CHAPTER XVIII._The Dance of Death Exhibited in Elegant Engravings on Wood with a Dissertation on the Several Representations of that Subject but More Particularly on Those Ascribed to Macaber and Hans Holbein

_Errors of various writers who have introduced the subject of the

Dance of Death._

To enumerate even a moiety of these mistakes would almost occupy a

separate volume, but it may be as well to notice some of them which are to

be found in works of common occurrence.

TRAVELLERS.--The erroneous remarks of Bishop Burnet and Mr. Coxe have been

already adverted to. See pp. 79, 134, and 138.

Misson seems to regard the old Danse Macabre as the work of Holbein.

The Rev. Robert Gray, in "Letters during the course of a tour through

Germany and Switzerland in the year 1791 and 1792," has stated that Mechel

has engraved _Rubens's designs_ from the Dance of Death, now perishing on

the walls of the church-yard of the Predicant convent, where it was

sketched in 1431.

Mr. Wood, in his "View of the History of Switzerland," as quoted in the

Monthly Review, Nov. 1799, p. 290, states, that "the Dance of Death in the

church-yard of the Predicants has been falsely ascribed to Holbein, as it

is proved that it was painted _long after the death of that artist, and

not before he was born_, as the honourable Horace Walpole supposes." Here

the corrector stands in need himself of correction, unless it be possible

that he is not fairly quoted by the reviewer.

Miss Williams, in her Swiss tour, 1798, when speaking of the Basle Dance

of Death, says it was painted by Kleber, a _pupil of Holbein_.

Those intelligent and amusing travellers, Breval, Keysler, and Blainville

have carefully avoided the above strange mistakes.

WRITERS ON PAINTING AND ENGRAVING.--Meyssens, in his article for Holbein

in "the effigies of the Painters," mentions his "Death's Dance, in the

town-hall of Basle, the design whereof he first neatly cut in wood and

afterwards painted, which appeared so fine to the learned Erasmus, &c."

English edition, 1694, p. 15.

Felibien, in his "Entretiens sur les vies des Peintres," follows Meyssens

as to the painting in the town-hall.

Le Comte places the supposed painting by Holbein in the fish-market, and

in other respects copies Meyssens. "Cabinet des Singularites, &c." tom.

iii. p. 323, edit. 1702, 12mo.

Bullart not only places the painting in the town-hall of Basle, but adds,

that he afterwards engraved it in wood. "Acad. des Sciences et des Arts,"

tom. ii. p. 412.

Mr. Evelyn, in his "Sculptura," the only one of his works that does him no

credit, and which is a meagre and extremely inaccurate compilation, when

speaking of Holbein, actually runs riot in error and misconception. He

calls him a Dane. He makes what he terms "the licentiousness of the friars

and nuns," meaning probably Hollar's sixteen etchings after Holbein's

satire on monks and friars and other members of the Romish church as the

persecutors of Christ, and also the "Dance Machabre and Mortis imago," to

have been cut in wood, and one or both of the latter to have been painted

in the church of Basle. Mr. Evelyn's own copy of this work, with several

additions in manuscript, is in the possession of Mr. Taylor, a retired and

ingenious artist, of Cirencester-place. He probably intended to reprint

it, and opposite the above-mentioned word "Dane," has inserted a query.

Sandrart places the Dance of Death in the fish-market at Basle, and makes

Holbein the painter as well as the engraver. "Acad. artis pictoriae," p.

238, edit. 1683, folio.

Baldinucci speaks of twenty prints of the Dance of Death painted by

Holbein in the Senate-house of Basle. "Notizie de professori del disegno,

&c." tom. iii. 313 and 319.

M. Descamps inadvertently ascribes the old Dance of Death on the walls of

the church-yard of Saint Peter to the pencil of Holbein. "Vie des Peintres

Flamandi," &c. 1753. 8vo. Tom. i. p. 75.

Papillon, in his account of the Dance of Death, abounds with inaccuracies.

He says, that a magistrate of Basle employed him to paint a Dance of Death

in the fish-market, near a church-yard; that the work greatly increased

his reputation, and made much noise in the world, although it has many

anatomical defects; that he engraved this painting on small blocks of wood

with unparalleled beauty and delicacy. He supposes that they first

appeared in 1530 at Basle or Zuric, and as he thinks with a title and

German verses on each print. Now he had never seen any edition so early as

1530, nor any of the cuts with German verses, and having probably been

misled on this occasion, he has been the cause of misleading many

subsequent writers, as Fournier, Huber, Strutt, &c. He adopts the error as

to the mark [monogram: HL] on the thirty-sixth subject belonging to

Holbein. He is entirely ignorant of the nature and character of the fool

or idiot in No. xliii. whom he terms "un homme lascif qui a leve le devant

de sa robbe:" and, to crown the whole, he makes the old Macaber Dance an

_imitation_ of that ascribed to Holbein.

De Murr, in tom. ii. p. 535 of his "Bibliotheque de Peinture, &c."

servilely copies Papillon in all that he has said on the subject, with

some additional errors of his own.

The Abbe Fontenai, in the article for Holbein in his "Dictionnaire des

Artistes," Paris, 1776, 8vo. not only makes him the painter of the old

Macaber Dance, but places it in the town-house at Basle.

Mr. Walpole, or rather Vertue, in the "Anecdotes of Painting in England,"

corrects the error of those who give the old Macaber Dance to Holbein, but

inadvertently makes that which is usually ascribed to him to have been

borrowed from the other.

Messrs. Huber and Rost make Holbein the engraver of the Lyons wood-cuts,

and suppose the original drawings to be preserved in the public library at

Basle. They probably allude to the problematical drawings that were used

by M. de Mechel, and which are now in Russia. "Manuel des curieux et des

amateurs de l'art." Tom. i. p. 155.

In the "Notices sur les graveurs," Besancon, 1807, 8vo. a work that has,

by some writers, been given to M. Malpe, and by others to the Abbe

Baverel, Papillon is followed with respect to the supposed edition of

1530, and its German verses.

Mr. Janssen is more inaccurate than any of his predecessors, some of whom

have occasionally misled him. He makes Albert Durer the inventor of the

designs, the greater part of which, he says, are from the Dance of Death

at Berne. He adopts the edition of 1530, and the German verses. He

condemns the title-page of the edition of 1562 for stating an addition of

seventeen plates, whereas, says he, there are but five; but the editor

meant only that there were seventeen more cuts than in the original, which

had only forty-one.

MISCELLANEOUS WRITERS.--Charles Patin, a libeller of the English nation,

has made Holbein the engraver on wood of a Dance of Death, which, he says,

is "not much unlike that in the church-yard of the Predicants at Basle,

painted, as some say, from the life, by Holbein." He ought to have known

that this work was executed near a century before Holbein was born.

"Erasmi stultitiae laus." Basileae, 1676, 8vo. at the end of the list of

Holbein's works.

Martiniere, in his Geographical Dictionary, makes Holbein the inventor of

the Macaber Dance at Basle.

Goujet, in his very useful "Bibliotheque Francoise," tom. x. p. 436, has

erroneously stated that the Lyons engravings on wood were by the

celebrated artist Salomon Bernard, usually called "Le petit Bernard." The

mistake is very pardonable, as it appears that Bernard chiefly worked in

the above city.

M. Compan, in his "Dictionnaire de Danse," 1787, 12mo. under the article

_Macabree_, very gravely asserts that the author took his work from the

Maccabees, "qui, comme tout le monde scait danserent, et en ont fait

epoque pour les morts." He then quotes some lines from a modern edition of

the "Danse Macabre," where the word _Machabees_ is ignorantly substituted

for "Machabre."

M. Fournier states that Holbein painted a Dance of Death in the

fish-market at Basle, reduced it, and engraved it. "Dissertation sur

l'imprimerie," p. 70.

Mr. Warton has converted the imaginary Machabree into _a French poet_, but

corrects himself in his "Hist. of Engl. Poetry." He supposes the single

cut in Lydgate to represent _all_ the figures that were in St. Paul's

cloister. He atones for these errors in referring to Holbein's cuts in

Cranmer's Catechism, as entirely different in style from those published

at Lyons, _but which he thinks, are probably the work of Albert Durer_,

and also in his conjecture that the painter Reperdius might have been

concerned in the latter. See "Observations on the Fairy Queen of Spenser,"

vol. ii. 116, &c. In his most elegant and instructive History of English

Poetry he relapses into error when he states that Holbein painted a Dance

of Death in the Augustine monastery at Basle in 1543, and that Georgius

AEmylius published this Dance at Lyons, 1542, one year before Holbein's

painting at Basle appeared. Hist. Engl. Poetry, vol. ii. p. 364, edit.

Price.

The Marquis de Paulmy ascribes the old Macaber Dance at Basle to Holbein,

and adds, "le sujet et l'execution en sont aussi singuliers que

ridicules." "Melanges tires d'une grande bibliotheque," tom. Ff. 371.

M. Champollion Figeac in Millin's "Magazin encyclopedique," 1811, tom. vi.

has an article on an edition of the "Danse Macabre anterieure a celle de

1486." In this article he states that Holbein painted a fresco Dance of

Death at Basle near the end of the 15th century (Holbein was not born till

1498!); that this Dance resembled the Danse Macabre, all the characters of

which are in Holbein's style; that it is still more like the Dance in the

Monasticon Anglicanum in a single print; and that the English Dance

belongs to John Porey, an author who appears, however, to be unknown to

all biographers. We should have been obliged to M. Figeac if he had

mentioned where he met with this John Porey, whom he again mentions, but

in such a manner as to leave a doubt whether he means to consider him as a

poet or a painter. Even M. Millin himself, from whom more accuracy might

have been expected, speaks of Holbein's work as at the Dominican convent

at Basle.

The "Nouveau Dictionnaire Historique," 1789, 8vo. gives the painting on

the walls of the cemetery of St. Peter at Basle, to Holbein, confounding

the two works as some other French biographical dictionaries have done,

especially one that has cited an edition of the Danse Macabre in 1486 as

the first of Holbein's painting, though it immediately afterwards states

that artist to have been born in 1498.

In that excellent work, the "Biographie universelle," in 42 vols. 8vo.

1811-1828, M. Ponce, under the article "Holbein," inaccurately refers to

"the Dance of Death painted in 1543 on the walls of a cemetery at Basle,"

at the same time properly remarking that it was not Holbein's. He refers

to the supposed original drawings of Holbein's work at Petersburg that

were engraved by De Mechel, and concludes his brief note with a reference

to a dissertation of M. Raymond in Millin's "Magazin encyclopedique,"

1814, tom. v. which is nothing more than a simple notice of two editions

of the Danse Macabre, described in the present dissertation.

