장음표시 사용
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inis. V The Greelis lita also a sar more poetices symbol, by means of Whichthe immortality of the fout was expressed illat whicli sorms the basis of thestory os Cupid and Psyche, which may be briefly explained by reserenceto a well-known Greeli gem, engraved with the images os a inuti and abutterey, the one symboliging death, the other immortality ; the adoptionos the butterfly as an emblem of the fovi being, perhaps, one os the most gracesul and poetical of ali the semi-religious myths os Greeli orion. lis application is, indeed, so obvious that it must be at once accepted as oneos the most apposite symbols ever devised. It is evident ly Munded on the apparent dealli os the creeping larva or cate illar, and iis enclosure in thesarcophagus-like chrysalis, stom which it eventuatly comes sortii, sumishedwith beautilat wings, to emble it to soar into a higher sphere than that os iis sormer existence. That this image sanalogo to that os the scarabaeus of the Egyptians, survived the pagan sorms of civiligation, and was stillmade use os in Christian times, is proved by the existence os severat monumenis, in Which it is Mund introduced, most frequently in the sorm os abutterssy issuing srom the mouili os a dying man, and So expressing the departure of the foui. This, then, may be considered a well-establishecllink between the symbolism os the classical and modem periodS-a connection acknowledged at a very early period by such writers as Eusebius, Gregory, and Clemens os Alexandria, who are Mund resorting to the
In the less poetic sorms os Roman image , the suggestive image of themummy-case and Poetic symbolism of the Skuli and butterny gave place tothe human Sheleton adopted as a memento mori, and this, perhaps, is the fimi Atep to ards the bullding. up of the master-Work of mediaevia allegory-thetamous UDance of Death. V Petronius, in laci, when describing thebanquet os Trimalcion, oves a somewhat detested account of a smali silversheleton made to execute a series of dance postures by means os intemalmachine , during whicli the host recited verses to the following eneci :- Alas i alas i how inconsiderate a thing is mali l A breath may puis awayliis fragile existence. We inali est be one clay like this, when Pluto hasseiged his prey V hicli is simply an Epicurean appeat inculcating theenjoyment of the present. A sarcophagus, sculptured with dancings eletons, was discovered at Cumae in I 8 Io ; and three clancing Akeletonson an antique lamp, o described by Douce, were exhibited at a meeting of the Archaeological Society os Rome in I 83I-these images being intendedio convey the idea that there Was nothing reatly depressing or terribie in the passage stom this life to a higher sorm os existence. But in these
symbolf there Was no attempt to convey a terribie admonition conceming the special sins os various classes os society, accompanted by denunciations os suture punishmenis, as in the mediaeves UDance of Death. V Νeverthe
' Ficorni's Gemmae Literatae,' table vii.
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the host of Sennacherib, as described in the passage so finely paraphrased by Byron,
os HebreW Words meming roseon and Go that is, God's poison. Thathlachness was associaled with the aspect os personified math we have an evidence in the V Alcestis V of Euripides, in Whicli that character of thedrama is described as black-winged ' or black-robed, V an idea whichwe shali eventualty find associaled with the Dance of Death. VThe clances vrhich the Etruscans and other pagan nations connected with the rites devoted to the deae, and the spirit of which was in accordance with suin images as those os clancing sheletons, were continued pretiy sar into the early Christian epoclis, an instance of which may be cited hom the Manuel du Ρόchό,' usualty ascribed to Bishop Grostete, and translateclinio English by Robert Μannynge a Gilbertine canon 3. The instance inquestion is that os a party os clancers, who are described as meeting to clance in the churchyard os Coweli during the mass, aster the custom had Mensor some time denounced by the clerin, as a relic os paganism, the ossiciatingpriest praying that they micti clance sor a twelvemon th Without stoppin a prayer Which was of course duly responded to. A similar event isdescribed in the N ember Chronicie as occurring in the reign of the Emperor Henry II.
