III

Faust in England

Theearliest mention of Faust in England is in a translation by R. H. of a book by Ludwig Lavater,Of Ghostes and Spirites, published in 1572:—

“There are also conjurers founde even at this day, who bragge of themselves that they can so by inchauntments saddle an horse, that in a fewe houres they will dispatch a very long journey. God at the last will chasten these men with deserved punishment. What straunge things are reported of one Faustus a German, which he did in these our dayes by inchauntments?”

The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus, which was published in London in 1592, was, as the title-page announces, newly printed and in places amended, so there must have been an earlier edition of which all trace is lost. This was in all likelihood translated from theeditio princepsof 1587, but as we are uncertain of its date, it is not impossible that one of the slightly later German editions was used. There occurs in the Stationers’ Registers under the date 28th of February, 1589, the entry of “A ballad of the life and deathe of DoctorFaustusthe great Cunngerer. Allowed under the hand of the Bishop of London.”

This ballad has been preserved only in later versions of the seventeenth century,[9]and it is not possible to say definitely whether or no it was founded on the English translation of the German Faust book, though that is the most likely theory. There is little doubt that the latter appeared before the ballad. In any case,The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe, which was in all probability on the stage as early as 1589, was based directly, as is shown by internal evidence, on the English Faust book, and it is unlikely that Marlowe was acquainted with the German version.[10]So even if the ballad was founded on Marlowe’s tragedy, which is very improbable, and not on the English Faust book, the latter must have been published an astonishingly short time after the appearance of the original GermanHistoria. The translator is called P. F.Gent.(i.e. Gentleman, and not, as some editors have thought, his surname), but in later editions these initials appear as P. R. or P. K. His identity cannot be established, and it is not even possible to estimate definitely his knowledge of German. To quote Logeman; “That P. F.... must have known some German is of course evident from the whole of the translation and more especially from some passages where a smaller light would have blundered. But that his own cannot have shone very brightly is apparent from the number of lesser and greater blunders in which we have caught our translator, and also from the fact that some passages whichpresent considerable difficulties will be found to have been omitted.” We cannot, however, judge a sixteenth-century translator by present-day standards, for he was at liberty to adapt or modify as he listed. For example, where the German original states that Faust blew in the pope’s face, the translator rendersblewbysmote, thus altering the whole sense, and it is doubtful whether the false translation is due to P. F.’s sense of humour or his ignorance of German. The description of Florence is even more confused than in the original, and he adds strange lore of his own, such as the mythical story of the Brazen Virgin on the bridge at Breslaw, who was used for the disposal of unruly children. It is possible that P. F. had really visited eastern Germany and the Polish or Galician regions, such as Prague and Cracow, but it is just as likely that he obtained his extra knowledge from a travelled friend. He frequently tones down the German author’s denunciation of Faust’s wicked ways, and emphasizes the fantasies and cogitations rather than the presumption and arrogance of the sorcerer. The English Faust book is therefore the first step in the deepening of the Faust character, and this conception is developed by Marlowe.[11]

There is in the original legend of Faust little of that titanic discontent with the spiritual limits of humanity, which is now regarded as the fundamental characteristic of the Faustian nature. It is not the desire to solve the riddle of the universe that drives him to the pact with the Devil, but the less worthydesire for power and pleasure. It is true that “he took to himself eagles’ wings and wanted to fathom all the causes in heaven and earth,” but the Promethean defiance which some scholars have sought to establish as his guiding motive, was a preconception implanted in their own minds by a study of the Faust of Goethe. The Faust of theHistoriaobliges the Devil to answer all his questions and shows afterwards a lively interest in the organization of heaven and hell, but the first-fruits of the pact are food, wine and women. Even Marlowe’s Faustus promises himself merely treasure, delicacies and power from intercourse with the spirits; philosophy, medicine, law and theology are all inadequate for the man who longs to “raise the wind, or rend the clouds,” but when his league with hell has endowed him with supernatural powers, the only use he finds for them is to gratify his sensual desires or indulge in practical jokes. It cannot be said that Marlowe has realized in his tragedy the potentiality of the legend, though he seems to have had an inkling of it. The Helen episode gives rise to the finest poetical passage in the play:—

“Was this the face that launch’d a thousand ships,And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?”—

“Was this the face that launch’d a thousand ships,

And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?”—

and the final scene, with Faust’s death presaged by the striking of the clock, is impressive, but the author has done little to raise the conception to a higher plane.

