Next in respect of time to Cornelius Agrippa comes the celebrated Dr.
Faustus. Little in point of fact is known respecting this eminent
personage in the annals of necromancy. His pretended history does not
seem to have been written till about the year 1587, perhaps half a
century after his death. This work is apparently in its principal
features altogether fictitious. We have no reason however to deny the
early statements as to his life. He is asserted by Camerarius and
Wierus to have been born at Cundling near Cracow in the kingdom of
Poland, and is understood to have passed the principal part of his
life at the university of Wittenberg. He was probably well known to
Cornelius Agrippa and Paracelsus. Melancthon mentions him in his
Letters; and Conrad Gessner refers to him as a contemporary. The
author of his Life cites the opinions entertained respecting him by
Luther. Philip Camerarius speaks of him in his Horae Subsecivae as a
celebrated name among magicians, apparently without reference to the
Life that has come down to us; [205] and Wierus does the same thing.
[206] He was probably nothing more than an accomplished juggler, who
appears to have practised his art with great success in several towns
of Germany. He was also no doubt a pretender to necromancy.
On this basis the well known History of his Life has been built. The
author has with great art expanded very slender materials, and
rendered his work in a striking degree a code and receptacle of all
the most approved ideas respecting necromancy and a profane and
sacrilegious dealing with the devil. He has woven into it with much
skill the pretended arts of the sorcerers, and has transcribed or
closely imitated the stories that have been handed down to us of many
of the extraordinary feats they were said to have performed. It is
therefore suitable to our purpose to dwell at some length upon the
successive features of this history.
The life has been said to have been originally written in Spain by
Franciscus Schottus of Toledo, in the Latin language. [207] But this
biographical work is assigned to the date of 1594, previously to which
the Life is known to have existed in German. It is improbable that a
Spanish writer should have chosen a German for the hero of his romance,
whereas nothing can be more natural than for a German to have conceived
the idea of giving fame and notoriety to his countryman. The mistake
seems to be the same, though for an opposite reason, as that which
appears to have been made in representing the Gil Blas of Le Sage as a
translation.
The biographical account professes to have been begun by Faustus
himself, though written in the third person, and to have been
continued by Wagner, his confidential servant, to whom the doctor is
affirmed to have bequeathed his memoirs, letters and manuscripts,
together with his house and its furniture.
Faustus then, according to his history, was the son of a peasant,
residing on the banks of the Roda in the duchy of Weimar, and was
early adopted by an uncle, dwelling in the city of Wittenberg, who had
no children. Here he was sent to college, and was soon distinguished
by the greatness of his talents, and the rapid progress he made in
every species of learning that was put before him. He was destined by
his relative to the profession of theology. But singularly enough,
considering that he is represented as furnishing materials for his
own Memoirs, he is said ungraciously to have set at nought his uncle's
pious intentions by deriding God's word, and thus to have resembled
Cain, Reuben and Absalom, who, having sprung from godly parents,
afflicted their fathers' hearts by their apostasy. He went through his
examinations with applause, and carried off all the first prizes among
sixteen competitors. He therefore obtained the degree of doctor in
divinity; but his success only made him the more proud and headstrong.
He disdained his theological eminence, and sighed for distinction as a
man of the world. He took his degree as a doctor of medicine, and
aspired to celebrity as a practitioner of physic. About the same time
he fell in with certain contemporaries, of tastes similar to his own,
and associated with them in the study of Chaldean, Greek and Arabic
science, of strange incantations and supernatural influences, in short,
of all the arts of a sorcerer.
Having made such progress as he could by dint of study and intense
application, he at length resolved to prosecute his purposes still
further by actually raising the devil. He happened one evening to walk
in a thick, dark wood, within a short distance from Wittenberg, when
it occurred to him that that was a fit place for executing his design.
He stopped at a solitary spot where four roads met, and made use of
his wand to mark out a large circle, and then two small ones within
the larger. In one of these he fixed himself, appropriating the other
for the use of his expected visitor. He went over the precise range of
charms and incantations, omitting nothing. It was now dark night
between the ninth and tenth hour. The devil manifested himself by the
usual signs of his appearance. "Wherefore am I called?" said he, "and
what is it that you demand?" "I require," rejoined Faustus, "that you
should sedulously attend upon me, answer my enquiries, and fulfil my
behests."
