Produced by Chris Curnow, Katie Hernandez, Joseph Cooper
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
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To H. T. Swedenberg,
Junior _founder_, _protector_, _friend_
[Illustration: _He that delights to_ Plant _and_ Set, _Makes_ After-Ages
_in his_ Debt.]
Where could they find another formed so fit,
To poise, with solid sense, a sprightly wit?
Were these both wanting, as they both abound,
Where could so firm integrity be found?
The verse and emblem are from George Wither, _A Collection of Emblems,
Ancient and Modern_ (London, 1635), illustration xxxv, page 35.
The lines of poetry (123-126) are from "To My Honoured Kinsman John
Driden," in John Dryden, _The Works of John Dryden_, ed. Sir Walter
Scott, rev. and corr. George Saintsbury (Edinburgh: William Patterson,
1885), xi, 78.
THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY
WILLIAM MOUNTFORT
The LIFE and DEATH of _Doctor Faustus_ Made into a FARCE
(1697)
_Introduction by_ ANTHONY KAUFMAN
PUBLICATION NUMBER 157
WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES
1973
GENERAL EDITORS
William E. Conway, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
George Robert Guffey, University of California, Los Angeles
Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los Angeles
David S. Rodes, University of California, Los Angeles
ADVISORY EDITORS
Richard C. Boys, University of Michigan
James L. Clifford, Columbia University
Ralph Cohen, University of Virginia
Vinton A. Dearing, University of California, Los Angeles
Arthur Friedman, University of Chicago
Louis A. Landa, Princeton University
Earl Miner, Princeton University
Samuel H. Monk, University of Minnesota
Everett T. Moore, University of California, Los Angeles
Lawrence Clark Powell, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
James Sutherland, University College, London
H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., University of California, Los Angeles
Robert Vosper, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
Carl A. Zimansky, State University of Iowa
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY
Edna C. Davis, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Jean T. Shebanek, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
Typography by Wm. M. Cheney
INTRODUCTION
According to "Some Account of the Life of Mr. W. Mountfort" prefixed to
the collected plays of 1720, William Mountfort, successful playwright
and actor, was born "the Son of Captain _Mountfort_, a Gentleman of a
good Family in _Staffordshire_; and he spent the greatest Part of his
Younger Years in that County, without being bred up to any Employment."
Since "his Gaiety of Temper and Airy Disposition ... could not be easily
restrain'd to the solitary Amusements of a Rural Life,"[1] he set out to
make his fortune in London, and was employed by the Duke's Company at
the Dorset Garden Theater. First notice of him appears in the part of
the "boy" in _The Counterfeits_, attributed to John Leanerd, and
produced in May, 1678.[2]
Mountfort was to win notice as an actor in the part of Talboy in Brome's
_The Jovial Crew_, where as a rejected lover he was called upon for
storms of comic tears. In his _Apology_, Cibber praises Mountfort in
this part: "in his Youth, he had acted Low Humour, with great Success,
even down to _Tallboy_ in the _Jovial Crew_"[3] and Mountfort himself
alluded to his early success in the prologue to his first play, _The
Injured Lovers_, where he defies the critics: "True Talboy to the last
I'll Cry and Write."
Mountfort scored his first major success as an actor when he played the
title role in Crowne's _Sir Courtly Nice_. The play's popularity owed
much to Mountfort's acting of a part which recalls Etherege's Sir
Fopling Flutter. The "Account" of 1720 says that Mountfort "gain'd a
great and deserved Reputation, as a Player; particularly in Acting the
part of Sir _Courtly Nice_," and Cibber, who was later to create the
great Sir Novelty Fashion, says of Mountfort's Sir Courtly:
There his whole Man, Voice, Mien, and Gesture, was no longer
_Monfort_, but another Person. There, the insipid, soft
Civility, the elegant, and formal Mien; the drawling delicacy
of Voice, the stately Flatness of his Address, and the empty
Eminence of his Attitudes were ... nicely observ'd.... If, some
Years after the Death of _Monfort_, I my self had any Success,
in either of these Characters, I must pay the Debt I owe to his
Memory, in confessing the Advantages I receiv'd from the just
Idea, and strong Impression he had given me, from his action
them (_Apology_, p. 76).
In 1686, Mountfort married one of the attractive young actresses then
appearing in London, Susanna Percival, and the Mountforts appeared
together in a number of plays until his untimely death.
Mountfort brought his first play, _The Injured Lovers_: or, _The
Ambitious Father_, a tragedy, to be acted at Drury Lane early in
February, 1688. The play was not a great success. Gildon mentions that
it "did not succeed as the Author wish'd,"[4] although the play was
brilliantly cast, with Betterton, Mrs. Bracegirdle, and Mrs. Barry in
chief parts. Mountfort himself played second lead to Betterton, and the
comedians Leigh, Jevon, and Underhill appeared in boisterous roles. But
this rather extravagant account of passion and thwarted love did not
take. Such lines as the heroine's "Thy _Antelina_, she shall be the Pile
On which I'll burn, and as I burn I'll smile," reveals an uncertain
poetic talent. In the prologue Mountfort manages more wit:
JO. _Hayne's Fate is now become my Share,
For I'm a Poet, Marry'd, and a Player:
The greatest of these Curses is the First;
As for the latter Two, I know the worst ..._
And of the play's fate:
_Damn it who will, Damn me, I'll write again;
Clap down each Thought, nay, more than I can think,
Ruin my Family in Pen and Ink.
