The Dance of Death.

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authorities for thelistoriale, lib. xxv.

Monast. Hirsaugi-Lnsvicens. II. 1082;ipranus de apibus;ks several veracioussance against danc-r of all the dancingimong the populars undoubtedly the

Previously to entering upon the immediate subject ofthis Essay, it may be permitted to observe, that a sort ofDeath's dance was not unknown to the ancients. It wasthe revelry of departed souls in Elysium, as may becollected from the end of the fourth ode of Anacreon.Among the Romans this practice is exemplified in thefollowing lines of Tibullus :—

Sed me, quod facilis tenero sum semper Amori,

Ipsa Venus campos ducit in Elysios.Hie chorece cantusque vigent. . . 26

And Virgil has likewise alluded to it:

Pars pedibus plaudunt choreas et carmina dicunt. ^

In the year 1810 several fragments of sculptured sar-cophagi were accidentally discovered near Cuma, on oneof which were represented three dancing skeletons, 28indicating, as it is ingeniously supposed, that the passagefrom death to another state of existence has nothing in itthat is sorrowful, or capable of exciting fear. They seemto throw some light on the above lines from Virgil andTibullus.

At a meeting of the Archaeological Society at Rome, inDecember, 1831, M. Kestner exhibited a Roman lamp onwhich were three dancing skeletons, and such are said tooccur in one of the paintings at Pompeii.

In the Grand Duke of Tuscany's museum at Florencethere is an ancient gem, that, from its singularity andconnexion with the present subject, is well deserving ofnotice. It represents an old man, probably a shepherd,clothed in a hairy garment. He sits upon a stone, hisright foot resting on a globe, and is piping on a doubleflute, whilst a skeleton dances grotesquely before him. Itmight be a matter of some difficulty to explain the reconditemeaning of this singular subject. 29

Notwithstanding the interdiction in several councilsagainst the practice of dancing in churches and church-yards, it was found impossible to abolish it altogether; andit therefore became necessary that something of a similar,

26 Lib. i. Eleg. iii. 27 ^ n . n b . v i. 1 44 .

28 Millin, Magas. Encycl. 1813, torn. i. p. 200.28 Gori, Mus. Florentin. torn. i. pi. 91, No. 3.