Immediately upon Faustus pronouncing these words, there followed a
tumult over head, as if heaven and earth were coming together. The
trees in their topmost branches bended to their very roots. It seemed
as if the whole forest were peopled with devils, making a crash like a
thousand waggons, hurrying to the right and the left, before and
behind, in every possible direction, with thunder and lightning, and
the continual discharge of great cannon. Hell appeared to have emptied
itself, to have furnished the din. There succeeded the most charming
music from all sorts of instruments, and sounds of hilarity and
dancing. Next came a report as of a tournament, and the clashing of
innumerable lances. This lasted so long, that Faustus was many times
about to rush out of the circle in which he had inclosed himself, and
to abandon his preparations. His courage and resolution however got
the better; and he remained immoveable. He pursued his incantations
without intermission. Then came to the very edge of the circle a
griffin first, and next a dragon, which in the midst of his
enchantments grinned at him horribly with his teeth, but finally fell
down at his feet, and extended his length to many a rood. Faustus
persisted. Then succeeded a sort of fireworks, a pillar of fire, and a
man on fire at the top, who leaped down; and there immediately
appeared a number of globes here and there red-hot, while the man on
fire went and came to every part of the circle for a quarter of an
hour. At length the devil came forward in the shape of a grey monk,
and asked Faustus what he wanted. Faustus adjourned their further
conference, and appointed the devil to come to him at his lodgings.
He in the mean time busied himself in the necessary preparations. He
entered his study at the appointed time, and found the devil waiting
for him. Faustus told him that he had prepared certain articles, to
which it was necessary that the demon should fully accord,--that he
should attend him at all times, when required, for all the days of his
life, that he should bring him every thing he wanted, that he should
come to him in any shape that Faustus required, or be invisible, and
Faustus should be invisible too, whenever he desired it, that he
should deny him nothing, and answer him with perfect veracity to every
thing he demanded. To some of these requisitions the spirit could not
consent, without authority from his master, the chief of devils. At
length all these concessions were adjusted. The devil on his part also
prescribed his conditions. That Faustus should abjure the Christian
religion and all reverence for the supreme God; that he should enjoy
the entire command of his attendant demon for a certain term of years,
and that at the end of that period the devil should dispose of him
body and soul at his pleasure [the term was fixed for twenty-four
years]; that he should at all times stedfastly refuse to listen to any
one who should desire to convert him, or convince him of the error of
his ways, and lead him to repentance; that Faustus should draw up a
writing containing these particulars, and sign it with his blood, that
he should deliver this writing to the devil, and keep a duplicate of
it for himself, that so there might be no misunderstanding. It was
further appointed by Faustus that the devil should usually attend him
in the habit of cordelier, with a pleasing countenance and an
insinuating demeanour. Faustus also asked the devil his name, who
answered that he was usually called Mephostophiles (perhaps more
accurately Nephostophiles, a lover of clouds).
Previously to this deplorable transaction, in which Faustus sold
himself, soul and body, to the devil, he had consumed his inheritance,
and was reduced to great poverty. But he was now no longer subjected
to any straits. The establishments of the prince of Chutz, the duke of
Bavaria, and the archbishop of Saltzburgh were daily put under
contribution for his more convenient supply. By the diligence of
Mephostophiles provisions of all kinds continually flew in at his
windows; and the choicest wines were perpetually found at his board to
the annoyance and discredit of the cellarers and butlers of these
eminent personages, who were extremely blamed for defalcations in
which they had no share. He also brought him a monthly supply of money,
sufficient for the support of his establishment. Besides, he supplied
him with a succession of mistresses, such as his heart desired, which
were in truth nothing but devils disguised under the semblance of
beautiful women. He further gave to Faustus a book, in which were
amply detailed the processes of sorcery and witchcraft, by means of
which the doctor could obtain whatever he desired.
One of the earliest indulgences which Faustus proposed to himself from
the command he possessed over his servant-demon, was the gratification
of his curiosity in surveying the various nations of the world.
