>od engraving,distinguishable

on a supposed', and the dis-the Dance ofto the criticalirt will not failwith one of its■e so faithfully

Lew designs forI, published by>vo. there is an>ortion of ver-due confidence, whose work,>ly misled thedd concerning:heca mediae etbility to pointject. The lastnces of Death,md deservedlyi bibliography,m occasionallyre opportunity,iving of Death

which accom-lot altogetheri old Macaber)eath is repre-attitude in the

Preface. vii

act of leading a single character ; but where the subjectconsists of several figures, yet still with occasional exception,they are rather to be regarded as elegant emblems of humanmortality in the premature intrusion of an unwelcome andinexorable visitor.

It must not be supposed that the republication of thissingular work is intended to excite the lugubrious sen-sations of sanctified devotees, or of terrified sinners ; for,awful and impressive as must ever be the contemplationof our mortality in the mind of the philosopher andpractiser of true religion, the mere sight of a skeletoncannot, as to them, excite any alarming sensation whatever.It is chiefly addressed to the ardent admirers of ancientart and pictorial invention \ but nevertheless with a hopethat it may excite a portion of that general attention tothe labours of past ages, which reflects so much credit onthe times in which we live.

The widely scattered materials relating to the subjectof the Dance of Death, and the difficulty of reconcilingmuch discordant information, must apologize for a fewrepetitions in the course of this Essay, the regular progressof which has been too often interrupted by the manner inwhich matter of importance is so obscurely and defec-tively recorded; instances of which are, the omission ofthe name of the painter in the otherwise importantdedication to the first edition of the engravings on woodof the Dance of Death that was published at Lyons ; theuncertainty as to locality in some complimentary lines toHolbein by his friend Borbonius, and the want of moreparticulars in the account by NieuhofT of Holbein'spainting at Whitehall.

The designs for the Dance of Death, published atLyons in 1538, and hitherto regarded as the invention ofHolbein, are, in the course of this Dissertation, referred