And lastly--The Reviewer of the first edition of the present dissertation

prefixed to Mr. Edwards's engravings or etchings by Wenceslaus Hollar, has

displayed considerable ingenuity in his attempt to correct supposed

errors, by a lavish substitution of many of his own, some of which are the

following:

That the Dance of Death is found in _carvings in wood in the choirs of

churches_. Not a single instance can be produced.

That Hollar's etchings are on _wood_.

"Black letter" is _corrected_ to "Black letters."

That the book would have been more _complete if Lydgate's stanzas_ had

been quoted, in common with others in _Piers Plowman_. Now all the stanzas

of Lydgate are given, and not a single one is to be found in Piers

Plowman.

And they most _ingeniously and scientifically_ denominate the skeleton

figure of Death "the Gothic monster of Holbein!"

* * * * *

A short time after the completion of the present Dissertation, the author

accidentally became possessed of a recently published German life of

Holbein, in which not a single addition of importance to what has been

gleaned from preceding writers can possibly be found. It contains a

general, but extremely superficial account of the works of that artist,

including the Dance of Death, which, as a matter of course, is ascribed to

him. As the author, a Mr. Ulrich Hegner, who is said to be a _Swiss

gentleman and amateur_, has not conducted himself with that urbanity and

politeness which might have been looked for from such a _character_, and

has thought proper, in adverting to the slight Essay by the present

writer, prefixed, at the instance of the late Mr. Edwards, to his

publication of Hollar's etchings of the Dance of Death, to speak of it

with a degree of contempt, which, even with all its imperfections, others

may think it may not have deserved; the above _gentleman_ will have but

little reason to complain should he meet with a somewhat uncourteous

retort in the course of the following remarks on his compilation.

Had Mr. Hegner written with a becoming diffidence in his opinions, his

work might have commanded and deserved respect, though greatly abounding

in error and false conceit. He has undertaken a task for which he has

shown himself wholly unqualified, and with much unseemly arrogance, and

its usual concomitant, ignorance, has assumed to himself a monopoly of

information on the subject which he discusses. His arguments, if worthy of

the name, are, generally speaking, of a most weak and flimsy texture. In

support of his dogmatical opinion that the original designs for the Lyons

Dance of Death exclusively belong to Holbein he has not adduced a single

fact. He has not been in possession of a tenth part of the materials that

were necessary for the proper investigation of his subject, nor does he

appear to have even seen them. The very best judges of whatever relates to

the history and art of engraving are quite satisfied that most of the

persons who have written on them, with the exception of Mr. Ottley, and of

the modest and urbane Monsieur Peignot, are liable to the charge of

extreme inaccuracy and imperfection in their treatment of the Dance of

Death, and the list of such writers may now be closed with the addition of

Herr Hegner.

Some of his positions are now to be stated and examined.

He makes Holbein the author of a new Dance of Death in the Crozat or

Gallitzin drawings in Indian ink which have been already described in the

present dissertation, adding that he also _engraved_ them, and suppressing

any mention in this place of the monogram on one of the cuts which he

_elsewhere admits not to belong to Holbein_. Soon afterwards, and with

very good reason, he doubts the originality of the drawings, which he says

M. de Mechel caused to be copied by Rudolph Schellenberg, a skilful

artist, already mentioned as the author of a Dance of Death of his own

invention; and proceeds to state, that from these copies De Mechel

employed some inferior persons in his service to make engravings;

advancing all this without the accompaniment of any proof whatever, and in

direct contradiction to De Mechel's authority of having himself engraved

them. An apparently bitter enemy to De Mechel, whose posthumous materials,

now in the library at Basle, he nevertheless admits to have used for his

work, he invidiously enlarges on the discrepancies between his engravings

and the Lyons wood-cuts, both in size and manner; and then concludes that

they were copied from the wood-cuts, the copyist allowing himself the

privilege of making arbitrary variations, especially in the figure of the

Eve in the second cut, which, he says, is of the family of Boucher, who,

in spite of Hegner's opinion, is regarded by better judges as a clever

painter. Whether the remarks on any deviations of De Mechel's prints from

the Crozat drawings are just or otherwise can now be decided by comparison

only, and Hegner does not appear to have seen them, or at least does not

tell us so. His criticisms on the merit of the engravings in De Mechel's

work cannot be justified, for though they may occasionally be faulty, they

are very neatly, and many will think beautifully executed.

What Hegner has said respecting the alphabets of initial letters, is at

once futile and inaccurate; but his comment on Hans Lutzenberger deserves

the severest censure. Adverting to the inscription with the name of this

fine artist on one of the sets of the initials, he terms him "an itinerant

_bookseller_, who had bought the blocks and put his name on them;" and

this after having himself referred to a print on which Lutzenberger is

called FORMSCHNEIDER, _i. e._ woodcutter: making in this instance a clumsy

and dishonest effort to get rid of an excellent engraver, who stands so

recorded in opposition to his own untenable system.

The very important and indelible expressions in the dedication to the

first known edition of the Lyons wood-cuts, he very modestly terms "a play

upon words," and endeavours to account for the death of the painter by

supposing Holbein's absence in England would warrant the language of the

dedication. This is indeed a most desperate argument. Frellon, the

publisher and proprietor of the work, must have known better than to have

permitted the dedication to accompany his edition had it been susceptible

of so silly a construction.

He again adheres to the improbable notion that _Holbein engraved_ the cuts

to the Lyons book, and this in defiance of the mark or monogram [monogram:

HL] which this painter never used; nor will a single print with Holbein's

accredited name be found to bear the slightest resemblance to the style of

the wood-cuts. Even those in Cranmer's catechism, which approach the

nearest to them, are in a different manner. His earlier engravings on

wood, whether in design only, or as the engraver, resemble those by Urs

Graaf, who, as well as Holbein, decorated the frontispieces or titles to

many of the books printed at Basle. It is not improbable that Urs Graaf

was at that time a pupil of Holbein.

Hegner next endeavours to annihilate the painting at Whitehall recorded in

Nieuhoff's etchings and dedications, but still by arguments of an entirely

negative kind. He lays much stress on this painting not being specifically

mentioned by Sandrart or Van Mander, who were in England; but where does

it appear that the latter, during his short stay in this country, had

visited Whitehall? Even admitting that both these persons had seen that

palace, it is most probable that the fresco painting of the Dance of

Death, would, from length of time, dampness of the walls, and neglect,

have been in a condition that would not warrant the exhibition of it, and

it was, moreover, placed in a gallery which scarcely formed, at that time,

a part of Whitehall, and which was, probably, not shown to visitors. It

must not, however, be omitted to mention that Sandrart, in p. 239 of his

Acad. Pict. states, though ambiguously, that "there was still remaining at

Whitehall a work by Holbein that would constitute him the Apelles of his

time," an expression which we may remember had been also applied to

Holbein by his friend Borbonius in the complimentary lines on a Dance of

Death.

The Herr Hegner has thought fit to speak of Mr. T. Nieuhoff in terms of

indecorous and unjust contempt, describing him as "an unknown and

unimportant Dutch copper-plate engraver," and arraigning his evidence as

being in manuscript only; as if manuscripts that have never been printed

were of no authority. But where has Hegner discovered that Nieuhoff was a

Dutch copper-plate engraver, by which is meant a professed artist; or even

though he had been such, would that circumstance vitiate his testimony? In

his dedication to Lord William Benting the expressions allusive to his

ardent love of the arts, seem to constitute him an amateur attempter of

etching; for what he has left us in that way is indeed of a very

subordinate character, and unworthy of a professed artist. He appears to

have been one of the Dutchmen who accompanied King William to England, and

to have had apartments assigned to him at Whitehall. At the end of his

dedication to Lord W. Benting, he calls himself an old servant of that

person's father, and subscribes himself "your and your illustrious

family's most obedient and humble servant."

The identification of William Benting must be left to the sagacity of

others. He could not have been the Earl of Portland created in 1689, or he

would have been addressed accordingly. He is, moreover, described as a

youth born at Whitehall, and then residing there, and whose dwelling

consisted of nearly the whole of the palace that remained after the fire.

Again,--We have before us a person living in the palace of Whitehall

anterior to its destruction, testifying what he had himself seen, and

addressing one who could not be imposed upon, as residing also in the

palace. There seems to be no possible motive on the part of Nieuhoff for

stating an untruth, and his most clear and unimpeachable testimony is

opposed by Hegner's wild and weak conjectures, and chiefly by the negative

argument that a few strangers who visited England in a hasty manner have

not mentioned the painting in question at Whitehall, amidst those

inaccurate and superficial accounts of England which, with little

exception, have been given by foreign travellers. Among these Hegner has

selected Patin and Sandrart. Before adducing the former, he would have

done well to have looked at his very imperfect and erroneous account of

Holbein's works, in his edition of the [Greek: MORIAS EGKOMION] of

Erasmus; and, with respect to the latter, the stamp of inaccuracy has been

long affixed to most of the works he has published. He has mentioned, that

being in company with Rubens in a Dutch passage boat "the conversation

fell upon Holbein's book of cuts, representing the Dance of Death; that

Rubens gave them the highest encomiums, advising him, who was then a young

man, to set the highest value upon them, informing him, at the same time,

that he in his youth had copied them."[139] On this passage Mr. Warton has

well remarked that if Rubens styled these prints Holbein's, in familiar

conversation, it was but calling them by the name which the world had

given them, and by which they were generally known; and that Sandrart has,

in another place, confounded them with the Basle painting.[140]

To conclude,--Juvenal's "hoc volo, sic jubeo, sit pro ratione voluntas,"

may be regarded as Herr Hegner's literary motto. He has advocated the

vague traditions of unauthenticated Dances of Death by Holbein, and has

made a most unjustifiable attempt to deprive that truly great artist of

the only painting on the subject which really appears to belong to him.

Yet, if by fair and candid argument, supported by the necessary proofs,

the usual and long standing claim on the part of Holbein can be

substantiated, no one will thereby be more highly gratified than the

author of this dissertation.

ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.

P. 59. After No. 17 add "La Danse Macabre." Paris, Nicole de la Barre,

1523, 4to. with very different cuts, and some characters omitted in former

editions.

P. 77, last line of the text. There is a German work intitled "The process

or law-suit of Death," printed, and perhaps written, by Conrad Fyner in

1477; but as it is not noticed in Panzer's list of German books, no

further account of it can be given than that it is briefly mentioned by

Joseph Heller, in a German work on the subject of engraving on wood, in

which one cut from it is introduced, that exhibits Death conversing with a

husbandman who holds a flail in one of his hands. It is probable that the

book would be found to contain other figures relating to a Macaber Dance.

