How am I glutted with conceit of this! Shall I make Spirits fetch me what I please? Perform what desperate enterprises I will? And search all corners of the new-found world Enter VALDES and CORNELIUS. Faust. Valdes, sweet Valdes, and Cornelius, Both Law and Physic are for petty wits: Vald. Faustus, these books, thy wit, and our experience, Shall make all nations canonize us. [Fourteen lines omitted.] As Indian Moors obey their Spanish lords, Be always serviceable to us three : Like Lions shall they guard us when we please; He that is grounded in astrology, Inricht with tongues, well seen in minerals, Hath all the principles magic doth require. Faust. Come show me some demonstrations magical, That I may conjure in some bushy grove, And have these joys in full possession. Vald. Then haste thee to some solitary grove, We will inform thee, ere our conference cease. [Sc. 1.] Faustus being instructed in the elements of magic by his friends Valdes and Cornelius, sells his soul to the devil, to have an Evil Spirit at his command for twenty-four years.—When the years are expired, the devils claim his soul. FAUSTUS, the night of his death. WAGNER, his servant. Faust. Say, Wagner, thou hast perused my will, How dost thou like it? Wag. Sir, so wondrous well, As in all humble duty I do yield My life and lasting service for your love. [Exit. Three Scholars enter. Faust. Gramercy, Wagner. Welcome, Gentlemen. First Sch. Now, worthy Faustus, methinks your looks are changed. Faust. O, Gentlemen. Sec. Sch. What ails Faustus? Faust. Ah, my sweet chamber-fellow, had I lived with thee, then had I liv'd still, but now must die eternally. Look, Sirs, comes he not? comes he not? First Sch. O my dear Faustus, what imports this fear? Sec. Sch. Is all our pleasure turn'd to melancholy? Sec. Sch. If it be so, we will have physicians, and Faustus shall be cured. Third Sch. "Tis but a surfeit, Sir; fear nothing. Faust. A surfeit of a deadly sin that hath damn'd both body and soul. Sec. Sch. Yet, Faustus, look up to heaven, and remember, mercy is infinite. Faust. But Faustus' offence can ne'er be pardoned. The serpent that tempted Eve may be saved, but not Faustus. O, Gentlemen, hear me with patience, and tremble not at my speeches. Though my heart pant and quiver to remember that I have been a student here these thirty years. O would I had ne'er seen Wirtemberg, never read book! and what wonders I have done, all Germany can witness, yea all the world: for which, Faustus hath lost both Germany and the world; yea heaven itself, heaven the seat of God, the throne of the blessed, the kingdom of joy, and must remain in hell for ever. Hell, O hell, for ever. Sweet friends, what shall become of Faustus being in hell for ever? Sec. Sch. Yet, Faustus, call on God. Faust. On God whom Faustus hath abjured? on God whom Faustus hath blasphemed? O my God, I would weep, but the devil draws in my tears. Gush forth blood instead of tears, yea life and soul. Oh, he stays my tongue: I would lift up my hands, but see, they hold 'em, they hold 'em. Scholars. Who, Faustus? Faust. Why, Lucifer and Mephostophilis. O, gentlemen, I gave them my soul for my cunning. Scholars. O God forbid. Faust. God forbid it indeed, but Faustus hath done it for the vain pleasure of four-and-twenty years hath Faustus lost eternal joy and felicity. I writ them a bill with mine own blood, the date is expired: this is the time, and he will fetch me. First Sch. Why did not Faustus tell us of this before, that Divines might have prayed for thee? Faust. Oft have I thought to have done so; but the devil threatened to tear me in pieces if I named God; to fetch me body and soul if I once gave ear to divinity: and now it is too late. Gentlemen, away, lest you perish with me. Sec. Sch. O what may we do to save Faustus? Faust. Talk not of me, but save yourselves and depart. Third Sch. God will strengthen me; I will stay with Faustus. First Sch. Tempt not God, sweet friend, but let us into the next room and pray for him. Faust. Ay, pray for me, pray for me; and what noise soever you hear, come not unto me, for nothing can rescue me. Sec. Sch. Pray thou, and we will pray, that God may have mercy upon thee. Faust. Gentlemen, farewell; if I live till morning, I'll visit you; if not, Faustus is gone to hell. Scholars. Faustus, farewell. FAUSTUS alone. The clock strikes eleven. Faust. O Faustus, Now hast thou but one bare hour to live, The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike, And see, a threat'ning arm, and angry brow. The watch strikes. O half the hour is past: 'twill all be past anon. Impose some end to my incessant pain. A hundred thousand, and at the last be saved: Why wert thou not a creature wanting soul? O Pythagoras' Metempsychosis! were that true, All beasts are happy, for when they die, The clock strikes twelve. It strikes, it strikes; now, body, turn to air, 0 Thunder, and enter the Devils. mercy, Heaven! look not so fierce on me. Enter Scholars. First Sch. Come, gentlemen, let us go visit Faustus, For such a dreadful night was never seen Since first the world's creation did begin; Such fearful shrieks and cries were never heard. Pray heaven the Doctor have escaped the danger. [Sc. xiv.] Sec. Sch. O help us heavens! see here are Faustus' limbs All torn asunder by the hand of death. Third Sch. The devil whom Faustus served hath torn him thus: [Enter chorus and with eight lines the play ends.] VOL. IV.-3 |