[ENTER MEPHISTOPHELES.]

MEPHISTOPHELES: 
As thou, O Lord, once more art kind enough
To interest Thyself in our affairs, 30
And ask, ‘How goes it with you there below?’
And as indulgently at other times
Thou tookest not my visits in ill part,
Thou seest me here once more among Thy household. 
Though I should scandalize this company, 35
You will excuse me if I do not talk
In the high style which they think fashionable;
My pathos certainly would make You laugh too,
Had You not long since given over laughing. 
Nothing know I to say of suns and worlds; 40
I observe only how men plague themselves;—­
The little god o’ the world keeps the same stamp,
As wonderful as on creation’s day:—­
A little better would he live, hadst Thou
Not given him a glimpse of Heaven’s light 45
Which he calls reason, and employs it only
To live more beastlily than any beast. 
With reverence to Your Lordship be it spoken,
He’s like one of those long-legged grasshoppers,
Who flits and jumps about, and sings for ever 50
The same old song i’ the grass.  There let him lie,
Burying his nose in every heap of dung.

NOTES:  38 certainly would editions 1839; would certainly 1824. 47 beastlily 1824; beastily editions 1839.

THE LORD: 
Have you no more to say?  Do you come here
Always to scold, and cavil, and complain? 
Seems nothing ever right to you on earth? 55

MEPHISTOPHELES: 
No, Lord!  I find all there, as ever, bad at best. 
Even I am sorry for man’s days of sorrow;
I could myself almost give up the pleasure
Of plaguing the poor things.

THE LORD: 
Knowest thou Faust?

MEPHISTOPHELES: 
The Doctor?

THE LORD: 
Ay; My servant Faust.

MEPHISTOPHELES: 
In truth 60
He serves You in a fashion quite his own;
And the fool’s meat and drink are not of earth. 
His aspirations bear him on so far
That he is half aware of his own folly,
For he demands from Heaven its fairest star, 65
And from the earth the highest joy it bears,
Yet all things far, and all things near, are vain
To calm the deep emotions of his breast.

THE LORD: 
Though he now serves Me in a cloud of error,
I will soon lead him forth to the clear day. 70
When trees look green, full well the gardener knows
That fruits and blooms will deck the coming year.

MEPHISTOPHELES: 
What will You bet?—­now am sure of winning—­
Only, observe You give me full permission
To lead him softly on my path.

THE LORD: 
As long 75
As he shall live upon the earth, so long
Is nothing unto thee forbidden—­Man
Must err till he has ceased to struggle.