26

The Dance of Death.

The earliest authority that has been traced for thename of " Danse Macabre," belongs to the painting at theInnocents, and occurs in the MS. diary of Charles VII.under the year 1424. It is also strangely called "ChoreaMachabaeorum," in 1453, as appears from the before citeddocument at St. John's church at Besancon. Even thename of one Mactabrees, a Provencal poet of the four-teenth century, has been injudiciously connected with thesubject, though his works are of a very different nature.

Previously to attempting to account for the origin ofthe obscure and much controverted word Macaber, asapplicable to the Dance itself, it may be necessary toadvert to the opinions on that subject that have alreadyappeared. It has been disguised under the several namesof Macabre, 3 Maccabees, 4 Maratre, 5 and even Macrobius. 6Sometimes it has been regarded as an epithet. The learnedand excellent M. Van Praet, the guardian of the royallibrary at Paris, has conjectured that Macabre is derivedfrom the Arabic Magbarah, magbourah, or magabir, allsignifying a churchyard. M. Peignot seems to think thatM. Van Praet intended to apply the word to the Danceitself; 7 but it is impossible that the intelligent librarian wasnot aware that personified sculpture, as well as the moralnature of the subject, cannot belong to the Mahometanreligion. Another etymology extremely well calculated todisturb the gravity of the present subject, is that of M.Villaret, the French historian, when adverting to thespectacle of the Danse Macabre, supposed to have beengiven by the English in the churchyard of the Innocentsat Paris. Relying on this circumstance, he unceremo-niously decides that the name of the dance was likewiseEnglish; and that Macabree is compounded of the words,to make and to break. The same silly etymology is referredto as in some historical dictionary concerning the city ofParis by Mons. Compan in his Dictionnaire de Danse, articleMacaber; and another which is equally improbable hasbeen hazarded by the accomplished Marquis de Paulmy,who, noticing some editions of the Danse Macabre in his

3 Passim. 4 Modern edition of the Danse Macabre. fi Journil

de Charies VII. 6 Lansd. MS. No. 397—20. 7 Peignot, Recher-

ches, p. 109.

Instn