And whether I have limbs or no, I know not.
O, would my blood drop out from every vein,
As doth this water from my tatter'd robes.
Tell Isabel, the queen, I look'd not thus,
When for her sake I ran at tilt in France,
And there unhors'd the duke of Cleremont.

Light. O speak no more, my lord! this breaks my heart. Lie on this bed, and rest yourself awhile.

Edw. These looks of thine can harbour nought but death:

I see my tragedy written in thy brows. Yet stay a-while, forbear thy bloody hand, And let me see the stroke before it comes, That even then when I shall lose my life, My mind be more stedfast on my may Light. What means your highness to mistrust me thus? Edw. What mean'st thou to dissemble with me thus? Light. These hands were never stain'd with innocent blood,

God.

Nor shall they now be tainted with a king's.

Edw. Forgive my thought, for having such a thought.

One jewel have I left, receive thou this.

Still fear I, and I know not what's the cause,

But every joint shakes as I give it thee.

O if thou harbour'st murder in thy heart!

Let this gift change thy mind, and save thy soul.
Know, that I am a king: Oh! at that name
I feel a hell of grief; where is my crown?

Gone, gone, and do I still remain alive?

Light. You're overwatch'd, my lord, lie down and rest.
Edw. But that grief keeps me waking, I should sleep;

For not these ten days have these eye-lids clos'd.
Now as I speak they fall, and yet with fear

Open again. O wherefore sit'st thou here?

Light. If you mistrust me, I'll be gone, my lord.

Edw. No, no, for if thou mean'st to murder me,

Thou wilt return again, and therefore stay.
Light. He sleeps.

Edw. O let me not die; yet stay, O stay a-while.
Light. How now, my lord?

Edw. Something still buzzeth in mine ears,

And tells me, if I sleep I never wake;
This fear is that which makes me tremble thus.
And therefore tell me, wherefore art thou come?

Light. To rid thee of thy life; Matrevis, come.

Edw. I am too weak and feeble to resist :
Assist me, sweet God, and receive my soul.
Light. Run for the table.

Edw. O spare me, or despatch me in a trice.
Light. So, lay the table down, and stamp on it,
But not too hard, lest that you bruise his body.

Matr. I fear me that this cry will raise the town,
And therefore let us take horse and away.

Light. Tell me, sirs, was it not bravely done?
Gurn. Excellent well, take this for thy reward.
[Gurney stabs Lightborn.

Come, let us cast the body in the mote,

And bear the king's to Mortimer, our lord: away."

In the tragedy of Doctor Faustus, the sole interest centers in the learned person who gives the title to it; and who, having travelled round the circle of all sciences,

"And glutted now with learning's golden gifts,"

addicts himself to the practice of magic. For a reign of twenty-four years on earth, he barters an immortality of happiness in heaven. The play embraces the whole of this periodhis unholy compact-his.various enjoyments, and the termination of his mundane glory.

Faustus anticipates the glories and delights of his magical pursuits.

"O what a world of profit and delight,
Of power, of honour, and omnipotence,
Is promised to the studious artizan!
All things that move between the quiet poles
Shall be at my command. Emperors and kings
Are but obeyed in their several provinces ;
But his dominion that exceeds in this,
Stretcheth as far as doth the mind of man:
A sound Magician is a Demigod.

Here tire my brains to get a deity.

How am I glutted with conceit of this!
Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please?
Resolve me of all ambiguities?

Perform what desperate enterprise I will?
I'll have them fly to India for gold,

Ransack the ocean for orient pearl,

And search all corners of the new-found world,

For pleasant fruits and princely delicates.
I'll have them read me strange philosophy;
And tell the secrets of all foreign kings:
I'll have them wall all Germany with brass,
And make swift Rhine circle fair Wittenberg:
I'll have them fill the public schools with skill,
Wherewith the students shall be bravely clad:
I'll levy soldiers with the coin they bring,
And chase the Prince of Parma from our land;
And reign sole king of all the provinces :
Yea, stranger engines for the brunt of war,
Than was the fiery keel at Antwerp bridge,
I'll make my servile spirits to invent."

Faustus's object in seeking for the acquisition of this stupendous power is out of mere vanity and ambition, and, in truth, he exercises it in a very harmless way, and not for the gratification of envy, hatred, or malice. He must be famous and honored-talked of and wondered at.

66

Say he surrenders up to him his soul,

So he will spare him four and twenty years,
Letting him live in all voluptuousness;
Having thee ever to attend on me;
To give me whatsoever I shall ask ;

To tell me whatsoever I demand;

To slay mine enemies, and to aid my friends."

He punctures his arm, that he may, with his own blood, write a bill for his soul, payable at twenty-four years' date. Before he has finished the scroll, the blood ceases to flow.

