stink,
and so infect my house, besides it is too hard a piece of work to set
it on again, wherefore what an ass was Faustus to lay so dear a pawn
for so small a sum of money; and for my part, quoth the Jew to himself,
this will never profit me anything, and with these words he cast the
leg away from him into a ditch. All this Doctor Faustus knew right
well, therefore within three days after he sent for the Jew to make him
payment of his sixty Dollars, the Jew came, and Doctor Faustus demanded
his pawn, there was his money ready for him: the Jew answered, the pawn
was not profitable or necessary for anything and he had cast it away:
but Faustus threateningly replied, I will have my leg again, or else
one of thine for it. The Jew fell to entreating, promising him to give
him what money he would ask, if he would not deal straightly with him,
wherefore the Jew was constrained to give him sixty Dollars more to be
rid of him, and yet Faustus had his leg on, for he had but blinded the
Jew.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER XXXIV
_How Doctor Faustus deceived an Horse-courser_
In like manner he served an Horse-courser at a fair called Pheiffring,
for Doctor Faustus through his cunning had gotten an excellent fair
Horse, whereupon he rid to the Fair, where he had many Chap-men that
offered him money: lastly, he sold him for forty Dollars, willing him
that bought him, that in any wise he should not ride him over any
water, but the Horse-courser marvelled with himself that Faustus bade
him ride him over no water (but quoth he), I will prove, and forthwith
he rid him into the river, presently the horse vanished from under him,
and he sat on a bundle of straw, in so much that the man was almost
drowned. The Horse-courser knew well where he lay that had sold him
his horse, wherefore he went angrily to his Inn, where he found Doctor
Faustus fast asleep, and snorting on a bed, but the Horse-courser could
no longer forbear him, took him by the leg and began to pull him off
the bed, but he pulled him so, that he pulled his leg from his body, in
so much that the Horse-courser fell down backwards in the place, then
began Doctor Faustus to cry with an open throat, he hath murdered me.
Hereat the Horse-courser was afraid, and gave the flight,[37] thinking
none other with himself, but that he had pulled his leg from his body;
by this means Doctor Faustus kept his money.
[Illustration]
[Footnote 37: i.e. took to flight.]
CHAPTER XXXV
_How Doctor Faustus ate a load of Hay_
Doctor Faustus being in a Town of Germanie called Zwickaw, where he
was accompanied with many Doctors and Masters, and going forth to walk
after supper, they met with a Clown[38] that drove a load of Hay. Good
even good fellow said Faustus to the Clown, what shall I give thee to
let me eat my belly full of Hay? The Clown thought with himself, what
a mad man is this to eat Hay, thought he with himself, thou wilt not
eat much, they agreed for three farthings he should eat as much as he
could: wherefore Doctor Faustus began to eat, and that so ravenously,
that all the rest of his company fell a-laughing, blinding so the poor
Clown, that he was sorry at his heart, for he seemed to have eaten more
than the half of his Hay, wherefore the Clown began to speak him fair,
for fear he should have eaten the other half also. Faustus made as
though he had had pity on the Clown, and went his way. When the Clown
came in place where he would be, he had his Hay again as he had before,
a full load.
[Footnote 38: i.e. peasant.]
CHAPTER XXXVI
_How Doctor Faustus served the twelve Students_
At Wittenberg before Faustus his house, there was a quarrel between
seven Students, and five that came to part the rest, one part
being stronger than the other. Wherefore Faustus seeing them to be
overmatched, conjured them all blind, in so much that the one could
not see the other, and yet he so dealt with them, that they fought and
smote at one another still, whereat all the beholders fell a-laughing:
and thus they continued blind, beating one another, until the people
parted them, and led each one to his own home: where being entered into
their houses, they received their sight perfectly again.
CHAPTER XXXVII
_How Faustus served the drunken Clowns_
Doctor Faustus went into an Inn, wherein were many tables full of
Clowns, the which were tippling can after can of excellent wine, and
to be short, they were all drunken, and as they sat, they so sang and
hallowed, that one could not hear a man speak for them; this angered
Doctor Faustus; wherefore he said to those that had called him in, mark
my masters, I will shew you a merry jest, the Clowns continuing still
hallowing and singing, he so conjured them, that their mouths stood as
wide open as it was possible for them to hold them, and never a one of
them was able to close his mouth again: by and by the noise was gone,
the Clowns notwithstanding looked earnestly one upon another, and wist
not what was happened; wherefore one by one they went out, and so soon
as they came without, they were as well as ever they were: but none of
them desired to go in any more.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
_How Doctor Faustus sold five Swine for six Dollars apiece_
[Illustration]
Doctor Faustus began another jest, he made him ready five fat Swine,
the which he sold to one for six Dollars a piece, upon this condition,
that the Swine-driver should not drive them into the water. Doctor
Faustus went home again, and as the Swine had defiled themselves in
the mud, the Swine-driver drove them into a water, where presently
they were changed into so many bundles of straw swimming upright in the
water: the boor looked wishly about him, and was sorry in his heart,
but he knew not where to find Faustus, so he was content to let all go,
and to lose both money and Hogs.
CHAPTER XXXIX
_How Doctor Faustus played a merry jest with the Duke of Anholt in his
Court_
Doctor Faustus on a time came to the Duke of Anholt, the which welcomed
him very courteously, this was in the month of January, where sitting
at the table, he perceived the Duchess to be with child, and forbearing
himself until the meat was taken from the table, and that they brought
in the banqueting dishes, said Doctor Faustus to the Duchess, Gracious
Lady, I have always heard, that the great-bellied women do always
long for some dainties, I beseech therefore your Grace hide not your
mind from me, but tell me what you desire to eat, she answered him,
Doctor Faustus now truly I will not hide from you what my heart doth
most desire, namely, that if it were now Harvest, I would eat my belly
full of ripe Grapes, and other dainty fruit. Doctor Faustus answered
hereupon, Gracious Lady, this is a small thing for me to do, for I can
do more than this, wherefore he took a plate, and made open one of
the casements of the window, holding it forth, where incontinent he
had his dish full of all manner of fruits, as red and white Grapes,
Pears, and Apples, the which came from out of strange Countries, all
these he presented the Duchess, saying: Madame, I pray you vouchsafe
to taste of this dainty fruit, the which came from a far Country, for
there the Summer is not yet ended. The Duchess thanked Faustus highly,
and she fell to her fruit with full appetite. The Duke of Anholt
notwithstanding could not withhold to ask Faustus with what reason
there were such young fruit to be had at that time of the year? Doctor
Faustus told him, may it please your Grace to understand, that the year
is divided into two circles over the whole world, that when with us it
is Winter, in the contrary circle it is notwithstanding Summer, for in
India and Saba there falleth or setteth the Sun, so that it is so warm,
that they have twice a year fruit: and gracious Lord, I have a swift
Spirit, the which can in the twinkling of an eye fulfil my desire in
any thing, wherefore I sent him into those Countries, who hath brought
this fruit as you see: whereat the Duke was in great admiration.
CHAPTER XL
_How Doctor Faustus through his Charms made a great Castle in presence
of the Duke of Anholt_
Doctor Faustus desired the Duke of Anholt to walk a little forth of
the Court with him, wherefore they went both together into the field,
where Doctor Faustus through his skill had placed a mighty Castle:
which when the Duke saw, he wondered thereat, so did the Duchess, and
all the beholders, that on that hill, which was called the Rohumbuel,
should on the sudden be so fair a Castle. At last Doctor Faustus
desired the Duke and the Duchess to walk with him into the Castle,
which they denied not. This Castle was so wonderful strong, having
about it a great and deep trench of water, the which was full of Fish,
and all manner of water-fowl, as Swans, Ducks, Geese, Bitterns, and
such-like. About the wall was five stone doors and two other doors:
also within was a great open court, wherein were enchanted all manner
of wild beasts, especially such as were not to be found in Germanie,
as Apes, Bears, Buffs, Antelopes, and such-like strange beasts.
Furthermore, there were other manner of beasts, as Hart, Hind, and wild
Swine, Roe, and all manner of land fowl that any man could think on,
the which flew from one tree to another. After all this, he set his
guests to the table, being the Duke and the Duchess with their train,
for he had provided them a most sumptuous feast, both of meat and all
manner of drinks, for he set nine messes of meat upon the board at
once, and all this must his Wagner do, place all things on the board,
the which was brought unto him by the Spirit invisibly of all things
that their heart could desire, as wild fowl, and Venison, with all
manner of dainty fish that could be thought on, of Wine also great
plenty, and of divers sorts, as French wine, Cullin wine, Crabatsher
wine, Rhenish wine, Spanish wine, Hungarian wine, Watzburg wine,
Malmsey, and Sack: in the whole, there were an hundred cans standing
round about the house. This sumptuous banquet the Duke took thankfully,
and afterwards he departed homewards, and to their thinking they had
neither eaten nor drunk, so were they blinded the whilst that they were
in the Castle: but as they were in their Palace they looked towards
the Castle, and behold it was all in a flame of fire, and all those
that beheld it wondered to hear so great a noise, as if it were great
Ordnance should have been shot off: and thus the Castle burned and
consumed away clean. Which done, Doctor Faustus returned to the Duke,
who gave him great thanks for shewing them of so great courtesy, giving
him an hundred Dollars, and liberty to depart or use his own discretion
therein.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER XLI
_How Doctor Faustus with his company visited the Bishop of Saltzburg
his Wine-cellar_
Doctor Faustus having taken his leave of the Duke, he went to
Wittenberg, near about Shrovetide, and being in company with certain
Students, Doctor Faustus was himself the God Bacchus, who having well
feasted the Students before with dainty fare, after the manner of
Germanie, where it is counted no feast except all the bidden guests be
drunk, which Doctor Faustus intending, said: Gentlemen and my guests,
will it please you to take a cup of wine with me in a place or cellar
whereunto I will bring you, and they all said willingly we will: which
when Doctor Faustus heard, he took them forth, set either of them
upon an holly wand, and so were conjured into the Bishop of Saltzburg
his Cellar, for there about grew excellent pleasant Wine: there fell
Faustus and his company to drinking and swilling, not of the worst but
of the best, and as they were merry in the Cellar, came down to draw
drink the Bishop’s butler: which when he perceived so many persons
there he cried with a loud voice, thieves! thieves! This spited Doctor
Faustus wonderfully, wherefore he made every one of his company to
sit on their holly wand and so vanished away, and in parting Doctor
Faustus took the Butler by the hair of the head and carried him away
with them, until they came unto a mighty high-lopped tree, and on the
top of that huge tree he set the Butler, where he remained in a most
fearful perplexity, and Doctor Faustus departed to his house where they
took their VALETE one of another, drinking the Wine the which they had
stolen in great bottles of glass out of the Bishop’s cellar. The Butler
that had held himself by the hand upon the lopped tree all the night,
was almost frozen with cold, espying the day, and seeing the tree of
so huge great highness, thought with himself it is impossible to come
off this tree without peril of death: at length he had espied certain
Clowns which were passing by, he cried for the love of God help me
down: the Clowns seeing him so high, wondered what mad man would climb
to so huge a tree, wherefore as a thing most miraculous, they carried
tidings unto the Bishop of Saltzburg, then was there great running on
every side to see a man in a huge tree, and many devices they practised
to get him down with ropes, and being demanded by the Bishop how he
came there, he said, that he was brought thither by the hair of the
head of certain thieves that were robbing of the Wine-cellar, but what
they were he knew not, for (said he) they had faces like men, but they
wrought like Devils.
CHAPTER XLII
_How Doctor Faustus kept his Shrovetide_
There were seven Students, and Masters that studied Divinity, Iuris
Prudentia, and Medicina, all these having consented were agreed to
visit Doctor Faustus and so to celebrate Shrovetide with him: who being
come to his house he gave them their welcome, for they were his dear
friends, desiring them to sit down, where he served them with a very
good supper of Hens, fish, and other roast, yet were they but slightly
cheered: wherefore Doctor Faustus comforted his guests, excusing
himself that they stole upon him so suddenly, that he had not leisure
to provide for them so well as they were worthy, but my good friends
(quoth he) according to the use of our Country we must drink all this
night, and so a draught of the best wine to bedward is commendable.
For you know that in great Potentates’ Courts they use as this night
great feasting, the like will I do for you: for I have three great
flagons of wine, the first is full of Hungarian wine, containing eight
gallons, the second of Italian wine, containing seven gallons, the
third containing six gallons of Spanish wine, all the which we will
tipple out before it be day, besides, we have fifteen dishes of meat,
the which my Spirit Mephostophiles hath fetched so far that it was cold
before he brought it, and they are all full of the daintiest things
that one’s heart can devise, but (saith Faustus) I must make them hot
again: and you may believe me, Gentlemen, that this is no blinding of
you, whereas you think that it is no natural food, verily it is as
good and as pleasant as ever you ate. And having ended his tale, he
commanded his boy to lay the cloth, which done, he served them with
fifteen messes of meat, having three dishes to a mess, the which were
of all manner of Venison, and other dainty wild fowl, and for wine
there was no lack, as Italian wine, Hungarian wine, and Spanish wine:
and when they were all made drunk, and that they had almost eaten all
their good cheer, they began to sing and to dance until it was day, and
then they departed each one to his own habitation: at whose parting,
Doctor Faustus desired them to be his guests again the next day
following.
CHAPTER XLIII
_How Doctor Faustus feasted his guests on the Ash-Wednesday_
[Illustration]
Upon Ash-Wednesday came unto Doctor Faustus his bidden guests the
Students, whom he feasted very royally, in so much that they were all
full and lusty, singing and dancing as the night before: and when the
high glasses and goblets were caroused one to another, Doctor Faustus
began to play them some pretty jests, in so much that round about the
hall was heard most pleasant music, and that in sundry places, in this
corner a Lute, in another a Cornet, in another a Cittern, Gittern,
Clarigolds, Harp, Horn pipe: in fine, all manner of music was heard
there at that instant, whereat all the glasses and goblets, cups and
pots, dishes, and all that stood on the board began to dance: then
Doctor Faustus took ten stone pots, and set them down on the floor,
where presently they began to dance and to smite one against the
other that the shivers flew round about the whole house, whereat the
whole company fell a-laughing. Then he began another jest, he set an
Instrument on the table, and caused a monstrous great Ape to come in
amongst them, which Ape began to dance and to skip, shewing them many
merry conceits. In this and such-like pastime they passed away the
whole day, where night being come, Doctor Faustus bade them all to
supper, which they lightly agreed unto, for Students in these cases are
easily entreated: wherefore he promised to feast them with a banquet of
fowl, and afterwards they would all go about with a Mask, then Doctor
Faustus put forth a long pole out of the window, whereupon presently
there came innumerable of birds and wild fowl, and so many as came
had not any power to fly away again, but he took them and flung them
to the Students: who lightly pulled off the necks of them, and being
roasted they made their supper, which being ended they made themselves
ready to the Mask. Doctor Faustus commanded every one to put on a clean
shirt over his other clothes, which being done, they began to look one
upon another, it seemed to each one of them they had no heads, and so
they went forth unto certain of their neighbours, at which sight the
people were wonderfully afraid. And as the use of Germanie is, that
wheresoever a Mask entereth, the good man of the house must feast them:
so when these maskers were set to their banquet, they seemed again in
their former shape with heads in so much that they were all known what
they were: and having sat and well eaten and drunk, Doctor Faustus made
that every one had an Ass’s head on, with great and long ears, so they
fell to dancing and to drive away the time until it was midnight, and
then every man departed home, and as soon as they were out of the house
each one was in his natural shape again, and so they ended and went to
sleep.
CHAPTER XLIV
_How Doctor Faustus the day following was feasted of the Students, and
of his merry jests with them while he was in their company_
The last Bacchanalia was held on Thursday, where ensued a great Snow,
and Doctor Faustus was invited unto the Students that were with him the
day before, where they had prepared an excellent banquet for him: which
banquet being ended, Doctor Faustus began to play his old pranks, and
forthwith were in the place thirteen Apes, that took hands and danced
round in a ring together, then they fell to tumble and to vaulting one
over another, that it was most pleasant to behold, then they leaped out
of the window and vanished away: then they set before Doctor Faustus a
roasted Calve’s head: which one of the Students cut a piece off, and
laid it on Doctor Faustus his trencher, which piece being no sooner
laid down, but the Calve’s head began to cry mainly out like a man,
murther, murther, but, alas, what doest thou to me! Whereat they were
all amazed, but after a while considering of Faustus his jesting tricks
they began to laugh, and then they pulled in sunder the Calve’s head
and ate it up. Whereupon Doctor Faustus asked leave to depart, but they
would in no wise agree to let him go, except that he would promise to
come again: presently then Faustus, through his cunning, made a sledge,
the which was drawn about the house with four fiery dragons: this was
fearful for the Students to behold, for they saw Faustus ride up and
down as though he should have fired and slain all them in the house.
This sport continued until midnight with such a noise that they could
not hear one another, and the heads of the Students were so light, that
they thought themselves to be in the air all that time.
CHAPTER XLV
_How Doctor Faustus shewed the fair Helena unto the Students upon the
Sunday following_
The Sunday following came these Students home to Doctor Faustus his
own house, and brought their meat and drink with them: these men were
right welcome guests unto Faustus, wherefore they all fell to drinking
of wine smoothly: and being merry, they began some of them to talk of
the beauty of women, and every one gave forth his verdict what he had
seen and what he had heard. So one among the rest said, I never was
so desirous of anything in this world, as to have a sight (if it were
possible) of fair Helena of Greece, for whom the worthy town of Troie
was destroyed and razed down to the ground, therefore saith he, that in
all men’s judgment she was more than commonly fair, because that when
she was stolen away from her husband, there was for her recovery so
great bloodshed.
Doctor Faustus answered: For that you are all my friends and are so
desirous to see that famous pearl of Greece, fair Helena, the wife of
King Menelaus, and daughter of Tindalus and Læda, sister to Castor and
Pollux, who was the fairest Lady in all Greece: I will therefore bring
her into your presence personally, and in the same form of attire as
she used to go when she was in her chiefest flowers and pleasantest
prime of youth. The like have I done for the Emperor Carolus Quintus,
at his desire I shewed him Alexander the great, and his Paramour:
but (said Doctor Faustus) I charge you all that upon your perils you
speak not a word, nor rise up from the Table so long as she is in
your presence. And so he went out of the Hall, returning presently
again, after whom immediately followed the fair and beautiful Helena,
whose beauty was such that the Students were all amazed to see her,
esteeming her rather to be a heavenly than an earthly creature. This
Lady appeared before them in a most sumptuous gown of purple Velvet,
richly embroidered, her hair hanged down loose as fair as the beaten
Gold, and of such length that it reached down to her hams, with amorous
coal-black eyes, a sweet and pleasant round face, her lips red as a
Cherry, her cheeks of rose all colour, her mouth small, her neck as
white as the Swan, tall and slender of personage, and in sum, there
was not one imperfect part in her: she looked round about her with a
rolling Hawk’s eye, a smiling and wanton countenance, which near hand
inflamed the hearts of the Students, but that they persuaded themselves
she was a Spirit, wherefore such fantasies passed away lightly with
them: and thus fair Helena and Doctor Faustus went out again one with
another. But the Students at Doctor Faustus his entering again into the
hall, requested of him to let them see her again the next day, for that
they would bring with them a painter and so take her counterfeit: which
he denied, affirming that he could not always raise up her Spirit, but
only at certain times: yet (said he) I will give you her counterfeit,
which shall be always as good to you as if your selves should see the
drawing thereof, which they received according to his promise, but soon
lost it again. The Students departed from Faustus’ home everyone to his
house, but they were not able to sleep the whole night for thinking
on the beauty of fair Helena. Wherefore a man may see that the Devil
blindeth and enflameth the heart with lust often-times, that men fall
in love with Harlots, nay even with Furies, which afterward cannot
lightly be removed.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER XLVI
_How Doctor Faustus conjured away the four wheels from a clown’s waggon_
Doctor Faustus was sent for to the Marshal of Brunswicke, who was
greatly troubled with the falling sickness. Now Faustus had this use,
never to ride but walk forth on foot, for he could ease himself when he
list, and as he came near unto the town of Brunswicke, there overtook
him a Clown with four horses and an empty waggon, to whom Doctor
Faustus jestingly to try him, said: I pray thee, good fellow, let me
ride a little to ease my weary legs; which the buzzardly ass denied,
saying: that his horses were also weary, and he would not let him get
up. Doctor Faustus did this but to prove the buzzard, if there were
any courtesy to be found in him if need were.
But such churlishness as is commonly found among clowns, was by Doctor
Faustus well requited, even with the like payment: for he said unto
him, Thou doltish Clown, void of all humanity, seeing thou art of so
currish a disposition, I will pay thee as thou hast deserved, for the
four wheels of thy Waggon thou shalt have taken from thee, let me see
then how canst thou shift: hereupon his wheels were gone, his horses
also fell down to the ground, as though they had been dead: whereat
the Clown was sore affright, measuring it as a just scourge of God
for his sins and churlishness: wherefore all troubled, and wailing,
he humbly besought Doctor Faustus to be good unto him, confessing he
was worthy of it, notwithstanding if it pleased him to forgive him, he
would hereafter do better. Which humility made Faustus his heart to
relent, answering him on this manner, well, do so no more, but when
a poor weary man desireth thee, see that thou let him ride, but yet
thou shalt not go altogether clear, for although thou have again thy
four wheels, yet shalt thou fetch them at the four Gates of the City,
so he threw dust on the horses, and revived them again, and the Clown
for his churlishness was fain to fetch his wheels, spending his time
with weariness, whereas before he might have done a good deed, and gone
about his business quietly.
CHAPTER XLVII
_How four Jugglers cut one another’s head off, and set them on again;
and how Doctor Faustus deceived them_
Doctor Faustus came in the Lent unto Franckfort Fair, where his Spirit
Mephostophiles gave him to understand that in an Inn were four Jugglers
that cut one another’s head off, and after their cutting off, sent
them to the Barber to be trimmed, which many people saw. This angered
Faustus (for he meant to have himself the only Cock in the Devil’s
basket), and he went to the place where they were, to behold them.
And as these Jugglers were together, ready one to cut off the other’s
head, there stood also the Barbers ready to trim them, and by them
upon the table stood likewise a glass full of distilled water, and he
that was the chiefest among them stood by it. Thus they began, they
smote off the head of the first, and presently there was a Lily in the
glass of distilled water, where Faustus perceived this Lily as it were
springing, and the chief Juggler named it the tree of life, thus dealt
he with the first, making the Barber wash and comb his head, and then
he set it on again, presently the Lily vanished away out of the water,
hereat the man had his head whole and sound again; the like did they
with the other two: and as the turn and lot came to the chief Juggler
that he also should be beheaded, and that his Lily was most pleasant,
fair, and flourishing green, they smote his head off, and when it came
to be barbed, it troubled Faustus his conscience, in so much that he
could not abide to see another do anything, for he thought himself to
be the principal conjurer in the world, wherefore Doctor Faustus went
to the table whereat the other Jugglers kept that Lily, and so he took
a small knife and cut off the stalk of the Lily, saying to himself,
none of them should blind Faustus: yet no man saw Faustus to cut the
Lily, but when the rest of the Jugglers thought to have set on their
master’s head, they could not, wherefore they looked on the Lily, and
found it a bleeding: by this means the Juggler was beguiled, and so
died in his wickedness, yet not one thought that Doctor Faustus had
done it.
CHAPTER XLVIII
_How an old man, the neighbour of Faustus, sought to persuade him to
amend his evil life, and to fall unto repentance_
A good Christian an honest and virtuous old man, a lover of the holy
Scriptures, who was neighbour unto Doctor Faustus: when he perceived
that many Students had their recourse in and out unto Doctor Faustus,
he suspected his evil life, wherefore like a friend he invited Doctor
Faustus to supper unto his house, unto the which he agreed; and having
ended their banquet, the old man began with these words. My loving
friend and neighbour Doctor Faustus, I have to desire of you a
friendly and Christian request, beseeching you that you will vouchsafe
not to be angry with me, but friendly resolve me in my doubt, and
take my poor inviting in good part. To whom Doctor Faustus answered:
My loving neighbour, I pray you say your mind. Then began the old
Patron to say: My good neighbour, you know in the beginning how that
you have defied God, and all the host of heaven, and given your soul
to the Devil, wherewith you have incurred God’s high displeasure,
and are become from a Christian far worse than a heathen person: oh
consider what you have done, it is not only the pleasure of the body,
but the safety of the soul that you must have respect unto: of which
if you be careless, then are you cast away, and shall remain in the
anger of almighty God. But yet is it time enough Doctor Faustus, if
you repent and call unto the Lord for mercy, as we have example in
the Acts of the Apostles, the eighth Chap. of Simon in Samaria, who
was led out of the way, affirming that he was Simon homo sanctus.
