First Lady. Oh! what a splendour of youth's budding strength! Second Lady. Fresh like an apricot, and full of juice! Third Lady. The delicately traced sweet swelling lips! Fourth Lady. Fain wouldst thou sip, I ween, at such a goblet? Fifth Lady. He's very handsome, though not elegant. Sixth Lady. He well might be a little more adroit. First Knight. The shepherd-fellow I can trace throughout, Second Knight. Ho! well! half-naked he looks smart enough, Lady. He seats himself,-how softly pleasingly! Knight. You fain would take a fancy to his lap ? Another Lady. He bends his arm so graceful o'er his head. Lady. Ye gentlemen must carp at ev'ry thing. Lady. He only acts, and thinks he's quite alone. Chamberlain. The play itself should here be comme il faut. Lady. Sleep softly overcomes the lovely youth. Chamberlain. He soon will snore-no more than natural. Young Lady (transported) What scent is sweetly mingling with the air, An old one. In truth, a breath deep penetrates my soul,- The oldest. It is the bloom of growth HELEN (coming forth.)— Meph. There she is then! for this one I have peace; Astrologer. This once, there's nothing more for me to do, The fair one comes, oh! had I tongues of fire!- Faust. Have I still eyes? Is beauty's fount poured out In fullest streams before my inmost soul? My walk, with terrors fraught, brings blissfullest gain. Now first worth longing for,-true,-solid,-lasting!- If e'er from thee my being grows estranged, Mephistopheles (from the Prompter's box.) The deuce! collect yourself, and mind your part. An old Lady. She's tall,-well formed, only the head too small. Courtier. With shy and gentle step she nears the sleeper. Lady. How ugly seen near youthful purity! Poet. Her beauty sheds a lustre over him. Lady. Endymion's and Luna's perfect picture! Poet. Quite right; the Goddess seemeth to descend, Duenna. So publicly! that's really too bad! Faust. A fearful favour to the youth! Mephistopheles. Hush! silence!- Courtier. She steals away, light-footed ;-now he wakes! Lady. Again she looks around! I thought as much. Courtier. With dignity she turns around to him. Lady. Oh! I perceive she's giving him a lesson; *See Vol I. the scene in the witch's kitchen. Knight. Don't slander her! Majestic! elegant! Lady. The Courtesan! that's vulgar really. Page. Indeed, I'd like full well to take his place! Courtier. Who could escape from such enticing toil? Lady. The jewel, i'faith, has passed through many hands, Another. From ten years old she's been a good-for-nothing! Knight. Each takes the best that chance may offer him! A Man of Learning. I see her plainly; yet I'm free to own, She greatly charmed the gray-beards all of Troy ; I am not young, and yet I'm charmed with her. Astrologer. No longer boy,-a hero, manly, bold, Faust (to the image of Paris.) Thou insolent! Thou dar'st! thou hear'st not! hold, that is too much! Mephistopheles. And yet, that ghost-farce all you make yourself. Astrologer. But one word more! since I have seen the whole, Faust. What rape! am I for nothing at this place? That through the horrors of deep solitudes From hence the spirit may with spirits combat, Far as she was, how can she nearer be. I rescue her, and she is doubly mine. On then!-and ye, ye mothers! must comply!- Astrologer. What art thou doing, Faust?-With violence He seizes her, the form's already troubled. What now! The key he turns towards the youth,- (Explosion. Faust lies on the ground. The spirits vanish into vapour.) Meph. (who takes Faust on his shoulders,) (Darkness-tumult.) Here the first act closes. We thought it necessary to give the greater part of its last scene, not merely on account of the humour in the remarks made upon Paris and Helen by the different characters, but especially because it contains Faust's first meeting with Helen, who takes a prominent part in the sequel of the play. It is she, the representative of Beauty, who works his purification, and therefore some attention should be paid to the circumstances under which he beholds her first in the magic mirror (see the witch scene in vol. I,) and now, as summoned from those regions, where, beyond all space and time, every thing dwells that is eternal. It is not less characteristic, that notwithstanding the dim and imperfect light, the "clair-obscure," in which he beholds her on the stage, the inherent rays of beauty pierce his heart's core. Enraptured he sees the world change its aspect, and feels he cannot exist without her; henceforth his whole energy has only one direction, that of following the trace of Helen. How different