.........

pi<rr^r-e^ ,

t

/9

EMBLEMS

O F

MORTALITY;

representing,

IN UPWARDS OF FIFTY CUTS,
D E A

seizin-g all ranks and -degrees
of people;

Imitated from a Painting in the Cemetery of the
Dominican Church at Basil, in Switzerland:

With an Apostrophe to each, tranflated from the
Latin and French.

Intended as well for the Information of the CuRlOUIi.'fV
as the Inftruftion and Entertainment of Youth.

to which is prefixed

A copious Preface, containing an hiftorical Account
of the above, and other Paintings on this Subjedl,
now or lately exifting in divers Parts of Europe.

LONDON:

Printed for T. H o d g s o n, in George's-Court, '
St. John's-Lane, Clerkenwell,

m dcc lxxxix.

Lcc,:"

P R E F A C E.

' I ""He Work here prefented to the Reader is
a Copy, with a fmall Variation noticed
hereafter, as to the Cuts, and aTranflation, .as to
the Letter Prefs, of one well known to the Cu-
rious by the Title of Imagines Mortis, or
The Images of Death ; which is reported to be in
reality indebted for its Exiftence to an Event that
Boccace did but feign as the Occafion of wri-
ting his Decameron ; I mean the Calamity of a
Plague : And its Hiftory is as follows.

Pope EuGenius IV. having fummoned a
Council to meet at the City of Bafle, or, as
it is more ufually called, Bafil, in Switzer-
land ; it accordingly met there in the Year
1431, and continued to fit for Seventeen
- Years, Nine Months, and Twenty-Seven Days,
or, according to Mr. Walpole"'®-, but Fifteen
Years in the whole 4 and at this Council the
Pope himfelf, and after his Death his SuccelTcr

* Anecdotes of Painting, Svo. Vol. I, P. fsij.

A Felix

C ii ]

Felix V. Sigismond Emperor of Germany,
Albert II. then King of the Romans, and
many other Princes and Perfons of diftinguifhed
Rank were prefent. During the Sitting of this
Council, vi?. in the Year 1439, the City of
Bafil was vifited vs^ith a Piague, which raged for
feme Time with extreme Violence, and carried
off many of the Nobility, and feveral Cardinals
and Prelates who attended that Council, fome of
whom were interred in the very Cemetery where
the Painting, of which we are about to fpeak,
now is; and, on the CelTation of the Diftemper,
the furviving Members of the Council, with a
View to perpetuate the Memory of this Event,
and of their providential Deliverance from its
EiFedls, caufed to be painted in Oil on the Walls
of the Cemetery, near the Convent of the Do-
minicans, a Dance of Death, reprefenting all
Ranks of Perfons, from the Pope to the Pea-
fant, as individually feized by Death; adding
alfo to each Figure eight Lines in German,
four of them containing an Addrefs from Death
to them feverally, the other four their R^ply.
The Name of the Painter employed on this Oc-
cafion has not been tranfmitted down to us with
Certainty ; but fome Perfons have imagined that
this Painting was the Work of Hans Holbein :
Whether it were done by him or another, fhall
be hereafter confidered j but, in the mean Time,

we

c 111 3

we fliall here proceed to relate the fubfequcnt
Hiftory of the Painting itfelf.

It is, however, to be obferved, that Matthe\V
Merian, who, in 1649, publifhed in German,
at Franckfort, in fmall Quarto, a Book entitled
Todten Tanz, or Deatlfs Dance, conizimng
Engravings from the above-mentioned Painting*,
and from the Preface to whofe Work, as tranfla-
ted into French, in an Edition printed at Bafil in
1744, moft of the foregoing Fads are extrafted,
does not fpeak in pofitive Terms as to the precife
Time when the original Figures were painted,
but only fays, that they are believed, and with
great Probability, to be of that Time in which
he had placed them ; in further Confirmation of
which he has noticed, that Sigismond was

* As it may afford the Reader fome Satisfaflion to be in-
formed particularly what Charafters are rcprefented in this
Painting, we here give a Lift of them from Merian's Eni
gravings mentioned in the Text: At the Beginning is a Cut of
Oecolompadius preaching; next follows one of a Charnel-
Houfe, and two Figures of Death piping; after which, in
diftinft Cuts, are given the Pope, Emperor, Empreft, King,
Queen, Cardinal, Bilhop, Duke, Duche''s, Count, Abbot,
Knight, Lawyer, Magiflrate, Canon, Phyfician, Gentleman,
Lady, Merchant, Abbefs, Cripple, Hermit, Young Man,
Ufurer, Maiden, Mufician, Herald, Mayor, Grand Provoft,
Buffoon, Pedlar, Blind Man, Jew, Pagan, Female Pagan,
Cook, Pcafant, Painter, Painter's Wife.

himfelf

[ 3

himfelf a Lover and extraordinary Patron of tfie
Arts, and had always about him a Number of
Artifts ; and that John ab Eyck, the Inventor
of Oil Painting, flouriflied in his Reign; but Mr.
Warton * has related (though it dcMJS not ap-
pear on what Authority) not only that Holbein
xvas the Painter, but that the Subjeft in Quef-
tion was painted in 1543 ; in which I conceive
him mifmformed: For Merian was, as he him-
felf tells us, a Native of Bafil, and poflibly ,
might have had his Account by Tradition ; and,
had the Painting been of no earlier a Date than
1543, it is hardly probable (confidering too that
it is in Oil) that it fhould have been fo much in-
jured by Time as to ftand in Need, as we find
it did, of an aljnoft total Repair in 1568 : To all
which I add, that Merian feems fo well fatif-
fied of the Truth of his Account, that he tells
lis further that the Figures were drawn from
Nature, and are drefled each in the Habit of the
Time ; and that thofe of the Pope, Emperor,
and King, are refpedively Portraits of Felix V.
who fucceeded Eugenius IV. Sigismond Em-;
peror of Germany, and Albert II. King of the
Romans; all of whom, as we have before re-
marked, were prefent at the Council.

* /I^ay o/roctry, Vol. II. V-, 54, in a Note.

Mr.

[ ]

Mr. WalpOLE* mentions that this Paint-
ing was repaired in 1529 ; but in this he feems
to have been mifled (accidentally taking one Date
inftead of another) by a Paffage in the Preface to
Merian's Book before cited. Merian in-
forms us, that the Painting in Queftion having
been much injured by Time,John Hugh Klau-
ber, a Painter, and Citizen of Bafil, was, in
1568, employed to repair it; and that, finding
a Vacancy on the Wall fufficjent for his Purpofe,
he added at the Head of the Painting a Portrait
of Johannes Oecolompadius, in Memory
of the Reformation in 1529, to which his
preaching the Gofpel to all Ranks, as he did,
might be fuppofed in fome fniall Degree to con-
tribute ; and, at the End of the Painting, on
another Part of the Wall, he added the Portraits
of himfclfj his Wife, and his Children : And
this Repair by .Klauber, Merian tells us fur-
ther, was commemorated in a LatinTablet,which
in his Time hung near the Painting. Some
Time after, it was again repaired, and fo, without
any further Repair, it continued till Merian's
Time; but Keysler, who vifited it in 1729,
in hSiS Travels, Vol. I. P. 171, Edit. 8vo. 1760,
relates, that the original Colours were then to-
tally effaced, that only the Outlines of the Fi-

Aneiflotei of Painting, 8vo. Vol, I. P. 123.

A 3 gures

C vi ]

gnres were left, and that it had then been lately
repaired- . ,

The Thought of this allegonca} Reprefentatioa
of Death, though in the prefent Inftance imme-
diately fuggefted by the Event above related, was
not in itfelf original, but borrowed in fome
Meafure from a Kind of Mafquerade, which Mr.
Warton * obferves was anciently celebrated in
the Cliurches abroad, particularly thofe of France
(and, among others, it feems to have been per-
formed in St. Innocent's Church at Paris} and
in which ail Ranks and Degrees of Perfons were
perfonated by the Ecclefiaftics of thofe Churches,
who all danced together, and- then difappeared ;
and it is certain that before the Calamity above-
mentioned happened, at Bafil, and confequently
before this Painting' there was begun, Alluficns
to Dance-of Death occurred in the Writings of
the Authors of theTime, in Reference,.no Doubt,,
to that Kind of Mafquerade. It were needlefs
to introduce a Number of Quotations to fupport
this Affertion ; but as fome Proof, may, perhaps,
be expected, I here infert from. The. Vijion of
Piers Plowman, written about 1350, the fol-
lowing Paffage, with which Mr. Wartgn's
Hiji. of Poetry, Vol. II. P.54, has furniflied me.;.

lUpry of ■ Poetry, Vol. I. P.-sio.