This man was notwithstanding in the end converted, after that he had
heard the Sermon of Philip, for he was baptized, and saw his sins, and
repented. Likewise I beseech you good brother Doctor Faustus, let my
rude Sermon be unto you a conversion; and forget the filthy life that
you have led, repent, ask mercy, and live: for Christ saith, _Come
unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will refresh
you._ And in Ezechiel: _I desire not the death of a sinner, but rather
that he convert and live._ Let my words good brother Faustus, pierce
into your adamant heart, and desire God for his Son Christ his sake,
to forgive you. Wherefore have you so long lived in your Devilish
practices, knowing that in the Old and New Testament you are forbidden,
and that men should not suffer any such to live, neither have any
conversation with them, for it is an abomination unto the Lord; and
that such persons have no part in the Kingdom of God. All this while
Doctor Faustus heard him very attentively, and replied: Father, your
persuasions like me wondrous well, and I thank you with all my heart
for your good will and counsel, promising you so far as I may to follow
your discipline: whereupon he took his leave. And being come home, he
laid him very pensive on his bed, bethinking himself of the words of
the good old man, and in a manner began to repent that he had given
his Soul to the Devil, intending to deny all that he had promised unto
Lucifer. Continuing in these cogitations, suddenly his Spirit appeared
unto him clapping him upon the head, and wrung it as though he would
have pulled the head from the shoulders, saying unto him, Thou knowest
Faustus, that thou hast given thyself body and soul unto my Lord
Lucifer, and hast vowed thyself an enemy unto God and unto all men; and
now thou beginnest to hearken to an old doting fool which persuadeth
thee as it were unto God, when indeed it is too late, for that thou art
the Devil’s, and he hath good power presently to fetch thee: wherefore
he hath sent me unto thee, to tell thee, that seeing thou hast sorrowed
for that thou hast done, begin again and write another writing with
thine own blood, if not, then will I tear thee all to pieces. Hereat
Doctor Faustus was sore afraid, and said: My Mephostophiles, I will
write again what thou wilt: wherefore he sat him down, and with his own
blood he wrote as followeth: which writing was afterward sent to a dear
friend of the said Doctor Faustus being his kinsman.
CHAPTER XLIX
_How Doctor Faustus wrote the second time with his own blood and gave
it to the Devil_
I, Doctor John Faustus, acknowledge by this my deed and handwriting,
that sith my first writing, which is seventeen years, that I have right
willingly held, and have been an utter enemy unto God and all men, the
which I once again confirm, and give fully and wholly myself unto the
Devil both body and soul, even unto the great Lucifer: and that at the
end of seven years ensuing after the date of this letter, he shall
have to do with me according as it pleaseth him, either to lengthen or
shorten my life as liketh him: and hereupon I renounce all persuaders
that seek to withdraw me from my purpose by the Word of God, either
ghostly or bodily. And further, I will never give ear unto any man, be
he spiritual or temporal, that moveth any matter for the salvation of
my soul. Of all this writing, and that therein contained, be witness,
my own blood, the which with mine own hands I have begun, and ended.
Dated at Wittenberg, the 25th of July.
And presently upon the making of this Letter, he became so great an
enemy unto the poor old man, that he sought his life by all means
possible; but this godly man was strong in the Holy Ghost, that he
could not be vanquished by any means: for about two days after that he
had exhorted Faustus, as the poor man lay in his bed, suddenly there
was a mighty rumbling in the Chamber, the which he was never wont to
hear, and he heard as it had been the groaning of a Sow, which lasted
long: whereupon the good old man began to jest, and mock, and said: oh
what Barbarian cry is this, oh fair Bird, what foul music is this of a
fair Angel, that could not tarry two days in his place? beginnest thou
now to run into a poor man’s house, where thou hast no power, and wert
not able to keep thine own two days? With these and such-like words the
Spirit departed. And when he came home Faustus asked him how he had
sped with the old man: to whom the Spirit answered, the old man was
harnessed, and that he could not once lay hold upon him: but he would
not tell how the old man had mocked him, for the Devils can never abide
to hear of their fall. Thus doth God defend the hearts of all honest
Christians, that betake themselves under his tuition.
CHAPTER L
_How Doctor Faustus made a marriage between two lovers_
In the City of Wittenberg was a Student, a gallant Gentleman, named N.
N. This Gentleman was far in love with a Gentlewoman, fair and proper
of personage. This Gentlewoman had a Knight that was a suitor unto her,
and many other Gentlemen, the which desired her in marriage, but none
could obtain her: So it was that this N. N. was very well acquainted
with Faustus, and by that means became a suitor unto him to assist him
in the matter, for he fell so far in despair with himself, that he
pined away to the skin and bones. But when he had opened the matter
unto Doctor Faustus, he asked counsel of his Spirit Mephostophiles,
the which told him what to do. Hereupon Doctor Faustus went home to
the Gentleman, and bade him be of good cheer, for he should have his
desire, for he would help him to that he wished for, and that this
Gentlewoman should love none other but him only: wherefore Doctor
Faustus so changed the mind of the Damsel by a practice he wrought,
that she would do no other thing but think on him, whom before she
had hated, neither cared she for any man but him alone. The device
was thus, Faustus commanded this Gentleman that he should clothe
himself in all his best apparel that he had and that he should go unto
this Gentlewoman, and there to shew himself, giving him also a Ring,
commanding him in any wise that he should dance with her before he
departed. Wherefore he followed Faustus his counsel, went to her, and
when they began to dance they that were suitors began to take everyone
his Lady in his hand, and this good Gentleman took her, who before had
so disdained him, and in the dance he thrust the Ring into her hand
that Doctor Faustus had given him, the which she no sooner touched,
but she fell immediately in love with him, beginning in the dance to
smile, and many times to give him winks, rolling her eyes, and in
the end she asked him if he could love her and make her his wife; he
gladly answered, he was content: and hereupon they concluded, and were
married, by the means and help of Doctor Faustus, for which he received
a good reward of the Gentleman.
CHAPTER LI
_How Doctor Faustus led his friends into his Garden at Christmas, and
shewed them many strange sights in his nineteenth year_
In December, about Christmas in the City of Wittenberg, were many young
Gentlewomen, the which were come out of the Country to make merry with
their friends and acquaintance; amongst whom there were certain that
were well acquainted with Doctor Faustus, wherefore they were often
invited as his guests unto him, and being with him on a certain time
after dinner, he led them into his Garden, where he shewed them all
manner of flowers, and fresh herbs, Trees bearing fruit and blossoms
of all sorts, in so much that they wondered to see that in his Garden
should be so pleasant a time as in the midst of summer: and without
in the streets, and all over the Country, it lay full of Snow and
Ice. Wherefore this was noted of them as a thing miraculous, each one
gathering and carrying away all such things as they best liked, and so
departed delighted with their sweet-smelling flowers.
CHAPTER LII
_How Doctor Faustus gathered together a great army of men in his
extremity against a Knight that would have injured him on his journey_
Doctor Faustus travelled towards Eyszleben, and when he was nigh half
the way, he espied seven horsemen, and the chief of them he knew to be
the Knight to whom he had played a jest in the Emperor’s Court, for
he had set a huge pair of Hart’s horns upon his head: and when the
Knight now saw that he had fit opportunity to be revenged of Faustus he
ran upon him himself, and those that were with him, to mischief him,
intending privily to shoot at him: which when Doctor Faustus espied, he
vanished away into the wood which was hard by them. But when the Knight
perceived that he was vanished away, he caused his men to stand still,
where as they remained they heard all manner of war-like instruments
of music, as Drums, Flutes, Trumpets, and such-like, and a certain
troop of horsemen running towards them. Then they turned another way,
and there also were assaulted on the same side: then another way,
and yet they were freshly assaulted, so that which way soever they
turned themselves, he was encountered: in so much that when the Knight
perceived that he could escape no way, but that they his enemies laid
on him which way soever he offered to fly, he took a good heart and
ran amongst the thickest, and thought with himself better to die than
to live with so great an infamy. Therefore being at handy-blows with
them, he demanded the cause why they should so use them: but none of
them would give him answer, until Doctor Faustus shewed himself unto
the Knight, where withal they enclosed him around, and Doctor Faustus
said unto him, Sir, yield your weapon, and yourself, otherwise it
will go hardly with you. The Knight that knew none other but that he
was environed with an host of men (where indeed they were none other
than Devils) yielded: then Faustus took away his sword, his piece, and
horse, with all the rest of his companions. And further he said unto
him; Sir, the chief General of our army hath commanded to deal with you
according to the law of Arms, you shall depart in peace whither you
please: and then he gave the Knight an horse after the manner, and set
him thereon, so he rode, the rest went on foot until they came to their
Inn, where being alighted, his Page rode on his horse to the water,
and presently the horse vanished away, the Page being almost sunk and
drowned, but he escaped: and coming home, the Knight perceived his Page
so bemired and on foot, asked where his horse was become? Who answered
that he was vanished away: which when the Knight heard, he said, of a
truth this is Faustus his doing, for he serveth me now as he did before
at the Court, only to make me a scorn and a laughing-stock.
CHAPTER LIII
_How Doctor Faustus caused Mephostophiles to bring him seven of
the fairest women that he could find in all those countries he had
travelled in, in the twentieth year_
When Doctor Faustus called to mind, that his time from day to day drew
nigh, he began to live a swinish and Epicurish Life, wherefore he
commanded his Spirit Mephostophiles, to bring him seven of the fairest
women that he had seen in all the time of his travel: which being
brought, first one, and then another, he lay with them all, in so much
that he liked them so well, that he continued with them in all manner
of love, and made them to travel with him in all his journeys. These
women were two Netherlanders, one Hungarian, one English, two Wallons,
one Francklander: and with these sweet personages he continued long,
yea even to his last end.
CHAPTER LIV
_How Doctor Faustus found a mass of money when he had consumed
twenty-two of his years_
To the end that the Devil would make Faustus his only heir, he shewed
unto him where he should go and find a mighty huge mass of money, and
that he should have it in an old Chapel that was fallen down, half a
mile distant from Wittenberg, there he bade him to dig and he should
find it, the which he did, and having digged reasonable deep, he saw a
mighty huge serpent, the which lay on the treasure itself, the treasure
itself lay like a huge light burning: but D. Faustus charmed the
serpent that he crept into a hole, and when he digged deeper to get up
the treasure, he found nothing but coals of fire: there also he heard
and saw many that were tormented, yet notwithstanding he brought away
the coals, and when he was come home, it was all turned into silver and
gold, as after his death was found by his servant, the which was almost
about estimation, a thousand gilders.
CHAPTER LV
_How Doctor Faustus made the Spirit of fair Helena
of Greece his own Paramour and bedfellow
in his twenty-third year_
To the end that this miserable Faustus might fill the lust of his
flesh, and live in all manner of voluptuous pleasures, it came in his
mind after he had slept his first sleep,[39] and in the twenty-third
year past of his time, that he had a great desire to lie with fair
Helena of Greece, especially her whom he had seen and shewed unto
the Students of Wittenberg, wherefore he called unto him his Spirit
Mephostophiles, commanding him to bring him the fair Helena, which he
also did. Whereupon he fell in love with her, and made her his common
Concubine and bedfellow, for she was so beautiful and delightful a
piece, that he could not be one hour from her, if he should therefore
have suffered death, she had so stolen away his heart: and to his
seeming, in time she was with child, and in the end brought him a
man child, whom Faustus named Justus Faustus: this child told Doctor
Faustus many things that were to come, and what strange matters were
done in foreign countries: but in the end when Faustus lost his life,
the mother and the child vanished away both together.
[Footnote 39: The German text has “at midnight, when he awoke.”]
CHAPTER LVI
_How Doctor Faustus made his Will, in the which he named his servant
Wagner to be his heir_
Doctor Faustus was now in his twenty-fourth and last year, and he
had a pretty stripling to his servant, the which had studied also at
the University of Wittenberg: this youth was very well acquainted
with his knaveries and sorceries, so that he was hated as well for
his own knaveries, as also for his Master’s: for no man would give
him entertainment into his service, because of his unhappiness, but
Faustus: this Wagner was so well beloved with Faustus, that he used
him as his son: for do what he would his master was always therewith
well content. And when the time drew nigh that Faustus should end, he
called unto him a Notary and certain masters the which were his friends
and often conversant with him, in whose presence he gave this Wagner
his house and Garden. Item, he gave him in ready money one thousand
six hundred gilders. Item, a Farm. Item, a gold chain, much plate, and
other household stuff. This gave he all to his servant, and the rest of
his time he meant to spend in Inns and Students’ company, drinking and
eating, with other jollity: and thus he finished his Will for that time.
CHAPTER LVII
_How Doctor Faustus fell in talk with his servant touching his
Testament, and the covenants thereof_
Now when this Will was made, Doctor Faustus called unto him his
servant, saying: I have thought upon thee in my Testament, for that
thou hast been a trusty servant unto me and a faithful, and hast not
opened my secrets: and yet further (said he) ask of me before I die
what thou wilt, and I will give it unto thee. His servant rashly
answered, I pray you let me have your cunning. To which Doctor
Faustus answered, I have given thee all my books, upon this condition,
that thou wouldst not let them be common, but use them for thine own
pleasure, and study carefully in them. And dost thou also desire my
cunning? That mayest thou peradventure have, if thou love and peruse
my books well. Further (said Doctor Faustus) seeing that thou desirest
of me this request, I will resolve thee: my Spirit Mephostophiles his
time is out with me, and I have nought to command him as touching
thee, yet will I help thee to another, if thou like well thereof. And
within three days after he called his servant unto him, saying: art
thou resolved? wouldst thou verily have a Spirit? Then tell me in what
manner or form thou wouldst have him? To whom his servant answered,
that he would have him in the form of an Ape: whereupon presently
appeared a Spirit unto him in manner and form of an Ape, the which
leaped about the house. Then said Faustus, see, there hast thou thy
request, but yet he will not obey thee until I be dead, for when my
Spirit Mephostophiles shall fetch me away, then shall thy Spirit
be bound unto thee, if thou agree: and thy Spirit shalt thou name
Akercocke, for so is he called: but all this is upon condition that
thou publish my cunning, and my merry conceits, with all that I have
done (when I am dead) in an history: and if thou canst not remember
all, thy Spirit Akercocke will help thee: so shall the great acts that
I have done be manifested unto the world.
CHAPTER LVIII
_How Doctor Faustus having but one month of his appointed time to come,
fell to mourning and sorrow with himself for his devilish exercise_
Time ran away with Faustus, as the hour-glass, for he had but one
month to come of his twenty-four years, at the end whereof he had
given himself to the Devil body and soul, as is before specified. Here
was the first token, for he was like a taken murderer or a thief,
the which findeth himself guilty in conscience before the Judge have
given sentence, fearing every hour to die: for he was grieved, and
wailing spent the time, went talking to himself, wringing of his hands,
sobbing and sighing, he fell away from flesh, and was very lean, and
kept himself close: neither could he abide to see or hear of his
Mephostophiles any more.
CHAPTER LIX
_How Doctor Faustus complained that he should in his lusty time and
youthful years die so miserably_
This sorrowful time drawing near so troubled Doctor Faustus, that he
began to write his mind, to the end he might peruse it often and not
forget it, and is in manner as followeth.
Ah Faustus, thou sorrowful and woeful man, now must thou go to the
damned company in unquenchable fire, whereas thou mightest have had the
joyful immortality of the soul, the which thou now hast lost. Ah gross
understanding and wilful will, what seizeth on my limbs other than a
robbing of my life? Bewail with me my sound and healthful body, wit and
soul, bewail with me my senses, for you have had your part and pleasure
as well as I. Oh envy and disdain, how have you crept both at once into
me, and now for your sakes I must suffer all these torments? Ah whither
is pity and mercy fled? Upon what occasion hath heaven repaid me with
this reward by sufferance to suffer me to perish? Wherefore was I
created a man? The punishment that I see prepared for me of myself now
must I suffer. Ah miserable wretch, there is nothing in this world to
shew me comfort: then woe is me, what helpeth my wailing.
CHAPTER LX
_Another complaint of Doctor Faustus_
Oh poor, woeful and weary wretch: oh sorrowful soul of Faustus, now art
thou in the number of the damned, for now must I wait for unmeasurable
pains of death, yea far more lamentable than ever yet any creature hath
suffered. Ah senseless, wilful and desperate forgetfulness! O cursed
and unstable life! O blind and careless wretch, that so hast abused thy
body, sense, and soul! O foolish pleasure, into what a weary labyrinth
hast thou brought me, blinding mine eyes in the clearest day? Ah weak
heart! O troubled soul, where is become thy knowledge to comfort
thee? O pitiful weariness! Oh desperate hope, now shall I never more
be thought upon! Oh, care upon carefulness, and sorrows on heaps: Ah
grievous pains that pierce my panting heart, whom is there now that can
deliver me? Would God that I knew where to hide me, or into what place
to creep or fly. Ah, woe, woe is me, be where I will, yet am I taken.
Herewith poor Faustus was so sorrowfully troubled, that he could not
speak or utter his mind any further.
CHAPTER LXI
_How Doctor Faustus bewailed to think on Hell, and of the miserable
pains therein provided for him_
Now thou Faustus, damned wretch, how happy wert thou if as an
unreasonable beast thou mightest die without soul, so shouldst thou
not feel any more doubts? But now the Devil will take thee away both
body and soul, and set thee in an unspeakable place of darkness: for
although others’ souls have rest and peace, yet I poor damned wretch
must suffer all manner of filthy stench, pains, cold, hunger, thirst,
heat, freezing, burning, hissing, gnashing, and all the wrath and
curse of God, yea all the creatures that God hath created are enemies
to me. And now too late I remember that my Spirit Mephostophiles did
once tell me, there was a great difference amongst the damned; for
the greater the sin, the greater the torment: for as the twigs of the
tree make greater flame than the trunk thereof, and yet the trunk
continueth longer in burning: even so the more that a man is rooted in
sin, the greater is his punishment. Ah thou perpetual damned wretch,
now art thou thrown into the everlasting fiery lake that never shall be
quenched, there must I dwell in all manner of wailing, sorrow, misery,
pain, torment, grief, howling, sighing, sobbing, blubbering, running
of eyes, stinking at nose, gnashing of teeth, fear to the ears, horror
to the conscience, and shaking both of hand and foot. Ah that I could
carry the heavens on my shoulders, so that there were time at last to
quit me of this everlasting damnation! Oh who can deliver me out of
these fearful tormenting flames, the which I see prepared for me? Oh
there is no help, nor any man that can deliver me, nor any wailing
of sins can help me, neither is there rest to be found for me day
nor night. Ah woe is me, for there is no help for me, no shield, no
defence, no comfort. Where is my hold? knowledge dare I not trust: and
for a soul to Godwards that have I not, for I shame to speak unto him:
if I do, no answer shall be made me, but he will hide his face from
me, to the end that I should not behold the joys of the chosen. What
mean I then to complain where no help is? No, I know no hope resteth in
my groanings: I have desired that it should be so, and God hath said
Amen to my misdoings: for now I must have shame to comfort me in my
calamities.
CHAPTER LXII
_Here followeth the miserable and lamentable end of Doctor Faustus, by
the which all Christians may take an example and warning_
In the twenty-fourth year Doctor Faustus his time being come, his
Spirit appeared unto him, giving him his writing again, and commanding
him to make preparation, for that the Devil would fetch him against
a certain time appointed. D. Faustus mourned and sighed wonderfully,
and never went to bed, nor slept wink for sorrow. Wherefore his Spirit
appeared again, comforting him, and saying: My Faustus, be not thou so
cowardly minded; for although that thou losest thy body, it is not long
unto the day of Judgment, and thou must die at the last, although thou
live many thousand years. The Turks, the Jews, and many an unchristian
Emperor, are in the same condemnation: therefore (my Faustus) be of
good courage, and be not discomforted, for the Devil hath promised
that thou shalt not be in pains as the rest of the damned are. This
and such-like comfort he gave him, but he told him false, and against
the saying of the Holy Scriptures. Yet Doctor Faustus that had none
other expectation but to pay his debts with his own skin, went on the
same day that his Spirit said the Devil would fetch him, unto his
trusty and dearest beloved brethren and companions, as Masters, and
Bachelors of Arts, and other Students more the which had often visited
him at his house in merriment: these he entreated that they would
walk into the Village called Rimlich, half a mile from Wittenberg, and
that they would there take with him for their repast part of a small
banquet, the which they all agreed unto: so they went together, and
there held their dinner in a most sumptuous manner. Doctor Faustus
with them (dissemblingly) was merry, but not from the heart: wherefore
he requested them that they would also take part of his rude supper:
the which they agreed unto: for (quoth he) I must tell you what is
the Victualler’s due: and when they slept (for drink was in their
heads) then Doctor Faustus paid and discharged the shot, and bound
the Students and the Masters to go with him into another room, for he
had many wonderful matters to tell them: and when they were entered
the room as he requested, Doctor Faustus said unto them, as hereafter
followeth.
CHAPTER LXIII
_An Oration of Faustus to the Students_
My trusty and well-beloved friends, the cause why I have invited you
into this place is this: Forasmuch as you have known me this many
years, in what manner of life I have lived, practising all manner of
conjurations and wicked exercises, the which I have obtained through
the help of the Devil, into whose Devilish fellowship they have brought
me, the which use the like Art and practice, urged by the detestable
provocation of my flesh, my stiff-necked and rebellious will, with my
filthy infernal thoughts, the which were ever before me, pricking me
forward so earnestly, that I must perforce have the consent of the
Devil to aid me in my devices. And to the end I might the better bring
my purpose to pass, to have the Devil’s aid and furtherance, which I
never have wanted in mine actions, I have promised unto him at the
end and accomplishing of twenty-four years, both body and soul, to
do therewith at his pleasure: and this day, this dismal day, those
twenty-four years are fully expired, for night beginning my hour-glass
is at an end, the direful finishing whereof I carefully expect: for out
of all doubt this night he will fetch me, to whom I have given myself
in recompense of his service both body and soul, and twice confirmed
writings with my proper blood. Now have I called you my well-beloved
Lords, friends, brethren, and fellow’s, before that fatal hour to take
my friendly farewell, to the end that my departing may not hereafter
be hidden from you, beseeching you herewith courteous, and loving
Lords and brethren, not to take in evil part anything done by me, but
with friendly commendations to salute all my friends and companions
wheresoever: desiring both you and them, if ever I have trespassed
against your minds in anything, that you would all heartily forgive
me: and as for those lewd practices the which this full twenty-four
years I have followed, you shall hereafter find them in writing: and
I beseech you let this my lamentable end to the residue of your lives
be a sufficient warning, that you have God always before your eyes,
praying unto him that he would ever defend you from the temptation
of the Devil, and all his false deceits, not falling altogether from
God, as I wretched and ungodly damned creature have done, having denied
and defied Baptism, the Sacraments of Christ’s body, God himself,
all heavenly powers, and earthly men, yea, I have denied such a God,
that desireth not to have one lost. Neither let the evil fellowship
of wicked companions mislead you as it hath done me: visit earnestly
and oft the Church, war and strive continually against the Devil with
a good and steadfast belief on God, and Jesus Christ, and use your
vocation in holiness. Lastly, to knit up my troubled Oration, this is
my friendly request, that you would to rest, and let nothing trouble
you: also if you chance to hear any noise, or rumbling about the house,
be not therewith afraid, for there shall no evil happen unto you: also
I pray you arise not out of your beds. But above all things I entreat
you, if you hereafter find my dead carcass, convey it unto the earth,
for I die both a good and bad Christian; a good Christian, for that I
am heartily sorry, and in my heart always pray for mercy, that my soul
may be delivered: a bad Christian, for that I know the Devil will have
my body, and that would I willingly give him so that he would leave
my soul in quiet: wherefore I pray you that you would depart to bed,
and so I wish you a quiet night, which unto me notwithstanding will be
horrible and fearful.
