On the following morning the devil Leviathan came with all the pomp and
retinue of a nobleman to the inn where Faustus sojourned. He alighted
from his richly caparisoned steed, and asked the host whether the famous
Faustus sojourned there?
The host replied by a reverential bow, and ushered him into the house.
The Devil then advanced to Faustus, and said to him, in the presence of
the host:
"Your renown, your great talents, and, above all, your mighty invention,
have induced me to make a wide circuit in my journey in order to become
acquainted with so remarkable a man, whom the world, in spite of its
lukewarmness, knows how to value. I came, likewise, to request your
company in the tour of Europe, and shall be happy to accede to whatever
stipulations you may choose to make, for I am perfectly aware that such a
pleasure is above all price."
Faustus played his part agreeably to that of the Devil; and the host
hurried out in order to relate the adventure to his household. The
rumour was immediately spread, by a thousand channels, through all
Frankfort; and the arrival of the distinguished stranger was soon known,
from the sentinel at the city-gate to his most worshipful the mayor
himself. Away ran the magistrates, as if the Devil drove them, to the
senate-house, leaving all the weighty affairs of state to remain
unsettled whilst they consulted about this unexpected apparition. The
senior alderman, a patrician, who was particularly expert in deciphering
the meaning of the signs which occasionally appeared in the political
horizon, and had thereby obtained a powerful ascendency in the council,
pressed his fat chin into furrows, and his narrow brow into wrinkles,
and, with reflection in his little eyes, assured his sapient brethren
that "This distinguished stranger was nothing else than a secret envoy of
his imperial majesty, who was come into Germany to observe attentively
the situation, the comparative strength, the disagreements, and the
alliances, of the various states and princes; so that the high and mighty
court, at the opening of the approaching Diet, might know how to comport
itself. And since the imperial court had always kept a watchful eye upon
their republic, they must now endeavour to convince this distinguished
visitor of the fiery zeal which they had always entertained for the high
imperial house, and not let him depart without winning him over to the
interest of the state. That they must, in so doing, take as their
pattern the prudent senate of Venice, who never failed to show the
greatest friendship and honour towards him whom they intended to
deceive."
The subordinate members of the assembly affirmed that the alderman had
spoken like the Doge of Venice himself; but the mayor, who bore the
alderman a secret grudge, because the latter, like a true patrician,
hated the democratic form of government, and was accustomed to say,
whenever he was outvoted, "Ha, thus it goes when tradesmen and
shopkeepers are made statesmen," quickly took up the cudgels against him
in these words:
"Truly laudable and excellent, most sapient masters, seems to me that
which our most prudent and politic brother has now advanced, were it not
for one single circumstance which unhappily spoils all. I, indeed, do
not make a boast of possessing the deep visual penetration of the
alderman,--a penetration, my brethren, which can spy out a storm before
it arises; nevertheless, whether it be from chance or reflection, I have
long foreseen, and have long foretold, that which is now gathering around
us. You must all remember, that at each of our sittings I advised you
not to treat this Faustus so contemptuously, but to purchase his Latin
Bible for the small sum he demanded. Even my wife, who is a mere woman,
like all other women, has frequently said that, although we ourselves
neither understood nor could use the book, we ought nevertheless to have
it; and, on account of the beautiful letters in the title-page, and of
the curious invention, to make a show of it, as we do of our golden bull,
and attract strangers from all parts. It was likewise fitting that a
free and rich state like ours should protect the arts, and give them a
helping hand. But I know very well what was in your minds; 'twas
envy--sheer envy. You could not brook that my name should be rendered
immortal. You could not digest that posterity should read in the
chronicle, '_Sub consulatu_ . . . a Latin Bible was bought from Faustus
of Mayence for two hundred gold guilders.' Yes, yes; 'twas that stuck in
your gizzards; but, as you have brewed, so may you drink: Faustus is a
devilish wild fellow, and a very strange hand to deal with; I saw that
proved yesterday. And now that the imperial envoy has travelled hither
merely on his account, merely on account of him whom we have treated
worse than a poor cobbler, think ye not he will blow us up with the envoy
out of revenge, and all our scrapings and grimaces will serve for nothing
but to make us appear ridiculous before the citizens? But he who has
driven his cart into the mire may draw it out again. I wash my hands of
the whole business, and, like Pilate, am innocent of Israel's blindness
and destruction."
Here followed a deep silence. The bloody battle of Cannae, which
threatened Rome with ruin, did not terrify her senate more than did this
eloquent philippic the enlightened magistracy of Frankfort. Already the
mayor triumphed in proud anticipation: he thought even that he had hurled
the alderman entirely out of his saddle; when the latter, collecting his
political wisdom and heroic strength, hastened to the assistance of the
sinking state, and bellowing aloud, _ad majora_, undauntedly proposed
"immediately to send an embassy from the council to the hotel, in order
to welcome the distinguished guest, and to offer Faustus four hundred
gold guilders for his Latin Bible, and thereby to appease him, and to
make him favourable to the state."
The mayor scoffed at the idea of giving four hundred gold guilders for a
thing which the day before they might, in all probability, have had for
one hundred; but his jeers and his scoffs availed nothing. "_Salus
populi suprema lex_," cried the alderman; and, with the approbation of
the council, he commanded the mayor to entertain Faustus and the envoy in
the most sumptuous manner, at the expense of the state.
This circumstance consoled his worship, who willingly displayed his
wealth, partly on account of his defeat by the alderman, while the
concluding words, "at the expense of the state," put him in good humour.
The junior alderman immediately set out with one of the four syndics, and
the mayor sent to his house to order every thing proper for the festival.
The devil Leviathan was engaged with Faustus in a deep discourse when
these ambassadors were announced. They were instantly admitted. They
welcomed, with all humility, in the name of the senate, the distinguished
guest, and gave him to understand that his noble person, as well as his
important errand, were well known to them; assuring him at the same time,
in set terms, of their zeal and devotion for the high imperial house.
