[i20] That Faust might attain universal celebrity, the fame of authorship could not be wanting. Besides being the reputed author of his own life and exploits, published by his executor Wagner after his death, there are extant magical works under his own name,--perhaps not more authentic than those ascribed to Solomon,--of which one of the most curious is reprinted by Horst, _Zauber Bibliothek_, vol. iii. p. 86, with the following title, "Doctor J. Faust's Book of Miracles, Art, and Wonders, or the Black Raven,--also called the Threefold Hell-compulsion; wherewith I compelled the Spirits to bring me whatsoever things I pleased, whether gold or silver, treasure great and small, and the springroot (a magic plant), and whatever other such things are upon the earth; all this have I brought to pass by means of this book, and was also able to dismiss the spirits as often as I pleased." The introduction to this book by Doctor Faust himself is curious, but too long for insertion. The warning, however, with which it concludes is too serious to be omitted, "_Above all things, beware of entering into compacts with these Spirits, that it may not fare with you as it has fared with me._" [i21] Roscoe's _German Novelists_, vol. i. To which the curious may add (1.) Faust: _dans l'Histoire et dans la, Legende par Ristelhüber._ Didier. 1863. (2.) Faustus: his life, death, and doom, a romance in prose; from the German. London: Kent and Co., 1864. (3.) Auerbach's _Volksbuchlein_. München, 1839. [i22] See notes to Manfred. [i23] Martin. Faust [1] Apollyon, Beelzebub, Satan. [2] A cant word for a sword. [3] _Dudelsack_. A bagpipe. [4] _Rabenstein_. Place of execution. NOTES. Note I. _And this mysterious magic page_ _From Nostradamus' hand so sage._ Nostradamus was born at St. Remy, a town of Provence, in 1503, and was a great friend of Julius Scaliger. He must thus have been likewise a cotemporary of the famous alchymist Cornelius Agrippa, whom, as we have seen (_Vide Introd. Remarks_), Del-Rio makes a companion of Dr. Faust. Like a worthy son of the sixteenth century, Nostradamus was convinced that he could make no progress in the art of healing bodily diseases unless he began _ab ovo_ with the study of the stars; and this it was that led him away from his own profession of medicine into the sublime regions of astronomy and astrology, to which allusion is made in the text. He was particularly famous for his prophetic almanacs, which were held in universal estimation. The title of his principal work is "_The true Prophecies and Prognostications of Michael Nostradamus, physician to Henry II., Francis II., Charles IX., Kings of France, and one of the best astronomers that ever were, a work full of curiosity and learning_." The English translation is from the hand of Theophilus de Garenciennes, a naturalised Frenchman, and Oxonian Doctor of Physic. The common edition is London, 1672.