After the production of Marlowe’s play the name of Faustus appears to have become a household word, and there are various allusions to the character in contemporary writings, including a reference in Shakespeare’sMerry Wives. William Prynne relatesin hisHistrio-Mastix, The Players’ Scourge, 1663, a curious incident which occurred during a performance. He is quoting the tragic end of many who have been slain in playhouses in London, “Nor yet to recite the sudden fearful burning even to the ground, both of the Globe and Fortune Playhouses, no man perceiving how these fires came: together with the visible apparition of the Devil on the Stage at the Belsavage Playhouse, in Queen Elizabeth’s days (to the great amazement both of the Actors and Spectators) whiles they were there profanely playing the History of Faustus, ... there being some distracted with that fearful sight.”

There was no further development of the theme in this country, for it degenerated into a subject for farce and pantomime. There were further editions of the English Faust book, and in the year 1664 there was published in LondonThe History of Doctor John Faustus; Compiled in Verse, very pleasant and Delightfull, with a doggerel dedication to the reader:—

“Reader, I would not have you think,That I intend to waste my ink,While Faustus Story I reherse,And here do write his life in verse.For seeing Fryer Bacons Story,(In whom Oxford still may glory)For want of better pen comes forth,Compos’d in Rymes of no great worth:I call’d my Muse to task, and pendFaustus life, and death, and end.And when it cometh forth in print,If you like it not, the Devil’s in’t.”

“Reader, I would not have you think,

That I intend to waste my ink,

While Faustus Story I reherse,

And here do write his life in verse.

For seeing Fryer Bacons Story,

(In whom Oxford still may glory)

For want of better pen comes forth,

Compos’d in Rymes of no great worth:

I call’d my Muse to task, and pend

Faustus life, and death, and end.

And when it cometh forth in print,

If you like it not, the Devil’s in’t.”

A farce by the actor W. Mountford,Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, with the Humours of Harlequin andScaramuch, was acted at the Queen’s Theatre in Dorset Gardens between 1684 and 1688, and revived later at the theatre in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. It was borrowed for the most part, with the exception, of course, of the harlequinade, from Marlowe.

The poet Alexander Pope declares that Faust was the subject of a set of farces, which lasted in vogue two or three seasons, and in which both Drury Lane and Covent Garden strove to outdo each other for some years. John Thurmond, a dancing master, composed aHarlequin Dr. Faustus, which was performed at Drury Lane, and published in the year 1724, and there is a record of aHarlequin Dr. Faustus, Pantomime; altered from the Necromancer, by a Mr. Woodward, which was acted at Covent Garden as late as 1766. These are but casual references to what must have been numerous Faust farces, and there were in addition performances of Faust puppet-plays in the Punch and Judy Theatre of Martin Powell opposite St. Paul’s Church in Covent Garden. Neither the pantomimes nor the puppet-plays appear to derive from Marlowe, but since the appearance of the latter’s tragedy, the Faust story appears definitely to have abandoned the epic form for the dramatic, and it is in its original home, Germany, that further development took place. Although in England the theme degenerated until it was employed for the most insipid type of theatrical entertainment, it was the English dramatist who first gave it the form in which, two centuries later, it was to inspire the greatest of all the poets who have sought to express the strivings of humanity in the figure of Faust.

Footnotes[9]See Appendix B.[10]Marlowe’s Faustus, etc., edited by A. W. Ward [4th ed., Oxford, 1901], andFaustus-Notes, by H. Logeman [Gand, 1898].[11]R. Rohde:Das Englische Faustbuch und Marlowes Tragödie[Halle, 1910].

Footnotes

[9]See Appendix B.

[10]Marlowe’s Faustus, etc., edited by A. W. Ward [4th ed., Oxford, 1901], andFaustus-Notes, by H. Logeman [Gand, 1898].

[11]R. Rohde:Das Englische Faustbuch und Marlowes Tragödie[Halle, 1910].

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