CHAPTER IV.

GOETHE. The Faust-legend around which Goethe wove his great tragedy, was one of those floating traditions which were common in the romantic lore of many countries during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and which seem to have originated in the general belief in occult forces. The Johann Faust of the popular stories was undoubtedly an individual of that name, born towards the close of the fifteenth century in the little town of Knittlingen, near Maulbronn, in Würtemberg. His parents were poor, but he was enabled by the bequest of a rich uncle to study medicine. He attended the University of Cracow (where he probably received his doctor’s degree), studied magic which was there taught as an accepted branch of knowledge, and appears to have afterwards travelled for many years through Europe. Manlius, the disciple of Melancthon, quotes the latter as having said: “This fellow Faust escaped from our town of Wittenberg, after our Duke John had given the order to have him imprisoned. He also escaped from Nuremberg under the like circumstances. This sorcerer Faust, an abominable beast, a common sewer of many devils, boasted that he, by his magic arts had enabled the Imperial armies to win their victories in Italy.” It was probably the famous battle of Pavia fought in 1525 of which Faust spoke, as the time of his visit to Wittenberg appears to have been about the year 1530. Further evidence of the existence of such a character is to be found in the _Index Sanitatis_ of the physician, Philip Begardi, published at Worms in 1539, and in the _Sermones Conviviales_ of Johann Gast, who gives an account of a dinner given by Faust at Basle at which he was present. The original form of the legend is contained in a work published by Spiess in Frankfurt in 1587, entitled the _History of Dr. Joh. Faust, the Notorious Sorcerer and Black-artist, etc., etc._ This book was first translated into English in 1590, and from it Marlowe doubtless obtained the material for his tragedy of “Dr. Faustus,” which appears to have been first performed in London in 1593, the year of his death. In the first act of Goethe’s tragedy we are introduced to Faust, who is sitting in his lofty-arched Gothic chamber or laboratory, his desk piled high with the works of noted writers on magic and astrology. “And this one Book of Mystery From Nostradamus’ very hand, Is’t not sufficient company?” Nostradamus, the famous astrologer, was born at St. Remy, in Provence, in the year 1503. His real name was Michel de Notre Dame. For some time he practised as a physician, but finally devoted himself to astrology, and published in 1555 a collection of prophecies in rhymed quatrains, entitled _Les Prophecies de Michel Nostradamus_, which created an immediate sensation, and found many believers, especially as the death of Henry II. of France seemed to verify one of his mystical predictions. He was appointed physician to Charles IX., and continued the publication of his prophecies, asserting, however, that the study of the planetary aspects was not alone sufficient, but that the gift of second sight, which God grants only to a few chosen persons, is also necessary. He died in the year 1566. In the following lines allusion is made to two popular forms of divination. “CITIZEN’S DAUGHTER. Come, Agatha! I shun the witch’s sight Before folks, lest there be misgiving! ’Tis true, she showed me, on Saint Andrew’s Night, My future sweetheart, just as he were living. “THE OTHER. She showed me mine, in crystal clear, With several wild young blades, a soldier-lover”. St. Andrew’s Night is celebrated in some parts of Germany by forms of divination very similar to those which are practised in Scotland on Hallow E’en. The maidens believe that by calling upon St. Andrew, undressed, before getting into bed, their future sweetheart will appear to them in a dream. Another charm is practised by pouring melted lead through the wards of a key, wherein there is the form of a cross, into a basin of water brought between eleven o’clock and midnight: the cooling lead will then take the form of tools which indicate the trade of the destined lover. Crystal gazing, which we have described in a previous chapter, was also a common method of foretelling future events, and young maidens were supposed to be specially successful in its practise. Faust’s description of the preparation of a panacea is a good illustration of the fantastic language employed by the alchemists:— “Who, in his dusky work-shop bending, With proved adepts in company, Made, from his recipes unending, Opposing substances agree. There was a Lion red, a wooer daring, Within the Lily’s tepid bath espoused, And both, tormented then by flame unsparing, By turns in either bridal chamber housed. If then appeared, with colours splendid, The young Queen in her crystal shell, This was the medicine—the patient’s woes soon ended, And none demanded—who got well?” Goethe is said to have drawn this description partly from Paracelsus, and partly from Welling’s _Opus Mago Cabbalisticum_. The “Lion red” is cinnabar, called a “wooer daring” on account of its action