These churchyard dances have, however, no direct connection With tho series of verses and devices known as the V Dance of Death, V excepi hyassociation os ideas, and as exhibiting that strange mixture of the sacrectand profane, in rites and ceremontes, as Weli as in Works of ari and literature, which was one of the distinctive characters of the middie ages ; worksin which were blended a deep-seated religious superstition with an Outrageousty burtesque and energetic humour ; while both were uni ted to that Deling os intensely eamest devotion whicli mised the vast cathedrias, and munded those magnificent monasteries stili represented by structures Which, in intricate richness os elaborate ornament, and even in bare dimensions, exceed the architectural monuments of any other age. Far more closelyallied to the ideas developed in the Dance of Death V were the Μysteries and Μoralities, those curious dramas which supplied the place of the ancient theatre sor a considerable period during the flow progress of moclem civiligation. All the records relating to these Works have been perseveringlyransacked sor allusions to the Dance of Death ' in the precise sormin which we fine it developed in the course of the I 5th century, and notiatogether Without interesting resulis. The Μysteries, it is true, Were, Withmore or less striciness, confined to the pulting in action os well-known passages of the Scriptures, but in the Μoralities V whicli followed them, in Whicli symbolic abstractions, such as Falth, Hope, Sin, and Death, were
what similar tendency to the pictorial one of the Dance of Death; ' and of
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the more intimate connection os these dramatio perso ances with this subjeci I shali have surther occasion to remark upon. Another branch line os research has led some os our archaeological investigatore to consider the Scourge of the great plagues of the I3th and I thcenturies as having suggested the idea os Waming men os the uncertainty ostiis, by representing Death in the act of striking clown ali classes with indiscriminate alacrity ; and, in laci, the desolating ravages os the pestilences in Various paris os Europe may be figuratively described as rather like a reckless and horribly fantastic dance than the usual measured march os the destroyer. Μ. Peignot, one of the most industrious, and at thesame time sancisul investigatore os ali matters pertaining to mediaevalarchaeoloo, has even put sorWard the ingenious suggestion that the plagueos I 373 exhibited peculiar characteristi cs which may have had to do withthe actuat devices of the Dance of Deatli,' those who were struch byit heing almost immediately seized With convulsions os an unusual hind, whicli resembled, though in a grotesque and horribie manner, the actionos clancing, in the contortions of whicli the patienis diecl. It may beadmitted that the symptoms of this plague, thus categoricatly described, suggest a temptingly plausible theory to speculative archaeologists ; but in the face os other evidence os more probable character it cannot be seriousty
It is time to tum to fources which appear to be more immediately connected with the origin of the celebrated UDance of Death. V In the Ioth century, according to Μ. du Μerit, appeared St. Fulbert's Visionos Death, V which may have contained the literary germs os the subjeci; but a sar more direct fource Seems to have deVeloped iiseis, about Iaso, in the legend known in France as ULe dii des trois moris et des trois vise, generalty attributed to the Egyptian ascetic St. Μacarius. Both theseworks obtained a Very Wide spread Circulation, and, aster a certain lugubrioussashion, became extremely populari One of the causes of their lavourable reception by the generat masses of society, and quite independent of theundoubted religious enthusiasm whicli stirred the whole of Christendom atthat period, was the simple laci that it Set strikingly sortii the persectequality os both ricli and poor in the face of Death, whicli, in an age whenthe sociat demarcatious were of the most marked and impassable character, rendered even such a sociat leveller as Death a popular personage. Thelast-named legend has sor ii s principat seature the unexpected meeting of three kings, or nobies, With tlime Sheletons ; and the dialogues whicli successively ensue between them talie the form os a rude legendary poem. There are severat French versions of this production, the best known
whicli are striking and sorcibie in style hom their crude simplicity. Μanu. scripis of these Works are osten accompanted by one or more illuminaledillustrations, generalty inther rude in character, but occasionalty os considerable artistic merit,-the treaiment of the three Deaths being preciselysimilar to that adopted in the earlier Dances of Death. V There were also many German Versions, two of the best known being respectively
' In 13 8 the Rhine country suffered such searsul ravages that in Strasboum alone I,6-were carried off within a very bries period, out os a comparatively smali population.
