The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-01-25


transcript OF his lamentations, pathetic witn
the wailings of the lost souls remorse. In bit
ter contrast the next chapter reCounts the giOes
with which triumphant Mephstopneles mocks
and taunts his prey-not with the grandeur Of
a fallen angel, but rather with the petty exul.
tation OF spitetu imp clorying in successful
mischief, vented in Ringing proverbs at his vic
TIM as fuently as though "PoOr Richard had
been his daily study. In Offering the ironiC
consolation that Faust will not be alone in his
misery, we may notice that "all Jews and Turks
are summary included among those who shall,
as matter of course, be his companions in
torment.
served with regular citation from the demo-
niacal court intimating that when the end comes
he will be fetched" at night; whereupon, with
forced Cheerfulness, he invites party of profess
sors and Students his most intimate friends, to
breakfast with him on the last day. After the
meal he requests them to remain with him until
the next morning, telling them his whole
history, and announcing the catastrophe
which is impending. At the same time,
with a meek humility which might have
graced a saint about TO ascend to glory,
he begs them to pardon him II, even in Jest, ne
ever in any way injured them; aud exhorts
them iervently to take warning by his terrible
doom, and make God and salvation the first OBJ
iect OF their lives Greatly shocked at the dis
closure they lament that it was not made
sooner, so that they might have sought to save
him through the prayers and efforts of holy
men. He assures them any such attempts
would have been vain; and then, with mutual
tears, they take an atlecuonate fare rewell--he re-
tirng to his bedroom, and they to theirs, to
await in sleeDless anxiety the events OF the
night. Soon alter midnight a fearful tempest
shakes the house, hIssug sound, as of m yriad
snakes, is heard, then a sthed cry and their
friends voice is recognized, vainy shrieklng fol
pity or for help. None dare to stir, aud soon
all again is hushed in utter silence, while the
tremblers cover in terror on their beds till the
light of morning cmboldens them to repair to
the fatal room. An awful spectacle awaits
them. The walls are sprinkleG with blood,
| only OiSlOOUp0 their n
few OF his teeth are 10 be found; but after dill
gent search, the mangled corpse OF the unhappy
Faust is discovered, flung upon dunghill in
| the yard.
After having these sad relics sewed up in
linen and buried, the party returned to Wien-
berg, where, returning to Faust's house, they
| fnd Wagner mourning for his master, and the
biography already written, all but the couclud-
| ing chapter. which is thereupon added at once
| by these witnesses OF the events it records.
Helen and her son had already vanished, and
| from that hour were never more seen; but the
! unquiet spirit of Faust haunted continually the
| house where he had lived; and though, hence
! forth, no one would risk nearer encounter by
! venturing to reside in it, yet passers-by fre-
! quently sew the spectre Ot the sOrCerer looking
! out at one or other OF the windows.
| The history of Faust's sowing and reapng
! being thus brought to an end, tue book con-
| cudes with pious wish that all its readers may
! "avoid his fate aud serve God alone, since your
! adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion, walketh
! about seeking whom he may devour.'" Its pety,
! however seems not to have sutfced to protect
It, for il is said that both the author and the pub
! Usher were punished for their work, and the
! books perhaps Intentionally destroyed; which
! would account for their disappearance. But,
! however this may have been the history was so
| well received by the public, that in the course
! of the next year some students of Tubingen
! threw it into rhyme yet still keeping very close
| to the original. In the same year that Spies
! work was issued, "a Ballad Ofthe Life and Death
| of DR.. Faustus the Great COniuror,n appeared
| in London; In 1889 the tale was printed in
| FrenCh and in 1892 in Dutch. II was not till
| 1859 that George Rudolf Widman published at
| Hamburg an COTTON which has OFTEN been erro-
! neously looked upon as the first printed those
| issued earlier having been almost entirely dis
| placed by II. In this much more pretentious
version, wherein usually longer and certainly
| a duller chapter of "ReAectionsn follows each
| short chapter of the narrative, Widman, who
| processes to ground his work on an autograph
! history OF Faust, found in the library of an old
| physician at L0lpslc, speaks with some contempt
! OF Tie simple original by Spies; which yet ne
! mainly follows, in some parts even transCribing
| IRON 1t word for word. 1t is he, however who
/ hrst introduced the dog-now as inseparable
from Faust as Toby" from the venerable Punch
-repres entng it TO be a spirit named Prestigiar
/ VINO, IN canine form, sometimes takes the place
OF Mephstopheles in nstructng the doctor or
fulfilling his behests. He, too, first brings for
ward i'll print the adventure of riding a Cask of
! wine out Of vntner's cellar, an exploit the
! memory of which mas been pIctorially preserved
for upwards OF three centuries at the spot where
]
bacb's cellar IN LeipsiC where it is represented
in one OF pair of pictures on the wall bea ring
| date 1925: doggerel rhyme beneath asserting
! that this fact was "seen bv many a mothers
! son." The other picture shows Faust drink
! lng with his friends, and in each the dog ap-
! pears.
In 1904 was published Marlowe's tragedy in
! which the subject of DR.. Faustus is treated in
! language often OF very great poetic beauty, but
! with very little deviation from the original
story, except that the hero enters into his com
! pact prompted as much by hcentious desires as
! by thirst Tor knowledge, and that good angel
! Is introduced attempting to dissuade him from
1t, or to win him to repentance. Other addi-
! tons and variations were made in the course of
! time, and at length a further idea was intro
! duced, and Faust was represented as attempt
! ing TO outwt the 6end One OF the later legends
! sets forth his asking Mephistophees to
! paint him picture of the CruciiXion; the
! demon not daring TO do so. Faust then tells
! contract is at an end; when his cunning foe,
! selling brush. paints a Venus so eXquisitely
! that the fascinated doctor at once accepts it
! instead OF the subject he had demanded, and
! Satan remains triumphant The present writer
remembers having often, when a child, been
| entertained by an old German with Faust
| stories, in which like attempts were made, but
with different res ult, the mortal always coming
OIL victorious. Thus the contract having
| stipulated that the Devil should do whatever
the doctor should bid him, the latter desires
him to fill certain nbag TO the brim with money,
| having first slit the bottom and stretched it
! over chimney pot. The CONS run through till
the house Is nearly full, and the task, arduous
| as IL mad appeared, seems nearly complete,
| When the doctor, unfastening the doors and
! WlLdows opens Tor the tide of wealth chan
| mel into the street. Finding no end to his
| labor, the demon contesses that he cannot
cannot claim tudlment from the other party.
The result is similar when Faust euiOinS