" Death,

C vH 3

Death came driving after, and all to Duft pafii'tt
" Kings and C^fars, Kniglits and Popes."

And I further find that, feveral Years prior to
the Breaking out of this Plague at Bafil, the Idea
had even been carried into Execution ; for that
in 1384, a Death's Dance had been painted at
Minden, in Weftphalia*: But, no fooner had
this Painting at Bafil been finilhed, and become,
as it very foon after did, univerfally celebrated
all over Europe, but the Dance of Death became
a very favourite Subjeft, and v^^as frequently
painted in public Buildings. The earlieft In-
ftance which has yet occurred, fubfequent to the
Painting at Bafil, is one which Mr. Warton +
mentions at Lubec, in the Portico of St. Mary's
Church, painted in 1463; and of which Dr.
Nugent, in his Travels, Vol. I. P. 102, fpeak-
ing of Lubec, gives the following Account:

" But the moft noted Thing in St. Mary's
" Church is the Painting called Death's Dance, fo
" much talked of in all Parts of Germany. It
" was originally drawn in 1463, but the Figures
« were repaired at different Times, as in 1588,.
" 1642, and laft of all in 1701. Here you fee the
" Reprefentation of Death leading an Emperoc
in his imperial Robes, who with his other Hand

<i Wartos's Hiji. o/Poftry, Vol, U, P. 54. -f Ibid.

" takes

[ tiii 3

tales hold of fuch another Figure, wHich leads
"up a King; and fo alternately a Figure of
" Death and a human Perfon through all Condi-
" tions and Stages of Life. The Intention of the
" Artift was to fliew that Death pays no Regard to
" Age or Condition, which is more particularly
" expreffed in the Verfes underneath. They were
" Gompofed atfirfl; in Plat Deutch, or Low Dutch;
" but at the laft Repair, in 1701, it was thought
" proper to change them for German Verfes,
" which werewritten by Nathaniel ScHLOTT,
«* of Dantzick." Ofthefe Verfes Dr. NuGENxhas
inferted a Tranflation from the original Ger-
man, by a Lady of Dantzick, from which it ap-
pears that the Originals confift of, firft, an
Apoftrophe of Death to all, and then an Addrefs
of Death to one Individual; then follows, his
Reply; after that. Death's Addrefs to another :
next, his Reply ; and fo on. It further appears
from the Tranflation, that the Charafters deli-
neated in the Painting are the following: The
Pope, Emperor, Emprefs, Cardinal, King, Bilhop,
General, Abbe, Knight,,Carthufian, Burgomafler,
Prebendary, Nobleman, Phyfician, Ufurer, Chap,
lain, Steward, Church-Warden, Tradefman, Re-
clufe, Peafant, Young Man, Maiden, Infant,
Dancing-Mailer,: and Fencing-Mafter.

In

c IX 3

In Addition to this Inftance we learn, that, in
the Reign of Henry the Sixth, one Jtlnken
Carpenter caufed to be painted at his Ex-
pence on the Walls of the Cloifter of St. Paul's
Cathedral, London*, the Dance of Macha-bkay,
or Dance of Death t; and it is more than pro-

* Formerly called Pardon Church-Yard, about which, fays
Weevse., Ancient Funeral Mormments, 410 Edition, 1767,
P, 168, " was artificially and richly painted, the Dmce of

Death commonly called the Dance of Paul's-, the Pifture
" of Death leading all Eftates."

The above Jemken Carpenter was Executor to Sir
Rjchard Whittingtcn, and had a Licence granted him,
Anno 1430, 8 Hen. VI. to eftablifh upon the Charnel-Houfe
®f St. Paul's a Chaplain, to have eight Marks a Year.

Vv'eevek, ubi fupra

+ Stow'j Survey nf Landon, Edit. 410. 161s, P. 616. Art
Engraving of it is infcrtcd iu Dugdale'j HiJ}. of St. Paul's,
Edit. 16rS, P: 29O, and under it are given Lvdgate's Verfcs,
which he obferves at the End he had tranfiated,

" Not Word by Word, but following in Subftance."
The Characters, as may be collefted from the Titles to the
Verfes, are the Pope, Emperor, Cardinal, King, Patriarch,
Conftable, Archbifliop, Baron, Princefs, Bifliop, Squire, Ab-
bx>t, Abbefs, Bailiff, Aftronorher, Burgefs, Canon Secular,
Merchant, Chartreux, Serjeant, Monk, Ul'urer, Phyfician,
Amorous Squire, Gentlewoman, Man of Law, Mr. John Re-
KJ1.L Tregetour, \i. e. Jugler. Seethe Gloffary to URRif's
Chaucer, Art. Treget~\ Parfon,Juror,Minllrei, Labourer,Eriar
Minor, Child, Young Clerk, Hermit, the King eaten of

Worms, Mach aeree the Doftor.--Dugd al e, P. 132, fays

that Carpenter was a Citizen of London, and that the
Painting at St. Paul's was in Imitation of that in the Cloifter
adjoining to St. Innocent's Chutch-Yard, in Paris.

bable

E 3

bable that the celebrated Painting of the fame'
Kind in St. Innocent's Church, in Paris, in like
Manner owes its Original to the Painting at Bafil.

Nor are thefe the only Inftances in which this
Sabje6l has been chofen for the Decoration of
Buildings; for in 1525 it was painted at Anna-
berg, and in in the Caftle or Palace at

Drefden; as it alfo was, though when is un-
known, at Leipfic and other Places*,

The fame Inclination in Favour of this Sub-
jeft began alfo, very foon after the fainting in
Queftion was known, to difcover itfglf in lite-
rary Publications, and in the Decorations and
Ornaments of Books. One Macaber, a
French or German Poet, but of what ^ra is
uncertain, wrote in German a Poem on the
Sub]e£l of Death's Dance, which, in Confe-
quence of this Circumftance, is not feldom
from him called The Dance of Macaber f.

His

* Warton's Hijlory of Poetry, Vol. II. P. 54.

+ Mr. warton,inhis Objervaiions otiSpenser, firftEdrt.
P. 230, in a Note, fays, that Macaber wrote a Defcription in
Verfe of a Proceflion, painted on the Walls of St. Innocent's
Cloiftcr, at Paris, called the Dance of Death ; fo that in tiris
Paffage Mr. Warton muft be fuppofed to underftand that
Mac abe r's Verfcs were written pofterlor to that Painting.
Hfrfurther informs us, in the Additions and Gorreftions to the

fecond

C xi ]

His Veries were tranflated into French, and
written round the Cloifter of St. Innocent's, at
Paris, under, as I conceive, the before-mentioned
Painting; and from this French Tranflation,
Lydgate, at the Requeft of the Dean and
Chapter of St. Paul's made a Verfion, which
was afterwards infcribed on the Walls of their
Church, under the Painting of the fame Subjedl.

fecond Volume of his Uijiory of Poetry, that the earlicft com-
plete French Tranflation of thefe Verfes was printed in 1499,
but that a lefs perfefl Edition had been before publilhed in
14-86, and that the French Rhymes in this Jaft arc faid to be
by Michel Marot. A Copy in french of La grande
Danfe dc Macabre des Hommes et dcs Femvies, printed in
4to. at Troves, for John Garnier, but without a Date, I
have feen ; and find from the Verfes under each Cut, that the
Charafters are the Pope, Emperor, Cardinal, King, Legate,
Duke, Patriarch, Conftable, Archbifhop, Knight, Bilhop,
Squire, Abbot, Bailiff, Aftrologer, Burgefs, Canon, Merchant,
School-Mafler, Man of Arms, Chartreux, Serjeant, Monk,
Ufurer, Phyfician, Lover, Advocate, Minftrel, Curate, La-
bourer, Proaor, Gaoler, Pilgrim, Shepherd, Cordelier, Child,
Clerk, Hermit, Adventurer, Fool. The Women are the
Queen, Duchefs, Regent's Wife, Knight's Wife, Abbefs,
Squire's wife, Shepherdefs, Cripple, Burgefs's Wife, Widow,
Merchant's Wife, Bailiff's Wife, Young Wife, Dainty Dame,
Female Philofopher, New-married Wife, Woman with-Child,
Old Maid, Female Cordelier, Chambermaid^ Intelligence-
Woman, Hoftefs, Nurfe, Priorefs, Damfel, Country Girl, Old.
Chambermaid, Huckftrefs, Strumpet, Nurfe for Lying-in Wo-
jnen, Young Girl, Religious, Sorcerefs, Bigot, Fool,

* Waston's HIJi. of Poetry, Vol. 11. P. 53.

