Faustus Part 5

The hermit was at first shocked, and at last confused; and he had scarcely power to struggle with the temptation. The pilgrim tore herself, ashamed and angry, from the arms of Leviathan, to seek protection by the side of the hermit, which he could not refuse her.

The Devil and Faustus now pretended to be intoxicated and overwhelmed with sleep; but before they took repose the Devil placed, in the presence of the hermit, a weighty purse of money under the straw, and deposited his own rich rings and those of Faustus in a casket, which the latter laid close beside him. On the table they placed their swords and daggers, and then flung themselves down and soon snored.

The pilgrim softly approached the table, and poured out with her delicate and snow-white hands a goblet of foaming wine. She just touched the rim with her rosy lips, and then offered it to the hermit. He stood like one amazed; and in his confusion emptied it, and another besides, and greedily swallowed the luxurious morsels which the tempter, one after another, held up to his mouth. She then led him out, and bursting into tears, entreated his pardon for having been forced to outrage his holy eyes. She then looked mournful and inconsolable, pressed his hand warmly, and at last fell down on her knees before him. At this instant the silvery moon beamed upon her bosom, over which the gentle night-wind moved her dark, dishevelled locks. The hermit sank upon this dazzling bosom, without knowing whether he was dead or alive. At length the pilgrim said, "That she would yield herself entirely to his wishes, if he would revenge her first on those daring reprobates, and take possession of their treasure, which would enable him and her to live happily to the end of their days."

The hermit, at these words, recovered in some degree from his intoxication, and asked her, in a trembling voice, what she meant, and what she would have him do.

Amongst broken exclamations of rapture she murmured, "Their daggers lie on the table: do you murder the one; I will manage the other. Then dress yourself in their clothes, and seize their treasure. We will then set the hermitage on fire, and fly to France together."

The horrible idea of murder made the hermit shudder. He hesitated, was undecided, looked on the charms of the siren; he saw that he could make himself master of her and of the treasure without danger; and, all his virtue yielding, he forgot heaven and his oft-repeated vows. The pilgrim dragged the reeling miscreant into the hut; each seized a dagger; and just as he was about to aim a blow at Faustus, the Devil burst into the fiendish scorn-laugh; and Faustus saw the hermit, with a lifted dagger, standing by his side.

_Faustus_. Cursed monster, who, under the mask of religion, wouldst murder thy guest!

The hermit sunk trembling to the earth. The pilgrim, a phantom of h.e.l.l, appeared to him in a frightful form, and then vanished.

Faustus commanded Leviathan to set fire to the hut, and burn it to ashes, along with the hypocrite. The Devil obeyed with joy. The following morning the peasants shed many tears for the fate of the righteous man; and, having collected his bones, they preserved them as precious relics.

Faustus and the Devil arrived early the next day at Mayence, and alighted at the dwelling of the former. His young wife fell with a cry of joy upon his neck, embraced him, and then burst into tears of sorrow. The children clung sobbing to his knees, and greedily examined his pockets, to see whether he had brought them any thing. His old gray-headed father next staggered towards him, and shook him mournfully by the hand. The heart of Faustus was moved, and his eyes began to moisten, while he trembled, and looked angrily upon the Devil. When he asked his wife why she wept, she wrung her hands, and replied, "Ah, Faustus, do you not perceive how the hungry ones examine your pockets for bread? How can I see that without tears? They have eaten nothing for a long time; we have been unfortunate, and all thy friends have forsaken us; but now I see thee again, it is to me as though I saw the countenance of an angel. I and thy father have suffered more on thy account than on our own. We have had such frightful dreams and visions; and when my eyes, weary with weeping, have closed for a few hours, I saw thee torn from us by force, and all was dark and horrible."

_Faustus_. Thy dream, love, is about to be partly fulfilled. This gentleman here will reward thy husband for those talents which his ungrateful country overlooked or despised. I have agreed to travel with him far and wide.

_Old Faustus_. "My son, stay at home and support thyself honourably,"

says Scripture.

_Faustus_. And die of hunger, says Experience.

