Page:Kickerbocker Feb 1833 vol 1 no 2.djvu/18
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82
Horæ Germanicæ.
[Feb.
One other instance occurs toward the end of the work, where Mephistopheles is thrown a little off his guard, or affects to be so, and appears to be in a passion, and even goes so far as to regret that he is deprived of the usual resource of angry people, of venting their spite by giving themselves to the Devil, by the circumstance of being the Devil himself. But to pursue—
Mephistopheles.Faust. I heed you not.
Mephistopheles.Meph. 'Tis brave and plain.
But life is short, and art is long,
And chiefly there your views are wrong.
But would you some instruction gain,
Call in a poet, let the wings
Of fancy for his thoughts be spread,
To scan the powers ofliving things,
And heap the choicest on your head—
The Lion's heart and hardihood—
The Chamois' swiftness in the course—
The Italian's fiery flowing blood—
The Northmen's more enduring force.
The art of joining in one mind
Greatness and cunning, let him find—
And how a young romantic man
May fall in love by rule and plan.
Why such an one I too were fain to see,
Whom I should call a World's Epitome.
Mephistopheles.Faust. What am I then, if thus debarr'd
From seizing on the crown and prize,
That hang in sight and mock my eyes.
Mephistopheles.Meph. Why thou art—even what thou art—
Put on perukes of million locks,
Or prop thyself with ell-high socks,
Still art thou—even what thou art.
Mephistopheles.Faust. I feel it—vainly hath my soul amass'd
Of human thought each richest store and gem;
For when array'd in all, I pause at last,
No spirit or refreshment springs from them.
Iam not raised in stature nor in thought,
Nor to Infinity the nearer brought.
Mephistopheles.Meph. Mine honest friend, your views of things
With other thinkers' views may suit;
But practice yet some comfort brings,
And life is not so bare of fruit.
Why what the devil, this head, these hands,
And feet and limbs at least are thine,
And is not all which ready stands
To serve my ends, as good as mine.
If I've six horses ready here,
I count as mine their mood and power,
And make as well my swift career,
As if my legs were twenty-four.
But come, lay all these thoughts aside,
Let's seek the open world and wide.
And note this well, the man of thought and doubt,
Is like a beast, on barren heaths and dry,
By some infernal spirit nosed about,
While all around him verdant meadows lie.
Mephistopheles.Meph. 'Tis brave and plain.
But life is short, and art is long,
And chiefly there your views are wrong.
But would you some instruction gain,
Call in a poet, let the wings
Of fancy for his thoughts be spread,
To scan the powers ofliving things,
And heap the choicest on your head—
The Lion's heart and hardihood—
The Chamois' swiftness in the course—
The Italian's fiery flowing blood—
The Northmen's more enduring force.
The art of joining in one mind
Greatness and cunning, let him find—
And how a young romantic man
May fall in love by rule and plan.
Why such an one I too were fain to see,
Whom I should call a World's Epitome.
Mephistopheles.Faust. What am I then, if thus debarr'd
From seizing on the crown and prize,
That hang in sight and mock my eyes.
Mephistopheles.Meph. Why thou art—even what thou art—
Put on perukes of million locks,
Or prop thyself with ell-high socks,
Still art thou—even what thou art.
Mephistopheles.Faust. I feel it—vainly hath my soul amass'd
Of human thought each richest store and gem;
For when array'd in all, I pause at last,
No spirit or refreshment springs from them.
Iam not raised in stature nor in thought,
Nor to Infinity the nearer brought.
Mephistopheles.Meph. Mine honest friend, your views of things
With other thinkers' views may suit;
But practice yet some comfort brings,
And life is not so bare of fruit.
Why what the devil, this head, these hands,
And feet and limbs at least are thine,
And is not all which ready stands
To serve my ends, as good as mine.
If I've six horses ready here,
I count as mine their mood and power,
And make as well my swift career,
As if my legs were twenty-four.
But come, lay all these thoughts aside,
Let's seek the open world and wide.
And note this well, the man of thought and doubt,
Is like a beast, on barren heaths and dry,
By some infernal spirit nosed about,
While all around him verdant meadows lie.