It

[ xii ]

It would be an endlefs Tafk, and afford but
little Entertainment to the Reader, to reckon
up here a long Lift of Books in which the Sub-
je£l has been reiterated : We fhall therefore con-
tent ourfelves with mentioning that it appeared
in theChronicle ofHARTMANNUs Schedelius,
printed at Nuremberg in 1493, Folio*, ufually
called the Nuremberg Chronicle ; in the Quoti-
dian Offices of the Church, printed at Paris, 1515,
in 8vo +; in feveral Horx, Miffals, &c. and even
■fo late as in A Book of Chrijiian Prayers, col-
leSied out of th£ ancient PFriters and hejl learned
of our Time, firft printed in 4to. 1569, and af-
terwards in the fame Size in 1608 ; and that, in
Addition to all thefe and others which might be
mentioned, the Painting at Bafil was the Caufe
of the Publication of the Imagines Mortis,
from which the prefent is copied and tranllated,
and of which therefore it will be neceflary here
to give an Account; firft; obferving, that the Ex-
cellence of the Cuts in the Original, which arc
here alfo copied with fufEcient Fidelity, has in-
duced an Opinion that they were the Work of
Holbein, a Fad which we mean hereafter to
inquire into.

Papillon, in his Tralte hijlorique et pratique
de la Gravure en Bois, 8vo. 1766, Tom. I. P. 166,

* W&&-ZOS'!. Hijiory of PQetry>V6\. 11. P, + Ibid.

informs

[ xili ]

informs us, that Holbein, having arrived to a
great Degree of Perfedion in Painting, was em-
ployed by a Magiftrate of Bafil to paint a Dance
of Death in the Fi£h-Market of that City, near
a Cemetery (by which he undoubtedly means
the Painting at Bafil, of which we have fo often
had Occafion to fpeak) ; that this Work added
much to his Reputation; after which he em-
ployed his Skill in reducing the original Fi-
gures into a fmall Size; and that he afterwards en-
graved then;i upon Wood, with a Delicacy and
Beauty not to be equalled. But unfortunately
Papillon here fpeaks without fufficient Atten-
tion ; for the Painting at Bafil, as may be learnt
from Merian's Engravings before mentioned,
and on the Accuracy of which I am afTured by
an ingenious Friend, who lately examined them
with the Originals, I may rely, confifts of fingle
Figures, each led by a Figure of Death, and fol-
lowing each other in order, fo as to form a long
Proceffion : The fame may be remarked of the
Painting at St. Paul's ; and, for aught that ap-
pears to the contrary, of that at Lubec, and of
that at St. Innocent's Church at Paris, and pro-
bably of all the others which we have noticed
above : Whereas the prefent Cuts confift of fe-
parate Compartments, each containingGroupes of
Figures, fo that the prefent Work is by no means
merely a Reduflion in Size of the Painting at
Baril, but is rather to be confidered as founded on
a the

C 5clv ]

the fame Idea, and fiiggefted by the Origuia!, than
as a Copy from it.

The earliefl: Edition of the Imagines Mor-
tis which I have as yet feen, Is one printed, as
appears from the Coloplion at the End, by Mel-
CHioR and Caspar Trechsel, in fmall 410.
at Lyons, in 1538 : It is in French, and its Title
is as follows : " Les Shnulachres W Hijloriees
" faces de la Mart, autant ekgatmnent psurtraiiies,
" que artificielkment Imaginees: A Lyons, foulz VEfiu
" de Cologne," But Papillon, in Loco Jupra cit,
tells us, that the Cuts to the Imagines Mortis
inuft have been done about the Year J 530, for that
the four firft of them occur among Holbein's
Cuts to the Old Teftament, printed in 1539 ;
and that it is apparent from thofe among the
Scripture Cuts, that the Blocks had then already
furnifhed many Thoufands of Impreffions. That
the four firft Cuts of the Imagines Mortis
are among the Scripture Cuts of Holbein, is
certainly true ; but I think I once faw, in the
Hands of a Friend, a Copy of the vulgate Latin
Bible, in which thofe Scripture Cuts were in-
ferted, and which, if my Memory does not
greatly deceive me, was printed fo early as in
or about iji8 or 1520.

The fame Author further relates, that the firft
Edition, which he thinks fox the above Reafons

fliould

C ]

fliould be placed in the Year 1530, was printed
at Bafii, or Zuric, with a Title to each Cut,
and, as he believes, Ibme Verfes under each, all
in the German Language (but, that there was an
early Edition in Flemi(h)j and adds, that the
Book, having paffed over into France, was much
fought after by the Curious there ; fo that a Prin-
ter of Lyons was induced to purchafe the Blocks,
and that from them he printed feveral Editions in
Latin, French, and Italian,

Having thus accounted for the Exiftence of
the Book, and for its Arrival in France, it
remains to fpeak of the feveral Impreffions
which it there underwent. We have already
mentioned one, the earliefl: which we know of,
printed in fmall Quarto, at Lyons, foulz I'Efiu
de Cologne, byMELCHiORand Caspar Trech-
sel, in 1538: The Cuts in this Edition are
forty-three in Number, and no more; and
over each is, in Latin, a Paflage from either tlie
Old or New Teftament or Apocrypha, which, in'
the prefent Publication, is given in Englifli, from
the Tranflation of the Bible now in ufe. Under
the Cuts are four Lines in French Vcrfe, the.
Subllance of which has been preferved in all Uie
Editions, whether they were in Latin, French,
or Italian. This Edition, in order to make it
of a tolerable Size (for the Cuts alone would have
been too few to conftitute a Volume) is accom-
a 2 panied

[ ]

panied with feveral Tra£ts in French, -which, as
not relating to, or conne^led with, our prefent Sub-
ject, we here forbear to enumerate; but it is ne-
ceffary, before we clofe our Account of this Edi-
tion of 1538,10 remark, that it is preceded by a De-
dication in French, to the very Reverend Abbefs of
theReligious Conventof St. PfiTERof Lyons,Ma-
dam Jehanne de Touszele ; and in this De-
dication the Author of it notices, that the Name
and Surname (or, as we term them, the Chriftian
and Surname) of the Abbefs and himfelf are
precifely the fame in found, excepting only the
Letter T, from which I conjedure (for his Name
does not any where appear] that his Name was
Jean, or, as it was anciently written, Jehan
fj. e, John] de Ouszell, or Ozell, as.
it is now ufually fpelt. In this I>edication is
alio a Pailage, a Tranflation of which will be
given hereafter, from which it appears that the
Perfon by whom the Cuts were defigned, was
then deadj leaving behind him feveral others of
the fame Kind, which, thougli drawn, were
unfinifhed, and particularly one reprefenting a
Waggoner crufhed imder his overthrown Wag-
gon ; in which Gut, a Figure of Death is repre-
fented fecretly iucking through a Reed, the
Wine out of a Cafk ; and that to thefe unfiniihed
Cuts no one had dared to put the laft Hand.

