As in the completed _Faust_, he opens the book of Nostradamus and
finds the signs of the Macrocosmus and of the Earth-Spirit, by both of
which he is baffled in his attempt to enter the _arcana_ of being.
In the _Urfaust_, also, we have, with a few verbal alterations, the
Scene in which Faust communicates to his famulus Wagner his cynical
view of the value of human knowledge. In the _Urfaust_, however, are
lacking the Scenes that follow in the completed poem--Faust's
soliloquy and meditated suicide, the Easter walk, the appearance of
Mephistopheles in the shape of a poodle, and the compact that follows.
In place of these scenes we have but one, in which Mephistopheles,
without previous introduction, is represented as a professor giving
advice to a raw student who has come to consult him as to his future
course of conduct and study. Of all the Scenes in the _Urfaust_ this
is the feeblest, and its immaturity, as well as its evident references
to Goethe's own experiences at Leipzig, suggest that it was the
earliest written. This Scene is followed by another reminiscent of
Leipzig--the Scene in Auerbach's cellar, which mainly differs from
the later form in being written in prose and not in verse--Faust and
not Mephistopheles playing the conjuror in drawing wine from a table.
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