And tho' my Heart should burst to see your Spite,
True Talboy to the last, I'll Cry and Write...._
Unsuccessful at tragedy, Mountfort moved to surer ground, and if tragedy
did not sell on the market of the 1680's, farce was surefire.
Mountfort's _The Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Made into a Farce ...
with the Humours of Harlequin and Scaramouche_, is a most interesting
example of Restoration farce. The Queen's Theater in Dorset Garden was
well-fitted for stage spectacle and effect, and Mountfort took advantage
of his knowledge of the stage and the contemporary audience to produce
an amusing and popular hit. The play was revived in 1697, five years
after Mountfort's death, and again in 1724, at a time when, as Borgman
tells us (p. 39), _The Injured Lovers_ had been long forgotten.
Mountfort continued his acting career with great success; he was one of
twenty-two men and six women who, on 12 January 1688, were given the
position of "Comoedians in Ordinary" to King James, and he acted in a
variety of plays, including Shadwell's _The Squire of Alsatia_, in May,
1688, and _Bury Fair_, in April, 1689. In Dryden's _Don Sebastian_,
produced in December, 1689, he played the young and noble Don Antonio,
described as "the wittiest Woman's toy in Portugal." Although Mountfort
was best known for comic roles, he scored a success as Alexander in
Nathaniel Lee's _The Rival Queens_, January, 1690. Cibber says of his
Alexander:
In Tragedy he was the most affecting Lover within my Memory.
His Addresses had a resistless Recommendation from the very
Tone of his Voice ... All this he particularly verify'd in that
Scene of _Alexander_, where the Heroe throws himself at the
Feet of _Statira_ for Pardon of his past Infidelities. There we
saw the Great, the Tender, the Penitent, the Despairing, the
Transported, and the Amiable, in the highest Perfection
(_Apology_, pp. 74-75).
Mountfort's third play was acted in January, 1690, although it may have
been produced as early as December of the previous year. _The Successful
Strangers_, a tragi-comedy, was based on a novel by Scarron, _The Rival
Brothers_. In his Preface, Mountfort confesses, "_I am no Scholar, which
renders me incapable of stealing from Greek and Latin Authors, as the
better Learned have done_". The play was a success; its combination of
comedy and tragedy appealed to the town, and it was revived several
times in the early eighteenth century.
As Borgman notes (p. 80), Mountfort's acting career peaked in the season
of 1690-1691, when he acted nine new roles, eight of which were leads.
He also prepared a comedy of his own, _Greenwich Park_, and assisted in
the writing or preparation of three other plays. He assisted Settle with
_Distress'd Innocence_, and his name is linked with two plays by John
Bancroft, _Edward III_ and _Henry the Second_, although his contribution
here, if any, is uncertain. The publishers of the collected plays of
1720 note that "we have annex'd, _King Edward the Third_, and _Henry the
Second_; which tho' not wholly composed by him, it is presum'd he had,
at least, a Share in fitting them for the Stage, otherwise it cannot be
supposed he would have taken the Liberty of Writing Dedications to
them." Borgman says of these plays that Mountfort "doubtless scanned the
script with a critical eye and made such changes as would seem necessary
to an experienced man of the theater" (p. 90).
In _Greenwich Park_, Mountfort scored his greatest success. The comedy
is a hilarious mixture of the comedy of manners, humours, and farce. The
prologue sounds the dominant motif of the play, that of satiric and
energetic sex-intrigue: "At Greenwich lies the Scene, where many a Lass
Has bin Green-gown'd upon the tender Grass." The play hits wittily at
fortune-hunters, cits, and old fellows who attempt to ignore their age.
There is heavy reference to the contemporary London scene. The comedy
was produced in April, 1691, with great success; Gildon says of it: "a
very pretty Comedy, and has been always received with general Applause"
(_Lives and Characters_, p. 102). The gay and witty Florella was played
by Mrs. Mountfort--who played a part very much like that in which she
was so successful previously, Sir Anthony Love. Mrs. Barry played the
passionate Dorinda, a promiscuous and mercenary woman who, at one point
in the play, cries out in the best tradition of sentimental comedy: "Oh
what a Curse 'tis, when for filthy Gain We affect a Pleasure in a real
Pain." Sir Thomas Reveller, the heavy but comic father, was played by
Leigh; Nokes and Underhill played comic cits, and Mountfort himself
played opposite his wife as Young Reveller. The play was revived
repeatedly, and remains a delightful work.
Mountfort's best part of his last year came in December, 1691, when he
played the hilarious lout, Mr. Friendall, of Southerne's _The Wives'
Excuse_. The play is good comedy, but quite serious, as Southerne
focuses on the distress of an intelligent, sensitive woman, saddled with
a foolish husband who is the perfect representative of a frivolous and
malicious society. On Friday, 2 December 1692, Mountford acted what must
have been his final role, Alexander in _The Rival Queens_.
* * * * *
Mountfort's life ended at the height of his fame, in the most
spectacular and dramatic murder of its time. The notorious Lord Mohun,
then age fifteen, frequented the playhouse in 1692, often in the company
of Captain Richard Hill, age twenty. Hill hoped to win the affections of
Anne Bracegirdle, known not only for her beauty and acting ability, but
also for her chastity--supposedly a scarce virtue among the actresses of
the time. In _A Comparison between the Two Stages_, the following
dialogue takes place:
_Sullen_: But does that _Romantick Virgin_ [Bracegirdle] still
keep up her great Reputation?