The Devil, upon this, screwed up his features, turned to Faustus, took
him by the hand, and assured the speakers that nothing had brought him to
their town but the desire of removing from it this great man, whom he had
no doubt they knew how to prize. The ambassadors were now somewhat
disturbed; however, they soon recollected themselves, and continued thus:
"It rejoiced them highly that they could give him on the spot a
convincing proof of the respect which the magistracy entertained for so
great a man, as they were authorised to tender to Faustus four hundred
gold guilders for his Latin Bible, which they had long been anxious to
possess, and preserve as a precious treasure. The illustrious magistracy
would also be most happy to enrol him, if it were agreeable, among the
number of citizens, and thereby open to him the way to glory and
emolument."
This last stroke was added by their own political wisdom; a proof that
they, as skilful negotiators, knew how to supply and fill up every vacuum
which had been at first overlooked.
Faustus started up in a fury, stamped on the ground, and cried:
"Base, lying, deceitful pack! How long did I not fawn upon you, from the
proud patrician down to the shoemaker and the pepper-seller, around whose
necks you hang the magisterial insignia, like halters around asses? And
did ye not permit me to wait at your dirty thresholds without deigning me
a single look? And now that you hear this noble personage sees that in
me which you did not, you come and would pay me back in my own coin. But
see, here is gold; for which you would barter the Holy Roman Empire,
provided you could find fools gross enough to buy the huge, monstrous
carcass, without head, sense, or proportion."
The Devil highly enjoyed the rage of Faustus and the downcast looks of
the young senators; but they, who had never read Roman history, were not
so high-spirited as to fling Faustus a declaration of war from beneath
their closely-folded robes of office; on the contrary, they communicated
the invitation to the mayor's festival in as unconcerned a tone as if
nothing had happened,--a new proof of their expertness in negotiation.
Had they, for example, replied to the insult, they would thereby have
acknowledged that they felt the force of it; but when they let it fall
flat upon the ground, as if it were nothing to any of them, it lost all
its power, and assumed the colour of an unfair reproach. Genius alone is
capable in such critical moments of like discrimination.
At the word "mayor," Faustus pricked up his ears, and the Devil gave him
a significant side-glance. Faustus thereupon took the Bible from the
casket, handed it over to the senators, and said, with some degree of
complaisance,
"That, upon due consideration, he was determined to make the city a
present of his Bible, on condition that they showed the sentence which he
marked under, and of which he wrote a German translation on the margin,
to the assembled magistrates; and, in remembrance of him, caused it to be
written in letters of gold on the wall of the council-chamber."
The senators hastened back to their brethren, as delighted as envoys who,
after a ruinous war, return with an advantageous peace. They were
received with great joy, and, the Bible being opened at the appointed
place, they read--
"_And lo_!_ the fools sat in council_, _and idiots clamoured in the
judgment-chamber_."
They swallowed this bitter pill, because the presumptive shadow of
imperial majesty, in the form of the demon, prevented them from spitting
it out. They comforted themselves with having been spared the four
hundred gold guilders, and wished each other joy for having escaped so
well out of this unpleasant affair. The envoys received a vote of
thanks, and it is to be regretted that their names are not handed down to
posterity. When at last they spoke of Faustus's well-filled money-chest,
the glitter of gold darted like lightning through the souls of all, and
each secretly determined to make the man his friend, in order to get
possession of it. The alderman shouted, "We must make him a citizen, and
give him a seat and voice in the council. Policy demands that we should
overstep law and custom, if the advantage of the State depends upon it."
Faustus, in the mean time, strolled out with the Devil; but they found
the people of the place modelled after so unsightly a pattern, with such
ugly figures and fiat features, that the Devil owned he had never seen
them equalled, except by the inhabitants of an English town called N---,
when dressed in their Sunday's best. "Envy, malice, curiosity, and
avarice," said he, "are here and there the sole springs of action; and
both places are governed by a pitiful mercantile spirit, which prevents
them from being grandly wicked or nobly virtuous. In short, Faustus,
there is little to be done in either place by a man of spirit, and we
will hurry away from hence as soon as you have brought the mayoress to
the point you wish her."
The clock sounded the hour of dinner; the Devil and Faustus, mounted upon
noble horses, and attended by a numerous retinue, proceeded to the house
of the mayor. They entered the hall of assembly, where all the
magistrates awaited them, and, on their appearance, bowed before them
even to the dust. The fat, bloated mayor, after a long speech,
introduced them to the wives of the dignitaries of the corporation, whose
figures, loaded with tawdry ornaments, seemed now to display a double
portion of awkwardness and vulgarity. They stared like a flock of geese,
and could not satiate themselves with looking at the dress and
physiognomy of Leviathan; but the mayoress, a native of Saxony, towered
above them all, like an Oriad. The expressive look of Faustus had
attracted her attention, as well as his prepossessing figure, and his
fine handsome face. She blushed when he saluted her, and could find no
other answer to his eloquent address than a few broken words, which the
ears of Faustus caught like enchanting music. The senators exerted their
wits to the utmost in complimenting their guests, and all now sat down to
the well-spread table. After dinner the Devil led the mayor by the hand
to a private apartment,--a circumstance which flattered him
extraordinarily, but which was a dagger-blow to all the other guests,
especially to the alderman.
The mayor, heated with wine, and intoxicated with the honour which the
supposed imperial envoy showed him, in a bending attitude and with
staring eyes awaited the communication. The Devil assured him, in soft,
silvery tones, how much he was flattered by the mayor's hospitable
reception, and how very desirous he was to prove himself thankful;
adding, that he carried with him a number of letters of nobility, signed
by the emperor's own hand, and he would gladly bestow the first upon him,
provided--
Joy, transport, and astonishment darted through the mayor's soul; he
stood before the Devil with wide-gaping mouth, and at length stammered
out, "Provided how--what--oh!" The Devil then murmured softly into his
ear: "His friend Faustus was desperately in love with the beautiful
mayoress, and that for his sake only he would do it; and if the mayoress
would retire with Faustus for a few moments,--which would be entirely
unobserved amid the noise and confusion of a festival,--he should deliver
into her hand the patent of nobility."
Thereupon the Devil hastened to Faustus, informed him of what had
happened, and gave him the letter of nobility, with certainty of success.
Faustus doubted, and the Devil laughed at his doubts.