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entilled Van dian Konmen,' and Van den doden Κonigen, und vanden levenden Κonigen. V There were also Englisti versions of the legend, one os whicli is preserved among the Arundet manuscripis in the BritishΜuseum. This English version os the Three Living and the Three Dead, V in addition to the interest of the subjeci, is remarkable as assordiga curious example of the Englisti language in a transition state. Forinstance. in the rude illumination at the Leonning three kings, who arerepresented pursuing the exciting amusement of the chase in a pleasant Wo , Suddenly meet three sheletons, at the Sight of whicli, being naturassystruck with dismay, the fimi hing is represented aS Sasng,
The characters of this legend are osten changed in the disserent versions ;Sometimes they are a hing, a queen, and a nobleman ; Sometimes threenoble youilis in gaily-broidered Suiis, and bearing richly-adorned weaPons, revelling, as huntem, in the luxuries and privileges os rank and wealth. There is a very early representation os this Version of the Three Livingand the Three Dead V in the church at Brie, near Μ eig. Orcagna's celebrated Triumph of Death in the Campo Santo, at Pisa,painted in the I4th century, may be called an Italianized version of this legend. The three principat figures are the three hings of the original legend, but they are accompanted by their mistresses, and St. Μacarius himselftakes the place of the three sheletons, Showing to the living kings three open graves, in Whicli lie the bodies of three dead kings. In another part of the composition Death is symbolized by a semale figure furnished with bais'wings and claws, and bearing a Scythe, With which she gweeps down Popes, emperom, kings, and othere os ali classes. Here, then, we already find an extension os the range of the legend of St. Μacarius to ali classes, as carried out more definitely and distinctly in the PDance of Death. V which no doubi owed much os iis immediate and lasting popularity, as previousty Suggested, to iis fearleSS carrying out,
in a more modern and expressive form, of the well-known verses of Horace
Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernRS,
The more Νorthem expansion of this subjeci, whether We consider ii asa series os Stangas sorming a Poem entillet ' The Dance of Death, ' oras
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heen of German origin, conclusion arrived at stom the faci that the French and Latin verses attached to the earliest printed editions os theo Dance os Death V are stated, in more than one os the shori presaces ortities attached to those works, to have been translated hom the German. On the other hand, with a view to explain the meaning of the termo Μacabre, ' under Whicli the fini editions of the Dance os Death V wereissued in France, a sew observations os an apparently opposite tenden cymay be conveniently made in this place. Firstly, is a German author Elther extended the poem os St. Macarius, or composed another os analo- us but more extensive character, it seems probable that he would, ormight, have Munded his titie on the name of the originat author, and have termed his work the Macarian or Μachabrian Dance, as some writemon the subject have suggestedand an allusion closely bordering upon that Suggestion occurs in the celebrated La Vallthre catalogue, in whicli a
MS. V Dance os Death ' is described, with the note, On l'a dit composέ par un nommέ Μacabre. ' That the spirit us German satire os the periodclid actually mn in that direction, both poeticatly and pictorially, is proved by the works of Sebastian Brandi, whose U Ship os FOols,' in Whicli personifications os ali the leading types of human solly are represented asembarhed in the Ship of Lise, is an allegory closely resembling, in many respectS, the Dance of Death, V while iis profuse illustrations are notvery dissimilar in generat spirit to those belonging to that subjeci. It is Worthy of note, also, that the Ship of Fools was translated stom
merinant, alchemist, and astrologer, was also a munificent benefactor os' The Bibliophile Iacob ridicules this derivation, and jocosely suggesta in iis Stead
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religious institutions, and an active restorer and beautifier os sacred edifices. In the last-named character he made severat additions to the entrance-gates
of the Cemetery of the Innocents, adding an inscription in What has Mentermed hieroglyphim, but whicli it is far more probabie was simply a series of Arabic charactem, in Whicli the Arabic name os a cemeterri majamis,may possibiy have been written. This inscription in oriental charactem Aeems to potat to the Eastem
Orion os some custom or name connected with cemeteries. The transcription into Arabic letters, os a name or generat inscription, which had possibly been in use long besore Flamel's time, haring possibiy arisen stoma hind of vanity os the leamed astrologer, who wished to display his knowledge of Oriental literature, Which was probably only a smattering piched up
