Wilt thou keep thy dainty berth, Poodle, use a gentler mirth, Cease thy whimpering and howling, And keep for other place thy growling. Such a noisy inmate may Not my studious leisure cumber; You or I, without delay, Restless cur, must leave the chamber! Not willingly from thee I take The right of hospitality. But if thou wilt my quiet break, Seek other quarters--thou hast exit free. But what must I see? What vision strange Beyond the powers Of Nature's range? Am I awake, or bound with a spell? How wondrously the brute doth swell! Long and broad Uprises he, In a form that no form Of a dog may be! What spectre brought I into the house? He stands already, with glaring eyes, And teeth in grinning ranks that rise, Large as a hippopotamus! O! I have thee now! For such half-brood of hell as thou The key of Solomon the wise Is surest spell to exorcise.[*n3] Spirits. [_in the passage without_] Brother spirits, have a care! One within is prisoned there! Follow him none!--for he doth quail Like a fox, trap-caught by the tail. But let us watch! Hover here, hover there, Up and down amid the air; For soon this sly old lynx of hell Will tear him free, and all be well. If we can by foul or fair, We will free him from the snare, And repay good service thus, Done by him oft-times for us. Faust. First let the charm of the elements four The nature of the brute explore. Let the Salamander glow, Undene twine her crested wave, Silphe into ether flow, And Kobold vex him, drudging slave![*n4] Whoso knows not The elements four, Their quality, And hidden power, In the magic art Hath he no part. Spiring in flames glow Salamander! Rushing in waves flow Undene! Shine forth in meteor-beauty Silphe! Work thy domestic duty Incubus Incubus! Step forth and finish the spell. None of the four In the brute doth dwell. It lies quite still with elfish grinning there. It shall know a stronger charm, It shall shrink from sharper harm, When by a mightier name I swear. Art thou a fugitive Urchin of hell? So yield thee at length To this holiest spell! Bend thee this sacred Emblem before, Which the powers of darkness Trembling adore.[*n5] Already swells he up with bristling hair. Can'st thou read it, The holy sign, Reprobate spirit, The emblem divine? The unbegotten, Whom none can name, Moving and moulding The wide world's frame, Yet nailed to the cross With a death of shame.