That can'st command great Mephistophilis :
Quin regis Mephistophilis fratris imagine.

Re-enter MEPHISTOPHILIS like a Franciscan Friar.1

Meph. Now, Faustus, what would'st thou have me [to] do?

Faust. I charge thee wait upon me whilst I live,

To do whatever Faustus shall command,

Be it to make the moon 2 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.

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Faust. Did not he charge thee to appear to me?
Meph. No, I came hither 3 of mine own accord.
Faust. Did not my conjuring speeches raise thee?

Speak.

Meph. That was the cause, but yet per accidens ;4
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 damned

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1 Dyce quotes from the prose-tract The History of Dr. Faustus:"After Dr. 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."

2 A common feat of magicians and witches.

3 So ed. 1620.-The earlier 4tos. "now hither."

4 So ed. 1620.-Earlier 4tos. "accident."

VOL. I.

P

Therefore the shortest cut for conjuring
Is stoutly to abjure the Trinity,1

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? funt
Meph. Arch-regent and commander of all spirits.
Faust. Was not that Lucifer an Angel once?
Meph. Yes, Faustus, and most dearly loved of God.
Faust. How comes it then that he is Prince of

Devils?

Meph. O, 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
Conspired against our God with Lucifer,

And are for ever damned with Lucifer.

Faust. Where are you damned?

Meph. In Hell.

Faust. How comes it then that thou art out of Hell?

Meph. Why this is Hell, nor am I out of it:

Think'st thou that I who saw the face of God,
And tasted the eternal joys of Heaven,

1 Ed. 1616" all godliness."

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70

80

Am not tormented with ten thousand Hells,
In being deprived of everlasting bliss?
O Faustus! leave these frivolous demands,
Which strike a terror to my fainting soul.

Faust. What, is great Mephistophilis so passionate
For being deprived of the joys of Heaven?
Learn thou of Faustus manly fortitude,

And scorn those joys thou never shalt possess.
Go bear these1 tidings to great Lucifer:
Seeing Faustus hath incurred eternal death.
By desperate thoughts against Jove's deity,
Say he surrenders up to him his soul,

So he will spare him four and twenty 2 years,
Letting him live in all voluptuousness;
Having thee ever to attend on me;
To give me whatsoever I shall ask,
To tell me whatsoever I demand,

To slay mine enemies, and aid my friends,
And always be obedient to my will.

Go, and return to mighty Lucifer,

And meet me in my study at midnight,

And then resolve me of thy master's mind.
Meph. I will, Faustus.

Faust. Had I as many souls as there be stars,

I'd give them all for Mephistophilis.

By him I'll be great Emperor of the world,
And make a bridge th[o]rough the moving air,

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100

[Exit.

1 So ed. 1616.-Eds. 1604, 1609, "those."
2 So ed. 1616.-Eds. 1604, 1609, "24."

To pass the ocean with a band of men :
I'll join the hills that bind the Afric shore,
And make that country1 continent to Spain,
And both contributory to my Crown.
The Emperor shall not live but by my leave,
Nor any Potentate of Germany.

Now that I have obtained what I desire,
I'll live in speculation of this Art

Till Mephistophilis return again.

SCENE IV.

Enter 2 WAGNER and Clown.

Wag. Sirrah, boy, come hither.

ΙΙΟ

[Exit.

Clown. How, boy! Swowns, boy! I hope you have seen many boys with such pickade vaunts as I have; boy, quotha!

Wag. Tell me, sirrah, hast thou any comings in? Clown. Ay, and goings out too. You may see else. Wag. Alas, poor slave! see how poverty jesteth in his nakedness! the villain is bare and out of service, and so hungry that I know he would give his soul to the Devil for a shoulder of mutton, though it were blood-raw.

Clown. How. My soul to the Devil for a shoulder of mutton, though 'twere blood-raw! Not so, good friend. By'r Lady, I had need have it well roasted and good sauce to it, if I pay so dear.

1 So ed. 1616.-Eds. 1604, 1609, "land."

Scene: a street.-The text of ed. 1616 is given in the Appendix. 3 Beards cut sharply to a point (Fr. pic-d-devant).—A scene in the 1594 Taming of a Shrew opens with a similar piece of fooling.

Wag. Well, wilt thou serve us, and I'll make thee go like Qui mihi discipulus ? 1

Clown. How, in verse?

Wag. No, sirrah; in beaten silk and stavesacre:2

Clown. How, how, Knave's acre !3 I, I thought that was all the land his father left him. Do you hear? I would be sorry to rob you of your living.

Wag. Sirrah, I say in stavesacre. Cl

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Clown. Oho! Oho! Stavesacre ! Why then belike if I were your man I should be full of vermin.

Wag. So thou shalt, whether thou beest with me or no. But, sirrah, leave your jesting, and bind yourself presently unto me for seven years, or I'll turn all the lice about thee into familiars, and they shall tear thee in pieces.

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Clown. Do you hear, sir? You may save that labour: they are too familiar with me already: swowns! they are as bold with my flesh as if they had paid for their meat and drink.

Wag. Well, do you hear, sirrah? Hold, take these guilders. [Gives money.

Clown. Gridirons! what be they?

Wag. Why, French crowns.

1 Dyce remarks that these are the first words of W. Lily's, "Ad discipulos carmen de moribus."

2 A kind of larkspur, supposed to be efficacious in destroying vermin. 3 "Knave's Acre (Poultney Street) is described by Strype, vi. 84, quoted in P. Cunningham's Handbook for London, as 'but narrow, and chiefly inhabited by those that deal in old goods, and glass bottles.' (It ran into Glasshouse Street.)"-Ward.

So ed. 1616.-Ed. 1604 "my."