pours, In thousand parties, the gay multitude, See, there, one almost sinking with its load Parts from the shore; yonder the hill-top paths Are sparkling in the distance with gay dresses! And hark! the sounds of joy from the far village! Oh! happiness like this is real heaven! The high, the low, in pleasure all unitingHere may I feel that I too am a tan." In the second passage Mr. Martin shows his decided superiority. Anster shrinks back from the withering sarcasm of the original, whilst Martin gives us the true ring of Goethe's sneer : "Oyes! as far as from the earth to heaven! That which you call the spirit of ages past Oh! often, what a toilsome thing it is A mass of things confusedly heaped together; And old traditional maxims! History! Of consequence by those great chroniclers, scene, and its connexion with the preceding | tellectual and sensual nature, ere he unites and following ones. Faust and his Study.-All poets seem to have felt instinctively that the whole subsequent career of Faust arose from his doubt. They all therefore open their plays with a study-scene, in which we see the great scholar surrounded by his books and alchemical apparatus, complaining that, with all his academic learning, he has remained a mere dabbler in idle words. The sight of the rising moon awakens in his breast a deep longing after nature, to be away from this litter of instruments and books, from this dungeon of a study, into which even the precious light of heaven falls dimmed by the stained glass. How different is this opening from a classical tragedy! In the latter we see man in his relation to the gods and to fate; here we see a man in his relation to the world. This is in fact the distinction between a classical and a romantic tragedy. Faust is in all its aspects a romantic poem, and in judging of it as a work of art, we must beware of the serious blunder of measuring it by the standard of classical art. Taking down a volume of Nostradamus, Faust hopes by the aid of cabalistic science to enter into the mysteries of the spirit-world. On opening the book, his hopes are elated by the sight of the sign of the macrocosm "Not barr'd to man the world of spirits is; Thy sense is shut, thy heart is dead! Up, student, lave-nor dread the bliss Thy earthly breast in the morning red!" Gazing intently at the sign, he recalls to himself the fundamental doctrines of the Cabala "How all things in one whole do blend, One in the other working, living! Faust feels that he has been sitting in his study like an abstract spectre of mediaval spiritualism, and finds now that he has within himself another nature, which with clutching organs holds to the world, and insists on being no longer suppressed for the benefit of the mind. The mind itself has derived little satisfaction from this procedure, but the resolve is made; he will take notice of the suppressed claims of his other nature, and turn to action. But as always those who spin out magnificent systems find the greatest difficulty in passing from meditation to action, so it will also fare ill with Faust ere he restores the equilibrium between his in the enjoyment of his physical and spiritual pleasures. The courage with which he calls upon the spirit of the earth to appear, is soon damped by the rebuke of the spirit. Before he can recover from his surprise he is interrupted by his famulus Wagner. This episode is admirable. Wagner considers knowledge merely as a kind of coin, in exchange for which he may get a living. He is satisfied with mere word-learning, with a knowledge of the outside of things, the possession of which causes Faust's unhappiness. Characteristically he appears "in dressinggown and night-cap, the lamp in his hand. He thinks Faust must have been reading Greek tragedies. All the knowledge Wagner has of the emotions of the soul is derived from a study of the classics, and from the passionate cry of despair of his master he means to take a lesson in rhetoric. Had Faust been a man at peace with himself and the world, then this transition would have been humorous, but as he despises it, the transition could only be satirical. From those deep sentimental tones of the first monologue, Faust rises at once to the height of the bitterest satire. The answer which he returns to Wagner, who thinks it a sublime joy to realize the spirit of a time, and to see to what high pass we have brought things now-a-days, is withering : "High pass! Oh yes! as the welkin high! In dust-bins only fit to rot and slumber; to despair. He courteously dismisses him; and being once more left alone, feels doubly wretched at the sight of books from which he can only learn that mortals have been wretched everywhere. "Ye instruments, at me ye surely mock With cog and wheel, and coil and cylinder! Your wards, I ween, have many a cunning maze, But yet the bolts ye cannot, cannot raise. Nature lets no one tear the veil away, The sweet ren