This oration or declaration was made by Doctor Faustus, and that with
a hearty and resolute mind, to the end he might not discomfort them:
but the Students wondered greatly thereat, that he was so blinded,
for knavery, conjuration, and such-like foolish things, to give his
body and soul unto the Devil: for they loved him entirely, and never
suspected any such thing before he had opened his mind to them:
wherefore one of them said unto him; ah, friend Faustus, what have you
done to conceal this matter so long from us, we would by the help of
good Divines, and the grace of God, have brought you out of this net,
and have torn you out of the bondage and chains of Satan, whereas now
we fear it is too late, to the utter ruin of your body and soul? Doctor
Faustus answered, I durst never do it, although I often minded, to
settle myself unto godly people, to desire counsel and help, as once
mine old neighbour counselled me, that I should follow his learning,
and leave all my conjurations, yet when I was minded to amend, and to
follow that good man’s counsel, then came the Devil and would have had
me away, as this night he is like to do, and said so soon as I turned
again to God, he would dispatch me altogether. Thus, even thus (good
Gentlemen, and my dear friends) was I enthralled in that Satanical
band, all good desires drowned, all piety banished, all purpose of
amendment utterly exiled, by the tyrannous threatenings of my deadly
enemy. But when the Students heard his words, they gave him counsel
to do naught else but call upon God, desiring him for the love of his
sweet Son Jesus Christ’s sake, to have mercy upon him, teaching him
this form of prayer. O, God, be merciful unto me, poor and miserable
sinner, and enter not into judgment with me, for no flesh is able to
stand before thee. Although, O Lord, I must leave my sinful body unto
the Devil, being by him deluded, yet thou in mercy mayest preserve my
soul.
This they repeated unto him, yet it could take no hold, but even as
Cain he also said his sins were greater than God was able to forgive;
for all his thought was on his writing, he meant he had made it too
filthy in writing it with his own blood. The Students and the others
that were there, when they had prayed for him, they wept, and so went
forth, but Faustus tarried in the hall: and when the Gentlemen were
laid in bed, none of them could sleep, for that they attended to hear
if they might be privy of his end. It happened between twelve and one
o’clock at midnight, there blew a mighty storm of wind against the
house, as though it would have blown the foundation thereof out of his
place. Hereupon the Students began to fear, and got out of their beds,
comforting one another, but they would not stir out of the chamber: and
the Host of the house ran out of doors, thinking the house would fall.
The Students lay near unto that hall wherein Doctor Faustus lay, and
they heard a mighty noise and hissing, as if the hall had been full of
Snakes and Adders: with that the hall door flew open wherein Doctor
Faustus was, then he began to cry for help, saying: murther, murther,
but it came forth with half a voice hollowly: shortly after they heard
him no more. But when it was day, the Students that had taken no rest
that night, arose and went into the hall in the which they left Doctor
Faustus, where notwithstanding they found no Faustus, but all the hall
lay besprinkled with blood, his brains cleaving to the wall: for the
Devil had beaten him from one wall against another, in one corner lay
his eyes, in another his teeth, a pitiful and fearful sight to behold.
Then began the Students to bewail and weep for him, and sought for his
body in many places: lastly they came into the yard where they found
his body lying on the horse dung, most monstrously torn, and fearful to
behold, for his head and all his joints were dashed in pieces.
The fore-named Students and Masters that were at his death, have
obtained so much, that they buried him in the Village where he was so
grievously tormented. After the which, they returned to Wittenberg, and
coming into the house of Faustus, they found the servant of Faustus
very sad, unto whom they opened all the matter, who took it exceeding
heavily. There found they also this history of Doctor Faustus noted,
and of him written as is before declared, all save only his end, the
which was after by the Students thereto annexed: further, what his
servant had noted thereof, was made in another book. And you have heard
that he held by him in his life the Spirit of fair Helena, the which
had by him one son, the which he named Justus Faustus, even the same
day of his death they vanished away, both mother and son. The house
before was so dark, that scarce anybody could abide therein. The same
night Doctor Faustus appeared unto his servant lively, and shewed
unto him many secret things the which he had done and hidden in his
lifetime. Likewise there were certain which saw Doctor Faustus look out
of the window by night as they passed by the house.
And thus ended the whole story of Doctor Faustus his conjuration, and
other acts that he did in his life; out of the which example every
Christian may learn, but chiefly the stiff-necked and high-minded may
thereby learn to fear God, and to be careful of their vocation, and
to be at defiance with all Devilish works, as God hath most precisely
forbidden, to the end we should not invite the Devil as a guest, nor
give him place as that wicked Faustus hath done: for here we have a
fearful example of his writing, promise, and end, that we may remember
him: that we go not astray, but take God always before our eyes, to
call alone upon him, and to honour him all the days of our life, with
heart and hearty prayer, and with all our strength and soul to glorify
his holy name, defying the Devil and all his works, to the end we may
remain with Christ in all endless joy: Amen, Amen, that wish I unto
every Christian heart, and God’s name to be glorified. Amen.
FINIS
[Illustration: FRESCO FROM AUERBACH’S CELLAR IN LEIPZIG]
[Illustration: FRESCO FROM AUERBACH’S CELLAR IN LEIPZIG]
=THE
SECOND REPORT=
of DOCTOR JOHN FAUSTUS, containing
his appearances, and the deedes
_of Wagner_.
VVritten by an English Gentleman
student in VVittenberg an Vniuersity of Germany
_in Saxony._
PVBLISHED: FOR THE DELIGHT
of all those which desire Nouelties by a frend
_of the same Gentleman._
LONDON.
PRINTED by ABELL JEFFES, for CUTHBERT
Burby, and are to be sold at the middle Shop at Saint
Mildreds Church by the Stockes. 1594.
UNTO THEM WHICH WOULD KNOW THE TRUTH
I
It is plain that many things in the first book[40] are mere lies, for
proof mark this: it is said that it is translated, so it is, and where
it is word for word: But I have talked with the man that first wrote
them, having them from Wagner’s very friend, wherein he saith many
things are corrupted, some added _de nouo_, some cancelled and taken
away, and many were augmented. As for addition to the Copy is there
where Mephostophiles disputeth of the numbers of Hells, and some other
disputations: And let a man mark them duly, they shall find them I
will not say childish, but certainly superficial, not like the talk of
Devils, where with foldings of words they do use to dilate at large,
the more subtle by far. But as for his Obligation[41] and the most
part, it is certain they are most credible and out of all question.
II
For to take away a doubt, whether there were such a man, which is
generally a thing not believed, I assure them this, that there was,
and it is proved thus, nor is Germany so unknown but that the truth of
these things following may be found if any suspect.
III
First there is yet remaining the ruins of his house, not far from
Melanchthon’s house as they call at the town’s end of Wittenberg, right
opposite to the Schools.
IV
Secondly, there is yet to be seen his tree, a great hollow Trunk,
wherein he used to read Nigromancy to his scholars, not far from the
Town in a very remote place, which I think is sufficient testimony to
any reasonable ear. And enquire of them which have been there, see if
they will not affirm it. Notwithstanding I do not go by these means, to
entreat men to believe, for I care not whether they do or no, but only
to certify you of the truth as I myself would be.
V
Next, his tomb is at Mars’ Temple, a three miles beyond the City, upon
which is written on a Marble stone by his own hand, this Epitaph, which
is somewhat old by reason of his small skill in graving.
_Hic iaceo Johannes Faustus, Doctor diuini iuris indignissimus, qui
pro amore magiae Diabolicae scientiae vanissime cecidi ab amore Dei:
O Lector pro me miserrimo damnato homine ne preceris, nam preces non
iuuant quem Deus condemnauit: O pie Christiane memento mei, & saltem
vnam pro infiducia mea lachrymulam exprime, & cui non potes mederi,
eius miserere, et ipse caue._
[Illustration: VIEW OF WITTENBERG ABOUT 1546
After a woodcut by Lucas Cranach the Elder]
The Stone was found in his study, and his will was fulfilled, and he
lieth betwixt a heap of three and thirty fir trees in the fort of the
Hill in a great hole where this is erected.
VI
If these will not serve, then shall you hear the testimony of a learned
man John Wierus, _cap. 4. libro I. de magis infamibus_.[42] Which I
have translated.
John Faustus, born at Kundling, a little village, learning Magic at
Gracovia, where he was openly taught, and exercised it. In sundry
places of Germany, with the admiration of many and with manifold lies,
fraud, and illusions, with vain vaunting and promises but could do
nothing: one example I will shew to the Reader, upon this condition,
that he will pass his faith first to me that he will not imitate him:
Then rehearseth he one of his knaveries, how he took upon him to make
no hair grow upon a man’s face, and took away with a powder which I
will not name, both the beard that he had and all the skin, causing
such inflammations in his face that it burned all over cruelly. This he
committed being taken at Batoburg upon the bank of the river Mosa hard
upon the bounds of Gelderland: Another (saith this learned Physician)
not unknown to me, having a black beard, the rest of his face somewhat
dark and swarthy, witnessing melancholy (for he was splenetic) when he
came to Faustus, who readily said: Truly I thought you had been my
Familiar, straightway marking your feet, whether long and crooked nails
stuck out of them: So likening this man to the Devil, which he thought
had come unto him, which Devil he was wont to call Sorarius.
VII
For his death in the same place, thus saith he: At length he was found
in a Village of the Duchy of Wittenberg by his bedside stark dead,
and his face turned backwards, and the midnight before, the house was
shaken as it is reported. Thus far he, an Author not to be doubted of,
and approved through Christendom of singular and exact judgment, as
appeareth by his writings of the like argument confutation.
VIII
More in the same place he saith: That a schoolmaster amongst the
Goslaryens, instructed of Faustus the Magician, or rather Infaustus
his evil doctrine, learned a way how the Devil might be bound by spell
on a glass, who as you may there read was so affrighted, that lying
one whole year speechless, at the end he spake of his fear and Devil’s
appearance, and then having received his Christian rites died.
As for the Author this Doctor Wier, doubt you not of his credit, for
he is alleged of the very singularest scholars, as the best that ever
wrote in that argument. We have a Gentleman of our own country, master
Reignold Scot, Esquire,[43] that doth universally quote him as his
chief and especial help in his discovery of Witchcraft, yea and he
testifieth of him not without good desert, saying: J. Bode[44] in
his lawyerly Physic reasoneth contrarily, as though Melancholy were
farthest off from these old women whom we call Witches. And the most
famous and noble Physician John Wier for his opinion in that behalf:
Lo, where he calleth him the most famous Physician as he was then
certainly, in the discovery of Witchcraft, _lib. 3. Cap. 7._
IX
Thus far I have set down that you may know and persuade yourselves so
far as you see just cause by the reasons.
VALE.
[Footnote 40: i.e. _The English Faust Book_ which is printed in the
present volume.]
[Footnote 41: i.e. Faust’s compact with Mephisto.]
[Footnote 42: V. Introduction.]
[Footnote 43: Author of _Discovery of Witchcraft_, 1584.]
[Footnote 44: Jean Bodin, author of _Démonomanie des Sorciers_, 1580.]
THE SECOND REPORT OF DOCTOR JOHN FAUSTUS
=In nomine aeterne & semperuiuae maiestatis, Amen. Spectatum admissi
risum teneatis amici.=
CHAPTER I
Doctor John Faustus, whose parentage howsoever hitherto informed, is
known to be base, his father when he was at the best, but the son of a
poor Farmer, his Mother the daughter of one of the same condition, born
in a small village called Kundling in Slesia, brought up in literature
at Gracovia, after at Wittenberg, whose life made him famous, and
death notorious: being thus tormented and torn in pieces, at the time
appointed betwixt the Devils and him, moved by this example woeful
and lamentable enough, the hearts of the Students and Scholars which
were witnesses of his distraughture, that with an inward terror of
conscience vexed and tormented, they departed and declared the whole
volumes of his detestable life, which afore his Tragedy was thus acted,
were not known. Christopher Wagner, his familiar servant unto whom he
had committed the secrets of his bosom, and had intimated unto him
whatever his four and twenty years’ familiarity with the black Art,
and more black Devils had taught him: He after the death of his thus
slain Master musing at everything thus done, everything thus done
being wonderful: (as men do whom fear makes passionate and meditation
of former loss urgeth a latter augment of fresh sorrows): in a
distraughtful fury (the Company of Students being departed, which were
eye witnesses of the Doctor’s lamentable end) conveyed himself unto
his Master’s Library, viewing with sorrowful eyes the only Monuments
of his life, the disputations betwixt him and Mephostophiles, his
answers and demands, and else whatsoever questions moved or disputed
of betwixt the Devils and him, and memorials of his Heavens and Hells
voyages, his conveyance with many the like comical journeys. The boy
of a sudden fell into a deep considering of his former merriments,
sports and delights, in so much that in this conceit he flung out of
this study, as if he meant to bury the remembrance of these matters by
contempt and negligence: coming into the same Hall wherein his Master’s
latest Tragedy was performed, sighing for his want, he remembered (for
as then he lately read it) how that one Article to the which his Master
had bound Mephostophiles was, that after his death he should be a
Spirit in nature and essence as others were. The Wag at this began to
smile (oh how such things seeming pleasant make fools’ hearts merry)
conceiving with himself how to make his once Master become his man,
and to have the number of his spiritual followers doubled, scorning
the alonely attendance of one servant. To this therefore he determined
a time for the raising of his Master’s spirit: and therewith he fell
to read earnestly of other matters, so long that he began to leave as
wearied and wearied began to muse. Suddenly the air began to receive
an alteration and change with a thick foggy mist, as if it would have
shut up the desired day from man’s view, the winds raged, the thunder
lifted up his voice above the common strain, hail and rain immediately
following, and all these but the ordinary presages of an appearing
Spirit. At this Kit began to tremble, not as afraid of that which came,
but struck with inward horror of conscience, thinking that no other
time had been appointed to be his doomsday. Suddenly (for always such
haps are sudden) the doors flew open as if they would have fled from
flying, and in all pomp entered as it were the Prologue of a Comedy,
a fellow so short and little as if he should be of one year, and yet
not so brief as ill-favoured, in his hands a Club, on his head a Crown
of Laurel, riding upon a low Mule, his name was Gomory, a strong and
mighty Duke, the ruler of six and twenty Legions: and next in bravery
appeared Volac, a great Governor, in the shape of a Boy with wings like
an Angel of Hell, seeming to be of old rusty iron, riding upon a Dragon
with four heads, in his hands he held a flaming Torch to give light
to the after-comers and beholders: next after him appeared Asmoday,
a King mighty and puissant, ragged and bristled like a Boar on foot,
bearing a banner or a lance. After him issued Lucifer the King of the
Orient with the four Monarchs of his dominions, betwixt them were two
mighty Spaniels which drew in a fiery Cart Doctor John Faustus, whom if
reason had not better ruled Wagner would have saluted, for so natural
was his semblance, so lively his countenance, as if it had either been
a new Faustus, or not the old murdered Faustus, but the fear which
his Master’s harm put him in, cast him besides the renewing of his
old acquaintance, after these came divers others with trumpets and
excellent melody.
This right marvellous triumph thus presented, each one did his humble
obeisance, the best beginning (though good there were none) and in
the end with huge tumult and echoing of trumpets they crowned him a
King, which when they had done, with the like ceremonies they conveyed
out again the Doctor whom his wretchedness made a King, and his new
King-ship nothing. Wagner started as if he had now begun to marvel,
amazed at this merry Interlude, having recovered his memory again, he
began softly to speak to himself in such-like manner. Is this (quoth
he) the honour my Master hath in Hell? Is this the reverence with
which the Fiends infernal use to entertain such guests? O ye Spirits
of Hell, and ye even now revived Emperors of great Limbus, from whence
have you drawn this extraordinary humanity, is it to scorn poor Faustus
or to mock Wagner that you shew such reverence to a vile object, what
then would they do to Wagner who is worthy to have a fitter servant
than their King? At these words he blushed exceedingly, and began to
rage very grievously with his conscience’s terror, and with some few
tears repenting his irreligious conclusion, rose up from the ground,
and supposing it to be but an illusion, dream, or a temptation, or
else some conceit proceeding from his moist and melancholic fantasy,
overpressed with too many vapours, raised up by continual thought
into his Pores: wherefore he went forthwith into the streets (so
much he distrusted himself) and demanded whether it rained, hailed,
or thundered, and it was answered that it neither rained, hailed,
nor thundered. Wagner, albeit he was newly revived from a fear, and
scarcely thoroughly wakened from this his great terror, yet with this
comical jest his decayed spirits began to recover their old strength
and power, turning these great braveries of Devils into a merriment,
and his conceived fear into a mere fancy. This was the first time that
ever Faustus appeared unto his servant Wagner, who recited this unto
his companions as a matter of great truth and little moment.
CHAPTER II
_How certain drunken Dutchmen were abused by their
own conceit and self-imagination, of seeing the
grand Doctor, Doctor Faustus_
It shall not be impertinent (my very good friends) to declare as I am
bound by a Translator’s duty, to shew what these my Dutch friends and
Students have imparted unto me, not for that I will be a King of your
hearts to command you to believe, but that you may with the rest of the
History conceive the common opinion of him in the vulgar’s belief here
in Germany, as concerning such the like illusions before pretended.
About the same time, the next year wherein Faustus was thus handled
betwixt six and seven o’clock in the morning, the five and twentieth
day of June, 1539, there chanced certain Scholars to the number of
nine, and five other Merchants (called of them Copfhmen) two being
English, to walk abroad to a little village within four English miles
(which is about one of theirs) of Wittenberg called Shaftsburg to the
intent to make merry, whither being come they were exceeding pleasant,
as Dutchmen are, especially when they be at their good Beer, for they
are men very impatient of thirst, wherewith the Italian mocks them
saying:
_Germani multos possunt tolerare labores,
O vtinam possint tam bene ferre sitim._
Unto which they merrily answer:
_Vt nos dura sitis, sic vos Venus improba vexat,
Lex lata est Veneri Iulia, nulla mero._
So long they drank, that at last they came to be within a little of
drunk, fetching over the _Green nine Muses_[45] so often at sundry
draughts, till they began to be exceeding merry and pleasant, till
it being time to depart, so they set out for Wittenberg, and being
within a mile or such a matter of the City, they came to a thick Grove
called of them the Phogelwald which is Bird’s Wood in English, a place
somewhat delightsome above any thereabouts, situated upon a top of a
very high Hill, but the arms of it spread themselves somewhat lower
into the neighbour valleys and meadows, full of very fine Crystalline
brooks and springs, which running through the large ranks of trees
empty themselves into the Elve, a River which keeps his current
by Wittenberg; in this place in a fair Summer sunshine day, gather
together a great number of country maids, servants, and other of the
female sex, which they call Phogels (Birds); unto them there resort
in such-like days, a great number of scholars to meet with these
Birds, which exercise Venery either for pleasure, but indeed seldom
but for gain, with whom when they have danced a great while (after
some odd tune, as after that which they call Robinson’s delight, but
more truly a jest, though somewhat tolerable) some twenty or thirty
or forty couples together, then here steps out one couple, and here
another, and get them to such odd corners, as their continual practice
doth make known; on the same day wherein this merry company were
wandering, who if I should not much err, I durst say they were most
deeply drunk, being a Sun-shining day and having no other way to pass
to Wittenberg, but only by this Phogelwald, where they determined to be
lusty with some of the Phogels, they came at length to these fore-named
places, where as to them it seemed sundry Women dancing, and amongst
them divers Scholars, and verily they deemed Magister Doctor Faustus
likewise, and seeing diverse maids standing idle, so many as would fit
their many, they went to take them by the hands, and as their order is
saluting them, to hop a bout or two (for all the high Dutchmens’ dances
stand upon hopping, turning, winding, and such odd gesture) and as
they seemed, they danced at great leisure till this said Faustus came
to them, requesting them not to be amazed, for that it was reported he
was dead, assuring them in very deed he was not in this World, but
had changed it for a better, which if it did please them he would shew
unto them, where betwixt their delights and his were no comparison,
at his request they were all contented, and he leading the foremost,
brought them down into a fair pleasant green, whereon instead of
certain flowers grew Pots full of ye best beer, which they tasted on,
finding them as good as any that ever they drunk in their whole lives,
and farther into a most rich and sumptuous palace, wherein as they
seemed they dwelt many days with great mirth and pleasure, till at
length one more full of courtesy than the rest thanked Master Faustus
for his good entertainment, at which words suddenly was heard so great
a noise and howling especially of the poor Doctor, who was immediately
reared up into the Air, accompanied with such a sort of black clouds
and mists, as therewith not only the sky, but also their eyes were
mightily darkened, and they brought into a deep Cavern, wherein besides
most soft beds they had nothing to comfort themselves, in which they
wallowed and slept till they snorted, some of the Scholars that were
present at their departure being in a soberer conceit than the rest,
desirous to see whither they would go, followed them fast after, till
they espied them on this dirty ease, for instead of beds they were all
bewrapped, and some more than half sunk in deep and yielding mire by
the river’s banks. Whom when they saw in this more than miserable case,
moved with pity, conveyed them in Waggons home: and being demanded
in the morning (for then they were a little wiser) the occasion of
their so great and seldom seen disorder, they declared it from the
beginning to the ending, which they were so far from believing, that
they counted it as canonical, which when some Students reported unto
me, I could not abstain from hearty laughter, not only to see how they
had abused themselves, but also others by so fond belief. For I said
that in drunkenness, so thick a vapour as riseth from so thick a matter
as their Beer, clambering up and spreading itself so universally in the
fantasy, maketh it conceive no other impression, but that which the
mind, afore it came to be overpressed, was conversant about, and it was
evident that in all the talk they had, there was nothing mentioned but
only Faustus, and Faustus’ merriments, and where a thing is amongst so
many so agreeingly talked of, it is likely it should take effect as
well in all as in one. Well, I was content to subscribe to their folly
rather to satisfy their self-willed conceits, than mine own thought.
Many odd pranks Faustus is made the father of, which are either so
frivolous as nobody can credit but like frivolous people, or so merely
smelling of the Cask, that a man may easily know the child by the
Father.
[Footnote 45: Perhaps a toast.]
CHAPTER III
_Wagner’s conference with Doctor Faustus, and how miserably
they broke up their disputations_
Wagner one morning arose betimes and departed to Wittenberg, but
a small mile from the house, and having purveyed himself of all
necessaries, was admitted for a scholar (immediately after his Master
was departed out of this World) into the University. Where, for that he
was Faustus’ true and familiar servant, he was both well and manifoldly
acquainted, wherein he remained in all solace amongst a great number
of his companions, who then rather frequented his company, not only
for that he was Faustus his servant, whose memory was very freshly
continued among them, but that they were verily assured that he had a
great part of his Master’s skill and science, which they honoured with
more than lawful reverence.
Upon a day Christopher Wagner (as many times he did) separated himself
from his other companions and friends, to ruminate upon his melancholic
conceits, erring far in a place full of Trees and the fulness of Trees
gave it the name of a Grove, suddenly like as all such chances hap,
Faustus or Faustus’ Spirit clapped him upon the shoulder, saying:
Wagner, good morrow. Wagner availed[46] his Scholar’s Bonnet, thinking
verily that he was some other Student, but beholding his Master
Faustus, he was most terribly affrighted, and stepping aside he began
to mumble to himself a _Benedicite_, and crossing himself, rehearsing
and saying _CONIVRO TE IN NOMINE PATRIS ET FILII ET SPIRITUS SANCTI_,
etc. making Circle, etc.
Faustus rolling his eyes and for mere fury and anger stamping, bound
(for so he seemed) with the vehemency of the Exorcism ran about most
terribly the brims thereof, that therewith the neighbour ground did
seem to tremble, casting out a blackish slomy[47] sulphury smoke out
of his mouth, wherewith the bright air was much darkened, at length
appeased, either forced with necessity or knavery, he spake and that
very distinctly. Wagner (qd. he) art thou afeared of me as of a Spirit,
or infernal Ghost, am not I (ungrateful rascal) Faustus, am not I thy
Master Faustus? quoth Wagner very confidently, what thou wert I know,
what also thou art who knows not? Though once my Master, now thou shalt
be my servant, though once my friend and familiar, now I may justly
term thee neither, the Laws of Devils hath not made me secure from thy
tyranny, and how may thy friendship avail me? For how can that help
which is not? affections are not amongst Fiends, nor passions amongst
Spirits.