The mayor remained in his cabinet almost petrified. The sudden glitter
of such unexpected happiness was at once so clouded by an odious and
detestable condition, that he determined upon rejecting it. But all at
once Ambition blew into his ear: "Ho! ho! Mr. Mayor; to be dubbed a
nobleman at once, and in such an off-hand manner, as the saying is, and
thereby to be placed on a footing with the proudest of thy foes, and to
raise thy voice in the council like a trumpet, and appear among those
there like a man whom, on account of his services, his imperial majesty
will exalt above the heads of all!"
Another feeling softly whispered--
"Uh! uh! with my own knowledge and consent to be thus disgraced! But
then, again, who will know it? and what is there in the whole affair? I
receive a certain good in lieu of what has long ceased to have any charms
for me. The evil consists in the idea alone, and it will be a secret
between me and my wife. But, stating the case fairly, can I arrive at so
high a distinction at a cheaper rate? Will it not be a nail in the
alderman's coffin; and what will the citizens not say when they see that
his imperial majesty knows how to value me? Shall I not get every thing
into my power, and revenge myself on those who have thwarted and
contradicted me? Ho! ho! Mr. Mayor; be no fool; seize fortune by the
forelock. Man is only what he appears in the eyes of the world, and no
one asks the nobleman how he became so. But there is my wife; she will
set herself against my advancement, for I well know her Saxon prudery."
At that very moment she entered the room, eager to learn from her husband
what the magnificent stranger had confided to him in private. He looked
at her with a roguish leer, but still with some degree of bashfulness.
_Mayor_. Well, my chick, suppose I were to make thee a noblewoman
to-day?
_Mayoress_. Then, duck, the wives of all the citizens and magistrates
would swoon with envy, and the alderman's lady would instantly die of
that husky cough which has so long assailed her.
_Mayor_. That she would, for certain; and I could crush her proud
husband beneath my foot. But hark, my chick: it only rests with you to
bring all this about.
_Mayoress_. Who ever heard of wives making their husbands noblemen,
duck?
_Mayor_. Who knows, my child, how many have been made so? But be not
terrified; you have driven that cursed Faustus out of his wits. (_The
Mayoress blushed_; _he continued_) Only on his account will the envoy
create me a nobleman, and Faustus is to deliver to thee the patent of
nobility in private. You understand me, I perceive. Hem! What do you
think of the plan?
_Mayoress_. I was thinking, my treasure, that if these two gentlemen
were to change their minds, we should certainly lose the patent.
_Mayor_. Curse it! so we might. Let us be quick, my mouse; such
bargains are not met with every day.
The company had in the mean while dispersed themselves in the garden; and
his worship, getting behind Faustus, whispered softly in his ear that
"his wife would esteem it an honour to receive the patent of nobility
from his hand; and he had only to step up a back staircase, which he
would show him, to an apartment where he would find her. That as for
himself, he feared nothing from a man who had shown so much honour and
conscience." He led him thereupon to the back staircase. Faustus glided
up immediately, and entered a chamber, where he found the mayoress: he
flew to her, and created the mayor a knight of the Holy Roman Empire.
She then went and delivered to her spouse the letter of nobility; and
they determined between them that it should be laid upon the supper-table
in a covered golden dish, in order, by its unexpected appearance, to make
the blow more painful to the guests. The Devil, to whom the mayor
confided the plan, highly approved of it; but Faustus murmured in the ear
of Leviathan, "I command thee to play this rascal, who has prostituted
his wife for ambition's sake, a thorough knavish trick; and to revenge
me, at the same time, on all these sheep-headed magistrates, who so long
forced me to pay my court to them."
They sat down to supper, and the glasses went quickly round; when all at
once the Devil commanded the dish, which had so long excited the
Curiosity of the surrounders, to be uncovered; then, holding up the
letter of nobility, he delivered it to the mayor with these words:
"Worthy sir, his majesty the emperor, my master, is pleased by this
patent letter of nobility to create you, on account of your fidelity and
services, a knight of the Holy Roman Empire. I hope and trust that you
will never grow lukewarm in your zeal for the high imperial house; and
now, Sir Knight, I have the honour of first drinking your health."
These words rolled like thunder in the ears of the guests. The drunken
became sober, and the sober drunk; the lips of the women turned blue with
rage, and could scarcely stammer out a congratulation. The alderman was
seized with an apoplectic fit, and his wife was near dying of her husky
cough. Fear, in the mean time, obliged the rest to assume a joyous
countenance; and they drank, with a loud huzza, the health of the
new-made knight. While the tumult was at the highest pitch, a thin
vapour suddenly filled the hall; the glasses began to dance about upon
the tables; and the roasted geese, turkeys, and fowls cackled, gobbled,
and crowed. The calves, sheep, and boars' heads cried, bleated, and
grunted, bounced across the table, and snapped at the fingers of the
guests. The wine issued in blue flames from out the flasks; and the
patent of nobility caught fire, and was burnt to ashes in the hands of
the trembling mayor. The whole assembly now sat like so many ridiculous
characters in a mad masquerade. The mayor bore a stag's head upon his
shoulders; and the rest, men and women, adorned with grotesque masks,
spoke, cackled, crowed, neighed, or bellowed, according to the kind of
mask which had been allotted to each individual. The alderman alone, in
the dress of a harlequin, sat motionless; and Faustus avowed to the Devil
that the ruse did great honour to his ingenuity. After Faustus had
satiated himself by gazing at the spectacle, he gave the Devil the wink,
and they both flew out of the window; the latter personage, according to
custom, leaving behind him the sulphurous stench.
By and by the whole illusion disappeared; and when the sapient
magistrates re-assembled next morning in the council-chamber, they
scarcely mentioned to each other what had taken place the night before.
They kept the whole matter a state secret, and only revealed it now and
then to a chosen few. All that the mayor got by this business was, that
his adversary, the alderman, lost the use of his limbs, and never again
took his seat in the council.
Faustus and Leviathan, in the mean time, passed over the city-walls; and
when they were in the open field, the Devil despatched an attendant
spirit to the hotel, in order to pay the reckoning, and to fetch away
Faustus's baggage. Then turning to the young German, he asked him if he
were contented with this first feat.
