"In the whole world there are no beings so wretched as myself and these poor children. My husband was indebted to the Prince-Bishop for three years" rent. The first year he could not pay it, on account of the failure of his crops; during the second the Bishop"s wild-boars grubbed up all his seed from the ground; and during the third his whole hunting-train galloped over our fields and destroyed our harvest. As my husband had often been threatened by the steward with a distress, he intended to have gone this morning to Frankfort, to sell a fat calf and his last pair of oxen, and with the amount to have paid his rent. But just as he was setting out the Bishop"s clerk-of-the-kitchen came, and demanded the calf for his lordship"s table. My husband pleaded his poverty, and told him how unjust it would be to take away his calf, which would fetch a high price at Frankfort. The clerk-of-the-kitchen answered, that no peasant had a right to carry any thing out of his master"s domain. The steward and his bailiffs then came, and instead of taking my husband"s part, he drove off the oxen; the clerk-of-the-kitchen took the calf; the bailiffs turned me and my children out of house and home; and while they were pillaging and carrying off our goods, my husband went into the barn and out his throat in despair. The poor wretch lies under that sheet, and we sit here to watch the body, so that it may not be devoured by the wild-beasts, for the priest has refused to bury it."
She tore away the white sheet which had concealed the body, and fell to the ground. Faustus started at the horrible sight, while tears gushed from his eyes, and he cried, "Man, man, is this thy lot?" Then looking up to heaven, "Oh! didst thou create this unfortunate man merely that a servant of thy religion might drive him to despair and suicide?" He cast the cloth over the body, flung the woman some gold, and said, "I will go to the Bishop and tell him your melancholy story. I am certain that he will bury your husband, give you back your goods, and punish the villains."
This circ.u.mstance made so strong an impression upon Faustus, that he and the Devil reached the Bishop"s castle before he could collect himself.
They were received with great civility, and shown into a s.p.a.cious hall, where his reverence was at table. The Prince-Bishop was a man in his best years, but so enormously corpulent that fat seemed to have overwhelmed his nerves, his heart, and his very soul. He was only animated while eating; all his sense lay in his palate, and he never knew vexation, except when he was disappointed of a dish which he had ordered.
His table was so well furnished, that Faustus, whom the Devil had often banqueted by means of his spirits, thought to himself that the Bishop surpa.s.sed the master of a thousand arts in his dinners. In the middle of the table stood, amongst other dishes, a large calf"s-head,--a favourite morsel with the Bishop. He was engaged, both body and soul, in the feast, and had not yet spoken a single word, when suddenly Faustus exclaimed:
"Gracious sir, do not take it ill of me if I spoil your appet.i.te, but it is impossible for me to look on that calf"s-head without telling you of a shocking affair which has this day occurred in the neighbourhood of your palace. I hope, from your humanity and Christian mildness, that you will cause those aggrieved to be recompensed, and take care in future that your officers do not again outrage humanity, as they have done in this affair."
The Bishop raised his eyes in wonder, looked at Faustus, and emptied his gla.s.s.
Faustus related the story with warmth and feeling; none of those present, however, paid any attention to him, and the Bishop continued eating.
Faustus then said: "I think I am speaking to a Bishop, a shepherd of his flock, and am standing among teachers and preachers of religion and Christian charity? My lord, am I right or not?"
The Bishop eyed him scornfully; then calling for the clerk-of-the-kitchen, he said: "What hubbub is this about a peasant who has been fool enough to cut his throat?"
The clerk-of-the-kitchen laughed, told the story as Faustus had done, and added: "I took away his calf because it would grace your lordship"s table, and was too good for the Frankfort burghers, to whom he wished to sell it. The steward distrained his goods because he had always been a bad tenant, and for three years had not paid his rent. Thus, my lord, does the case stand; and truly no peasant shall drive any thing good out of your demesne with my consent."
_Bishop_. Go; you are quite right. (_To Faustus_) What have you now to say? you see that he did his duty in taking the calf; or do you think that the Frankfort citizens ought to eat the fat calves of my land, and I the lean?
Faustus was about to speak.