* * * * *
Wherefore Faustus if thou wilt that I be thy Master, as whether thou
wilt or no, I will Conjure thee, etc. to answer directly and truly
to all my questions. Ah Wagner (quoth Faustus) is this the duty of a
servant? dost thou mistrust that in me, which neither I mean nor thou
of honest thought and duty oughtest imagine? And as for affections
in Spirits, certainly there is none, but I am none, feel me my good
Wagner, behold flesh, blood, and bones, and Spirits have neither flesh,
blood, nor bones. Believe me I shall teach thee the nature and essence
of Devils, I will teach thee that which neither thou canst desire of me
or think _Extra captum humanum_. Then my good Boy Wagner come to me,
and use me not as a Spirit whose body is nothing but a Spirit, and
as Logicians say _Substantia incorporea_, and I will open unto thee
the secrets of the World, and Hell, and else whatsoever in the works
of Nature. Come my Wagner my son, my darling, my sweet delight, and
rejoicing, the only hope of my labours, boldly, lovingly, courteously
above all, which am the very same matter and substance I once was,
and if thou doubtest as well thou mayest reach thy hand to me, for I
cannot mine to thee, and feel whether I am not as I say I am, flesh,
blood, and bones: Wagner half astonished at this his fervent speech,
yet rather hearing it than believing it: Why Faustus, let me speak to
you somewhat more considerately, thou sayest thou art substance, and
all substance is heavy, and no heavy thing can ascend upwards, and as
thy conference with Mephostophiles doth plainly declare, the place
of Spirits is in the Air, in which nothing that is heavy can remain,
and therefore thou art not substance or not Faustus. Quoth Faustus,
that no heavy things is in the Air is plainly false, for thou seest
that material bodies are in the Air, as hail, snow, and other meteors:
Whereto Wagner answered: Faustus, they truly are in the Air, not of the
Air, and you know the causes of them are terrestrial vapours drawn from
the earth by the attractive virtue of the Sun, and therefore they fall
down because they are heavy, for were they of the Air as are Spirits,
then should they still remain in it, but briefly no violent motion
may be called natural, as that heavy material Dew is carried from the
earth by a violent and contrary motion: the Sun therefore leaving
the Zenith of any Horizon, and coming to the Nadir oppositely, the
material bodies of Dew (as the causes always fail with the effects),
and nextly the concretion of Snow and Hail, because they are substance,
cannot remain in the light and unheavy Air: Wherefore I have answered
thee that thou art either a Spirit or not substance. I wondered when
I read this discourse, with what patience the Doctor could endure so
long an argument, but it proved otherwise, for the Doctor brake forth
into these speeches, unable to contain himself any longer. Wagner, thou
seemest to gather natural arguments of Metaphysical effects, I say
unto thee Wagner sith thou art thus far entered into a Philosophical
discourse, that I being as I am Faustus, may be, for so I am, a dweller
in the profound Abyss of the Air, whose compass is measurable in this,
that it is not measurable: For let us speak according to men naturally,
the rather to fit thy capacity, we see that in the regiment of man’s
body, the man is of quality like to the predominant complexion and
Element, as if Choler abound, the man is light, nimble, and for a
while furious, seldom strong, ready to meddle, and carried away with
phanatick illusions: If Blood abound, he is ruddy, fair, gentle, etc.
_Et sic de reliquis._ If therefore the predominant Element is able so
much to change the nature of man, as to make it above the rest capable
or incapable, the same reason maketh that this body of mine which thou
seest, being governed and predomineered by that quick and ready spirit
and soul which makes a man immortal, is no hindrance why this corporal
reality of me should accompany my Spirit, not as a body, but as a part
of the same Spirit; and otherwise _Wagner_, the whole world is in the
Air, and as it were the centre of the Heavens, and what substances
soever is made, Fishes which dwell in the deep Seas except (and yet
not always) are moved in the Air, Kit, believe me I am as thou seest
Faustus and the same very same.
Wagner almost at the last cast, said, we dispute not what you are
Faustus, but what by reason you may be. Well, answered Faustus, seeing
thou wilt not believe, nor give any credit to my sayings, and which I
prove by arguments, I hope thou wilt believe thine own eyes, and if
thou seest what I say unto thee, thou wilt neither be obstinate nor
incredulous, and rather than Wagner (whom I do love as myself) should
be carried away with so palpable an Heresy, behold Wagner and believe,
and straightways he drew his knife, the Prologue of his knavery, and
looking first upon Wagner, and next on the weapon which he had in his
hand, as if with his eyes he would have moved him to some pity, and
moved them to be witnesses of the truth, he struck himself into his
thigh twice or thrice, and after his strokes followed blood so hastily,
as if it would have overtaken the injurious worker of his effusion:
which blood Faustus received in a silver Bowl, and staunching his
wound, but not until the blood might be seen over the Cup-brims, then
Faustus lifted the blood on high saying: See here the witness of the
truth, Wagner take it, look how fresh it is, it is not that which comes
from a Spirit, it is blood both in nature and colour, and if this be
not enough to make thee believe that which I do tell thee, it boots
not, there is not any truth at all.
I thought it enough for an extemporal Dis[48] and controversy, I
thought the scholar had heard as well and as long as the Doctor
had taught, but yet he had not ended. Wagner receiving the Cup and
looking on the blood, beheld him without saying anything, shewing by
his silence his meaning. Faustus minding to revenge and recompense
Wagner his unbelief, nay further (quoth he) feel my hand, tell me
whether it hath not the natural heat and essential solidity: then
immediately he stretched forth his arm. Wagner with sudden ecstasy of
joy carried away, ran to embrace his old Master, as his new friend,
whom when Faustus had encircled he fell to beating the poor Scholar
most miserably, that Wagner’s pitiful roaring seemed to be an Echo to
the Doctor’s blows, now (quoth Faustus) hereafter be learned either
to be more wary or less mistrustful, and therewith laughing effusedly
vanished away, leaving Wagner to be a witness (yet almost half dead
with his buffeting) of their conference, and that he was a good
substantial Burgess of Hell: Wagner, poor Boy, for the space of seven
hours not able scarce of himself to stir or to take breath, and without
much stirring either of hand or foot, whereby any able life might be
conjectured: At length lifting up his head and sighing a little (for
a little was as much as he could do at that time), he reared himself
up, and laying his head upon his hand and his hand upon the ground,
he after sighs sent out most sorrowful groans, and after groans some
feeble words, as he after reported it to his companions and familiar
acquaintance: to accuse either his Master’s rigour or his own folly,
he thought as merely vain as little prevailing: Wherefore comforting
himself with his misery, because he was comfortless, rose up, and
looking for the cup of blood (for the gain of the silver moved him): In
place whereof he found his Cap full of piss, and all beraied,[49] sore
ashamed and sore withal, so well as he might, which was sorely enough,
he rose up, and what by creeping and going he got home to his Chamber,
where he abode till he had recovered his health again.
Thus was his Philosophical incredulity recompensed with rustical
cruelty, such was the good love of the Spirit that for a long space
after he was not able to walk out his Chamber. This did he affirm
for most certain truth, and to his saying added his beaten skin, a
testimonial and witness to his familiarly beloved acquaintance, one of
the which recounted it all summarily in a Letter from Wittenberg to me,
where I was at Lyptzig, knowing that I intended to certify my friends
in England of a matter so notable and strange, and worthy of memory,
and augmented by Fame more than of very deed, for the idle-headed
fellows having gotten such a notable fellow as Faustus to Father
their lies upon, ceased not daily and hourly to beget new children,
but they cost very little nursing and bringing up, they had the wide
World, a very good Grandam where they might feed their fill: As for the
disputations betwixt those two in this place, and those which you shall
find in other places likewise abundantly, consider from whose brains
they proceed, for you must give the German leave to shew his Art, for
wit for the most part they have very little, but that which they toil
for like Cart Horses. But in all their doings you shall easily perceive
if anything be in them excellent, either with how much liking and
urging they bring it forth or how it is wetted over with dropping of
the Tap exceedingly.
[Footnote 46: Doffed.]
[Footnote 47: Sluggish, or gloomy.]
[Footnote 48: Possibly _discourse_ or _disputation_.]
[Footnote 49: Dirtied.]
CHAPTER IV
_Wagner’s cozenage committed upon the sellers of his
Master’s goods_
According to the Law of the country the goods of Faustus were to be
confiscate and applied to the Treasury, by an Edict published against
Conjurers by Sigismund, Duke of Saxony. According to the tenor thereof
Faustus’ goods were to be alienated, but Wagner so handled the matter
that the spear being stuck up,[50] and his goods set to be sold, Wagner
had provided bidders and money of his own, the one were such as never
were seen more, and the other but round counters. The Messengers being
thus cozened by Wagner, durst not for shame report it, nor he for fear
of further punishment vaunt of it: the one contented to put up the loss
quietly, and the other to enjoy them without further contradiction.
[Footnote 50: The sign of an auction in ancient Rome.]
CHAPTER V
_The description of Vienna_
Fame had so far carried the report of Faustus’ death, as it had the
memory of his life, and for by continual motion rumours increase, as
saith the Heroical fountain of Latin verse Virgil,
_Mobilitate viget viresque acquirit eundo._
In Austrich these news were very frequent, being a Province mightily
replenished with people, and marching upon the hems of the Hungarian,
is a near neighbour to the most cruel Dog and tyrant the Turk. In
Vienna, a City of the same, by which, as the Thames by London, the
great and often but never enough praised River of great Danuby keeps
his current, the City itself (being every way bigger then the fair
City of London) within the Walls, the head of the City resteth upon
the mountain of Orstkirken, the front displayeth the wide plains upon
the descendant of the same Hill, but she washes her feet in the River:
her body and her breast covering the large valley lying betwixt Hill
and Hill, not far into the City the Danuby is derived into two arms,
which by running about a certain Hill, of some half mile and more,
meet at length again in the same Channel: in this Island is the Duke’s
Court, out of which are two and thirty marvellous goodly stone Bridges,
intending to either side of the City: at the very promontories’ ends,
stands two no less fair, than high and strong Castles, in this place
did the Duke keep his Court, with very great royalty, unto whom when
this was reported, hearing of a certain that Wagner had great store of
his Master’s skill and whatsoever, he caused one that in such matters
is commonly commanded, to ride to Wittenberg, to the intent to hear the
truth, for many things more than the truth were certified unto him: the
messenger without delay (because the journey was long) departed and
left the Court, and we him a while.
CHAPTER VI
_A long discourse betwixt the Devil and Wagner, and ended with a good
Philosophical repast_
Wagner solitary musing in his Chamber and conversing with many
multitudes of thoughts, suddenly appeared Mephostophiles, his master’s
Familiar, after him Akercocke, which was Wagner’s, and after all
Faustus: Quoth Mephostophiles, what cheer? Sirrah such as you see, we
are as we were and never-the-better: and welcome Akercocke, but my very
good Faustus, that you come at this time I rejoice. So then they all
sat down, and sat right against him. Then entered in divers delicate
viands, and there not then to be ended, with unseen Symphonies of
Music. Then spake Wagner and said _Claudite iam riuos_, now we have
satisfied our appetite with meat, I pray you hear me with patience,
for I have a thing in my mind of which I would fain be resolved, but
because you so foully, and so often foully entreated my Master, for
demanding some questions, you shall ratify this Article with me again.
I. _That in my demands you shall answer truly and patiently_, for what
hurt can redound to you by answering of a question, seeing if you are
sure of anything you may hold fast, a question cannot take it away:
Without delay these good fellows confirmed the Article with a great
oath: but he would take their simple word without surety, he knew their
honesty so well. Then Wagner pulling down his Cap into his eyes, and
leaning upon his elbow a while, and throwing up his eyes to heaven, and
then sighing, at length folding his arms within themselves, sat still a
little time, then spitting a little and fetching a hearty hem, with a
good courage spake unto them thus.
* * * * *
Sirs, it is not unknown unto you how dear I have always accounted of
my Master, whose condition is as far from that it was as mine from
yours, for which I have more often lamented his departure than mine own
misery, being once every way a man, so thoroughly instructed with the
weapons of all Sciences, that in all the world hardly his peer could be
found, so that your victory over such a man is more to be wailed than
over many a thousand such as I am. To be short, that you may understand
whither I will go without further Oration. Wherefore I desire you, I
pray you, nay I by your Article command you, that you declare unto me
truly without collusion, whether that Faustus here present in that
state wherein he now is, may come again to be a living man amongst us,
either his old shape renewed, or he in a new: For some Philosophers
say, and some Divines, as Origenes and Tertullian, and whether they
say truly or no I know not, that no sooner the soul of man departeth
from one but that it both enter into another. Wherefore I considering
with myself thus much, and often for his cause that he may not only be
Faustus, but also a living man and dweller upon the earth, to enjoy
not only those graces which through his great deserts he had lost,
but also according to his infinite knowledge, multiply them through
God’s favours again and again abundantly. And though you shall perhaps
deny that the same Individual cannot be again so resuscitated, yet
that Numero it may in spite of you all, I know it may: for we do not
doubt that the same Individual may Numero be again regotten, because
that after seven and thirty thousand years, the heavenly constellation
shall be in every point _per totum_ the same then that now it is,
according to Plato and the Astronomers. And therefore we shall be ye
same in Numero, and shall sit in this or that school or place as now
we do, that is in that _Magno anno_, in that great year: Whereupon
Plato said, that after the great year he should return to Athens, and
should there read: Because the constellation shall happen so, therefore
that returning, the same effects shall with them likewise return. Now
having heard my resolution, answer me to my first proposition in full
and amply, as that I may be satisfied. At the conclusion of this speech
Faustus turned his head aside laying it betwixt his hands hiding it, so
sat a great while. Akercocke he frisked up and down, for he had neither
clog nor chain, because he was in the number of the wild ones, and over
the table and back again. Akercocke was the familiar which Faustus
gave to Wagner who asked him in the fashion of an Ape. Such cranks,
such lifts, careers and gambalds,[51] as he played there, would have
made a horse laugh. Mephostophiles who as it seemed was the speaker of
ye Parliament in hell, rose and walked about very hastily, at length
he came to the table and striking his fist on it (the print was seen
two years after, and was carried to S. Marget’s church for a relique,
to shew what a hot fellow the Devil is in his anger) and again beating
said, thou, and then left, and came and went, and came and went again,
here he takes me one book and hurls it against a Cupboard, and then he
takes the Cupboard and hurls it against the wall, and then he takes the
wall and throws it against the house, and the house out at the Window.
Pacifying his rage at the length, rolling his eyes, and seeming to
beat his teeth together, sat down further off, and thus quietly spake
with a loud voice. Were it not Wagner that our solemn vow forbiddeth
to disturb or torment thee for any demands, this thy fond pride should
be rewarded with most intolerable punishments: As for the question, I
will answer thee more substantially than such a foolish doltish one
doth require. And for that we have day enough before us, I will travel
further in it then ye gravity of the argument can require, if it be but
that thou mayest see how great an Ass thou art, which canst imagine so
gross a matter in thy more gross head: As for thy great Peer,[52] be
it as you expect it you, in the mean we will enjoy him and thee at our
pleasure in despite of God and Heaven and all his imperial armies of
saints. Thy question is this: _Whether the Spirit of a damned man can
return into the body of another man._ To which I answer Negatively,
it cannot.
[Illustration: LUTHER’S HOUSE AND SURROUNDINGS IN THE YEAR 1611]
[Illustration: THE CASTLE OF WITTENBERG IN THE YEAR 1611]
1. If this were to them granted, then they should observe and keep the
Embryons in the Womb of the mother, that they might constitutively
unite themselves to it, to have at the leastwise, sensual consolation
and delectation.
2. Then secondly, because it is common to reasonable creatures to
fashion and informate the body, and to perfect it with some natural
delightment, not to vex it.
3. Then thirdly, because of the law and order of Nature, the souls
from the places in their departure to them allotted, assigned and
deputed of God, neither do nor can depart at any time: for it is
written: For the soul is a Spirit going and returning. And they which
do otherwise hold opinion are to be accused, nay condemned in this with
Pythagoras, who did abstain from all living Animals and creatures,
believing that in some the souls of some men did dwell and abide. Thus
far the Arrogonian named Bartholomew Sybilla,[53] a Monopolitan, who
writ upon this question being at Wittenberg, at the request of him that
did set forth the Dutch Copy, shews himself to be a good Philosopher
and no worse Divine. But mark what follows, this is written according
to men in faith: the Devil was out of the first street of Coany when
he was past this last period. For that Pythagorical opinion, if that
were: this absurdity would follow: (I will speak plainly the rather
to fit thy capacity), and if the soul should pass out of the dead
into the living, then should mortality be the cause of the soul’s
immortality (this is prettily spoken) and by that means make it
corruptible, which cannot be. And seest thou Wagner? for I will teach
thee by demonstrations, and therewith he took a coal of fire, and held
it to him so long that it came to be but a coal, now thou seest Wagner,
that so long as fire was in this subject it had life, but the quality
being removed from the quantity, neither is the quality found or seen
or known whither it vanisheth, nor can the same fire though fire may
return into another body or subject albeit the quantity remaineth. Thus
may the soul of man be compared to the fire in the coal, as concerning
his entrance and departure, but not re-entrance, for that coal may take
life again, that is fire, but so cannot human body, because one spirit
can be united but to one body, and not two to one, nor one spirit to
two bodies: Wherefore that Spirit being departed, it is irrevocable
because of the unity, and the impossibility of returning in the one,
in the other of receiving any other. As for other reasons directly by
circumstance, if the Soul goeth either to joy or pain immediately,
then I am certain that that hope which thou hast is so merely vain, as
anything which may hap under that title: For proof behold, and then
through the Wainscot door of Wagner’s study entered in two Kings, which
drawing their swords did there in presence combat together fiercely and
courageously, one of them shortly after fainting under the adversary’s
strokes fell down, the other victorious, yet wounded, very canonically
as a man may say, staggered immediately, as if he would fain have
not fallen, yet for all that, he fell; then entered two men carrying
Torches with the snuffs downwards, with great solemnity (more than is
needful to be recapitulated, for I see nothing but that this might have
been very well left out for anything worthy the gravity of the matter)
which when they had carried out the first slain combatant, with armed
men, and a dying stroke of the Drum, clothed all in the colour which
best notes by his external hue the internal sorrow. Then next there
entered two Pages all in silver white, crowned with Bays, carrying
their Torches aloft declaring the height of their glory by the height
of their flames: next to them divers Trumpeters and all in white,
urging forth into the vast air their victorious flourishes, next a
great standard bearer, and I cannot tell what, but the conclusion was,
that the triumph was exceeding great and pompous, adorned with as many
ceremonies as such a victory might or could be, the Spirit when they
were all gone began to speak and said, this was the battle which was
fought for the great Realm of Asia, by Hercules and Orontides, where
Orontides was slain, and Hercules sore wounded, but yet recovered,
after which he achieved his twelve labours, and the thirteenth of which
the Poet speaketh, the hardest of all.
_Tertius hinc decimus labor est durissimus, una
Quinquaginta simul stuprauit nocte puellas._
This History is as I do think in the Chronicle of Hell, for I did never
hear of it before, nor anybody else, I appeal to all the Histories.
Marry it may be this was when Hercules was a little Boy, and then
peradventure indeed the records make no mention of it, but yet we have
that recorded which he did when he was less than a little Boy, as his
killing of a Serpent in his Cradle, and such a History as I do remember
is enrolled in the golden Book of the seven wise Masters of Rome, an
authentical author. But let that pass and let us draw more near unto
the cause: For as the Devil was afore our days, so by authority he
may allege experience, and we must of necessity believe that it is
either true or a lie. Mephostophiles continued his speech for all
this parenthesis, declaring to Wagner his meaning in this point for
(quoth he) as you see these two champions contending for the title of
victory, one of them must needs, if they try the extremest as they did,
receive the dishonour, the other the glory, so in the combat wherein
the dying body battleth with the lively soul, the soul, if grace hath
made acceptable, shall enjoy those everlasting pleasures of Paradise,
and dwell in heaven blessed and glorious amongst the beautiful Angels,
but if it be counted as reprobate and outcast of God, then according
to that punishment which his great sins did deserve, he can have no
other place but the continual horror of hell, wherein we miserable
dwell, and the ugly company of black Devils and his frightful Angels.
There is no other mean but honour or dishonour in this case, no other
mean but joy or pain, no other mean but heaven or hell perpetually:
there is no place left for a third. I could more copiously dispute
of this matter, but that I will not be too tedious in so exile[54] a
question. For where it is said in an author to which I am witness,
for I stood by his elbow when he writ the lines. _Animae sunt in loco
certo et expectant indicium neq; se inde possunt commouere._ Which
place as appeareth in the precedent chapter is heaven or hell: again
it is said _Anima quae pecauerit ipsa morietur_. Of necessity then the
soul to whom the Lord imputeth not his sin shall live, for they are
immediate oppositions, for the soul that is in joy will not come to
these troubles, nor that which is in torment cannot: therefore it is
said: _Et reuertatur puluis in terram quemadmodum erat, et spiritus
reuertatur ad Dominum qui dedit ilium_, so there is no mention in any
scripture of the soul’s returning, but to a certain place deputed of
God to him. But before I go any further in ye declaring of that which
is here to be set down, I know they that have their consciences more of
the precise cut, will say, that here was a learned Devil, true it is
he is learned, strong, and above all human conceit, subtle and crafty:
and if they say it is blasphemously done to have the word spoken to the
world by so vile a mouth, first they know how mightily the Devil is
conversant in holy writ, in anything to over-throw a Christian thought,
knowing that as ye word of God is a word of power to attain salvation
to whom grace is given: and to work eternal damnation where that gift
is wanting, knowing it is the only means to debel[55] and conquer the
Christian thought, for as a man is governed by a law and by it lives,
so if anything be evidently directed against him in it, it slays his
heart, it overthrows him, it takes away his power for ever, nor is it
more blasphemous to be spoke to us men, than to God himself, as it is
in S. Alathero, where the Devil was not afeared, to assail his creator
with most terrible arguments of the divine letter. They which have
right minds can persuade themselves accordingly: but otherwise they may
cavil as long as they will, which they may do to their small profit,
assuring them this that in coveting by fault finding to seem learned,
they make themselves the notes and reproach not only of the learned,
but even of the absurd and barbarous rude fools, and that they are the
only spirits of error and contention, and the chief causes of unbelief
by vain reasonings and questions to the unresolved Christian. But as
for this speech which is but _Humile dicendi genus_ in very truth,
let them thus think, that if there were any such controversy betwixt
Wagner and his Spirit, as is here mentioned, that those are not the
words which were spoken, but that they do proceed from a young Scholar
who gave me this copy, and not of a Devil, of whose familiarity and
frequency and of other circumstantive causes, I will God willing in
the Catastrophe and conclusion of this Book deliver unto you my poor
opinion. In the meanwhile I will follow the matter into which we are
fallen, my good friends, and without further ado I pray without any
more excusive phrase, patiently expect the good hour wherein the death
of this volume is prepared: Mephostophiles taking breath a little,
presented his speech saying: it is said likewise. _Factum est autem
vt moreretur mendicus, etc. And it came to pass that the beggar died,
and was carried away of Angels into Abraham’s bosom, and that rich man
died and was buried, and he being in Hell lifted up his eyes, when he
was in torments, and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom._
Nor nothing doth that impugn which is said of the Papist, that he
cannot come into God’s presence nor be one of the elect unless they be
purified from their sins, for which purification, they ordain a place
so terribly stuck with pins, needles, daggers, swords, nails, etc., so
soultring[56] with hot burning furnaces, and so every way formidable
with material sulphury fires, that no tongue can express, nor any heart
imagine, wherein the sinful soul must be many times and often cleansed,
but I hope if this were true then Lazarus should have been likewise so
dressed in their terrible imagined terrors, which he was not, unless
they will be so impudent to say that he had no sin. I shall not need to
dispute how absurd it is to say that the sin of the soul in the body
committed, must be extirpated and purified by a material substance and
rigour, nor of the matter of the like argument. And hereupon he seemed
to sigh as if some sudden thought had overpressed his stomach. I can,
quoth he, largely discourse of all divine and human propositions, but
as the unlearned Parrot who speaketh oft and much, and understandeth
never anything to profit himself. Ah that unto us Spirits no secrets
are secret, no doings of man unhid, and yet we Devils cursed of God
are incapable of any of God’s mercies, though through them we were
created. We know repentance is the way to attain the celestial favour:
we know God’s mercies how great they are, and that we ought to despair
of nothing, yet there is nothing (such is our seeing blindness) so it
appertain to God and godliness, of which we do not despair. No, Wagner,
we are so far from living again, as we are from certainty to be saved.