_Faustus_. Hem! if the Devil wants praise, I am content to give it him.
But I should never have imagined that yon pompous scoundrel would have
sold his wife for ambition's sake.
_Devil_. Let us proceed a little further, my Faustus, and I will soon
convince thee that Ambition is the godhead which ye all worship; although
you disguise it under all kind of glittering forms, in order to conceal
its nakedness. Till now you have studied man merely in books and
philosophical treatises; or, in other words, you have been thrashing
empty straw. But the film will soon fall from your eyes. We will
shortly quit this dirty country of yours, where priestcraft, pedantry,
and oppression reign unmolested and undisturbed. I will usher you upon a
stage where the passions have a freer scope, and where great energies are
employed to great ends.
_Faustus_. But I will force thee to believe in the moral worth of man
before we quit my native land. Not far from hence lives a prince, whom
all Germany praises as a paragon of every virtue. Let us seek him, and
put him to the test.
_Devil_. Agreed; such a man would please me for his rarity.
The spirit now returned with the baggage, and was sent forward to Mayence
to bespeak a lodging in an hotel. Faustus, for secret reasons which the
Devil guessed, proposed spending the night with a hermit who dwelt in the
hill of Homburg, and who was renowned through the whole neighbourhood for
his piety. They reached the hermitage about midnight, and knocked at the
door. The solitary opened it; and Faustus, who had dressed himself in
the richest clothes which the Devil had provided for him, begged pardon
for disturbing the repose of the holy man, and said that the night had
surprised him and his companion while hunting, and had separated them
from their attendants, and that they should be obliged by his giving them
house-room for a few hours. The hermit looked on the ground, and
replied, with a deep sigh:
"He who lives for heaven seldom abandons himself to dangerous repose.
You have not disturbed me; and, if you wish to stay here till sunrise,
you must take things as you find them. Bread and water, with straw to
lie on, is all I can afford you."
_Faustus_. Brother hermit, we have brought all that the stomach requires
along with us. We will only trouble you for a draught of water.
(_The hermit took his pitcher and went to a fountain_.)
_Faustus_. Peace dwells in his heart as well as on his brow, and I may
think myself happy that he is not acquainted with that which binds me to
thee. Faith and hope serve him instead of those things which I have
damned myself for; at least it seems so.
_Devil_. And only seems. What if I were to prove that your heart is
pure as gold in comparison with his?
_Faustus_. Devil!
_Devil_. Faustus, thou wert poor, ill-treated, and despised; thou didst
see thyself in the dust; but, like an energetic being, thou hast sprung
out of contempt at thy own risk. Thou wert incapable of gratifying thy
lusts by the murder of thy fellow-creatures, as this saint would if I led
him into temptation.
_Faustus_. I see all thy infernal craftiness. If I were to command thee
to put him to a fair trial, thou wouldst confuse the senses of the just
man, so that he would commit acts which his heart abhorred.
_Devil_. Ridiculous! Why, then, do ye boast of your free-will, and
thereby ascribe your deeds to your own hearts? But ye are all saints
while there is nothing to tempt ye. No, Faustus; I will remain neuter,
and merely offer delights to his senses; for the Devil has no need to
creep into ye when you are already disposed for wickedness.
_Faustus_. And if things do not turn out as you assert, think not that
your assurance shall remain unpunished.
_Devil_. Thou mayst then torment me a whole day by preaching of the
virtues of men. Let us see whether this will allure him.
A table, provided with dainty meats and delicious wines, now appeared in
the middle of the hermitage. The solitary entered, and silently placed
the pitcher before Faustus, and then retired into a corner, without
heeding the luxurious banquet.
_Faustus_. Now, brother hermit, since the things are on the table, fall
to without waiting to be asked twice. You may eat of our fare without
the least injury to your reputation. I see your mouth begins to water.
Come, a glass to the honour of your patron saint. What is his name?
_Hermit_. St. George.
_Faustus_. Here's his health.
_Devil_. Ho, ho, brother hermit! the renowned St. George of Cappadocia
was a fellow after my own heart; and if you take him for a model, you
cannot go wrong. I am perfectly well acquainted with his history, and
will relate it in a few words for your instruction. He was the son of
wretchedly poor people, and was born in a miserable hut in Cilicia. As
he grew up, he early perceived his own talents, and, by force of
flattery, servility, and corruption, found his way into the houses of the
great and opulent, who at length, out of gratitude for his services,
procured him a commission in the army of the Greek emperor. But when
there he pilfered and plundered to so enormous an extent, that he was
soon obliged to fly, to avoid being hanged. Thereupon he joined himself
to the sect of the Arians, and, by his quick parts, soon learnt to gabble
the unintelligible jargon of theology and metaphysics. About this time
the Arian emperor, Constantine, kicked from the episcopal chair at
Alexandria the good and most Catholic Athanasius; and your redoubtable
Cappadocian was, by an Arian synod, appointed to the vacant see. George
was now completely in his element: he puffed, strutted, and filled his
paunch. But when he, by his injustice and cruelty, had driven his
subjects to the verge of madness, they put him to death, and carried his
body in triumph through the streets of Alexandria. Thus did he become a
martyr, and consequently a saint.
_Hermit_. There is not a word of this in the legend.
_Devil_. I believe ye, brother; and, for the sake of truth, the Devil
only ought to have written it.
The hermit then crossed himself.
_Faustus_. Do you call eating and drinking crimes?
_Hermit_. They may tempt us to commit crimes.
_Devil_. Your virtue must be very weak if it cannot resist temptation;
for temptation and resistance should be the glory of a saint.
_Hermit_. You are right so far; but every one is not a saint.
_Faustus_. Are you happy, brother?
_Hermit_. Solitude makes me happy; a good conscience makes me blessed.
_Devil_. How do you obtain your food?
_Hermit_. The peasants bring me wherewithal to support my existence.
_Faustus_. And what do you give them in return?
_Hermit_. I pray for them.
_Faustus_. Are they bettered by your prayers?
_Hermit_. They think so, and I hope so.
_Devil_. Brother, you are a rogue.
_Hermit_. The reproaches of the sinful world are what the just man ought
to expect.
