who were
scampering towards the castle, he exclaimed: "The vapours of the hellish
pool will not, one day, strike him with such horror, O Faustus, as this
thy deed: his young and beloved wife was a few days ago delivered of her
firstborn."

_Faustus_. Oh, save her and the new-born babe!

_Devil_. It is too late. The mother pressed the boy in her arms, and he
was burnt to ashes upon her bosom.

This episode made Faustus shudder, and he exclaimed, "How ready is the
Devil to destroy!"

_Devil_. Not so ready as daring men are to decide and punish. Had ye
but our might, ye would long ago have shattered the vast globe, and
reduced it to a chaos. Are you not a proof of this yourself, since you
so madly abuse the power which you have over me? Go to; go to. The man
who does not bridle himself resembles the wheel which rolls down the
steep: who can stop its course? It springs from rock to rock till it is
shivered. Faustus, I would willingly have permitted the babe to grow up
and commit sin; for I am now deprived both of him and his mother. Yes,
Faustus; she endeavoured to preserve him from the scorching flames with
her arms, the flesh of which was already frightfully burnt.

_Faustus_. Thou drivest it home to my very heart. (_Hiding his face in
his mantle_, _already wet with his tears_.)

The desire of avenging the virtuous and the innocent upon the wicked now
began to cool in the heart of Faustus. He however comforted his spirit,
tormented by the last spectacle, with the thought of the mother and the
suckling being preserved from hell. Besides this, his hot blood, his
eagerness for pleasure, his desire for change, and finally his doubts,
did not permit any sensation to make a lasting impression upon his heart.
As he was attracted by every new object, his feelings, therefore, burnt
like sky-rockets, which for a moment illumine the darkness of the night,
and then suddenly disappear. The rich meal and the delicious wines which
he enjoyed in the next city where they arrived soon chased away his
melancholy fancies; and as the grand fair was being held there at that
time, Faustus and the Devil, after they had dined, went into the
market-place to see the crowd.

They now found themselves in a strange city. There lived in one of the
convents a young monk, who had, by means of a heated imagination,
succeeded in so powerfully convincing himself of the force of religious
faith, that he believed he should be able to