THE SCENE: Everyone know that Dr. Faust sold his soul to the devil, but what did he get in return? At least initially, it sounds no better than being a child of the nobility: a butler, an allowance, nice clothes, and whatever chicken and wine he wanted.
THE TEXT: Now Doctor Faustus, as I said, had no one in his house save his famulus and his spirit Mephostophiles, who, in his presence, always went about in the form of a friar, and whom Doctor Faustus conjured in his study, a room which he kept locked at all times. Faustus had a superfluity of victuals and provisions, for when he desired a good wine the spirit brought it to him from whatever cellars he liked (the Doctor himself was once heard to remark that he made great inroads on the cellar of his Lord Elector of Saxony as well as those of the Duke of Bavaria and the Bishop of Saltzburg). He likewise enjoyed cooked fare every day, for he was so cunning in sorcery that when he opened a window and named some fowl he desired, it came flying right in through the window. His spirit also brought him cooked meat of a most princely sort from the courts of the nobility in all territories round about. The fabrics for his apparel and that of his boy (he went sumptuously attired) the spirit also had to buy or steal by night in Nuremberg, Augsburg or Frankfurt. A similar injury was done the tanners and cobblers. In sum, it was stolen, wickedly borrowed goods, so that Doctor Faustus’ meat and clothing was very respectable, but godless. Indeed Christ our Lord doth through John call the Devil a thief and a murderer, and that is what he is.
The devil also promised to give Faustus twenty-five Crowns a week, which amounts to 1,300 Crowns a year, and that was his year’s emolument.
– Historia vnd Geschicht Doctor Johannis Faustj des Zauberers, 16th Century AD
