FAUST FA V ART. 



153 



of the new process was Durandi Rationale Divinonim 

 Officiornw, published by Faust and Sclueffer in 1 !5S*, 

 which was followed, some years after, by the Cat/to- 

 licon Johannis Januensis ; after winch, in 1462, suc- 

 ceeded the Bible, so much sought for by those fond 

 of early specimens of typography. These works 

 were, however, preceded by a Bible, Psalter, and 

 other books, executed with characters engraved on 

 wood, and by a mechanism which Paust and Schasffer 

 possessed in common with Guttemberg. It lias been 

 pretended that, when Faust went to Paris to sell a 

 second edition of his Bible of 1462, he was arrested 

 on the supposition that he effected the printing of 

 them by magic ; but this story appears to be mere 

 fable. There is reason to believe that he died of the 

 plague in 1466, as the name of Schzetter alone is 

 found in the books printed after that time at Mentz. 

 According to some German writers, the celebrated 

 romance of doctor Fanstus, the subject of so much 

 traditionary horror and admiration, and which has 

 been since immortalized by the genius of Goethe, 

 originated in the malice of the monks towards Faust, 

 whose employment of printing deprived them of their 

 gain as copiers, that occupation having been almost 

 exclusively in their hands. There seems, however, 

 to be but little ground for this belief. 



FAUST, DOCTOR JOHN (a very different person 

 from the printer); a celebrated dealer in the black 

 art, who lived in the beginning of the sixteenth cen- 

 tury. Doctor Faust has become, in Germany, one 

 of those standing national characters, which repre- 

 sents a whole class of persons, and to whom every 

 new invention and strange adventure is constantly 

 attributed. According to some accounts, he was 

 born at Knittlingen, in Suabia; others make him a 

 native of Anhalt ; others of Brandenburg. The first 

 account is the most probable. He was the son of a 

 peasant, who sent him to study at Wittemberg. In 

 his sixteenth year, he went to Ingolstadt, and studied 

 theology, became in three years a magister, but 

 abandoned theology, and began the study of medi- 

 cine, astrology, and magic, in which he likewise in- 

 structed his familiar, John Wagner, the son of a 

 ctergyman at Wasserburg. After doctor Faust had 

 spent a rich inheritance, left him by his uncle, pro- 

 bably in chemical and alchemical experiments, he, 

 according to tradition, made use of his power to con- 

 jure up spirits, and entered into a contract with the 

 devil for twenty-four years. A spirit called Mephis- 

 topheles was given him as a servant, with whom he 

 travelled about, enjoyed life in all its forms, and sur- 

 prised people by working wonders ; for instance, he 

 rode on a wine barrel out of Auerbach's cellar in 

 Leipsic, in 1523, where an old painting representing 

 the subject is still to be seen. The evil spirit finally 

 carried him off near the village of Rimlich, between 

 twelve and one o'clock at night. This is the story 

 as it is found in a work by G. R. Wiedemann, True 

 History of the horrible Sins of Doctor John Faustus, 

 Hamburg, 1599; and in another old book, The 

 League of Doctor Faust, the Enchanter and Sorcerer 

 known throughout the World, with the Devil, his 

 adventurous Life and terrible End, printed at Cologne 

 and Nuremberg. Some have thought that this whole 

 story was invented by the monks, to calumniate doc- 

 tor Faust, the inventor of printing, because the pro- 

 fits which they had been accustomed to make by 

 copying manuscripts were greatly diminished by his 

 invention ; but this is not at all probable. Others 

 have entirely disbelieved his existence ; but Melanc- 

 thon, Tritheim, and others knew him personally. 

 Perhaps he was a chemist more acquainted than 

 others of his age with his science. Even now, doc- 

 tor Faustus, and his familiar, Wagner, play a con- 

 spicuous part in the puppet shows of Germany; and 



this legend has not only remained among the lower 

 classes, but is incorporated with some ot the finest 

 productions of the German muse. The most dis- 

 tinguished poems on this subject are Klinger's Fausft 

 Leben, T/iaten und Hollenfahrt (Faust's Life, Deeds, 

 nnd Descent to Hell), and Goethe's celebrated Faust. 

 The latter is one of the greatest poems the Germans 

 ]io.sx>ss, written in the full vigour of the author's 

 genius. 



FAUSTINA; 1. the wife of the emperor Antoninus 

 Pius, and, 2. her daughter, who was afterwards mar- 

 ried to the emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. 

 The historians of the period have interspersed their 

 descriptions of the flourishing state of the empire un- 

 der these Antonines with scandalous anecdotes of 

 their wives. But, to the honour of the younger 

 Faustina, who was accused of the grossest excesses, 

 it cannot be denied that her own husband, Marcus 

 Aurelius, who, by his excellent character, and his 

 devotion to philosophy, obtained the surname of the 

 philosopher, gave her the credit of being an exem- 

 plary wife. Wieland has attempted to defend her 

 against the invectives of the historians of the em- 

 perors. 



FAUX JOUR (French) signifies false light; an 

 expression in the fine arts. If a picture is placed so 

 that the light falls upon it from a different side from 

 that from which the painter intended to represent the 

 light in the picture as falling upon objects, or if the 

 picture is placed so that it is covered with a bright 

 glare, and nothing can be distinguished, the picture 

 is said to be in faux jour. 



FAVART, CHARLES SIMON, creator of the fine 

 comic opera in France, born 1710, was the son of a 

 pastry-cook. Favart received part of his education 

 at the college of Louis-le-Grand, and devoted himself 

 to poetical pursuits. His first poem La France 

 delivree par la Pucelle d' Orleans, obtained the prize 

 in the Jeux floraux. But his poetical reputation 

 rests principally on his numerous productions for the 

 opera aux Italiens and the comic opera. The latter, 

 with which Favart was closely connected, was sup- 

 pressed in 1745, through the intrigues of the former, 

 which was jealous of its success ; and Favart was 

 obliged to assume the direction of a company of itin- 

 erant actors, which followed marshal Saxe into Flan- 

 ders. He was often obliged to use his talents before 

 an engagement or any other important event, to en- 

 courage the army. An instance of this sort occurred 

 before the battle of Rocoux, when the poet, at the 

 request of the marshal, hastily composed some verses, 

 announcing victory in the impending contest, which 

 were sung by a favourite actress, during the interval 

 between the acts. Favart had the grief to see that 

 the charms of his wife had conquered the victor of 

 Fontenoy, who, on his advances being repulsed, 

 basely used his power to persecute her husband, and 

 cause her, by means of a lettre de cachet, to be con- 

 fined more than a year in a convent in the country, 

 which she left at length only on condition of submis- 

 sion. He afterwards returned to the capital, and appli- 

 ed himself assiduously to dramatic poetry. He wrote 

 at this period, in conjunction with the abbe Voisenon, 

 who was his ami de la maison, a number of his best 

 productions, in the composition of which madame 

 Favart also participated. In most of them, Favart 

 himself formed the plan, the style, characters, and 

 dialogue, while his wife added many strokes of 

 naivete and feminine sprightliness ; but from the 

 ami de la maison, who was much overrated in his 

 time, came those affected quibbles and cold conceits 

 which occur in some of Favart's works. The num- 

 ber of his works is very great ; and many of them, 

 as, for instance, Soliman II., or the Three Sultanesses, 

 Ninette a la Cour, La Chercheuse d' Esprit, Astro 



