day, and enjoy in anticipation the
victory which I, who know men, promise you. Long live Faustus!"

With horrible uproar, which made the axis of the earth tremble, and the
bones of the dead rattle in their coffins, the devils shouted, "Long live
Faustus!" "Long live the corrupter of the sons of dust!" Hereupon the
chief nobility of the kingdom were permitted to kiss the hand of his
Satanic majesty.

The triumphant devils now sat down to table, and fell upon the prepared
meal. The goblets clattered, the souls were craunched between their iron
teeth; and they drank the health of Satan, of Faustus, of the clergy, of
the tyrants of the earth, and of future and living authors, amidst the
clang of hellish artillery. In order to render the banquet more
magnificent, the masters of the revels went to the pools, drew out the
burning souls, and chased them over the tables, to illumine the gloomy
scene; while they ran behind the wretches with poisoned whips, forcing
them to caper; and sparks ascended to the blackened roofs, crackling like
wheat-sheaves ignited by lightning in an autumn storm. That the devils
might have music to their meat, others hastened to the pools, and poured
molten metal amid the flames, so that the damned howled and cursed in
grisly despair. If priests now could, instead of their cold and
fruitless sermons about penitence, give a specimen upon earth of these
horrid cries, sinners would quickly turn a deaf ear to the voluptuous
warblings of castrati, and join in some pious psalm: but, alas, hell is
distant, and pleasure close at hand. After the banquet a great stage was
erected, and various plays were performed, founded on the heroic deeds of
Satan; for example, the Fall of Man, the Betrayal of Judas Iscariot, &c.

The performance was then suddenly changed to an allegorical ballet. The
scene was a wild and dreary spot. In a dark cavern sat Metaphysics, in
the shape of an Egyptian mummy, whose eyes were fixed upon five
glittering words, which flitted continually backwards and forwards, and
at each change had a different import. The mummy ceased not to follow
them with its stony eyes; while in a corner stood a little roguish devil,
who incessantly blew bubbles of air into its face. Pride, the amanuensis
of Metaphysics, gathered the bubbles up as they fell, pressed the air
out, and kneaded them into hypotheses. The mummy was clothed in an
Egyptian waistcoat, embroidered with mystic characters. Ove