_Bishop_. Listen! eat, drink, and be silent. You are the first person that has ever spoken of peasants and such rabble at my table. Verily, if your dress did not declare you to be a gentleman, I should be inclined to think that you were sprung from beggars, since you speak so warmly in their favour. Learn that the peasant who does not pay his rent does just as well in cutting his throat, as certain people would do in holding their tongues instead of spoiling my appet.i.te with useless speeches.
Clerk-of-the-kitchen, that is a n.o.ble calf"s-head.
_Clerk-of-the-kitchen_. It is the head of Hans Ruprecht"s calf.
_Bishop_. So, so! Send it me here, and reach me the pepper. I will cut myself a slice. And you, Mr. What"s-your-name, may as well take a piece with me.
The clerk-of-the-kitchen placed the pepper-castor before the Bishop.
Faustus whispered into the ear of the Devil; and at the moment the Bishop ran his knife into the calf"s-head, the Devil changed it to the head of Hans Ruprecht, which, wild, horrible, and b.l.o.o.d.y, now stared the Bishop in the face. His reverence let fall his knife, and sank back in a feinting fit; while the whole company sat in lifeless horror and stupefaction.
_Faustus_. My Lord Bishop, and ye most reverend gentlemen, learn from this to practise Christian charity as well as to preach it.
He hurried away with the Devil.
The _sang-froid_ of the Bishop and his table-companions, and the brutal manner in which he spoke of the fate of the unfortunate suicide, sowed the first seeds of gloomy horror in the breast of Faustus. He revolved in his mind his former experience, as well as what he had seen since he had roamed about with the Devil, and perceived, whichever way he turned, nothing but hard-heartedness, deceit, tyranny, and a willingness to commit crime for the sake of gold, preferment, or luxury. He wished to seek for the cause of all this in man himself; but his own unquiet and doubtful spirit, and his imagination, which always avoided difficulties within its reach, began already in dark dissatisfaction to make the Creator of mankind, if not the author, yet, by his sufferance of all these horrors, at least the accomplice. These impious ideas only required the aid of a few more horrible scenes to derange his understanding entirely; and the Devil inwardly rejoiced in being able to afford a future opportunity for that purpose. Faustus hoped soon to cure himself of this sadness at the court of the renowned prince, and his companion willingly left him in this delusion. About evening they arrived at a city, at the entrance of which they perceived a crowd of people a.s.sembled round a tower, in which culprits condemned to death were accustomed to pa.s.s the last night of their lives. Faustus, observing that the people were looking up to the ironed windows with the deepest sorrow, asked the cause of this a.s.semblage. Whereupon a hundred voices gave him an answer.
"Dr. Robertus, our father, the friend of freedom, the protector of the people, the avenger of the oppressed, sits imprisoned in yonder tower.
The cruel tyrannical Minister, once his friend, has now condemned him to death; and to-morrow he is to be executed, because he dared to uphold our privileges."
These words sunk deep into the soul of Faustus. He conceived a high opinion of a man who, at the risk of his own life, had dared to stand forward as the avenger of his fellow-creatures. As he himself had just been a witness of the consequences of oppression, he commanded the Devil to carry him to this doctor. The Devil took him aside, and then flew up with him into the tower, and entered the cell of the avenger of the people. Faustus saw before him a man whose daring and gloomy physiognomy was truly disgusting. But the romantic imagination of Faustus pictured, at first sight, the form of a great man, from what he had heard and from what he saw before him. The doctor did not seem much surprised at their sudden appearance. Faustus approached him, and said:
"Doctor Robertus, I come to hear your story from your own mouth; not that I have any doubt, for your appearance confirms all that has been told me of you; I am now convinced that you fall a sacrifice to that tyranny which oppresses the race of man, and which I abhor as much as you do. I come likewise to offer you my a.s.sistance, which, contrary to all appearances, can extricate you from this dreadful situation."
The doctor looked coldly upon him, let his face sink into his hands, and replied:
"Yes, I fall a victim to power and tyranny; and, what is most grievous to me, through the means of a false friend, who sacrifices me more to his fear and envy than to his despotic principles. I know not who ye are, and whether ye can save me; but I wish that men of your appearance should know Dr. Robertus, who is to bleed to-morrow in the cause of freedom.