P. 112, l. ult. There is another work by Glissenti, intitled "La Morte

innamorata." Venet. 1608, 24mo. with a dedication to Sir Henry Wotton, the

English ambassador at Venice, by Elisabetta Glissenti Serenella, the

author's niece; in which, after stating that Sir Henry had seen it

represented, she adds, that she had ventured to have it printed for the

purpose of offering it to him as a very humble donation, &c. It is a

moral, dramatic, and allegorical fable of five acts, in which _Man_, to

avoid _Death_, who has fallen in love with him, retires with his family to

the country of _Long Life_, where he takes up his abode in the house of

_the World_, by whom and his wife _Fraud_, who is in strict friendship

with _Fortune_, he is apparently made much of, and calculates on being

very happy. _Death_ follows the _Man_, and being unknown in the above

region, contrives, with the aid of _Infirmity_, the _Man's_ nurse, to make

him fall sick. The _World_ being tired of his guest, and very desirous to

get rid of, and plunder him of his property, under pretence of introducing

him to _Fortune_, and consequent happiness, enters into a plot with _Time_

to disguise _Death_, who is lodged in the same house with him, as

_Fortune_, and thus to give him possession of the _Man_, who imagines that

he is just about to secure _Fortune_. Each act of this piece is ornamented

with some wood-cut that had been already introduced into the other work of

Glissenti.

P. 118, line 32. Ebert, in his "Bibliographisches Lexicon," Leipsig. 1821,

4to. has mentioned some later editions of Denneker's engravings. See the

article Denecker, p. 972.

P. 126, l. 14. It is not impossible that Hollar may have copied a bust

carved in wood, or some other material, by Holbein, as Albert Durer and

other great artists are known to have practised sculpture in this manner.

P. 135, l. 25. These four prints are in the author's possession.

P. 137, l. ult. Other imitations of the Lyons cuts are, 1. A wood

engraving of Adam digging and Eve spinning, by Corn. Van Sichem in the

"Bibel's tresor," Amst. 1646, 4to. 2. The Astrologer, a small circular

print on copper by Le Blond. 3. The Bridegroom, an anonymous modern

engraving on wood. 4. The Miser, a small modern and anonymous print on

copper.

P. 147, l. 19. In the library at Lambeth palace, No. 1049, there is a copy

of this book in Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, English, and French,

printed by J. Day, 1569, 8vo. It was given by Archb. Tillotson, and from a

memorandum in it supposed to have been the Queen's own copy. The cut of

the Queen kneeling was used so late as 1652, in Benlowes' Theophila. Some

of the cuts have the unexplained mark [monogram: CI].

P. 164, Article xii. This print is a copy, with a few variations, of a

much older one engraved on wood, and probably unique, in the very curious

collection of single sheets and black letter ballads, belonging to George

Daniel, Esquire, of Islington. The figures are executed in a style of

considerable merit, and each of them is described in a stanza of four

lines. It may probably be the same as No. 1 or No. 2, mentioned in p. 76,

or either of Nos. x. or xi. described in p. 163.

P. 226, line 12. Another drawing by Rowlandson, intitled "Death and the

Drunkards." Five topers are sitting at a table and enjoying their punch.

Death suddenly enters and violently seizes one of them. Another perceives

the unwelcome and terrific intruder, whilst the rest are too intent on

their liquor to be disturbed at the moment. It is a very spirited and

masterly performance. 11 by 9. In the author's possession.

P. 239, l. 12. There is likewise in the "Biographie Universelle" an

article intitled "Macaber, poete Allemand" by M. Weiss, and it is to be

regretted that a writer whose learning and research are so eminently

conspicuous in many of the best lives in the work, should have permitted

himself to be misled in much that he has said, by the errors of

Champollion Figeac in the Magazin Encyclopedique. He certainly doubts the

existence of Macaber as a writer, but inclines to M. Van Praet's Arabic

_Magbarah_. He states, that the English version of the Macaber Dance

belongs to John Porey, _a poet who remains unknown even to his

countrymen_, and is inserted in the Monasticon Anglicanum. Now this

_unknown poet_, who is likewise adopted by M. Peignot, is merely the

person who contributed Hollar's plate in the Monasticon, already mentioned

in p. 52, and whose coat of arms is at the top of that plate, with the

following inscription, "Quo praesentes et posteri Mortis, ut vidimus, omni

Ordini comunis, sint magis memores, posuit IOHANNES POREY." Mr. Weiss has

likewise inadvertently adopted the error that Holbein painted the old

Dance of Macaber in the convent of the Augustines at Basle.

Two recently published Dances of Death have come to hand too late to have

been noticed in their proper places.

1. "Der Todtentantz. Ein Gedicht von Ludwig Bechstein, mit 48 kupfern in

treuen Conturen nach H. Holbein. Leipzig bei Friedrich August Leo, 1831."

8vo. These prints are executed in a faithful and elegant outline, and

accompanied with modern German verses.

2. "Hans Holbein's Todtentanz in 53 getreu nach den Holz schnitten

lithographirten Blattern. Heraus gegeben von J. Schlotthaver k. Professor

Mit erklaerendem Texte. Munchen, 1832, Auf Rosten des Heraus gegebers."

12mo. The prints are most accurately and elegantly lithographed in

imitation of wood engraving. The descriptions are in German verse, and

accompanied with some brief prefatory matter by Dr. H. F. Massmann, which

is said to have been amplified in one of the German journals or reviews.

DESCRIPTION OF THE CUTS GIVEN IN THE DISSERTATION.

I. The frontispiece is a design for the sheath of a dagger, probably made

by Holbein for the use of a goldsmith or chaser. The original drawing is

in the public library at Basle. See some remarks on it in p. 133.

II. These circular engravings by Israel Van Meckenen are mentioned in p.

160.

III. Copy of an ancient drawing, 1454, of Death and the Beggar. See p.

223.

IV. Figures of Death and the Lady, sculptured on a monument of the

Delawars, in Boxgrove church, Sussex. See p. 226.

V. A fac-simile of one of the cuts to a very early edition, printed

without date at Troyes by Nicolas le Rouge. It represents the story of the

_trois morts et trois vifs_, and the vision of Saint Macarius. See pp. 33,

34, and 59.

VI. A fac-simile of another cut from the edition of a Danse Macabre,

mentioned in No. V.

DESCRIPTION OF THE LYONS WOOD-CUTS OF THE DANCE OF DEATH.

_The Copies have been made by MR. BONNER from the Cuts belonging to

the "Imagines Mortis, Lugduni sub scuto Coloniensi, 1547," 12mo. and

which have been usually ascribed to Holbein._

1. THE CREATION OF ALL THINGS. The Deity is seen taking Eve from the side

of Adam. "Formavit Dominus Deus hominem de limo terrae, &c." Gen. i.

2. THE TEMPTATION. Eve has just received the forbidden fruit from the

serpent, who, on the authority of venerable Bede, is here, as well as in

most ancient representations of the subject, depicted with a female human

face. She holds it up to Adam, and entices him to gather more of it from

the tree. "Quia audisti vocem uxoris tuae, et comedisti de ligno, &c." Gen.

iii.

3. THE EXPULSION FROM PARADISE. Adam and Eve are preceded by Death, who

plays on a vielle, or beggar's lyre, as if demonstrating his joy at the

victory he has obtained over man. "Emisit eum Dominum Deus de Paradiso

voluptatis, ut operaretur terram de qua sumptus est." Gen. iii.

4. THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL OF MAN. Adam is digging the ground,

assisted by Death. In the distance Eve is suckling her first-born and

holding a distaff. Whence the proverb in many languages:

When Adam delv'd and Eve span

Where was then the gentleman?

"Maledicta terra in opere tuo, in laboribus comedes cunctis diebus vitae

tuae, donec revertaris, &c." Gen. iii.

5. A CEMETERY, in which several Deaths are assembled, most of whom are

playing on noisy instruments of music, as a general summons to mortals to

attend them. "Vae, vae, vae habitantibus in terra." Apoc. viii.

6. THE POPE. He is crowning an Emperor, who kneels before him, two

Cardinals attending, one of whom is ludicrously personated by Death. In

the back-ground are bishops, &c. Death embraces the Pope with one hand,

and with the other leans on a crutch. Two grotesque Devils are introduced

into the cut, one of whom hovers over the Pope, the other in the air holds

a diploma, to which several seals are appended. "Moriatur sacerdos

magnus." Josue xx.

7. THE EMPEROR. Seated on a throne, and attended by his courtiers, he

seems to be listening to, or deciding, the complaint of a poor man who is

kneeling before him, against his rich oppressor, whom the Emperor, holding

the sword of justice, seems to regard with an angry countenance. Behind

him Death lays hands upon his crown. "Dispone domui tuae, morieris, enim

tu, et non vives." Isaiae xxxviii.

8. THE KING. He is sitting at his repast before a well-covered table,

under a canopy studded with fleurs-de-lis. Death intrudes himself as a

cupbearer, and presents the King with probably his last draught. The

figure of the King seems intended as a portrait of Francis I. "Sicut et

Rex hodie est, et cras morietur; nemo enim ex regibus aliud habuit."

Ecclesiast. x. et Sapient. vii.

9. THE CARDINAL. There is some difficulty in ascertaining the real meaning

of the designer of this subject. It has been described as the Cardinal

receiving the bull of his appointment, or as a rich man making a purchase

of indulgences. The latter interpretation seems warranted by the Latin

motto. Death is twisting off the Cardinal's hat. "Vae qui justificatis

impium pro muneribus, et justitiam justi aufertis ab eo." Isaiae v.

10. THE EMPRESS. Gorgeously attired and attended by her maids of honour,

she is intercepted in her walk by Death in the character of a shrivelled

old woman, who points to an open grave, and seems to say, "to this you

must come at last." "Gradientes in superbia potest Deus humiliare." Dan.

iv.

11. THE QUEEN. She has just issued from her palace, when Death

unexpectedly appears and forcibly drags her away. Her jester, in whose

habiliments Death has ludicrously attired himself, endeavours in vain to

protect his mistress. A female attendant is violently screaming. Death

holds up his hour-glass to indicate the arrival of the fatal hour.

"Mulieres opulentae surgite, et audite vocem meam: post dies et annum, et

vos conturbemini." Isaiae xxxii.

12. THE BISHOP. Quietly resigned to his fate he is led away by Death,

whilst the loss of the worthy Pastor is symbolically deplored by the

flight and terror of several shepherds in the distance amidst their

flocks. The setting sun is very judiciously introduced. "Percutiam

pastorem, et dispergentur oves gregis." Mat. xxvi. Mar. xiv.

13. THE DUKE. Attended by his courtiers, he is accosted in the street for

charity by a poor beggar woman with her child. He disdainfully turns aside

from her supplication, whilst Death, fantastically crowned with leaves,

unexpectedly lays violent hands upon him. "Princeps induetur moerore, et

quiescere faciam superbiam potentium." Ezech. viii.

