Mephistopheles.
Well, well; short time will show; into my net
I’ll draw the fish, and then I’ve won my bet;
And when I’ve carried through my measure
Loud blast of trump shall blaze my glory;
Dust shall he eat, and that with pleasure,
Like my cousin the snake in the rare old story.
The Lord.
And thou mayst show thee here in upper sky
Unhindered, when thou hast a mind;
I never hated much thee or thy kind;
Of all the spirits that deny,
The clever rogue sins least against my mind.
For, in good sooth, the mortal generation,
When a soft pillow they may haply find,
Are far too apt to sink into stagnation;
And therefore man for comrade wisely gets
A devil, who spurs, and stimulates, and whets.
But you, ye sons of heaven’s own choice,
In the one living Beautiful rejoice!
The self-evolving Energy divine
Enclasp you round with love’s embrace benign,
And on the floating forms of earth and sky
Stamp the fair type of thought that may not die.
Mephistopheles.
From time to time the ancient gentleman
I see, and keep on the best terms I can.
In a great Lord ’tis surely wondrous civil
So face to face to hold talk with the devil.
FAUST.
ACT I.
Scene I.
Night.
Faust discovered sitting restless at his desk, in a narrow high-vaulted Gothic chamber.
Faust.
There now, I’ve toiled my way quite through
Law, Medicine, and Philosophy,
And, to my sorrow, also thee,
Theology, with much ado;
And here I stand, poor human fool,