Accordingly Mephostophiles converted himself into a horse, with two
hunches on his back like a dromedary, between which he conveyed
Faustus through the air where-ever he desired. They consumed fifteen
months in their travels. Among the countries they visited the history
mentions Pannonia, Austria, Germany, Bohemia, Silesia, Saxony, Misnia,
Thuringia, Franconia, Suabia, Bavaria, Lithuania, Livonia, Prussia,
Muscovy, Friseland, Holland, Westphalia, Zealand, Brabant, Flanders,
France, Spain, Italy, Poland, and Hungary; and afterwards Turkey,
Egypt, England, Sweden, Denmark, India, Africa and Persia. In most of
these countries Mephostophiles points out to his fellow-traveller
their principal curiosities and antiquities. In Rome they sojourned
three days and three nights, and, being themselves invisible, visited
the residence of the pope and the other principal palaces.
At Constantinople Faustus visited the emperor of the Turks, assuming
to himself the figure of the prophet Mahomet. His approach was
preceded by a splendid illumination, not less than that of the sun in
all his glory. He said to the emperor, "Happy art thou, oh sultan, who
art found worthy to be visited by the great prophet." And the emperor
in return fell prostrate before him, thanking Mahomet for his
condescension in this visit. The doctor also entered the seraglio,
where he remained six days under the same figure, the building and its
gardens being all the time environed with a thick darkness, so that no
one, not the emperor himself, dared to enter. At the end of this time
the doctor, still under the figure of Mahomet, was publicly seen,
ascending, as it seemed, to heaven. The sultan afterwards enquired of
the women of his seraglio what had occurred to them during the period
of the darkness; and they answered, that the God Mahomet had been with
them, that he had enjoyed them corporeally, and had told them that
from his seed should arise a great people, capable of irresistible
exploits.
Faustus had conceived a plan of making his way into the terrestrial
paradise, without awakening suspicion in his demon-conductor. For this
purpose he ordered him to ascend the highest mountains of Asia. At
length they came so near, that they saw the angel with the flaming
sword forbidding approach to the garden. Faustus, perceiving this,
asked Mephostophiles what it meant. His conductor told him, but added
that it was in vain for them, or any one but the angels of the Lord,
to think of entering within.
Having gratified his curiosity in other ways, Faustus was seized with
a vehement desire to visit the infernal regions. He proposed the
question to Mephostophiles, who told him that this was a matter out of
his department, and that on that journey he could have no other
conductor than Beelzebub. Accordingly, every thing being previously
arranged, one day at midnight Beelzebub appeared, being already
equipped with a saddle made of dead men's bones. Faustus speedily
mounted. They in a short time came to an abyss, and encountered a
multitude of enormous serpents; but a bear with wings came to their
aid, and drove the serpents away. A flying bull next came with a
hideous roar, so fierce that Beelzebub appeared to give way, and
Faustus tumbled at once heels-over-head into the pit. After having
fallen to a considerable depth, two dragons with a chariot came to his
aid, and an ape helped him to get into the vehicle. Presently however
came on a storm with thunder and lightning, so dreadful that the
doctor was thrown out, and sunk in a tempestuous sea to a vast depth.
He contrived however to lay hold of a rock, and here to secure himself
a footing. He looked down, and perceived a great gulph, in which lay
floating many of the vulgar, and not a few emperors, kings, princes,
and such as had been mighty lords. Faustus with a sudden impulse cast
himself into the midst of the flames with which they were surrounded,
with the desire to snatch one of the damned souls from the pit. But,
just as he thought he had caught him by the hand, the miserable wretch
slided from between his fingers, and sank again.
At length the doctor became wholly exhausted with the fatigue he had
undergone, with the smoke and the fog, with the stifling, sulphureous
air, with the tempestuous blasts, with the alternate extremes of heat
and cold, and with the clamours, the lamentations, the agonies, and
the howlings of the damned everywhere around him,--when, just in the
nick of time, Beelzebub appeared to him again, and invited him once
more to ascend the saddle, which he had occupied during his infernal
journey. Here he fell asleep, and, when he awoke, found himself in his
own bed in his house. He then set himself seriously to reflect on what
had passed. At one time he believed that he had been really in hell,
and had witnessed all its secrets. At another he became persuaded that
he had been subject to an illusion only, and that the devil had led
him through an imaginary scene, which was truly the case; for the
devil had taken care not to shew him the real hell, fearing that it
might have caused too great a terror, and have induced him to repent
him of his misdeeds perhaps before it was too late.
