But hereby hangs a grave condition,
Of this we'll talk when next we meet;
But for the present I entreat
Most urgently your kind dismission.
Of this we'll talk when next we meet;
But for the present I entreat
Most urgently your kind dismission.
Faust, a Tragedy by Goethe
And I have caught thee then? Well done!
'Twas wholly chance--I'm quite astounded!
_Mephistopheles_. The _poodle_ took no heed,
as through the door he bounded;
The case looks differently now;
The _devil_ can leave the house no-how.
_Faust_. The window offers free emission.
_Mephistopheles_. Devils and ghosts are bound by this condition:
The way they entered in, they must come out. Allow
In the first clause we're free, yet not so in the second.
_Faust_. In hell itself, then, laws are reckoned?
Now that I like; so then, one may, in fact,
Conclude a binding compact with you gentry?
_Mephistopheles_. Whatever promise on our books finds entry,
We strictly carry into act.
But hereby hangs a grave condition,
Of this we'll talk when next we meet;
But for the present I entreat
Most urgently your kind dismission.
_Faust_. Do stay but just one moment longer, then,
Tell me good news and I'll release thee.
_Mephistopheles_. Let me go now! I'll soon come back again,
Then may'st thou ask whate'er shall please thee.
_Faust_. I laid no snare for thee, old chap!
Thou shouldst have watched and saved thy bacon.
Who has the devil in his trap
Must hold him fast, next time he'll not so soon be taken.
_Mephistopheles_. Well, if it please thee, I'm content to stay
For company, on one condition,
That I, for thy amusement, may
To exercise my arts have free permission.
_Faust_. I gladly grant it, if they be
Not disagreeable to me.
_Mephistopheles_. Thy senses, friend, in this one hour
Shall grasp the world with clearer power
Than in a year's monotony.