The next Edition, in Point of Time, which I

have,

[ xvii ]

have feen, I conceive to have been the firft that
appeared in Latin, and it was printed in Duo-
decimo, at Lyons, Jub fcuto Colonienfi, by John
and Francis Frellon, in 1542. It contains;
the fame Number of Cuts (and no more) as that
of 1538, and is entitled, " Imagines de Marie, et
" Epigrammafa e Galileo idiomate a Georgi'o JEmylla
" in Latinum tranflata j" from whence it appears
that it is, in Fa£l, a Tranflation of the French
Edition of 1538. This alfo contains fome ad-
ditional TraSs, all differing from thofe in the
Edition of 1538, but not in the leaft relating to
the prefent Inquiry, and therefore not here par-
ticularized, though they have been continued
through almoft all the fubfcqucnt Impreffions,
and have been given refpeftively in French, La-
tin, and Italian, according as the Verfes under
the Cuts to the Imagines Mortis were in one
or-other of thofe Languages.

In 1547, another Edition was publiflied of
this Book, in French ; it was entitled, " Les
" Images de la Mort." and printed" at Lyons, A
TEJcu de Cohgne, C'Zi^z, Jehan Frellon ; the
■ Title-Page alfo informs us that twelve Cuts are
added to it, and on. Examination we find that the
Cuts inferted in Page 40, and the feven fubfe-
quent Pages of this Work, and four Guts of
Boys, which, as not relating to this Subjed, are in
tlie prefent Edition omitted (none of which, ocair
a 3, in

[ ^viii ]

in either the French Edition of 1538, or the La-
tin one of 1542-, the only two prior Editions that
I know of) are to be found in this of 1547

In the fame Year, viz. 1547, whether prior
or fubfequent to the lafl; above mentioned, cannot
be known, another Latin Edition appeared»
printed at Lyons by the fame John Frellon»
and containing the fame increafed Number of
Cuts as the French one of the fame Year, that
is to fay, fifty-three in all; and the fame John
Frellon, in 1549, printed an Edition of this
Work in Italian and Latin, the Paflages from
Scripture over the Cuts being in Latin, and the
Verfes under the Cuts in Italian ; and this alfo^
contains the fame Number of Cuts with the
two laft-mentioned Editions: But Papillon,
P. 169, remarks ihat the Blocks, when this Edi-
tion of 3549 was printed, had already furnifhed
more than an himdred-thoufand Impreflions, for
that in fome Places they appear to be worn-

In 1562, the fame John Frellon publillied
another French Edition, which appears, by the
Printer's Colophon at the End, to have been
printed at Lyons by Symphorien Barbier,
and which profeffes in the Title to be augmented,

* It cannot be doubted tbat thefe additional Cuts are
thcfe mentioned in the Dedication to the Edition of i^sgS, as
being then ]eft unfiniflied, for, among them, is the Cut of
the Waggoner there particularly defcribed.

with-

C xlx J

with feventeen Plates. PAPitLON,' P. 182,
mentions both this Edition and Peculiarity, but
denies the Truth of the Aflertion, becaufe he
tells us, that in this French Edition he finds but
five more Cuts than in the Italian One of 1549 ;
notwithftanding which, it is certainly true, as
will be prefently proved. Papillon admits
that the Edition of 1562 contains five Cuts more
than that of 1549, and, if he had gone farther
back in his Refearch, would have found that
that of 1549 (and fo do the French and Latin
Editions of 1547) comprizes twelve more thaix
that of 1538, and that thofe twelve were firll:
added to the French and Latin Editions of 1547^
The Edition of 1562 does not affert that that
contains feventeen Cuts more than any pre-
ceding Edition, but, reckoning the five which
it has more than the Impreffion of 1549, and
the twelve which that has more than the Edition
of 1538. and which are alfo inferted in that of
1562, they make together feventeen Cuts more than,
were in the Edition of 1538, and confequently
juftify the Affertion in the Title, that the Editioa
of 1562 contains feventeen additional Cuts.

The Succefs which fuch a Number of Edi-
tions feems to imply, induced a Bookfeller of
Cologne to counterfeit the Book ; and, inftead of
making ufe of the original Cuts, which, in all
Probability he could not procure, he got Copies,
2 and

C X). j

and not very exafl: ones, engraven from tRem
for his intended Edition. When the firft coun-
terfeited Edition appeared, I am not informed;
but am induced to think that this Perfon, whom
I have above defcribed as a Bookfeller of Co-
logne, was Arnold Birckman, as I find an
Edition, printed in 1555, at Cologne, Apud ha-
redes Arnoldi Birckmanni. In this Edition,
and alfo in one printed by the fame Pcrfons in
1573, the Cats are reverfed, the PafTages from
Scripture over the Cuts, and alfo the Verfes under
the Cuts, are in Latin ; and both thefe Editions
contain the Number of Cuts ia the Latin and
French ones of 1,547, more : In the Cut

inferted P. 17, of the prefent Edition, is the fol-
lowing Mark (intended, no doubt, for that
of the Engraver) and which was that of Silvius
Antonxanus, an Artift of Gonfulgrable Merit.

Having thus given the Hiftory of this cele-
brated Work, we are now to inquire, in the firft
Place, whether the original Painting at Bafil
were, or not, painted by JIotBEiN ; and, in the
fecond, whether the Imagines Mortis were
either defigned or engraven by him.

As to the firft of thefe Queftions it is to be
ebferved, that Merian, whom we have above
mentioned, has related that this Pifiure at Bafil
\yas pointed during tlie fitting of the Council

before

[ ^xi ]

before mentioned, which met in 1431, and fat
either fifteen, according to fome, or fomething
more than feventeen Years, according to other
Authors ; fo that the Painting now under Con-
fideration muft have been done between the
Years 1439, when the Plague broke out, and
1446, or 1448, when the Council broke up; now
it is certain that Holbein was not born till
1498*: nor do we find that he was ever employed
on the Painting at Bafil, even fo much as to re-
touch it. Hugh Klauber, who repaired it in
1568, is recorded, and it is not probable that, if
it ever had been touched upon by Holbein,
that Fa£l fliould, in his own native City, have
been paffed over in Silence: On the contrary,
it is more likely that an Opportunity fhould have
been rather fought to reveal itt.

From thefe Confiderations it appears pretty-
evidently, that Holbein has no Claim to the
Painting at Bafil: We now proceed, thereforCj
to the fecond Inquiry, viz. Whether he either
defigned or engraved the original Cuts to the
Imagines Mortis, and here it may firft be
neceffary to ftate what Reafons there may be for
fuppofing them his.

Nicolas

■* WiLroLE's Anudotes of Painting, Vol. I. P. 113.

+ Keysler, in his Travels before referred to, Vol. I. P.
l/ij fpeaking of the Dance of Death, at Bafil, fays, it is gene-
rally reputed to have been painted by Hoi-be.in., who had

alfo

[ xxii ]

Nicolas Bor BONius, a Poet contemporary
with Holbein, has addrefied to him an Epi-
gram " De Mortepiaa, a Hanfo PlSlorc nobili*
from which it is inferred that he painted a Dance
of Death \ and Sandrart relates that in the
Year 1627, in a Converfation with Rubens, at
which he was prefent, the Imagines Mortis
was ftiled Holbein's, as will appear from the
following PaiFage, tranflated by Mr. Warton
fromJoACH. Sandrart, Academ. Pid. Part II.
Lib. iii. Cap. 7. P. 241, " I alfo well remember
" that in the Year 1627, when Paul Rubens
" came to Utrecht to vifit Handorst, being
" efcorted both coming from, and returning to
" Amfterdam, by feveral Artifts ; as we were in
"the Boat, the Converfation fell upon Hol-
" BEIN's Book of Cuts reprefenting the Dance
«< of Death, that Rubens gave them the higheft
" Encomiums, advifing me, who was then a
" young Man, to fet the higheft Value upon
" them ; informing me, at the fame Time, that
" he, in his Youth, had copied them." War-
ton's Ob/ervatims on Spenser, firft Edit. P.

alfo drawn and painted a Death^s Dancr^ and had liiccwife
painted, as it were, a Duplicate of this Piece an another
Houfe, but which Time lias entirely obliterated. '< However,"
adds he, " for fevera! Reafons the Death's Dance near the
" French Church may be prefumed not to be Holbein's,
" but the Work of another Artift whofe Name was Bock."