It so happened that, once upon a time, the emperor Charles V was at
Inspruck, at a time when Faustus also resided there. His courtiers
informed the emperor that Faustus was in the town, and Charles
expressed a desire to see him. He was introduced. Charles asked him
whether he could really perform such wondrous feats as were reported
of him. Faustus modestly replied, inviting the emperor to make trial
of his skill. "Then," said Charles, "of all the eminent personages I
have ever read of, Alexander the Great is the man who most excites my
curiosity, and whom it would most gratify my wishes to see in the very
form in which he lived." Faustus rejoined, that it was out of his
power truly to raise the dead, but that he had spirits at his command
who had often seen that great conqueror, and that Faustus would
willingly place him before the emperor as he required. He conditioned
that Charles should not speak to him, nor attempt to touch him. The
emperor promised compliance. After a few ceremonies therefore, Faustus
opened a door, and brought in Alexander exactly in the form in which
he had lived, with the same garments, and every circumstance
corresponding. Alexander made his obeisance to the emperor, and walked
several times round him. The queen of Alexander was then introduced in
the same manner. Charles just then recollected, he had read that
Alexander had a wart on the nape of his neck; and with proper
precautions Faustus allowed the emperor to examine the apparition by
this test. Alexander then vanished.
As doctor Faustus waited in court, he perceived a certain knight, who
had fallen asleep in a bow-window, with his head out at window. The
whim took the doctor, to fasten on his brow the antlers of a stag.
Presently the knight was roused from his nap, when with all his
efforts he could not draw in his head on account of the antlers which
grew upon it. The courtiers laughed exceedingly at the distress of the
knight, and, when they had sufficiently diverted themselves, Faustus
took off his conjuration, and set the knight at liberty.
Soon after Faustus retired from Inspruck. Meanwhile the knight, having
conceived a high resentment against the conjuror, waylaid him with
seven horsemen on the road by which he had to pass. Faustus however
perceived them, and immediately made himself invisible. Meanwhile the
knight spied on every side to discover the conjuror; but, as he was
thus employed, he heard a sudden noise of drums and trumpets and
cymbals, and saw a regiment of horse advancing against him. He
immediately turned off in another direction; but was encountered by a
second regiment of horse. This occurred no less than six times; and
the knight and his companions were compelled to surrender at
discretion. These regiments were so many devils; and Faustus now
appeared in a new form as the general of this army. He obliged the
knight and his party to dismount, and give up their swords. Then with
a seeming generosity he gave them new horses and new swords, But this
was all enchantment. The swords presently turned into switches; and
the horses, plunging into a river on their road, vanished from beneath
their riders, who were thoroughly drenched in the stream, and scarcely
escaped with their lives.
Many of Faustus's delusions are rather remarkable as tricks of merry
vexation, than as partaking of those serious injuries which we might
look for in an implement of hell. In one instance he inquired of a
countryman who was driving a load of hay, what compensation he would
judge reasonable for the doctor's eating as much of his hay as he
should be inclined to. The waggoner replied, that for half a stiver
(one farthing) he should be welcome to eat as much as he pleased. The
doctor presently fell to, and ate at such a rate, that the peasant was
frightened lest his whole load should be consumed. He therefore
offered Faustus a gold coin, value twenty-seven shillings, to be off
his bargain. The doctor took it; and, when the countryman came to his
journey's end, he found his cargo undiminished even by a single blade.
Another time, as Faustus was walking along the road near Brunswick,
the whim took him of asking a waggoner who was driving by, to treat
him with a ride in his vehicle. "No, I will not," replied the boor;
"my horses will have enough to do to drag their proper load." "You
churl," said the doctor, "since you will not let your wheels carry me,
you shall carry them yourself as far as from the gates of the city."