But instead of that we are crossed with all kind of vexation, for since
the first time that I with my Master and fellows fell down from heaven,
being of the most royal order of Angels, Potestates, Cherubins, and
Seraphins, riding upon the wrings of the Wind in all bright shining
Majesty, and enjoying the most glorious and divine presence of our
Creator, till for our heart-swelling pride, and haughty insolency,
within as little space of time as we were created in, with his dreadful
lightning threw us down headlong into the bottomless Abysses of the
Air, wherein we endure these tortures and like wicked souls with us, as
our manifold deserts have brought upon us. And for that we know that
the way to mercy is utterly denied, and that we are as much hated of
ourselves as of God, we think it the sweetest remedy in these manifold
miseries to have partakers of our common woe with us. Wherefore it
is most expedient for us to be thus enviously malicious against all
mankind, making them too as far in God’s dreadful curse as ourselves.
Wagner melting at these words, his eyes undid the great burthen of
his sorrow, straining himself so long that he wept, and yet could
say nothing, but only a small volley of sobs hastily following:
Mephostophiles seeing how Wagner was drowned in so deep a melancholy,
told him pulling him by the sleeve, that he would be still demanding of
such foolish questions which will profit him so little as mought be.
Knowest thou not (quoth he) that all the Rhetorics are the servants of
my tongue, or that we can move pity or hatred when we please, fool as
thou art, forget these vain conferences, persuade thyself that they are
but the effect of speech, long canst thou not live, and yet dost thou
live as if thou didst not long: youthly should be thy thoughts, and
fraught with the rank lustiness of conceit and amorous delight, if thou
wilt ask questions, let them be such as appertain to love and wealth,
to pleasure, to pastime, and to merriment. How sayest thou to such a
one, naming a Gentlewoman, the most beautiful Lady under the cope of
Heaven? Thou shalt enjoy her, nay, anyone so she be one whom thou lists
to call beautiful, whosoever thy eyes shall lay their delight upon. And
presently Music was heard so sweet, so plenteous, and so ravishing,
as if on Music depended all sweet, all plenty, all ravishment. The
doors conveying themselves aside, as giving place to so divine a
fairness, entering in a blue Velvet Gown raised, and thickly beset
in the gards[57] with most pure Ooches[58] of gold, not altogether
ignorant of precious stones, furred with royal Ermines, loose about
her: her head’s ornament (though greater ornament to her head than her
head there could not be) was a kind of attired Caul (such as I have
seen none in England according to their description) raised up at the
corners with stiff square wires of beaten gold, on that a Chaplet or
frontier of Roses, on the Chaplet a veil of Lawn, which covered all
her fair body denying the sight of such an Angel, but only through a
shadow: In brief she was such a one as would have roused the basest
desire in the whole World to attempt wondrous enterprises, in her hands
silken soft, she held a Lute, discoursing sweetly upon the solemn
strings with her nimble fingers. A maid carrying a blue waxen Taper
in a silver white Candlestick made in the fashion of a Censer, but it
was derived into two several branches, in whose ends were curiously
wrought two most beautiful places to pight[59] tapers on. The maid by
her Lady would have well contented a reasonable proper Squire, it was
a pretty rank lass, round about as plump as a Bladder, which being yet
smoking new is blown up with Wind: well I will not trouble you with
these rude descriptions any longer, but desire you to conceive the
excellency of this fair Lady, for it is far more copious in the Dutch
Copy than is here necessary to be recapitulated. Wagner’s heart leaping
at this sight looked about him, as if he would have nobody privy to
himself but himself, and so it was indeed, for Faustus, Mephostophiles,
and Akercocke were gone, and thereupon with a boon courage advancing
himself upon his toes, and weeding himself in the best German fashion,
as he could very well, began to travel unto her, but remembering his
bad apparel stepped back and blushed, and hid his face, but suddenly
returning again as if he had known now how rather to become his weeds,
began to fewter[60] himself, but, O wonder, his habit was changed with
his thought, and he was now no more Wagner but Armisuerio the Lady’s
Lord. And to be short this new Armisuerio and old Wagner met with the
Lady, and saluting her in the best kind of _Bon noche_,[61] used her
as he would do his Lady, and she him as her Lord. So passing over their
weary night in such pleasure as I could find in my heart to enjoy, or
any Man (unless an Eunuch beside).
[Footnote 51: Gambols.]
[Footnote 52: i.e. Faust, or perhaps _Year_.]
[Footnote 53: Author of _Speculum Peregrinarum Questionum_, 1493.]4
[Footnote 54: Poor, attenuated.]
[Footnote 55: Subdue.]
[Footnote 56: Sweltering.]
[Footnote 57: Ornamental border, or trimming.]
[Footnote 58: _Ouch_ or _nouch_ was a kind of brooch.]
[Footnote 59: To pitch.]
[Footnote 60: Brush up.]
[Footnote 61: Good night (Spanish).]
CHAPTER VII
_The arrival of the Messenger at Wittenberg, and
the description of Wagner_
It is time to wind about another furrow with our sweating Team and
bring our speech to another matter, entering out of one into another,
for change is sweet. Not forgetting by the way the Pursuivant, or, as
we may better call him, a Messenger, who lately departed from Vienna
in Austria, and I think by that time this disputation was finished,
had almost overtaken all the way betwixt him and home, which was some
fifteen days’ travel, after five German miles to the day’s labour, and
arrived at Wittenberg, by enquiry came to Wagner’s chamber, which was
in the way as ye go to the Public Schools, as ye go from Melanchthon’s
house, a pretty house and of a reasonable large size built of hewn
stone, and environed with a good thick Wall, of some three foot and
a half thick and twenty high, at the bottom guarded about with a
good broad Mount of seven yards over, and round about very large and
secret walks, far from all company and resort, and there he might
talk without fear with the Devil and his Dam too, thither this fellow
coming, knocked peremptorily at the door, Wagner was even now gone to
his study and rising up in a Pedlar’s chafe,[62] that he should go to
his book, especially if it were goodness not once in a month, and yet
then to be troubled, he swore a little thing would make him never study
more, it should not, but putting on his cloak and his hat, came down
and unbolted the door: Unto whom the Messenger seeing such a pretty
jolly fellow did some little of reverence, Wagner as yet scarce having
let down his choler, stepped back, and perceiving him wear such a Weed
as Serjeants there do use to wear, thinking with himself that some had
come from the prince for cozening of his servants, shut the door upon
him and went pouting and swearing and pitifully chafing, that if the
knave offered to sue him, he would surely kill him at the least, down
he fetched a good Bastinado and set it behind the door and opened it
again, and demanded somewhat mildly what he had to say unto him, to
whom the Messenger said, that he came from the Arch-Duke of Austria
from Vienna, who willing to hear some certainty of his Master, did send
for him assuring himself, that not only he could satisfy his desire in
that matter, but also shew him as much skill as ever his Master had.
Wagner hearing the purpose of his message with good effectual words,
thanked him again, and rendered most serviceable reverence to his good
Lord and Master for remembering so gently of his poor servant, etc.
Desiring him to tarry until he might set everything in due order and
he would not fail to go with him. The Messenger did not deny him,
and so they went up together into their Chamber, whom ever after the
Messenger loved dearly for his proper behaviour and personage, for
indeed Wagner was a very goodly young man, being about the common
stature, straight and reasonably slender, well trussed, his hair very
yellow and his face fair, his beard which did but now express the
blossoms of his lusty courage of ye like yellow, well-mannered, as
having been brought up amongst the finest and best sort of Devils:
having a pleasant filed tongue, and would make the dainty Rhetoric
come as smoothly out of his mouth as an arrow out of a piece of paper,
well could he talk of amorous devices, and entreat the bravest Ladies
with sweet entertainment, in truth by report he was a Gentle-like man,
and accomplished with as many fine parts as a better man than he might
justly vaunt of: he could play upon any fine Instrument, and was not
ignorant of any laudable exercises, carrying a brave lusty conceit even
to his death: and furnished with many proportions of art, there was
nothing wanting in the man but a Godly mind.
[Footnote 62: Rage, temper.]
CHAPTER VIII
_The Tragedy of Doctor Faustus seen in the Air, and
acted in the presence of a thousand people of
Wittenberg. An. 1540_
In a brave summer Sunshine day, the whole people of Wittenberg being
gathered together, to behold certain matches for the Garland who
could drink most, and also to see a match shot at a pair of Butts
with Harquebusiers, as their order is, in a low meadow hard by the
Elve: which now being on his freshest pride was full of fine and sweet
flowers, being in the latter end of the month, wherein the Sun departs
from the last embracings of _Gemini_. On a sudden there was seen a
marvellous bright and glorious Rainbow, spreading the wide arms over
the wide World, and straight was there heard a noise of Trumpets,
sounding a short flourish, and then another, and by and by another,
all alike short, at the which the assembly was wondrously affeard,
and listened, desirous to see the effect of this wonder and strange
miracle, some of them fell to their _Ave Maries_ lustily, thinking
that the universal Doom had been at that instant, as thus they beheld
with admiration, they might distinctly perceive a goodly Stage to be
reared (shining to sight like the bright burnish gold) upon many a fair
Pillar of clearest Crystal, whose feet rested upon the Arch of the
broad Rainbow, therein was the high Throne wherein the King should sit,
and that proudly placed with two and twenty degrees to the top, and
round about curious wrought chairs for divers other Potentates, there
might you see the ground-work at the one end of the Stage whereout the
personated Devils should enter in their fiery ornaments, made like the
broad wide mouth of an huge Dragon, which with continual armies of
smoke and flame breathed forth his angry stomach’s rage, round about
the eyes grew hairs not so horrible as men call bristles, but more
horrible as long and stiff spears, the teeth of this Hell’s mouth far
outstretching, and such as a man might well call monstrous, and more
than a man can by words signify: to be short his hue of that colour
which to himself means sorrow, and to others ministers like passion: a
thick lamp-black, blacker then any paint, any Hell, blacker than its
own self. At the other end in opposition was seen the place wherein the
bloodless skirmishes are so often performed on the Stage, the Walls
not (so pleasant as old wives would have their tales adorned with)
of Pasty crust, but Iron attempered with the most firm steel, which
being brightly filed shone as beautifully over the whole place as the
Pale shining Cynthia, environed with high and stately Turrets of the
like metal and beauty, and hereat many in-gates and out-gates: out of
each side lay the bended Ordnance, shewing at their wide hollows the
cruelty of death: out of sundry loops many large Banners and Streamers
were pendant, briefly nothing was there wanting that might make it a
fair Castle. There might you see, to be short, the Gibbet, the Posts,
the Ladders, the tiring house, there everything which in the like
houses either use or necessity makes common. Now above all was there
the gay Clouds _Vsque quaque_ adorned with the heavenly firmament, and
often spotted with golden tears which men call Stars: There was lively
portrayed the whole Imperial Army of the fair heavenly inhabitants,
the bright Angels, and such whose names to declare in so vile a matter
were too impious and sacrilegious. They were so naturally done that
you would have sworn it had been Heaven itself or the Epitome of it,
or some second Heaven, and a new Heaven it was, from thence like dewy
drops wherein the Sun lays his golden shine, making them to appear like
small golden tears, the sweet odours and comforting liquor streamed,
and seemed always to rain from thence, but they never fell, but kept
a beaten path from down on high wherein the descending Angel might
rejoice. I should be too long if I should express this rare Stage,
especially in such sort and such-like words as the like occasion in
a more worthy subject would require, but of necessity we must barely
apply our descriptions to the nature of the whole History. We must not
fail in the first principle of Art, according to that of Horace.
Humano capiti ceruicem pictor equinam
Iungere si velit, & varias inducere plumas
Vndique collatis membris, vt turpiter atrum
Desinat in piscem mulier formosa superne:
Spectatum admissi risum teneatis amici?
Credite Pisones isti tabulae fore librum
Per similem.
Non vt placidis coeant immitia.
I shall not need to turn back to declare the deep astonishment of
the people, who are always in most small manners induced easily to
wondering, but now this excellent fair Theatre erected, immediately
after the third sound of the Trumpets, there entereth in the Prologue
attired in a black vesture, and making his three obeisances, began
to shew the argument of that Scenical Tragedy, but because it was
so far off they could not understand the words, and having thrice
bowed himself to the high Throne, presently vanished. Then out of
this representance of Hell’s mouth, issued out whole Armies of fiery
flames, and most thick foggy smokes, after which entered in a great
battle of footmen Devils, all armed after the best fashion with pike,
etc., marching after the stroke of the courageous Drum, who girded
about laid siege to this fair Castle, on whose Walls after the summons
Faustus presented himself upon the battlements, armed with a great
number of Crosses, pen and ink horns, charms, characters, seals,
periapts,[63] etc., who after sharp words defied the whole assembly,
seeming to speak earnestly in his own defence, and as they were
ready to rear the Ladders, and Faustus had begun to prepare for the
counterbattery, determining to throw down upon the assembly’s heads
so many heavy charms and conjurations, that they should fall down
half way from the ascendant, whilst these things began to wax hot
from the aforesaid Heaven, there descended a Legion of bright Angels
riding upon milk-white Chariots, drawn with the like white steeds,
who with celestial divine melody came into the Town, to the intent
to fight for the Doctor against his furious enemies, but he wanting
pay-money, and void indeed of all good thoughts, not able to abide
their most blessed presence, sent them away, and they returned from
whence they came, sorrowfully lamenting his most wilful obstinacy,
whilst he had all benointed the Walls with holy Water, and painted
with blood many a crimson Cross. At length the Alarm was given, and
the Ladders cleaved to the Walls, up the assailants climbed, up they
lifted their fearful weapons. Faustus not able (destitute of help)
to withstand them, was taken prisoner, and his Tower razed down to
the earth, with whose fall both the large Heaven and World shook and
quaked mightily, whom, when they had fettered, they left there, they
marching out and the fore-named Chairs were presently occupied with all
the Imperial rulers of Hell, who clothed in their holiday apparel sat
there to give Judgment upon this wilful Faustus, whom two Hangmans of
Hell unloosed, and there in presence of them all the great Devil afore
his chief peers, first stamping with his angry foot, and then shaking
his great bush of hair, that therewith he made the near places and
the most proud Devils’ courages to tremble, and with his fire-burnt
sceptre, and his like-coloured Crown, all of gold, setting one arm by
his side, and the other upon the pommel of his Chair, shook a pretty
space with such angry fury, that the flames which proceeded from his
frightful eyes did dim the sight of the Wittenbergers below. There was
in this said Wittenberg a gallant fair Lady and a virgin, which now
following her mother, accompanied with sundry gallant German Gentlemen,
had even now entered out of their Barge, and seeing the whole world of
people as they thought gazing up into the Heaven so very strangely,
were partly struck with wonder, some with fear, and some with sudden
merriment, and hasting down the hill more than a round pace, asked some
what was there to do, and they bid them look up (for here is to be
noted that they looked up afore but could see nothing, but as always
they were wont until they shewed them it), which they did, and at
the same time wherein the great Devil was in his red-hot anger, this
young Gentlewoman looked up, whose most ugly shape so feared her,
that even then there she fell down in a swoon, whom they conveyed away
very speedily, yet ere they could come home she was well-nigh dead,
and so she lay for two years without hope of life, or certainly of
death: great sorrow to her parents, and as cruel pain to her: But she
at length recovered her Spirit, and if by your patience I may, I will
tell you how. There was a most learned and excellent Doctor dwelling in
the town who had great knowledge in the black Art, who being requested
to use some Physic to aid her in her great extremity, being promised
for reward five thousand Dollars. This Doctor perceiving the cause
of her malady was not caused of any distemperature of her body, but
only of the aforesaid fear, knew that Physic might well make her body
sound, but her mind never. Wherefore not only for the reward, but
also to become gracious and famous at once, proceeded in his cure on
this manner. One night having made his Orisons and nine times combed
his hair with tears of a pure maid, and nine times gone about a fire
made all of pure Heben[64] coal, and thrice nine times called upon
the name of the most dreadful Hecate, he laid himself to sleep upon
a pure white and clean unspotted maiden’s smock, and covered himself
over with the ashes of a white Hind roasted and burned altogether, he
slept, and the next morning apparelled in white robes, having often
and often called, recalled and exorcised the three Fairies Millia,
Achilya, and Sybilla, at length the ground opened, and with them they
brought a milk-white Steed, and did put upon his finger the ring of
invisibility; when they were vanished, he mounted up upon his Horse,
who with more swift flight then the winged Pegasus carried him through
the wide Air so fast and so long, that having passed over Bohem,
Hungary, Thracia, all Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, and at length to Arabia
Felix, where he alighted upon a most high Mountain, all the way from
the top to the bottom of a just breadth and steepness, so that he that
were on that would think himself not in the world, and they beneath
would deem him to be in Heaven, upon the brims of it round about grew
the high Pines, the stately Cedars, and always so green as the most
fresh Meadow: the height of this huge rock was two and twenty miles in
even altitude and half a mile of just circuit all the way: there he
tied his Horse to a Tree and knocked at the Castle gate, where afore
was never seen any, so that no path could there be seen, so that a man
might justly have called it the house of little Hospitality, to him
there came Neglectment, an old Lady, and demanded what he would, who
told her his errand, and withal a ring of fine gold from the three
Fairies; she knew the ring and his errand, and conveyed him into many
a fair room, wherein she shewed him many a worthy Knight’s memorials,
many an antique Monument heaped up, but inner rooms so monstrous dark
and nightly, that no human eye could perceive anything, and forth she
brought him unto a Garden, out of the midst whereof rose a little Hill,
from the summit whereof there was a paved way of pure Crystal stone,
from along whose bosom trilled a small Water: This water an old man
held, and indeed he had it as a Patrimony, for therefore he could shew
many an ancient evidence, and worn Charter, his hair was all fled to
his front, as if some enemy had scared the hinder locks from his scalp,
on his back hung a pair of Wings which flagged down, as if either they
had been broken or he weary, and thus he overstrode a round World,
from out of every part whereof gushed out this small River which was
conveyed down in this Crystal pipe, in his hand he held a long scythe,
and in the other an hour-glass, here the Doctor seeing the old ruins of
this sumptuous house, and all the fair Walls and buildings over-grown
with a deadly Moss, was much amazed, but because he could not tarry,
he dipped a small Vial in the spring and departed, and for because he
was so peremptorily warned not to tarry, he could not behold the most
stately Galleries, in which he might see the World’s chief pleasures
and Monuments, some wholly worn away, some half, and some even now
beginning, and some wholly quite over-grown with a thick earthy fur,
for as he came by an old Wall he chanced with his elbow to rub off the
thick Moss, and then might he see a fair piece of Parchment gilded and
painted curiously, wherein was truly described the ancient tokens of
a most brave and worthy Gentleman, so having sped of his journey he
came by the same way again as he went, Neglectment shut the doors upon
him, whilst he mounted upon his white swift-footed Horse and by the
like time arrived at his own house, where having with the blood of a
new-slain heifer, thrice anointed the feet of his Cavallo, and tying at
his ear with a string of fine silk spun by the hands of a pure maid,
the received ring of invisibility unto his ear, with many a Cross,
and many an open _Ave Maria_, dismissed him, who in the same moment
returned to the place from whence he came. With this water the Doctor
came to the maid, and having used a certain incantation, gave her to
drink of the water of deep Oblivion, which she had no sooner tasted of,
but straightways she had forgotten the terrible picture of the Devil,
and was revived out of all her infernal fears, the Doctor called,
winning him credit, favour, and fame, and richly rewarded for his
medicine, departed, and running home threw his Vial into the deep River
burying oblivion with oblivion, the parents of the young Lady rejoicing
exceedingly at their daughter’s recovery, for ever after caused the
place wherein their daughter was thus scared, to be inaccessible for
man or beast, compassing it in with a high wall, and overthrowing the
banks, so that now there is no mention of the meadow nor of the Wall.
The Devil, the great Devil Lucifer having finished his brief Oration,
descended down out of his Judgment seat, and pointing unto all his
Nobles, took Faustus by the hand, and placed him just before him,
taking him by the chin, seemed to them to bid him speak freely,
he mounted up again unto his high Throne, and with a more mild
madness expected the speech of the Doctor, who having bowed himself
submissively unto these damnable company, he began to speak, and
yet not long, then he began to walk up and down and to shew strange
gestures, when suddenly for some bug’s-words[65] escaped by Faustus,
all the Devils there rose up, and with their swords drawn threatening
with them the poor Doctor, turning all their bodies and directing their
faces to the King, who with a stern countenance commanded silence.
When Faustus having long raged, of a sudden howling loud, and tearing
his hair, laid both his arms upon his neck, and leaped down headlong
off the stage, the whole company immediately vanishing, but the stage,
with a most monstrous thundering crack followed Faustus hastily, the
people, verily thinking that they would have fallen upon them, ran all
away, and he was happiest that had the swiftest foot, some leaped into
the River and swam away, and all of them with great affright ran into
the City and clapped the City gates together, straight, and to increase
this fear they thought they heard a thing fall into the river as if a
thousand houses had fallen down from the top of Heaven into it. But
afterwards this was known to be Wagner’s knavery, who did this to shew
the Pursuivant some point of his skill.
[Footnote 63: Charms, amulets.]
[Footnote 64: Ebony.]
[Footnote 65: Swaggering, or threatening language.]
CHAPTER IX
The messenger had not tarried above three days, when as Wagner had
trussed up his baggage, and was now ready to depart, when on the third
day at night he caused his boy Artur Harmarvan (who was the son of a
wealthy boor, witty above many, and praised for his notable waggery:
his father dwelt at Malmesburg a town hard by Wittenberg in Saxony
in high Dutchland, with whom Wagner being acquainted had obtained
him of his father to serve him, and he to be taught of Wagner), him
he caused to go to divers scholars of his acquaintance, to sup with
him at his departure, who being invited to this hated farewell, came
speedily, where they had a banquet and other courtesies which in such
a time both custom and laws of their fellowship do prescribe: In the
supper time the scholars moved many questions, and amongst the rest,
one desired the Pursuivant to describe unto them his Lord and master,
for they heard say that the Duke Alphonsus was a marvellous qualified
Gentleman: The Pursuivant not willing to refuse their request told them
that seeing their demand proceeded of a common good zeal, he could
not but wrongfully refuse to satisfy: notwithstanding the truth might
be better known of another than of him, when duty bids to be partial,
if any defect might breed partiality, but so much as I will tell you,
the enemy will not disdain to affirm: And there he told them the very
stature, proportion, and particular lineaments, concluding that he
shewed the uprightness of his mind by the proportion of his body, and
keeping in his outward shape, the virtue which philosophers would have
kept in the mind. There he told them the feature of his countenance,
the colour of his hair, eyes, face, cheeks, etc. He told them his
stature, favour, and strength, which was such, that with pure cleanness
of his force, he hath foiled a gentleman in wrestling, who beside
whiteness of body, was very firm without affection, not as some do
which in performing anything will with such a ridiculous sourness act
it, as if the force of the body must be personated upon the Theatre of
his face: He declared unto them that the gifts of his mind were such as
then he could not for the number reckon up, but even as occasion should
serve might meet with them, being all such as were more ready to be
admired than imitated, as if all virtues were gathered in him together,
magnanimity, magnificence, affability, modesty, etc., briefly (he
said) there were in him all those Graces, which adorn the subject with
the title of Virtuous. He likewise recounted unto them his studies,
unto which he accommodated himself at vacant hours, were partly the
Poetry. A Poem of his he said he had by chance gotten (and by greater
chance had it there at that instant) which he had made in praise of
his excellent Lady when he was but of young years, his Father living,
I dare say he would not for ten thousand florins have it seen, being
such a one as on a dreaming passion he had let fall from his pen, and
of many the most abject, but such as this is deserves commendations,
because a Prince made it, but if you saw his real devices, you would
then say they were Prince-like. And then he read it, which I was loath,
my good friends, either to translate or translated to present it here,
for that it was not worthy your censure, considering the nice buildings
of Sonnets nowadays, but according to Ariosto’s vein you shall find it
very conformable, as also for that I knew that if I should have left it
out, it would have been more wished for than now admired. Yet for that
I prefer your well-known good wills afore any vain fear, take this with
the rest, if they be any with such favour, as if I were by you at the
reading.
