or to absorb his being in the pleasures he provides, that the compact comes to nothing. When, at last, Faust cries to the passing moment to remain, it is because he has forgotten self in enthusiasm for a great and beneficent work, in a state of mind the very antithesis of all that Mephistopheles represents. In the old Faust-books, Faust had been given plenty of opportunity for repentance, but the inducements had been no higher than the exhibition of a throne in heaven on the one hand and the tortures of hell on the other. Goethe’s Faust, for all its Christian setting, departs widely from this orthodox standpoint. Faust shows no signs of “repentance”; he simply emerges by the innate force of his character from a lower into a higher state. The triumph, foretold by “the Lord” in the opening scene, was inevitable from the first, since, though
| “‘Man errs so long as he is striving, A good man through obscurest aspiration Is ever conscious of the one true way.’” |
A man, in short, must be judged not by the sins and follies which may be but accidents of his career, but by the character which is its essential outcome.
This idea, which inspired also the kindred theme of Browning’s Paracelsus, is the main development introduced by Goethe into the Faust legend. The episode of Gretchen, for all its tragic interest, does not belong to the legend at all; and it is difficult to deny the pertinency of Charles Lamb’s criticism, “What has Margaret to do with Faust?” Yet in spite of all that may be said of the irrelevancies, and of the discussions of themes of merely ephemeral interest, with which Goethe overloaded especially the second part of the poem, his Faust remains for the modern world the final form of the legend out of which it grew, the magnificent expression of the broad humanism which, even in spheres accounted orthodox, has tended to replace the peculiar studium theologicum which inspired the early Faust-books.
See Karl Engel, Zusammenstellung der Faust-Schriften vom 16. Jahrhundert bis Mitte 1884—a second edition of the Bibliotheca Faustiana (1874)—(Oldenburg, 1885), a complete bibliography of all published matter concerned, even somewhat remotely, with Faust; Goethe’s Faust, with introduction and notes by K. J. Schröer (2nd ed., Heilbronn, 1886); Carl Kiesewetter, Faust in der Geschichte und Tradition (Leipzig, 1893). The last book, besides being a critical study of the material for the historical and legendary story of Faust, aims at estimating the relation of the Faust-legend to the whole subject of occultism, ancient and modern. It is a mine of information on necromancy and its kindred subjects, as well as on eminent theurgists, wizards, crystal-gazers and the like of all ages. (W. A. P.)
FAUSTINA, ANNIA GALERIA, the younger, daughter of
Antoninus Pius, and wife of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. She
is accused by Dio Cassius and Capitolinus of gross profligacy,
and was reputed to have instigated the revolt of Avidius Cassius
against her husband. She died in 175 or 176 (so Clinton, Fasti
rom.) at Halala, near Mount Taurus, in Cappadocia, whither she
had accompanied Aurelius. Charitable schools for orphan girls
(hence called Faustinianae) were founded in her honour, like
those established by her father Antoninus in honour of his wife,
the elder Faustina. Her statue was placed in the temple of
Venus, and she was numbered among the tutelary deities of Rome.
From the fact that Aurelius was always devoted to her and was
heartbroken at her death, it has been inferred that the unfavourable
estimate of the historians is prejudiced or at least mistaken.
See Capitolinus, Marcus Aurelius; Dio Cassius lxxi. 22, lxxiv. 3; E. Renan, in Mélanges d’histoire et des voyages, 169–195.
FAVARA, a town of Sicily, in the province of Girgenti, 5 m. E.
of Girgenti by road. Pop. (1901) 20,398. It possesses a fine
castle of the Chiaramonte family, erected in 1280. The town
has a considerable agricultural trade, and there are sulphur and
other mines in the neighbourhood.
FAVART, CHARLES SIMON (1710–1792), French dramatist,
was born in Paris on the 13th of November 1710, the son of a
pastry-cook. He was educated at the college of Louis-le-Grand,
and after his father’s death carried on the business for a time.