*"Warton's Obfsrvatims on Spenser, Vol. II. P. 117,
in the Note.

23'»

[ xxiii ]

331, in a Note, where is alfo inferted a Tranfla-
tion from the fame Work, P. 238, in the fol-
lowing Words, " But, in the Fifh-Market there"
[at Bafil] " may be feen his" [Holbein's}
" admirable Dance of Peafants, where alfo, in
" the fame public Manner, is fliewn his Dance
" of Death ; where, by a Variety of Figures, it is
" demonftrated that Death fpares neither Popes,
" Emperors, Princes, &c. as may be feen in his
mofl: elegant wooden Cuts of the fame Work."

In Bullart's Academic des Sciences, Tom. II.
P. 412, is a Paffage, of which the following is a
Tranflation: '< Neverthelefs, he" [Holeein]
" has not fent any Thing into the World which is
" not painted with the laft Degree of PerfeSion.
" The Inhabitants of Bafil have an excellent Wit-
"-nefs of this in theirTown-Houfe: It is his Piece
" of the Dance of Death, which he has reduced
" into Colours, after having engraven them
" very neatly on Wood.; and which appeared fo
" excellent to the learned Erasmus, that,
"after having publiflied his Praifes, he invited
'' HoLBEiN to draw bis Piflure, in order that
" he might have the Happinefs of being repre-
" fented by fo fkilful a Hand."

Monf. Patin, in the Catalogue of Hol-
bein's Works, prefixed to his Edition of Eras-
mus's Praife of Folly, in Latin, clofes his Lift

with

[ ]

with Words to the following Effe£l, «< He alfo
" engraved feveral Things upon Wood, among
" which are his Scripture Cuts, and Dance of
" Death, vulgarly called Toden Tans ; from which
" that Pifture is not very diiFerent, which was
" painted from the Life by the Hand, as fome
"think, of Holbein himfelf, and is enclofed
" by wooden Pallifadoes from Strangers in the
" Cemetery of the Predicants, in the Suburbs of
" St. John, at Bafil:" And Prior takes it for
fo acknowledged a Fafl: that Holbein painted '
the well-known Dance of Death, that, in his
Ode to the Memory of Colonel George Villiers,
he thus alludes to it:

" In vain we think that free-will'd Man has Pow'r
" To haften or protra£l th' appointed Hour,
" Our Term of Life depends not on our Deed ;
" Before our Birth, our Fun'ral was decreed.
« Nor aw'd by Forefight, nor mifled by Chance,
" Imperious Death direfts the Ebon Lance,
"Peoples great Henry's Tombs, and leads up(
Holbein's Dance."

By " great Henry's Tombs," Henry the Se-
venth's Chapel in Weftminfter-Abbey is meant.

To refute by minute Examination the feveral
Errors in the above Citations, would be an almoft
endlefs Talk ; it is fufEcient here to remark, that
the Pafiage from Borbonius is too general to

afcertain

[ xv ]

afcertain, whether he means a Dance of Deaths or
a fingle Figure ; that Sandrart or Rubens'^s
Declaration is too far diftant from the Time, to
be of any great Weight; as is alfo Patin's Af-
fertion, that Holbein aSually engraved the
Imagines Mortis : And furely, if it had been,
either defigned or engraven by him, Fkellon,
for whom fo many Editions were printed, would
not have failed to have mentioned it in fome of
them, when we find, that in the Editions of the
Scripiure Cuts, which he printed, he has inferted
a Latin Poem of fome Length, and alfo a Greek
Epigram, both byBoRBONius, with a Tranf-
lation of this latter into Latin, all to prove, that
the Cuts were the Work of Holbein. It is
further to be obferved (as one Reafon for afcribing
thefe Cuts to Holbein) that a Cut of the
Imagines Mortis, which occurs P. 36 of this
Edition, but the Mark is' there purpofely omitted,
has to it in the original the Letters H L thus
conjoined JJ^ which Papillon afferts, is one
of the Marks of Holbein ; and Christiak
de Meckel, Engraver to the EleQor Palatine»
feems fowell convincedof their being really atleaft
defigned by Holbein, that he has inferted the
Dance of Death, as reprefented in the Imagines
Mort[S, among the refl: of his Works, whicli
he is now publifhing ; but the Number of Cuts
there given, is no more than Forty-Six.

It were much to be wifhed that Mechel had
b informed

[ xxvi ]

informed us, from what he had copied the Dani^
of Death: whether, as he probably did, from
Drawings ; and, if fo, where thofe Drawings
were to be found, and on what further Evidence
he had ventured to afcribe them to Holbein ;
I'or, as will prefently appear, there is very great
Reafon, at lead, for doubting the FacSt, notwith-
ilanding that the four firft Cuts of the Imagines
Mortis occur among theCuts to the Old Tefta-
ment, printed in 1539, and which we are told
exprefsly in a Poem, and alfo in an Epigram, of
Borbonius, prefixed to them, are of the Hand
of Holbein j but whether by this we are to
underfianci, that he defigned or engraved them,
or both, we are lefttofeek. After having thus
ventured to queftion in general Terms, Hol-
bein's Title to the Merit of this Work, it is
incumbent on me to fliew on what my Doubts
are founded, and this I am prepared to do; for,
in the Dedication to the Edition of the Imagi-
nes Mortis, in 3538, is a Paffage, of which
I here infert a faithful Tranflation:

" To return then to our Cuts of Death, we
" nov/ very juftly regret the Death of him-
" who has here defigned fuch elegant Figures,
" exceeding as much all the Examples hitherto,
" as the Paintings of Apelles, or of Zeuxis,
" exceed the Moderns. For his forrowful Hif-
" tories, with their Defcriptions fcverely Tcrfi-
" ficd, excite fuch Admiration in the Beholders,

" that

[ xxvii 3

" that they think the Figures of Death appear
" as if quite alive, and the Living as if dead.
<' Which makes me think that Death, fearing
" that this excellent Painter would paint him fo
" much alive, that he fliould no longer be feared
" as Death, and that, for this Reafon, he him-
" felf wfQuld become immortal; for this very
" Caufe haftened fo much his Days, that he
" could not finilh feveral other Cuts already by
" him traced, and among others that of the
«' Waggoner overthrown and bruifed under his
" overturned Waggon ; the Wheels and Horfes
«' of vs^hich are there reprefented fo frightfully,
" that as much Horror is occafioned to vie\y
" their Downfall, as Delight to contemplate the
" Liquorilhnefs of one Figure of Death, who is
«' fecretly fucking through a Reed the Wine
" from,the emptied Cafk : To which imperfeft
" Hiftories, as well as to the inimitable Rainbow,
" no one has dared to put the laft Hand."

This Dedication is prefixed to the Edition of
1538, and fpeaks of the Defigner (by which, I
conceive, we muft underftand both Painter and
Engraver, for it fpeaks of the Drawings of the
unfiniflied ones as having been then already
traced or drawn; and, if fo, they might furely
have been finiflied by the Engraver of the former
ones) as then lately dead; now it is well known
that.HoLBEiN did not die till 1554*, and there-

* Walpole's AnadoUj of Painting, Vgi. 1, P, JI5.

fore

[ xxviii ]

foie it could not be he : And I would further ob-
ferve, that the Mark JjV, is not peculiar to Hol-
bein. Strutt, in his Biographical Diaionary
of Engravers, Vol. II- P. 86, attributes it to
one Hans Lederer, of whom he gives no
Particulars ; and the Catalogue of Maris and Cy-
phers of Engravers, P. 21. Edit. 1730, mentions
one Lambrecht Hopfer, a German, but the
Age in which he lived is not noticed, who
iifed, as his Mark, fometu-nes a Vafe of Flowers
in the Midft of the Letters i H, and fometimes
the perpendicular Stroke of the L in the fecond
Stroke of the H, which is exaSly as it appears
in the Cut before referred to.