14. THE ABBOT. Death having despoiled him of his mitre and crosier, drags

him away. The Abbot resists with all his might, and is about to throw his

breviary at his adversary. "Ipse morietur, quia non habuit disciplinam,

et in multitudine stultitiae suae decipietur."

15. THE ABBESS. Death, grotesquely crowned with flags, seizes the poor

Abbess by her scapulary. A Nun at the convent gate, with uplifted hands,

bewails the fate of her superior. "Laudavi magis mortuos quam viventes."

Eccles. iv.

16. THE GENTLEMAN. He vainly, with uplifted sword, endeavours to liberate

himself from the grasp of Death. The hour-glass is placed on his bier.

"Quis est homo qui vivet, et non videbit mortem, eruet animam suam de manu

inferi?"

17. THE CANON. Death holds up his hour-glass to him as he is entering a

cathedral. They are followed by a noble person with a hawk on his fist,

his buffoon or jester, and a little boy. "Ecce appropinquat hora." Mat.

xxvi.

18. THE JUDGE. He is deciding a cause between a rich and a poor man. From

the former he is about to receive a bribe. Death behind him snatches his

staff of office from one of his hands. "Disperdam judicem de medio ejus."

Amos ii.

19. THE ADVOCATE. The rich client is putting a fee into the hands of the

dishonest lawyer, to which Death also contributes, but reminds him at the

same time that his glass is run out. To this admonition he seems to pay

little regard, fully occupied in counting the money. Behind this group is

the poor suitor, wringing his hands, and lamenting that his poverty

disables him from coping with his wealthy adversary. "Callidus vidit

malum, et abscondit se: innocens pertransiit, et afflictus est damno."

Prover. xxii.

20. THE MAGISTRATE. A Demon is blowing corruption into the ear of a

magistrate, who has turned his back on a poor man, whilst he is in close

conversation with another person, to whose story he seems emphatically

attentive. Death at his feet with an hour-glass and spade. "Qui obturat

aurem suam ad clamorem pauperis, et ipse clamabit, et non exaudietur."

Prover. xxi.

21. THE PREACHER. Death with a stole about his neck stands behind the

preacher, and holds a jaw-bone over his head, typifying perhaps thereby

that he is the best preacher of the two. "Vae qui dicitis malum bonum, et

bonum malum: ponentes tenebras lucem, et lucem tenebras: ponentes amarum

in dulce, et dulce in amarum." Isaiae v.

22. THE PRIEST. He is carrying the viaticum, or sacrament, to some dying

person. Attendants follow with tapers and holy water. Death strides on

before, with bell and lanthern, to announce the coming of the priest. "Sum

quidem et ego mortalis homo." Sap. vii.

23. THE MENDICANT FRIAR. He is just entering his convent with his money

box and wallet. Death seizes him by the cowl, and forcibly drags him away.

"Sedentes in tenebris, et in umbra mortis, vinctos in mendicitate." Psal.

cvi.

24. THE NUN. Here is a mixture of gallantry and religion. The young lady

has admitted her lover into her apartment. She is kneeling before an

altar, and hesitates whether to persist in her devotions or listen to the

amorous music of the young man, who, seated on a bed, touches a theorbo

lute. Death extinguishes the candles on the altar, by which the designer

of the subject probably intimates the punishment of unlawful love. "Est

via quae videtur homini justa: novissima autem ejus deducunt hominem ad

mortem." Prover. iv.

25. THE OLD WOMAN. She is accompanied by two Deaths, one of whom, playing

on a stickado, or wooden psalter, precedes her. She seems more attentive

to her rosary of bones than to the music, whilst the other Death

impatiently urges her forward with blows. "Melior est mors quam vita."

Eccle. xxx.

26. THE PHYSICIAN. He holds out his hand to receive, for inspection, a

urinal which Death presents to him, and which contains the water of a

decrepid old man whom he introduces, and seems to say to the physician,

"Canst thou cure this man who is already in my power?" "Medice cura te

ipsum." Luc. iv.

27. THE ASTROLOGER. He is seen in his study, looking attentively at a

suspended sphere. Death holds out a skull to him, and seems, in mockery,

to say, "Here is a better subject for your contemplation." "Indica mihi si

nosti omnia. Sciebas quod nasciturus esses, et numerum dierum tuorum

noveras?" Job xxxviii.

28. THE MISER. Death has burst into his strong room, where he is sitting

among his chests and bags of gold, and, seated on a stool, deliberately

collects into a large dish the money on the table which the Miser had been

counting. In an agony of terror and despair, the poor man seems to implore

forbearance on the part of his unwelcome visitor. "Stulte, hac nocte

repetunt animam tuam: et quae parasti, cujus erunt?" Lucae xii.

29. THE MERCHANT. After having escaped the perils of the sea, and happily

reached the wished-for shore with his bales of merchandize; this too

secure adventurer, whilst contemplating his riches, is surprised by Death.

One of his companions holds up his hands in despair. "Qui congregat

thesauros lingua mendacii, vanus et excors est, et impingetur ad laqueos

mortis." Proverb. xxi.

30. THE SHIP IN A TEMPEST. Death is vigorously employed in breaking the

mast. The owner of the vessel is wringing his hands in despair. One man

seems perfectly resigned to his impending fate. "Qui volunt ditescere,

incidunt in tentationem et laqueum, et cupiditates multas, stultas ac

noxias, quae demergunt homines in exitium et interitum." 1 ad Tim. vi.

31. THE KNIGHT. After escaping the perils in his numerous combats, he is

vanquished by Death, whom he ineffectually resists. "Subito morientur, et

in media nocte turbabuntur populi, et auferent violentum absque manu." Job

xxxiv.

32. THE COUNT. Death, in the character of a ragged peasant, revenges

himself against his proud oppressor by crushing him with his own armour.

On the ground lie a helmet, crest, and flail. "Quoniam cum interierit non

sumet secum omnia, neque cum eo descendet gloria ejus." Psal. xlviii.

33. THE OLD MAN. Death leads his aged victim to the grave, beguiling him

with the music of a dulcimer. "Spiritus meus attenuabitur, dies mei

breviabuntur, et solum mihi superest sepulchrum." Job xvii.

34. THE COUNTESS. She receives from an attendant the splendid dress and

ornaments with which she is about to equip herself. On a chest are seen a

mirror, a brush, and the hour-glass of Death, who, standing behind her,

places on her neck a collar of bones. "Ducunt in bonis dies suos, et in

puncto ad inferna descendant." Job xxi.

35. THE NEW-MARRIED LADY. She is accompanied by her husband, who

endeavours to divert her attention from Death, who is insidiously dancing

before them and beating a tambour. "Me et te sola mors separabit." Ruth i.

36. THE DUCHESS. She is sitting up, dressed, in her bed, at the foot of

which are two Deaths, one of whom plays on a violin, the other is pulling

the clothes from the bed. "De lectulo, super quem ascendisti, non

descendes, sed morte morieris." 4 Reg. i.

37. THE PEDLAR. Accompanied by his dog, and heavily laden, he is

proceeding on his way, when he is intercepted by Death, who forcibly pulls

him back. Another Death is playing on a trump-marine. "Venite ad me omnes

qui laboratis, et onerati estis." Matth. xi.

38. THE HUSBANDMAN. He is assisted by Death, who conducts the horses of

his plough. "In sudore vultus tui vesceris pane tuo." Gen. iii.

39. THE CHILD. A female cottager is preparing her family mess, when Death

enters and carries off the youngest of her children. "Homo natus de

muliere, brevi vivens tempore, repletur multis miseriis: qui quasi flos

egreditur, et conteritur, et fugit velut umbra." Job xiv.

40. THE SOLDIER. He is engaged in unequal combat with Death, who simply

attacks him with a bone. On the ground lie some of his demolished

companions. In the distance, Death is beating a drum, and leading on a

company of soldiers to battle. "Cum fortis armatus custodit atrium suum,

&c. Si autem fortior eo superveniens vicerit eum, universa ejus arma

aufert, in quibus confidebat." Luc. xi.

41. THE GAMESTERS. Death and the Devil are disputing the possession of one

of the gamesters, whom both have seized. Another seems to be interceding

with the Devil on behalf of his companion, whilst a third is scraping

together all the money on the table. "Quid prodest homini, si universum

mundum lucretur, animae autem suae detrimentum patiatur?" Mat. xvi.

42. THE DRUNKARDS. They are assembled in a brothel, and intemperately

feasting. Death pours liquor from a flaggon into the mouth of one of the

party. "Ne inebriemini vino, in quo est luxuria." Ephes. v.

43. THE IDEOT FOOL. He is mocking Death, by putting his finger in his

mouth, and at the same time endeavouring to strike him with his

bladder-bauble. Death smiling, and amused at his efforts, leads him away

in a dancing attitude, playing at the same time on a bag-pipe. "Quasi

agnus lasciviens, et ignorans, nescit quod ad vincula stultus trahatur."

Prover. vii.

44. THE ROBBER. Whilst he is about to plunder a poor market-woman of her

property, Death comes behind and lays violent hands on him. "Domine vim

patior." Isaiae xxxviii.

45. THE BLIND MAN. Carefully measuring his steps, and unconscious of his

perilous situation, he is led on by Death, who with one hand takes him by

the cloak, both parties having hold of his staff. "Caecus caecum ducit: et

ambo in foveam cadunt." Matt. xv.

46. THE WAGGONER. His cart, loaded with wine casks, has been overturned,

and one of his horses thrown down by two mischievous Deaths. One of them

is carrying off a wheel, and the other is employed in wrenching off a tie

that had secured one of the hoops of the casks. The poor affrighted

waggoner is clasping his hands together in despair. "Corruit in curru

suo." 1 Chron. xxii.

47. THE BEGGAR. Almost naked, his hands joined together, and his head

turned upwards as in the agonies of death, he is sitting on straw near the

gate of some building, perhaps an hospital, into which several persons are

entering, and some of them pointing to him as an object fit to be

admitted. On the ground lie his crutches, and one of his legs is swathed

with a bandage. A female is looking on him from a window of the building.

"Miser ego homo! quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus?" Rom. vii.

48. THE LAST JUDGMENT. Christ sitting on a rainbow, and surrounded by a

group of angels, patriarchs, &c. rests his feet on a globe of the

universe. Below, are several naked figures risen from their graves, and

stretching out their hands in the act of imploring judgment and mercy.

"Memorare novissima, et in aeternum non peccabis." Eccle. vii.

49. THE ALLEGORICAL ESCUTCHEON OF DEATH. The coat or shield is fractured

in several places. On it is a skull, and at top the crest as a helmet

surmounted by two arm bones, the hands of which are grasping a ragged

piece of stone, and between them is placed an hour-glass. The supporters

are a gentleman and lady in the dresses of the times. In the description

of this cut Papillon has committed some very absurd mistakes, already

noticed in p. 110.