_Critick_: D'ye mean her Reputation for Acting?
_Sullen_: I mean her Reputation for not acting; you understand
me--....[5]
Hill, making no headway with Mrs. Bracegirdle, concluded that she was in
fact interested in Mountfort; they had often appeared on the stage
together. More than once Hill was heard to utter threats against the
actor, although Mohun was apparently on friendly terms with Mountfort
Hill, determined to abduct the actress, persuaded Mohun to be his
accomplice. They set Friday, 9 December 1692, as the date, and about ten
o'clock in the evening, accompanied by some soldiers under Hill's
command, they ambushed Mrs. Bracegirdle, her mother and her brother,
Hamlet Bracegirdle, along with a man named Page, in Drury Lane. The
actress's mother and Mr. Page fended the villains off for a time, in a
moment a crowd gathered, and the would-be kidnappers saw that their plan
was useless. Hill escorted the actress home and after having muttered a
threat at Mr. Page proceeded to pace up and down outside their door.
Approximately an hour and a half later, Mountfort appeared in Howard
Street--apparently intent on confronting Hill and Mohun. Mohun greeted
the actor courteously and asked if he had been sent for. Mountfort
professed that he did not know anything of the business at hand, that he
had come there by chance, adding that Mrs. Bracegirdle was no concern of
his. What happened then happened fast and the witnesses disagree (see
Borgman, pp. 135ff). It would seem, however, that Hill first struck the
actor, then quickly drew and ran him through before Mountfort could
draw. On his deathbed, traditionally the locale for truth-telling,
Mountfort reported that "_My Lord Mohun offered me no Violence, but
whilst I was talking with my Lord Mohun, Hill struck me with his Left
Hand, and with his Right Hand run me through, before I could put my Hand
to my Sword_" (Borgman, p. 140). It would seem clear that Hill gave the
actor his deathblow and then, while the cry of murder was raised,
escaped into the night. Mountfort, fatally wounded, staggered toward his
own home in the next street. As Mrs. Mountfort opened the door, her
husband fell bleeding into her arms; at one o'clock in the afternoon of
the next day, he died. According to the "Account," he was to have played
Bussy D'Ambois that night--Marlowe's tragedy of a young man who meets
his death through assassination.
Although Hill made good his escape, Lord Mohun stood trial in
Westminster before his peers. Mohun's defense was simply that he was not
privy to Hill's design and did not assist and encourage him in it. The
lords, having heard the evidence, retired, and the next day, Saturday, 5
February, acquitted Mohun of wrongdoing by a vote of 69-14. The prisoner
was discharged.
The United Company found themselves seriously hampered by the death of
Mountfort, and even more so when fifteen days later the great comedian
Anthony Leigh died. The "Account" says that Mountfort's death "had so
great an Affect on his Dear Companion, Mr. LEE the Comedian, that he did
not survive him above the space of a Week." The Company delayed the
opening of a new play by one William Congreve, _The Old Bachelor_. But
when that smash hit finally came on the boards in March 1693, Susanna
Mountfort played the gay evaporee, Belinda, to great applause. And on 31
January 1694, she married the actor John Verbruggen. The rather
mysterious Anne Bracegirdle, for whom Mountfort had been killed, played
female leads in all of Congreve's plays, and just as the public had once
speculated on her relationship to Mountfort, they now speculated on her
relationship to Congreve.
Although farce was popular with London audiences during the Restoration,
there was considerable controversy as to what it was and what it was
worth. In a period in which the canon of English literary criticism was
being formed, farce illustrates the disparity between received classical
principles and the playwright's actual craft. Dryden, who himself
"stooped" to writing farce, nonetheless sneers in his preface to _An
Evening's Love, or The Mock-Astrologer_ [1671]:
Farce ... consists principally of grimaces ... Comedy consists,
though of low persons, yet of natural actions and characters; I
mean such humours, adventures, and designs, as are to be found
and met with in the world. Farce, on the other side, consists
of forced humours, and unnatural events. Comedy presents us
with the imperfections of human nature: Farce entertains us
with what is monstrous and chimerical.[6]
Farce was theoretically unpopular because it relied on the extravagant
and unnatural, as opposed to the play of real character found in comedy.
And whereas in seventeenth-century comedy the avowed intention is
usually to expose and thus to reform the vices and follies of the age,
farce uses the grossly physical to draw a laugh; there is nothing to be
learned from the slapstick and pigsbladder.
Though sneered at by theorists and subject to endless abuse in the
prologues and epilogues of the day, farce continued as pleasing to
Restoration audiences as it is today. James Sutherland notes that shrewd
actor-playwrights such as Mountfort, Betterton, Underhill, Jevon,
Dogget, Powell--men who knew intimately the tastes of the town, chose to
write farce.[7] Tate's _A Duke and No Duke_, Aphra Behn's _The Emperor
of the Moon_, and Jevon's _The Devil of a Wife_, were among the most
popular offerings, and although the Restoration wit may have gone to
"Dr. Faustus" with a certain sense of intellectual slumming, he did
continue to support quite generously the _farceurs_ of that time.
Moreover, farcical elements appear regularly in the supposedly elegant
and artificial Restoration comedy of manners.
