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


stroyed their trade IN MSS; but, in tact, the
printer Fust, who is believed to have died OF
the plague in l466, hourshed hall a century |
before the time when, as there is ample proof,
DR.. Johann Faust, who bore the reputation OF |
being a great magician, really lived, his death |
having occurred towards the end OF the fifteenth |
century. Still the existence OF this person being |
proved does not suffice TO establish his cOnnec. |
ton with the tales told in his name; and one Ger
man writer, T. CORES, after saying chat Faust |
is rather a book than a person. asserts that |
every age has had its Faust, adducing numerous |
instances, ancient as well medieval. Thus !
Zoroaster DemocTtus, Empedocles, and Apol- |
lonius were all reputod sorcere1s, the former |
especially having, it is said, ruled over kings by
means of magic, and been at last carried away |
by evil spirits. Robert (surnamed 'the Deviln), |
Duke of Normandy, IN tne year i6o, changed
himself at will into various shapes, and called |
ND the shade of Charlemagne as Faust did that
OF Alexander He repented afterwards of his
sorceries, and even passed three years in
penance; yet at last was taken OIL to the infer
nal regions. Pope Sylvester ii nude pact
with the Devil, and was finally fetched" even
from the church where he had taken refuge.
Like tales have been told also OF Paul III and
other Popes. All, too, that has been said of
Faust had been related OF others centuries
be ere. Thus Albertus Magnus, in l24S showed
his trends a blooming garden with nigntingales
singing among the flowers, when all without
lay frozen in the SHOWS OF Christmas. An aerial
journey on a mantle is common incident in the
stories OF the" Arabian Nights and had also been
related OF Simon Magus and others; while paral-
lei tor Fausts feast of supernatural voraCity is
found in the tale of the Abbot Erloftus eating
all the provisions that could be furnished at au
inn, concluding with the hostess herself who,
however, presently took her place again in the
kitchen, while the food was soon after disco.
vered, apparently untouched. On these grounds
Dr. K Rosencranz, In hIs History of German
Medieval Poetry does not hesitate TO charac-
terize the History OF DR.. Faustus" as merely
"a collection of many traditions, all turning on
the point OF a man making pact with the Devil
in order to gain power over the spiritual and
natural WORLD"
The number of places which have disputed
the credit OF having been the scene of Faust's
history, or, at least, of his end has no doubt
tended to throw discredit on the reality OF his
existence; for, while the original story asserts
| That his death occurred at RimliCh, a village
! near Wittenberg, yet, at Maulbronn, a blooo-
stained place is shown as the spot where it took
| place, and at Cologne window through which
| the Devil is said to have flown away with
( him. Another window at the castle of Waerden-
| berg makes the same claim, some irremOVable
! blood stains being pointed out as indisputable
! proofs of its business; while similar marks at
! Pratau, near Wttenberg, are held by the ma
! tves to demonstrate that as having been the
! locality so distinguished. Yet however con-
! flicting may be the evidence as to the details of
| Fausts lie or death. there seems no reason to
! doubt that person OF that name did play some
such part as that described in the story. As the
| conversations Lexicon" remarks, "some Gag
! lostro of the fifteenth or sixteenth century was
! probably the germ out OF which the tale of DR..
| Faustus grew" The earliest mention of the
name of Faust as magician occurs in a letter
! from the Abbot Trthemius TO a mathematician
| named Wirdung, in which the writer recountS
that, when travelling in 1906 eighty years
| beioIe Spies History was printed), he had come
to a place where certain George Sabellius,
! whom he CharacterZes as an impOstor more
! fool than magician, had been performing
many wonders, and had left behind HIM a
card ON which he described himself as
| "GeoIgius Sabellius Faustus Junior, NEGRO
manCeT,n etc. etc. The insertion OF the word
Junior" shows evidently that even at this early
] hn nf Nunu TlV oil
! known in connection with magical associations.
! Again, j. Gask a Protestant theologlan, in l54S
| affirmed that he himself mad dined with the
! sorcerer Faust at Basle, and was entertained
! with a banquet of strange BIRDS unknown to
! HIM, and quite foreign there. He mentions,
too, his having dog ana horse, both OF which
| were thought to be demons, aud that he mad
been told that the dog appeared at times in the
| form of servant, supplying food to his master.
| He Concudes "The wreched man came TO a
| fearful end, for the Devil strangled him; his
| body would lie upon the bier on its tace, though
/ 1t had been turned five times" But the witness
! who is considered to be the most credible Of
| all is Johann Memel or Manlius a pupil of
Melancthon, who, in collection bearing date
! 1860, gives, as from the mouth of his master, an
account OF the famous magician Faust, as of
one with whom the latter had been personally
! acquainted He too, asserts that he was found
! one morning lying on his face, having been
| killed by the Devil at midnight. portrait of
| him is also eXtant, marked with the words, "Het
| portrait van Doctor Faustus, and which repre-
! sents him with face almost boyish in its
| plumpness, with high rounded forehead, far
| back on which appears crop OF short, slightly
curled, impaired hair: the eyebrows are arched
and well defined the nose thick, the chin large,
and adorned with little Imperial" tuit just
under the lower lip, while the upper displays a
smooth, neatly curved moustache. The figure
is simply attired in a round cloak, with gath
cred irillke collar
story which once excited such universal
interest, and was read or listened to IN almost
every German household, from the barons
castle to the DOORS hut, may still be of some
state of the people in the age wherein il found
such acceptance. Originating, as ii did, in
Germany, 1t is no mean testimony to Teutonic
purity that the original tale is strictly modest.
We are told, indeed, that Faust lied a sensual
life" but it is only in the most general terms
that this is indicated; no scenes of vice are de-
pcted, no licentous language mdulgeL,
scarcely word occurring throughout the work
which the demurest would shrink from; for
even where coarse expression is characters
tiCally put into the mouth of boor, it is still
rather rudeness than immortality. Widman's
version, notwithstanding the superior assump-
tiOns indicated by its proliX reflections"
merits less praise on this score, yet even thus
might well stand COMPARISON as regards refine
ment, with much that is 10 be found in contem-
poIaIV English literature. Nor does the narra-
tive pander to depraved taste, by tracing
course OF crime of any kind; indeed, meny
hero who is left married ana happy" at the
end OF a modern novels third volume, has led
the readers OF his career through much more of
sin and shame than does this poor hell'doomed |
Faust Had il been received merely as an |
entertaining fiction, these considerations might |
have suficed to place it beyond cenSure, while |
it might have claimed, too, the further recon- |
mendation of Interviewing with what was |
purely imaginative some information as 70 the |
facts ascertained or the theories then prevalent |
in respect to geography, astronomy, etc', mus |