THE CREATION

[Illustration]

Formavit Dominus Deus hominem de limo terrae, &c. _Gen._ i.

THE TEMPTATION

[Illustration]

Quia audisti vocem uxoris tuae, et comedisti de ligno, &c. _Gen._ iii.

III

THE EXPULSION

[Illustration]

Emisit eum Dominum Deus de Paradiso voluptatis, ut operaretur terram de

qua sumptus est. _Gen._ iii.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL

[Illustration]

Maledicta terra in opere tuo, in laboribus comedes cunctis diebus vitae

tuae, donec revertaris, &c. _Gen._ iii.

A CEMETERY

[Illustration]

Vae, vae, vae habitantibus in terra. _Apoc._ viii.

THE POPE

[Illustration]

Moriatur sacerdos magnus. _Josue_ xx.

VII

THE EMPEROR

[Illustration]

Dispone domui tuae, morieris, enim tu, et non vives. _Isaiae_ xxxviii.

VIII

THE KING

[Illustration]

Sicut et Rex hodie est, et cras morietur; nemo enim ex regibus aliud

habuit. _Eccles._ x. _et Sapient._ vii.

THE CARDINAL

[Illustration]

Vae qui justificatis impium pro muneribus, et justitiam justi aufertis ab

eo. _Isaiae_ v.

THE EMPRESS

[Illustration]

Gradientes in superbia potest Deus humiliare. _Dan._ iv.

THE QUEEN

[Illustration]

Mulieres opulentae surgite, et audite vocem meam: post dies et annum, et

vos conturbemini. _Isaiae_ xxxii.

XII

THE BISHOP

[Illustration]

Percutiam pastorem, et dispergentur oves gregis. _Mat._ xxvi. _Mar._ xiv.

XIII

THE DUKE

[Illustration]

Princeps induetur moerore, et quiescere faciam superbiam potentium.

_Ezech._ viii.

XIV

THE ABBOT

[Illustration]

Ipse morietur, quia non habuit disciplinam, et in multitudine stultitiae

suae decipietur.

THE ABBESS

[Illustration]

Laudavi magis mortuos quam viventes. _Eccles._ iv.

XVI

THE GENTLEMAN

[Illustration]

Quis est homo qui vivet, et non videbit mortem, eruet animam suam de manu

inferi?

XVII

THE CANON

[Illustration]

Ecce appropinquat hora. _Mat._ xxvi.

XVIII

THE JUDGE

[Illustration]

Disperdam judicem de medio ejus. _Amos_ ii.

XIX

THE ADVOCATE

[Illustration]

Callidus vidit malum, et abscondit se: innocens pertransiit, et afflictus

est damno. _Prover._ xxii.

THE MAGISTRATE

[Illustration]

Qui obturat aurem suam ad clamorem pauperis, et ipse clamabit, et non

exaudietur. _Prover._ xxi.

XXI

THE PREACHER

[Illustration]

Vae qui dicitis malum bonum, et bonum malum: ponentes tenebras lucem, et

lucem tenebras: ponentes amarum in dulce, et dulce in amarum. _Isaiae_ v.

XXII

THE PRIEST

[Illustration]

Sum quidem et ego mortalis homo. _Sap._ vii.

XXIII

THE MENDICANT

[Illustration]

Sedentes in tenebris, et in umbra mortis, vinctos in mendicitate. _Psal._

cvi.

XXIV

THE NUN

[Illustration]

Est via quae videtur homini justa: novissima autem ejus deducunt hominem ad

mortem. _Prover._ iv.

XXV

THE OLD WOMAN

[Illustration]

Melior est mors quam vita. _Eccle._ xxx.

XXVI

THE PHYSICIAN

[Illustration]

Medice, cura te ipsum. _Luc._ iv.

XXVII

THE ASTROLOGER

[Illustration]

Indica mihi si nosti omnia. Sciebas quod nasciturus esses, et numerum

dierum tuorum noveras? _Job_ xxxviii.

XXVIII

THE MISER

[Illustration]

Stulte, hac nocte repetunt animam tuam: et quae parasti, cujus erunt?

_Lucae_ xii.

XXIX

THE MERCHANT

[Illustration]

Qui congregat thesauros lingua mendacii, vanus et excors est, et

impingetur ad laqueos mortis. _Proverb._ xxi.

XXX

THE SHIP IN A TEMPEST

[Illustration]

Qui volunt ditescere, incidunt in tentationem et laqueum, et cupiditates

multas, stultas, ac noxias, quae demergunt homines in exitium et interitum.

_1 ad Tim._ vi.

XXXI

THE KNIGHT

[Illustration]

Subito morientur, et in media nocte turbabuntur populi, et auferent

violentum absque manu. _Job_ xxxiv.

XXXII

THE COUNT

[Illustration]

Quoniam cum interierit, non sumet secum omnia, neque cum eo descendet

gloria ejus. _Psal._ xlviii.

XXXIII

THE OLD MAN

[Illustration]

Spiritus meus attenuabitur, dies mei breviabuntur, et solum mihi superest

sepulchrum. _Job_ xvii.

XXXIV

THE COUNTESS

[Illustration]

Ducunt in bonis dies suos, et in puncto ad inferna descendunt. _Job_ xxi.

XXXV

THE NEW-MARRIED LADY

[Illustration]

Me et te sola mors separabit. _Ruth_ i.

XXXVI

THE DUCHESS

[Illustration]

De lectulo super quem ascendisti, non descendes, sed morte morieris.

_4 Reg._ i.

XXXVII

THE PEDLAR

[Illustration]

Venite ad me, omnes qui laboratis, et onerati estis. _Matth._ xi.

XXXVIII

THE HUSBANDMAN

[Illustration]

In sudore vultus tui vesceris pane tuo. _Gen._ iii.

XXXIX

THE CHILD

[Illustration]

Homo natus de muliere, brevi vivens tempore, repletur multis miseriis: qui

quasi flos egreditur, et conteritur, et fugit velut umbra. _Job_ xiv.

THE SOLDIER

[Illustration]

Cum fortis armatus custodit atrium suum, &c. Si autem fortior eo

superveniens vicerit eum, universa ejus arma aufert, in quibus confidebat.

_Luc._ xi.

XLI

THE GAMESTERS

[Illustration]

Quid prodest homini, si universum mundum lucretur, animae autem suae

detrimentum patiatur? _Mat._ xvi.

XLII

THE DRUNKARDS

[Illustration]

Ne inebriemini vino, in quo est luxuria. _Ephes._ v.

XLIII

THE IDEOT FOOL

[Illustration]

Quasi agnus lasciviens, et ignorans, nescit quod ad vincula stultus

trahatur. _Prover._ vii.

XLIV

THE ROBBER

[Illustration]

Domine, vim patior. _Isaiae_ xxxviii.

XLV

THE BLIND MAN

[Illustration]

Caecus caecum ducit: et ambo in foveam cadunt. _Matt._ xv.

XLVI

THE WAGGONER

[Illustration]

Corruit in curru suo. _1 Chron._ xxii.

XLVII

THE BEGGAR

[Illustration]

Miser ego homo! quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus? _Rom._ vii.

XLVIII

THE LAST JUDGMENT

[Illustration]

Memorare novissima, et in aeternum non peccabis. _Eccle._ vii.

XLIX

ALLEGORICAL ESCUTCHEON OF DEATH

[Illustration]

MARKS OF ENGRAVERS.

[monogram: G S.] 41, 117

[monogram: HL] 93, 97, 98, 100, 111, 113, 114, 215, 235

[monogram: H =N=] 100

[monogram: S.] 113

[monogram: SA] 113, 114, 115, 116, 127, 130, 136, 174

[monogram: W] 117

[monogram: cross] 117

[monogram] 118

[monogram: A] 124

[monogram: UH] 125

[monogram: WH] 125

[monogram: HB] 126

[monogram: HH] 126

[monogram: HHolbein] inv. 126, 129

H. HOLBEIN, inv. 126.

[monogram: W.] 130

[monogram: L B.f.] 130

[monogram: CI] 147, 248

[monogram: AC] 160, 190

[monogram: HF] 184

[monogram: L] 189

[monogram: VG] 189

[monogram] 190

[monogram] 191

[monogram: HM] 191

[monogram] 191

[monogram: BAD] 193

[monogram: I. F.] 219

[monogram] 223

[monogram: HS] 226

These are the marks erroneously given to Holbein,

BI.

Hf.

[monogram: HL]

[monogram: HL B.]

[monogram: HB.]

[monogram: HH.]

And these the marks which really belong to him,

HH.

HANS HOLB.

HANS HOLBEIN.

[monogram: 1519 HF]

[monogram: HF]

II H.

HANS HOLBEN.

[monogram: AH 1517]

[monogram: H [symbol] H]

[monogram: H-H]

INDEX.

AEmylius, Geo. his verses, 84.

Alciatus, his emblems the earliest work of the kind, 180.

Aldegrever, his Dance of Death, 160.

Almanac, a Swiss one, with a Dance of Death, 76, 209.

Alphabets, several curious, 100, 214, 217.

Amman, Jost, a Dance of Death by him, 41.

Ars moriendi, some account of the last edition of it, 173.

Athyr, "Stamm-und Stechbuchlein," a rare and singular book of emblems,

180.

Baldinucci, a mistake by him corrected, 235.

Basle, destruction of its celebrated painting of the Dance of Death, 39.

engravings of it, 41.

Beauclerc, Lady Diana, her ballad of Leonora, 210.

Bechstein, Ludwig, his edition of the Lyons' wood-cuts, 136.

Beham, Barthol., his Dance of Death, 190.

Bernard, le petit, his fine wood-cuts to the Old Testament, 173.

Berne almanac, a Dance of Death in one of them, 154.

Bock, Hans, not the painter of the Basle Dance of Death, 39.

Bodenehr, Maurice, a Dance of Death by him, 165.

"Boetius de consolatione," a figure of Death in an old edition of it,

171.

Bonaparte, Napoleon, a Dance of Death relating to him, 167.

Books in which a Dance of Death is occasionally introduced, 168.

Borbonius, Nicolas, his portrait, 140.

his verses, 92, 94, 139.

in England, 140.

Bosman, Arent, a singular old Dutch legend relating to him, 183.

Bosse, a curious engraving by him, 196.

Boxgrove church in Sussex, sculpture in, 226.

Brant, Sebastian, his stultifera navis, 170.

Bromiard, John De, his "Summa predicantium," a fine frontispiece to it,

183.

Buno, Conrad, a book of emblems by him, 181.

Burnet, Bishop, his ambiguous account of a Dance of Death at Basle, 79,

138.

Calendrier des Bergers, 170.

