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not dunces, you would never ask me such a question; for is not he corpus naturale? and is not that mobile? then wherefore should you ask me such a question? But that I am by nature phlegmatic, slow to wrath, and prone to lechery (to love, I would say), it were not for you to come within forty foot of the place of execution, although I do not doubt to see you both hanged the next sessions. Thus having triumphed over you, I will set my countenance like a precisian, and begin to speak thus :-Truly, my dear brethren, my master is within at dinner, with Valdes and Cornelius, as this wine, if it could speak, would* inform your worships and so, the Lord bless you, preserve you, and keep you, my dear brethren, my dear brethren !+ [Exit.

FIRST SCHOL. Nay, then, I fear he is fallen into that damned art for which they two are infamous through the world.

SEC. SCHOL. Were he a stranger, and not allied to me, yet should I grieve for him. But, come, let us go and inform the Rector, and see if he by his grave counsel can reclaim him.

FIRST SCHOL. Oh, but I fear me nothing can reclaim him!

SEC. SCHOL. Yet let us try what we can do.

[Exeunt.

* speak, would] So the later 4tos.-2to 1604 "speake, it would." + my dear brethren] This repetition (not found in the later 4tos) is perhaps an error of the original compositor.

Enter FAUSTUS to conjure *.

FAUST. Now that the gloomy shadow of the earth, Longing to view Orion's drizzling look,

Leaps from th' antartic world unto the sky,
And dims the welkin with her pitchy breath,
Faustus, begin thine incantations,

And try if devils will obey thy hest,

Seeing thou hast pray'd and sacrific'd to them.
Within this circle is Jehovah's name,
Forward and backward anagrammatis'd+,
Th' abbreviated‡ names of holy saints,
Figures of every adjunct to the heavens,
And characters of signs and erring § stars,
By which the spirits are enforc'd to rise:
Then fear not, Faustus, but be resolute,
And try the uttermost magic can perform.—
Sint mihi dei Acherontis propitii! Valeat numen
triplex Jehova! Ignei, aërii, aquatani spiritus, sal-
vete! Orientis princeps Belzebub, inferni ardentis
monarcha, et Demogorgon, propitiamus vos, ut ap-

*Enter Faustus to conjure] The Scene is supposed to be a grove: see p. 14.

+ anagrammatiz'd] So the later 4tos.-2to 1604 “and Agramithist."

Th' abbreviated] So the later 4tos.-2to 1604 "The breuiated."

[blocks in formation]

pareat et surgat Mephistophilis, quod tumeraris * : per Jehovam, Gehennam, et consecratam aquam quam nunc spargo, signumque crucis quod nunc facio, et per vota nostra, ipse nunc surgat nobis dicatus + Mephistophilis !

Enter a DEVIL.

I charge thee to return, and change thy shape;
Thou art too ugly to attend on me:

Go, and return an old Franciscan friar;

That holy shape becomes a devil best. [Exit Devil.
I see there's virtue in my heavenly words:

Who would not be proficient in this art?
How pliant is this Mephistophilis,
Full of obedience and humility!
Such is the force of magic and my spells:
No, Faustus, thou art conjurer laureat,
That canst command great Mephistophilis :
Quin regis, Mephistophilis, fratris imagine.

surgat Mephistophilis, quod tumeraris] The later 4tos have surgat Mephistophilis Dragon, quod tumeraris.”—There is a corruption here, which seems to defy emendation. For "quod tumeraris," Mr. J. Crossley, of Manchester, would read (rejecting the word "Dragon")" quòd tu mandares" (the construction being "quod tu mandares ut Mephistophilis appareat et surgat"): but the "tu "does not agree with the preceding "vos."-The Revd. J. Mitford proposes "surgat Mephistophilis, per Dragon (or Dagon) quod numen est äeris."

t dicatus] So two of the later 4tos.-2to 1604" dicatis."

Enter MEPHISTOPHILIS

MEPH. Now, Faustus, what wouldst thou have me do?

FAUST. I charge thee wait upon me whilst I live, To do whatever Faustus shall command,

Be it to make the moon drop from her sphere,
Or the ocean to overwhelm the world.

MEPH. I am a servant to great Lucifer,
And may not follow thee without his leave:
No more than he commands must we perform.
FAUST. Did not he charge thee to appear to me?
MEPH. No, I came hither+ of mine own accord.

* Enter Mephistophilis] i. e. the devil, or evil spirit Mephistophilis, who has just gone out, re-enters dressed as a Franciscan friar.-According to The History of Dr. Faustus, on which this play is founded, Faustus raises Mephistophilis in "a thicke wood neere to Wittenberg, called in the German tongue Spisser Wolt...... Presently, not three fathom above his head, fell a flame in manner of a lightning, and changed itselfe into a globe. ..... Suddenly the globe opened, and sprung up in the 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 the manner of a Gray Fryer, asking Faustus what was his request?" Sigs. A 2, A 3, ed. 1648. Again; "After Doctor Faustus had made his promise to the devill, in the morning betimes he called the spirit before him, and commanded him that he should alwayes come to him like a fryer 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 certaine coming." Id. Sig. A 4.

+ came hither] So two of the later 4tos.-2to 1604 "came now hither."

FAUST. Did not my conjuring speeches raise thee? speak.

MEPH. That was the cause, but yet per accidens*; For, when we hear one rack the name of God, Abjure the Scriptures and his Saviour Christ, We fly, in hope to get his glorious soul; Nor will we come, unless he use such means, Whereby he is in danger to be damn'd. Therefore the shortest cut for conjuring Is stoutly to abjure the Trinity,

And pray devoutly to the prince of hell.

FAUST. SO Faustus hath already done; and holds this principle,

There is no chief but only Belzebub;

To whom Faustus doth dedicate himself.

This word damnation terrifies not him,
For he confounds hell in Elysium:
His ghost be with the old philosophers!
But, leaving these vain trifles of men's souls,
Tell me what is that Lucifer thy lord?

MEPH. Arch-regent and commander of all spirits.
FAUST. Was not that Lucifer an angel once?
MEPH. Yes, Faustus, and most dearly lov'd of God.
FAUST. How comes it, then, that he is prince of
devils?

MEPH. Oh, by aspiring pride and insolence! For which God threw him from the face of heaven.

*

FAUST. And what are you that live with Lucifer?
MEPH. Unhappy spirits that fell with Lucifer,

accidens] So two of the later 4tos.-2to 1604" accident."

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