_Devil_. Why do you not look upwards, and why do you blush? But know,
that I have the art of reading in a man's face what is passing in his
heart.
_Hermit_. So much the worse for yourself. You will have little
enjoyment in company.
_Devil_. Ho, ho! you know that? (_Looking at Faustus_.)
_Hermit_. It is a vile world in which we live, and woe for you if
thousands did not hasten into solitude to avert by their prayers the
anger of incensed Heaven from the heads of sinners.
_Faustus_. Reverend brother, you own yourself that you are paid for your
prayers; and, believe me, it is much easier to pray than work.
_Devil_. Listen once more. You have a twist of the mouth which tells me
you are a hypocrite; and your eyes, which revolve in so narrow a circle,
and which are generally cast downward, tell me that you are convinced
they would betray the feelings of your heart, were you to raise them.
The hermit lifted his eyes towards the heavens, prayed with clasped
hands, and said, "Thus does the righteous man reply to the scoffer."
_Faustus_. Enough. Come, brother, and bear us company in our repast.
But the hermit remained inflexible. Faustus looked scornfully on the
Devil, who merely smiled and shook his head. Suddenly the door opened,
and a young female pilgrim rushed in almost breathless. When she had
recovered from her fear, she related how she had been pursued by a
knight, from whom she had the good fortune to escape by reaching the cell
of the pious hermit. She was received in a friendly manner; and,
unclasping her long mantle, she exhibited such beauty as would have made
the victory over the flesh no easy matter for the holy Anthony himself.
She placed herself by the side of Leviathan, ate sparingly of the meal,
and the Devil began to--
* * * * *
The hermit was at first shocked, and at last confused; and he had
scarcely power to struggle with the temptation. The pilgrim tore
herself, ashamed and angry, from the arms of Leviathan, to seek
protection by the side of the hermit, which he could not refuse her.
The Devil and Faustus now pretended to be intoxicated and overwhelmed
with sleep; but before they took repose the Devil placed, in the presence
of the hermit, a weighty purse of money under the straw, and deposited
his own rich rings and those of Faustus in a casket, which the latter
laid close beside him. On the table they placed their swords and
daggers, and then flung themselves down and soon snored.
The pilgrim softly approached the table, and poured out with her delicate
and snow-white hands a goblet of foaming wine. She just touched the rim
with her rosy lips, and then offered it to the hermit. He stood like one
amazed; and in his confusion emptied it, and another besides, and
greedily swallowed the luxurious morsels which the tempter, one after
another, held up to his mouth. She then led him out, and bursting into
tears, entreated his pardon for having been forced to outrage his holy
eyes. She then looked mournful and inconsolable, pressed his hand
warmly, and at last fell down on her knees before him. At this instant
the silvery moon beamed upon her bosom, over which the gentle night-wind
moved her dark, dishevelled locks. The hermit sank upon this dazzling
bosom, without knowing whether he was dead or alive. At length the
pilgrim said, "That she would yield herself entirely to his wishes, if he
would revenge her first on those daring reprobates, and take possession
of their treasure, which would enable him and her to live happily to the
end of their days."
The hermit, at these words, recovered in some degree from his
intoxication, and asked her, in a trembling voice, what she meant, and
what she would have him do.
Amongst broken exclamations of rapture she murmured, "Their daggers lie
on the table: do you murder the one; I will manage the other. Then dress
yourself in their clothes, and seize their treasure. We will then set
the hermitage on fire, and fly to France together."
The horrible idea of murder made the hermit shudder. He hesitated, was
undecided, looked on the charms of the siren; he saw that he could make
himself master of her and of the treasure without danger; and, all his
virtue yielding, he forgot heaven and his oft-repeated vows. The pilgrim
dragged the reeling miscreant into the hut; each seized a dagger; and
just as he was about to aim a blow at Faustus, the Devil burst into the
fiendish scorn-laugh; and Faustus saw the hermit, with a lifted dagger,
standing by his side.
_Faustus_. Cursed monster, who, under the mask of religion, wouldst
murder thy guest!
The hermit sunk trembling to the earth. The pilgrim, a phantom of hell,
appeared to him in a frightful form, and then vanished.
Faustus commanded Leviathan to set fire to the hut, and burn it to ashes,
along with the hypocrite. The Devil obeyed with joy. The following
morning the peasants shed many tears for the fate of the righteous man;
and, having collected his bones, they preserved them as precious relics.
Faustus and the Devil arrived early the next day at Mayence, and alighted
at the dwelling of the former. His young wife fell with a cry of joy
upon his neck, embraced him, and then burst into tears of sorrow. The
children clung sobbing to his knees, and greedily examined his pockets,
to see whether he had brought them any thing. His old gray-headed father
next staggered towards him, and shook him mournfully by the hand. The
heart of Faustus was moved, and his eyes began to moisten, while he
trembled, and looked angrily upon the Devil. When he asked his wife why
she wept, she wrung her hands, and replied, "Ah, Faustus, do you not
perceive how the hungry ones examine your pockets for bread? How can I
see that without tears? They have eaten nothing for a long time; we have
been unfortunate, and all thy friends have forsaken us; but now I see
thee again, it is to me as though I saw the countenance of an angel. I
and thy father have suffered more on thy account than on our own. We
have had such frightful dreams and visions; and when my eyes, weary with
weeping, have closed for a few hours, I saw thee torn from us by force,
and all was dark and horrible."
_Faustus_. Thy dream, love, is about to be partly fulfilled. This
gentleman here will reward thy husband for those talents which his
ungrateful country overlooked or despised. I have agreed to travel with
him far and wide.
_Old Faustus_. "My son, stay at home and support thyself honourably,"
says Scripture.
_Faustus_. And die of hunger, says Experience.
The wife began to weep yet more bitterly, and the children screamed for
bread. Faustus gave the Devil a sign, and he called to his servant, who
presently afterwards brought into the room a heavy coffer. Faustus
unlocked it, and flung a large bag of gold upon the table; which being
opened, and the yellow coin appearing, a lively flush of joy was
instantly diffused over the melancholy countenances of the family. He
then took out magnificent clothes and jewels, which he delivered to his
wife. Her tears vanished, and vanity at once dried them up, as the
sun-rays dry up the morning dew. The Devil smiled, and Faustus muttered
to himself, "O magic of gold and of vanity! I may now go to the
antipodes, and no other tears than those of hypocrisy will be shed."