The wheels then detached themselves, and flew through the air, to the
gates of the town from which they came. At the same time the horses
fell to the ground, and were utterly unable to raise themselves up.
The countryman, frightened, fell on his knees to the doctor, and
promised, if he would forgive him, never to offend in like manner
again. Faustus now, relenting a little, bade the waggoner take a
handful of sand from the road, and scatter on his horses, and they
would be well. At the same time he directed the man to go to the four
gates of Brunswick, and he would find his wheels, one at each gate.
In another instance, Faustus went into a fair, mounted on a noble
beast, richly caparisoned, the sight of which presently brought all
the horse-fanciers about him. After considerable haggling, he at last
disposed of his horse to a dealer for a handsome price, only cautioning
him at parting, how he rode the horse to water. The dealer, despising
the caution that had been given him, turned his horse the first thing
towards the river. He had however no sooner plunged in, than the horse
vanished, and the rider found himself seated on a saddle of straw, in
the middle of the stream. With difficulty he waded to the shore, and
immediately, enquiring out the doctor's inn, went to him to complain
of the cheat. He was directed to Faustus's room, and entering found
the conjuror on his bed, apparently asleep. He called to him lustily,
but the doctor took no notice. Worked up beyond his patience, he next
laid hold of Faustus's foot, that he might rouse him the more
effectually. What was his surprise, to find the doctor's leg and foot
come off in his hand! Faustus screamed, apparently in agony of pain,
and the dealer ran out of the room as fast as he could, thinking that
he had the devil behind him.
In one instance three young noblemen applied to Faustus, having been
very desirous to be present at the marriage of the son of the duke of
Bavaria at Mentz, but having overstaid the time, in which it would
have been possible by human means to accomplish the journey. Faustus,
to oblige them, led them into his garden, and, spreading a large
mantle upon a grass-plot, desired them to step on it, and placed
himself in the midst. He then recited a certain form of conjuration.
At the same time he conditioned with them, that they should on no
account speak to any one at the marriage, and, if spoken to, should
not answer again. They were carried invisibly through the air, and
arrived in excellent time. At a certain moment they became visible,
but were still bound to silence. One of them however broke the
injunction, and amused himself with the courtiers. The consequence was
that, when the other two were summoned by the doctor to return, he was
left behind. There was something so extraordinary in their sudden
appearance, and the subsequent disappearance of the others, that he
who remained was put in prison, and threatened with the torture the
next day, if he would not make a full disclosure. Faustus however
returned before break of day, opened the gates of the prison, laid all
the guards asleep, and carried off the delinquent in triumph.
On one occasion Faustus, having resolved to pass a jovial evening,
took some of his old college-companions, and invited them to make free
with the archbishop of Saltzburgh's cellar. They took a ladder, and
scaled the wall. They seated themselves round, and placed a
three-legged stool, with bottles and glasses in the middle. They were
in the heart of their mirth, when the butler made his appearance, and
began to cry thieves with all his might. The doctor at once conjured
him, so that he could neither speak nor move. There he was obliged to
sit, while Faustus and his companions tapped every vat in the cellar.
They then carried him along with them in triumph. At length they came
to a lofty tree, where Faustus ordered them to stop; and the butler
was in the greatest fright, apprehending that they would do no less
than hang him. The doctor however was contented, by his art to place
him on the topmost branch, where he was obliged to remain trembling
and almost dead with the cold, till certain peasants came out to their
work, whom he hailed, and finally with great difficulty they rescued
him from his painful eminence, and placed him safely on the ground.
On another occasion Faustus entertained several of the junior members
of the university of Wittenberg at his chambers. One of them,
referring to the exhibition the doctor had made of Alexander the Great
to the emperor Charles V, said it would gratify him above all things,
if he could once behold the famous Helen of Greece, whose beauty was
so great as to have roused all the princes of her country to arms, and
to have occasioned a ten years' war. Faustus consented to indulge his
curiosity, provided all the company would engage to be merely mute
spectators of the scene. This being promised, he left the room, and
presently brought in Helen. She was precisely as Homer has described
her, when she stood by the side of Priam on the walls of Troy, looking
on the Grecian chiefs. Her features were irresistibly attractive; and
her full, moist lips were redder than the summer cherries. Faustus
shortly after obliged his guests with her bust in marble, from which
several copies were taken, no one knowing the name of the original
artist.
