epub:type="z3998:persona">Friars attending.
Pope
My Lord of Lorrain, wilt please you draw near?
Faustus
Fall to, and the devil choke you an you spare!
Pope
How now! Whoās that which spake?ā āFriars, look about.
First Friar
Hereās nobody, if it like your Holiness.
Pope
My lord, here is a dainty dish was sent me from the Bishop Milan.
Faustus
I thank you, sir.
Snatches the dish.
Pope
How now! Whoās that which snatched the meat from me? Will no man look? My lord, this dish was sent me from the Cardinal of Florence.
Faustus
You say true; Iāll haāt.
Snatches the dish.
Pope
What, again! My lord, Iāll drink to your grace.
Faustus
Iāll pledge your grace.
Snatches the cup.
Cardinal of Lorrain
My lord, it may be some ghost, newly crept out of purgatory, come to beg a pardon of your Holiness.
Pope
It may be so. Friars, prepare a dirge to lay the fury of this ghost. Once again, my lord, fall to.
The Pope crosses himself.
Faustus
What, are you crossing of yourself? Well, use that trick no more I would advise you.
The
Pope crosses himself again.
Well, thereās the second time. Aware the third; I give you fair warning.
The
Pope crosses himself again, and
Faustus hits him a box of the ear; and they all run away.
Come on, Mephistopheles; what shall we do?
Mephistopheles
Nay, I know not. We shall be cursed with bell, book, and candle.
Faustus
How! bell, book, and candleā ācandle, book, and bell,
Forward and backward to curse Faustus to hell!
Anon you shall hear a hog grunt, a calf bleat, and an ass bray,
Because it is Saint Peterās holiday.
Re-enter the
Friars to sing the Dirge.
1st Friar
Come, brethren, letās about our business with good devotion.
They sing.
Cursed be he that stole away his Holinessā meat from the table! Maledicat Dominus!
Cursed be he that struck his Holiness a blow on the face! Maledicat Dominus!
Cursed be he that took Friar Sandelo a blow on the pate! Maledicat Dominus!
Cursed be he that disturbeth our holy dirge! Maledicat Dominus!
Cursed be he that took away his Holinessā wine! Maledicat Dominus Et omnes sancti! Amen!
Mephistopheles and
Faustus beat the
Friars, and fling fireworks among them: and so exeunt.
Scene VIII
Enter
Chorus.
Chorus
When Faustus had with pleasure taāen the view
Of rarest things, and royal courts of kings,
He stayed his course, and so returned home;
Where such as bear his absence but with grief,
I mean his friends, and nearāst companions,
Did gratulate his safety with kind words,
And in their conference of what befell,
Touching his journey through the world and air,
They put forth questions of Astrology,
Which Faustus answered with such learned skill
As they admired and wondered at his wit.
Now is his fame spread forth in every land;
Amongst the rest the Emperor is one,
Carolus the Fifth, at whose palace now
Faustus is feasted āmongst his noblemen.
What there he did in trial of his art,
I leave untoldā āyour eyes shall see performed.
Exit.
Enter
Robin the Ostler, with a book in his hand.53
Robin
O, this is admirable! here I haā stolen one of Doctor Faustusās conjuring books, and, iāfaith I mean to search some circles for my own use. Now will I make all the maidens in our parish dance at my pleasure, stark naked before me; and so by that means I shall see more than eāer I felt or saw yet.
Enter
Ralph, calling
Robin.
Ralph
Robin, prithee, come away; thereās a gentleman tarries to have his horse, and he would have his things rubbed and made clean: he keeps such a chafing with my mistress about it; and she has sent me to look thee out; prithee, come away.
Robin
Keep out, keep out, or else you are blown up; you are dismembered, Ralph: keep out, for I am about a roaring piece of work.
Ralph
Come, what doest thou with that same book? Thou canst not read?
Robin
Yes, my master and mistress shall find that I can read, he for his forehead, she for her private study; sheās born to bear with me, or else my art fails.
Ralph
Why, Robin, what book is that?
Robin
What book! why, the most intolerable book for conjuring that eāer was invented by any brimstone devil.
Ralph
Canāst thou conjure with it?
Robin
I can do all these things easily with it; first, I can make thee drunk with ippocras54 at any tabern55 in Europe for nothing; thatās one of my conjuring works.
Ralph
Our Master Parson says thatās nothing.
Robin
True, Ralph; and more, Ralph, if thou hast any mind to Nan Spit, our kitchenmaid, then turn her and wind her to thy own use as often as thou wilt, and at midnight.
Ralph
O brave Robin! shall I have Nan Spit, and to mine own use? On that condition Iāll feed thy devil with horsebread56 as long as he lives, of free cost.
Robin
No more, sweet Ralph: letās go and make clean our boots, which lie foul upon our hands, and then to our conjuring in the Devilās name.
Exeunt.
Scene IX
Enter
Robin and
Ralph with a silver goblet.
Robin
Come, Ralph: did not I tell thee, we were forever made by this Doctor Faustusā book?
ecce signum, hereās a simple purchase57 for horsekeepers; our horses shall eat no hay as long as this lasts.
Ralph
But, Robin, here comes the vintner.
Robin
Hush! Iāll gull him supernaturally.
Enter
Vintner.
Drawer, I hope all is paid: God be with you; come, Ralph.
Vintner
Soft, sir; a word with you. I must yet have a goblet paid from you, ere you go.
Robin
I a goblet, Ralph; I a goblet! I scorn you, and you are but a58 etc. I, a goblet! search me.
Vintner
I mean so, sir, with your favour.
Searches Robin.
Robin
How say you now?
Vintner
I
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