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 IV.

Eugenie. Governess.

Eugenie.

Upon thy will I know my happiness,

My misery depend. Oh, be persuaded!

Oh, let thy hard heart yield! Send me not hence.

Governess.

It lies with thee to guide our future course.

Thou hast a choice. I only can obey

The ruling hand; it hurls me swift away.

Eugenie.

And dost thou call it choice when opposite

The stronghold of impossibility

The unavoidable arrays itself?

Governess.

The alliance can be made, the ban be broken.

Eugenie.

There are things that a noble cannot do.

Governess.

This worthy man might well inspire thy favor.

Eugenie.

If thou would’st bring me back to better fortune

I would reward his kindness boundlessly.

Governess.

Oh, give him now the only boon he asks,

And lead him by thy hand to higher levels.

If virtue, if desert but slowly forward

The man of capability, if he,

With calm renunciation, scarcely notic’d,

Devotes himself to others, striving upwards,

A noble wife will lead him to his goal.

Let no man look below him for a spouse.

Too lofty his ambition cannot be.

If he succeeds to woo a high-born lady

The path of life will smooth before his steps.

Eugenie.

The meaning of thy false, confusing words

I disentangle from thy lying speech.

The opposite I know too well is true.

The husband irresistibly compels

The wife to take the exclusive course he follows.

Once there, forever there; she cannot choose

By force inherent ways dissimilar.

From low condition he will lift her up;

And so from higher spheres he snares her down;

Her former self is vanish’d quite away,

Extinguish’d every trace of days departed.

What she has won who now can tear from her?

And who can give her back what she has lost?

Governess.

And thus thou dost pronounce the fatal sentence.

Eugenie.

Yet full of hope I look for rescue still.

Governess.

When he who loves despairs how canst thou hope?

Eugenie.

A man less passionate would counsel better.

Governess.

Of choice and counsel let no more be said;

Thou driv’st me into exile: thou must follow.

Eugenie.

Oh, would that yet once more before my eyes

Thou would’st appear with gentle friendliness,

As always from the earliest days I saw thee.

With not more sweet, benevolent glance than thine,

The sun whose glory animates all life,

The bright moon with its soft inspiring rays,

Pour’d forth their heavenly influence on my mind.

What boldest wish was not anticipated?

What was to fear? The safeguard was prepar’d.

And though my mother held herself aloof

And did not show her favor to her child

Thou camest to me in a mother’s place,

Consoling me with limitless affection.

And art thou now so chang’d? Thou seemest

In outward guise the same old loving friend.

But inwardly thy heart has wholly chang’d.

It still is thou whom I so often ask’d

For favors small and great, never denied.

The childlike sentiment of wonted reverence

It prompts me now to ask the greatest boon.

artist: otto seitz.

THE NATURAL DAUGHTER. ACT IV, SCENE IV.

eugenia and the governess.

And could it lower me to beg thee now

On bended knee, as though before my father,

As though before my King, my God, for safety?

[She kneels.

Governess.

It seems to me that in thy present mood

Thou mockest me, and falsehood moves me not.

[She roughly liftsEugenieto her feet.

Eugenie.

A tone so harsh, such inconsiderate treatment,

Must I endure to suffer at thy hands?

And dost thou fright away my dream so rudely?

In clearest light I see my destiny.

’Twas not my fault, ’twas not the strife of party,

It was my brother’s guile that drove me hither;

And thou, a sworn conspirator with him,

Compellest me to suffer lifelong exile.

Governess.

Thy error drives thee into thoughts unjust.

What will thy brother scheme to do against thee?

He has the will perchance but not the power.

Eugenie.

As he desires, so let it be. I will not

In those far-distant hopeless deserts languish.

A living people move around me here,

A loving people, in whose hearts the name

Of father spoken by a child is sweet.

I will demand their aid. A mighty shout

Would summon rescuers from the brawny rabble.

Governess.

The brawny rabble thou hast never known.

They stare and wonder and procrastinate

While what is done is done. And if they move

Failure attends their planless enterprise.

Eugenie.

Thou shalt not with thy chilling word destroy

My faith, as thou hast ruin’d my happiness.

Down in the city life shall give me life;

There where the billowing throngs stream ceaselessly,

Where every heart contented with its pittance

Will open to the touch of sympathy—

Thou shalt not keep me back. I’ll shout aloud,

Impetuously mixing in the throng,

And blazon forth the frightful deed of crime

Which fills my soul with poignant pangs of fear.

ACT V.