Demon. 'Twill soothe thy heart to softest peace.

Justina. 'Tis dread captivity.

Demon.

'Tis joy, 'tis glory.

But how

Justina. 'Tis shame, 'tis torment, 'tis despair.
Demon.

Canst thou defend thyself from that or me,

If my power drags thee onward?

Justina.

Consists in God!

My defence

[He vainly endeavours to force her, and at last releases her. Demon.

Woman, thou hast subdued me,

Only by not owning thyself subdued.

But, since thou thus findest defence in God,
I will assume a feigned form, and thus
Make thee a victim of my baffled rage.
For I will mask a spirit in thy form
Who will betray thy name to infamy,
And doubly shall I triumph in thy loss,-

First by dishonouring thee, and then by turning
False pleasure to true ignominy.

Appeal to Heaven against thee! so that Heaven

May scatter thy delusions, and the blot

Upon my fame vanish in idle thought,

Even as flame dies in the envious air,

...

And as the floweret wanes at morning frost!
And thou shouldst never-
-But, alas! to whom
Do I still speak?-Did not a man but now
Stand here before me?—No, I am alone, . .
And yet I saw him! Is he gone so quickly?
Or can the heated mind engender shapes
From its own fear? Some terrible and strange
Peril is near. Lisander! father! lord!

[Exit.

A man go forth from my apartment now?—

I scarce sustain myself!

Which led to this apartment were all locked.

Livia (aside). I dare say it was Moscon whom she saw,

For he was locked up in my room.

It must

Lisander.
Have been some image of thy fantasy.
Such melancholy as thou feedest is
Skilful in forming such in the vain air
Out of the motes and atoms of the day.
Livia. My master's in the right.

Justina.
Delusion! but I fear some greater ill.
I feel as if out of my bleeding bosom
My heart was torn in fragments; ay,

Oh would it were

Some mortal spell is wrought against my frame;
So potent was the charm that, had not God
Shielded my humble innocence from wrong,

I should have sought my sorrow and my shame
With willing steps.-Livia, quick, bring my cloak,
For I must seek refuge from these extremes

Even in the temple of the highest God

Where secretly the faithful worship.

Livia.

Here.

Justina (putting on her cloak). In this, as in a shroud of

snow, may I

Quench the consuming fire in which I burn,

Wasting away!

Lisander. And I will go with thee.

Livia (aside). When I once see them safe out of the house,

Justina. Thine is the cause, great God! Turn, for my sake And for thine own, mercifully to me!

1822.

VOL. II.

2 H

SCENES FROM THE FAUST OF GOETHE.

PROLOGUE IN HEAVEN.

The LORD and the Host of Heaven.

Enter Three Archangels.

RAPHAEL.

THE sun makes music as of old
Amid the rival spheres of Heaven,
On its predestined circle rolled

With thunder speed: the Angels even
Draw strength from gazing on its glance,
Though none its meaning fathom may;-
The world's unwithered countenance

Is bright as at creation's day.

GABRIEL.

And swift and swift, with rapid lightness,
The adorned Earth spins silently,
Alternating elysian brightness

With deep and dreadful night; the sea
Foams in broad billows from the deep

Up to the rocks; and rocks and ocean
Onward, with spheres which never sleep,
Are hurried in eternal motion.

MICHAEL.

And tempests in contention roar
From land to sea, from sea to land;
And, raging, weave a chain of power
Which girds the earth as with a band.
A flashing desolation there

Flames before the thunder's way;
But thy servants, Lord, revere

The gentle changes of thy day.

CHORUS OF THE THREE.

The Angels draw strength from thy glance,
Though no one comprehend thee may:-

Thy world's unwithered countenance

Is bright as on creation's day.

Enter MEPHIStopheles.

Mephistopheles. As thou, O Lord, once more art kind enough

To interest thyself in our affairs,

And ask "How goes it with you there below?"
And as indulgently at other times

Thou tookest not my visits in ill part,

Thou seest me here once more among thy household.
Though I should scandalize this company,

You will excuse me if I do not talk

In the high style which they think fashionable;
My pathos certainly would make you laugh too,
Had you not long since given over laughing.
Nothing know I to say of suns and worlds;
I observe only how men plague themselves.
The little god o' the world keeps the same stamp,
As wonderful as on creation's day:-

A little better would he live hadst thou
Not given him a glimpse of heaven's light,
Which he calls reason, and employs it only
To live more beastlily than any beast.
With reverence to your Lordship be it spoken,
He's like one of those long-legged grasshoppers
Who flits and jumps about, and sings for ever
The same old song i' the grass. There let him lie,

Burying his nose in every heap of dung.

The Lord. Have you no more to say? Do you come here

Always to scold, and cavil, and complain?

Seems nothing ever right to you on earth?

Mephistopheles. No, Lord; I find all there, as ever, bad at best. Even I am sorry for man's days of sorrow;

I could myself almost give up the pleasure

Of plaguing the poor things.

He serves you in a fashion quite his own,

And the fool's meat and drink are not of earth.
His aspirations bear him on so far

That he is half aware of his own folly,

For he demands from heaven its fairest star,
And from the earth the highest joy it bears;
Yet all things far, and all things near, are vain
To calm the deep emotions of his breast.

The Lord. Though he now serves me in a cloud of error,

I will soon lead him forth to the clear day.

When trees look green, full well the gardener knows

That fruits and blooms will deck the coming year.

Mephistopheles. What will you bet?-now I am sure of winning

Only observe you give me full permission

To lead him softly on my path.

The Lord.

As long As he shall live upon the earth, so long Is nothing unto thee forbidden.-Man Must err till he has ceased to struggle. Mephistopheles.

And that is all I ask; for willingly

Thanks.

I never make acquaintance with the dead.

The full fresh cheeks of youth are food for me;
And, if a corpse knocks, I am not at home.

For I am like a cat-I like to play

A little with the mouse before I eat it.

The Lord. Well, well, it is permitted thee. Draw thou
His spirit from its springs; as thou find'st power,
Seize him and lead him on thy downward path;
And stand ashamed when failure teaches thee
That a good man, even in his darkest longings,
Is well aware of the right way.

Mephistopheles.

Well and good!

I am not in much doubt about my bet;

And, if I lose, then 'tis your turn to crow,-
Enjoy your triumph then with a full breast.

Ay;

dust shall he devour, and that with pleasure, Like my old paramour, the famous snake.

The Lord. Pray come here when it suits you; for I never Had much dislike for people of your sort,

And, among all the Spirits who rebelled,

The knave was ever the least tedious to me.
The active spirit of man soon sleeps, and soon
He seeks unbroken quiet; therefore I
Have given him the Devil for a companion,
Who may provoke him to some sort of work,
And must create for ever.-But ye, pure
Children of God, enjoy eternal beauty-
Let that which ever operates and lives