1st Schol. O, but I fear me nothing can reclaim him. 2nd Schol. Yet let us try what we can do.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.

Enter FAUSTUS to conjure.1

Faust. Now 2 that the gloomy shadow of the earth

Longing to view Orion's drizzling look,

Leaps from the antarctic 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 prayed and sacrificed to them.
(Within this circle is Jehovah's name,
Forward and backward anagrammatised,3
The breviated 4 names of holy saints,
Figures of every adjunct to the Heavens,
And characters of signs and erring 5 stars,
By which the spirits are enforced to rise :
Then fear not, Faustus, but be resolute,
And try the uttermost magic can perform.

1 The scene is laid in a grove.

ΙΟ

2 Lines 1-4 are repeated verbatim in the first scene of the 1594 Taming of a Shrew.

3 So ed. 1616.-Eds. 1604, 1609, "and Agramithist."

4 Ed. 1616 "the abbreviated."

5 Wandering. Cf. a passage in the Distracted Emperor, v. 3 (a play

first printed from MS. in vol. iii. of my Collection of Old Plays):—

"Sir, I was friar and clerk, and all myself:

None mourned but night, nor funeral tapers bore
But erring stars."

Sint mihi Dei Acherontis propitii! Valeat numen triplex Jehova! Ignei, aerii, aquatani spiritus, salvete! Orientis princeps Belzebub, inferni ardentis monarcha, et Demogorgon, propitiamus vos, ut appareat et surgat Mephistophilis, quod tumeraris;1 per Jehovam, Gehennam, et con- [20 secratam aquam quam nunc spargo, signumque crucis quod nunc facio, et per vota nostra, ipse nunc surgat nobis dicatus2 Mephistophilis!

Enter MEPHISTOPHILIS.

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

Go, and return an old Franciscan friar c;
That holy shape becomes a devil best.

[Exit MEPHISTOPHILIS.

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,3 Faustus, thou art conjuror laureat,

30

1 Ed. 1616 inserts "dragon" after "Mephistophilis." Mitford proposed "per Dagon quod numen aeris est," and the late Mr. James Crossley wished to read "quod tu mandares." A simpler correction (omitting "dragon ") would be "Quid tu moraris ?" We may suppose that Faustus pauses after the first part of the invocation, chides Mephistophilis for the delay, and then proceeds to employ a weightier spell. (I am glad to hear from Mr. Fleay that he long ago made the correction I propose.)

2 So ed. 1620 and later 4tos.-Ed. 1604 "dicatis."

3 Lines 33-35 are omitted in ed. 1616. For "no," J. H. Albers (vid. Wagner's Critical Commentary) suggests “now.”

Thou 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:

40

No more than he commands must we perform.
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 ;
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:

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

rop

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?

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;

60

For which God threw him from the face of heaven. 70
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."

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.

1

Go bear these 1 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,

90

100

[Exit.

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