I

The Dance of Death.

W5

" To Mynheer Heymans.

"Sir, —The costly palace of Whitehall; erected byCardinal Wolsey, and the residence of King Henry VIII.contains, among other performances of art, a Dance ofDeath, painted by Holbein in its galleries, which, throughan unfortunate conflagration, has been reduced to ashes ;and even the little work which he has engraved with hisown hand, and which I have copied as near as possible, isso scarce, that it is known only to a few lovers of art.And since the court has thought proper, in considerationof your singular deserts, to cause a dwelling to be built foryou at Whitehall, I imagined it would not be disagreeableto you to be made acquainted with the former decorationsof that palace. It will not appear strange that the artistshould have chosen the above subject for ornamenting theroyal walls, if we consider that the founder of the Greekmonarchy directed that he should be daily reminded ofthe admonition, ' Remember, Philip, that thou art a man.'In like manner did Holbein with his pencil give tongues tothese walls to impress not only the king and his court, butevery one who viewed them with the same reflection."

He then proceeds to describe each of the subjects, andconcludes with some moral observations.

In another copy of these etchings the dedication is to" The high, noble, and well-born Lord William Benting,Lord of Rhoon, Pendreght," &c.

" Sir, —In the course of my constant love and pursuit ofworks of art, it has been my good fortune to meet with thatscarce little work of Hans Holbein neatly engraved onwood, and which he himself had painted as large as life infresco on the walls of Whitehall. In the copy whic/i Ipresume to lay before you, as being born in the samepalace, I have followed the original as nearly as possible,and considering the partiality which every one has for theplace of his birth, a description of what is remarkable andcurious therein and now no longer existing on account ofits destruction by a fatal fire, must needs prove acceptable,