Callot, drawings by him of a Dance of Death in the collection of Sir

Tho. Lawrence, 223.

Camus, M. de, a ludicrous mistake by him, 169.

Catz's emblems, 182.

Cavallero determinado, 174.

Centre de l'amour, a singular book of emblems, 182.

Chertablon, "Maniere de se bien preparer a la mort," 177.

"Chevalier de la tour," a singular print from this curious romance, 171.

Chodowiecki, his engravings relating to the Dance of Death, 153, 207,

208.

Chorier, his "Antiquites de Vienne," 48.

Cogeler, "Imagines elegantissimae, &c." 173.

Coleraine, I. Nixon, his Dance of Death on a fan, 159.

Colman's "Death's duell," 185.

Compan, M. his mistake about a Dance of Death, 237.

Coppa, a poem ascribed to Virgil, 3.

Cossiers, John, a curious print after him, 199.

Coverdale's Bible, with initials of a Dance of Death, 217.

Coxe's travels in Switzerland, some account in them of M. Crozat's

drawings, 134.

Crozat, M. De, account of some supposed drawings by Holbein in his

collection, 134.

Dagger, design for the sheath of one by Holbein, 133.

Dagley's "Death's doings," 157, 210, 224.

Dance of Death, a pageant, 5.

Danish one, 159.

known to the ancients, 12.

one at Pompeii, 13.

the term sometimes improperly used, 81.

verses belonging to it, 17.

where sculptured and painted, 17.

Dance, Mr. the painter, his imitation of a subject in the Dance of Death

in his portrait of Mr. Garrick, 137.

Dances of Death, with such text only as describes the subject, 160.

anonymous, 161, 162, 163, 164.

at the following places,

Amiens, 47.

Anneberg, 44.

Avignon, 221.

Basle, 36.

Berlin, 48.

Berne, 45.

Blois, 47.

Croydon, 54.

Dijon, 35.

Dresden, 44.

Erfurth, 44.

Fescamp, 47.

Hexham, 53.

Holland, 49.

Italy, 49.

Klingenthal, 42.

Leipsic, 44.

Lubeck, 43.

Lucerne, 46.

Minden, 35.

Nuremberg, 45.

Paris, 14, 33, 35.

Rouen, 47.

Salisbury, 52.

St. Paul's, 51, 76.

Spain, 50.

Strasburg, 47.

Tower of London, 54.

Vienne, in Dauphine, 48.

Wortley Hall, 53.

Dancing in temples and churchyards, 5, 6.

Daniel, Mr. an unique print of a Dance of Death in his possession, 248.

Danse aux aveugles, 231.

Death and the Lady, 226.

how personified by the Ancients, 1.

not in itself terrific, 4.

to Dr. Quackery, 211.

De Bry, prints by him, 180, 183, 195.

Dedication to the first edition of the Lyons wood-cuts, 86.

mistakes in it, 87.

De Gheyn, prints by him, 198, 205.

De la Motte's fables, 183.

Della Bella, 162.

De Murr, his mistake about the Dance of Death, 235

Dennecker, or De Necker, Jobst, Dances of Death by him, 40, 42, 85, 118.

De Pas, Crispin, description of a singular engraving by him, 196.

Descamps, his mistake about the Dance of Death, 235.

Deuchar, David, the Scottish Worlidge, his etchings of the Dance of

Death, 135.

Deutch, Nicolas Manuel, the painter of a Dance of Death at Berne, 224.

Devil's ruff-shop, 200.

De Vos, Martin, print after him of the Devil's ruff-shop, 200.

Diepenbecke, Abraham, designer of the borders to Hollar's etchings of

the Dance of Death, 125.

Dialogue of life and death, in "Dialogues of creatures moralized," 170.

Dominotiers, venders of coloured prints for the common people, 77.

Drawings of the Dance of Death, 222.

Druraei Mors, an excellent Latin comedy, 175.

Dugdale, his Monasticon, 129.

his St. Paul's, 129.

Durer, Albert, some prints by or after him described, 188, 189.

Ear, the seat of memory among the Ancients, 3.

swearing by, 3.

Edwards, Mr. the bookseller, the possessor of Hollar's etchings of the

Dance of Death, 128.

Elizabeth, her prayer-book with a Dance of Death, 147, 247.

Emblems and fables relating to the Dance of Death, 179.

Engravings on wood, the earliest impressions of them not always the

best, 85, 90.

commendations of them in books printed in France, Germany, and Italy,

97.

Errors of miscellaneous writers on the Dance of Death, 236.

of travellers concerning it, 233.

of writers on painting and engraving concerning it, 234.

Evelyn, Mr. his mistake concerning the Dance of Death, 235.

Fables relating to the Dance of Death, 179.

Faut mourir, le, 26.

Felibien, his mistake about the Dance of Death, 235.

Figeac, Champollion, his account of a Macaber Dance, 238.

Fleischmann, Counsellor, of Strasburg, drawings of a Dance of Death in

his possession, 134.

Fontenai, Abbe, his mistake concerning the Dance of Death, 236.

Fool and Death in old moralities, 177.

Fournier, his mistake concerning the Dance of Death, 237.

Fox, John, "Book of Christian Prayers," compiled by him, 147.

Francis I. an importer of fine artists into France, 92.

Francolin, a rare work by him described, 217.

Freidanck, 171.

Friderich's emblems, 180.

Frontispieces connected with the Dance of Death, described, 183.

Fulbert's vision of the dispute between the soul and the body, 32.

Fuseli, Mr. his opinion concerning the Dance of Death, 83.

Fyner, Conrad, his process or law-suit of Death.

Gallitzin, Prince, some supposed drawings by Holbein of a Dance of Death

in his possession, 134.

Gem, an ancient one, with a skeleton as the representative of Death, 206.

Gerard, Mark, some etchings of fables by him, 179.

Gesner's Pandectae, remarks on a passage in that work, 84.

Ghezzi, a figure of Death among his caricatures, 206.

Glarus, Franciscus a, his "Confusio disposita, &c." noticed as a very

singular work, 177.

Glass, painted, with a Dance of Death, 227.

Glissenti, his "Discorsi morali," 112.

his "Morte inamorata," 246.

Gobin le gay, a name of one of the shepherds in an old print of the

Adoration, 69.

Gobin, Robert, his "loups ravissans," remarkable for a Dance of Death,

146.

Goethe, a Dance of Death in one of his works, 178, 211.

Gole, a mezzotinto by him of Death and the Miser, 203.

Goujet, his mistake about the Dance of Death at Basle, 233.

Graaf, Urs, a print by him, and his monogram described, 189.

Grandville, "Voyage pour l'eternite," 157.

Gray, Rev. Robert, his mistake about the Dance of Death at Basle, 233.

Gringoire, Pierre, his "Heures de Notre Dame," 172.

Grosthead, story from his "Manuel de Peche," 7.

Guilleville, "Pelerin de la vie humaine," 175.

Harding, an etching by him of "Death and the Doctor," 211.

Hawes's "Pastime of Pleasure," two prints from it described, 173.

Heemskirk, Martin, a print by him described, 193, 199.

Hegner, his life of Holbein, 240.

Heymans, Mynheer, a dedication to him, 141.

Historia della Morte, a poem so called, 176.

Holbein, a German, life of him by Hegner, 240.

ambiguity with respect to the paintings at Basle ascribed to him, 81.

dance of peasants by him, 80.

engravings by him with his name, 95.

his Bible prints, 94.

his connexion with the Dance of Death, 78, 138.

his death, in 1554, 144.

his name not in the early editions of the Lyons wood-cuts, 92.

lives of him very defective, 143.

more particulars relating to him, 143.

not the painter of the Dance of Death at Basle, 38, 43, 144.

paints a Dance of Death at Whitehall, 141.

satirical painting of Erasmus by him, 221.

Hollar, his copies of the Dance of Death, 125.

Hopfer, David, his print of Death and the Devil, 191.

Horae, manuscripts of this service book with the Macaber Dance, 60.

printed copies of it with the same, and some similar designs, 72.

Huber and Rust, their mistake concerning Holbein, 236.

Jacques, Maitre, his "le faut mourir," 26.

Jansen, his mistake concerning the Dance of Death, 236.

Imitations of and from the Lyons wood-cuts, 137.

Initial letters with a Dance of Death, 213, 214, 217.

Innocent III. Pope, his work "de vilitate conditionis humanae," 172.

Karamsin, Nicolai, his account of a Dance of Death, 44.

Kauw, his drawing of a Dance of Death, at Berne, 224.

Kerver, Thielman, his editions of "Horae," 174.

Klauber, John Hugh, a painter of a Dance of Death at Basle, 36, 42.

Langlois, an engraving by him described, 198.

Larvae and lemures, confusion among the ancients as to their respective

qualities, 4.

"Last drop," an etching so intitled, 211.

a drawing of the same subject, 224.

Lavenberg calendar, prints by Chodowiecki in it, 153.

Lawrence, Sir Thomas, drawings by Callot of a Dance of Death in his

possession, 223.

"Lawyer's last circuit," a caricature print, 209.

Le Blon, a circular print by him described, 197.

Le Comte, his mistake concerning the Dance of Death, 235.

Lubeck, a Dance of Death there, 163.

Lutzenberger, Hans, the engraver of the Lyons wood-cuts of the Dance of

Death, 98.

alphabets by him, 100.

various prints by him, 99.

Luyken's Emblems, 177, 178.

Lydgate, his Verses to the Macaber Dance, 29, 52.

Lyons, all the editions of the wood-cuts of the Dance of Death published

there described, 82, 103.

copies of them by Hollar, 125.

copies of them on copper, 121.

copies of them on wood, 111.

various imitations of some of them, 137.

Lyvijus, John, a print by him of two card players, 197.

Macaber, a word falsely applied as the name of a supposed German poet,

28, 34.

its etymology discussed, 30, 34.

Macaber Dance, 13, 28.

copies or engravings of it as painted at Basle, 40.

destruction of the painting at Basle, 39.

manuscripts in which it is represented, 72.

not painted by Holbein, 38.

printed books, in which it is represented, 55.

representations of it at the following places:--

Amiens, 47.

Anneberg, 44.

Basle, 36.

Berlin, 48.

Berne, 45.

Burgos, 50.

Croydon, 54.

Dijon, 35.

Dresden, 44, 76.

Erfurth, 44.

Hexham, 53.

Holland, 49.

Klingenthal, 42.

Lubeck, 43.

Lucerne, 46.

Minden, 35.

Naples, 49.

Rouen, 47.

Salisbury, 52.

St. Paul's, 51, 76.

Strasburg, 47.

Tower of London, 54.

Vienne, 48.

Wortley Hall, 53.

Macarius Saint, painting of a legend relating to him, by Orgagna, at the

Campo Santo, 32, 33.

