o the mayor with these words:
"Worthy sir, his majesty the emperor, my master, is pleased by this
patent letter of nobility to create you, on account of your fidelity and
services, a knight of the Holy Roman Empire. I hope and trust that you
will never grow lukewarm in your zeal for the high imperial house; and
now, Sir Knight, I have the honour of first drinking your health."

These words rolled like thunder in the ears of the guests. The drunken
became sober, and the sober drunk; the lips of the women turned blue with
rage, and could scarcely stammer out a congratulation. The alderman was
seized with an apoplectic fit, and his wife was near dying of her husky
cough. Fear, in the mean time, obliged the rest to assume a joyous
countenance; and they drank, with a loud huzza, the health of the
new-made knight. While the tumult was at the highest pitch, a thin
vapour suddenly filled the hall; the glasses began to dance about upon
the tables; and the roasted geese, turkeys, and fowls cackled, gobbled,
and crowed. The calves, sheep, and boars' heads cried, bleated, and
grunted, bounced across the table, and snapped at the fingers of the
guests. The wine issued in blue flames from out the flasks; and the
patent of nobility caught fire, and was burnt to ashes in the hands of
the trembling mayor. The whole assembly now sat like so many ridiculous
characters in a mad masquerade. The mayor bore a stag's head upon his
shoulders; and the rest, men and women, adorned with grotesque masks,
spoke, cackled, crowed, neighed, or bellowed, according to the kind of
mask which had been allotted to each individual. The alderman alone, in
the dress of a harlequin, sat motionless; and Faustus avowed to the Devil
that the ruse did great honour to his ingenuity. After Faustus had
satiated himself by gazing at the spectacle, he gave the Devil the wink,
and they both flew out of the window; the latter personage, according to
custom, leaving behind him the sulphurous stench.

By and by the whole illusion disappeared; and when the sapient
magistrates re-assembled next morning in the council-chamber, they
scarcely mentioned to each other what had taken place the night before.
They kept the whole matter a state secret, and only revealed it now and
then to a chosen few. All that the mayor got by this business was, that
his adversary, the alderman, lost the use of his limbs, and never again
took his seat in the council.

Faustus and Leviat