The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Faust a Tragedy
• Faust First Part
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Dedication.
• Prologue For the Theatre.
• Prologue In Heaven.
• Walpurgis-night.
• Walpurgis-night’s Dream; Or, Oberon and Titania’s Golden Wedding Feast. Intermezzo.
• Faust. Second Part
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• Egmont
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Scene I.—: Soldiers and Citizens, With Cross-bows.
• Scene II.—: Palace of the Regent.
• Scene III.—: Citizen’s House.
• Act II.
• Scene I.—: Square In Brussels.
• Scene II.—: Egmont’s Residence.
• Act III.
• Scene I.—: Palace of the Regent.
• Scene II.—: Clara’s Dwelling.
• Act IV.
• Scene I.—: A Street.
• Scene II.—: The Palace of Eulenberg, Residence of the Duke of Alva.
• Act V.
• Scene I.—: A Street. Twilight.
• Scene II.: A Prison.
• Scene III.—: Clara’s House.
• Scene IV.—: A Prison.
• The Natural Daughter a Tragedy
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Scene I.—: Thick Wood.
• Scene II.—: The Same.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.—: The Same.
• Scene V.
• Scene VI.
• Act II.
• Scene I.—: Eugenie’s Apartment In Gothic Style.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Scene V.
• Act III.
• Scene I.—: The Antechamber of the Duke, Furnished In Magnificent Modern Style.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Act IV.
• Scene I.—: Park At the Port. On One Side a Palace, On the Other a Church; In the Background a Row of Trees Through Which the Port Is Seen Below. Eugenie, Enveloped In a Veil, Seated On a Bench In the Background, With Face Turned to the Sea.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Act V.
• Scene I.—: Plaza At the Port.
• Scene II.—: The Same.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.—: The Same.
• Scene V.
• Scene VI.
• Scene VII.
• Scene VIII.
• Scene IX.
• The Sorrows of Young Werther
• Book I.
• Book II.
• The Editor to the Reader.
• Colma.
• Rhyno.
• Alpin.

SCENE I.—

The Antechamber of the Duke,furnished in magnificent modern style.

Secretary. Secular Priest.

Secretary.

Tread silently into this deathly silence!

The palace is as quiet as the tomb.

The Duke is sleeping, and the servants all,

Touch’d by his grief, are bent in sympathy.

He sleeps! I bless’d him as I saw him lie

Wrapp’d in unconsciousness upon his pillow

Peacefully breathing. The excess of woe

Has yielded to the healing balm of Nature.

The moment that shall wake him, that I fear—

A man of grief before you will appear!

Secular Priest.

I am prepar’d to see him, doubt it not.

Secretary.

An hour or two ago the tidings came

That fair Eugenie had been thrown and kill’d.

You must confirm it: say that she was brought

Unto your chapel as the nearest place

That they could take her from the treacherous ground,

Where, boldly courting death, she forc’d her steed.

Secular Priest.

And in the meantime she is far away?

Secretary.

With breathless haste the speeding coursers fly.

Secular Priest.

To whom entrust you such a weighty task?

Secretary.

The prudent goodwife who is wholly ours.

Secular Priest.

To what far region have you sent the maid?

Secretary.

The port that lies most distant in this realm.

Secular Priest.

And will a foreign shore receive her next?

Secretary.

The favoring wind will bear her quickly hence.

Secular Priest.

And will they here forever think her dead?

Secretary.

The purport of thy fiction shall decide.

Secular Priest.

And so this error from the very first

Will sway the fortune of all coming time.

Her very grave is feign’d, and for her body

A mask shall cheat the eye. Her lovely image

Shall shatter in a thousand pieces. Horror

Shall sear my wretched hearer’s loving heart,

As though with fire, because of this misfortune.

All think her dead, she disappears forever

Within the ashes, gray, of nothingness.

Then each of us will quickly turn to life,

And in the tumult of the busy world

Forget that she too, though so far away,

Still breathes the air of life among the living.

Secretary.

Dost thou with utter boldness face the deed?

Will not remorse remain with bitter sting?

Secular Priest.

Thou askest such a question? We are firm.

Secretary.

An inward dissatisfaction oftentimes

Against our will accompanies an action.

Secular Priest.

What do I hear? art thou become repentant,

Or wilt thou only test me if I be

A worthy pupil in the arts thou teachest?

Secretary.

Never sufficiently do men reflect!

Secular Priest.

They should reflect before the deed’s begun.

Secretary.

’Tis not too late before the deed is done.

Secular Priest.

For me the door of forethought is shut fast.

The time for that was when I still delay’d

Within the Paradise of simple joys:

When, bounded by the garden’s cosy hedge,

I grafted trees that I myself had planted,

And fed my table from the narrow beds,

When still contentment in the little house

Supplied a sense of having wealth unbounded,

And when, according to my light, I spoke

Unto the congregation from my heart,

A friend with friends, a father with his children,

And gave my hand to aid the worthy man,

And stopp’d the bad man and the sin he did.

Oh, would that some beneficent spirit had then

Turn’d from my door thy hesitating steps,

Whereto thou, weary, thirsty from the chase,

Didst come to knock and with thy flattering ways,

Thy wily words, didst lay a spell upon me!

That beauteous day on which our friendship hung

Peace spread her wings and fled forever from me!

Secretary.

We brought thee many pleasures, did we not?

Secular Priest.

And many anxious wants which weight me down.

I felt my poverty to see the rich.

Anxiety oppress’d me, for I lack’d;

And in my need I ask’d for help from others.

You brought me aid: dearly I pay for it.

You took me as the comrade of your fortune.

You took me as the complice of your deeds—

Nay, rather should I say the slave, for such

You made the once free now abandon’d man.

You gave him pay forsooth, but yet denied

The sole reward which he had dared to ask.

Secretary.

Have faith that we shall load thee down ere long

With honors, benefices and estates.

Secular Priest.

But those are not the things that I expect.

Secretary.

And now what new demand hast thou conceiv’d?

Secular Priest.

You use me as a tool devoid of feelings

Thus once again. This noble child ye thrust

Forth from the living circle of her friends.

’Tis I must palliate, must hide the deed,

Yet you determine and I have no voice.

Henceforth I ask to join your secret conclave

Where frightful deeds are plann’d, where every man

Proud of his strength and genius bends the course

Of monstrous actions unavoidable.

Secretary.

That thou so closely art with us allied

Gives thee a new and potent claim upon us.

With weighty secrets shalt thou soon be trusted.

And so be patient and control thyself.

Secular Priest.

I am, and far more patient than you think.

Long since I saw the purport of your plans.

He only merits secret consecration

Who through presentiment anticipates.

Secretary.

What dost thou guess? What dost thou know?

Secular Priest.

Let that

Be spared until we meet at midnight’s hour.

Alas! this maiden’s melancholy fate

Has vanish’d like a brook in ocean’s tide,

When I consider how ye lift yourselves

In secret in a mighty party schism,

And hope, by treacherous wiles, to oust the King,

And foist yourselves as rulers on the land.

Not you alone, for others also strive

In rivalry with you to reach your goal.

And so ye undermine the throne and State.

Who shall be rescued from the impending fate?

Secretary.

Hush! Some one comes! Hide in this secret closet.

When it is time I’ll summon thee to enter.