But chiefly be intent to get a hold
O’ the women’s minds: their endless Oh! and Ah!
So thousandfold,
In all its change, obeys a single law,
And, if with half a modest air you come,
You have them all beneath your thumb.
A title first must purchase their reliance,
That you have skill surpassing vulgar science;
Thus have you hold at once of all the seven ends,
Round which another year of labor spends.
Study to press the pulse right tenderly,
And, with a sly and fiery eye,
To hold her freely round the slender waist,
That you may see how tightly she is laced.
Student.
This seems to promise better; here we see
Where to apply and how to use the knife.
Mephistopheles.
Gray, my good friend, is every theory,
But green the golden tree of life.
Student.
I vow I feel as in a dream; my brain
Contains much more than it can comprehend;
Some other day may I come back again,
To hear your wisdom to the end?
Mephistopheles.
What I can teach all men are free to know.
Student.
One little favor grant me ere I go;
It were my boast to take home on this page
[Presenting a leaf from his album.]
Some sapient maxim from a man so sage.
Mephistopheles.
Right willingly.
[He writes, and gives back the book.
Student. [reads]
Eritis sicut Deus scientes bonum et malum.
[He closes the book reverently, and takes his leave.
Mephistopheles.
Follow the ancient saw, and my cousin, the famous old Serpent,
