Whereby whole cities have escaped the

plague,

And thousand desperate maladies been cured?

Yet art thou still but Faustus, and a man. Couldst thou make men to live eternally, Or, being dead, raise them to life again, Then this profession were to be esteemed. Physic farewell. Where is Justinian?

Si una eademque res legatur duobus, alter rem, alter valorem rei, &c.

A petty case of paltry legacies.

Enter a Good and Bad Angel. Good Ang. O Faustus! lay that damned book aside,

And gaze not on it lest it tempt thy soul, And heap God's heavy wrath upon thy head. Read, read the scriptures;-that is blasphemy.

Bad Ang. Go forward, Faustus, in that famous art,

Wherein all nature's treasure is contained. Be thou on earth as Jove is in the sky,

&c.

The reward of sin is death: that's hard.

Si peccasse negamus, fallimur, et nulla est in nobis veritas. If we say 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, scenes, letters, and characters:
Aye, these are those that Faustus most de-

sires.

O what a world of profit and delight,
Of power, of honour, and omnipotence,
Is promised to the studious artizan !
All things that move between the quiet
poles

Shall be at my command. Emperors and kings

Are but obeyed 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 get a deity.

Enter Wagner.

Wagner, commend me to my dearest friends,
The German Valdes, and Cornelius:
Request them earnestly to visit me.
Wag. I will, sir.

[Exit. Faust. Their conference will be a greater help to me

Than all my labours, plod I ne'er so fast.

[Exeunt Angels. Faust. How am I glutted with conceit of

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.

Enter Valdes and Cornelius. Come, German Valdes, and Cornelius, And make me blest with your sage con

ference.

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 ravished me.
Then, gentle friends, aid me in this attempt;
And I, that have with subtle syllogisms
Gravelled the pastors of the German church,
And made the flowering pride of Wittenberg
Swarm to my problems, as the infernal
spirits

On sweet Musæus when he came to hell;

Will be as cunning as Agrippa was, Whose shadow made all Europe honour him.

Val. [To Faust.] These books, thy wit,
and our experience,

Shall make all nations to 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.

From Venice shall they drag huge argosies;
And from America the golden fleece,
That yearly stuffs old Philip's treasury;
If learned Faustus will be resolute.

Faust. As resolute am I in this

As thou to live, therefore object it not.

Corn. The miracles that Magic will per-
form,

Will make thee vow to study nothing else.
He that is grounded in Astrology,
Enriched with Tongues, well seen in
Minerals,

Hath all the principles Magic doth require. Then doubt not, Faustus, but to be renowned,

And more frequented for this mystery,
Than heretofore the Delphian oracle.
The Spirits tell me they can dry the sea,
And fetch the treasure of all foreign wrecks;
Yea, all the wealth that our forefathers hid
Within the massy entrails of the earth.
Then, tell me, Faustus, what shall we three

And then wilt thou be perfecter than I. Faust. Then come and dine with me, and after meat

We'll canvass every quiddity thereof; For ere I sleep I'll try what I can do; This night I'll conjure though I die therefore. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.

Enter two Scholars.

I Scho. I wonder what's become of Faustus, that was wont to make our schools ring with sic probo.

Enter Wagner.

2 Scho. That shall we presently know; here comes his boy.

I Scho. How now, sirrah, where's thy master?

Wag. God in heaven knows.

2 Scho. Why dost not thou know then? Wag. Yes, I know, but that follows not. I Scho. Go to, sirrah, leave your jesting, and tell us where he is.

Wag. That follows not by force of argument, which you, being licentiates, should stand upon; therefore acknowledge your error, and be attentive.

2 Scho. Then you will not tell us?

Wag. You are deceived, for I will tell you; yet if you were not dunces you would never ask me such a question; for is he not corpus naturale, and is not that nobile? 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 but 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 would speak would inform your worships; and so the Lord bless you, preserve you, and keep you, my dear brethren.

[Exit.

I Scho. O Faustus! Then I fear that which I have long suspected,

That thou art fallen into the damned art, For which they two are infamous through the world.

2 Scho. Were he a stranger not allied

to me,

The danger of his soul would make me mourn;

But come, let us go and inform the Rector, It may be his grave counsel may reclaim him.

I Scho. I fear me nothing will reclaim him now.

2 Scho. Yet let us see what we can do. [Exeunt.

SCENE III.

Thunder. Enter Faustus.

Faust. Now that the gloomy shadow of the night,

Longing to view Orion's drizzling look,
Leaps from the antarctic world unto the sky,
And dims the welkin with his pitchy
breath;

Faustus begin thine incantations,
And try if devils will obey thy hest ;

To do whatever Faustus shall command; Be it to make the moon drop from her sphere,

Or the ocean to o'erwhelm 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.

Faust. Did not my conjuring 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 :

Whereby he is in danger to be damned.
Therefore the shortest cut for conjuring
Is stoutly to abjure all godliness,
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 me,
For I confound Hell in Elysium;
My 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. Oh! by aspiring pride and insolence,

shape;

Thou art too ugly to attend on me.
Go, and return an old Franciscan friar,
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.

Re-enter Mephistophilis as a Friar. Meph. Now, Faustus, what would'st thou have me do?

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

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 that saw the face of God,

And tasted the eternal joys of Heaven,

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 heart.
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 these tidings to great Lucifer;
Seeing Faustus had 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 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;

have it well roasted, and good sauce to it, if I pay so dear, I can tell you.

Wag. Sirrah, wilt thou be my man, and wait on me? and I will make thee go like Qui mihi discipulus.

Clown. What, in verse?

Wag. No, slave, in beaten silk and stavesaker.

Clown. Stavesaker? that's good to kill vermin; then belike if I serve you I shall be lousy.

Wag. Why, so thou shalt be whether thou dost it or no: for, sirrah, if thou dost not presently bind thyself to me for seven years, I'll turn all the lice about thee into familiars, and make them tear thee in pieces.

Clown. Nay, sir, you may save yourself

Enter Wagner and the Clown. Wag. Come hither, sirrah boy! Clown. Boy! Oh! disgrace to my person! Zounds! boy in your face! you have seen many boys with beards, I am sure.

Wag. Sirrah, hast thou no comings in ? Clown. And goings out too, you may see, sir.

Wag. Alas, poor slave! see how poverty jests in his nakedness! I know the villain's 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. Not so neither; I had need to

if they paid for their meat and drink, I can tell you.

Wag. Well, sirrah, leave your jesting, and take these guilders.

Clown. Yes, marry, sir, and I thank you

Clown. Ay, good Wagner, take away the devils then.

me.

Wag. Spirits away! now, sirrah, follow [Exeunt Devils. Clown. I will, sir; but hark you, master, will you teach me this conjuring occupation?

Wag. Ay, sirrah, I'll teach thee to turn thyself to a dog, or a cat, or a mouse, or a rat, or any thing.

Clown. A dog, or a cat, or a mouse, or a rat! O brave Wagner!

Wag. Villain, call me Master Wagner, and see that you walk attentively, and let your right eye be always diametrically fixed upon my left heel that thou mayst quasi vestigiis nostris insistere.

Clown. Well, sir, I warrant you.

[Exeunt.