From my earliest youth the n.o.ble spirit of independence, which man is bound to thank for every thing great that he is capable of, fired my breast; from my early youth the numerous examples of tyranny and oppression which I saw with my eyes, or read of in history, roused my soul and inflamed me to fury. Often did I shed tears because I felt myself unable to avenge the sufferings of mankind. To increase my misery, I read in the history of the Greeks and Romans what advancement man made in virtue when tyrants were put down, and he was left to follow the bent of his own nature. Think not that I am one of those fools whose idea of freedom is that every one should do as he pleases. Full well I know that the capacities of men are different, and that their situations in life must be different; but when I considered the laws which should secure to each individual his life and property, I found nothing but a wild chaos, which tyrannical power had artfully mixed up in order to make herself the sole and arbitrary mistress of the happiness and the existence of the subject. After this discovery, the whole human race appeared to me as a flock of sheep, which a band of robbers had conspired to plunder and devour by means of laws enacted by themselves, and to which they themselves are not amenable: for where is the law that fetters the rulers of the earth? Is it not madness that those very people who, by their situations, are most liable to the abuse of their pa.s.sions, are subservient to no law, and acknowledge no tribunal which can call them to account? Misery is near, and promised vengeance is far off; and that chimes-in but poorly with the feelings and nature of man." Faustus earnestly listened to all this, looked furious, and struck his forehead with his hand. The Devil was quite enraptured with the orator, who continued:
"The wild indignation which I expressed at every new act of oppression does honour to my heart, and therefore I care very little though my enemies can reproach me for want of prudence; for what is termed prudence by the world is nothing else than blind submission, servility, flattery, and being unscrupulous how or in what manner a place is obtained; but an independent being like myself seeks for happiness by purer means. I had the misfortune to be allied, by the bonds of friendship, to the present Minister from the time we were at school together. He sought advancement, and he has the spirit which insures it; for, from his very infancy, he has endeavoured to obtain power and riches by principles entirely opposite to mine; and in proportion as I have attacked tyrannical forms of government, he has defended them. We have disputed this delicate point privately and in public, and my honesty has always enabled me to defeat him; but as it was natural that I should have the oppressed part of mankind on my side, so was it yet more reasonable that he should succeed in winning over all those who derive advantage from enslaving their fellow-men. As these are the very people who can open the door of happiness and fortune to their confederates, so was he soon distinguished and raised, step by step, to the rank of prime-minister of the kingdom; whilst I, neglected, despised, and unknown, remained stationary. The proud despot exerted his utmost to bring me over to his party by bribery and promise of place; but I saw that he only wished to make me thereby more deeply feel his power, and that he felt nothing more was wanting to complete his triumph than to have a man of my principles acknowledge him as patron, and sanctify his arbitrary measures by cooperating with him. True, therefore, to myself, I the more eagerly exposed and censured the crimes which he was daily committing. You must be aware that if he had been capable of feeling what was great, this hostility would have inspired him with admiration for a man who took him to task with so much danger to himself; but it operated in a different manner. The more I exposed him, the more his hatred against me increased; and when I, a month ago, published a paper in which I depicted him in his true colours, and the people thereupon a.s.sembled round his house, threatened his life, and shouted my name with enthusiasm, the wretch had the baseness to send the paper forthwith to the Prince, who had me tried and condemned to death. Thus the laws of tyrants condemn me, but the rights of man acquit me.--I have now told you my history, and you shall hear nothing more from me. I die without a murmur, and merely grieve that I cannot burst the chain which fetters my fellow-men. If you can a.s.sist me, good; but know that death from the hand of my foe is more welcome to me than mercy. Leave me now to myself; return to slavery, while I wing my course to everlasting freedom."
Faustus was confounded at the magnanimity of the Doctor, and hurried away to reproach the minister with his injustice, and put him to shame. The Devil, who saw deeper into matters, perceived that the Doctor was animated with quite a different spirit than that of freedom. The minister gave them an immediate audience; when Faustus spoke to him with much warmth and boldness concerning the situation and opinions of the Doctor. He represented to him how injurious it would be to his reputation to sacrifice a man, whom he once called friend, at the shrine of despotism. He gave him to understand that every man would believe that revenge and fear had actuated him to get rid of so sharp-sighted an observer of his actions. "If your proceedings be just," he continued, "you have, then, nothing to fear from him; if, on the contrary, you are such a man as he declares you to be, his execution will only strengthen his a.s.sertion, and every honest man will call you a false friend and an oppressor of your fellow-citizens."