embrance of his youthful days, first called up by the sight of the ancient goblet, now comes upon him with overwhelming force at the sound of the Easter Hymn, and keeps him yet back on this earth. This beautiful transition shows how even in this life the energies of mind and body may work undividedly, as in childhood, to which the pure claims of our sensual nature are not denied, and in which the deepest wants of the soul are satisfied by faith. To restore this state of childish innocence in a peaceable manner, Faust seems to exert himself after having eaten the forbidden fruit of knowledge. Whilst casting back a lingering look on Divine love and revelation, he be You shall not wrest from her by levers or by gins already to speculate where success is screws." In all his perplexity he can find no other way of deliverance than that of violently putting an end to himself. The sight of a phial of poison, and the prospect of a speedy death, bring an unearthly calm to his breast: "I see thee, and my anguish finds a balm, I touch thee, and the turmoil turns to calm! Then come thou down, pure goblet crystal- Out from that time-stained covering of thine, Where I unmark'd for years have let thee rest. Thou sparkled'st, when my grandsire's feasts were crown'd, Lit'st up the smiles of many a sad-brow'd guest, As each man to his neighbor pass'd thee round. Thy figures, marvels of the artist's craft, The drinker's task, to tell their tale in rhyme, And drain thy huge circumference at a draught, Bring many a night back of my youthful I shall not pass thee now to comrade boon, But whilst raising the cup to his lips, he "Christ is ascended! Men's bondage is ended!" to be found only by faith. This he feels him- "Celestial strains, soft, yet subduing, why, Faith's darling child is miracle. I must, I dare not strive to mount to yonder spheres, Ah, then I felt the kiss of heavenly love Whilst tears, whose source I could not fathom, I felt a great glad world for me arise. This anthem heralded youth's merriest time, The gambols of blythe Spring: now memories sweet, Fraught with the feelings of my childhood's prime, From the last step decisive stay my feet. Oh peal, sweet heavenly anthems, peal as then! Tears flood mine eyes, earth has her child again." The Titan for the moment once more becomes a child, and, like a child, seeks comfort and relief in tears, which for the moment wash away his sorrow, whilst the concluding strains of the Easter Hymn pour consolation on his heart : Chorus of Disciples. In Heaven whilst He reigneth, On earth we, His chosen, To suffer remain here,- Chorus of Angels. From the lap of corruption, That bound you are rended! The earth is through all her pores alive, With people dress'd out in their holiday gear. A motley medley is making its way From the bonds of business, and labour, and From the gables and roofs that oppress them From the stifling closeness of street and lane, Little and great, how they shout and cheer! But when these simple peasants gather around Faust, he feels immediately how little he is understood by them; that loneli Scene before the Gate.-That world which Faust has entirely ignored is now to be shown to us. These good promenaders who pass before us, from the mechanics and students who only care whether their tobacco and beer are good, to the girls whose chief grief is that somebody else is walking with somebody else, and to the townsmen who grumble about the new mayor, are in striking contrast to the preceding scene. There we had the spiritual life carried to an extreme; here we see the quiet sensual vegetable life. Faust feels delighted to see these people, in whose minds has never been a discord as in bis, whilst Wagner despises everything that is not akin to his pedantry. The aspect of nature on this spring-day has a soothing influence on Faust. It is a peculiarity of Goethe's, that, after every catastrophe, he brings his heroes for comfort to Nature. So we shall see Faust again after Margaret's fall, after her death (in the opening scene of the second part), and, after his parting from Helen, seeking comfort in the contemplation of Nature. This was entirely in accordance with Goethe's own feelings and practice. When a sudden end was put to his own first romance with Gretchen, he rambled through the fields and woods near Frankfort; when he broke with Lili, he went to Switzerland and Italy; when his Duke died, he retired to Castle Dornburg. Faust inhales new strength with the fresh breezes of this Eas-out finding an echo in a kindred heart! ter morning : "Freed from the ice are river and rill Green with promise are valley and hill. ness which the scholar feels in a world occupied with mean material enjoyment overcomes him, and his learning, instead of affording him consolation, adds to his wretch edness. What man that rises above the multitude has not felt this? Even thou, O Apollo, hast sung to the sheep of