"What might the staying of my blood portend?

It is unwilling I should write this bill.

Why streams it not that I may write afresh?

Faustus gives to thee his soul: O there it stay'd!

Why should'st thou not? Is not thy soul thine own?
Then write again, Faustus gives to thee his soul."

He desires to have Helen of Greece for his paramour; and Mephostophilis, his familiar spirit, in obedience to his wish, raises up that celebrated beauty.

"Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships,

And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?

Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.

Her lips suck forth my soul! see where it flies;

Instead of Troy shall Wittenberg be sack'd;
And I will combat with weak Menelaus,
And wear thy colours on my plumed crest:
Yea, I will wound Achilles in the heel,
And then return to Helen for a kiss.
Oh! thou art fairer than the evening air,
Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars;
Brighter art thou than flaming Jupiter,
When he appear'd to hapless Semele;
More lovely than the Monarch of the sky,
In wanton Arethusa's azure arms;

And none but thou shalt be my paramour!"

In answer to the inquiry of his proselyte, where hell is, he gives this forcible description of it, distinguished equally by poetical force and moral truth.

"Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed

In one self place; but where we are is hell;
And where hell is, there must we ever be:
And, to be short, when all the world dissolves,
And every creature shall be purified,

All places shall be hell that are not heaven."

After surveying all the kingdoms of the world-enjoying his supernal power as fancy pointed the way—prodigally lavishing his four and twenty years of liberty in pleasure and merriment, he becomes bankrupt of time. The last fatal day arrives -the night treads on its heels with unwelcome haste, and the portentous compact must soon be fulfilled. The clock strikes eleven. In one hour all will be over-in his agony, he calls upon time to stand still, but time runs on-if it were but for a year, a month, a week, a natural day, that he may repent, and save his soul. The clock strikes again—and again, and the dreadful catastrophe concludes a scene as awful and sublime as can well be imagined.

"Faust. Gramercy, Wagner! welcome, gentlemen.

1 Scho. Now, worthy Faustus, methinks your looks are changed. Faust. Oh! gentlemen.

2 Scho.What ails Faustus?

Faust. Ah, my sweet chamber-fellow! had I liv'd with thee,

Then had I lived still, but now must die eternally.
Look, sirs, comes he not? Comes he not?

1 Scho. O, my dear Faustus, what imports this fear?
2 Scho. Is all our pleasure turned to melancholy?

3 Scho. He is not well with being over solitary.

2 Scho. If it be so, we'll have physicians, and Faustus shall be cured.

3 Scho. "Tis but a surfeit, sir; fear nothing.

Faust. A surfeit of a deadly sin, that hath damned both body and soul.

2 Scho. Yet, Faustus, look up to heaven, and remember mercy is infinite.

Faust. But Faustus' offence can ne'er be pardoned; the serpent that tempted Eve may be saved, but not Faustus. Oh, gentlemen! hear me with patience, and tremble not at my speeches. Though my heart pant and quiver to remember that I have been a student here these thirty years; oh! would I had never seen Wittenberg, never read book! And what wonders I have done, all Germany can witness, yea, all the world: for which, Faustus hath lost both Germany and the world; yea, heaven itself; heaven, the seat of God, the throne of the blessed, the kingdom of joy, and must remain in hell for ever. Hell! O hell, for ever! Sweet friends, what shall become of Faustus, being in hell for ever?

2 Scho. Yet, Faustus, call on God.

Faust. On God, whom Faustus hath abjured? On God, whom Faustus hath blasphemed? Oh, my God, I would weep, but the devil draws in my tears! Gush forth blood instead of tears! yea, life and soul.-Oh! he stays my tongue!-I would lift up my hands; but see, they hold 'em! they hold 'em!

All. Who, Faustus?

Faust. Why, Lucifer and Mephostophilis. Oh, gentlemen! I gave them my soul for my cunning.

All. Oh! God forbid!

Faust. God forbad it, indeed; but Faustus hath done it; for the vain pleasure of four-and-twenty years hath Faustus lost eternal joy and felicity. I writ them a bill with mine own blood; the date is expired; this is the time, and he will fetch me.

1 Scho. Why did not Faustus tell of this before, that divines might have prayed for thee?

Faust. Oft have I thought to have done so; but the devil threatened to tear me in pieces if I named God; to fetch me body and soul, if I once gave ear to divinity; and now 'tis too late. Gentlemen, away! lest you perish with me.

2 Scho. Oh! what may we do to save Faustus?

Faust. Talk not of me, but save yourselves and depart.

3 Scho. God will strengthen me; I will stay with Faustus.

I Scho. Tempt not God, sweet friend, but let us into the next room and pray for him.

Faust. Aye, pray for me, pray for me; and what noise soever you hear, come not unto me, for nothing can rescue me.