NIGHT.

Street before Margaret's door.

VALENTINE a soldier, Margaret's brother.

I used to sit in company,

Where all themselves would glorify;

And each gay comrade loud would boast,
The flower of maids was her he loved,
And with a bumper backed his toast.*
I on my elbow leant unmoved,
And sat, no fear, no doubt had I,
But listened very silently

Till all the swaggerers† had done.
Then stroked my beard, and smiling gay,
Would take a bumper up and say,

Let each one praise his own;

* Das Lob verschwemmen, corresponds to the Irish phrase of drowning the shamrock.

↑ Schwadroniren, to swagger, from Schwadron a squadron of dragoons.

Yet not within the country's bound
Is my dear Margaret's equal found;
None with

sister can compare.
my

*

Then round and round the clatter went;

They shout, he's right;' and some would swear

She is her sex's ornament.

The boasters then were silent all.

Now I am fit to tear my hair,

And beat

my brains out on the wall;
Now every scoundrel me may twit,
With snarling taunt and cutting sneer,
Like a false bankrupt must I sit,

And wince at each chance word I hear;
And could I crush them, still I ne'er

Could call them liars.

Who comes here?

deceive.

The very two, I do believe;

'Tis them, unless my eyes

If that's the one, the fox is caught;†
Alive he does not leave the spot.

* Das wasser reichen, an idiomatical expression, which may be rendered, somewhat freely perhaps, by the phrase, to hold a candle.'

+ Ich pack ihn beim Felle, I hold him by the skin.

FAUST.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

FAUST.

As from yon vestry window there, the ray
Of the lamp ever burning, flickers bright;
Wanes as it spreads, until it melts away,

In the surrounding darkness of the night:
So my heart glows within my bosom nightly.

MEPHISTOPHEles.

For me, I am like the tom cat, sprightly
Along the fire escapes* that's crawling,
And gently rubs against the wall;
But I am virtuous after all.

A little sly desire, a little caterwauling :
Through all my limbs the spirit doth play,
Of that first glorious night of May.

After to-morrow comes it back ;

'Tis then worth while to be awake.

FAUST.

Doth the light I see glimmering over there,
The spot the treasure shall appear, declare?

*Feuer leitern, are the long ladders used in case of fire, which in Germany are always to be found hung on hooks, under the eaves of the churches, where they are both protected from weather and ready at hand when wanted.

MEPHISTOPHEles.

You shall experience, soon, the pleasure,

Of raising up the hidden treasure ;
At it I lately took a squint,

Good Lion Dollars* are there in't.

FAUST.

What, not a trinket? not a ring,

With which my darling I

may

deck?

MEPHISTOPHEles.

I think I spied out some such thing.
A string of pearls would suit her neck.

* Lion, Lowen, or Louvain Dollars. Dollars of Brabant, coined at the capital of that duchy, Löwen or Louvain, and bearing the arms of Brabant, (Sable, a lion rampant, gules). It is well known that about the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, the mechanical skill of Europe was principally centred in the Low Countries, and in Numismatics it has left its impress upon most nations of Europe. Our terms, shilling, groat, penny, are derived from it, and the lineal successors of the lion dollars mentioned here, were, a few years ago, the only coin that was current, unchallenged and unquestioned, all over Germany. They are still very common under the name of Brabanters.

FAUST.

That's right, I should indeed regret,
To visit her without a present.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

Well, never mind; you need not fret

Gratis to light on something pleasant.
Now that the heavens glow with starlight clear,
A master-piece of art you'll hear.

A moral song I shall sing to her,

With greater certainty to undo her.

[sings to the guitar.

What dost thou here, before the break of morning, My pretty Kate, before thy lover's door?

A maid he'll let thee in, but, oh, take warning, A maid from thence he lets thee out no more.

Beware, beware in time; if once 'tis over,
Farewell to thee, thou poor deluded thing :
Love, if thou wilt, but pleasure not thy lover
By stealth, unless thy finger binds the ring.

VALENTINE.

Hell and the devil! for whom is meant,

You cursed ratcatcher, here your snare?