Admetus, and the sheep-went on eating grass. But when Orpheus sang, who could not sing half as well, even the rocks and trees began to dance. Alas, when we find great applause amongst vegetable humanity, we may be sure that we have not risen above mediocrity, while those who attain the highest excellence must be satisfied to stand alone, with Now the poodle appears, in whom Wagner sees nothing but a poodle, as he can only perceive the outside of things. Faust's spiritual insight immediately discovers the demon. The poodle comes nearer, and follows Faust into his study, which means, that as Faust has renounced all deeper insight into, and knowledge of nature, his desires incline the more towards that sensual and material enjoyment, excited by the aspect of the people and scenery around him. Second Scene in Faust's Study.-On reentering his study a sense of homeliness steals over Faust, with which he sits down to his accustomed work. He begins to translate the Gospel of St. John, but the very first line re-awakens all his doubts. The much-controverted passage has been most aptly chosen. At first he translates: "In the beginning was the Word," but immediately he changes it for Sense, then for Power, and finally he writes confidently "In the beginning was the Deed.” "In the beginning was the Word.' 'Tis writ. I should the naked word so highly rate. The Sense, which is of each created thing me. Lo! help is by the spirit sent me! This translation is highly characteristic of Goethe's philosophy of life. It was in activity that he sought consolation in all his afflictions. "Vivere memento "—remember to live-was his constantly repeated motto. What had been done was often uninteresting for him, but what was being done, wherever and by whomsoever it might be, always engaged his sympathy and his attention. "Let the children of Nature run," he says, "and Mother Nature will show the way.' That the poodle, who has been getting more and more restless, should at this passage begin to howl frantically, is likewise a masterly point. The devil will turn Faust's attention to idleness, to mere brutal enjoyment, and that he should begin to entertain such a high opinion of activity, bids fairly to destroy all his hopes of success. The demoniacal nature of the poodle having manifested itself, we are at once, by the Song of the Spirits in the passage, transferred to another sphere, where the existence of spirits becomes a reality. Faust begins to exorcise the poodle by the "spell of the four "an invocation of the four kinds of spirits known to the Cabala, viz., Salamandri, fire-spirits; Undine or Nymphæ, waterspirits; Sylvani or Sylphi, air-spirits; and Pygmæi, or earth-spirits, which latter are The also called gnomes and cobbolds. source from which Goethe drew his information on this point was Paracelsus (“ De nymphis, sylphis, pygmæis et salamandris et de ceteris spiritibus") and Morhof's Polyhistor ("De libris cabbalisticis") and not the book of Villars, as Hayward supposes. As the poodle continues swelling, and the spirit will not yield, Faust uses a stronger incantation, in which, besides the elementary spirit, the spiritus familiaris is invoked, and the incubus called upon in conclusion. The third formula of exorcism, the invocation of the Trinity, forces the spirit to show itself in the person of Mephistopheles, dressed as a travelling scholar. That the devil should appear in the guise of a scholar is a bitter sarcasm on the learning of the schools, on the past studies of Faust. The answers which Mephistopheles gives to the questions of Faust, have been ably commented upon by Professor Masson, in his Essay on "The Three Devils," originally published in this Review, to which we must refer the reader. Mephistopheles is not the traditional devil of the middle ages; there is nothing so very terrible about him; he is a witty and experienced man of the world, who prefers to be called "Baron." Nor is he the father of lies. From beginning to end he always speaks the bitter truth. But there is a total absence of everything good. Whilst knowing that everything is rotten to the core, that everything which has originated deserves to be annihilated, he does not endeavour to mend matters. He has all the information of Parent-Duchatelet without the loving spirit of the French philanthropist. Wherever a screw is loose, he is the man to point it out and to enjoy the discovery. Mephistopheles at first cleverly manages to persuade Faust that a bond with him is possible; and that this may be done profitably, he immediately demonstrates by the enchantment of Faust and by the bewitching song of the spirits-a song which has bewitched since many a one besides Faust, only with this difference, that he is the only one whom it has sung to sleep. First the incantation charms away the gloomy study, then the sky is cleared of clouds, so that the sun and stars may shine down brightly. |