Then, aloud, "Well, wife, these are the fruits of my journey, reaped in
advance. Is not this better than staying at home with you and starving?"
But the wife heard him not; for she stood with her rich robes and jewels
before the looking-glass to see how they became her. The little girls
frolicked around her, took up the clothes and ornaments she had laid
aside, and aped the mother. In the mean time a servant brought in a
substantial breakfast, the children fell upon it, cried and shouted with
joy; but the mother had, in the mean time, forgotten her hunger.
The old father took Faustus aside, and said, "If thou hast obtained all
these things by honourable means, let us thank God, my son, and enjoy his
bounty; but for some nights past I have had horrible dreams, although I
hope they were merely caused by our necessities."
This remark of the old man sank deep into the heart of Faustus; but the
pleasure of seeing his children eat so heartily, and of observing with
what love and thankfulness his eldest son and favourite looked at him;
the thought of having relieved them from their misery; and, above all, an
inward longing for pleasure,--considerably damped the impression. The
Devil added a large sum to the money in the bag, presented the young wife
with a costly necklace, gave each of the children a trifle, and assured
the family that he would bring back Faustus to them safe, sound, and
wealthy at no very distant period.
Faustus, attended by the Devil, now went to see a friend, whom he found
much dejected. He asked him the cause of his unhappiness, and the other
replied:
"This afternoon the law-suit which you have often heard me speak of is to
be determined; and I am certain of losing it, although justice is on my
side. In short, Master Faustus, nothing remains for me to do but to beg,
or drown myself in the deepest part of the Rhine."
_Faustus_. How can you be certain that you will lose your cause, if
justice is for you, as you say it is?
_Friend_. But the five hundred gold guilders which my opponent has given
the Judge are against me; and if I cannot outbid him, I must fall to the
ground.
_Faustus_. Pooh! does it merely depend on that? Come, lead me to the
Judge. I have a friend here who willingly assists people out of such
difficulties.
They found the Judge to be a proud, inflated man, who would scarcely
deign to honour a poor client with a look. Faustus had long known him
for what he was. When they entered the room, the Judge, in an imperious
tone, thus addressed Faustus's friend, "Why do you come to trouble me?
Do you not know that tears never interrupt the course of justice?"
The unhappy friend looked humbly to the ground.
_Faustus_. Mighty sir, you have spoken well: tears are like water; they
merely spoil the eyes of those that shed them. But do you know that my
friend has right on his side?
_Judge_. Master Faustus, I know you for a man who plays away his money
at ducks-and-drakes, and who has a loose tongue. Right and law are very
different things: if he has the first for him, it is no reason that he
should have the second.
_Faustus_. You say that right and law are two different things:
something like judge and justice, perhaps.
_Judge_. Master Faustus, I have already said that I know you.
_Faustus_. Perhaps we are mistaken in each other, most enlightened sir.
But it is mere waste of soap to attempt to wash a blackamoor white. (_He
opened the door_, _and in stalked the Devil_.) Here is a gentleman who
will lay before you a document, which I hope will give the cause of my
friend a new aspect.
When the Judge saw the richly-dressed Leviathan, he assumed a more
friendly countenance, and asked them all to be seated.
_Faustus_. We can settle the whole business standing. (_To the Devil_)
Produce the document which we have found.
The Devil counted out of his purse five hundred gold guilders; he then
stopped and looked at the Judge.
_Judge_. The document is by no means a bad one, gentlemen; but the
adverse party has long ago given me one of equal weight.
The Devil continued counting till he had told out a thousand; he then
stopped.
_Judge_. In truth, I had overlooked this circumstance. Such vouchers,
however, are not to be withstood.
He then gathered up the gold and secured it in his coffer.
_Faustus_. I hope now that right and law will go together.
_Judge_. Master Faustus, you understand the art of appeasing the
bitterest enemies.
Faustus, whom the servility of the Judge as much offended as his former
rudeness, whispered to the Devil, in going away, "Do thou avenge justice
on this wretch."
Thereupon he left his friend, without waiting for his thanks, and went
about with the Devil to discharge his debts. He then paid visits to his
other friends, showered gold upon them by handfuls, even on those who had
forsaken him in his adversity; and he felt happy in being able to give
unbridled scope to his generosity and greatness of soul. The Devil,
however, who saw deeper into things than Faustus, laughed within himself
at the consequences.
They now went to the hotel, Faustus, recollecting the conduct of his
wife, once again fell into an exceedingly ill humour. He could not
pardon her for having ceased to lament his departure the moment she had
seen the gold and jewels. Till now he had imagined that she loved him
more than all the treasures of the earth; but what he had just observed
forced him to believe the contrary, and his affection for her was turned
to bitterness. The Devil, who perceived where the shoe pinched,
willingly allowed Faustus to torment himself with these gloomy thoughts,
so that he might tear himself from that sweet tie by which nature still
gently fettered him. He foresaw, with secret rapture, the dreadful
anguish which would one day arise in the bosom of the headstrong Faustus,
when the future should disclose to him all the horrors which he was now
about to perpetrate.
They dined in the public room, in company with some professors of law and
divinity, who, to the great delight of the Devil, soon fell into a
violent dispute concerning the nun Clara. The flame of that controversy
was still at its full height; party-spirit raged in all houses, and the
present disputants talked so loudly, and said so many ridiculous things,
that Faustus soon forgot his ill humour. But when a doctor of theology
asserted that it was possible for Satan to have carried his wickedness so
far as to have brought the nun into certain circumstances by means of the
dream, the Devil burst into a bellowing laugh; and Faustus immediately
thought of a scheme by which he might revenge himself, in a signal
manner, upon the Archbishop, who had paid so little attention to his
discovery. He hoped then to involve the thread of the theological and
political war at Mayence in such confusion that no human power would be
able to unravel it. After dinner he asked the demon whether it would be
possible for him, under the figure of the Dominican, to pass that night
with the lovely Clara. The Devil assured him that nothing was more easy;
and, if he chose, the abbess herself should usher him into the nun's
cell. Faustus, who had always considered the abbess to be a strict,
pious, and conscientious woman, laughed in scorn at these last words of
the Devil.