"Dr. Faustus" is a highly competent putting-together of those components
which the experienced actor-playwright knew to be surefire. The date of
its premier production is not known and has been assigned to a date as
early as 1684 and as late as 1688. The farce was not published until the
quarto of 1697, which appeared without cast-list, prologue, or
epilogue.[8] The title page, however, states that the farce was acted at
Dorset Garden "several times," by "Lee" (Anthony Leigh) and Jevon, and,
as the editor of _The London Stage_ points out, since Jevon died in
December of 1688, the premiere was probably no later than the season of
1687-1688.[9] Borgman maintains that "Dr. Faustus" is Mountfort's second
work, after _The Injured Lovers_ of February, 1688, noting that the
epilogue to that play, spoken by Jevon, suggests that Mountfort was
planning, or had written, a farce:
_Pardon but this, and I will pawn my life,
His next shall match my Devil of a Wife,
We'll grace it with the Imbellishment of Song and Dance;
We'll have the Monsieur once again from _France_,
With's Hoop and Glasses, and when that is done,
He shall divert you with his Riggadoon._
We might guess, then, that if the epilogue does refer to "Dr. Faustus,"
the date of that play is as late as the Spring of 1688.
Mountfort took as his raw material Marlowe's great tragedy and for that
reason "Dr. Faustus" may be to some extent thought of as a burlesque.
The Restoration audience delighted in Marlowe's Faustus; the Elizabethan
tragedy had been played in 1662, and there was a performance at the
Duke's Theater in September, 1675. Edward Phillips wrote in his
_Theatrum Poetarum_, that "of all that [Marlowe] hath written to the
Stage his Dr. _Faustus_ hath made the greatest noise with its Devils and
such like Tragical sport."[10] Here lies the suggestion that Mountfort
was to take up, for as Borgman notes, Marlowe's tragedy has two distinct
lines: the mighty verse which makes up the tragedy of an heroic
overreacher, and a comic line of farcical _lazzi_. Mountfort has trimmed
away the poetry of Marlowe and, for the most part, retained the farcical
elements of the earlier play.[11]
Mountfort keeps the compact with Mephostopholis, the appearance of good
and bad angels, the visit of Lucifer and Beelzebub, the pageant of the
seven deadly sins, the cheating of the horse-courser, the admonitions of
the Old Man, the summoning of the spirits of Alexander and Darius, the
tricking of Benvolio, the final moments of remorse before Faustus is
dragged down to hell, and finally, the discovery of Faustus's limbs in
his study. Mountfort's purpose, as Borgman notes, was not to convert an
Elizabethan tragedy into a Restoration one, but to affix additional
farcical materials to a work that already contained scenes of slapstick.
Mountfort's unique contribution to his source was the introduction of
the _commedia dell'arte_ figures which had become well-known to London
theatergoers because of several visits to London by Italian actors since
the Restoration. Probably, as Borgman notes (p. 36), the first
Englishmen to play Scaramouche and Harlequin were Griffin and Haynes who
had in 1677 appeared with the King's Company in Ravenscroft's
_Scaramouch a Philosopher, Harlequin a School-Boy, Bravo, Merchant, and
Magician_. When Aphra Behn's _The Emperor of the Moon_ appeared in
March, 1687, Leigh played Scaramouche and Harlequin was taken by Jevon.
It seems probable that in order that these two actors might have a
further opportunity to appear as these popular characters, a place was
found for Scaramouche and Harlequin in Mountfort's farce.
The text of Mountfort's "Dr. Faustus" reveals that his farce, like any,
must depend to a great extent on its _farceurs_. In Jevon and Leigh he
had talented players and much of the script can be regarded merely as an
improvisational chart allowing the two famed comics to maneuver. Jevon,
as Leo Hughes points out, built up a considerable reputation, chiefly in
low comedy roles since his first notice as Osric in a revival of Hamlet
in 1673.[12] Having a slight, thin figure, he was noted for his grace of
movement and agility on the stage; he played Harlequin. Although Jevon
could play such straight roles as Young Bellair in _The Man of Mode_,
he, along with Nokes, Underhill, and Leigh, made his reputation in the
boisterous farce of which "Dr. Faustus" is an excellent example.
Anthony Leigh played Scaramouche. Of his acting Cibber says:
In Humour, he lov'd to take a full Career, but was careful
enough to stop short, when just upon the Precipice: He had
great Variety, in his manner, and was famous in very different
Characters.... But no wonder _Leigh_ arriv'd to such Fame, in
what was so completely written for him; when Characters that
would make the Reader yawn, in the Closet, have by the Strength
of his Action, been lifted into the lowdest Laughter, on the
Stage (_Apology_, p. 85-86).
That Jevon and Leigh played well together is evident, and one can see
great possibilities in their improvisation of such _lazzi_ as the
episode of the "dead body," Act I, Scene i, or in the elaborate show of
compliment which ends the first act.
The presence of Scaramouche and Harlequin in Mountfort's adaptation
suggests the influence of the Italian and French _commedia_ on the
Restoration stage, although, as Leo Hughes points out, the native
tradition of farce is paramount (pp. 134-141). Hughes notes that
although the _commedia_ influence is obvious, Italian farce is different
in style from the English, and that although there were four or five
tours by _commedia_ troops between 1660 and 1700, these visits were not
enough to influence significantly English farce writing. Furthermore,
the Italian's art was improvisational--they used no printed texts, and
the English would therefore have even less chance to copy from the
_commedia_. Readers of "Dr. Faustus" will find little trace of
_commedia_ influence apart from the conventional names. Hughes
acknowledges (p. 141) the greater influence of the French stage in the
Restoration, owing chiefly to the great popularity of Moliere, whose
influence on farce, especially on the afterpiece which became a staple
on the English stage after 1695, was long-lived. His prestige was great;
he appealed to English taste, and such characters as M. Jourdain, M.