The wife began to weep yet more bitterly, and the children screamed for bread. Faustus gave the Devil a sign, and he called to his servant, who presently afterwards brought into the room a heavy coffer. Faustus unlocked it, and flung a large bag of gold upon the table; which being opened, and the yellow coin appearing, a lively flush of joy was instantly diffused over the melancholy countenances of the family. He then took out magnificent clothes and jewels, which he delivered to his wife. Her tears vanished, and vanity at once dried them up, as the sun-rays dry up the morning dew. The Devil smiled, and Faustus muttered to himself, "O magic of gold and of vanity! I may now go to the antipodes, and no other tears than those of hypocrisy will be shed."

Then, aloud, "Well, wife, these are the fruits of my journey, reaped in advance. Is not this better than staying at home with you and starving?"

But the wife heard him not; for she stood with her rich robes and jewels before the looking-gla.s.s to see how they became her. The little girls frolicked around her, took up the clothes and ornaments she had laid aside, and aped the mother. In the mean time a servant brought in a substantial breakfast, the children fell upon it, cried and shouted with joy; but the mother had, in the mean time, forgotten her hunger.

The old father took Faustus aside, and said, "If thou hast obtained all these things by honourable means, let us thank G.o.d, my son, and enjoy his bounty; but for some nights past I have had horrible dreams, although I hope they were merely caused by our necessities."

This remark of the old man sank deep into the heart of Faustus; but the pleasure of seeing his children eat so heartily, and of observing with what love and thankfulness his eldest son and favourite looked at him; the thought of having relieved them from their misery; and, above all, an inward longing for pleasure,--considerably damped the impression. The Devil added a large sum to the money in the bag, presented the young wife with a costly necklace, gave each of the children a trifle, and a.s.sured the family that he would bring back Faustus to them safe, sound, and wealthy at no very distant period.

Faustus, attended by the Devil, now went to see a friend, whom he found much dejected. He asked him the cause of his unhappiness, and the other replied:

"This afternoon the law-suit which you have often heard me speak of is to be determined; and I am certain of losing it, although justice is on my side. In short, Master Faustus, nothing remains for me to do but to beg, or drown myself in the deepest part of the Rhine."

_Faustus_. How can you be certain that you will lose your cause, if justice is for you, as you say it is?

_Friend_. But the five hundred gold guilders which my opponent has given the Judge are against me; and if I cannot outbid him, I must fall to the ground.

_Faustus_. Pooh! does it merely depend on that? Come, lead me to the Judge. I have a friend here who willingly a.s.sists people out of such difficulties.

They found the Judge to be a proud, inflated man, who would scarcely deign to honour a poor client with a look. Faustus had long known him for what he was. When they entered the room, the Judge, in an imperious tone, thus addressed Faustus's friend, "Why do you come to trouble me?

Do you not know that tears never interrupt the course of justice?"

The unhappy friend looked humbly to the ground.

_Faustus_. Mighty sir, you have spoken well: tears are like water; they merely spoil the eyes of those that shed them. But do you know that my friend has right on his side?

_Judge_. Master Faustus, I know you for a man who plays away his money at ducks-and-drakes, and who has a loose tongue. Right and law are very different things: if he has the first for him, it is no reason that he should have the second.

_Faustus_. You say that right and law are two different things: something like judge and justice, perhaps.

_Judge_. Master Faustus, I have already said that I know you.

_Faustus_. Perhaps we are mistaken in each other, most enlightened sir.

But it is mere waste of soap to attempt to wash a blackamoor white. (_He opened the door_, _and in stalked the Devil_.) Here is a gentleman who will lay before you a doc.u.ment, which I hope will give the cause of my friend a new aspect.

When the Judge saw the richly-dressed Leviathan, he a.s.sumed a more friendly countenance, and asked them all to be seated.

_Faustus_. We can settle the whole business standing. (_To the Devil_) Produce the doc.u.ment which we have found.

The Devil counted out of his purse five hundred gold guilders; he then stopped and looked at the Judge.

_Judge_. The doc.u.ment is by no means a bad one, gentlemen; but the adverse party has long ago given me one of equal weight.

The Devil continued counting till he had told out a thousand; he then stopped.

_Judge_. In truth, I had overlooked this circ.u.mstance. Such vouchers, however, are not to be withstood.

He then gathered up the gold and secured it in his coffer.

_Faustus_. I hope now that right and law will go together.

_Judge_. Master Faustus, you understand the art of appeasing the bitterest enemies.

Faustus, whom the servility of the Judge as much offended as his former rudeness, whispered to the Devil, in going away, "Do thou avenge justice on this wretch."