_Minister_. I do not know you, nor do I ask who you are. The manner in which I bear your reproaches and your epithets will best prove my opinion of you. Consider, now, whether you have a right to bestow them from mere hearsay, being yourself unacquainted with the affairs of this country. I will conclude, however, that you speak from compa.s.sion, and therefore will give you an answer. I was, and am still, the friend of Dr.
Robertus; and I deplore the necessity which forces me to deliver up to justice a man whose talents might have made him useful to his country, had he not perverted them to her destruction. I will not search for the cause of this in his breast, but will leave it to his own conscience.
For a long time I have tolerated his dangerous infatuation; but since he has inflamed the minds of the people for whose welfare I am answerable, and has placed himself at the head of a rebellion, he must die, as my own son must, were he guilty of the like offence. The law has judged him, and not I; he knew this law, and knew what penalties rebellion draws down upon its sons. I have nothing to say against the opinion of the people: when they are no longer misled, I believe they will consider me as their father. If you please, you may stay among us; and whenever you can see any thing really calculated for the people"s good, be a.s.sured that I shall always pay attention to it.
After these words, which he spoke in a firm and unaltered tone, he retired, and left Faustus, who was unable at the moment to make any reply. Upon going away, the latter said to the Devil, "Which of these two, now, shall I believe?" The Devil shrugged his shoulders; for he generally appeared to be ignorant when concealing the truth would be profitable to himself and injurious to mankind.
_Faustus_. But why should I ask thee? I will obey the call of my own heart. A man who is so nearly allied to me by his way of thinking shall not die.
If Faustus had been acquainted with some of our modern bawlers for freedom, he would not have been so mistaken in the Doctor; but such a being was a novelty at that period.
The next morning, when the execution was to take place, Faustus went into the grand square, attended by the Devil, and told him in going along what he was to do. At the very moment the executioner was about to decapitate the Doctor, who had kneeled down, looking very ghastly, the latter disappeared. The Devil carried him through the air beyond the frontiers; and there, delivering him a large sum of money, he abandoned him joyfully to his fate, for he saw pretty clearly how he would employ his gold and liberty. The people raised a wild shout of joy at the disappearance of the Doctor, and believed that Providence had rescued their favourite.
Faustus also shouted, and rejoiced at the glorious action.
Faustus and the Devil now rode to the court of the Prince of ---. {134} They soon reached the court of this prince, who was cried up through all Germany as a wise and virtuous ruler, whose only happiness consisted in the welfare of his subjects. It is true that the subjects themselves did not always join in this cry; but the prince is not yet born who can give satisfaction to all men.
Faustus and the Devil, by means of their dress and equipage, soon found admittance at court. Faustus regarded the Prince with the eyes of a man whose heart was already prepossessed in his favour; and to carry this prepossession even to conviction, nothing more was necessary than the n.o.ble exterior of the Prince himself. He was, or appeared to be, frank and open; endeavoured to please and to win all hearts without appearing to do so; was familiar without laying aside his dignity, and possessed that prudent coldness which inspires respect, though we scarcely know why. All this was blended with so much elegance, urbanity, and decorum, that it would have been difficult for the most acute eye to have distinguished the acquired, the artificial, and the a.s.sumed, from the plain and natural. Faustus, who had as yet seen few of those men of the world whose natural characters are swallowed up by political prudence, formed an ideal one out of the above-mentioned materials; and after he had for some time visited the court, and believed that he had obtained a thorough knowledge of the head personage, the following conversation took place one evening between him and the Devil:
_Faustus_. I have hitherto purposely said nothing to you of this Prince; but now, having, as I flatter myself, caught his character, I venture to affirm that report is no liar, and I hope to wring from thee an avowal that he is the man we have been seeking.
_Devil_. I guessed, from your beginning, how you would end. I suppose you verily believe that you have brought the Devil into a quandary; but of this anon. Your prince shall be for the present a thoroughly honest fellow. I will tell you nothing of the result of the observations I have made upon him; for, from what I have learnt at the minister"s, there is something going forward which will soon give you ocular demonstration of his worth; till then keep the idea you have formed of him in your bosom, and tell me what is your opinion of Count C., his favourite.