No long time elapsed after this, when the doctor was engaged in
delivering a course of lectures on Homer at Erfurth, one of the
principal cities of Germany. It having been suggested to him that it
would very much enhance the interest of his lectures, if he would
exhibit to the company the heroes of Greece exactly as they appeared
to their contemporaries, Faustus obligingly yielded to the proposal.
The heroes of the Trojan war walked in procession before the
astonished auditors, no less lively in the representation than Helen
had been shewn before, and each of them with some characteristic
attitude and striking expression of countenance.
When the doctor happened to be at Frankfort, there came there four
conjurors, who obtained vast applause by the trick of cutting off one
another's heads, and fastening them on again. Faustus was exasperated
at this proceeding, and regarded them as laying claim to a skill
superior to his own. He went, and was invisibly present at their
exhibition. They placed beside them a vessel with liquor which they
pretended was the elixir of life, into which at each time they threw a
plant resembling the lily, which no sooner touched the liquor than its
buds began to unfold, and shortly it appeared in full blossom. The
chief conjuror watched his opportunity; and, when the charm was
complete, made no more ado but struck off the head of his fellow that
was next to him, and dipping it in the liquor, adjusted it to the
shoulders, where it became as securely fixed as before the operation.
This was repeated a second and a third time. At length it came to the
turn of the chief conjuror to have his head smitten off. Faustus stood
by invisibly, and at the proper time broke off the flower of the lily
without any one being aware of it. The head therefore of the principal
conjuror was struck off; but in vain was it steeped in the liquor. The
other conjurors were at a loss to account for the disappearance of the
lily, and fumbled for a long time with the old sorcerer's head, which
would not stick on in any position in which it could be placed.
Faustus was in great favour with the Prince of Anhalt. On one occasion,
after residing some days in his court, he said to the prince, "Will
your highness do me the favour to partake of a small collation at a
castle which belongs to me out at your city-gates?" The prince
graciously consented. The prince and princess accompanied the doctor,
and found a castle which Faustus had erected by magic during the
preceding night. The castle, with five lofty towers, and two great
gates, inclosing a spacious court, stood in the midst of a beautiful
lake, stocked with all kinds of fish, and every variety of water-fowl.
The court exhibited all sorts of animals, beside birds of every colour
and song, which flitted from tree to tree. The doctor then ushered his
guests into the hall, with an ample suite of apartments, branching off
on each side. In one of the largest they found a banquet prepared,
with the pope's plate of gold, which Mephostophiles had borrowed for
the day. The viands were of the most delicious nature, with the
choicest wines in the world. The banquet being over, Faustus conducted
the prince and princess back to the palace. But, before they had gone
far, happening to turn their heads, they saw the whole castle blown up,
and all that had been prepared for the occasion vanish at once in a
vast volume of fire.
One Christmas-time Faustus gave a grand entertainment to certain
distinguished persons of both sexes at Wittenberg. To render the scene
more splendid, he contrived to exhibit a memorable inversion of the
seasons. As the company approached the doctor's house, they were
surprised to find, though there was a heavy snow through the
neighbouring fields, that Faustus's court and garden bore not the
least marks of the season, but on the contrary were green and blooming
as in the height of summer. There was an appearance of the freshest
vegetation, together with a beautiful vineyard, abounding with grapes,
figs, raspberries, and an exuberance of the finest fruits. The large,
red Provence roses, were as sweet to the scent as the eye, and looked
perfectly fresh and sparkling with dew.
As Faustus was now approaching the last year of his term, he seemed to
resolve to pamper his appetite with every species of luxury. He
carefully accumulated all the materials of voluptuousness and
magnificence. He was particularly anxious in the selection of women
who should serve for his pleasures. He had one Englishwoman, one
Hungarian, one French, two of Germany, and two from different parts of
Italy, all of them eminent for the perfections which characterised
their different countries.