in rushing to an intimate union with other bodies. “The Lily” is a preparation of antimony, which bore the name of Lilium Paracelsi. Red, moreover, is the masculine, and white the feminine colour. The retort containing these substances was first placed in a “tepid bath” and gradually heated, then “tormented by flame unsparing,” the two were driven from one “bridal chamber” to another, that is, their wedded fumes were forced by the heat into an alembic. If then the “Young Queen,” the sublimated compound, appeared with a brilliant colour in the alembic the proper result was obtained and this signified the true medicine. In scene iii. Mephistopheles says:— “My steps by one slight obstacle controlled,— The wizard’s foot, that on your threshold is”. The wizard’s foot or pentagram, was supposed to possess an especial potency against evil spirits, and was often chalked on the door-steps to protect the household from their influence. It consisted of a five-rayed star, thus:— [Illustration] The belief in its efficacy doubtless sprang from the circumstance that it resolves itself into three triangles, and thus a triple symbol of the Trinity. Paracelsus ascribes a similar, though a lesser degree of virtue to the hexagram. Another peculiarity of the pentagram is, that it may be drawn complete from one point, without lifting the pen, and therefore belongs to those _involuntary_ hieroglyphics which we sometimes make in moments of abstraction. In scene xiii. where Margaret plucks a star-flower, and pulls off the leaves one after the other, murmuring— “He loves me—loves me not” we have an illustration of a favourite mode of amorous divination by means of flowers still practised by country maidens. The custom is of great antiquity and is mentioned by Theocritus. The single daisy is a favourite flower for the purpose. The following allusion to the red mouse refers to an ancient superstition concerning one of the many forms of diabolical possession. The “evil one” was supposed to enter the body in the form of a red mouse. “MEPHISTOPHELES. Wherefore forsakest thou the lovely maiden, That in the dance so sweetly sang? “FAUST. Ah! in the midst of it there sprang A red mouse from her mouth—sufficient reason.” In the second part of the work we are introduced to an astrologer who, prompted by Mephistopheles, delivers himself as follows:— “The Sun himself is gold of purest ray; The herald, Mercury, serves for love and pay; Dame Venus has bewitched you all, for she, Early and late, looks on you lovingly; Chaste Luna has her whims, no two alike; Mars threatens you, although he may not strike, And Jupiter is still the splendid star. Saturn is great, though seeming small and far; As metal, him we don’t much venerate, Of value slight, though heavy in his weight. Now, when of Sol and Luna unions had,— Silver with gold,—then is the world made glad: All else, with them, is easy to attain,— Palaces, gardens, cheeks of rosy stain; And thus procures this highly learned man, Who that can do which none of us e’er can.” The astrologer here alludes to the seven principal metals, to which the early alchemists attached the names of seven planets. The Sun was gold, the Moon silver, Mercury quicksilver, Venus copper, Mars iron, Jupiter tin, and Saturn lead. In the same act, reference is made to an old tradition that is still believed in some parts of Germany. “Lo! at hand there Is ancient juice of strength divine. Yet trust to him who’s knowledge gotten, The wood o’ the staves has long been rotten, A cask of tartar holds the wine.” It is a general belief in the wine districts, that when a cask of wine has been kept for centuries, the crust of argol or crude cream of tartar which is gradually deposited, may acquire such a consistency as to hold the liquid when the staves have rotted away. The wine thus becomes its own cask, and preserves itself in a thick oily state. It is then said to possess wonderful medicinal virtues. Later on Mephistopheles is asked by a blonde beauty for a cure for her complexion. “One word, sir! Here you see a visage fair,— In sorry summer I another wear! There sprout a hundred brown and reddish freckles, And vex my lily skin with ugly speckles. A cure! “MEPHISTOPHELES. ’Tis pity! shining fair, yet smitten,— Spotted, when May comes, like a panther-kitten! Take frog’s spawn, tongues of toads, which contribute, Under the full moon deftly distillate, And when it wanes, apply the mixture: Next spring, the spots will be no more a fixture. “A BRUNETTE. To sponge upon you, what a crowd’s advancing! I beg a remedy: a frozen foot Annoys me much, in walking as in dancing; And awkwardly I manage to salute. “MEPHISTOPHELES. A gentle kick permit, then, from my foot! “THE BRUNETTE. Well,—that might happen when the two are lovers. “MEPHISTOPHELES. My kick a more important meaning covers; _Similia similibus_, when one is sick, The foot cures foot, each limb its hurt can palliate; Come near! Take heed! and pray you don’t retaliate!” Frog’s spawn and toad’s tongues formed an old remedy for spots on the skin, and in the “gentle kick” we have a satire on the homœopathic theory of medicine.