His first success in literature was La France délivrée par la
Pucelle d’Orléans, a poem which obtained a prize of the Académie
des Jeux Flor ux. After the production of his first vaudeville,
Les Deux Jumelles (1734), circumstances enabled him to relinquish
business and devote himself entirely to the drama. He provided
many pieces anonymously for the lesser theatres, and first put
his name to La Chercheuse d’esprit, which was produced in 1741.
Among his most successful works were Annette et Lubin, Le
Coq du village (1743), Ninette à la cour (1753), Les Trois Sultanes
(1761) and L’Anglais à Bordeaux (1763). Favart became director
of the Opéra Comique, and in 1745 married Marie Justine Benoîte Duronceray (1727–1772), a beautiful young dancer,
singer and actress, who as “Mlle Chantilly” had made a successful
début the year before. By their united talents and labours
the Opéra Comique rose to such a height of success that it aroused
the jealousy of the rival Comédie Italienne and was suppressed.
Favart, left thus without resources, accepted the proposal of
Maurice de Saxe, and undertook the direction of a troupe of
comedians which was to accompany his army into Flanders.
It was part of his duty to compose from time to time impromptu
verses on the events of the campaign, amusing and stimulating
the spirits of the men. So popular were Favart and his troupe
that the enemy became desirous of hearing his company and sharing
his services, and permission was given to gratify them, battles
and comedies thus curiously alternating with each other. But
the marshal, who was an admirer of Mme Favart, began to persecute
her with his attentions. To escape him she went to Paris,
and the wrath of Saxe fell upon the husband. A lettre de cachet
was issued against him, but he fled to Strassburg and found
concealment in a cellar. Mme Favart meanwhile had been
established by the marshal in a house at Vaugirard; but as she
proved a fickle mistress she was suddenly arrested and confined
in a convent, where she was brought to unconditional surrender
in the beginning of 1750. Before the year was out the marshal
died, and Mme Favart reappeared at the Comédie Italienne,
where for twenty years she was the favourite actress. To her is
largely due the beginnings of the change in this theatre to performances
of a lyric type adapted from Italian models, which developed
later into the genuine French comic opera. She was also a bold
reformer in matters of stage costume, playing the peasant with
bare arms, in wooden shoes and linen dress, and not, as heretofore,
in court costume with enormous hoops, diamonds and long white
kid gloves. With her husband, and other authors, she collaborated
in a number of successful pieces, and one—La Fille mal gardée—she
produced alone.
Favart survived his wife twenty years. After the marshal’s death in 1750 he had returned to Paris, and resumed his pursuits as a dramatist. It was at this time that the abbé de Voisenon became intimate with him and took part in his labours, to what extent is uncertain. He had grown nearly blind in his last days, and died in Paris on the 12th of May 1792. His plays have been several times republished in various editions and selections (1763–1772, 12 vols.; 1810, 3 vols.; 1813; 1853). His correspondence (1759–1763) with Count Durazzo, director of theatres at Vienna, was published in 1808 as Mémoires et correspondance littéraire, dramatique et anecdotique de C. S. Favart. It furnishes valuable information on the state of the literary and theatrical worlds in the 18th century.
Favart’s second son, Charles Nicolas Joseph Justin Favart (1749–1806), was an actor of moderate talent at the Comédie Française for fifteen years. He wrote a number of successful plays:—Le Diable boiteux (1782), Le Mariage singulier (1787) and, with his father, La Vieillesse d’Annette (1791). His son Antoine Pierre Charles Favart (1780–1867) was in the diplomatic service, and assisted in editing his grandfather’s memoirs; he was a playwright and painter as well.
FAVERSHAM, a market town and river-port, member of the
Cinque Port of Dover, and municipal borough in the Faversham
parliamentary division of Kent, England, on a creek of the Swale,
9 m. W.N.W. of Canterbury on the South-Eastern & Chatham
railway. Pop. (1901) 11,290. The church of St Mary of Charity,
restored by Sir G. G. Scott in 1874, is of Early English architecture,
and has some remains on one of the columns of frescoes
of the same period, while the 14th-century paintings in the
chancel are in better preservation. Some of the brasses are very
fine, and there is one commemorating King Stephen, as well as