Pourceaugnac, and Sganarelle appear repeatedly in English adaptations.
The action of farce is typically a string of blow-ups, stage business
highly dependent on fast pacing. Characteristically on the English stage
there is a great deal of stage-effect; "Dr. Faustus," produced at the
Dorset Garden Theater where farce was often produced in order to take
advantage of the elaborate stage machinery available there, makes use
of rising tables, a giant which divides in two, good and bad angels
which rise and descend, fireworks, a vanishing feast, a view of hell,
and even more. Indeed, the often hilarious stage directions give us good
insight into the capabilities of the Restoration stage. The finale is
typical: "_Scene discovers Faustus's Limbs_." After the Old Man piously
hopes that this "May ... a fair Example be to all, To avoid such Ways
which brought poor Faustus's Fall," the "_Scene changes to Hell. Faustus
Limbs come together. A Dance, and Song._"
Farce often verges on satire, and, as he was to demonstrate in
_Greenwich Park_, Mountfort had an eye for contemporary foibles. At the
end of Act I, Harlequin and Scaramouche engage in dialogue which
suggests similar passages of rough satire in Wycherley. Asked what
practice his master, a doctor, has, Harlequin replies:
Why his Business is to patch up rotten Whores against the Term
for Country Lawyers, and Attorneys Clerks; and against
_Christmas_, _Easter_ and _Whitsun_ Holidays, for City
Apprentices; and if his Pills [to cure clap] be destroy'd,
'twill ruin him in one Term.
Mountford altered the pageant of the seven sins that he found in
Marlowe, changing it in at least one case to bring it up to date. He
begins by paraphrasing Marlowe:
_Faustus_: What art thou the Third?
_Envy_: I am _Envy_; begot by a Chimny-sweeper upon an
Oyster-wench. I cannot read, and wish all Books burnt.
But then Mountford departs from his source, adding the following lines:
I always curst the Governement, that I was not prefer'd; and
was a Male-content in Three Kings Reigns (II, i).
The three kings are, I suppose, Charles I, Charles II, and James II, and
the satiric jab is against those who perennially oppose the
Establishment. Furthermore, it is easy to imagine that the role of
Faustus, whoever played it, could well have been acted as a parody of
the "tragical" acting style of the day, with its curious sing-song tone
and stylized gestures.
Mountfort's "Dr. Faustus" gives us an often amusing insight into that
much despised, ever-popular bastard-child of the Restoration stage:
farce. If the direct influence of the _commedia_ is slight, the spirit
of improvisational comedy is embodied in the inspired buffoonery of
Leigh and Jevon, reinforced by stage-effect and spots of contemporary
satire. The play proved a hit and that undoubtedly was the playwright's
sole intention. The farce is workmanlike, and as the "Account" prefixed
to the 1720 collected plays observes, "THE Life and Death of Doctor
_FAUSTUS_ has a great deal of low, but Entertaining Humour; it
sufficiently shews his Talents that way."
University of Illinois
Urbana
NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION
1. _Six Plays, written by Mr. Mountfort_ (London, 1720), 2 volumes.
All references to plays other than "Dr. Faustus" are taken from
this collection.
2. The substance of my account of Mountfort's life and work is based
on Albert S. Borgman, _The Life and Death of William Mountfort_
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1935).
3. _An Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber_, ed. B. R. S. Fone
(Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1968), p. 117.
4. Charles Gildon, _The Lives and Characters of the English
Dramatick Poets_ (London, [1698?]), p. 102.
5. (London, 1702), p. 17.
6. _Essays of John Dryden_, ed. W. P. Ker (New York: Russell &
Russell, 1900; rpt. 1961), I, 135-136.
7. _English Literature of the Late Seventeenth Century_ (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1969), p. 132.
8. The first edition, page 5, omits the period at the end of 1. 23
and the speech prefix "Meph." for 1. 24. These are correctly added
in the second edition (1720).
9. _The London Stage 1660-1800, Part I: 1660-1700_, ed. W. Van
Lennep (Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press,
1965), 342.
10. (London, 1675), p. 25.
11. Borgman outlines the changes Mountfort made in his source; see
pp. 35ff and Appendix A.
12. _A Century of English Farce_ (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1956), pp. 165-166.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
The facsimile of Mountfort's _The Life and Death of Doctor Faustus_
(1697) is reproduced by permission from a copy of the first edition
(Shelf Mark: 131909) in _The Huntington Library, San Marino,
California_. The total type-page (p. 17) measures 195 X 112 mm.
THE
LIFE and DEATH
OF
Doctor Faustus,
Made into a
FARCE.
By Mr. _MOUNTFORD_.
_First Edition_
WITH THE
Humours of _Harlequin_ and _Scaramouche_:
As they were several times Acted
By Mr. _LEE_ and Mr. _JEVON_,
AT THE
Queens Theatre in _Dorset_ Garden.
Newly Revived,
At the Theatre in _Lincolns Inn Fields_,
With _Songs_ and _Dances_ between the ACTS.
_LONDON_,
Printed and sold by _E. Whitlock_ near _Stationers_ Hall, (1697)
The Life and Death of
Dr. FAUSTUS.
ACT I. SCENE I.
_Dr._ Faustus _seated in his Chair, and reading in his Study_.
