A special introduction to your Grace?
The Witch.
O my liege lord! forgive the rough salute!
I did not see the horse’s foot:
And where too have you left your pair of ravens?
Mephistopheles.
For this time you may thank the heavens
That you have made so cheap an escape;
’Tis some time since I saw your face,
And things since then have moved apace.
The march of modern cultivation,
That licks the whole world into shape,
Has reached the Devil. In this wise generation
The Northern phantom is no longer seen,
And horns and tail and claws have been.
And for my hoof, with which I can’t dispense,
In good society ’twould give great offence;
Therefore, like many a smart sprig of nobility,
I use false calves to trick out my gentility.
The Witch. [dancing]
Heyday! it almost turns my brain
To see Squire Satan here again!
Mephistopheles.
Woman, you must not call me by that name!
The Witch.
And wherefore not? I see no cause for shame.
Mephistopheles.
That name has had its station long assigned
With Mother Bunch; and yet I cannot see
Men are much better for the want of me.
The wicked one is gone, the wicked stay behind.
Call me now Baron, less than that were rude—
I am a cavalier like other cavaliers;
My line is noble, and my blood is good;
Here is a coat of arms that all the world reveres.
[He makes an indecent gesture.
The Witch. [laughing immoderately]
Ha! ha! now I perceive Old Nick is here!
You are a rogue still, as you always were.
Mephistopheles. [aside to Faust]