I have only to add, that the Cuts in the pre-
fent Edition, excepting only the firft (which,
reprefenting in the Original the Deity in the
Habit oftheF -pe, to avoid giving Offence, it was
thought proper to omit, and to fubftitute in its
Room one defigned for the Purpofe) are en-
graven, and the Verfes under them tranflated,
from the Latin Edition of 1547; and that the ad-
ditional Cuts, which appeared in the French Edi-
tion of 1562 (with the Omiflion only of four of
Boys, as being foreign to this SubjedJ are here
alfo inferted, and the Verfes under them tranflated
from the French.

The EDITOR.

March 24, 1789,

[ ^ ]

The CREATION of the WORLD.

So'God created Man in his own Image, in the
Image o^ God created he him-: Male and Female
created he them.

Genesis i. 27.

In the Seginning, Heav'n and Earth,

And the refjunding Seaj
God, by his Voice omnipotent^
From Nothing caus'd to be<

Tiie human Race.j the Image true

Of his divineft Mind,,.
Both Male and Female he did form
Fron:i4ightefl; Earth we find,
B '

HH

c

N.

Becaufe thou haft hearkened unto the Voice of thy
Wife, and haji eaten of the Tree of which / com-
manded thee, faying, Thou palt not eat of it, &c.

Genesis iii. 17.

Againft God's Will the direful Fruit

Of the forbidden Tree
The Hufband by his foolifh Wife
To tafte induc'd we feei

A grievous Death they both deferv'd

For this Offence fo great, ^
And we, their Children, fubjed are
To the fame Laws of Fatet

C 3 3
death.

The Lord Godfent htm forth from the Garden of Eden
to till the Ground, from whence he was taken.

Genesis iii. 23.

Th"* Almighty Father did expel

Man from.his blelTed Seat;
And to fuftain his Life decreed
By his own proper Sweat:

Then, firft, into the empty World,

Pale Death an Entrance gain'd;
And the fame Pow'r o'er mortal Men,
■ - Has ever fince maintain'd,
B 2

C 4 3

CURS E.

Curfed is the Ground for thy Sokes in Sorrow JhtdC
eat of it all the Days of thy Life^ &c.

Genesis iii. 17;

Curs'd be the Earth for thy Offence,

And barren be the Ground,
And full of Toil and La^bour great,
Thy anxious Life be found;

Till Death thy llfelefs Limbs replace

In Earth's cold narrow Wombj
Then Duft^ which at the firft thou wert^
Thou quickly flialt become.

[53

Woe, Woe, Woe to the Inhabiters of ihl
Revelations viii. 13.

All in whofe Noftrils was the Breath of Life, of all
that was in the dry Land, died.
Genesis vii. 22.

Woe, grievous Woe, to all who now

In this vile World abide ;
For Times await you big with Grief,
And every 111 befide.

Though now to you a plenteous Share

Of Fortune's G'% may fall.
Pale Death wiil be, or foon or late,
,A -Yifitant to all.

B3

[6 3-

The POP E.

Until the Death of the High-Priefl that Jhall he in
thofe Days.

Joshua xx. 6.

And lei another take his Office. PsALM cix. 8.

m

Thou who, elated with Succefs,

Immortal claim'ft to be,
From Men's Affairs, in little Space,
Thyfelf remov'd (halt fee.

'Jliough now the great High-Prieft thou art.

And in Rome's See doll fit,
Soon ftiall thy Office, in thy Place,.
A SucccfTor admit.

C 7 ]

The EMPEROR.

Set thine Houfe in Order; for thou Jhalt die, and

not live. IsAiAH xxxviii. i.
There Jhalt thou die, and there the Chariots of thy
Glory Jhall he the Shame of thy Lord's Houje.
Isaiah xxii. 18.

Difpofe thy Kingdom's great Concerns

Intrufled to thy Care,
So that to pafs to other Worlds
Thou quickly may'ft prepare.

For when the Time ftaH come that thou

Shalt quit this mortal Throne,
Thy utmoft Glory then fhall be
, A-%oken Car alone.

C 8 ]

SBBS

The K I N G.

He that is To-Day a King To-Morrow Jhall die.
Ecclesiasticus x. lo.

To him who this Day Sceptres fways.

In coftly Pride a King,
To-Morrow's Light, with baleful Speed,
A direful Fate will bring :

For, him who rules o'er Nations rich.

And pow'rful Kingdoms guides.
When Death his Office bids him quit.
No better Fate betides.

C 9 3

CARDINAL.

Which juftify the Wicked for Reward, and take
away the Righteoujnefs of the Righteous from him.

Isaiah v. 23.

Woe, grievous Woe, to you, who now

The impious Man carefs ;
Exalt the unjuft to Height of Wealth,
The virtuous Man opprefs.

Who feek the World's fallacious Gifts

To gain without Delay,
Aid the.«ue Path of Righteoufnefs
. i^elire to take away.

C 10 3

The EMPRESS.

Thofe that walk in Pride he is able to ahafe.
Daniel iv. 37.

i

t"

Ye, alfo, who in glitt'ring Pomp

Of haughty State are plac'd,
A Day fhall fee wherein yoiirfelves
Of bitter Death lhall tafle :

For, as the Grafs by Travellers

Is trodden on the Ground,
So Death fliall tread you under Foot,
And all your Joys confound.

C " 3

The QUEEN.

Rife up, ye Women that are at Eafe ; hear my Voice,
ye carelefs Daughters ; give Ear unto my Speech.
Many Days and Tears Jhall ye be troubled.

Isaiah xxxii. 9 & 10.

Hither, ye Ladies of Renown,

Arid Matrons rich, repair;
For Death to you now clearly tells,
' A mortal Trit)e ye are.

When the glad Years and empty Joys

Of this vain World are paft.
The Pain of Death will fure difturb
Your Bodies frail at laft.

The BISHOP.

I will fmite the Shepherd, and the Sheep of the
Flock Jhall be Jcattered ahroad.

Matthew xxvi. 31, Mark xiv. 27.

The Paftor, void of all Defence,

My Pow'r, fays Death, ftall own ;
By mfe, his Mitre and his Staff,
Shall to the Ground be thrown.

His Sheep, their Paftor thus remov'd.

By Death's fell Pow'r, away,
Shall be difperfed ev'ry one.
To prowling Wolves a Prey.

C ]

The Elector, or Prince of the Empire.

The Prince Jhall he clothed with-DefoJatlon, and the
Hands of the People of the Land Jhall be troubled.

Ezekiel vii. 27.

Come, mighty Prince, now quick refign

Thy perifliable Joys,
Thy fleeting Glory, and the reft
Of Earth's delufive Toys.

Lo, I alone the Pride of Kings
Am able to reprefs ;
^ The fplendid Pomps of regal State
r.ly Pow'r fupreme confefs.

Me JhaJl die without InJiruSiion, and in the Greatnejs
of his Folly he Jhall go ajlray.

This Inftant, Wretch, thou lhalt depart,

Confign'd to mould'ring Duft ;
Becaufe thou knew'ft not, only feign'dft,
The Wifdom of the Jull.

The Abundance of thy Folly great.

Did blindly thee deceive,
And made thee feek the finful Path,
Which thou could'ft never leave.

The ABBESS.

IFfjerefore Ipfaijed the Dead tvhich are already dead,:,
more than tlji Living which are yet alive.

Ecclesiastes iv. 2.

Better it is to die than live,
I conftantly have taught;
Since human Life with anxious Care,
And various Ills is fraught.

Ui^rateful Death me now compels

The like fad Path to tread,
With thofe whom in the filent Grave
The Fates fevere have laid.

C 0

[ ]
The GENTLEMAN.

M'^iat Man is he thatUveth, and Jhall not fee Death?
Shall he deliver his Soulfrom the Hand of the Grave f

Psalm Ixxxix. 48.

What Man is he, however brave.

Of mightieft Povsr'r pofleft,
Who in this mortal World fliall live.
And Death fhall never tafte ?

What Man is he who Death's fell Dart,

Which conquers all, can brave ?
Who his own Life, by Force or Skiil»
From Death can hope to faveJ

C 3

CANON.

Behold, the Hour is at 'Hand,
Matthew xxvi. 45.

By Crowds attended to the Choir

'Thou now doft bend thy Way
Come on, and, with fnpplianl Voice,
Thy humblefl: Homage pay :

For, thee the Fates do loud demand^

And inftant Death does crave ;
A Day, which no one can vetard,
^ Shall foi'ce thee to the Grave.