Malpe, M., his mistake concerning the Dance of Death, 236.

Mannichius, 180.

Manuel de Peche, by Grosthead, 7.

Mapes, Walter de, an allusion by him to a Dance of Death, 24.

vision of a dispute between the soul and the body, ascribed to him, 33.

Marks or monograms of engravers, their uncertainty, 102.

Marmi, Gio. Battista, his "Ritratte della Morte," 129.

Mechel, Chretien de, 132, 208, 214.

Meckenen, Israel Van, a Dance of Death by him, 160.

Meisner, his "Sciographia Cosmica," 180.

Melidaeus, Jonas, a satirical work under this disguised name, intitled

"Res mira," 184.

Meyers, Rodolph, his Dance of Death, 148.

Meyssens, his mistake concerning the Dance of Death, 234.

Missal, an undescribed one, in the type of the psalter of 1457, 213.

Misson, the traveller, his mistake concerning the Dance of Death, 233.

Mitelli, Gio. Maria, a kind of Death's Dance, by him, 161.

Moncrief, his "March of Intellect," quoted for a print after Cruikshank,

178.

Montenaye, Georgette de, her emblems, 179.

"Mors," an excellent Latin comedy, by William Drury, 175.

Mortimer, a sketch by him of Death seizing several persons, 209.

Mortilogus, 171.

Negro figure of Death, 230.

Newton's Dances of Death, 165.

Nieuhoff, Piccard, 130, 140.

Nuremberg Chronicle, a cut from it described, 170.

a story from it, 6.

Old Franks, a curious painting by him, 204, 221.

Oliver, Isaac, his copy of a painting by Holbein, at Whitehall, 145, 221.

Orgagna, Andrea, his painting at the Campo Santo, 32.

Ortulus Rosarum, 170.

Otho Vaenius, a curious painting by him, 204, 222.

Ottley, Mr. his opinion in favour of Holbein as the designer of the

Lyons wood-cuts, 88.

proof impressions of the Lyons wood-cuts in his valuable collection,

85.

Palingenius, his "Zodiacus Vitae," a frontispiece to this work described,

186.

Panneels, William, a scholar of Rubens, mention of a painting by him,

203.

Papillon, his ludicrous mistakes noticed, 110, 114.

Patin, Charles, a traveller, and a libeller of the English, 79, 138, 237.

Paulmy, Marquis de, his mistake concerning the Dance of Death, 238.

Paul's St., mention of the Dance of Death formerly there, 51, 163.

Peasants, a dance of, painted at Basle, by Holbein, 80.

Peignot, M. author of "Les Danses de Mort," an interesting work, preface.

his misconception relating to John Porey, 248.

Perriere, his "Morosophie," 179.

Petrarch, his triumph of Death, 175, 207.

his work "de remediis utriusque fortunae," 175.

Pfister, Albert, his "Tribunal Mortis," 168.

Piccard, Nieuhoff, 130, 140.

Piers Plowman, lines from, 54.

Porey, John, a mistake concerning him corrected, 248.

Potter, P. an allegorical engraving after him, 199.

Prints, single, relating to the Dance of Death, list of, 188.

Prior, Matthew, his lines on the Dance of Death, 145.

Psalter of 1457, a beautiful initial letter in it noticed, 213.

of Richard II., a manuscript in the British Museum, 222.

Rabbi Santo, a Jewish poet, about 1360, 25.

Ratdolt, a Venetian printer, not, as usually supposed, the inventor of

initial or capital letters, 213.

Rembrandt, drawing of a Dance of Death by him, 223.

etching by him, 195.

Rene, of Anjou, painted a Dance of Death, 221.

Reperdius, Geo. an eminent painter at Lyons, 93.

Revelations, prints of the, 175.

Reusner, his emblems, 179.

Rive, Abbe, his bibliography of the Macaber Dance, 75.

Rivoire, his history of Amiens commended, 47.

Roderic, bishop of Zamora, 17, 32.

Rolandini's emblems, 180.

Rollenhagius's emblems, 182.

Roll of the Dance of Death, 1597, 163.

Rowlandson's Dance of Death, 156, 225, 248.

Rusting, Salomon Van, his Dance of Death, 131.

[monogram: SA], some account of this monogram, 115.

its owner employed by Plantin, the famous printer at Antwerp, 116.

Salisbury missal, singular cut in one, 172.

Sallaerts, an artist supposed to have been employed by Plantin the

celebrated printer, 115, 116.

Sancta Clara, Abraham, a description of his "universal mirror of Death,"

151.

Sandrart, his notice of a work by Holbein at Whitehall, 145.

Schauffelin, Hans, a carving on wood by him described, 226.

Schellenberg, I. R. a Dance of Death by him, 154.

Schlotthaver, his edition of a Dance of Death, 249.

Silvius, or Sylvius, Antony, an artist at Antwerp, account of a monogram

supposed to belong to him, 115.

Skeleton, use made of the human by the ancients, 3.

"Spectriana," a modern French work, frontispiece to it described, 187.

Stelsius, his edition of a spurious copy of Holbein's Bible cuts, 97.

Stettler, his drawings of the Macaber Dance of Death at Berne, 224.

"Stotzinger symbolum," description of a cut so intitled, 174.

Stradanus, an engraving after him described, 197.

Susanna, a Latin play, 18.

Symeoni, "Imprese," 179.

Tapestry at the Tower of London, 227.

"Theatrum Mortis," a work with a Dance of Death described, 129.

Tiepolo, a clever etching by him described, 197.

Title-pages connected with the Dance of Death, list of, 183.

Tory, Geoffrey, Horae printed by him described, 172.

Tower of London, tapestry formerly there of a Dance of Death, 227.

Trois mors et trois vifs, 31, 33, 228.

Turner, Col., a Dance of Death by him, 207.

Turnham Green, some account of chalk drawings of a Dance of Death on a

wall there, 210, 224.

Typotii symbola, 180, 182.

Urs Graaf, his engravings noticed, 243.

Vaenius, Otho, some of his works mentioned, 182, 204.

Valckert, a clever etching by him described, 201.

Van Assen, a Dance of Death by him, 158.

Van Leyden, Lucas, 189.

Van Meckenen, Israel, his Dance of Death in circles, 160.

Van Sichem, his prints to the Bible, 177.

Van Venne, prints after him, 157, 182, 199, 209.

Verses that accompany the Dance of Death, 17.

Von Menzel, 207.

"Voyage pour l'eternite," a modern Dance of Death, 157.

Walpole, Mr. his mistake concerning the Dance of Death, 236.

Warton, Mr. his remarks on the Dance of Death, 237.

Weiss, Mr. author of some of the best lives in the "Biographie

Universelle," misled in his article "Macaber" by Champollion Figeac,

249.

Whitehall, fire at, 140.

painting of a Dance of Death there by Holbein, 141.

Wierix, John, some prints by him described, 194, 195.

Williams, Miss, her mistake concerning the Dance of Death at Basle, in

her Swiss tour, 233.

Wolschaten, Geeraerdt Van, a Dance of Death by him, 130.

Wood, engravings on, the first impressions of them not always the best,

85.

Wood, Mr. his mistake concerning the Dance of Death in his "View of

Switzerland," 233.

"Youth's Tragedy," a moral drama, 1671, 175.

Zani, Abbate, of opinion that Holbein had no concern in the Lyons

wood-cuts of the Dance of Death, 98, 101, 138.

Zuinger, his account of paintings at Basle, 139.

C. WHITTINGHAM, TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Iliad, and after him Virgil, AEn. vi. 278.

[2] Iliad IX. On an ancient gem likewise in Ficoroni's Gemmae Antiquae

Litteratae, Tab. viii. No. 1, a human scull typifies mortality, and a

butterfly immortality.

[3] Lib. ii. 78.

[4] Diarium, p. 212.

[5] Lib. xiii. l. 474.

[6] Epist. xxiv.

[7] Apolog. p. 506, 507. edit. Delph. 4to.

[8] Lib. iii.

[9] Leg. Antiq. iii. 84.

[10] Folio clxxxvii.

[11] Folio ccxvii.

[12] Bibl. Reg. 20 B. xiv. and Harl. MS. 4657.

[13] Contest.

[14] Q. Cowick in Yorkshire?

[15] Leader.

[16] Glee.

[17] Called.

[18] A name borrowed from Merwyn, Abbess of Ramsey, temp. Reg. Edgari.

[19] Took.

[20] Leafy.

[21] Place.

[22] Went.

[23] Places.

[24] A falsehood.

[25] Whoever may be desirous of inspecting other authorities for the

story, may consult Vincent of Beauvais Speculum Historiale, lib. xxv. cap.

10; Krantz Saxonia, lib. iv.; Trithemii Chron. Monast. Hirsaugensis;

Chronicon Engelhusii ap. Leibnitz. Script. Brunsvicens. II. 1082;

Chronicon. S. AEgidii, ap. Leibnitz. iii. 582; Cantipranus de apibus; &

Caesarius Heisterbach. de Miraculis; in whose works several _veracious_ and

amusing stories of other instances of divine vengeance against dancing in

general may be found. The most entertaining of all the dancing stories is

that of the friar and the boy, as it occurs among the popular penny

histories, of which, in one edition at least, it is, undoubtedly, the very

best.

[26] Lib. i. Eleg. iii.

[27] AEn. lib. vi. l. 44.

[28] Millin. Magaz. Encycl. 1813, tom. i. p. 200.

[29] Gori Mus. Florentin. tom. i. pl. 91, No. 3.

[30] Hist. Engl. Poetry, vol. ii. p. 43, edit. 8vo. and Carpentier. Suppl.

ad Ducang. v. Machabaeorum chorea.

[31] Id. ii. 364.

[32] Hist. des Ducs des Bourgogne, tom. v. p. 1821.

[33] Hist. de Rene d'Anjou, tom. i. p. 54.

[34] Dulaure. Hist. Physique, &c. de Paris, 1821, tom. ii. p. 552.

[35] Recherches sur les Danses des Morts. Dijon et Paris, 1826, 8vo. p.

xxxiv. et seq.

[36] Mercure de France, Sept. 1742. Carpentier. Suppl. ad Ducang. v.

Machabaeorum chorea.

[37] Bibl. Reg. 8 B. vi. Lansd. MS. 397.

[38] Madrid. 1779, 8vo. p. 179.

[39] Bibl. Med. et Inf. AEtat. tom. v. p. 1.

[40] Recherches sur les Danses de Mort, pp. 79 80.

[41] Passim.

[42] Modern edition of the Danse Macabre.

[43] Journal de Charles VII.

[44] Lansd. MS. No. 397--20.

[45] Peignot Recherches, p. 109.

[46] Melange d'une Grande Bibliotheque, tom. vii. p. 22.

