FAUST: A TRAGEDY BY GOETHE TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE WITH NOTES AND PRELIMINARY REMARKS By JOHN STUART BLACKIE PROFESSOR OF GREEK IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH SECOND EDITION CAREFULLY REVISED AND LARGELY REWRITTEN London MACMILLAN AND CO. 1880 TRANSLATOR'S DEDICATION. An Goethe. _Versuch ich's mich so kühnlich hoch zu heben,_ _Zu den Gefilden reiner Lebensstrahlen?_ _Und wag' ich's frech, mit schwacher Hand zu malen_ _Was Dir nur ziemt, das buntbewegte Leben?_ _Wie soll der Kinderzunge lallend Streben_ _Aussprechen, was des Mannes Kraft gesungen?_ _Wie soll des Menschen Stimme wiedergeben,_ _Was aus der tiefen Götterbrust entsprungen?_ _O! wenn der Liebe ungestümer Drang_ _Mich trieb, dass ich das Heiligste entweihe,_ _Und zu berauschter, frecher Sünde zwang;_ _So schaue Du, aus der Verklärten Reihe,_ _Aus Himmelsharfen liebevollem Klang,_ _Und, wenn du mich nicht loben kannst, verzeihe!_ CONTENTS. PREFACE. PRELIMINARY. DRAMATIS PERSONÆ. DEDICATION. PRELUDE AT THE THEATRE. PROLOGUE IN HEAVEN. FAUST. ACT I. Scene I, Scene II, Scene III. ACT II. Scene I, Scene II, Scene III, Scene IV, Scene V, Scene VI, Scene VII. ACT III. Scene I, Scene II, Scene III, Scene IV, Scene V, Scene VI, Scene VII, Scene VIII. ACT IV. Scene I, Scene II, Scene III, Scene IV, Scene V, Scene VI, Scene VII, Scene VIII, Scene IX. ACT V. Scene I, Scene II, Scene III, Scene IV, Scene V. FOOTNOTES. NOTES. PREFACE. /The/ appearance of this Second Edition of my translation of "Faust," after an interval of more than forty years from the publication of the original edition, may seem to require a word of explanation. Very soon after the issue of the first edition I became convinced that with the usual tendency of ambitious young men, I had allowed my enthusiasm to overrule my discretion, and ventured upon a task that demanded a much riper experience of life, and a much more finished dexterity of execution than was to be expected from a person of my age and capacity. I accordingly passed a verdict of condemnation upon it, and--notwithstanding the more lenient sentence passed on the work by not a few friendly voices--continued to regard it as a juvenile performance, which had done the best service of which it was capable, by teaching me my ignorance. This verdict was confirmed in my mind by the appearance of the admirable version of the same poem by my accomplished friend, Sir Theodore Martin, with whose laurels, thus nobly earned, I was inclined to think it a sort of impertinence to interfere. But, as time went on, and, while I was employing my whole energies on laborious works in quite another sphere, I still continued to hear people, whose judgment I could not altogether despise, praising and quoting my "Faust;" in which partial estimate they were no doubt confirmed by the approval of the late George Lewes, in his classical Life of Goethe, and of the