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xxxvi

PREFACE.

*⁠*⁠*⁠*⁠*⁠*Curs'd be the parents that engendered me—
No, Faustus! curse thyself, curse Lucifer,
That hath depriv'd thee of the joys of heaven.

(The clock strikes twelve.)

It strikes! it strikes!-Now, body! turn to air,
Or Lucifer will bear thee quick to Hell.
O soul! be chang'd into small water-drops,
And fall into the ocean—ne'er be found.

(Thunder.)⁠Enter Dæmons.

Oh! mercy, Heaven! look not so fierce on me!

Adders and serpents! let me breathe awhile!—
——————Oh! Mephistophiles^[1]!—"
⁠(Rolling thunder.)[They all disappear.

The foregoing horrible picture demands such a relief as will gently lead the shaken mind to a calmer region, and hush it into a meek-eyed

↑ In these extracts I have ventured on one or two trifling emendations, which were much needed. A tolerably correct edition of the plays of Marlow, Thomas Heywood, Chapman, Decker, &c. &c. would be a real blessing. It is not possible to exceed the blunders committed or disregarded in the "Old English Plays," on which work an acute critique appeared in the Monthly Review, N. S. vol. lxxv. p. 225.

[1] In these extracts I have ventured on one or two trifling emendations, which were much needed. A tolerably correct edition of the plays of Marlow, Thomas Heywood, Chapman, Decker, &c. &c. would be a real blessing. It is not possible to exceed the blunders committed or disregarded in the "Old English Plays," on which work an acute critique appeared in the Monthly Review, N. S. vol. lxxv. p. 225.

[1]