politics and ethics and art and literature and society--the world whose
highest ideal is success, or, at the best, the 'greatest good of the
greatest number' and the evolution of that terrible ghoul the so-called
Super-man.

It is at the court of a German Kaiser that Faust first makes trial of
this so-called greater world. The young monarch has lately returned from
Italy, where, as was once customary, he had been crowned by the Pope
with the iron Lombard crown. By his extravagances he has already emptied
the imperial coffers. His Chancellor, his Treasurers, his Paymasters are
all at the verge of despair, and the Empire is on the brink of
bankruptcy. To add to these misfortunes (perhaps the greatest of them in
the opinion of the young Kaiser) the court-fool has tumbled downstairs
and has broken his neck; so at least it is believed; but cats and fools
have a way of falling on their feet, and this fool turns up again later.
Meanwhile however Mephistopheles presents himself and is accepted as a
_locum tenens_. To him the Kaiser turns for advice, and Mephistopheles
proposes a clever expedient--meant as a satire on modern systems of
finance and State security. He suggests that, as the land belongs to the
Kaiser, and as in the ground there are doubtless great quantities of
hidden treasures, buried in olden times, the Kaiser should, on the
security of these hidden and as yet undiscovered treasures, issue
'promises to pay'--in other words paper money. This is done, and
suddenly the imperial court, in spite of its empty coffers, finds itself
in affluence. The young Kaiser, delighted at the opportunity of
indulging his taste for display and extravagance, decides on holding a
masquerade, such as he had lately witnessed at the Roman Carneval.

The description of this great court masquerade occupies a considerable
space in Goethe's drama, and is generally looked upon by the
commentators as one of the least successful parts of _Faust_. The
question is, how are we to estimate _success_ in such a matter? For
myself I confess that I find this masquerade scene tedious and irksome,
and can with difficulty read it through; but is not this just the effect
that Goethe wished to produce? Is not this just the effect that society,
with all its masquerades and mummeries, inevitably produces on any one
who, like Faust and with Faust's ideals and aspirations, is making trial
of life in order to discover under what conditions it is worth living?
In