Part 3 (2/2)
”_And lo_!_ the fools sat in council_, _and idiots clamoured in the judgment-chamber_.”
They swallowed this bitter pill, because the presumptive shadow of imperial majesty, in the form of the demon, prevented them from spitting it out. They comforted themselves with having been spared the four hundred gold guilders, and wished each other joy for having escaped so well out of this unpleasant affair. The envoys received a vote of thanks, and it is to be regretted that their names are not handed down to posterity. When at last they spoke of Faustus's well-filled money-chest, the glitter of gold darted like lightning through the souls of all, and each secretly determined to make the man his friend, in order to get possession of it. The alderman shouted, ”We must make him a citizen, and give him a seat and voice in the council. Policy demands that we should overstep law and custom, if the advantage of the State depends upon it.”
Faustus, in the mean time, strolled out with the Devil; but they found the people of the place modelled after so unsightly a pattern, with such ugly figures and fiat features, that the Devil owned he had never seen them equalled, except by the inhabitants of an English town called N---, when dressed in their Sunday's best. ”Envy, malice, curiosity, and avarice,” said he, ”are here and there the sole springs of action; and both places are governed by a pitiful mercantile spirit, which prevents them from being grandly wicked or n.o.bly virtuous. In short, Faustus, there is little to be done in either place by a man of spirit, and we will hurry away from hence as soon as you have brought the mayoress to the point you wish her.”
The clock sounded the hour of dinner; the Devil and Faustus, mounted upon n.o.ble horses, and attended by a numerous retinue, proceeded to the house of the mayor. They entered the hall of a.s.sembly, where all the magistrates awaited them, and, on their appearance, bowed before them even to the dust. The fat, bloated mayor, after a long speech, introduced them to the wives of the dignitaries of the corporation, whose figures, loaded with tawdry ornaments, seemed now to display a double portion of awkwardness and vulgarity. They stared like a flock of geese, and could not satiate themselves with looking at the dress and physiognomy of Leviathan; but the mayoress, a native of Saxony, towered above them all, like an Oriad. The expressive look of Faustus had attracted her attention, as well as his prepossessing figure, and his fine handsome face. She blushed when he saluted her, and could find no other answer to his eloquent address than a few broken words, which the ears of Faustus caught like enchanting music. The senators exerted their wits to the utmost in complimenting their guests, and all now sat down to the well-spread table. After dinner the Devil led the mayor by the hand to a private apartment,--a circ.u.mstance which flattered him extraordinarily, but which was a dagger-blow to all the other guests, especially to the alderman.
The mayor, heated with wine, and intoxicated with the honour which the supposed imperial envoy showed him, in a bending att.i.tude and with staring eyes awaited the communication. The Devil a.s.sured him, in soft, silvery tones, how much he was flattered by the mayor's hospitable reception, and how very desirous he was to prove himself thankful; adding, that he carried with him a number of letters of n.o.bility, signed by the emperor's own hand, and he would gladly bestow the first upon him, provided--
Joy, transport, and astonishment darted through the mayor's soul; he stood before the Devil with wide-gaping mouth, and at length stammered out, ”Provided how--what--oh!” The Devil then murmured softly into his ear: ”His friend Faustus was desperately in love with the beautiful mayoress, and that for his sake only he would do it; and if the mayoress would retire with Faustus for a few moments,--which would be entirely un.o.bserved amid the noise and confusion of a festival,--he should deliver into her hand the patent of n.o.bility.”
Thereupon the Devil hastened to Faustus, informed him of what had happened, and gave him the letter of n.o.bility, with certainty of success.
Faustus doubted, and the Devil laughed at his doubts.
