For I am wanton and lascivious,

And cannot live without a wife.1
Meph. How-a wife?

I prithee, Faustus, talk not of a wife.

Faust. Nay, sweet Mephistophilis, fetch me one, for I will have one.

Meph. Well-thou wilt have one.

Sit here till I

come: I'll fetch thee a wife in the devil's name. [Exit.

Re-enter MEPHISTOPHILIS with a Devil drest like a
Woman with fireworks.

Meph. Tell me,2 Faustus, how dost thou like thy wife?
Faust. A plague on her for a hot whore!

Meph. Tut, Faustus,

Marriage is but a ceremonial toy;

And 3 if thou lovest me, think no 4

150

more of it.

I'll cull thee out the fairest courtesans,

And bring them every morning to thy bed;

She whom thine eye shall like, thy heart shall have,

Be she as chaste as was Penelope,

As wise as Saba, or as beautiful

1 Ed. 1616 proceeds as follows:

66

'Meph. Well, Faustus, thou shalt have a wife.

[MEPHISTOPHILIS fetches in a woman-devil.

Faust. What sight is this?

Meph. Now, Faustus, wilt thou have a wife?

Faust. Here's a hot whore, indeed! No, I'll no wife.

Meph. Marriage is but," &c.

2 Omitted in eds. 1604, 1609. (The line is not in the later eds.)

3 So ed. 1616.-Not in ed. 1604.

4 So ed. 1616.-Not in ed. 1604.

As was bright Lucifer before his fall.
Here, take this book, peruse it thoroughly:

[Gives a book.

The iterating of these lines brings gold;
The framing of this circle on the ground
Brings whirlwinds, tempests, thunder and1 lightning;
Pronounce this thrice devoutly to thyself,
And men in armour 2 shall appear to thee,
Ready to execute what thou desir'st.

160

Faust. Thanks,8 Mephistophilis; yet fain would I have a book wherein I might behold all spells and incantations, that I might raise up spirits when I please. Meph. Here they are, in this book.

[Turns to them. Faust. Nay, let me have one book more,—and then I have done, wherein I might see all plants, herbs, and

trees that grow upon the earth.

Meph. Here they be.

Faust. O, thou art deceived.

172

Meph. Tut, I warrant thee.

[Turns to them. [Exeunt.

1 So ed. 1604. Wagner, printing from ed. 1609, omits 'and." In either case "lightning " is a trisyllable. Ed. 1616 gives "Brings thunder, whirlwinds, storm, and lightning."

2 Ed. 1616 "harness."

3 Ed. 1616 reads:

Faust. Thanks, Mephistophilis, for this sweet book:
This will I keep as chary as my life.

Then begins a new scene

("Enter WAGNER solus,

Wag. Learned Faustus,

To know the secrets," &c.)

[Exeunt."

which should come later.

SCENE VI.1

Enter FAUSTUS and MEPHISTOPHILIS.

Faust. When I behold the heavens, then I repent,

And curse thee, wicked Mephistophilis,

Because thou hast deprived me of those joys.

Meph. Why,2 Faustus,

Thinkest thou Heaven is such a glorious thing?

I tell thee 'tis not half so fair as thou,

Or any man that breathes on earth.

Faust. How prov'st thou that?

Meph. 'Twas made for man, therefore is man more excellent.

Faust. If it were made for man, 'twas made for

me;

I will renounce this Magic and repent.

Enter Good Angel and Evil Angel.

G. Ang. Faustus, repent; yet God will pity thee.
E. Ang. Thou art a Spirit; God cannot pity thee.
Faust. Who buzzeth in mine ears I am a Spirit?

ΙΟ

1 In eds. 1604, 1609, this scene is a continuation of the former. Before seeing the eds. of Wagner and Ward, I had marked the commencement of a new scene in my own copy. (Scene: a room in Faustus' house.)

2 Ed. 1616 reads:

66

Meph. 'Twas thine own seeking, Faustus; thank thyself. But think'st thou Heaven is such a glorious thing?

I tell thee, Faustus, it is not half so fair

As thou or any man that breathes on earth.

"Faust. How prov'st thou that?

"Meph. 'Twas made for man; then he's more excellent."

Be I a Devil, yet God may pity me;

I, God will pity me if I repent.

E. Ang. I, but Faustus never shall repent.

[Exeunt Angels.

Faust. My heart's so hardened I cannot repent.
Scarce can I name salvation, faith, or heaven,
But1 fearful echoes thunder in mine ears

Faustus, thou art damned! Then swords and knives,
Poison,2 guns, halters, and envenomed steel
Are laid before me to despatch myself,
And long ere this I should have slain myself,

Had not sweet pleasure conquered deep despair.
Have not I made blind Homer sing to me

Of Alexander's love and Enon's death?
And hath not he that built the walls of Thebes
With ravishing sound of his melodious harp,
Made music with my Mephistophilis ?
Why should I die then, or basely despair?
I am resolved: Faustus shall ne'er repent-
Come, Mephistophilis, let us dispute again,

And argue of divine Astrology.

Tell me, are there many heavens above the moon?
Are all celestial bodies but one globe,

As is the substance of this centric earth?

Meph. As are the elements, such are the spheres 3 Mutually folded in each other's orb,

VOL. I.

1 Lines 20-21 are omitted in ed. 1616.

2 Ed. 1616" Swords, poisons, halters," &c.

3 After this line ed. 1616 gives

"Even from the moon unto the empyreal orb."

20

30

And, Faustus,

All jointly move upon one axletree

Whose terminine is termed the wide world's pole;
Nor are the names of Saturn, Mars, or Jupiter
Feigned, but are erring stars.

40

Faust. But tell me, have they all one motion both, situ et tempore.

Meph. All jointly move from east to west in twentyfour hours upon the poles of the world; but differ in their motion upon the poles of the zodiac.

Faust. Tush!

These slender trifles Wagner can decide;

Hath Mephistophilis no greater skill?

Who knows not the double motion of the planets?
The first is finished in a natural day;

50

The second thus: as Saturn in thirty years; Jupiter in twelve: Mars in four; the Sun, Venus, and Mercury in a year; the Moon in twenty-eight days. Tush, these are freshmen's1 suppositions. But tell me, hath every sphere a dominion or intelligentia?

Meph. I.

60

Faust. How many heavens, or spheres, are there? Meph. Nine: the seven planets, the firmament, and the empyreal heaven.2

Faust. Well, resolve me in this question: Why have

1 At Oxford students in their first term are still called "freshmen.” 2 Ed. 1616 proceeds

"Faust. But is there not calum igneum et crystallinum ?

"

'Meph. No, Faustus, they are but fables.

'Faust. Resolve me then in this one question: Why," &c.