_Faustus_. Curse it: he is the only person here whom I cannot comprehend. He is the bosom friend of the Prince, and yet is as slippery as an eel, which always escapes through your fingers; and as smooth as a woman is towards her husband when she has resolved to deceive him. But perhaps he is obliged to conceal the emotions of his soul, lest some of those spies who are always hanging round the favourites of princes should take advantage of him.
_Devil_. His soul! Dost think then, Faustus, that a man who so studiously endeavours to disguise himself has a breast that would bear the light? Never trust him in whom art and subtlety have so far overcome animal nature, that even the signs of his instinct and his sensations are extinguished. When that which works and ferments within you shows itself no more in your face, in your eyes, and in your actions, you are no longer what nature formed you; but are become the most dangerous brutes on the earth.
_Faustus_. And is the Count such a being as you have described?
_Devil_. The Count is a man who has travelled much and has made the tour of the courts of Europe, has smoothed down the rugged man, and has sacrificed the n.o.ble feelings of his heart at the cold shrine of reason; in short, one of those calculating heads who laugh at your ideal virtue, and act with men like the potters, who dash the work of their hands to pieces if it does not please their fancy. He is one of those who think themselves justified, by their experience, to consider the entire race of men as a pack of wolves who will devour all who put confidence in them.
Nothing delights him more than to carry on an intricate state-plot; and he treats a maiden as he does a rose which he plucks from the stalk,--inhales the sweetness, and then very coolly treads it under foot.
_Faustus_. Malicious devil! and can the man thou hast depicted to me be the bosom friend of the Prince of ---?
_Devil_. Time will show what he is to him. I tell thee there is something going forward. Didst thou, by the by, observe the minister this evening?
_Faustus_. He appeared sad and melancholy.
_Devil_. He, now, is one of those whom you call honest men. He is just, n.o.ble-minded, and attentive to the duties of his situation; but, like all of you, he has a foible to counterbalance his virtues; this is an unbounded tenderness for the other s.e.x: and as he, out of principle, required the blessing of the priest to his pleasures, so did he, after the death of his first wife, make a fool of himself by marrying the woman whom you have seen. Through a few hours" enjoyment he destroyed the fabric of his fortune. She took advantage of his doting fondness, and wasted in luxury, dress, and play, her, his, and his children"s property, and involved him in debts to an immense amount. It is true she found in Baron H., whom you know, and who is sole master in the house, a powerful coadjutor. When they were completely aground, and their desires had become more craving in proportion as the difficulty of gratifying them increased, the lady readily agreed to a plan which her minion proposed to her in private, and which was nothing else "than to sell the honour of her stepdaughter, under an equivocal promise of marriage, at as high a price as the favourite would buy it." The minister had not the slightest suspicion of all this; he only felt his lack of money, the weight of his debts, the full ma.s.s of his folly, and trembled in momentary expectation of the arrival of his son, whom the wife had driven from home in order that she might dissipate his property. The poor youth had in the interval departed for the Turkish wars, and had been rewarded for his interference with a wooden arm. I do not say that the favourite might not have had, at the commencement of this affair, serious views of marrying the daughter, for he was well aware of the father"s interest with the Prince; but during these last few days the scene has quite changed. The Prince has proposed to him an alliance with one of the richest heiresses in the land; and he has determined, by one secret stroke, so entirely to overwhelm the minister and his whole house, that no one shall dare to cry for revenge or to complain of him. They will all be silent, and the minister will be crushed beneath his foot, like the worm, whose sufferings are unheard.
_Faustus_. But will not the Prince hear of this deed, and punish it?
_Devil_. Thine own eyes shall be witnesses of the issue of the affair.
_Faustus_. I command thee, under pain of my displeasure, to play none of thy tricks here.
_Devil_. Those who by their crimes put the Devil himself to blush, have very little need of his a.s.sistance. We begin now, O Faustus, to remove the covering from the hearts of men; and I own that I feel sincere joy in finding that the Germans are capable of something grand. You, indeed, are merely the imitators of other nations, and lose thereby the glory of originality; but in h.e.l.l that is not esteemed essential, and good-will in the cause of wickedness is all that is required.