_A mio solemente amandona
Madonna: Donna non parelia._
_L’Angelico sembiante e quel bel volte,
Fal’odio, el’ira va in oblivione,
Ch’a l’_ etc.
Thus have I harshly Englished them verbally.
_Angellike semblaunce beauties ornament,
Whose Vertue quels all wrath and rancor deepe,
Whose life Heauens grace and death would monument
Vertue thy life aie.[66]
How many wounded hearts thou makst to tremble,
And I of many one cannot dissemble,
How farre into in that eie-sore._
_So were thy beauty but deseruing praise,
So were thy beauty but as feminine,
Then could my quill his straine so high arrayse,
Then could with it compare the masculine,
Thy beauty praise thy bounty past diuine,
No straine no quill such wonderments assaies,
Then Poets pen shall to thy power his power resigne._
_What words may wel expresse such excellence,
No humane thought thy beauties may comprise
And wordes may tell all humane insolence
All humane words and witte thy gifts surprise.
To satisfie my selfe in my pretence,
Our pen vnto the heauens must wander hence.
And fill it selfe with dew of heauenly Sapience._
_And I my life shall to your hands resigne,
Which liue to serue a humane Sainct so past deuine._
_Se dacolei.
Che poco ingegno adhor adhor mi lima._
This Sonnet was ended with as much praise as it began with desire, and
one of them copied it out, and so it was made common to the rest, and
made a good sort of them Poets, rectifying their gross conceits, with
so sweet a matter. He told them that this was but a preparative to
wondering in respect of his choice makings. Then he shewed them this
Epigram, which he made when as before the Duke his Father, a brace of
fair English Greyhounds fell down at the Hart’s heels stark dead (the
Hart also lying not above six yards off dead too) with chasing, having
outstripped the rest of the dogs above half a mile.
Then he reckoned unto him the delight he took in Limning, and shewed
them very many fine devices of his own handiwork. The scholars
singularly delighted with the view of the reliques of so great a
Prince, approved by silence that excellency which by speech they
could not. In fine there he reckoned up enough to be praised, and
peradventure more than was true, but not more than is desired. There he
set forth with great and ardent Emphasis other qualities, as his skill
and hardy demeanour at the Tilt tourney, how he could manage the sturdy
steed, leap, run, vaunt, dance, sing, play on divers Instruments, and
talk with amiable speech amongst fair Ladies which we call courting,
in all his actions full of gentle familiar affability, still reserving
to himself the due honour belonging to his personage. He concluded
in fine that he was the most qualified Prince and absolute Gentleman
that day in all Christendom: saying if they knew his humanity, justice
and liberality, you would say in him were all humanity, justice and
liberality; And as the greatest thing that the world can shew is
beauty, so the least thing that is to be praised in him is beauty, you
would say no less than I have spoken could be in his person, if you
did but see him. Thus far the digression came in the commendations
of this Alphonsus, which truly I was weary of, fearing the great
insufficiency of the description, but yet he had not done. I would to
God (quoth he) you would come to Vienna and I promise you such lodging
and entertainment, that next to the sight of him should be worthiest
of your thanks. Wherefore you shall not sorrow that your friend Wagner
departeth unless you will seem to envy rather his felicity than his
departure. I would we were even all of us as we sit at the Table in the
Duke’s Court, and here again with a wish, and herewith there knocked
one at the door, Wagner craftily feigning that he himself would rise
to see him that knocked so, desiring them all to sit still in any
case, and opening therewith the door, there entered two young Lords of
Tergeste and Moravia, bearing torches, and next there came the Duke of
Austrich, as they thought, and Wagner talked with him bare-headed (the
Pursuivant, thinking verily it had been his Master, would have done his
duty unto him, but that the rest hindered him): on his head he wore a
little Hat of blue velvet, with a rich band of pearl, stone and gold,
and a long white feather, his cloak of blue velvet, round guarded with
gold lace, edged with Orient pearl, and betwixt the gards oylet[67]
holes whereout hung by small silk threads long bugles, all the sleeves
in the like order: by his side a golden-hilted Rapier, and on his
Rapier his hand, his Buskins of the fine Polonian leather, richly
embroidered on the turnings down with costly Goldsmith’s work, all his
apparel whatsoever most beautiful and princely, he had no sooner passed
by (which was not until he was distinctly viewed of them) but that
Wagner spake unto them in such manner: saying that that Honourable,
this man’s Lord had sent for him, whose commandment I will in no wise
repugn. Wherefore I beseech you to take it as you would my greatest
advancement. This his description of his feature, judge how rightly he
hath said, for my part I confess that they are rather less than the
truth, than not as he hath reported, and herein to satisfy you the
more, I have caused my spirit Akercocke to take his shape upon him.
Now (quoth he) it is time to depart, but because it shall be the last
night of our meeting, none of you shall depart, for I have lodging
enough for you all, and for you shall not be forgetful of Wagner when
he is gone, let every man wish his woman, and so to bed my masters.
They began all to laugh merrily, not as hoping or wishing, but as if
they had heard a merry purpose, and therefore they laughed because
it was merry, and such mirth they always liked of. Wagner was almost
angry, and yet for that he was almost, he was not angry, sending out a
great oath as the Prologue of his Comedy, bidding his Boy go prepare
their beds and chambers, and bid them wish whom they would, he would
their wishes should be performed. Then rose up one of the scholars
persuading himself of Wagner’s earnest, and yet doubting, because he
feared he was not in earnest. Why (quoth he) if you mean in very deed,
my friend Kit, I would I had such a woman, I believe beside herself
there is none fairer then the fairest in this town. Why weenest thou I
jest (quoth Wagner), go thy ways, yonder she is upon pain of my head,
and so it was indeed: then everyone strove who should wish first, and
he that wished last had his first wish, so everyone took his Damsel
and for that night departed to their beds, who are witnesses of that
night’s great pleasures, and in the morning they arose wishing that
every morning were the morrow of such a night. Every one gat him a
Hackney, and brought him on the way a day’s journey, where they with
great grief left him, who rode till he came to Vienna, and they till
they arrived at Wittenberg. Thus still you see these Pot-meetings are
ended amongst these puffed-cheeked Hannikins[68] with bed dalliances,
rightly describing their lives most bestial and Epicure-like.
[Footnote 66: The Letters were worn out in this place.—_[Translator’s
Note._]]
[Footnote 67: Eyelet.]
[Footnote 68: German _Hänschen_.]
CHAPTER X
_A lamentable history of the death of sundry students
of Wittenberg_
Not long after it was reported and blazed abroad that Wagner was
departed, divers Scholars guessing that he had left his Books or the
most part behind, determined to send for Harmarvan, which they did,
who by no persuasions could be won to let them have his master’s
Keys, so they devised amongst themselves to bind the Boy as he should
go home to his Inn, whereat his Master had put him to board till his
return. And night drawing on, Harmarvan went to his lodging, by the
way Scholars to the number of seven met him and bound him, and beat
him sore until he gave them all the Keys, which he carefully carried
about him sewed in a wide German slop,[69] which when they had (they
being all muffled and disguised strangely with vizards) they loosed,
and then they ran hastily to Wagner’s house, as if they had fled from
followers, or else followed some hastily flying, where being come,
they opened the gates, and being entered shut them again, this being
about eleven of the clock in ye night, and in they went, where they
found two Barrels of mighty strong March English Beer of two years
old, which they broached, and sat so long drinking till they were
all well drunk. And then down they get into a back Court, and having
lighted Tapers, having injuriously framed all the circles, squares,
triangles, etc., and apparelled with all the conjuring robes that
the Art requireth, there they begin in a most dreadful confusion of
hellish syllables to inform the Fiend, and after these words followed
as if there needs must such things follow after such words, a terrible
roar, and then so bright a smothering thick fiery fume ascended out of
the earth as if it would have made an eternal night, then a vehement
flame followed which with continual motion, ran about the brims of the
circle, until as weary it left moving (all this while they continued
reasonably constant, and continued their invocations without any fear),
then from beneath was heard most lamentable outcries, from above huge
trembling, thunder, and round about nothing but fear and death in a
thousand diverse shapes, then they began to quail a little, but yet by
encouragement grew hardy by reason of the number, then round about was
sounded alarms with drums, and on set with Trumpets, as if there all
the World had conflicted, then ye flame which all this while ran about
the circle became a body, but such a body, as, if it had been but a
Picture, would have madded anyone. At whose sight they wholly overcome
with deadly fear forgot the use of their Pentacles or any such gear,
but even submitted themselves to the small mercy of the Fiend, who with
great violence rent them and tore them most lamentably. Harmarvan who
had raised a great many to the intent to follow them suspecting that
which indeed was, was after long wandering (for they had caused a Devil
descryer to void all within a certain circuit) with his company brought
to the house, where round about they might see in the Court wherein
these seven were conjuring, huge flames as if some great pile had
been made to the burial of a noble Hero, climbing up in huge volumes
up into the Air, or if some great store of stubble had been fired, so
vehemently furious was the flame that no man there (and there were
above thirty) was able once to draw near to any part of ye House, the
cry was carried into the City of this fire, whereupon the whole town
was assembled with hooks, buckets, ladders, etc., where in vain they
emptied many a large Well, till divers learned Preachers falling down
submissively on their knees, with good faith appeased this seeming
fire which indeed was none, but a mere diabolical illusion, then they
entered into the house, where they found the Barrels brought a bed
and delivered, the cups, the whole furniture clean destroyed, broken,
and thrown about the House, but drawing near unto the most rueful and
lamentable spectacle of all, coming into the yard or grove which was
moated about and enclosed with a thick Wall of trees very exceeding
high, as Fir trees are, so very thick that no light was pierceable into
it, in the very midst whereof was a round plot of some one hundred foot
any way from the Centre, there found they the religious Circles, there
the strange Characters, names of Angels, a thousand Crosses, there
found they the five cross hilted Daggers for the five Kings of Hell,
there many a strong bulwark builded with rows of Crosses, there found
they the surplices, the stoles, pall, mitres, holy water pots broken,
their periapts, seats, signs of the Angels of the seven days, with
infinite like trash and damnable roguery, the fruits of the Devil’s
rank fancy. But the most lamentable sight of all, the seven Scholars
utterly torn in pieces, their blood having changed the colour of the
ground into a dark Crimson, all their bodies as black as any coal, as
if they had been scorched with a material fire, their flesh violently
rent from the bones, and hanging down in morsels like the skirts of a
side-coat, their bones all broken, their veins cut in sunder, and their
bowels broad shed upon the earth, their brains poured out and covering
the red grass all over, their noses stumped, their eyes thrust out,
their mouths widened and slit up to the ears, their teeth dashed
out, and their tongues starting out betwixt their gums, their hair
clean singed off, in brief imagine with yourselves in your minds,
and propound a picture in your thought, the most deformed, torn, and
ill-favoured that you can think on, yet shall it not compare to the
most lachrimable sight and shew of them, surpassing as much all credit
as my skill duly to describe them, whom when they had buried without
tarriance, razed the house to the ground, and filled up the moats with
earth, heaping upon the place of this murther the stones of the house
defaced, then they returned home discoursing with lamentable judgment
upon the high and severe revenge of God’s indignation upon them which
durst presume to tempt his glorious Majesty. And finally, unless
repentance breed a more speedy remorse, such is the fatal end of such
proud attempts. And surely this is most true, for I myself have seen
the ground where the house stood, and yet the moats dammed up and the
Water breaking through the stones even to this day, there did I see a
skull and a shank bone of them not yet rotten: and there did I see the
huge heap of stones wherewith they are covered, a fearful example of
God’s wrath and justice against such infidel Christians.
[Illustration: A CARICATURE OF THE POPE]
[Footnote 69: Baggy breeches.]
CHAPTER XI
The great Turk called Soldan, Alias Chan, comprehending as many
victories in his sword as some Emperors in their thoughts, arrived at
length afore Vienna, having made his preamble with the destroying and
burning of the country before him, thinking upon the ancient politic
rule, _Better it is to have a spoiled country than a lost_, with a
brave prepared Army of two hundred thousand Saracens, horse and foot,
and so many it is certain he had, because they doubted not but there
were 300,000. The mighty Cham having erected his royal Pavilions, and
entrenched himself to besiege the noble Vienna, munified his camp with
Artillery and deep ditches, and then he sent a Letter of defiance unto
the honourable Alphonsus, as being principal in his own City, who was
environed within the walls of the City expecting the day of battle, for
to this intent the states of Italy and the Emperor of Germany, with
the Dukes of Saxony, Bavaria, and the other Provinces near assembled
(for now necessity bred unity) with a brave company of Soldiers to
exterminate this monster out of their confines: unto the Duke of
Austrich only (for he had no intelligence of their assembled forces)
he directed his Letters with defiance, meaning to conclude his long
travails with a certain victory; fearing neither the peril which so
many gallant soldiers thoroughly resolved might bring, nor that ever
God or fortune (as they call it) would once shew him any disfavour,
whose only favour is only in show. Nor yet that the heaven’s great God
would not with severe revengement chastise the Leviathan’s insolency
and slaughter of so many Martyrs, rather deferring than forgetting so
just a punishment.
CHAPTER XII
About this time the Messenger and Wagner arrived at Vienna very late
in the night and passed through the Turkish Sentinels, and arriving
at the City, and for that night they lay at the Pursuivant’s house;
no sooner had the approaching Sun sent afore him the Marshals of the
morrow light, and a new morning ministered occasion of new matter,
but up those two arose and being ready departed for the Court, and
now the day was almost in the greatest beauty, when the Messenger was
admitted into the Duke’s presence, unto whom he recited whatever was
seen and done in that time of his absence (only I forgot to tell you
how Wagner raged and stormed, and thundered, when Akercocke brought him
word of the destruction of his House at Wittenberg as he was in the
way to Austria), wherewith the Duke was wonderfully both delighted and
astonished. And having welcomed Wagner very graciously and accordingly
rewarded, he dismissed them till further leisure, commanding the
Pursuivant to shew him all the pleasure he mought.
CHAPTER XIII
After all these most excellent Princes were come into the counsel
chamber, the Herald sounded his trumpet after the Turkish summons, then
did all the states draw into the Great Hall, wherein a high Imperial
throne richly ordered with shining cloth of Gold, every noble and
estate placed correspondently to his degree, where in presence of them
all the Herald was admitted, who coming with his coat of Arms lying
upon his right arm into the bottom of the Hall, made three obeisances
down with the right knee unto the ground, with a loud and distinct
voice spake unto the Duke only, telling him that his sovereign and
Master Sultan Alias Chan, the son of Murad Chan, the son of Rabeck
Chan, the son of Mahomet Chan, and so upwards till he came to their
great Prophet Mahomet, God on the earth, and Emperor of all the East.
And then he began to reckon five hundred titles, with a long etc....
Unto thee Alphonsus Arch-Duke of Austrich, and there he declared the
whole effects of his message, and at last with a great Bravado ended,
and then he did on his gay coat of Arms, expecting their answer. When
as the Duke craving licence of the Emperor to speak, answered ye Herald
in most gallant and triumphing terms, commanding him to say unto the
proud Turk his Master, that ere five days came about, he would trample
his victorious horns under his feet, and ride in triumph upon his
stubborn neck, and that in defence of himself and of brave Christendom
he would leese[70] the uttermost drop of his blood, and to make it
good he would not be in quiet till he had met his Master in the midst
of the field, and therewith he drew out his sword, and all they with
him, crying God and Saint Michael for the right of Christendom: then
stood up the Emperor and avowed all that they had said afore him,
commanding moreover the Herald to say to the proud Usurper, that seeing
the quarrel would breed great effusion of blood, and yet he never the
nearer, that he a man every way equal to himself, not only for the
speedier advance of his battles, but also to have a certain end to such
an uncertain enterprise, he would fight with him body to body, armed at
all points after their own guise at any time within this fortnight, and
Herald, bring me word (quoth he) that he will so do, and by my Honour
I promise to give thee for thy tidings 10,000 Ducats. Then the Herald
being highly rewarded was dismissed, and reported their brave answers
unto the Turk, with all the great majesty of the Christian Princes, who
presently went to counsel together, and so continued till other like
necessary business called them away.
[Footnote 70: Lose.]
CHAPTER XIV
In this Chapter (Gentlemen) part of the Dutch copy was wanting, and the
other part so rent that it could not be read, yet by some circumstances
I conjecture that the Duke of Austrich had divers and dangerous
conflicts with the Turk, yet being supported by the English men and
other Christians, with the help of Wagner, who standing in a high tower
to see the conflicts, caused by his Magic such a storm to arise that no
man was able to abide, the Turk was still discomfited.
CHAPTER XV
_The gifts of Wagner to the Duke, and three Devils
retained for Soldiers to the same Prince_
In the next morning Wagner presented himself to the Duke in presence
of all the whole Princes of the Christians, whom very graciously he
entertained as he might for his good service, and there in presence of
them all he desired the Duke to take at his servant’s hands a small
gift, which he condescended unto, and then Wagner caused a Chest
to be brought in of fine Iron, wrought and enamelled with gold and
colour most curiously, then he opened it and took out a whole armour
of fine bright steel so light as a common Doublet, but so subtly and
excellently framed, that it passed all comparison of hardness, there
was a Musket shot at every piece whereon remained no great notice of
a blow, but as of a little touch, plain without any broider work or
otherwise carved, but so exceeding bright as would well have dazzled
the long beholder’s eyes, a shield of the same fashion, made like a
tortoise shell, a sword of the like fine temper, with all the furniture
of a soldier, then took he out a Plume which he had no sooner put
into the crest, but he that stood behind could not see no part of his
back, nor he that stood before of his breast, so that thus it made him
invisible, there he told him it was fetched out of the great Turk’s
armoury, which they say was Mahomet’s, but I say more truly Alias
Chan’s, which for himself caused it to be made, having called together
the most excellent Philosophers and workmen that were to be found in
all his wide Empire. The great rewards the Duke would have given him
for it he refused, he was only contented with thanks and favour. And
then might they see from the door of the chamber three most gallant
men to enter, which were his three Familiars, whom Wagner taking by
the hands presented unto the whole assembly of Princes, but more
directly to the Duke, assuring them that they were the most fortunate,
most valiant, strong, hardy, and puissant men that in the World were
to be found, and indeed they seemed to be as goodly swart men as any
eye beheld, he told their several names: Mephostophiles he termed
Mamri, Akercocke he termed Simionte, Faustus he called Don Infeligo,
shewing that they were born in those fortunate Islands, wherein the
Poets feigned the Elysian fields to be, joining by West upon the end
of Barbary, being from Vienna to those fortunate Islands 35 degrees of
longitude and eight minutes, and 48 degrees and 22 minutes from the
Equator or Equinoctial, in latitude not then found out. So were they
most graciously entertained of all the Nobles, and entertained in the
Duke’s most Honourable pay. Wagner said that they three left their
country and sought adventures, and by chance coming this way, I knowing
of it by secret intelligence, met them and certainly assured of their
high valours, thought good to shew them to you, for he that first had
spoke to them had been first served, nor cared they whether to serve us
or the Infidel.
CHAPTER XVI
I spake before of a challenge made by the Emperor unto the Turk, which
when the Herald had reported unto the Sultan (who certainly was a very
honorable Soldier) but there he vowed to perform it, and to set the
Emperor’s head upon the highest pavilion in view of all the City. And
thereupon the next day after this skirmish, he sent the same Herald
with purpose and commandment to declare in excellent gallant terms the
acceptance of the combat, knowing that it depended upon his honour to
shew his small fear, in not refusing so equal a Foe, whose proffer
proceeded from a most Honourable resolution: when it was reported unto
the Emperor that the same Herald returned, he caused the Hall to be
adorned with most brave furniture, his high Chair of estate placed,
and all about seats for the other Princes. The Emperor having seated
himself, full of brave thought and gallant hardihood, expecting the
answer of the enemy in such sort as it was in very deed. In all brave
manner the Herald in proud phrase uttered the purport of his message,
requesting that a peace being concluded on both parties for the space
of three days, and free egress and regress for the Nobles on both
parties, the one to view the Camp, the other the Court, and on the
third day he would, armed in his country manner, meet him in the lists,
to shew that he never refused the combat of any Christian Emperor,
albeit he knew his calling far superior to that of his. So then the
message was accepted, the Herald had his 10,000 Ducats carried to the
Turk’s camp on horse, and they in the City began to keep feasts, and
entertained the Turkish Nobles in exceeding bravery, and they theirs in
the like without damage or thought of treason.
CHAPTER XVII
During the time of this truce, these four companions, Infeligo, Wagner,
Mamri, Simionte, cast how to abuse the great Turk most notably, and
Akercocke otherwise called Simionte he would begin first, and lead them
the dance. Then he leaves them and gets me up unseen to the Turk’s
Camp, and in his Camp to his own Pavilion, and so into the place where
the great Infidel himself sat, he being then gone into the Lavatory,
which is a place wherein he three times a day doth bathe himself, which
by so doing he doth verily believe that all his sins are remitted and
washed away, be they never so horrible, Devilish, or wicked, then
Akercocke or Simionte, which ye will, goes invisibly into the Lavatory
where the great Villain was bathing himself amongst three of his most
fair Concubines stark naked, swimming as much in their dalliance as
in the water, mingling his washing with kisses and his cleansing with
voluptuousness, Akercocke in the shape of a bright Angel appears unto
him, and with a proud _magnifico_ presented himself unto the slave,
who straightways very reverently fell down upon his knees, and with
his hands high lifted up, worshipped towards him in great humility,
whilst Akercocke with good devotion fell aboard the Concubines, and
there acted them before his face one after another: when he had so
done, he takes the great slave by the tip of his picke-devant,[71] and
shaking him fiercely (who all this while with great dread and fear lay
half astonished and all naked on the ground), told him that he had
prepared a more braver place for his so good a servant than so base a
bath, and no fairer Concubines. (Now the Turk had seen how like a lusty
rank fellow this Simionte had behaved himself, at which he wondered not
greatly, because Faustus whom he thought to have been Mahomet, as well
as he did think Akercocke, had also shewed the virtue of so great a God
as Mahound, twenty times more beauty than Jupiter.) Then the Turkish
Emperor with half-dying hollow voice, as if his breath had been almost
gone or else but now coming, said that he was all at his commandment,
and so followed Simionte stark naked as he was born, who led him by the
hand round about, and through every Lane and place of his Camp, to the
great wonderment and laughter of his people, who verily thought Mahound
had commanded him to do penance before he fought with the Christian
Emperor. But for all this the people fell into such laughter that some
had well-nigh given up the Ghost at the same instant, divers Christian
Nobles saw him all this while, who effusedly laughed at so apparent
foolery. The Turk for all this not moved, for indeed he heard all and
saw nothing, went about wonderfully mannerly: like as you shall see a
Dutch Frow, with a handkerchief in her hand, mince it after ye hopping
German. Could a man devise a more notorious kind of abuse, than to make
that man which will not be seen but in great secrecy, and abundantly
and richly clad, to be not only seen openly but also stark naked, and
become their laughing-stocks whose terror he is always, but Akercocke
had not yet so left him, but down he runs to Danuby, (where there was
ready Mamri or Mephostophiles to receive him), and there having turned
himself and the vilest part of himself to the Turk’s mouth, making him
kiss and kiss it again, he took him and hurled him violently into the
Water, and then Akercocke vanished away.
[Footnote 71: Peaked beard.]
