The wise man's words at length are plain,
Whose sense so long I sought in vain :

"The Worlde of Spirits no Clouds conceale :
"Man's Eye is dim, it cannot see.

"Man's heart is dead, it cannot feele.

"Thou, who wouldst knowe the Things that be,

"Bathe thy Heart in the Sunrise red,

"Till its Stains of earthlie drosse are fled."

[He looks over the sign attentively.

Oh! how the spell before my sight

Brings nature's hidden ways to light:

See! all things with each other blending —
Each to all its being lending -

All on each in turn depending —
Heavenly ministers descending -
And again to heaven up-tending -
Floating, mingling, interweaving-
Rising, sinking, and receiving
Each from each, while each is giving
On to each, and each relieving
Each, the pails of gold, the living

Current through the air is heaving;

Breathing blessings, see them bending,

Balanced worlds from change defending,

While every where diffused is harmony unending!

Oh! what a vision but a vision only!

Can heart of man embrace

Illimitable Nature?

Fountain of life, forth-welling;

The same in every place;

That dost support and cheer

Wide heaven, and teeming earth, and every creature

That hath therein its dwelling,

Oh! could the blighted soul but feel thee near!

To thee still turns the withered heart;

To thee the spirit, seared and lonely,
Childlike, would seek the sweet restorative;
On thy maternal bosom feed and live.
I ask a solace thou dost not impart;

The food I hunger for thou dost not give!

[He turns over the leaves of the book impa-
tiently, till his eye rests on the sign of the
Spirit of the Earth.

How differently this sign affects my frame !
Spirit of Earth! my nature is the same,
Or near akin to thine!

How fearlessly I read this sign!

And feel even now new powers are mine;
While my brain burns, as though with wine;

Give me the agitated strife,

The madness of the world of life;

I feel within my soul the birth
Of strength, enabling me to bear,
And thoughts, impelling me to share

The fortunes, good or evil, of the earth;

To battle with the tempest's breath,

Or plunge where Shipwreck grinds his teeth. All around grows cold and cloudy,

The moon withdraws her ray;

The lamp's loose flame is shivering,

It fades, it dies away.

Ha! round my brow what sparkles ruddy

In trembling light are quivering?

And, to and fro,

Stream sheets of flame, in fearful play,

Rolled and unrolled,

In crimson fold,

They float and flow !

From the vaulted space above,

A shuddering horror seems to move
Down, - down upon me creeps and seizes

The life's blood, in its grasp that freezes ; 'Tis thou I feel thee, SPIRIT, near,

Thou hast heard the spell, and thou

Art hovering around me now;

Spirit to my sight appear,

How my

heart is torn in sunder

All my thoughts convulsed with wonder

Every faculty and feeling

Strained to welcome thy revealing.

Spirit, my heart, my heart is given to thee, Though death may be the price, I cannot choose but see!

[He grasps the book, and pronounces the sign of the Spirit mysteriously; a red flame is seen playing about, and in the flame the SPIRIT.

SPIRIT.

Who calls me?

FAUSTUS (averting his face).
Form of horror, hence!

SPIRIT.

Hither from my distant sphere,

Thou hast compelled me to appear;

Hast sucked me down, and dragged me thence,

With importuning violence;

And now

FAUSTUS.

I shudder, overpowered with fear

SPIRIT.

With what anxiety of mind

Didst thou demand to gaze on me,

.voice to hear, my form to see?

My.v

Thy longings, earnest and intense,

Have reached my sphere, and wrung me thence!

D

Hath seized thee

thee, thou more than man?

Where is the courage that could dare

To call on fleshless spirits? where

The soul, that could conceive and plan,
Yea, and create its world; whose pride
The bounds, which limit man, defied
Heaved with high sense of inborn powers,
Nor feared to mete its strength with ours?

Where art thou, FAUSTUS? thou whose voice I

heard,

Whose mighty spirit pressed itself to mine!

Art thou the same, whose senses thus are shattered,
Whose very being in my breath is scattered,
Whose soul, into itself retreating,

Vain worm! can scarce endure the fearful meeting?—
Is this, indeed, the miserable sequel?

FAUSTUS.

Creature of flame, shall I grow pale before thee? 'Twas I that called thee FAUSTUSI, thine

equal!

SPIRIT.

In the currents of life, in the tempests of motion,

Hither and thither

Over and under,

Wend I and wander
Birth and the grave
A limitless ocean,