_Devil_. Thy wife, O Faustus, set up a shriek of despair when thou didst
tell her of thy intended departure; but when the glitter of gold and
dress burst upon her view, the sorrows of her heart vanished at once. I
repeat, that the abbess herself shall introduce thee to the cell of the
nun, and I will employ no supernatural means. Thou thyself shalt see how
the old gudgeon will swallow the hook. Come, we will pay her a visit
under the pious figures of two nuns. I know the manners and ways of the
nuns, ay, and of the monks too, of Germany, well enough to ape them. I
will represent the Abbess of the Black Nuns, and thou shalt be her
friend, Sister Agatha.
At this moment Faustus's friend came, full of joy, to inform him of the
happy issue of the law-suit. He was about to thank Faustus and the Devil
upon his knees; but Faustus said, "Spare your thanks, and take care of my
wife and family during my absence." He then whispered into the ear of
the Devil, "It is time to think of the Judge."
The Judge wished after dinner to gratify his beloved wife by counting the
gold pieces in her presence. He unlocked the coffer, and started back in
a tremor at the sight of its contents: the gold pieces were changed into
large rats, which sprang out, and fell furiously upon his face and hands.
The Judge, who had a great aversion to these animals, rushed out of the
room; but they pursued him, fastening on his heels. He hurried from the
house, and ran through the streets; but still they were close behind him.
He fled into the fields; but they allowed him no rest, and at last forced
the terrified wretch to seek shelter in the stone tower where the tolls
are gathered, and which stands in the middle of the Rhine. Here he
thought himself safe from farther pursuit; but rats and mice hot from
hell are not to be terrified by water: they swam through, fell upon him,
and ate him up alive. His wife, in her terror and astonishment, told the
history of the transformation of the gold pieces by which her unfortunate
husband had allowed himself to be dazzled; and from that time there has
not been in the whole diocese of Mayence a single instance of a judge or
a man in office taking a bribe. The Devil could not have foreseen this,
or he certainly would have let the scoundrel go unpunished.
Faustus and the Devil stood in their disguises before the gate of the
convent of White Nuns. The portress ran as fast as she could in order to
inform the abbess of the unexpected visitors. The abbess received them
with conventual greetings, to which the Devil answered in a similar tone.
Sweetmeats and wines were then brought in, and while partaking of them
the two abbesses talked together, of cloister affairs, and of the wicked
world; and the Devil, with a deep sigh, turned the discourse to Clara's
accident. Clara, who, on account of her rank, was the pet-lamb of the
cloister, stood near the abbess, and laughed beneath her veil. Faustus
observed this, and, looking at her, really thought he had never seen a
more charming rogue wear the sacred veil. The Devil at length gave the
conversation a serious turn, and led the abbess to conclude that he had
something weighty to confide to her.
_Abbess_ (_to Clara_). You may go, my lamb, to the nuns in the garden,
and divert yourself with them; I will send you out some sweetmeats, so
that you may celebrate the coming of our venerable sister.
Clara bounded away. After a few words, which the Devil uttered in a
disturbed and thoughtful kind of tone, so that he might thereby arouse
the curiosity of the abbess, he came to the point.
_Devil_. Ah, dear sister, how much do I pity you! It is true, and that
ought in some degree to comfort you, that the whole city and the entire
district are convinced of your holiness, your piety, and the strictness
of your discipline. In a word, you possess all the virtues requisite for
a bride of heaven. But, alas, the world will be the world still; and the
Fiend often infuses evil thoughts into the minds of worldly men, so that
through them he may disturb those saints who are thorns in his side. No,
no; the wicked Devil cannot bear that you should bring up your lambs in
untainted purity. I pity you, as I said before, and still more the
little innocents who are at present confided to your care. What will
become of them when they lose you?
_Abbess_. Kind sister, be of good cheer; though I am old, I am yet,
thanks to Heaven, sound and hearty, and the little inconveniences which
attend a uniform course of devotion and penitence prolong life rather
than shorten it. So, at least, the physician of the convent tells me
when I complain to him.
The Devil looked at her attentively.
"Have you, then, had no anticipation of what is hanging over your head?
no warning vision? Has nothing occurred in the convent to make you look
forward to the future with anxiety? It is customary for pious souls to
be informed by certain signs when any disaster menaces them."
_Abbess_. You frighten me so, that I tremble in my whole body. But let
me reflect;--yes, yes, I am very restless, and dream of raw heads and
bloody bones; and some days ago--ah, yes!--that certainly was a sign and
a warning--some few days ago I went with my lap-dog, which you see there,
to walk in the garden. I was alone; the nuns were at some distance,
telling stories beneath the linden-trees. All at once the gardener's
great mastiff sprung upon _Piety_, for that is the name of my pet. I
shuddered from head to foot, and crossed myself again and again; but that
would avail nothing. At last I struck at the hideous brute with my
staff,--yes, I struck with all my strength the filthy hound who would
thus profane the cloister; and I continued striking until the staff,
which his reverence the Archbishop delivered to me upon my consecration
as abbess, broke in two. Was that a sign or a warning, think ye?
The Devil and Faustus pretended to be shocked.
_Devil_. Ah, the very worst in the world. All now is but too clear and
manifest. Did not I tell you how it would turn out, Sister Agatha?
Faustus made a humble bow of assent.
_Abbess_. For Heaven's sake, speak, or I shall run mad.
_Devil_. Contain yourself, dear sister. Help is to be found, and who
knows but I bring it with me? Remember that it was the staff which the
Archbishop presented to you upon your being consecrated an abbess which
you broke; and now listen to me attentively. You know my cousin the
prebend; well, he confided to me a very terrible affair. He indeed made
me solemnly promise not to tell you; but I know it is best to commit a
little sin, if by its means we can prevent a great one and confound the
projects of Satan.
_Abbess_. You are perfectly right; and the Fathers of the Church hold
that doctrine, as my confessor has often told me.
