friends, I think we all--
Or most of us--agree that talk like this
Is a destructive influence, to be met
With frowns, in justice to society.
Such words disgrace humanity, affront
Respectability, and fill with shame
Our hearts for such a speaker. Yet the rogue
Requires but rope to save the law the toil
Of trial and execution. I bespeak,
Therefore, your patience for this gentleman;
Till he has time to wind the hempen knot
Securely round his throat, let us sit by
And hear him further.

FAUST

Thank you. You begin
Well in my service.

SATAN

Aye, indeed, indeed!
You don't suppose a mouse-trap baits itself?
Friends, let us hear him.

RICH YOUNG MAN

That sounds sensible.

YOUNG PLUMBER

Let each dog have his day.

OLD PLUMBER

Sit down! Shut up!

YOUNG PLUMBER

Leave me alone!

SATAN

One moment more, I pray,
Of your kind patience. Sir, ere you proceed,
I have a word to give you. I have heard
Tales of your cleverness in foiling twice
The Devil who sought to lead you to resign
Your will to his. Perhaps it was not well
That you so spurned his euthanasia.
By your own devious path, you come at last
To where all facts are vain, all visions fade,
And your old wager is a laughing-stock,
So valueless your will, so vain your power
To shape one end of hope. Life crumbles, falls,
Around you; and your kind with horror see
Your utter nakedness. But I have brought
A little present for you: not so nice
As two the Devil once offered in its place;
Yet 'twill suffice. Men who would cheat the Devil
Come, with a curious unanimity,
To where the lump of lead becomes a boon
Unto the soul rejecting easier sleep.
The Devil claims his own in his own day.

(_He approaches the platform, and offers to Faust a
pistol_)

YOUNG STUDENT

What is he saying?

CHILD

Are they going to shoot?

YOUNG PLUMBER

Bang yourself one! That's what it's for.

BUTCHER

Good riddance!
There isn't room on earth for jokes like you!

FAUST (_accepts the pistol_)

In such a spirit as you offer it,
I do accept this token. In my hand
At least it shall lie safe, nor be a god:
I worship not the bullet.... But beware
What mummer's part you play in this strange scene.
For by the victory I have won of late,
I am your master! And in grovelling dust
Before me y