The Dance of Death. 97

st>bot. 14. The duke. Four others, viz. the child, theemperor, the countess, and the pope, are copies, and verybadly engraved. The blocks of the originals appear tohave fallen into the hands of an artist, who probablyresided at Antwerp, and several of them have his mark,

jf^\ concerning which more will be said under one of

the ensuing articles. As many engravings on wood by thisperson appeared in the middle of the sixteenth century, itis probable that he had already used these original blocksin some edition of the Dance of Death that does not seemto have been recorded. There are evident marks of re-touching in these cuts, but when they first appeared cannotnow be ascertained. The mark might have been placedon them, either to denote ownership, according to the usualpractice at that time, or to indicate that they had beenrepaired by that particular artist.

All these editions, except that of 1574, have been seenand carefully examined on the present occasion : thesupposed one of 1530 has not been included in this list,and remains to be seen and accurately described, if existing,by competent witnesses.

Papillon, in his " Traite sur la gravure en bois," has givenan elaborate, but, as usual with him, a very faulty descriptionof these engravings. He enlarges on the beauty of the lastcut with the allegorical coat of arms, and particularly onthat of the gentleman whose right hand he states to beplaced on its side, whilst it certainly is extended, andtouches with the back of it the mantle on which the helmetand shield of arms are placed. He errs likewise in makingthe female look towards a sort of dog's head, according tohim, under the mantle and right hand of her husband,which, he adds, might be taken for the pummel of hissword, and that she fondles this head with her right hand,&c.; not one word of which is correct. He says that a goodimpression of this print would be well worth a louis d'orto an amateur. He appears to have been in possession ofthe block belonging to the subject of the lovers precededby Death with a drum; but it had been spoiled by the strokeof a plane.