ense of the limits of theology such as
has been well expressed in Rossetti's lines--

"Let lore of all theology
Be to thee all it can be,
But know,--the power that fashions man
Measured not out thy little span
For thee to take the meting-rod
In turn and so approve on God."

So in Goethe we have the unsatisfied human spirit with its infinite
cravings and longings for something more than earth can give--something,
however, which is not separated from the earth, and which is entirely
different from theological dogma or anything of that sort. In this,
Goethe is expressing a constant yearning of his own, which illuminated
all his writings like a gentle hidden fire within them, hardly seen in
many passages and yet always somehow felt. It is _through_ the flesh
that he will find the spirit, _through_ this world that he will find the
next. The quest is ultimately the same as that of Marlowe, but the form
of it is absolutely opposed to his. Goethe is as far from Marlowe's
theological position as _Peer Gynt_ is, and indeed there is a
considerable similarity between Ibsen's great play and Goethe's. As the
drama develops, it is true that the love of Faust becomes sensual and
his curiosity morbid; but the tragedy lies no longer in the belief that
sense and curiosity are in themselves wrong, but in the fact that Faust
fails to distinguish their high phases from their low. We have already
seen that the _Erdgeist_ which first appeals to Faust is too great for
him, and it is there that the tragedy really lies. The earth is not an
accursed place, and the _Erdgeist_ may well find its home among the
ideals; but Wagner is neither big enough nor clean enough to be man's
guide.

The contrast between the high and low ideals comes to its finest and
most tragic in the story of Margaret. Spiritual and sensual love
alternate through the play. Its tragedy and horror concentrate round the
fact that love has followed the lower way. Margaret has little to give
to Faust of fellowship along intellectual or spiritual lines. She is a
village maiden, and he takes from her merely the obvious and lower kind
of love. It is a way which leads ultimately to the dance of the witches
and the cellar of Auerbach, yet Faust can never be satisfied with these,
and from the witch's mouth comes forth the red mouse--the climax of
disgust. In Auerbach's cellar he sees himself as the pagan man in him
would like to be. In Martha one sees th