Come not, as some, without preparation,
But con his paragraphs o’er and o’er,
To be able to say, when you hear his oration,
That he gives you his book, and nothing more;
Yet not the less take down his words in writing,
As if the Holy Spirit were inditing!
Student.
I shall not quickly give you cause
To repeat so weighty a clause;
For what with black on white is written,
We carry it home, a sure possession.
Mephistopheles.
But, as I said, you must choose a profession.
Student.
With Law, I must confess, I never was much smitten.
Mephistopheles.
I should be loath to force your inclination,
Myself have some small skill in legislation;
For human laws and rights from sire to son,
Like an hereditary ill, flow on;
From generation dragged to generation,
And creeping slow from place to place.
Reason is changed to nonsense, good to evil,
Art thou a grandson, woe betide thy case!
Of Law they prate, most falsely clept the Civil,
But for that right, which from our birth we carry,
’Tis not a word found in their Dictionary.
Student.
Your words have much increased my detestation.
O happy he, to whom such guide points out the way!
And now, I almost feel an inclination
To give Theology the sway.
Mephistopheles.
I have no wish to lead you astray.
As to this science, ’tis so hard to eschew
The false way, and to hit upon the true,
And so much hidden poison lurks within,
That’s scarce distinguished from the medicine.
Methinks that here ’twere safest done
That you should listen but to one,
