2 Scho. Pray thou, and we will pray that God may have mercy upon thee. Faust. Gentlemen, farewell; if I live till morning, I'll visit you; if not, Faustus is gone to hell. All. Faustus, farewell. (The clock strikes eleven.) "Faust. Oh, Faustus! [Exeunt Scholars. Now hast thou but one bare hour to live, That Faustus may repent, and save his soul. The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike, And see, a threatening arm, an angry brow. (The watch strikes.) Oh! half the hour is past: 'twill all be past anon. A hundred thousand, and at last be sav'd: Why wert thou not a creature wanting soul? All beasts are happy, for when they die (The clock strikes twelve.) It strikes, it strikes! now, body, turn to air, (Thunder.) Enter the Devils. Oh! mercy, heav'n, look not so fierce on me! Enter the Scholars. [Exeunt. "1 Scho. Come, gentlemen, let us go visit Faustus, For such a dreadful night was never seen Since first the world's creation did begin ; Such fearful shrieks and cries were never heard; Pray heaven the doctor have escap'd the danger. 2 Scho. Oh, help us, heavens! see, here are Faustus' limbs, All torn asunder by the hand of death. 3 Scho. The devils whom Faustus serv'd have torn him thus; For 'twixt the hours of twelve and one, methought I heard him shriek and cry aloud for help; At which self-time the house seem'd all on fire, This play appears to have been a favorite with our ancestors. The histories of Bacon and Bungey-Vandermast and Faustus-were the sibylline leaves they delighted to spell. Witchcraft and magic were causes of infinite evils. Ignorance invested them with mystery, and credulity ascribed to them despotic power. Lines, and circles, and characters, were the levers by which admiration and wonder, awe and terror, were raised up in their minds. The scene above quoted is the only one of any merit in the play, and is of such tremendous interest as to compensate for the mediocrity of the rest. It is, indeed, fearful to look upon. The communion of Faustus with the evil principle and his architects of mischief, loses its effect by being participated, although, in an inferior degree, by his servant; and is rendered perfectly grotesque and ludicrous by the introduction of such a subordinate conjuror as the clown. The influence which Faustus had acquired over the world of evil spirits, by his dreadful covenant, is exercised by those persons without any sacrifice at all-but these might perhaps be interpolations to please the rabble, as it was altered previous to the first edition.* But even with these omissions, there would still be a great deal of jejune dialogue and buffoonery. Had the whole play been executed with the same genius in which some parts of it are conceived, it might have ranked with any drama of this class, ancient or modern. Faustus is the only character;-his learning,-his vain ambition, his rashness, his weakness in yielding to the charms of promised power, his misgivings and compunctuous visitings, -the flattering unction which he lays to his soul to hush them, -his thick-coming horrors, and the maddening intensity of his mental suffering as his fate approaches, are laid open with consummate skill and power. There is an apparent want of policy in the forcible representations which his familiar makes of the sufferings of the condemned; but it seems he knew his subject, -they only serve to sharpen the inordinate appetite, to call forth the desperate bravery, of Faustus, who, in scorning them, chuckles over his vain and imaginary superiority. To him, in sooth, they are but old wives' fables, and he exultingly tells the spirit to learn manly fortitude of Faustus. Lust's Dominion was not published until more than half a century after the author's death, and although in the main of a revolting description, is not without considerable merit. Its *This appears from the Henslowe MS. "Lent unto the Company, 22 Nov. 1602, to pay unto Wm. Bride and Samuel Rowley, for their adycions in Doctor Faustus, the sum of £4."-Old Plays, vol. 1. The first edition was in 1604. A hundred thousand, and at last be sav'd: Why wert thou not a creature wanting soul? Oh! Pythagoras' Metemsycosis! were that true, All beasts are happy, for when they die (The clock strikes twelve.) It strikes, it strikes! now, body, turn to air, (Thunder.) Enter the Devils. Oh! mercy, heav'n, look not so fierce on me! Enter the Scholars. [Exeunt. "1 Scho. Come, gentlemen, let us go visit Faustus, For such a dreadful night was never seen Since first the world's creation did begin; Such fearful shrieks and cries were never heard; Pray heaven the doctor have escap'd the danger. 2 Scho. Oh, help us, heavens! see, here are Faustus' limbs, All torn asunder by the hand of death. 3 Scho. The devils whom Faustus serv'd have torn him thus; For 'twixt the hours of twelve and one, methought I heard him shriek and cry aloud for help; At which self-time the house seem'd all on fire, This play appears to have been a favorite with our ancestors. The histories of Bacon and Bungey-Vandermast and Faustus-were the sibylline leaves they delighted to spell. Witchcraft and magic were causes of infinite evils. Ignorance invested them with mystery, and credulity ascribed to them despotic power. Lines, and circles, and characters, were the levers by which admiration and wonder, awe and terror, were raised up in their minds. The scene above quoted is the only one of any merit in the play, and is of such tremendous interest as to compensate for the mediocrity of the rest. It is, indeed, fearful to look upon. The communion of Faustus with the evil principle and his architects of mischief, loses its effect by being participated, although, in an inferior degree, by his servant; and is rendered perfectly grotesque and ludicrous by the introduction of such a subordinate conjuror as the clown. The influence which Faustus had acquired over the world of evil spirits, by his dreadful covenant, is exercised by those persons without any sacrifice at all-but these might perhaps be interpolations to please the rabble, as it was altered previous to the first edition.* But even with these omissions, there would still be a great deal of jejune dialogue and buffoonery. Had the whole play been executed with the same genius in which some parts of it are conceived, it might have ranked with any drama of this class, ancient or modern. Faustus is the only character;-his learning,-his vain ambition, his rashness,-his weakness in yielding to the charms of promised power, his misgivings and compunctuous visitings, -the flattering unction which he lays to his soul to hush them, -his thick-coming horrors, and the maddening intensity of his mental suffering as his fate approaches, are laid open with consummate skill and power. There is an apparent want of policy in the forcible representations which his familiar makes of the sufferings of the condemned; but it seems he knew his subject, -they only serve to sharpen the inordinate appetite, to call forth the desperate bravery, of Faustus, who, in scorning them, chuckles over his vain and imaginary superiority. To him, in sooth, they are but old wives' fables, and he exultingly tells the spirit to learn manly fortitude of Faustus. Lust's Dominion was not published until more than half a century after the author's death, and although in the main of a revolting description, is not without considerable merit. Its *This appears from the Henslowe MS. "Lent unto the Company, 22 Nov. 1602, to pay unto Wm. Bride and Samuel Rowley, for their adycions in Doctor Faustus, the sum of £4."-Old Plays, vol. 1. The first edition was in 1604. |