They say we are a scatter'd nation:

I cannot tell; but we have scambled up

More wealth by far than those that brag of faith.
There's Kirriah Jairim, the great Jew of Greece,
Obed in Bairseth, Nones in Portugal,
Myself in Malta, some in Italy,

Many in France, and wealthy every one:
Aye, wealthier far than any Christian.
I must confess, we come not to be kings;
That's not our fault; alas, our number's few;
And crowns come either by succession,
Or urged by force; and nothing violent,
Oft have I heard tell, can be permanent.
Give us a peaceful rule; make Christians kings,
That thirst so much for principality.15

15 Marlowe's Jew does not approach so near to Shakspeare's, as his Edward II. does to Richard II. Shylock in the midst of his savage purpose is a man. His motives, feelings, resentments, have something human in them. "If you wrong us, shall we not revenge?" Barabas is a mere monster brought in with a large painted nose to please the rabble. He kills in sport, poisons whole nunneries, invents infernal machines. He is just such an Exhibition as a century or two earlier might have been played before the Londoners, by the Royal Command, when a general pillage and massacre of the Hebrews had been previously resolved on in the Cabinet. It is curious to see a superstition wearing out. The idea of a Jew (which our pious ancestors contemplated with such horror) has nothing in it now revolting. We have tamed the claws of the beast, and pared its nails, and now we take it to our arms, fondle it, write plays to flatter it: it is visited by Princes, affects a taste, patronizes the arts, and is the only liberal and gentlemanlike thing in Christendom

THE

THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF THE LIFE AND DEATH OF DOCTOR FAUSTUS: BY CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE.

How Faustus fell to the study of magic.

born of parents base of stock
In Germany, within a town call'd Rhodes:
At riper years to Wirtemberg he went,
Whereas his kinsmen chiefly brought him up.
So much he profits in Divinity,

That shortly he was grac'd with Doctor's name,
Excelling all, and sweetly can dispute

In the heavenly matters of theology:
Till swoln with cunning and a self conceit,
His waxen wings did mount above his reach,
And melting, heavens conspired his overthrow :
For falling to a devilish exercise,

And glutted now with Learning's golden gifts,
He surfeits on the cursed necromancy.
Nothing so sweet as magic is to him,

Which he prefers before his chiefest bliss.

Faustus in his study, runs through the circle of the sciences; and being satisfied with none of them, determines to addict himself to magic.

Faust. Settle thy studies, Faustus, and begin

To sound the depth of that thou wilt profess;
Having commenc'd, be a Divine in show,
Yet level at the end of every art,

And live and die in Aristotle's works.
Sweet Analytics, 'tis thou hast ravish'd me.
Bene disserere est finis Logices.

Is, to dispute well, Logic's chiefest end?
Affords this art no greater miracle?

Then read no more; thou hast attain❜d that end.

A greater subject fitteth Faustus' wit.

Bid

Bid Oeconomy farewell; and Galen come.
Be a physician, Faustus, heap up gold,
And be eterniz'd for some wond'rous cure.
Summum bonum medicinæ sanitas :

The end of physic is our bodies' health.
Why, Faustus; hast thou not attain'd that end?
Are not thy bills hung up as monuments,
Whereby whole cities have escap'd the plague,
And divers desperate maladies been cured?
Yet art thou still but Faustus, and a man.
Couldst thou make men but live eternally,
Or being dead raise men to life again,
Then this profession were to be esteem'd.
Physic farewell. Where is Justinian?
Si una eademque res legatur duobus,
Alter rem, alter valorem rei, &c.
A petty case of paltry legacies.
Exhereditari filium non potest pater, nisi, &c.
Such is the subject of the Institute,
And universal body of the Law.
This study fits a mercenary drudge,
Who aims at nothing but external trash,
Too servile and illiberal for me.
When all is done, Divinity it best.
Jerome's bible, Faustus: view it well.

Stipendium peccati mors est: ha! Stipendium, &c.
The reward of sin is death: that's hard.

Si peccasse negamus, fallimur, et nulla est in nobis veritas. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us.

Why then belike we must sin, and so consequently die. Aye, we must die an everlasting death.

What doctrine call you this? Che, sera, sera:

What will be shall be. Divinity adieu.

These Metaphysics of Magicians,

And necromantic books, are heavenly.
Lines, Circles, Letters, Characters:

Aye, these are those that Faustus most desires.
O what a world of profit and delight,
Of power, of honour, and omnipotence,

Is promis'd to the studious artizan !

All things that move between the quiet poles
Shall be at my command. Emperors and Kings
Are but obey'd in their several provinces ;
But his dominion that exceeds in this,
Stretcheth as far as doth the mind of man:
A sound Magician is a Demigod.

Here tire my brains to gain a deity.

* * * *

*

* * * X

*

How am I glutted with conceit of this!
Shall I make Spirits fetch me what I please?
Resolve me of all ambiguities?

Perform what desperate enterprises I will?
I'll have them fly to India for gold,
Ransack the ocean for orient pearl,

And search all corners of the new-found world
For pleasant fruits and princely delicates.
I'll have them read me strange philosophy;
And tell the secrets of all foreign kings:
I'll have them wall all Germany with brass,
And with swift Rhine circle all Wirtemberg:
I'll have them fill the public schools with skill,
Wherewith the students shall be bravely clad:
I'll levy soldiers with the coin they bring,
And chase the Prince of Parma from our land;
And reign sole king of all the provinces:
Yea stranger engines for the brunt of war,
Than was the fiery keel at Antwerp bridge,
I'll make my servile Spirits to invent.
Come German Valdes, and Cornelius,
And make me wise with your sage conference.
Enter Valdes and Cornelius.

Faust. Valdes, sweet Valdes, and Cornelius,
Know that your words have won me at the last
To practise Magic and concealed Arts.
Philosophy is odious and obscure:

Both Law and Physic are for petty wits:
'Tis Magic, Magic, that hath ravish'd me.
Then gentle friends aid me in this attempt;
And I that have with subtil syllogisms

Gravell'd

Gravell'd the Pastors of the German Church,
And made the flowering pride of Wirtemberg
Swarm to my problems, as th' infernal Spirits
On sweet Musæus when he came to hell,

Will be as cunning as Agrippa was,

Whose shadow made all Europe honour him,

Vald. Faustus, these books, thy wit, and our experi

ence,

Shall make all nations canonize us.

As Indian Moors obey their Spanish Lords,
So shall the Spirits of every Element

Be always serviceable to us three:

Like Lions shall they guard us when we please;
Like Almain Rutters with their horsemen's staves,
Or Lapland Giants trotting by our sides:
Sometimes like Women, or unwedded Maids,
Shadowing more beauty in their airy brows
Than have the white breasts of the Queen of Love.
Corn. The miracles that magic will perform,
Will make thee vow to study nothing else.

He that is grounded in astrology,

Inricht with tongues, well seen in minerals,

Hath all the principles magic doth require.

Faust. Come shew 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,
And bear wise Bacon's and Albanus' works,
The Hebrew Psalter, and New Testament;
And whatsoever else is requisite

We will inform thee, ere our conference cease.

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?

D 2

Wag.