is the impression made upon Mephistopheles! She is pretty, but "does not suit his taste;" for we have already said, he is blind to all that is beautiful, and thus do not wonder at his calling Faust a fool to fall in love with a spectre. SONG. CLAUDIAN. "Perdurat non empta fides, nec pectora merces When the warm tide of passion is chill'd round the heart, And the flow'rs of life's morning decay; When the sunshine of youth, as our pleasures depart, Is fast fading in darkness away. When loveless and cold the dull moments now glide, Oh! then let one feeling, when others have flown, Let friendship still warm my chill bosom and lone, Yes, friend of my youth, the fond wish shall be mine, "Twill cheer me to think, when in death I recline, VOL. II. IOTA. 3D LE DRAGON ROUGE. In days of old, when Edward Longshanks* ruled this realm, the communication between England and the Continent was chiefly maintained by a small galley, plying weekly between Dover and Calais; it was called "Le Dragon Rouge," from an indescribable figure carved upon its bow, and was navigated by a surly Fleming, named Gilles Vandergueht, who generally made it a point to quarrel with every one of his passengers, in the course of the brief voyage. Dover was, at the period I have mentioned, but a petty village; a few oldfashioned houses, some groups of fishermen's cottages huddled irregularly together, a dock nearly choaked with mud, and a rude pier composed of unhewn granite blocks, were its most prominent features: it possessed neither assembly rooms nor circulating libraries, neither hotels nor bathing machines— nevertheless it boasted a governor and a castle, a prison and a convent, and a corporation consisting of a mayor and three bailiffs, all undoubted evidences of an advanced stage of civilization. The jeteè of Calais, long and narrow then, as it is now, was crowded with lounging knights and men at arms, belonging to the English, anxious," pour passer le temps," to witness the departure of the passage-boat for Dover. In the nineteenth century people walk daily to the same place, for the same purpose. 66 The Dragon Rouge," attached by a heavy iron chain to the extremity of the pier, was about to be unmoored, the spaces, fore and aft, were nearly filled with passengers, the rowers were seated on their benches, and the large square sail, which had been set to catch the favorable breeze, hung loosely in heavy folds upon the mast-it was evening, and the rays of the setting sun flashed brightly across the waste of waters-the castle and chalky cliffs of Dover were dimly discernible, as though they were pillowed in the clouds. Nevertheless, the master still hesitated to cast off the chain, he blew long and repeated blasts upon the horn that was suspended at his side, vainly the impatient passengers cried out "What wait we, Sir captain?-will you never put off?" &c. When the patience of the voyagers had been tolerably well exercised, a man suddenly sprang from the pier upon the poop, sorely discomposing a group of seven fashionable individuals, the occupants of that place of honour; these, upon the arrival of the stranger, eagerly hastened to take possession of the seats, and, with a spirit of selfishness worthy of a later period, so arranged matters, as to deprive him of any participation in the comforts of the afterpart of the galley. Of these obliging personages, there were four who boasted the highest blood in Normandy-first, there was a handsome young cavalier, with two splendid stag-hounds at his feet, wearing, but not so as to conceal his long ringlets, a plunied velvet cap, sparkling with jewels,-clanking his gilded spurs, twisting his gracefully turned moustaches, and regarding the male portion of his companions with disdainful glances. Then there was a noble damsel, with a falcon upon her wrist, beautiful, haughty, and reserved-holding converse with none, save her mother, and an ecclesiastic of high rank, the Abbot of some wealthy monastery. Near to these, and yet seated somewhat apart from them, enveloped in an ample cloak, reclined the bulky form • Deceived by the soubriquet "Longshanks," sundry lithographers and engravers have depicted our Edward with a pair of elongated, attenuated supporters, most moving to behold, the appellation is in truth but a corruption of "longs champs," an allusion to his extensive conquests, as the sirname Sansterre, was affixed to his predecessor John, for an opposite reason. Edward was an exceedingly well-built fellow, and, by all accounts, a most unpleasant customer to meet with in a " row." |