Unto his heirs he left them;
The bowl he gave to none.
He sat amid his barons,
And feasted merrily,
Within his father’s castle,
That beetles o’er the sea.
There stood the old carouser,
And drank his life’s last glow;
Then flung the goblet over
Into the sea below.
He saw it fall, and gurgling
Sink deep into the sea;
His eyes they sank in darkness;
No bumper more drank he.
[She opens the cupboard to put in her clothes, and sees the casket.]
How came the pretty casket here? no doubt
I locked the press when I went out.
’Tis really strange!—Belike that it was sent
A pledge for money that my mother lent.
Here hangs the key; sure there can be no sin
In only looking what may be within.
What have we here? good heavens! see!
What a display of finery!
Here is a dress in which a queen
Might on a gala-day be seen.
I wonder how the necklace would suit me!
Who may the lord of all this splendor be?
[She puts on the necklace, and looks at herself in the glass.]
Were but the ear-rings mine to wear!
It gives one such a different air.
What boots the beauty of the poor?
’Tis very beautiful to be sure,
But without riches little weighs;
They praise you, but half pity while they praise.
Gold is the pole,
To which all point: the whole
Big world hangs on gold. Alas we poor!
Scene VI.
A Walk.
Faust going up and down thoughtfully; then enter Mephistopheles.
Mephistopheles.
By all the keen pangs of love! by all the hot blasts of hell!
By all the fellest of curses, if curse there be any more fell!
Faust.
How now, Mephisto? what the devil’s wrong?
I ne’er beheld a face one half so long!
Mephistopheles.
But that I am a devil myself, I’d sell
Both soul and body on the spot to hell!
Faust.