_Good and bad Angel ready._
_Faust._ Settle thy Study, _Faustus_, and begin
To sound the Depth of that thou wilt profess;
These Metaphysicks of Magicians,
And Negromantick Books, are heav'nly
Lines, Circles, Letters, Characters,
Ay, these are those that _Faustus_ most desires;
A sound Magician is a Demi-God:
Here tire my Brains to get a Deity.
Mephostopholis _under the Stage_. _A good and bad Angel fly down._
_Good Ang._ O _Faustus_! lay that damn'd Book aside;
And gaze not on it, lest it tempt thy heart to blasphemy.
_Bad Ang._ Go forward, _Faustus_, in that famous Art
Wherein all Natures Treasure is contain'd:
Be thou on Earth as _Jove_ is in the Sky,
Lord and Commander of these Elements.
_Spirits ascend._
_Faust._ How am I glutted with conceit of this?
Shall I make Spirits fetch me what I please?
I'll have 'em fly to _India_ for Gold,
Ransack the Ocean for Orient Pearl.
I'll have 'em Wall all _Germany_ with Brass:
I'll levy Soldiers with the Coin they bring,
And chase the Prince of _Parma_ from our Land. [_Rises._
'Tis now the Dead nigh Noon of Night,
And _Lucifer_ his Spirits freedom gives;
I'll try if in this Circle I can Raise
A _Daemon_ to inform me what I long for.
_Sint mihi Dii Acherontis propitii, Orientis Princeps, Beelzebub,
German. Demogorgon._ [Thunders. _Mephostopholis, Mephostopholis, surgat
Spiritus._
Mephostopholis _speaks under Ground_. [Thunders.
_Meph._ _Faustus_, I attend thy Will.
_Faust._ Where art thou?
_Meph._ Here. [_a Flash of Light._
_Scar. within._ Oh, oh, oh.
_Faust._ What Noise is that? Hast thou any Companions with thee?
_Meph._ No.
_Faust._ It comes this way?
_Scar._ Oh, oh, O----. [_Enter_ Scaramouche.
_Faust._ What ail'st thou?
_Scar._ O' o' o'
_Faust._ Speak, Fellow, what's the Matter?
_Scar._ O poor _Scaramouche_!
_Faust._ Speak, I conjure thee; or _Acherontis Dii Demogorgon_.----
_Scar._ O I beseech you Conjure no more, for I am frighted into a
_Diabetes_ already.
_Faust._ Frighted at what?
_Scar._ I have seen, Oh, oh----
_Faust._ What?
_Scar._ The Devil.
_Faust._ Art sure it was the Devil?
_Scar._ The Devil, or the Devil's Companion: He had a Head like a Bulls,
with Horns on; and two Eyes that glow'd like the Balls of a dark
Lantern: His Hair stood a Tiptoe, like your new-fashion'd Top-knots;
with a Mouth as large as a King's Beef Eater: His Nails was as sharp as
a Welshman's in Passion; and he look'd as frightful as a Sergeant to an
_Alsatian_.
_Faust._ But why art thou afraid of the Devil?
_Scar._ Why I never said my Prayers in all my Life, but once; and that
was when my damn'd Wife was sick, that she might dye: My Ears are as
deaf to good Council, as _French_ Dragoons are to Mercy. And my
Conscience wants as much sweeping as a Cook's Chimny. And I have as many
Sins to answer for as a Church-warden, or an Overseer of the Poor.
_Faust._ Why, the Devil loves Sinners at his Heart.
_Scar._ Does he so?
_Faust._ He hates none, but the Vertuous, and the Godly. Such as Fast,
and go to Church, and give Alms-deeds.
_Scar._ I never saw a Church in my Life, thank God, (I mean the Devil;)
and for Fasting, it was always my Abomination; and for Alms, I never
gave any Thing in my Life, but the Itch once to a Pawn-broker. Therefore
I hope he may Love me.
_Faust._ And he shall Love thee; I'll bring thee acquainted with him.
_Scar._ Acquainted with the Devil?
_Faust._ Ay; _Tanto metropontis Acherontis_.
_Scar._ Oh, oh, oh.
_Faust._ Fear nothing _Mephostopholis_, be visible.
[Scaramouche _sinks behind the Doctor, and peeps his Head out behind the
Slip of his Gown._ _A Devil rises in Thunder and Lightning._
I charge thee to be gon, and change thy Shape; thou art too ugly to
attend on me. I find there's Virtue in my Charm; Come, rise up, Fool,
the Devil's gon.
[_The Devil sinks._
_Scar._ The Devil go with him.
_Faust._ Fear nothing, I command the Devil. If thou wilt leave thy
Chimny-sweeping Trade, and live with me, thou shalt have Meat and Drink
in Plenty; and 40 Crowns a Year shall be thy Wages; I'll make thee
Learned in the black Art.
_Scar._ I am a Student in that already: But let me consider, Good Meat
and Drink, and 40 Crowns a Year. Then I'll change my black Art for
yours.
_Faust._ There's Earnest, thou art now my Servant; dispose of thy Brooms
and Poles, they'll be useless to thee here; take this Key, go into my
Study, and clean; take all the Books you find scatter'd about, and range
'em orderly upon the Shelves.
_Scar._ Happy _Scaramouche_, now may'st thou Swear, Lye, Steal, Drink
and Whore; for thy Master is the Devil's Master, and thou in time may'st
master 'em both.
[_Exit_ Scaram.
_Enter_ Mephostopholis.
_Meph._ Now, _Faustus_, what wouldst thou have with me?