C

I will cut off the Judge from the Midfi thei'eof,
Amos ii,

You who falfe Judgment do pronounce,.

For filthy Lutre's Sake,
From Midft of Crowds and Judgment-Seatj,
I, Death, will quickly take.

To Fate's juft Laws ye muft fubmit.

Nor ye, alone, contefl:
That pow'r which every S^" of Man
Has hitherto confeft.

C 19 ]

ADVOCATE.

A prudent Man forejeeth the Evil, and hideth h'lm-
Jelf: But the Simple pajs on, and are punijhed.

Proverbs xxii. 3.

The crafty Man the Crime perceives,

The Guilty does protedi ;
The Caufe of juft but needy Men,
He ever does rejeft.

The Poor and Guiltlefs are opprefs'd

By Juftice' vain Pretence,
j^And Gold, than Laws, is found to have
' A greater Influence.

C 20 ]

The Counsellor, or Magistrate.

PFhofo Jioppeth his Ears at the Cry of tie Poor^ he
alfo Jhall cry himfelf, but pall not be heard.

Proverbs xxi. 13.

The Rich and Wealthy readily

To Suiters rich give Ear,
And fco'-n the poor and needy Man,
His Pray'r refufe to hear :

But when themfelves, in the laft Hour,

To God fliall earneft cry,
Their anxious Pray'rs he fliall rejea,
And their Requert deny.
3

C 21 ]

The CURATE, or PREACHER.

Woe to you impious Hypocrites,

Who Evil Goodnefs term;
And Evil to be truly Good,
With equal Fraud affirm :

Who D^irk for Light, with Falfehood great.

And Light for Dark embrace ;
Bitter for Sweet who fubftitute.
And Sweet for Bitter place.

C 22 ]

The PRIEST.

/ myfelfaljo am a mortal Man, like to all.
Wisdom vii. t.

The holy Sacrament, behold,

Celeftial Gift, I bear.
The fick Man, at the Hour of Death,
With certain Hope to cheer.

Ev'n I myfelf am mortal too.
And the fame Laws obey,
And fliall like him, when Time fhall come^i
To Death be made a Prey.

C 23 ]

The FRIAR MENDICANT.

Such as Jit in Darknefs, and in the Shadow of Death,
being bound in AffliBion and Iron.

Psalm cvii. 10.

Some Men, the World to circumvent

By Fraud and Falfehood try,
Py feign'd Religion, Sin to hide
'From ev'ry mortal Eye:

Of Piety an ardent love

They outwardly profefs ;
But inwardly they are the Sink
Of all Voluptuoufnefs:

But vs'hen the End fhall be at Hand,

They like Reward (hall have.
And Death, by Myriads, fliall mow down
The Wicked to the Grave.

C M 3

The C A N O N E S S.

There is a IVay which feemeth Right unto a Man ;
but the End thereof are the PVays of Death.
Proverbs xiv. 12.

Why doft thou, pale and envious Death,
A facred Maid affright ?

Small Glory to thee can arife
From Vitlories fo flight.

Go hence, let lick or aged Men
Thy fatal Dart employ ;

But let this Virgin, innocent.
Life's Pleafures long enjoy.

Pleafure and Joy her jocund Youth
Should ardently purlue ;

The Pleafures of the Marriage-Bed
To her gay Youth are due.

t 25 3

The OLD WOMAN.

Death h better than a hitter Life or continual Sidnefs.
ecclesiasticus xxx. i7.

Long has my Life moft irkfoiiie been>

Opprefs'd with Care and Pain ;
No anxious Wifh my Bofom fires
Here longer to remain.

My certain Judgment does pronounce,

Better to die than live ;
For Death to Minds worn out with Care
Glad Peace and Reft will give.

D

____s

C 26 ]

The PHYSICIAN.

Phyfuian, heal thyfelf.
Luke iv. 23.

Difeafes well thou underftand'ft.

And cures canft well apply.
Which to the Sick, in Time of Need,
"Will welcome Health fupply.

But while, O dull and ftupid Wretch,

Thou others Fates doft ftay,
Thou'rt ignorant what fell Difeafe
Shall hurry thee away.

C 27 ]

The ASTROLOGER.

Knoweft thou it, becaufe thou waft then horn P or be-
cauje the Number of thy Days is great f
Job xxxviii. 21.

tnc, SS tYvoxv o€ Vates to covne

A (kilful Prophet art,
When tx) the Tomb the Hand of Death
Shallwge thee to depart ?

■ Beholt^tf e Sphere, which to thy View
My Right-Hand now does hold.
By that the Fate which thou lhalt find
May better be foretold.

D 2

C 3

The MISER.

Thou Fool, this Night thy Soul Jhall be required of
thee: Then whoje Jhall thoje things be which thou
haji provided P

Luke xii. 20.

This Night fliall Death, with Iron Hand,.

Thee, griping Wretch, fubdtie ;
And in the narrow Grave entomb'd,
To-Morrow thee fliall view.

Therefore^ when thou, of Life depriv'd,

Shalt far from hence be gone,
What Succeffor fhall thy vaft Heaps
Of endlefs Riches own ?

[ 29 3
The MERCHANT.

The getting of Treafures by a lying Tongue, is a
Vanity tojfed to and fro of them that feek Death.

Proverbs xxi. 6.

A foolifli Part he fure purfues,

Who Wealth by Fraud and Lies
T' accumulate, and num'rous Goods
To gain unjuftly tries.

For Death entangled in the Snare,

To feize him fhall not fail;
And thefe his Aftions moft unjuft
Shall caufe him to bewail.

D 3

C 30 ]

The SHIPWRECK.

But they that will le rich, fall into Temptatian, cmd
a Snare, and into many foolijh and hurtful Lufisy
which drown Men in Deftruaion and Perdition^

X Timothy vi. g-

That worldly Goods they may procure.

And Wealth immenfe obtain.
Their Breafts Men hourly will expofe,
Temptations to fuftain.

But Men whom Dangers thus furround,-

Fortune compels to bend
Their Footfcps to thofe beaten Paths
Which to Dcftrudion tend.

C 3t 3

The KNIGHT, or SOLDIER.

In a Moment Jhall they die, and the People Jhall he
troubled at Midnight, and pafs away: And the
Mighty flail be taken away without Hand.
Job xxxiv. 20.

Againft the Man who Wars

And does mild Peaf^"
(Peace, that to
Th^-

. . ^ , : rult,.

. tO tame ;
^ii, but by a Stroke
lainan Hand fhall aim;

For him who, to opprefs Mankind,.

Shall mighty Arms employ,
Refiftlefs Death fhall fuddenly
By an ill Fate deftroy.

I 32 3

The COUNT.

when he dieth, hefiall carry nothing away: His
Glory JhaJl not defcend after him.

Psalm xlix. 17.

None of thofe Honours which the Great

And Mighty now attend.
When Death lliall caft them from their Seat,
Shall to the Grave defcend.

No Enfigns of a glorious Race

TI^ thither fliall convey,
Nor Titles high; for in the Grave
They nought but Dull fliall be.

C 33 ]

The OLD M A N.

My Breath is corrupt, my Days are extinB„ the
Graves are ready for me.
Job xvii»

Exhaufted Strength my feeble Nerves
No longer now does brace,

And, like a River's rapid Stream,
My Life flows out apace.

The Time, which no One can recall,
How fwift a Flight has ta'en !

And nothing but the filent Tomb
For me does now remain.

Tir'd of the ills of a long Life,
And fick of all its Cares,

For fpeedy Death I now addrefs
To. Heav'n my anxious Pray'rs.

C 34 3
COUNTESS.

They fpend their Days in Wealth, and in a Moment
go down to the Grave.
Job xxi. 13.

In num'rous Joys their rapid Life
The thoughtlefs Virgins wafte.
And ev'ry Kind of Pleafure feek
With Eagernefs to talle.

From Cares and Sorrow they are free.

No Thought their Minds to tire,
A vacant Life, full fraught with Blifs,
They earneftly defire.

But in the Grave they {hall be laid.

