'•":'- i'.-ii-v.

CHAPTER IV.

Macaber Dance in England. — St. PauTs. — Salisbury. —Worthy Hall. — Hexham. — Croydon. — Tower of London. —Lines in Pierce PlowmarCs Vision supposed to refer to it.

E are next to examine this subject inrelation to its existence in our owncountry. On the authority of the work |ascribed to Walter de Mapes, alreadynoticed in p. 21, it is not unreasonableto infer that paintings of the MacaberDance were coeval with that writer,though no specimens of it that nowremain will warrant the conclusion. We know that itexisted at Old Saint Paul's. Stowe informs us that therewas a great cloister on the north side of the church,environing a plot of ground, of old time called Pardon Ichurchyard. He then states, that " about this cloysterwas artificially and richly painted the Dance of Machabray,or Dance of Death, commonly called the Dance of Paul's:the like whereof was painted about St. Innocent's cloysterat Paris : the meters or poesie of this Dance were trans-lated out of French into English, by John Lidgate, Monke 1of Bury, the picture of Death leading all estates 3 at the