The mayor remained in his cabinet almost petrified. The sudden glitter of such unexpected happiness was at once so clouded by an odious and detestable condition, that he determined upon rejecting it. But all at once Ambition blew into his ear: ”Ho! ho! Mr. Mayor; to be dubbed a n.o.bleman at once, and in such an off-hand manner, as the saying is, and thereby to be placed on a footing with the proudest of thy foes, and to raise thy voice in the council like a trumpet, and appear among those there like a man whom, on account of his services, his imperial majesty will exalt above the heads of all!”
Another feeling softly whispered--
”Uh! uh! with my own knowledge and consent to be thus disgraced! But then, again, who will know it? and what is there in the whole affair? I receive a certain good in lieu of what has long ceased to have any charms for me. The evil consists in the idea alone, and it will be a secret between me and my wife. But, stating the case fairly, can I arrive at so high a distinction at a cheaper rate? Will it not be a nail in the alderman's coffin; and what will the citizens not say when they see that his imperial majesty knows how to value me? Shall I not get every thing into my power, and revenge myself on those who have thwarted and contradicted me? Ho! ho! Mr. Mayor; be no fool; seize fortune by the forelock. Man is only what he appears in the eyes of the world, and no one asks the n.o.bleman how he became so. But there is my wife; she will set herself against my advancement, for I well know her Saxon prudery.”
At that very moment she entered the room, eager to learn from her husband what the magnificent stranger had confided to him in private. He looked at her with a roguish leer, but still with some degree of bashfulness.
_Mayor_. Well, my chick, suppose I were to make thee a n.o.blewoman to-day?
_Mayoress_. Then, duck, the wives of all the citizens and magistrates would swoon with envy, and the alderman's lady would instantly die of that husky cough which has so long a.s.sailed her.
_Mayor_. That she would, for certain; and I could crush her proud husband beneath my foot. But hark, my chick: it only rests with you to bring all this about.
_Mayoress_. Who ever heard of wives making their husbands n.o.blemen, duck?
_Mayor_. Who knows, my child, how many have been made so? But be not terrified; you have driven that cursed Faustus out of his wits. (_The Mayoress blushed_; _he continued_) Only on his account will the envoy create me a n.o.bleman, and Faustus is to deliver to thee the patent of n.o.bility in private. You understand me, I perceive. Hem! What do you think of the plan?
_Mayoress_. I was thinking, my treasure, that if these two gentlemen were to change their minds, we should certainly lose the patent.
_Mayor_. Curse it! so we might. Let us be quick, my mouse; such bargains are not met with every day.
The company had in the mean while dispersed themselves in the garden; and his wors.h.i.+p, getting behind Faustus, whispered softly in his ear that ”his wife would esteem it an honour to receive the patent of n.o.bility from his hand; and he had only to step up a back staircase, which he would show him, to an apartment where he would find her. That as for himself, he feared nothing from a man who had shown so much honour and conscience.” He led him thereupon to the back staircase. Faustus glided up immediately, and entered a chamber, where he found the mayoress: he flew to her, and created the mayor a knight of the Holy Roman Empire.
She then went and delivered to her spouse the letter of n.o.bility; and they determined between them that it should be laid upon the supper-table in a covered golden dish, in order, by its unexpected appearance, to make the blow more painful to the guests. The Devil, to whom the mayor confided the plan, highly approved of it; but Faustus murmured in the ear of Leviathan, ”I command thee to play this rascal, who has prost.i.tuted his wife for ambition's sake, a thorough knavish trick; and to revenge me, at the same time, on all these sheep-headed magistrates, who so long forced me to pay my court to them.”
They sat down to supper, and the gla.s.ses went quickly round; when all at once the Devil commanded the dish, which had so long excited the Curiosity of the surrounders, to be uncovered; then, holding up the letter of n.o.bility, he delivered it to the mayor with these words: ”Worthy sir, his majesty the emperor, my master, is pleased by this patent letter of n.o.bility 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 a.s.sume 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 gla.s.ses 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 n.o.bility caught fire, and was burnt to ashes in the hands of the trembling mayor. The whole a.s.sembly 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-a.s.sembled 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.
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