By Death's all-piercing Dart,
Where he their Pleafures exquifite
Shall into Grief convert.

C 35 ]

The NEW-MARRIED COUPLE.

The Lord do fo to me, and more alfo. If ought but
Death part thee and me.

I

u

I f This is true Love, and this alone.
Which Two in One conjoins.
And in AfFedion's ftrongeft Bands
And mutual Friendlliip binds.

This Union fliall, alas ! endure
By nauch too fhort a Time ;
One Death fevere can two divide
Whom Bands of Wedlock join.

E 3« 3

DUTCHESS.

Thm Jhdt not come down off that Bed on whkh thm
art gone up, but Jhalt furely die.

2 Kings i. i6.

From the foft Bed, O youthful Maid,

Whereon thy Limbs now He,
Permiffion ever to arife,
The cruel Fates deny:

For firft Oiall Death thy lifelefs Limbs

Subdue without Remorfe,
And his fell Scythe fliall to the Grave
Confign thy breathlefs Corfe.
3

C 37 3
The PORTER.

€me unto me all ye that labour, and are heavy laderty
and I will give you Rejl^

Matthew xi, 28.

Hither advance, ye weary Throng,

And quick my Steps attend.
Who tinder Loads of fo great Weight,
With weary Shoulders bend.

TrafEc and Gain your anxious Thoughts

Did long enough poffefs,
Your Breafts the Cares which thefe pr jducc
No longer fhall diftrefs.

E

C 38 ]

The PEASANT.

In the Sweat of thy Fate /halt thou eat Bread.
Genesis iii. 19-

Bread for tliyfelf, by Labour great.

Thou flialt thyfelf obtain ;
And from the Ground, without great Toil,
No Suftenance flialt gain.

After long Ufe of Things below.

And num'rous Labours part.
Pale Death to all thy Cares and Toiis
Shall put an End at M.

E 39 ]

The CHILD,

E'lan that is barn of a Woman, is of feiv DaySy and
full of Trouble. He cometh forth like a Flower,
and is cut down : He fleeth aljo as a Shadow, and
continueth neU

Job xiv. i.

Man, who conceiv'd in the dark Womb,

Into the World is brought,
Is born to Times with Mifery,
And various Evil fraught.

And as the Flow'r foon fades and dies.

However fair it be,
So fmks he alfo.to the Grave,
And like a Shade does flee,
E 2

C 40 ]
SWISS SOLDIER.

J0]en a Jlrong Man armed, hcpeth his Palace, his
Gaocb are In Peace. But when a Jlronger than he
Jhall came iipon him, and overcome him, he taksth
from him all his Armour wherein he trujied, and
divideth his. Spoils.

Luke xi. 21, 22.

Undaunted and fecure in Arms,

While Strength and Life remain,
The brave his Manfions, and his Wealth
In Safety lhall maintain.

, Eut Death with greater Force fliall wage
' Againfi him War ere long,

And, for the Grave, fhall caufe him quit
His Poft, no longer ftrong.

C 40
The GAMESTERS.

For what is a Man profited, if he Jhall gain the whole
World, and lofe his own Soul ?

Matthew xvi. 26-

If the deftruftive Art of Dice

Could Wealth immenfe infure, ,

Or Mail the World by Dice could gain.
What Good would it procure ?

His Soul this Pradice will deftroy,

Entangled in its Snare,
A Lofs which no Art, Fraud, or Chance,
Is able to repair,

Kg

E 42 3

The DRUNKARDS.

And be mi drunk with Wine, wherein is Excefs,^
Ephesians v. 18.

With Wine's Excefs your Souls to drench.

Ye mortal Throng, forbear
For Luxury o{ every Kind,
And raging Luft is there.

Left Death afiail you unprepar'd,

Opprefs'd with Sleep and Wine,,
And, in a Vomit foul, your Souls
Compel you to refign.

C 43 ]

The F O O L.

He goeth after her as an Ox goeth to the Slaughterir.
or as a Eool to the CorreRlon of the Stocks.

Proverbs vii. 22.

No Life fo fweet as to be mad.
And no one Thing to know;
But this is far remov'd from baft.
As Mad-men's Adions fhew.

Secure of Fate the witlefs Fool.

Like fportive Lambkins treads,.
And knows not that his ev'ry Step
To Death's fad Portals leads.

E 44 3
The T H I E F.

O Lord, I am opprejfed, undertake for mf.
Isaiah xxxviii. 14,

Men to deftroy with fell Intent,

The Thief by Night does rife j
But now to fpoil an aged Dame
Of a full Bafket tries.

I fufFer Wrong, fhe cries, and God

Sends Death to her Relief,
Who, by the Hangman's certain Gripej
Strangles the greedy Thief.

C 45 3 "
Tlie BLIND MAN.

If the Blind lead the Blind,, both Jhall fall into tU
Ditch.

Matthew xv. 14.

The blind Man to a Guide as blind

Himfelf does here commit;
Both wanting Sight, they here defcend
Into the fatal Pit.

For, while the Man does vainly hope

Succefs his Steps attends,
Into the Darknefs of the Grave
He fuddenly defcends..

C 46 ]
The CHARIOTEER.

And he Junk dovM in his Chariots
2 Kings ix.

The Charioteer, by Horfes fierce.

Is rapid whirl'd along ;
The Reins they fcorn, whiie Fear of Death
Contends with Reafon ftrong.

The rapid Wheel at length torn off,

The Axle overthrows;
While, from the Cafks, the prccious Wine
In copious Torrents flows.

C 47 ]
The B E G G A R.

He that from hence to be releas'd,

With Chrift to live, defires,
Defpifes Death, and to the Stars
In Words like thefe afpires :

Who from this mortal Body will

Me wretched Man releafe j
And fnatch me Wretch! from this vile Worlds
To Realms of pureft Peace ?

C 48 3

HUSBAND.

What taheth away the Life f Even Death.
Ecclesiasticus xxxi. 27*.
B^ememler that Death will not he long in coming-
EccLESiASTicusxiv. 12.

The Tyrant Death, O Hufband fond.

The worfl of all its Foes,
Is to our Life and its fhort Courfe,
With conftant Steps purfues.

Refleft then in thy Prime of Life

(Life's trahfitory Day)
That to thy End it thee conduds
By gradual Decay.

■* The Original of this Paffage has no correfponcling Words
in the Tranflation of the Bible now in Ufe, and the above is
therefore infcrted from the fonner Tranflation.

C 49 ]

The W I E.

Of the Woman came the Eeginning of Sin, and
through her we all die.

From Eve, the Mother of Mankind,

Our Parent Adam's Wife,
Sprang Sin, and thence fell Death arofe.
The Enemy of Life.

Let not, hovre'er, thy tender Mind

To Grief a Viftim fall,
If Death fliould thee to quit this World,
Like other Mortals, call.

F

C 50 1
The LAST JUDGMENT.

IVe jhall allftand before the Judgment-Seat of Chrifi.

Romans xiv. 10.
Watch therefore, for ye know not what Hour your
Lord doth come.
Matthew xxiv.

For all his Aftions to account,
By God's exprefs Command,
Each Man before the Judgment-Seat

Of the juft Judge fliall ftand.
Let us be therefore vigilant.

Left, when that Time lhall come,
God, for our Actions, fhould pronounce

A juft but angry Doom.
And fince when that Hour fhall arrive,

No Mortal can declare ;
For its Approach the pious Man
Will watch and well prepare.

C 50

fiHiatfoever thou iahjl in Hand, remember the End,
and thou JhaJt never do amifs.

Ecclesiasticus vii.

Spotlefs to live if thou defir'ft.

And free from every Vice,
Let this Memorial conftantly >
Be placed before thine Eyes.

For it will often thee remind.

That Death w^ill foon arrive,
And frequent Thought to all thy Ads

Will a due Caution give.
Vouchfafe, O Chrift, with Heart fincerc.

That w^e thy Paths may tread.
And that to all the hcav'nly Path
May thus be open made.

1!

i ■

i f

As by one Man Sin entered, into the World,
and Death by Sin s and fo Death puffed upon
all Men, for thai all have finned.

Romans v. 12.

FINIS.