_Devil_. Know, then, that the Archbishop has so far got the upper hand
of the Chapter, that he has brought them to consent to your being deposed
after the lapse of a few months, and his niece Clara being made abbess in
your stead.
"Jesu Maria!" cried the abbess, wrung her hands, and fell into a swoon.
The Devil made a sour face at her exclamation, and Faustus, laughing,
rubbed her wrinkled brows. After she had recovered herself, she shed a
torrent of tears, and shrieked a thousand curses against the wickedness
of the world.
_Devil_. Do not despair, dear sister. For a distant evil there is
always a remedy.
_Abbess_. And what do you advise me to do? Wretch that I am! O
Heavens! what will become of me,--what will become of the nuns?
_Devil_. I have already said that it is best to commit a slight sin if,
by so doing, we prevent a great one, and you yourself have proved it by
the authority of holy Fathers; but, dear sister, courage and
understanding will be necessary, if you wish to obtain your purpose
without danger to your own soul, by loading another person with the
capital sin.
_Abbess_. Ah, dear sister, and how is that to be contrived?
_Devil_. I was once in our convent in almost a similar perplexity. The
good Sister Agatha here is my witness; and as she saw every thing, and
assisted me, we may speak out before her.
Faustus bowed with humility.
_Devil_. A nun who, by sinful wit, and yet more sinful beauty, had found
favour among the great and powerful, was, by their assistance, on the
point of rising above me. Ah! I have felt how grievous are the thoughts
of being forced to obey, after one has for a long time exercised
boundless power. Well, in the presence of Sister Agatha, I entered into
a consultation with my relation the prebend: he is very knowing in
affairs of conscience and crime, and understands to a hair's-breadth what
is damnable and what is not. This wise man gave me a piece of advice
which helped me out of my trouble, and for which I shall always have
reason to bless him. I admit that the expedient at first appeared to me
sinful; but he assured me, and proved to me out of the casuists, that a
little fasting and penance would do away with all that was culpable in
it.
_Abbess_. But the advice--the advice!
_Devil_. I am ashamed to tell it you aloud.
_Abbess_. Then whisper it into my ear. What the Abbess of the Black
Nuns could do without endangering her salvation, the Abbess of the White
Nuns may do also.
_Devil_ (_softly into her ear_). He advised me to contrive so that this
dangerous nun should commit the sin of * * *
_Abbess_ (_crossing herself_). Blessed Ursula! Why, that is the work of
the Devil, and leads directly to hell.
_Devil_. Ay, very true, but only the person who commits it; and I was
not advising you to do it. Remember, dear sister, you are not to be
punished for all the sins which your nuns may choose to commit.
_Abbess_. But, in Heaven's name, how did you manage this dangerous
affair without being discovered?
_Devil_. Oh, my situation was much more difficult than yours, for you
are assisted by the report of the dream, which already fills the whole
city. Suppose, now, you were to let a man, dressed like the Dominican,
slip into Clara's cell, and the signs of the sinful deed were afterwards
to appear, would not the whole world say that it was a trick of the arch
foe of mankind? Let Satan have the credit of it, and do you remain
sitting in your chair, adorned with that dignity which Heaven has been
pleased to grant you. I have given you this advice out of friendship,
and for your good; you are now at liberty to do as you please. At all
events, I will send you some one to-night to personate the Dominican, and
he will only have to return if you are too scrupulous.
The abbess sat like one amazed, and in her confusion began to tell her
Rosary: "_Ave Maria_. It is certainly allying oneself to the Devil.
Blessed Ursula, illumine my darkness." She cast her eyes upon the image
of the saint. "It would certainly be a great scandal to the convent.
_Ave Maria_. But then it would be placed to Satan's account. Perhaps,
though, I might be damned for it. _Pater noster_. And am I now to
become a servant in the cloister, and in my old days to be tormented by a
superior, after I have so long tormented the nuns? This little baggage
has already afforded sufficient scandal to the whole town without this.
Alas, when I have no longer authority to box the nuns about, how will
this and that malignant creature revenge herself upon me! _Ave Maria_.
Well, I have made up my mind, and, for the good of the cloister, I will
continue abbess the remainder of any days, cost what it will."
The Devil applauded her, and the plan was soon arranged. Upon going away
the Devil said to Faustus:
"Now, what have I done else than ask the pride of this old beldame
whether it is better to risk eternal damnation, or to give up that
tyrannical power over the poor nuns, which the hand of Death will soon
deprive her of?"
Whatever pleasure Faustus derived from the certainty that his desires
would be gratified, he was nevertheless much displeased that the Devil
should always be in the right. That same evening the abbess herself
introduced him, under the disguise of the Dominican, into Clara's cell
while the nuns were at vespers. Clara herself soon appeared, and after
she had commended herself to St. Ursula, she laid herself down. Her
imagination, which had once been directed to a certain object, often
repeated to her in dreams her former vision; and she lay in just such a
transport, when Faustus approached her, and embodied the apparition, upon
which Clara awoke, and still believed herself merely in a dream. The
abbess in the mean time did penance in her cell, and made a vow to fast
every week for the good of her soul. But the consequences of this night
were horrible to poor Clara.
* * * * *
The next morning Faustus took leave of his family. Few tears were shed;
but his old father, in a mournful tone, gave him wholesome advice.
As Faustus, with the Devil, rode over the bridge which leads across the
Rhine, thinking of last night's adventure, and making comments upon the
abbess, he saw afar off a man in the water, who seemed upon the point of
drowning, and only feebly struggled against approaching death. He
commanded Leviathan to save the man. The Devil answered, with a
significant look:
"Think well of what thou requirest; he is a youth, and perhaps it will be
better for him and for thee that he ends his life here."
_Faustus_. Thou fiend, only ready for mischief, wouldst thou have me
withstand the sacred feeling of nature? Hasten and save him, I repeat.
_Devil_. Canst thou not swim thyself? No. Well, the consequences be
thy reward; thou wilt repent of this.
He rushed into the stream, and rescued the youth. Faustus consoled
himself with the idea of having, by this good act, atoned for the
preceding night of sin; and Leviathan laughed at the consolation.