CHAPTER XVIII
_The second Mocking_
No sooner was he in but he saw then apparently how he had been misled
and abused, and there for very shame would have drowned himself in
very deed, had not Mamri come swiftly flying over and gave him a
terrible blow on the noddle with a good Bastinado, that he almost made
his brains fly out, and rapt him up by his long hair out of the water
unto the land, where he buffeted him so long till at length he came to
himself again, then Mamri fewtered himself to abuse him kindly, and
there with sweet and compassionative speech comforted him, desiring his
reverend Majesty not to take any grief seeing it was done in the sight
of all his men, in the knowledge of none. And therewith to shew ye more
pity of his misery, he seemed to shed abundance of tears, desiring him
to go with him and he would put upon him his soft raiment. The Turk
(who then had his crown upon his head or else it had not been half in
the right _Qu_[72]), seeing one lamenting his case so affectionately,
condescended unto him and promised him most large honourable promotion
and reward. Mamri set him upon his legs and led him to a little muddy
place by the river-side, and there varnished the Emperor over with most
thick, terrible, and excremental mud, not sparing either his face,
nose, eyes, mouth, nor any thing, whilst he miserable man thought he
had been in most divine contentment. Thus he led him in the view of
five thousand people (for here is to be noted that all that ever saw
him both knew him to be the great villain Turk, and could not but laugh
most entirely at him, nor his own men could do any other, nor once
think of any rescue or remedy, by the working of infernal instinct),
until he came to Vienna, and in Vienna to the most fair gates and where
greatest resort of people are always together, there at the City gate
he drew out a long tabor and a pipe and struck up such a merry note,
as the foolish ornament of all London stages never could come near
him, no not when he waked the writer of the news out of Purgatory with
the shrill noise. There at the gate stood a Carpenter, who was then
carrying a Coffin to a certain house to bury one in, him Mephostophiles
beat till he lay on the cold ground, and took the Coffin and caused
the Turk to hold it in his hand. _Memorandum_ that none of all these
Spirits were seen of any one, but felt of them which saw them. Then
from the gate he began to play, the Turk and the Coffin skipped and
turned, and vaulted, and bounded, and leaped, and heaved, and sprung
so fast and so thick together, that the Coffin rapping the miserable
man sometime on the shins, breast, thighs, head, face, that the dirty
colour was almost wiped away with the streams of blood. At this strange
sight and the unheard noise of that kind of Instrument, all the boys,
girls, and rogues in the town were gathered with this troupe, and with
this mirth he conveyed them round about the streets, and all the way as
they went, such eggs, such chamber-pots’ emptyings, such excrements,
odoure,[73] water, etc., were thrown down on their heads, that it
seemed all those vile matters were reserved for that Tempest, until
such time (then it being about two of the clock in the afternoon when
everyone is busied in some pleasant pastance[74]), as all this fair
company came to the Court, whereout at divers windows lay the chiefest
of all the Nobility, and the most brave Gentlewomen, who seeing such a
huge crowd of Boys, the great Turk and a Coffin dancing, and a tabor
and pipe played upon, they were almost amazed, thus he marched finely
round about the whole Court, till coming to the Court gate he entered
in (but the Boys were excluded), with this merry Morris there in
presence of them all, the Turk fell down dead, whom Mamri laid in the
Coffin, and then vanished away.
[Illustration: LUTHER AS A SEVEN-HEADED MONSTER
A caricature of Luther, 1529
Septicepts Lutherus, ubiqe sibi, suis
scriptis cōtrari⁹, in visitationā Saxonicā, p D.D. Ioā. Copleū, Editus
Doctor Martin⁹ Luther⁹ Ecclesiastes Suermer⁹ Visitator Barrabas
Martin Lutherus
Septiceps]
[Footnote 72: Cue (a theatrical term).]
[Footnote 73: Ordure.]
[Footnote 74: Pastime.]
CHAPTER XIX
_The third_
Then came Infeligo or Faustus and touching him revived him to the great
wonder of the beholders, and covering him somewhat shamefastly, went
into his chamber with him, and there benotted[75] him round upon the
head and the beard, which is the foulest reproach and disgrace that can
be offered to the Turk, which done he conveyed him into the presence of
the Emperor, where he made them such sport, that unneath[76] they could
recover their modesty in three hours’ space, to see the proud Villain
plastered over with such muddy mortar, all over his head and face, his
teeth and eyes shewing like black Moors, or as a pair of eyes, looking
through a Lattice, or as they call it a Periwig, wherein if the eyes
had feet they might be set in the stocks: All his lineaments were
lineamented with this pariet,[77] he stood quivering and shaking either
for cold or fear like an Aspen leaf (as they say) whilst every man
buffeted him, he standing with a scourge stick and an old shoe, as they
do at blind man buff to see who he could hit. Thus long he made them
sport, till one told the Emperor that it was the great Turk, at which
he was exceeding wroth and sorry.
[Footnote 75: Cropped close.]
[Footnote 76: Scarcely.]
[Footnote 77: Plaster.]
CHAPTER XX
_The fourth and last_
When Wagner seeing him grieved, came and kneeled down before him,
declaring that he would undertake to heal all his wounds and other
grievances whatsoever, yea and make him utterly forget all that was
passed as if it had never been, and promised more to carry him home
himself safe and sound, which the Emperor thanked him highly for,
requesting him to perform it presently, for he would not for half his
revenues that his Foe should have any occasion to allege against him,
for to excuse the Combat. Then went Wagner up into his chamber, and
apparelled himself in white taffeta made close to his body, and there
where they use to wear round hose half a foot deep, stuck with swans’
feathers, like the skirts of a horseman’s coat, his hose, shoes (for
all were together) of the same white taffeta, and within with white
leather, at his heels two fine silver wings, and on his shoulders two
marvellous large bright silvery wings, and on his head an upright
little steeple hat (with a white feather of two or three ranges) of
white taffeta, and in his hand a Caduceus or a Mercurial Rod in the
same white silver colour, he entered into the Presence Chamber afore
all the assembly to their singular contentation, for in his Personated
garments he seemed to be a very Angel, for it was in doubt whether
Mercury was half so beautiful or no. And there opening a large casement
(as there they are very large) with a brave R’ingratio[78] departed
from them taking up his flight in the view of them all into the air,
as if he would have beaten the Azure firmament with his vast wings.
Thus he carried him lower and lower till he did light upon a great
Elm, and there he opened his sight to see in what plight he was. The
Turk seeing in what a trance he had been, began to swear, to ban and
curse, and was even then ready to have thrown himself down headlong,
but Mercury he stepped to him and bade him be of good cheer, for it
had pleased the great God Jupiter, whose servant Mahomet was, to shew
him those great abuses, to the intent he should be more wary in his
actions, and take heed how to tempt the Christians with vain battles
and such-like speech, but now (quoth he) come and give me thy hand, and
then will I lead thee to thy Pavilion, where as yet thou art not missed
of the Nobles, for in the place where thou wast taken away, hath Jove
sent one to bear thy shape. Then again he took his flight and all the
way as he went he rapped his heels against the tops of the high trees,
and beat him pitifully upon the shins all the journey, upon the tents’
tops. Now they arrived in the same place from whence he was taken, and
there he laid himself down who presently recovered his former strength
in full perfectness, and not only not felt it but utterly forgot it.
Then he continued his wonted solace and prepared himself to the battle,
whilst he was made a laughing-stock of the world, Wagner returned
through ye same path which he had made in the air before, came not yet
to the Court before they had done laughing, for there the matter from
the beginning to the end was rehearsed.
[Footnote 78: Ringrazio (Ital.) = I thank.]
CHAPTER XXI
_The process to the Combat_
The two days of the truce were passed and the third morning was come,
in which time many gallant feats of arms and activity were performed
on both parts. Now the time of the combat was come. There was in the
River of Danuby a pretty Island of a quarter of a mile long or more,
as even as ground might be all the way, in this place were the lists
prepared, and a scaffold richly hanged for the Judges to determine in.
In the evening about four of the clock (being then reasonably cool)
the Christian Emperor issued out with above 100,000 Christians, the
rest being above 60,000 were left to defend the City (for both the
Christian and especially the Turks were increased) where he entered
into the wide plain, and coming to the bank’s side he entered into a
broad Ferry boat leaving his whole Army on the other side of the River
whilst he laboured to attain to the Island. The Duke of Austria with
his attendants Mamri, Simionte, Infeligo, and Wagner, the Dukes of
Cleve, Saxony, Campany, and Brabant, with the like number all bravely
and gloriously mounted: The Duke of Austria in his bright armour
marshalled the field, and of the Christians sat as Judges the kings
of Lusitany and Arragon with their Heralds: Now the Emperor is landed
in the Island and is mounted into his rich saddle, armed in armour so
costly, strong, curious, and resplendescent, that it seemed all the
beauty in the world had been gathered together in it, his courser so
firm, nimbly jointed, tall and large, such a one might have been the
son of Gargantua’s mare for his Giant-like proportion. Then took he his
strong and large Ashen lance, bearing in his steel head Iron death,
at the top whereof hung a fair and rich pennon, the whole shaft of
the spear double gilded over and curiously enamelled, about his neck
hung his horn shield, artificially adorned with his own achievements,
the belt whereon his sword hung of beaten gold, his caparison of pure
cloth of gold, whereon the rich stones were so ordinary that they took
away ye glittering of the metal only as if it had been the Sunbeams,
trailed along betwixt precious gutters. On his helmet was fixed a rich
Crown of the most excellent metal. In brief, for I would fain have made
an end of this idle news, there was all the richness in his Empire,
in that all the beauty of his richness, in them all ye desire of each
eye: when he had saluted ye judges he trotted twice or thrice about
the lists, and then lighted at his Pavilion which was there erected
of cloth of gold, where he sat with convenient company and refreshed
himself. Now in the mean the Turk he set forward with an army double
the Christian, and 100,000 and above still left in the Camp. And here
I must needs leave to tell you of his exceeding preparation unless I
should make a whole volume, for beside the wondrous furniture of his
Soldiers, the most rare choice of ornaments, there was nothing could be
devised, nay more than of set purpose could be devised was there. But
briefly I will turn to the Turk himself, where if I had art according,
I should sooner weary you with delight than words: But 100,000 of his
men having marched before to the banks and there embattled themselves
by the river all along, with such hideous noise of Trumpets, horns
(for so they use), drums of brass, flutes, etc., that there was more
heard than seen by far, then approached the great Turk himself, before
him rode 4000 Janissaries armed in their fashion, with a long Gown of
Scarlet-red laced with gold lace, and long sleeves of a very narrow
breadth, which was girt close unto him, under that a good armour, with
a long high cap like a milk-pail for all the world, of white Satin or
some such-like gear, with a long feather enough to come down to a tall
man’s hams, very thick laced in the brims with gold and pearl, in his
hand a short Javelin, at his side his Scimitar, at his back a great
Quiver of broad arrows, and by a string of silk hung his steel bow,
over every one hundred of these is a Boluch Bassa, a Centurion as we
call him, and these be of the Turk’s guard, and are called Solaquis
Archers, and they rode fifty in a rank, then came following them about
two hundred Peicher or Peiclers, all in one livery of very rich tissue
after their fashion, and these are of the Turk’s Laqueis[79] which
have a sharp teen[80] Hatchet sticking at their girdles, and the haft
of Brasil,[81] with this they will stand thirty paces off and cleave a
penny loaf or hit it somewhere, they will commonly stick an inch and
half deep into a very tough Ashen wood, or a Brasil, or such-like hard
wood: there in great triumph upon an Elephant richly trapped, stood a
Tower of two yards and a half high of pure silver, in the top whereof
stood an Image of beaten gold, representing their Mahomet, round about
which upon Mules Azamoglans or Jamoglans, who are children of tribute
exacted upon the Christian captives, and contributary, fine, sweet, and
the most choice picked Gentlemen brought up to sundry dainty qualities,
who with heavenly melody followed this Elephant, the religious men
going round about singing sweetly together: afore all these next to the
Janissaries went above two hundred Trumpets, and as many followed the
great Turk, who then approached, having his Chariot of pure silver of
above 20,000 pound weight, drawn with eight milk-white Elephants, round
about rode and went bare-headed, Azamoglans Peyclers most gorgeously
and resplendescent apparelled, under the Turk’s feet lay a pillow of
clear Crystal embossed at the ends with huge golden knobs, on his head
a wreath of purple with a most rich diadem as it is commonly known the
order of it, the stage can shew the making of it, but other things
they differ mightily in. Here you must suppose the exceeding glory of
his apparel, there he sat upright in the Chair with such a majestical,
proud, severe, war-like countenance, as justly became so high a throne,
before him went Aga which is the great Captain of his Janissaries, with
the Hali Bassa, the Captain of his naval expeditions, Bianco Bassa, the
Captain of his Janissarie Harquebusiers, the Zanfyretto Bassa Captain
of his Guard, with others of great authority bare-headed. After his
Chariot came sweet melody, and then five Elephants of War (an Elephant
is well-nigh as big as six Oxen gaunt and slender like a horse in ye
flanks, and of more swift foot than a man would think for, his fashion
is like no beast in England, but the ridge of his back is like that
of an horse, his feet hath five great horny toes, and a very long
snout of above two yards in length, with which he will draw by only
snuffing up a good pretty big lad, and deliver him to the Rider; this
long trunk falls down betwixt a large pair of teeth or tushes[82] of
above an Ell and a half long (as ye may commonly see at the Comb-makers
in London) bending like a Boar’s upward, his ears well-nigh from the
top to the nether tip of the hanging down above seven feet long). And
after these five Elephants, saddled and ordered for a man to ride on,
came trumpets, and all in the like manner as before, and then marched
500 in a rank, 100,000 footmen, and by their sides for wings 40,000
horsemen, so that he came to the combat with 240,000 fighting-men,
well accomplished in arms: then was the great Turk carried under a
goodly canopy upon a black Waggon on men’s shoulders into the Ferry,
which was richly prepared, where in the view of both Camps he landed,
whilst the war-like instruments echoed wide in the Air. In the Island
for Judges sat (in armour as did the others) the king of Rhodes and
the king of Pamphilia, now called Alcayr. When the Turk was landed,
there was brought to him by the hands of two kings a great Elephant
of an Ash colour, white embossed very glitteringly, whereon the great
Turk mounted by a short ladder of silver, armed very strongly and most
beautifully, then took he his Javelin in his hand and vibrated it in
great bravery (as he could handle his weapon well) and hung his quiver
of long Darts at his Back, then his Scimitar, etc., and so having
saluted the Judges retired unto the uttermost part of the field, then
mounted up the brave and puissant Emperor so lightly in his heavy
armour, as if either his gladness had lessened his weight, or the
goodness of his cause, to the great rejoicing of the Christian and
amazement of ye Turk, at whom the Christians yelled so universally and
hallooed, and other infinite kinds of gladsome tokens, that the Turk
astonished stood stone still till the Christian had done, and then as
men new risen to life, with such an horrible shout, that their voice
rebounded to the air, at which same time the Christian shouted again
with them, as if they would have committed a battle with voices, and
surely their voices did fight in the wide coasts and shores of the air.
This done the Emperors prepared themselves to the fight.
[Footnote 79: A kind of foot-soldier.]
[Footnote 80: Keen.]
[Footnote 81: Brazil wood.]
[Footnote 82: Tusks.]
CHAPTER XXII
_The Combat_
And when they were sworn that neither of them had any magic herb, charm
or incantation whereby they might prevail in their fight on their
adversary, and had solemnized the accustomable ceremonies in like
matters of combat. The Heralds gave their words of encounter, then with
loud voice and shrill Trumpets’ courageous blast, whilst all the people
were in dead night expecting the demeanour of these renowned Princes.
Now we have brought you to behold these two champions, arrived thither
with their brave followers, ready to prove their valiance in the
face of so great a multitude. Now if you will stand aside lest their
ragged spears endamage you, I will give you leave to look through the
Lattice, where you shall even now see the two Emperors, with their
brave shock, press Doubt betwixt their cruel encounterings. Now you
may see the two combatants, or but as yet champions, coming from the
ends of the field, the excellent Christian Emperor with incomparable
valour, visiting his Horse sides with his spurs, carrying his spear in
the rest with an even level, so that the thundering of the brave Steed
presaged ye dint[83] of the great thunder-clap. When Ali Chan, gently
galloping with his huge beast, came forward with more swift pace still
as he drew nearer to the Emperor. All this while you may behold them
hastening in their course, like as you see two great waves galloping
from the corners of the sea driven by contrary winds, meeting together
by long random, to make the neighbours’ shores to quake and dimmed
with their boisterous career. The Emperor being now with his greatest
fury ready to fasten his lance upon his adversary, and his adversary
ready to fasten his Javelin on him, when the Turk suddenly stepped
aside, and the Emperor thrusted his void lance into the Air, (for he
mought easily do it), for though the Elephant be but low, yet he was
higher than his horse by a yard, and yet his horse was the fairest
and tallest to be found in all Christendom, so that needs he must lay
his spear in an uneven height to break it on him. Suddenly ye Turk
stopped and with his nimble Beast followed the Emperor as he had fled,
whereat all the whole army of Turks shouted horribly clapping their
hands, and the Christian stood still in great silence, struck with just
wonder of this strange Quiddity[84] in combat, and ere the Emperor
could make his stop with a short turn, the Turk had hit him upon the
shoulder with his Javelin, which being denied entrance, for very anger
rent itself in forty pieces, and chid[85] in the Air till they broke
their necks on the ground: and had not then the Horse started, the
monstrous Elephant had over-thrown him with his rider to the earth.
But then the Horse incensed with ire for this injury, and his master
more hotly burning with disdain and furious gall, leaped, bounded, and
sent out at his mouth the foamy arguments of his better[86] stomach,
but so fast the vile Turk followed, that he had spent three long Darts
upon the barbed flanks of the Horse, which all in vain returned to
their Master. The beholding Turks so eagerly pursuing the strokes with
shouting, as if with a hidden Sympathy their training[87] had augmented
the violence of the blows. At length the good Emperor sorely ashamed
came now to make him amends for his pretty falsery: and with great
scope thronging[88] his lance forward just upward upon the Turk’s
face, and when he was almost by him, the Infidel, as if he but make a
sport of the fight, stepped aside very delivery,[89] thinking that he
should have made him run in the like order as before, but he, more
cautelous marking of purpose which way he meant to decline, turned
with him, and his learned Horse could well do it, and indeed desire of
revenge had so seated itself in his brave courageous breast, that now
he even followed him as he had been drawn with Cart-ropes, the Turk
seeing how he was circumvented, fetched a pretty compass and trod a
round, the Elephant flying from ye horse and the horse following the
Elephant, as you might see Seignior Prospero lead the way in Mile end
Green in the ringles,[90] this was a pretty sport to see the matter
turned to a play. Now the Christians having like occasion to shew their
gladness, gave such an _Applaudite_ as never was heard in any Theatre,
laughing so effusedly that they dashed their adversaries clean out of
countenance, tickling again with the long loud laughter: When they
had run not passing twice about, the Turk, seeing his time, conveyed
himself out of the ring, and then got again on his back, spending his
cowardly Darts upon his strong enemy’s armour, and so fast he followed
and so quickly the good Emperor turned back again, that his horse’s
barb of Steel out-sticking in his front, met just upon the outside of
the right eye of the Elephant, that it sticking out a foot entered in
above an inch, which ye horse perceiving made the rest follow into his
head up to the hilts (as to say) laying out his fore feet out straight,
and his hinder legs in like manner, went poking, and crowded himself
forward still gathering upon the Elephant, so that not so much with
the Horse’s force as the great beast’s cruel pain, the Elephant swayed
back above one hundred feet. Now was the Emperor glad, and with both
his hands lifting himself upon his stirrups, took his lance and struck
with the point the Turk full on the vizard so thick and so many times,
that some blood followed, with an hue and cry out of the windows of
the Helmet, to find the worker of his effusion: till the villian slave
drawing his fine sword smote the lance very bravely in two, and casting
his shield afore him, received the last stroke on the truncheon of it,
which the gentle Emperor with fell fury threw at him, that he made
him decline almost to the fall. The Turk sitting on the Elephant’s
back could not with his Scimitar reach the Christian, nor he the Turk
with his Curtilax,[91] so that now they sat and looked one upon the
other, and the people at them, and all at this strange coping.[92] The
good Horse Grauntier by chance being gored a little under the mane
betwixt the bendings of the barbs with the sharp tusk of the Elephant,
neighed with great stomach, and leasing[93] from the beast which he had
well-nigh forced to the lists’ end, being thereto forwarded with the
sharp spurs with so exceeding fury, that it was not only a marvel how
the good Prince could sit him so assuredly, and also that he spoiled
not himself, and with more eager fury began to gallop upon the Elephant
again, his mouth wide open, and horrible with the salt fume[94] which
in abundance issued from his great heart: for by how much the more
a thing is gentle and quiet, by so much the more being moved he is
iracund[95] and implacable. But the Emperor turning his reins carried
him clean contrary to the lists’ end, where stood lances for the same
purpose as the manner is, of which he chose the two stiffest, longest,
and rudest for their stature and came softly pacing to the Turk: who
stood even there still where he was, the Elephant bleeding in such
abundance, that by the loss of so much blood his meekness turned into
rage, and began to rise and bray, and stamp, and with an uncertain sway
to move, so that with much ado the Slave stayed and appeased him, then
the brave Emperor, lifting up his vizor not only to take breath but
the more freely that his speech might have passage, he told the Turk
that he had in a base cowardly manner by false fraud and unequal fight
dishonoured himself and endangered him, for which he told him _Malgrado
suo_[96] he would be gloriously revenged: and now that they had spent
a good time in uncertain Fortune, he had brought two lances, choose
which he would, and either begin the fight anew or make an end of the
old, promising upon his Honour that if he refused so to do, he would
fasten one in his beast and another in his heart. And if he dared to
do that, he bade him come down on foot and there break a staff with
him. The Turk, as he was an Honourable soldier, then presently slipped
off his Elephant, bravely answering that he came to conquer him in
sport, and not meaning to make a purposed battle, but sith he was so
presumptuous as to dare him to his face, he should soon perceive how
lightly he weighed his proud words, and then skipping to him straight
a Lance out of his hand, and went one hundred paces backwards, so did
the Emperor very joyfully, when they were come so far as they thought,
they might trust to their breath, holding their Lances in both their
hands, began to run very swiftly, and desire brought them together so
fast and outrageously, that their Lances somewhat too malapert[97]
not suffering them to come together, hurled the Turk above seven feet
of the Lances’ length, so that not one there but thought he had been
either slain, or his wind dashed out of his belly: the Prince reeled
backward above two paces and yet fell down much astonished. The people
on both sides exceedingly amazed and affrighted, especially the Turks,
who sent out such a doleful _Sauntus_[98] that it would have moved
the stones to ruth, but the dolour of the Christian was not so great,
for the moving of the Emperor revived their spirits much. In a cause
on which the beholders’ safeties do depend, the ill-success is much
feared, for it may be seen by this, that they will with a certain
alacrity and Sympathy seem to help or pity as the cause requires. On
a sudden the Emperor lifted up his head, at which the Christians gave
such an universal shout, as if even now they would have frayed[99] the
mountains adjacent. The two courageous beasts having lately heaped up
red-hot rancour in their disdainful stomachs, assaulted the one the
other with all the weapons of nature, that it had been enough for to
have delighted anyone, but the Horse had some small advantage by reason
of the Elephant’s right eye was covered with the trailing down of
the blood. By this time the Emperors rose again, and the one went to
his Horse, the other to his Elephant, having first splintered their
spears, and fenced so long as any virtue remained in the slaughtered
Lances. When each had gotten to their beasts, they began to forward
them, who with equal ire moved needed no encouragement, then did the
Emperor coming with full scope upon the Turk, smite the Elephant just
upon one of the teeth, while with great rage the Horse had fastened his
pike again in the Jaw bone, so that the Elephant still swayed back, but
neither of them being able to reach the one the other, the excellent
Prince, casting his golden shield before him and drawing his glittering
Curtelax, leaped upon the neck of his Horse, and laying one hand upon
the one tooth of the Elephant, with the other hand upon the thong, that
went across his forehead, vaulted up, and settling his feet upon the
tusks and his hand on the head of the beast, cast up himself, and laid
his sitting place where his hands were, and there rode by little and
a little till he might buckle with the insedent.[100] No sooner came
he within the reach of the Turk, but he smote the Turk so freely, who
was ready prepared for him, that he made him decline a little, there
they fought so long that the Elephant driven through pain was thrust
up to the lists, hereupon all the people Christian in a more free
manner than ever at any time before, all the while their hard-metalled
swords played upon each other’s shield, so that the glory of their
rare fight was so wonderfully pleasing to the eye, and so honourable
to the combatants, that if they had jested, one would well have been
contented to view all the long day: but the good Prince was too hard
for the other, for with his ready blows he urged the great Slave out
of his cell, and made him sit behind the arson[101] of the saddle, and
if this chance had not happened, he had surely made him sit behind
the arson of his Elephant’s Tail. For as soon as the Elephant had but
touched the lists, the Christian Marshals of the field came galloping
and parted the Combatants, holding the Turk as vanquished, whilst
betwixt the contrary and adverse part there was four Negatives,[102]
so that well-nigh they had fallen to blows, for ye case seemed to the
Christian plain, to the Turk unjust. That because the Beast whereon he
rode went to the Lists’ end, therefore the stopper should be blamed.
