A GLOOMY DAY.-THE OPEN PLAIN.

FAUST, MEPHISTOPHELES.

Faust. In misery! despairing! long wretched and erring upon earth, and now a prisoner! For dreadful sufferings, shut in a dungeon as a misdoer, the dear, unhappy creature! To this! even unto this! Worthless, traitorous devil? and this thou hast hidden from me? Stand! stand but before me! Ay! roll thy hellish eyes, in fury, in thy head! Stand, and brave me with thine insupportable presence? Imprisoned! in helpless, remediless misery! Delivered o'er to evil spirits, and to unpitying, sentence-passing man! And me, the while, thou wert lulling in vapid, tasteless dissipations, hiding from me her growing wretchedness, and leaving her, without help, to perish!

Meph. She is not the first.

Faust. Dog! abhorred monster!-Oh! thou infinite spirit! Change! change the reptile again into that doglike form, in which he so often walked before me on my evening path, rolling before the feet of the harmless wanderer, that he might fasten on his shoulders when he fell! change him again to his most frequently chosen form, that he may crouch on his belly in the dust before me, and that I may spurn him, the reprobate, with my foot! Not the first! Oh misery, misery! by no human soul can it be conceived, that more than one created being could ever have sunk to such a depth of wretchedness that the first, in the writhing agonies of death, should not

have atoned for the guilt of all succeeding it, in the eyes of the ever-pardoning! The misery of this single one harrows up my soul, the very depths of my being, and thou art coldly grinning over the doom of thousands.

Meph. Now again we are at our wit's end already; there, where the sense of you men gives way from overstretching. Why didst thou mate thyself with us, if thou canst not go through with it? Wouldst thou fly, and art not secure from giddiness? Thrust we ourselves on thee, or didst thou press thyself on us?

Faust. Gnash not so thy devouring teeth at me! I loathe thee !-0 great and glorious spirit; thou who hast deigned to make thyself visible to me; thou who knowest my heart and my soul, why, why didst thou unite me to this companion of shame, who feedeth on evil and rejoices in destruction?

Meph. Hast thou finished?

Faust. Save her! Free her! or woe unto thee! The most fearful curse be upon thee for thousands of years! Meph. I cannot draw back the bolts, nor loosen the bands of the avenger. Save her! Who thrust her downward to destruction! Was it I or thou?

[FAUST gazes wildly around him. Well is it, ye miserable To smite to pieces the

Art thou grasping at the thunder? mortals, that it is not given you! innocent opposer! That is ever the tyrant's mode of wreaking his rage at difficulties.

Faust. Bring me thither, where she is-she shall be

free!

Meph. And the risk to thyself which thou runnest into ! The guilt of blood, and from thy hand, lies yet upon the town. Over the abode of the slain, sweep avenging spirits, lying in wait for the back-returning murderer.

N

Faust. And that too was by thee! The death and murder of a world upon thee, monster! Lead me thither, I say, and free her!

Meph. I will conduct thee there, and what I can do, hearken! Have I all power in heaven and on earth? The senses of the gaoler I will becloud; possess yourself then of the keys, and bear her forth by the hand of man. I will watch! The magic steeds are ready, this can I do.

Faust. Up and away!

NIGHT. THE OPEN PLAIN.

FAUST, MEPHISTOPHELES (rushing past on black horses). Faust. What are these hovering round the Raven-stone? Meph. I know not what they're shaping and preparing. Faust. They wave up, wave down-they bend, they stoop.

Meph. A band of witches.

Faust. They sprinkle and charm!
Meph. On! On!

THE PRISON.

FAUST (before an iron door, with a bunch of keys and a lamp).

Faust. A long unwonted tremor on me falls

All that mankind can feel of misery,

All human anguish fasteneth on me!

Here is she bound behind these dreary walls;

An innocent delusion has been all

The crime and guilt for which her life must fall.
To go to her thou dost in doubt delay!
Again then to behold her dost thou fear?
Thou'rt hesitating, while her hour is near;
Thy dallying lingers death along-away!

[He grasps the lock. A singing from within.

My mother, the harlot,

Who kill'd me—and he,
My father, the rogue,
Who hath eaten me!

My sister she took

Up every bone,

In a cool shady nook

She laid them down.

From them upward, upward springing,

From the spot on which they lay,
I rose a pretty wood-bird singing
As I flew away! away!

Faust. She dreams not that her lover, listening,

Hears the straw rustle and the fetters ring!

[He enters.

Marg. (hiding her face on the pallet). Woe, woe is me! they come. Oh, bitter death!

Faust (softly). Be still! be still, I come to set thee free.

Marg. (throwing herself before him). If thou 'rt a man, and breathest human breath,

Feel for my misery!

Faust. The gaoler fast in slumber lies,

And thou wilt wake him with thy cries!

[He takes hold of her chains to unlock them.

Marg. (on her knees). Who, headsman, could unto

thee give

O'er me this dreadful power?

Oh! pity me, and let me live!

Thou comest for me at midnight's hour;
Will day-break not be time enough ?—and I
So young, so young, and yet so soon to die!
I was fair, too, and that was my undoing.
Torn is the garland-they the flowers are strewing;
The friend so near me once, is far away;

Seize not so roughly on me-spare me yet;
What have I done to thee? Oh! do not let
My anguish vainly for your mercy pray!
I never saw you in my life I 'm sure.

Faust. And I must all this misery endure !

Marg. I'm wholly in thy power-but let me first Give suck unto my infant! I have nurs'd

And rock'd it to its quiet rest

The whole night through upon my breast;
They took my babe from me away,

To do me wrong and make me wild;
And now the wicked people say

That I have slain my child!

Gladness will never more possess my heart!
Songs do they sing about me, as they go;
'Tis wicked of them, and an evil part,
There's an old story hath its ending so;

'Who bid them say how it applies?

Faust. See! at thy feet a lover lies!

To loose the yoke of misery.

[Throws himself on the ground.

Marg. (throws herself beside him). Yes! let us kneel

together-we

Will pray the holy saints-but see!

Beneath the steps, around the threshold, wreathe

The flames of hell! see how they boil and seethe!