30

THE DANCE OF DEATH.

Coxe* thinks he followed the drawings engravedby De Mechel, which he imagines to have beenin the Arundelian collection. Both these opi-nions seem erroneous ; for many of Hollar's printsare materially different, as well from the cuts asthe drawings ; and are, with two or three excep-tions, very close copies of the cuts already men-tioned to have been first published in J555, withthe mark oft/P f. He must therefore have eitherhad before him both the sets of wooden cuts, orhave copied the paintings at Whitehall; for hisacknowledged fidelity would have hardly sufferedhim to depart from his originals, whatever theywere, and as they now remain, they are not cor-rect copies of any single existing model.

Hollar's prints were first published in 1651 £,with borders designed by Abraham a Diepenbeke,and afterwards without the borders. In this latterimpression the letters \rB. i. occur upon every print,and are intended for <c Holbein invenit," as ap-

* Travels in Swisserland.

f It is not a little remarkable, that almost the same variationsfrom the original cuts, are to be found in those of the edition of1555, in De Mechel's prints, and in Hollar's etchings; a cir-cumstance which renders it probable that these last were all co-pied from the same originals, which might have been the workof Holbein, to whom the variations may be likewise attributed.

J In l6S2 there appeared engraved copies of the Dance ofDeath, in a work entitled " Theatrum mortis humanse," byJ. Weichard. These engravings are within borders of fruit,flowers, and animals, which are executed with an uncommondegree of elegance.