Reason again begins to speak,

And Hope again her blossoms brings, Longing the streams of life we seek,

Still more to seek life's deepest springs.

Growl not, Poodle; to the high and holy
Tones that steep my soul, unsuited wholly
Are thy bestial cries.

We are accustomed that mankind despise
That which surpasseth their capacities;
And as a useless burden that they should
Murmur at all the Beautiful and Good.
Snarls the dog also in this wise?

Willing the spirit is, but ah, I know
Content no more can from my bosom flow;
But why so swiftly must that stream run dry,
And we again in thirst unquenched must lie?
How much experience to my lot doth fall?

Still something compensates even this privation We learn to prize the supernatural,

We long to pierce the depths of revelation;
No where more rich in truth, more purely bright,
Than burns in the New Testament its light;

I feel myself impelled the text once more
In its original language to read o'er,

To render honestly, with mind upright,
In my loved German, all its holy lore.

He

opens a volume and applies himself to it.

In the beginning was the WORD, doth run

The text; but here I stop, who helps me further on?
The word so high I cannot justly rate,

The passage I must otherwise translate;
If from the Spirit I true light have caught,
It stands,-In the beginning was the THOUGHT;
Consider well what thy true aim should be,
Let not thy pen run on too rapidly,

Doth thought create the universe? read aright,
It stands,-In the beginning was the MIGHT;
Yet something warns me, even as my hand
Traces this passage, that it cannot stand;
The Spirit helps me, I at once see light,
In the beginning was the ACT, assured I write.

Will'st thou with me this chamber share,
Poodle, from thy howls forbear ;

Cease barking, such a teasing mate
Here I cannot tolerate,

One of us two at once must leave

The study, even although I grieve
At my inhospitality:

The door is open, thy exit free.

But what is this I see,

Is it shadow or reality?

How grows my poodle broad and long!
He rises up so fierce and strong,

Such giant hound the world ne'er saw.
What monster have I brought into the house?
Already like an hippopotamus

It seems, with fiery eyes and frightful jaw ;
Oh, thou art mine, I know it well;
Know, for such half-begotten brood of hell,
The key of Solomon is fitting spell.

One within these walls is caught;

Stay without, follow him not;
As the fox in the snare
Trembles the old lynx of hell;

But mark him well!

Soar here, soar there,
Up and down soar we,

Soon he makes himself free.
Would you use him as your own,
Be careful he does not sit down;
Much already hath he done,

That hath pleased us every one.

FAUST.

This beast to encounter, first of all,

On the four elements I shall call.*
Salamander shall glow,

Undine shall flow,

Sylph shall vanish in the skies,
Cobold from the earth arise.

* In German superstitions, the four elements were supposed to be each entrusted to the special charge of an appropriate order of spirits; the air to the Sylphs, the water to the Undines, the fire to the Salamanders, and the earth, especially the development of animals, to the Gnomes or Cobolds. Of these, the Sylphs and Salamanders were not supposed to trouble their heads much about mortal matters, but the spirits of earth and water being everlastingly meddling, the latter generally doing mischief, the former, indifferently good and evil, but generally clumsily. The water spirits were called Nix, Nickel, Wasserman, Wassermädchen, Nixie, Seeweiblein, Wasserfeen, Undine. Those of the earth, Berggeist, Cobold, Gnome, Bergmannlein, Moosleute, Erdmannlein, Ekerken, Zwerg.

A branch of this family attached itself to certain homes, like the Scotch Brownie and the Irish Banshee, and the name of Burg Geist, Haus Geist, Hutchen, Hinzelman, Klopfer, Stiefel, Alp, Popele, Schlossjung frau.

There is a strong family likeness, arising from their common origin, between the superstitions of Germany and those of the Lowland Scotch.

Bring homely help, to shield from harm,
Incubus! Incubus !

Come forward, and complete the charm.

None of the four is the beast within ;*

He lies still, and looks on with a horrible grin,
Not yet have I hurt him; but soon he shall cower
Beneath magical words of a loftier power.

If, fellow, thou

Art just escaped from hell,

* Having summoned the four elements in vain, Faust perceives that his visitor is not of the earth, and hence concludes that he is from hell, and proceeds accordingly.