And kill that Doctor if he come this way.

BENV. Then, gentle Frederick, hie thee to the

grove,

And place our servants, and our followers,
Close in an ambush there behind the trees;
By this I know the conjurer is near,

I saw him kneel, and kiss the Emperor's hand,
And take his leave, laden with rich rewards:
Then, soldiers, boldly fight; if Faustus die,
Take you the wealth, leave us the victory.

FRED. Come, soldiers, follow me unto the grove, Who kills him shall have gold and endless love.

[Exit Fred. with Soldiers.

BENV. My head is lighter than it was by th' horns, But yet my heart's more ponderous than my head, And pants until I see that conjurer dead.

MART. Where shall we place ourselves, Benvolio? BENV. Here will we stay to hide the first assault; O were that damned hell-hound but in place, Thou soon shouldst see me quit my foul disgrace! Enter FREDERICK.

FRED. Close, close, the conjurer is at hand, And all alone comes walking in his gown;

Be ready then, and strike the peasant down.

BENV. Mine be that honour then: now, sword

strike home,

For horns he gave, I'll have his head anon.

Enter FAUSTUS with a false head.

MART. See, see, he comes.

BENV. No words: this blow ends all;

Hell take his soul, his body thus must fall.

FAUST. Oh!

FRED. Groan you, Master Doctor?

BENV. Break may his heart with groans: dear Frederick, see,

Thus will I end his griefs immediately.

MART. Strike with a willing hand, his head is off. [Benvolio strikes off Faustus's false head. BENV. The devil's dead, the Furies now may laugh. FRED.Was this that stern aspect, that awful frown, Made the grim monarch of infernal spirits Tremble and quake at his commanding charms? MART. Was this that damned head, whose art conspir'd

Benvolio's shame before the Emperor ?

BENV. Aye, that's the head, and here the body lies, Justly rewarded for his villanies.

FRED. Come, let's devise how we may add more shame

To the black scandal of his hated name.

BENV. First, on his head, in quittance of my

wrongs,

I'll nail huge forked horns, and let them hang
Within the window where he yok'd me first,
That all the world may see my just revenge.
MART. What use shall we put his beard to?
BENV. We'll sell it to a chimney-sweeper; it will
wear out ten birchen brooms, I warrant you.
FRED. What shall his eyes do?

BENV. We'll put out his eyes; and they shall

serve for buttons to his lips, to keep his tongue from catching cold.

MART. An excellent policy: and now, sirs, having divided him, what shall the body do?

[Faustus gets up.

BENV. Zounds, the devil's alive again!

FRED. Give him his head for God's sake.

FAUST. Nay, keep it: Faustus will have heads and hands,

And all your hearts to recompense this deed.
Knew you not, traitors, I was limited

For four-and-twenty years to breathe on earth?
And had you cut my body with your swords,
Or hew'd this flesh and bones as small as sand,
Yet in a minute had my spirit return'd,

And I had breath'd a man, made free from harm.
But wherefore do I dally my revenge ?
Asteroth, Belimoth, Mephostophilis !

Enter MEPHOSTOPHILIS, and other Devils.
Go, horse these traitors on your fiery backs,
And mount aloft with them as high as heav'n;
Thence pitch them headlong to the lowest hell:
Yet, stay, the world shall see their misery,
And hell shall after plague their treachery.
Go, Belimoth, and take this caitiff hence,
And hurl him in some lake of mud and dirt:

Take thou this other, drag him through the woods
Amongst the pricking thorns and sharpest briers;
Whilst with my gentle Mephostophilis,

This traitor flies unto some steepy rock,

That rolling down may break the villain's bones,
As he intended to dismember me.

Fly hence! dispatch my charge immediately!

FRED. Pity us, gentle Faustus, save our lives! FAUST. Away!

FRED. He must needs go, that the devil drives. [Exeunt Spirits with the Knights.

SCENE III.

Enter the ambushed SOLDIERS.

1 SOLD. Come, sirs, prepare yourselves in readiness;

Make haste to help these noble gentlemen,

I heard them parley with the conjurer.

2 SOLD. See, where he comes; dispatch and kill the slave.

FAUST. What's here? an ambush to betray my life! Then, Faustus, try thy skill: base peasants, stand! For lo, these trees remove at my command, And stand as bulwarks 'twixt yourselves and me, To shield me from your hated treachery: Yet to encounter this your weak attempt, Behold an army comes incontinent.

[Faustus strikes the ground, and enter a Devil playing on a drum, after him another bearing an ensign; and divers with weapons; Mephostophilis with fire-works; they set upon the soldiers and drive them out.

SCENE IV.

Enter at several doors, BENVOLIO, FREDERICK, and MARTINO, their heads and faces bloody, and besmeared with mud and dirt: all having horns on their heads.

MART. What, ho! Benvolio!

BENV. Here; what, Frederick, ho!

FRED. O help me, gentle friend; where is Martino? MART. Dear Frederick, here,

Half smother'd in a lake of mud and dirt,

Through which the Furies dragg'd me by the heels.

FRED. Martino, see

Benvolio's horns again.

MART. Oh, misery! how now,

Benvolio?

BENV. Defend me, heaven! shall I be haunted still? MART. Nay, fear not, man, we have no power to kill.

BENV. My friends transformed thus: oh, hellish spite !

Your heads are all set with horns.

FRED. You hit it right,

It is

your own you mean; feel on your head. BENV. Zounds! horns again!

MART. Nay, chafe uot, man, we all are sped. BENV. What devil attends this damn'd magician, That spite of spite our wrongs are doubled?

FRED. What may we do that we may hide our shames?

BENV. If we should follow him to work revenge,

VOL. II.

12