98

The Dance of Death.

COPILS OF THE ABOVE DESIGNS, AND ENGRAVED ALSO ONWOOD.

I. At the head of these, in point of merit, must beplaced the Italian spurious edition mentioned in No. VII.of the preceding list. It is entitled " Simolachri historie,e figure de la morte, ove si contiene ia medicina de l'animautile e necessaria, non solo a gli ammalati, ma tutte i sani.Et appresso, il modo, e la via di consolar gl'infermi. Unsermone di S. Cipriano, de la mortalita. Due orationi,Tuna a Dio, e l'altra a Christo da dire appresso l'ammalatooppresso da grave infermita. Un sermone di S. GiovanChrisostomo, che ci essorta a patienza ; e che tratta de laconsumatione del secolo presente, e del secondo avenimentodi Jesu Christo, de la eterna felicita de giusti, de la penae dannatione de rei; et altre cose necessarie a ciascunChristiano, per ben vivere, e ben morire. Con gratia eprivilegio de l'iilustriss. Senato Vinitiano, per anni dieci.Appresso Vincenzo Vaugris al segno d'Erasmo, mdxlv."121T10. With a device of the brazen serpent, repeated atthe end. It has all the cuts in the genuine edition of thesame date, except that of the beggar at the gate. Itcontains a very moral dedication to Signor Antonio Calergiby the publisher Vaugris or Valgrisi; in which, with unjus-tifiable confidence, he enlarges on the great beauty of thework, the cuts in which are, in his estimation, not merelyequal, but far superior to those in the French edition indesign and engraving. They certainly approach the nearestto the fine originals of all the imitations, but will be found

on comparison to be inferior. The mark jjj on the cut

of the Duchess sitting up in bed, with the two Deaths, oneof whom is fiddling, whilst the other pulls at the clothes, isretained, but this could not be with a view to pass theseengravings as originals, after what is stated in the dedication.An artist's eye will easily perceive the difference in spiritand decision of drawing. In the ensuing year 1546,Valgrisi republished this book in Latin, but without thededication, and there are impressions of them on single