with a
suitable inscription; the inscription is effaced and is about to be
replaced by another in the German language in commemoration of the downfall
of the _Tyrant_, as the Coalition are pleased to call him. This Tyrant is
however extremely regretted by the inhabitants of Aix-la-Chapelle and not
without reason, for he was a great benefactor to them and continually
embellished the city, confirming and increasing its privileges. The
inhabitants are not at all pleased with their new masters; for the
behaviour of the Prussian military has been so insulting and overbearing
towards the burghers and students that it is, I am told, a common
exclamation among the latter, alluding to the Prussians having stiled
themselves their deliverers: _De nostris liberatoribus, Domine, libera
nos_. Indeed, I can evidently discern that they are not particularly
pleased at the result of the battle of Waterloo.

In the evening I went to the theatre, which has the most inconvenient form
imaginable, being a rectangle. As anti-Gallicanism is the order of the day,
only German dramas are allowed to be performed and this night it was the
tragedy of Faust, or Dr Faustus as we term him in England, not the Faust of
Goethe, which is not meant for nor at all adapted to the stage, but a drama
of that name written by Klingmann.[18] It is a strange wild piece, quite in
the German style and full of horrors and diableries. In this piece the
sublime and terrible border close on the ridiculous; for instance the Devil
and Faust come to drink in a beer-schenk or ale-house. 'Tis true the Devil
is incognito at the time and is called "der Fremde" or "the Stranger"; it
is only towards the conclusion of the piece that he discovers himself to be
Satan.... The actor who played the part of the Stranger had something in
his physiognomy very terrific and awe-inspiring. In another scene, which to
us would appear laughable and absurd, but which pleases a German audience,
three women in masks come on the stage to meet Faust, in a churchyard, and
on unmasking display three skeleton heads.

Poor Faust had stipulated to give his soul to the Devil for aiding him in
the attainment of his desires; the Devil on his part agrees to allow him to
commit four deadly sins before he shall call on him to fulfil his contract.
Faust, in the sequel, kills his wife and his father-in-law. Satan then
claims him. Faust pleads in arrest of judgement, that he has only committed
two crimes out of th