As Faustus's demeanour was particularly engaging, there were many
respectable persons in the city in which he lived, that became
interested in his welfare. These applied to a certain monk of
exemplary purity of life and devotion, and urged him to do every thing
he could to rescue the doctor from impending destruction. The monk
began with him with tender and pathetic remonstrances. He then drew a
fearful picture of the wrath of God, and the eternal damnation which
would certainly ensue. He reminded the doctor of his extraordinary
gifts and graces, and told him how different an issue might reasonably
have been expected from him. Faustus listened attentively to all the
good monk said, but replied mournfully that it was too late, that he
had despised and insulted the Lord, that he had deliberately sealed a
solemn compact to the devil, and that there was no possibility of
going back. The monk answered, "You are mistaken. Cry to the Lord for
grace; and it shall still be given. Shew true remorse; confess your
sins; abstain for the future from all acts of sorcery and diabolical
interference; and you may rely on final salvation." The doctor however
felt that all endeavours would be hopeless, He found in himself an
incapacity, for true repentance. And finally the devil came to him,
reproached him for breach of contract in listening to the pious
expostulations of a saint, threatened that in case of infidelity he
would take him away to hell even before his time, and frightened the
doctor into the act of signing a fresh contract in ratification of
that which he had signed before.
At length Faustus ultimately arrived at the end of the term for which
he had contracted with the devil. For two or three years before it
expired, his character gradually altered. He became subject to fits of
despondency, was no longer susceptible of mirth and amusement, and
reflected with bitter agony on the close in which the whole must
terminate. During the last month of his period, he no longer sought
the services of his infernal ally, but with the utmost unwillingness
saw his arrival. But Mephostophiles now attended him unbidden, and
treated him with biting scoffs and reproaches. "You have well studied
the Scriptures," he said, "and ought to have known that your safety
lay in worshipping God alone. You sinned with your eyes open, and can
by no means plead ignorance. You thought that twenty-four years was a
term that would have no end; and you now see how rapidly it is
flitting away. The term for which you sold yourself to the devil is a
very different thing; and, after the lapse of thousands of ages, the
prospect before you will be still as unbounded as ever. You were
warned; you were earnestly pressed to repent; but now it is too late."
After the demon, Mephostophiles, had long tormented Faustus in this
manner, he suddenly disappeared, consigning him over to wretchedness,
vexation and despair.
The whole twenty-four years were now expired. The day before,
Mephostophiles again made his appearance, holding in his hand the bond
which the doctor had signed with his blood, giving him notice that the
next day, the devil, his master, would come for him, and advising him
to hold himself in readiness. Faustus, it seems, had earned himself
much good will among the younger members of the university by his
agreeable manners, by his willingness to oblige them, and by the
extraordinary spectacles with which he occasionally diverted them.
This day he resolved to pass in a friendly farewel. He invited a
number of them to meet him at a house of public reception, in a hamlet
adjoining to the city. He bespoke a large room in the house for a
banqueting room, another apartment overhead for his guests to sleep in,
and a smaller chamber at a little distance for himself. He furnished
his table with abundance of delicacies and wines. He endeavoured to
appear among them in high spirits; but his heart was inwardly sad.
When the entertainment was over, Faustus addressed them, telling them
that this was the last day of his life, reminding them of the wonders
with which he had frequently astonished them, and informing them of
the condition upon which he had held this power. They, one and all,
expressed the deepest sorrow at the intelligence. They had had the
idea of something unlawful in his proceedings; but their notions had
been very far from coming up to the truth. They regretted exceedingly
that he had not been unreserved in his communications at an earlier
period. They would have had recourse in his behalf to the means of
religion, and have applied to pious men, desiring them to employ their
power to intercede with heaven in his favour. Prayer and penitence
might have done much for him; and the mercy of heaven was unbounded.
They advised him still to call upon God, and endeavour to secure an
interest in the merits of the Saviour.
Faustus assured them that it was all in vain, and that his tragical
fate was inevitable. He led them to their sleeping apartment, and
recommended to them to pass the night as they could, but by no means,
whatever they might happen to hear, to come out of it; as their
interference could in no way be beneficial to him, and might be
attended with the most serious injury to themselves. They lay still
therefore, as he had enjoined them; but not one of them could close
his eyes.