_Faust._ I charge thee wait upon me whilst I live,
And do what-ever _Faustus_ shall command.
_Meph._ Ay _Faustus_, so I will, if thou wilt purchase me of _Lucifer_.
_Faust._ What says _Lucifer_, thy Lord?
_Meph._ That I shall Wait on _Faustus_ whilst he Lives,
So thou wilt buy my Service with thy Blood.
_Faust._ Already _Faustus_ has hazarded that for thee.
_Meph._ Ay, but thou must bequeath it solemnly,
And write a Deed of Gift with it;
For that Security craves _Lucifer_.
If thou deny it, I must back to Hell.
_Bad Ang._ But _Faustus_, if I shall have thy Soul,
I'll be thy Slave, and worship thy Commands,
And give thee more than thou hast Will of.
_Faust._ If he wilt spare me Four and twenty Years,
Letting me Live in all Voluptuousness,
To have thee ever to attend on me,
To give me whatsoever I shall ask,
And tell me whatsoever I demand;
On these Conditions I resign it to him.
_Meph._ Then, _Faustus_ stab thy Arm couragiously,
And bind thy Soul, that at some certain Day
Great _Lucifer_ may claim it as his own;
And then be thou as Great as _Lucifer_.
_Faust._ Lo, _Mephostopholis_, for Love of thee, _Faustus_ has cut
His Arm, and with his proper Blood
Assures his Soul to be great _Lucifers_.
_Meph._ But, _Faustus_, write it in manner of a Deed, and Gift.
_Faust._ Ay, so I do; but, _Mephostopholis_, my Blood congeals, and I
can write no more.
_Meph._ I'll fetch thee Fire to dissolve it streight. [_Exit._
_Faust._ What might the staying of my Blood portend,
It is unwilling I should write this Bill.
_Good and Bad Angel descend._
_Good An._ Yet, _Faustus_, think upon thy precious Soul.
_Bad An._ No, _Faustus_, think of Honour, and of Wealth.
_Faust._ Of Wealth. Why all the _Indies_, _Ganges_, shall be mine.
_Good An._ No, _Faustus_, everlasting Tortures shall be thine.
_Bad An._ No, _Faustus_, everlasting Glory shall be thine.
The World shall raise a Statue of thy Name,
And on it write, This, this is he that could command the
World. [_Good Angel ascends, bad Angel descends._
_Faust._ Command the World; Ay, _Faustus_, think on that,
Why streams not then my Blood that I may write?
_Faustus_ gives to thee his Soul; Oh! there it stops. Why
shouldst thou not? Is not thy Soul thy own?
_Enter_ Mephostopholis _with a Chafer of Fire_.
_Meph._ See, _Faustus_, here is Fire, set it on.
_Faust._ So now the Blood begins to clear again.
_Meph._ What is't I would not do to obtain his Soul?
_Faust._ _Consummatum est_; the Bill is ended.
But what is this Inscription on my Arm?
_Homo fuge_: Whether shall I fly?
My Senses are deceiv'd, here's nothing writ;
O yes, I see it plain, even here is writ
_Homo fuge_; yet shall not _Faustus_ fly,
I'll call up something to delight his Mind.
[_Song._ Mephostopholis _waves his Wand_. _Enter several Devils, who
present Crowns to_ Faustus, _and after a Dance vanish_.
_Faust._ What means this then?
_Meph._ 'Tis to delight thy Mind, and let thee see
What Magick can perform.
_Faust._ And may I raise such Spirits when I please.
_Meph._ Ay, _Faustus_, and do greater Things than these.
_Faust._ Then, _Mephostopholis_ receive this Deed of Gift;
But set Conditionally, that thou perform all
Covenants and Articles herein subscribed.
_Meph._ I swear by Hell, and _Lucifer_, to effect all
Promises between us both.
_Faust._ Then take it.
_Meph._ Do you deliver it as your Deed, and Gift?
_Faust._ Ay, and the Devil do you good on't.
_Meph._ So, now, _Faustus_, ask what thou wilt.
_Faust._ Then let me have a Wife.
Faustus _waves his Wand, and a Woman Devil rises: Fire-works about
whirles round, and sinks_.
_Faust._ What sight is this?
_Meph._ Now, _Faustus_ wilt thou have a Wife?
_Faust._ Here's a hot Whore indeed, I'll have no Wife.
_Meph._ Marriage is but a Ceremonial Toy;
I'll cull thee out the fairest Curtezans,
And bring 'em every Morning to thy Bed:
She whom thy Eye shall like, thy Heart shall have.
_Faust._ Then, _Mephostopholis_, let me behold the Famous _Hellen_, who
was the Occasion of great _Troys'_ Destruction.
_Meph._ _Faustus_, thou shalt. [_Waves his Wand, enters._
_Faust._ O _Mephostopholis_! what would I give to gain a Kiss from off
those lovely Lips.
_Meph._ _Faustus_, thou may'st. [_He kisses her._
_Faust._ My Soul is fled; come _Hellen_, come, give me my Soul again;
she's gon. [_He goes to kiss her again, and she sinks._
_Meph._ Women are shy you know at the first Sight; but come, _Faustus_,
command me somewhat else.
_Faust._ Then tell me, is Hell so terrible as Church-men write it.
_Meph._ No, _Faustus_ 'tis Glorious as the upper World; but that we have
Night and Day, as you have here: Above there's no Night.
_Faust._ Why sighs my _Mephostopholis_, I think Hell's a meer Fable.