[47] Bibl. Instruc. No. 3109.

[48] Catal. La Valliere No. 2736--22.

[49] Vasari vite de Pittori, tom. i. p. 183, edit. 1568, 4to.

[50] Baldinucci Disegno, ii. 65.

[51] Morona Pisa Illustrata, i. 359.

[52] Du Breul Antiq. de Paris, 1612, 4to. p. 834, where the verses that

accompany the sculpture are given. See likewise Sandrart Acad. Picturae, p.

101.

[53] Peignot Recherches, xxxvii-xxxix.

[54] Urtisii epitom. Hist. Basiliensis, 1522, 8vo.

[55] Peignot Recherches, xxvi-xxix.

[56] Travels, i. 376.

[57] Travels, i. 138, edit. 4to.

[58] Heinecken Dictionn. des Artistes, iii. 67, et iv. 595. He follows

Keysler's error respecting Hans Bock.

[59] Peintre graveur, ix. 398.

[60] Essai sur l'Orig. de la Gravure, i. 120.

[61] Heinecken Dictionn. des Artistes, i. 222.

[62] Recherches, &c. p. 71.

[63] Heller Geschiche der holtzchein kunst. Bamberg, 1823, 12mo. p. 126.

[64] Basle Guide Book.

[65] Recherches, 11 et seq.

[66] More on the subject of the Lubeck Dance of Death may be found in 1.

An anonymous work, which has on the last leaf, "Dodendantz, anno domini

MCCCCXCVI. Lubeck." 2. "De Dodendantz fan Kaspar Scheit, na der utgave

fan, 1558, unde de Lubecker fan, 1463." This is a poem of four sheets in

small 8vo. without mention of the place where printed. 3. Some account of

this painting by Ludwig Suhl. Lubeck, 1783, 4to. 4. A poem, in rhyme, with

wood-cuts, on 34 leaves, in 8vo. It is fully described from the Helms.

library in Brun's Beitrage zu krit. Bearb. alter handschr. p. 321 et seq.

5. Jacob a Mellen Grundliche Nachbricht von Lubeck, 1713, 8vo. p. 84. 6.

Schlott Lubikischers Todtentantz. 1701. 8vo. 7. Berkenmeyer, le curieux

antiquaire, 8vo. p. 530; and, 8. Nugent's Travels, i. 102. 8vo.

[67] Biblioth. Med. et inf. aetat. v. 2.

[68] Travels, i. 195.

[69] Recherches, xlii.

[70] Pilkington's Dict. of Painters, p. 307, edit. Fuseli, who probably

follows Fuesli's work on the Painters. Merian, Topogr. Helvetiae.

[71] Peignot Recherches, xlv. xlvi.

[72] Rivoire descr. de l'eglise cathedrale d'Amiens. Amiens, 1806. 8vo.

[73] Recherches, xlvii.

[74] Recherches, xlviii.

[75] Recherches sur les antiquites de Vienne. 1659. 12mo, p. 15.

[76] Dr. Cogan's Tour to the Rhine, ii. 127.

[77] Travels, iii. 328, edit. 4to.

[78] Survay of London, p. 615, edit. 1618, 4to.

[79] In Tottel's edition these verses are accompanied with a single

wood-cut of Death leading up all ranks of mortals. This was afterwards

copied by Hollar, as to general design, in Dugdale's St. Paul's, and in

the Monasticon.

[80] Annales, p. 596, edit. 1631. folio. Sir Thomas More, treating of the

remembrance of Death, has these words: "But if we not only here this word

Death, but also let sink into our heartes, the very fantasye and depe

imaginacion thereof, we shall parceive therby that we wer never so gretly

moved by the beholding of the _Daunce of Death pictured in Poules_, as we

shal fele ourself stered and altered by the feling of that imaginacion in

our hertes. And no marvell. For those pictures expresse only y{e} lothely

figure of our dead bony bodies, biten away y{e} flesh," &c.--Works, p. 77,

edit. 1557, folio.

[81] Heylin's Hist. of the Reformation, p. 73.

[82] Cotton MS. Vesp. A. xxv. fo. 181.

[83] Leland's Itin. vol. iv. part i. p. 69.--Meas. for Meas. Act iii. sc.

[84] Hutchinson's Northumberland, i. 98.

[85] Warton's H. E. Poetry, ii. 43, edit. 8vo.

[86] And see a portion of Orgagna's painting at the Campo Santo at Pisa,

mentioned before in p. 33.

[87] From the Author's own inspection.

[88] Recherches, p. 144, and see Catal. La Valliere, No. 295.

[89] Herbert's typogr. antiq. p. 888.

[90] Traite hist. de la gravure en bois, i. 182, 336.

[91] Letters containing an account of what seemed most remarkable in

Switzerland, Italy, &c. by G. Burnet, D. D. Rotterdam, 1686, 8vo. p. 265.

[92] Travels through Germany, &c. i. 138, edit. 4to.

[93] Relations historiques et curieuses de voyages en Allemagne, &c. Amst.

1695, 12mo. p. 124.

[94] See likewise Zuinger, Methodus Academica, Basle, 1577, 4to. p. 199.

[95] Remarks on several parts of Europe, 1738, vol. ii. p. 72.

[96] Peignot places the dance of peasants in the fish-market of Basle, as

other writers had the Dance of Death. Recherches, p. 15.

[97] Manuel de l'Amateur d'estampes, ii. 131.

[98] Manuel des curieux, &c. i. 156.

[99] Some give it to the Abbe Baverel.

[100] Lib. ult. p. 86.

[101] The dedicator has apparently in this place been guilty of a strange

misconception. The Death is not sucking the wine from the cask, but in the

act of untwisting the fastening to one of the hoops. Nor is the carman

crushed beneath the wheels: on the contrary, he is represented as standing

upright and wringing his hands in despair at what he beholds. It is true

that this cut was not then completed, and might have undergone some

subsequent alteration. He likewise speaks of the rainbow in the cut of the

Last Judgment, as being at that time unfinished, which, however, is

introduced in this first edition.

[102] It would be of some importance if the date of Lutzenberger's death

could be ascertained.

[103] "An enquiry into the origin and early history of Engraving," 1816,

4to. vol. ii. p. 759.

[104] "An Enquiry," &c. ii. 762.

[105] The few engravings by or after Holbein that have his name or its

initials are to be found in his early frontispieces or vignettes to books

printed at Basle. In 1548, two delicate wood-cuts, with his name, occur in

Cranmer's Catechism. In the title-page to "a lytle treatise after the

maner of an Epystle wryten by the famous clerk, Doctor Urbanus Regius,

&c." Printed by Gwalter Lynne, 1548, 24mo, there is a cut in the same

style of art of Christ attended by his disciples, and pointing to a

fugitive monk, whose sheep are scattered, and some devoured by a wolf.

Above and below are the words "John x. Ezech. xxxiiii. Mich. v. I am the

good shepehearde. A good shepehearde geveth his lyfe for the shype. The

hyred servaunt flyeth, because he is an hered servaunt, and careth not for

the shepe." On the cut at bottom HANS HOLBEIN. There is a fourth cut of

this kind in the British Museum collection with Christ brought before

Pilate; and perhaps Holbein might have intended a series of small

engravings for the New Testament; but all these are in a simple outline

and very different from the cuts in the Dance of Death, or Lyons Bible. It

might be difficult to refer to any other engravings belonging to Holbein

after the above year.

[106] Brulliot dict. de monogrammes, &c. Munich, 1817, 4to. p. 418, where

the letter from De Mechel is given.

[107] Essai sur l'origine de la gravure, &c. tom. i. p. 260.

[108] Id. p. 261.

[109] Dict. de monogrammes, &c. tom. i. pp. 418, 499.

[110] Enciclop. metod. par ii. vol. vii. p. 16.

[111] Enciclop. metod. par. i. vol. x. p. 467.

[112] All the above prints are in the author's possession, except No. 7,

and his copy of No. 5 has not the tablets with the name, &c.

[113] Edit. Javigny, iv. 559.

[114] This edition is given on the authority of Peignot, p. 62, but has

not been seen by the author of this work. In the year 1547, there were

three editions, and it is not improbable that, by the transposition of the

two last figures, one of these might have been intended.

[115] Foppen's Biblioth. Belgica, i. 363.

[116] That of 1557 has a frontispiece with Death pointing to his

hour-glass when addressing a German soldier.

[117] Tom. i. p. 238, 525.

[118] Dict. de Monogrammes, col. 528.

[119] Biblioth. Belgica, i. 92.

[120] See p. 40.

[121] This is the same subject as that in the Augustan monastery described

in p. 48.

[122] See p. 34.

[123] It has been stated that they were in the Arundelian collection

whence they passed into the Netherlands, where forty-six of them became

the property of Jan Bockhorst the painter, commonly called Long John. See

Crozat's catalogue.

[124] On the same dedication are founded the opinions of Zani, De Murr,

Meintel, and some others.

[125] Zuinger methodus apodemica. Basil, 1557. 4to. p. 199.

[126] P. 427, edit. Lugd. apud Gryphium, and p. 445, edit. Basil.

[127] Nugae, lib. vi. carm. 12.

[128] Baldinucci notizie d'e professori del disegno, tom. iii. p. 317,

4to. edit. where the inscription on it is given.

[129] Norfolk MS. 97, now in the Brit. Museum.

[130] Harl. MS. 4718.

[131] Acad. Pictur. 239.

[132] Strype's Annals, I. 272, where the curious dialogue that ensued on

the occasion is preserved.

[133] Catal. de la bibliotheque du Roi. II. 153.

[134] These initial letters have already been mentioned in p. 101-102. The

elegant initials in Dr. Henderson's excellent work on modern wines, and

those in Dr. Nott's Bristol edition of Decker's Gull's horn-book, should

not pass unnoticed on this occasion.

[135] See before in p. 97.

[136] Zani saw this alphabet at Dresden, and ascribes it likewise to

Lutzenberger. See his Enciclop. Metodica, Par. I. vol. x. p. 467.

[137] See before, in p. 46.

[138] Biblioth. Franc. tom. x. p. 436.

[139] Sandrart Acad. Pict. p. 241.

[140] Obs. on Spenser, II. 117, 118, 119.

Transcriber's Notes:

Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_.

Superscripted characters are indicated by {superscript}.

Letters printed in reverse are indicated by =X=.

Various printers' monograms are included throughout the original text.

These are represented by [monogram] or [monogram: description] if a

description could be provided.

The original text includes Greek characters. For this text version these

letters have been replaced with transliterations.

The Dance of Death Exhibited in Elegant Engravings on Wood with a Dissertation on the Several Representations of that Subject but More Particularly on Those Ascribed to Macaber and Hans Holbein · 第 18 / 18 章