Thereupon he left his friend, without waiting for his thanks, and went about with the Devil to discharge his debts. He then paid visits to his other friends, showered gold upon them by handfuls, even on those who had forsaken him in his adversity; and he felt happy in being able to give unbridled scope to his generosity and greatness of soul. The Devil, however, who saw deeper into things than Faustus, laughed within himself at the consequences.

They now went to the hotel, Faustus, recollecting the conduct of his wife, once again fell into an exceedingly ill humour. He could not pardon her for having ceased to lament his departure the moment she had seen the gold and jewels. Till now he had imagined that she loved him more than all the treasures of the earth; but what he had just observed forced him to believe the contrary, and his affection for her was turned to bitterness. The Devil, who perceived where the shoe pinched, willingly allowed Faustus to torment himself with these gloomy thoughts, so that he might tear himself from that sweet tie by which nature still gently fettered him. He foresaw, with secret rapture, the dreadful anguish which would one day arise in the bosom of the headstrong Faustus, when the future should disclose to him all the horrors which he was now about to perpetrate.

They dined in the public room, in company with some professors of law and divinity, who, to the great delight of the Devil, soon fell into a violent dispute concerning the nun Clara. The flame of that controversy was still at its full height; party-spirit raged in all houses, and the present disputants talked so loudly, and said so many ridiculous things, that Faustus soon forgot his ill humour. But when a doctor of theology a.s.serted that it was possible for Satan to have carried his wickedness so far as to have brought the nun into certain circ.u.mstances by means of the dream, the Devil burst into a bellowing laugh; and Faustus immediately thought of a scheme by which he might revenge himself, in a signal manner, upon the Archbishop, who had paid so little attention to his discovery. He hoped then to involve the thread of the theological and political war at Mayence in such confusion that no human power would be able to unravel it. After dinner he asked the demon whether it would be possible for him, under the figure of the Dominican, to pa.s.s that night with the lovely Clara. The Devil a.s.sured him that nothing was more easy; and, if he chose, the abbess herself should usher him into the nun's cell. Faustus, who had always considered the abbess to be a strict, pious, and conscientious woman, laughed in scorn at these last words of the Devil.

_Devil_. Thy wife, O Faustus, set up a shriek of despair when thou didst tell her of thy intended departure; but when the glitter of gold and dress burst upon her view, the sorrows of her heart vanished at once. I repeat, that the abbess herself shall introduce thee to the cell of the nun, and I will employ no supernatural means. Thou thyself shalt see how the old gudgeon will swallow the hook. Come, we will pay her a visit under the pious figures of two nuns. I know the manners and ways of the nuns, ay, and of the monks too, of Germany, well enough to ape them. I will represent the Abbess of the Black Nuns, and thou shalt be her friend, Sister Agatha.

At this moment Faustus's friend came, full of joy, to inform him of the happy issue of the law-suit. He was about to thank Faustus and the Devil upon his knees; but Faustus said, "Spare your thanks, and take care of my wife and family during my absence." He then whispered into the ear of the Devil, "It is time to think of the Judge."

The Judge wished after dinner to gratify his beloved wife by counting the gold pieces in her presence. He unlocked the coffer, and started back in a tremor at the sight of its contents: the gold pieces were changed into large rats, which sprang out, and fell furiously upon his face and hands.

The Judge, who had a great aversion to these animals, rushed out of the room; but they pursued him, fastening on his heels. He hurried from the house, and ran through the streets; but still they were close behind him.

He fled into the fields; but they allowed him no rest, and at last forced the terrified wretch to seek shelter in the stone tower where the tolls are gathered, and which stands in the middle of the Rhine. Here he thought himself safe from farther pursuit; but rats and mice hot from h.e.l.l are not to be terrified by water: they swam through, fell upon him, and ate him up alive. His wife, in her terror and astonishment, told the history of the transformation of the gold pieces by which her unfortunate husband had allowed himself to be dazzled; and from that time there has not been in the whole diocese of Mayence a single instance of a judge or a man in office taking a bribe. The Devil could not have foreseen this, or he certainly would have let the scoundrel go unpunished.

Faustus and the Devil stood in their disguises before the gate of the convent of White Nuns. The portress ran as fast as she could in order to inform the abbess of the unexpected visitors. The abbess received them with conventual greetings, to which the Devil answered in a similar tone.