_Meph._ Ay, think so still.
_Faust._ Tell me who made the World?
_Meph._ I will not.
_Faust._ Sweet _Mephos._
_Meph._ Move me no further.
_Faust._ Villain, have I not bound thee to tell me any Thing.
_Meph._ That's not against our Kingdom, this is: Thou art
Lost; think thou of Hell.
_Faust._ Think, _Faustus_, upon him that made the World.
_Meph._ Remember this. [_Sinks._
_Faust._ Ay, go accursed Spirit to ugly Hell,
'Tis thou hast damn'd distressed _Faustus_ Soul:
I will Repent: Ha! [_Goes to his Books._
This Bible's fast, but here's another:
[_They both fly out of's Hand, and a flaming Thing appears written_, &c.
Is't not too late? [_Ring. Good and bad descend._
_Bad An._ Too late.
_Good An._ Never too late, if _Faustus_ will repent.
_Bad An._ _Faustus_, behold, behold thy Deed; if thou repent
Devils will tear thee in Pieces.
_Good An._ Repent, and they shall never raze thy Skin.
[_Scene shuts, Ang. ascends._
_Scene changes to the Street._ _Enter_ Harlequin.
_Harl._ This must be Mr. Doctor's House; I'll make bold to knock: My
Heart fails me already.
[Harlequin _opens the Door, peeps about, and shuts it_.
I begin to tremble at the Thoughts of seeing the Devil.
[_Knocks again._
Here's a great Resort of Devils, the very Doors smell of
Brimstone: I'll e'en back----No: I'll be a Man of Resolution:
But if Mr. Doctor should send a Familiar to open the
Door, in what language should I speak to the Devil? [_Knocks._
_Enter_ Scaramouche.
_Scar. peeping._ This is some malicious Spirit, that will not let me
alone at my Study; but I'll go in, and conn my Book. [_Exit._
_Harl._ I believe Mr. Doctor is very Busy; but I'll rap this time with
Authority.
[Harlequin _raps at the Door_, Scaramouche _peeps out_. Harlequin
_strikes him, and jumps back, runs frighted off_.
_Scene changes to a Room in the Doctor's House._
_Enter_ Scaramouche, _with a Book in the Doctor's Gown_.
_Scar._ I have left the Door open to save the Devil the labour of
Knocking, if he has a mind to come in: For I am resolved not to stir
from my Book; I found it in the Doctor's Closet, and know it must
contain Something of the Black Art.
_Enter_ Harlequin.
_Harl._ Oh here's Mr. Doctor himself; he's reading some conjuring Book.
_Ide fain jecit._
_Scar._ This must be a conjuring Book by the hard Words. AB, EB, IB, OB,
UB, BA, BO, BU, BI.
_Harl._ Its a Child's Primer. [Harlequin _looks over him_.
_Scar._ The Devil, the Devil; be gon, avoid Satan. [_Runs off._
_Harl._ O the Devil! Now will I lye as if I were Dead, and let the Devil
go hunt for my Soul. [_Lyes down._
_Enter_ Scaramouche.
_Scar._ I have learn'd to raise the Devil, but how the Devil shall I do
to lay him. Ha! what's here, a dead Body? The Devil assum'd this Body,
and when I began to mutter my Prayers, he was in such haste he left his
Carcass behind him. Ha! it stirs; no, 'twas but my Fancy.
[Scaram. _lifts up all his Limbs, and lets 'em fall, whil'st_ Harl.
_hits him on the Breech, lifts his Head, which falls gently_.
All's dead but's Head. [_Sets him upright._
The Devil, the Devil! Be gon; what art thou?
_Harl._ A poor unfortunate Devil.
_Scar._ The Devil; _Avant_ then _Hagon mogon strogon_.
_Harl._ O good Mr. Doctor, conjure up no more Devils and I'll be gon, or
any thing.--I came only to ask your Black Artship a Question.
_Scar._ No, this is not the Devil. Who art thou? Whence comest thou?
What's thy Business, Quick, or _Hogon strogon_?
_Harl._ Hold, hold, hold, I am poor _Harlequin_: By the Learned I am
called _Zane_, by the Vulgar _Jack Pudding_. I was late Fool to a
Mountebank; and last Night, in the mistaking the Pipkin, I eat up a Pot
of _Bolus_ instead of Hasty Pudding; and devour'd Three Yards of
_Diaculum_ Plaister instead of Pancake, for which my Master has turn'd
me out of Doors instead of Wages: Therefore, to be reveng'd, I come to
hire a Devil or two of you, Mr. Doctor, of a strong Constitution, that
may swallow up his Turpentine Pills as fast as he makes 'em, that he may
never cure poor Whore more of a Clap; and then he'll be undone, for they
are his chief Patients.
_Scar._ What Practice has he?
_Harl._ Why his Business is to patch up rotten Whores against the Term
for Country Lawyers, and Attorneys Clerks; and against _Christmas_,
_Easter_ and _Whitsun_ Holidays, for City Apprentices; and if his Pills
be destroy'd, 'twill ruin him in one Term.
_Scar._ Come in; and for a Crown a Week I'll lett thee out a Devil, as
they do Horses at Livery, shall swallow him a Peck of Pills a day,
though every one were as big as a Pumpkin; and make nothing of a _Bolus_
for a Breakfast.
_Harl._ O brave Mr. Doctor! O dainty Mr. Devil!
_Scar._ Seigniora. [_Here they Complement who shall go first._
_The End of the First Act._