Well, Heralds whose office it is to deal in such royal matters, had the
discussing of it, and it was deferred to arbiters, with this condition,
that if the Turk was found vanquished, he should be yielded as recreant
(and miscreant he was). So the matter was posted off whilst it never
was concluded, and both the parties departed, the one to ye camp, the
other to the city, in no less solemn pomp than they entered accompanied
into the sands, where so rare a chance fortuned betwixt so puissaunt
Emperors. And because the matter was as strange as true, I have
sojourned a little too long in it. But in the next Inn you shall have a
better refreshment or a newer choice.
[Footnote 83: Force.]
[Footnote 84: Subtlety, trick.]
[Footnote 85: Applied to sounds suggesting angry vehemence.]
[Footnote 86: Bitter?]
[Footnote 87: Enticing.]
[Footnote 88: Forcing, pressing.]
[Footnote 89: Nimbly.]
[Footnote 90: Ring, or circle.]
[Footnote 91: Cutlass.]
[Footnote 92: Encounter.]
[Footnote 93: Releasing.]
[Footnote 94: Smoke, vapour.]
[Footnote 95: Irascible.]
[Footnote 96: In spite of himself; reluctantly (Ital.)]
[Footnote 97: Impudent.]
[Footnote 98: A form of _sanctus_; an outcry.]
[Footnote 99: Frightened.]
[Footnote 100: A person sitting on something (in this case, the
elephant’s rider).]
[Footnote 101: Saddle-bow.]
[Footnote 102: i.e. The Turkish umpires.]
CHAPTER XXIII
By chance a Knight smote Faustus a box on the ear in the presence of a
great company of brave Ladies, wherefore he swore to be egregiously
revenged on him, giving him the Field, which the Knight refused not, so
the weapons, the place, the time were ordained, and Faustus went out
to the field, and no sooner was Faustus gone out of the presence but
Signior di Medesimo, who was well-known to be a valorous and courageous
man in his kind as any was about the Court, on a sudden fell down on
his knees before all the Ladies, shaking and quivering, with a face
as pale as him which was new risen from a month’s burying, desiring
them if ever they tendered any Gentleman’s case, to entreat Monsieur
Infeligo to forgive him his trespass. At this the whole assembly
burst out into a loud laughter, to see the man that was even now in
his brave terms and vaunting words to come in all submissive manner
to entreat for a pardon so ridiculously. He yet not desisting with
many a salt tear and hands lifted up towards the Heavens, from whence
his pity came, when Faustus came blowing in like a swashbuckler with
his Rapier by his side and his hand on his Poynard, swearing all the
cross row over.[103] But when he saw the Knight in such a pickle, he
sat himself against a wall and laughed so loud and so heartily, that
all the whole rout could not choose but laugh with him, and here was
laughing, and here and there and everywhere. At length two Ladies rose,
to whom perhaps this Knight owed some particular service, and desired
Don Infeligo with very mild sermon to be friends with Medesimo again,
he told them that they could not demand the thing which he would not
readily fulfil, marry he requested this, that as the disgrace which
he had received was too great to be forgotten without some such equal
revenge, that he might use some like injury, whereby he might be
satisfied and he might again come into his grace: which they granted.
Faustus came to Medesimo and reared him up upon his feet, and then got
upon his back, and so rid twice about the Chamber, and when he had done
he took him by the chin, who had not yet forgotten how to weep, shaking
worse then any school-boy when he fears to climb the horse, and gave
him a good box on the ear and went his way. So the Knight was utterly
disgraced, and for shame durst not be seen all that day after. They
which were there had sport abundance, and Faustus was feared for his
brave valour and with his continual delight in knavery got him foes
enough too.
[Footnote 103: An incantation over the letters of the alphabet.]
CHAPTER XXIV
Another time he by chance overheard a Gentleman which was talking to
a Lady, and said that whatsoever she commanded him to do, he would do
it, if she would grant him grace. The Gentlewoman belike willing to
hear him speak so not to her, required him to build in that place with
one word a Castle of fine silver, at which the Gentleman amazed went
away confounded, Faustus followed him fast, and said to him that he had
overheard the Lady’s unjust demand, wherefore go say (quoth he) thou
wilt do it with one word. And so the Gentleman did and it was done,
whilst he ran laughing in to many nobles and lusty gallants, telling
them he would shew them the strangest thing that ever they saw, and
all they came running into the garden together, where they found the
Gentleman fast locked in a pair of stocks, and an ugly foul kitchen
wrench in his arms. O Lord, what wondrous sport did he make them there.
And when they had laughed their fill, he loosed the gallant, who went
and swore all that he could he would be revenged on him. In such
monstrous intolerable knaveries Faustus took especial felicity.
CHAPTER XXV
These four honest fellows Faustus, Akercocke, Mephostophiles, and
Wagner went out together into the street, and walking there by chance
espied four Gentlewomen seeming to be sisters, them they cast to abuse,
and they were never content to play any merry pranks for honest sport,
but they must be so satirically full of gall, that they commonly proved
infamous, sparing neither their good name on whom they committed
them nor any kind of villainy, so it might procure mirth: when they
had talked sufficiently with them, they did so much that they were
contented to ride abroad with them, and so each fetched his horse and
came to them masked, and the Gentlewomen were wimpled likewise (for
the men as well as women use there to wear masks). Thus they rode
to the common furlong where many Italian gentlemen were playing at
the Balloon, and there they rode round about, whole armies of shouts
accompanying them, they riding still backward and forward, whilst
these men-women had sewed their coats to their doublets, and pinned
upon their backs things of vile reproach amongst them, then rode they
to the Court not yet satisfied, where they were entertained with more
merriment and laughter. And when these men-women saw the greatest
multitude that was there likely to be, even upon a piece of ground
which was higher than all the rest, they leaped down, and by reason of
the friendship betwixt their petticoats and their doublets, they haled
them all down one after another, the horses ran away, and they lay
upon them to their great confusion and reproach, yet they thought all
well sith they were personated and masked, but the women stripped off
their women’s garments and their head attires, and there they were well
known to be four brave noble young Gentlemen brethren, and each of them
rent off the masks of Mephostophiles and his mates, and detected them
to their great shame, who neither durst revenge themselves for fear
of further displeasure, nor of revealing what they were, nor could be
moaned of any one for their notable abuses aforehand, so that whereas
in others it had been but a common jest, on them it was wonderful
strange and ridiculous. So they with shame enough went fretting in vain
to their lodging.
CHAPTER XXVI
The Emperor being some five or six days in rest within his walls,
caused, as sloth cannot dwell in true noble breasts, the whole Army to
set forward, leaving a convenient Garrison within the City of 30,000
men, marched into the fields in sundry embattles with above 130,000
men. And there in the view of the Army Mephostophiles, Akercocke,
Wagner, Faustus pricked up to the Turk’s camp, armed in complete
harness, and there challenged any four to break a staff with them, then
came there forth four Janissaries horsemen armed at all assays,[104]
and there they ran together to the singular delight of the beholders,
so gallantly they demeaned themselves, but in the cope[105] all the
four Janissaries were run quite through and through (as they say) and
there lay on the cold earth, then made these four fellows in Arms their
stop and expected a fresh revenge: which came immediately thundering
out of the entry of the Camp, with whom to occur in time they met with
the like success as before, to their singular commendations and high
praises: then gan the Turk to stamp and fret, and commanded four of
the best in his whole camp, and four more with them to run at these
villains and to captive them, where they should rue the rashness of
their presumption with long eternal torment. These eight came with all
their power together and broke their lances very hardly upon their
faces, and so did they four on theirs, then they drew their swords
committing a brave tourney, till two of the Turks were slain, and the
six fled, which were immediately hanged, at which ye Christian laughed
heartily, and these four returned thanked highly, and for that the
Enemy would not advance himself to the general Fortune of the fight,
they marched in again into the City.
[Footnote 104: Ready for every event.]
[Footnote 105: Encounter.]
CHAPTER XXVII
About two a clock in the night the Turk approached with all his whole
army unto the walls of the City, causing particular bands and Pioneers
to dig through the countermure, the Sentinels which were on the walls,
privily espying by reason the Moon gave some slender light, though she
was but three days old, gave warning without any alarm to the chief
commanders: so that the whole power of the City almost was gathered
into Arms, without any stroke of the Drum. The place wherein the Turk
was entering, was right against a street’s end of above two yards over
and not above thirty yards from the breach, they had digged a deep
trench and placed on the scarf nine double cannons thoroughly round and
charged with chain and murdering shot, and on each side of the cross
street they had erected forts of gravel, etc., like our Barricadoes
now, in each of which they placed above fifteen Culverin and Cannon.
Now the breach being sufficient, the Turk having entered above 2,000
men, gave ye onset, and sounded the bloody alarm, when suddenly the
Flankers discharged and the bulwarks shot freely together, and utterly
cut off all them that entered beyond the ditch, and betwixt those
three mentioned Forts with their terrible shot, they swept them all
out of the place, then began the Turk to thrust his men forward upon
the breach (having lost in this assault above 2,100) and ever as they
came up to the breach, the Cannon heaved them off, and the small shot
from the loops so galled them that they durst not approach. But the
Turk cared not, for the murthering of his men might weary the Cannons’
insatiate cruelty at length. Then was the alarm given through the City,
and everyone fell to their Arms, getting to the walls, and the rest to
the assembling places, whilst the Turk freshly filled the breaches with
murthered men, he enforcing himself to his power to enter, and they
to keep him out. When he saw that how he had stopped the breaches so
with dead bodies, which almost made a new red sea with their blood, in
a great rage transporting above 30,000 men over the Danuby, furnished
them with scaling ladders, whilst he with great store of cannon beat
his own slain men off the fore-named breaches, for he was a merciless
tyrant, and caused them to assault the wall itself, which they did.
Now began the morning to appear, and ye Christian came just upon the
backs of the assailants, with the greatest part of the whole power of
the city, and put them all to the sword, save those that escaped from
them by water, but killed of their own fellows. Then the Christian
marched upon the Turk, who seeing his power greatly weakened, having
lost at his unlucky assault above 23,000 men, cursing and banning his
disastrous fortune, and his Gods the givers of it, retired in a flying
pace to his camp, whilst the plenteous spoil made rich the Christian,
for upon the dead carcases were found store of jewels and gold in great
plenty.
CHAPTER XXVIII
This new victory gladded the Christians exceedingly, as much as it
grieved the Turk. The breaches now were freshly repaired with all
expedition. The Christian princes seeing the inconvenience that
followed their keeping within the City, and how great shame it were for
them to abstain from the enemy, considering their power to be not much
inferior to that of the Turks in number, much more in brave soldiery,
wherefore they made a general muster, and determined to offer the
battle to them in the plain field, which if they refused, they would
give them in their camps, concluding all under one day’s valiance, then
marched forth the English archers, of whom Wagner desired he might be
with his fellows, which when they had taken their stand, they brought
store of fletchery[106] to them in carts, which were there disburdened,
so every archer being five double furnished, the number of them now
was nine thousand, the pike being converted into them, being thereto
desirous, and having therefore made great suit, for the Emperor was
very loth to forget their first good service: Faustus counselled the
Captain to choose a plot of above one hundred acres square, where it
was open to each horseman, which they marvelled at greatly, but yet
they easily granted to stand anywhere: they were so well placed, that
they stood as well to defend the friend, as to offend the foe. Then
in due order marched out the whole armies of the Christian, and so
settled themselves, whilst the Turk brought forward his thick swarms.
Now it had been a brave sight, to see the greatest princes of the whole
world East and West, attended on by their whole forces set in array,
their gorgeous and bright armours and weapons casting up long trammels
of golden shine to the heavens, the noise of clarions, trumpets, etc.,
encouraging the fainting soldier, and increasing the boldness of the
resolute. There was at once in this Field all the terror of the world,
accompanied with all the beauty. In the City you might have seen the
remainders at the churches at prayer, solemn procession round about
the town with great devotion, etc. Well, the time was come that the
horsemen began to assault the pike, and attempting the ruptures of
their array, and the forlorn hopes fiercely skirmishing, whilst with
loud outcries the whole use of hearing was taken away: above you
nothing but smoke, round about you the thundering cannon, and sharp
horrors of sundry weapons, and at your feet death. There might you see
the great use of the eughen[107] bow, for the horse no whit fearing the
musket, or culiver,[108] as used to it, nor yet respects the piercing
of a bullet, by the thick tempest of arrows, hiding their eyes, and
hurting their bodies, overthrew the horsemaster to the ground, on that
side could not one horseman appear, but straight they fetched him down,
so that of thirty thousand horsemen of one assault, there was not one
that came within five spears’ length of the battle on foot. The great
Turk cursing heaven and earth, and all trees that bore such murthering
fruit as bows and arrows, caused a troop of five hundred barbed horses,
with twenty thousand more to run upon the archers altogether, which
they did, but when they came just upon a little ridge, not one horse
but suddenly stopped, and the riders which now had rested their staves,
lying close upon the saddle pommels, were thrown quite out of the
saddle, and either their backs broken, or quite slain. All the whole
archery with the camp wondering hereat, as ignorant of the matter,
everyone suspending his several judgment, but Faustus laughed heartily,
who knew the matter plain, for there had they buried in sand all the
way wolves’ guts, which by natural magic, as authors affirm, suffers
not the horse to come over it in any case, nor any force can carry
him over with a rider on him. For the Archers drew just upon, and so
universally shot together, that all the troops were put to flight, and
above half spoiled and murthered. To be brief, so much the Christian
prevailed upon the Turk in three hours and a half fight, that all them
were turned and fled, each one advancing forward in his flight, there
were slain in this battle and flight above seven score thousand Turks,
the great Turk himself fighting manfully on his Elephant, was by the
Emperor’s own hands slain, all his chief Bassas and men of honour, to
the number of three hundred died manfully about him: now the retreat
was sounded, and they marched home in most glorious pomp and rejoicing,
where the soldiers made rich with the great spoil of the camp, were
dismissed, and the princes returned home, and due order taken for
the safety of the City. So the Duke of Austria rid of his enemies,
gave himself to his forepassed life, and the other princes with great
joy caused general feasts and triumphs to be performed in all their
kingdoms, provinces, and territories whatsoever.
[Footnote 106: Goods made, or sold, by a fletcher (a maker or seller of
bows and arrows).]
[Footnote 107: Yew.]
[Footnote 108: _Caliver_, a light musket or arquebus.]
FINIS
APPENDIX A
LIST OF LOCALITIES
(_Where they vary from the modern usage_)
ACH: Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle).
ANHOLT: Anhalt.
AUSPURG: Augsburg.
AUSTRICH: Austria.
BASILE: Basle.
BASYL: Basle.
BATOBURG: Battenburg.
BETHELEM: Bethlehem.
BEYERLANDT: Bavaria.
BREAME: Bremen (?).
CAMPA DE FIORE: Campo de’ Fiori.
CAMPANY: Campania.
CATHAI: China.
COSTUITZ (COSTNITZ): Constance.
CRACOVIA: Cracow.
CULLIN: Cologne.
DURING: Thuringia.
ELVE: Elbe.
ERFORT: Erfurt.
GEUF (GENF): Geneva.
GIBLATERRA: Gibraltar.
GINNIE: Guinea.
GOSLARYENS: Citizens of Goslar.
GRACOVIA: Cracow.
KUNDLING: Knittlingen.
LIEFLAND: Livonia.
LIPTZIG: Leipzig.
LITAW: Lithuania.
LUSITANY: Lusitania, Portugal.
MAYNE: Main.
MEDERI: Madeira (?).
MENCHEN: Munich.
MENTZ: Mainz.
MILLAIN: Milan.
MISSENE: Meissen.
MOSA: Maas.
NORENBERG: Nuremberg.
NOVA HISPANIOLA: Mexico.
PADOA: Padua.
POLONIAN: Polish.
PRAGE: Prague.
RAVENSPURG: Regensburg.
RHODE: Roda.
SANDETZ: Sandec, in Galicia.
SCLESIA: Silesia.
SLESIA: Silesia.
SENA: Siena.
SHAWBLANDT: Schwabenland, Swabia.
SWEITZ: Switzerland.
S. MICHAEL’S: One of the Azores.
TERZERA: One of the Azores.
TERGESTE: Trieste.
TERRA INCOGNITA: America.
TENORRIFOCIE: Teneriffe (?).
TRENO RIEFE: Teneriffe (?).
TREIR: Trier (Trèves).
ULME: Ulm.
ULMA: Ulm.
WARTZBURG: Würzburg.
WATZBURG: Würzburg.
WEIM: Vienna.
WEIMER: Weimar.
APPENDIX B
A Ballad of Faustus, about 1670, from the Roxburghe
Collection in the British Museum. [Rox II. 235]
THE JUDGMENT OF GOD SHEWED UPON ONE _John Faustus_,
DOCTOR IN DIVINITY
Tune of _Fortune my Foe_
All Christian men give ear a while to me,
How I am plung’d in pain but cannot die,
I liv’d a life the like did none before,
Forsaking Christ, and I am damn’d therefore.
At Wittenburge, a town in Germany,
There was I born and bred of good degree,
Of honest Stock which afterwards I shamed,
Accurst therefore for Faustus was I named.
In learning loe my Uncle brought up me,
And made me Doctor in Divinity:
And when he dy’d he left me all his wealth,
Whose cursed gold did hinder my souls health.
Then did I shun the holy Bible book,
Nor on Gods word would ever after look,
But studied accursed Conjuration,
Which was the cause of my utter Damnation.
The Devil in Fryars weeds appeared to me,
And streight to my Request he did agree,
That I might have all things at my desire,
I gave him soul and body for his hire.
Twice did I make my tender flesh to bleed,
Twice with my blood I wrote the Devils deed,
Twice wretchedly I soul and body sold,
To live in peace and do what things I would.
For four and twenty Years this bond was made,
And at the length my soul was truly paid,
Time ran away, and yet I never thought
How dear my soul our Saviour Christ had bought.
Would I had first been made a Beast by kind,
Then had not I so vainly set my mind;
Or would when reason first began to bloom,
Some darksome Den had been my deadly tomb.
Woe to the Day of my Nativity,
Woe to the time that once did foster me,
And woe unto the hand that sealed the Bill,
Woe to myself the cause of all my ill.
The time I past away with much delight,
’Mongst princes, peers, and many a worthy Kt.
I wrought such wonders by my Magick Skill,
That all the world may talk of Faustus still.
The Devil he carried me up into the Sky,
Where I did see how all the world did lie;
I went about the world in eight Daies space,
And then return’d unto my Native place.
What pleasure I did wish to please my mind,
He did perform as bond and seal did bind,
The secrets of the Stars and Planets told,
Of earth and sea with wonders manifold.
When four and twenty years was almost run,
I thought of all things that was past and done;
How that the Devil would soon claim his right,
And carry me to Everlasting Night.
Then all too late I curst my wicked Deed,
The Dread whereof doth make my heart to bleed,
All daies and hours I mourned wondrous sore,
Repenting me of all things done before.
I then did wish both Sun and Moon to stay
All times and Seasons, never to decay;
Then had my time nere come to dated end,
Nor soul and body down to Hell descend.
At last when I had but one hour to come,
I turn’d my glass for my last hour to run,
And call’d to learned men to comfort me,
But faith was gone and none could comfort me.
By twelve a Clock my glass was almost out,
My grieved Conscience then began to doubt;
I wisht the Students stay in Chamber by,
But as they staid they heard a dreadful cry.
Then presently they came into the Hall,
Whereas my brains was cast against the wall,
Both arms and legs in pieces torn they see,
My bowels gone, this was an end of me.
You Conjurors and damned Witches all,
Example take by my unhappy fall:
Give not your souls and bodies into Hell,
See that the smallest hair you do not sell.
But hope that Christ his Kingdom you may gain,
Where you shall never fear such mortal pain:
Forsake the Devil and all his crafty ways,
Embrace true faith that never more decays.
Printed by and for A. M. and sold by the Booksellers
of London.
APPENDIX C
_Bibliography_
H. LOGEMAN: _The English Faust Book of 1592_. (_Recueil de Travaux de
l’Université de Gand_, 24ᵉ fascicule, Ghent, 1900).
A. E. RICHARDS: _The English Wagner Book of 1594_.
(_Literarhistorische Forschungen_, XXXV. Heft, Berlin, 1907.)
W. J. THOMS: _Early English Prose Romances_. (2nd Ed. Vol. III.
London, 1858.)
R. PETSCH: _Das Volksbuch vom Doktor Faust_. (Reprint of the first
edition of 1587. _Neudrucke_, Nos. 7, 8, 8a, 8b. Halle, 1911.)
G. MILCHSACK: _Historia D. Johannis Fausti des Zauberers_. (Reprint of
the Wolfenbüttel MS. Wolfenbüttel, 1892-7.)
W. MEYER: _Nürnberger Faustgeschichten_. (_Abhandlungen der
philosoph.-philolog. Klasse der königl. bayrischen Akademie der
Wissenschaften_, Bd. XX. Abt. 2. Munich, 1895.)
S. SZAMATÓLSKI: _Das Faustbuch des Christlich Meynenden_. (_Deutsche
Literaturdenkmale des 18. und 19. Jh., No. 39._ Stuttgart, 1891.)
J. SCHEIBLE: _Das Kloster_. (Vols. 2, 3, 5, and 11. Stuttgart, 1846-9.)
A. TILLE: _Die Faustsplitter in der Literatur des 16. bis 18. Jhdts_.
(Berlin, 1898-1904.)
K. ENGEL.: _Zusammenstellung der Faust-Schriften vom 16. Jh. bis Mitte
1884._ (Oldenburg, 1885.)
C. KIESEWETTER: _Faust in der Geschichte und Tradition_. (Leipzig,
1893.)
E. FALIGAN: _Histoire de la légende de Faust_. (Paris, 1888.)
E. SCHMIDT: _Faust und das 16. Jahrhundert_. (_Charakteristiken_, 1.
Reihe, 2. Aufl., Berlin, 1902.)
E. SCHMIDT: _Faust und Luther_. (_Sitzungsberichte_, 1896.)
E. WOLFF: _Faust und Luther_. (Halle, 1912.)
W. CREIZENACH: _Versuch einer Geschichte des Volksschauspiels vom
Doctor Faust_. (Halle, 1878.)
A. W. WARD: _Marlowe’s Tragical History of Dr. Faustus_. (4th Ed.
Oxford, 1901.)
R. ROHDE: _Das Englische Faustbuch und Marlowes Tragödie_. (Halle,
1910.)
H. LOGEMAN: _Faustus-Notes_. (_Recueil de Travaux_, 21ᵉ fascicule,
Ghent, 1898.)
J. FRITZ: _Ander theil D. Johañ Fausti Historien_. (Reprint of first
edition of _German Wagner Book_. Halle, 1910.)
Printed in Great Britain at
_The Mayflower Press, Plymouth_.
William Brendon & Son, Ltd.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES.
1. Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical
errors.
2. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.
3. Some of the illustrations have been moved to a different page in
this ebook edition. The page numbers, in the List of Illustrations,
have been amended.
4. It has been necessary for the localities that have two alternative
names for the same location in APPENDIX A to be reformatted in
this ebook edition.
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