rolling of thunder, or the dash of a breaker against the coral reef, or
its howl and bellow in the caves of the ocean. Faustus crept close
within his circle, and with difficulty supported himself.

_Faustus_. Ah, if this be the language of spirits, my dream has
vanished; I am deceived, and must gnash my teeth in darkness. I have,
then, exchanged my soul for the gratification of earthly lust! for that
is all in which this intriguing devil can assist me. That is all against
which I risked eternity! I thought to move among men enlightened as no
one had ever yet been, and to dazzle them with my glory like the rising
sun. The sublime thought of living for ever as the greatest in their
hearts is gone; and I am more wretched than I was. Where art thou,
trickster, that I may vent my fury upon thee?

_Devil_ (_in his former figure_). Here I am. I spoke, and thou didst
not understand the sense of my words. Dost thou not feel that thou art
born for darkness? Thou canst not become that which thou must not.
Withdraw thy mind from impossibilities, and direct it to what is
attainable. Thou wishedst to hear the language of spirits; thou heardst
it, and wert stunned and deafened by the sound.

_Faustus_. Provoke but my wrath, and I will bruise thee to tears with my
magic rod. I will chain thee to the rim of my circle, and then stamp on
thy neck.

_Devil_. Do it, and hell will laugh at thy anger. For every tear thou
makest me shed, Despair shall one day wring a drop of blood from thy
brow, and Revenge shall hold the scales to catch and weigh it.

_Faustus_. How revolting to a noble creature like myself to hold
converse with an outcast, who has only sense for wickedness, and will
only assist in wickedness!

_Devil_. How disgusting to be forced to listen to a man who reproaches
the Devil because he is a devil, and does not boast of that shadow,
Virtue, like one of you!

_Faustus_. Vain boast. If thou couldst but taste the moral value of
man, by which he approaches the immortal, and which makes him worthy of
immortality!

_Devil_. I can prove that it does not exist.

_Faustus_. Yes; I believe thou canst. And so can any one of us who
makes the measure of his own wickedness that of all mankind, and who
makes that virtue contemptible which he has never felt in his breast. We
have had philosophers who in this matter have long had the start of the
Devil.

_Devil_. Better if thou hadst never read them; thy he