The
inaugural
feast given at taking a
degree.
degree.
Faust, a Tragedy by Goethe
Hedge has come nearer than any one to reconciling meaning and melody
thus:--
"Christ has arisen!
Joy to our buried Head!
Whom the unmerited,
Trailing, inherited
Woes did imprison. "
The present translator, without losing sight of the fact that "the Mortal"
means Christ, has taken the liberty (constrained by rhyme,--which is
sometimes more than the _rudder_ of verse,) of making the congratulation
include Humanity, as incarnated in Christ, "the second Adam. "
In the closing Chorus of Angels, the translator found that he could best
preserve the spirit of the five-fold rhyme:--
"Thatig ihn preisenden,
Liebe beweisenden,
Bruderlich speisenden,
Predigend reisenden,
Wonne verheissenden,"
by running it into three couplets. ]
[Footnote 11: The prose account of the alchymical process is as follows:--
"There was red mercury, a powerfully acting body, united with the tincture
of antimony, at a gentle heat of the water-bath. Then, being exposed to
the heat of open fire in an aludel, (or alembic,) a sublimate filled its
heads in succession, which, if it appeared with various hues, was the
desired medicine. "]
[Footnote 12: "Salamander, &c. " The four represent the spirits of the
four elements, fire, water, air, and earth, which Faust successively
conjures, so that, if the monster belongs in any respect to this mundane
sphere, he may be exorcized. But it turns out that he is beyond and
beneath all. ]
[Footnote 13: Here, of course, Faust makes the sign of the cross, or holds
out a crucifix. ]
[Footnote 14: "Fly-God," _i. e. _ Beelzebub. ]
[Footnote 15: The "Drudenfuss," or pentagram, was a pentagonal figure
composed of three triangles, thus:
[Illustration]
[Footnote 16: Doctor's Feast.
The inaugural feast given at taking a
degree. ]
[Footnote 17: "Blood. " When at the first invention of printing, the art
was ascribed to the devil, the illuminated red ink parts were said by the
people to be done in blood. ]
[Footnote 18: "The Spanish boot" was an instrument of torture, like the
Scottish boot mentioned in Old Mortality. ]
[Footnote 19: "Encheiresin Naturae. " Literally, a handling of nature. ]
[Footnote 20: Still a famous place of public resort and entertainment. On
the wall are two old paintings of Faust's carousal and his ride out of the
door on a cask. One is accompanied by the following inscription, being two
lines (Hexameter and Pentameter) broken into halves:--
"Vive, bibe, obgregare, memor
Fausti hujus et hujus
P? nae. Aderat clauda haec,
Ast erat ampla gradu. 1525. "
"Live, drink, be merry, remembering
This Faust and his
Punishment. It came slowly
But was in ample measure. "]
[Footnote 21:_Frosch, Brander_, &c. These names seem to be chosen with an
eye to adaptation, Frosch meaning frog, and Brander fireship.
thus:--
"Christ has arisen!
Joy to our buried Head!
Whom the unmerited,
Trailing, inherited
Woes did imprison. "
The present translator, without losing sight of the fact that "the Mortal"
means Christ, has taken the liberty (constrained by rhyme,--which is
sometimes more than the _rudder_ of verse,) of making the congratulation
include Humanity, as incarnated in Christ, "the second Adam. "
In the closing Chorus of Angels, the translator found that he could best
preserve the spirit of the five-fold rhyme:--
"Thatig ihn preisenden,
Liebe beweisenden,
Bruderlich speisenden,
Predigend reisenden,
Wonne verheissenden,"
by running it into three couplets. ]
[Footnote 11: The prose account of the alchymical process is as follows:--
"There was red mercury, a powerfully acting body, united with the tincture
of antimony, at a gentle heat of the water-bath. Then, being exposed to
the heat of open fire in an aludel, (or alembic,) a sublimate filled its
heads in succession, which, if it appeared with various hues, was the
desired medicine. "]
[Footnote 12: "Salamander, &c. " The four represent the spirits of the
four elements, fire, water, air, and earth, which Faust successively
conjures, so that, if the monster belongs in any respect to this mundane
sphere, he may be exorcized. But it turns out that he is beyond and
beneath all. ]
[Footnote 13: Here, of course, Faust makes the sign of the cross, or holds
out a crucifix. ]
[Footnote 14: "Fly-God," _i. e. _ Beelzebub. ]
[Footnote 15: The "Drudenfuss," or pentagram, was a pentagonal figure
composed of three triangles, thus:
[Illustration]
[Footnote 16: Doctor's Feast.
The inaugural feast given at taking a
degree. ]
[Footnote 17: "Blood. " When at the first invention of printing, the art
was ascribed to the devil, the illuminated red ink parts were said by the
people to be done in blood. ]
[Footnote 18: "The Spanish boot" was an instrument of torture, like the
Scottish boot mentioned in Old Mortality. ]
[Footnote 19: "Encheiresin Naturae. " Literally, a handling of nature. ]
[Footnote 20: Still a famous place of public resort and entertainment. On
the wall are two old paintings of Faust's carousal and his ride out of the
door on a cask. One is accompanied by the following inscription, being two
lines (Hexameter and Pentameter) broken into halves:--
"Vive, bibe, obgregare, memor
Fausti hujus et hujus
P? nae. Aderat clauda haec,
Ast erat ampla gradu. 1525. "
"Live, drink, be merry, remembering
This Faust and his
Punishment. It came slowly
But was in ample measure. "]
[Footnote 21:_Frosch, Brander_, &c. These names seem to be chosen with an
eye to adaptation, Frosch meaning frog, and Brander fireship.