Between twelve and one in the night they heard first a furious storm
of wind round all sides of the house, as if it would have torn away
the walls from their foundations. This no sooner somewhat abated, than
a noise was heard of discordant and violent hissing, as if the house
was full of all sorts of venomous reptiles, but which plainly
proceeded from Faustus's chamber. Next they heard the doctor's
room-door vehemently burst open, and cries for help uttered with
dreadful agony, but a half-suppressed voice, which presently grew
fainter and fainter. Then every thing became still, as if the
everlasting motion of the world was suspended.
When at length it became broad day, the students went in a body into
the doctor's apartment. But he was no where to be seen. Only the walls
were found smeared with his blood, and marks as if his brains had been
dashed out. His body was finally discovered at some distance from the
house, his limbs dismembered, and marks of great violence about the
features of his face. The students gathered up the mutilated parts of
his body, and afforded them private burial at the temple of Mars in
the village where he died.
A ludicrous confusion of ideas has been produced by some persons from
the similarity of names of Faustus, the supposed magician of
Wittenberg, and Faust or Fust of Mentz, the inventor, or first
establisher of the art of printing. It has been alleged that the exact
resemblance of the copies of books published by the latter, when no
other mode of multiplying copies was known but by the act of
transcribing, was found to be such, as could no way be accounted for
by natural means, and that therefore it was imputed to the person who
presented these copies, that he must necessarily be assisted by the
devil. It has further been stated, that Faust, the printer, swore the
craftsmen he employed at his press to inviolable secrecy, that he
might the more securely keep up the price of his books. But this
notion of the identity of the two persons is entirely groundless.
Faustus, the magician, is described in the romance as having been born
in 1491, twenty-five years after the period at which the printer is
understood to have died, and there is no one coincidence between the
histories of the two persons, beyond the similarity of names, and a
certain mystery (or magical appearance) that inevitably adheres to the
practice of an art hitherto unknown. If any secret reference had been
intended in the romance to the real character of the illustrious
introducer of an art which has been productive of such incalculable
benefits to mankind, it would be impossible to account for such a
marvellous inconsistence in the chronology.
Others have carried their scepticism so far, as to have started a
doubt whether there was ever really such a person as Faustus of
Wittenberg, the alleged magician. But the testimony of Wierus, Philip
Camerarius, Melancthon and others, his contemporaries, sufficiently
refutes this supposition. The fact is, that there was undoubtedly such
a man, who, by sleights of dexterity, made himself a reputation as if
there was something supernatural in his performances, and that he was
probably also regarded with a degree of terror and abhorrence by the
superstitious. On this theme was constructed a romance, which once
possessed the highest popularity, and furnished a subject to the
dramatical genius of Marlow, Leasing, Goethe, and others.--It is
sufficiently remarkable, that the notoriety of this romance seems to
have suggested to Shakespear the idea of sending the grand conception
of his brain, Hamlet, prince of Denmark, to finish his education at
the university of Wittenberg.
And here it may not be uninstructive to remark the different tone
of the record of the acts of Ziito, the Bohemian, and Faustus of
Wittenburg, though little more than half a century elapsed between
the periods at which they were written. Dubravius, bishop of Olmutz
in Moravia, to whose pen we are indebted for what we know of Ziito,
died in the year 1553. He has deemed it not unbecoming to record in
his national history of Bohemia, the achievements of this magician,
who, he says, exhibited them before Wenceslaus, king of the country,
at the celebration of his marriage. A waggon-load of sorcerers arrived
at Prague on that occasion for the entertainment of the company. But,
at the close of that century, the exploits of Faustus were no longer
deemed entitled to a place in national history, but were more
appropriately taken for the theme of a romance. Faustus and his
performances were certainly contemplated with at least as much horror
as the deeds of Ziito. But popular credulity was no longer wound to
so high a pitch: the marvels effected by Faustus are not represented
as challenging the observation of thousands at a public court, and
on the occasion of a royal festival. They "hid their diminished heads,"
and were performed comparatively in a corner.