ete form was the
creation of orthodox Protestantism. Faust is the foil to Luther, who
worsted the Devil with his ink-bottle when he sought to interrupt the
sacred work of rendering the Bible into the vulgar tongue." This legend,
by the way, is a peculiarly happy one, for Luther not only aimed his
ink-bottle at the Devil, but most literally and effectively hit him with
it, when he wrote those books that changed the face of religious Europe.

The _Historie_ had an immense and immediate popularity, and until well
into the nineteenth century it was reproduced and sold throughout
Europe. As we read it, we cannot but wonder what manner of man it really
was who attracted to himself such age-long hatred and fear, and held the
interest of the centuries. In many respects, doubtless, his story was
like that of Paracelsus, in whom the world has recognised the struggle
of much good with almost inevitable evil, and who, if he had been born
in another generation, might have figured as a commanding spiritual or
scientific authority.

Christopher Marlowe was born at Canterbury in 1564, two months before
Shakespeare. He was the son of a shoemaker, and was the pupil of Kett, a
fellow and tutor of Corpus Christi College. This tutor was probably
accountable for much in the future Marlowe, for he was a mystic, and was
burnt for heresy in 1589. After a short and extremely violent life, the
pupil followed his master four years later to the grave, having been
killed in a brawl under very disgraceful circumstances. He only lived
twenty-nine years, and yet he, along with Kyd, changed the literature of
England. Lyly's Pastorals had been the favourite reading of the people
until these men came, keen and audacious, to lead and sing their "brief,
fiery, tempestuous lives." When they wrote their plays and created their
villains, they were not creating so much as remembering. Marlowe's plays
were four, and they were all influential. His _Edward the Second_ was
the precursor of the historical plays of Shakespeare. His other plays
were _Tamburlaine the Great_, _Dr. Faustus_, and _The Jew of Malta_
(Barabbas). These three were all upon congenial lines, expressing that
Titanism in revolt against the universe which was the inspiring spirit
of Marlowe. But it was the character of Faust that especially fascinated
him, for he found in the ancient magician a pretty clear image of his
own desires and ambitions. He was one of those who loved "the dangerous
edge