in his so-called studies connected with alchemy and the obiack ari, most of the tristises on those subjecis being derived stom the works os Oriental writem. It is also on record that he embellislied the renovated galeway with certain figures, which, in accordance with his hieroglyphicor Arabic inscription, he may have caused to be made as representations of negroes in oriental costume, negro eunuchs being frequently employed asthe guardians of Eastem cemeteries ; or, the figure of a negro may have been thought by Flamel appropriate to the siluation, as a mediaevat version of the idea of the ancients, according to which figures either os Death or Sleep werepainted black in pictorial compositions, and in sculpture were wrought in blach marble, or some oster material of that colour. This vlew of the subject is surther supported by the representations of the entrance-gate ofa Cemetery, Whicli frequently occur in the early French editions of the Danse Macabis, ' in Whicli devices the figure os a negro in Oriental costumeis represented as Standing above the gate in the aci os ultering the cleathcali, and blowing a kind of rude hom by Way os summons ; the device of the negro being generalty accompanted by verses, entilled the Cris deblori, V whicli emhodies a generat summons to the inevitabie final destinyos humanity. This theory may, or may not, contain the true germ os an explanation of the term Μ ac re. But, in Suppori os the hypothesis, it maybe urged that the French illustraled editions os V La Danse Μacabre ' were in some way directly Munded on the painting at the Cemetery of the Innocents, whicli is proved by the presence in those editions of the subject entilled ULe Roy Μori, V whicli certainly resers to Chartes V., who, accoming to the old French writer Νoel du Fati, caused thepainting to be executed; while, in support of the vie that the termexisted besere the time of Flamel's renovation of the gales of the Cemeteryos the Innocents, it may be stated that one os his contemporaries, Iean te Febure, aster an almost miraculous recovery stom an attack of the plague, wrote a Lind of thanksiving poem, in Which the line occurs-
hom Whicli some have ventured to assim that he was the author os thesamous series of stanetas bearing that name ; but the passage is evidently only an allusion to the V Dance of Death, V which he had so nearly perso ed, and Serves to fhoW that it was known in France by the titie of Danse Μac re V as early as I 376, while none of the early German
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versions os the subjeci are known by that designation. It is to be note lalso that the originat work of the Egyptian ascetic Μacarius may have contained allusions to Eastem cemeteries by their Arabic name, which allusions, instead os his own name, may have led to the parties adoption os the terni
The subjeci, whether developed out os the legend os the Three Livine and Three Dead, V or hom the Vision of SL Fulbert, or as an original butclosely analogous production, had at an early epoch already MSumeda Permanent generic som, stom which iis subsequent variations were sora long period very inconsiderabie. In meto, in painting, and insculpture, Death, under the form os a ghastly co se rather than a Sheleton, was represented as addressing himself in succession to persons os everyrank and station, and inviting them sas a fovereim inviso, by commandi tojoin him in a dance, terminating in the pitiali of the grave ; in each case thegrim humour of the invitation and the uselessty evasive character of the reply Ming wrought oui, whether in the verses or the devices, with wondersulpoint and variety, and always conveying more or less of the rouo popularnotions of justice. The curate, sor instance, is reproached with his petiyexactions, the cardinat with his idie luxury, while, in the Basle ver ion, thetat abbot is brutes ly told that he has prepared himself to rot quicker than his sellows ; while the Jew and the miser are both overwhelmed with Stining Sarcasm, and the doctor lares no beller with the grim satire os Death than he did with that of Rahelais and Μolthre. But his summonsis always tempered to the poor, the suffering, and the aged. He leads ossine cripplealong With the rich man, saying, in the Basle Venion,
In some of the Continental versions the victims are ready With bribes and promises to Death is he will but let them go. On an Italian device, sorinstance, of Death and the Poor Μan, the lalter, Who has nothing to give,
And sentences os similar impori occur in many os the verses os the Germaneditions. The fimi Well-authenticated example of a mural Dance os Death tha date is that which was executed in I 3Ia on the walis os a convent silualedin a suburb os Basle called the Κlingenthat, on the lower shore os the ine, opposite the main portion of the cit' The painting occupied nearseventy yards of one of the walis of an interior galler' a corridor os theconvent, and was fimi noticed by a balier os artistic proclivities named Buschel, who succeeded' in making an accurate and very interesting copy os the whole series of subjects ; and his work is preserved in a volume noW in
the library of the University of Basle smarhed B. LII, 8 sa . It is supposed
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date os the Κlingenthat pianting was clearly trace te at the time theciapy was talien by Buschel, and was annexed to the device representingDeath and the Baron, being expressed as sollows - ssent Por aerei hunderi unae xii. V sa thousand years, three hundred and xiij. On the suppression os ine convent, the bulldings in the Κlingenthes hecame a salt-warehouse, and the original paintings have entirely disappeared. The nexi example is that in the church at Minden, a composition notprecisely in the usual som, as the figures are represented dancing in a ring, whicli appeam to support the theory which supposes that the Dance os Death V had iis direct orion in the churchyard dancing previousty alludedio, or in the sanatical religious clances os a sect Which had many sollowersat that period. Fabricius assigns the date I 38o to this Work. The nexi example, and one os the most important and interesting, asbeing mentioned in contemporary records, is that whicli has always beenknown by the now celebrated name os ULa Danse Macabre, V and whichwas executed by an anonymous artist at the gate os the cemetery of the Innocents, in Paris, most probably on the walis of the adjoining cloister. asstated by Stowe when describing the Dance of Death V in old St. Paul's. It appears to have been sculptured in relies, and painted. The con- temporary record principalty alluded to Occum in a j ournat heptduring the relin os Charies VI. os France, and is to the sollowingessect :- Item lyan I424 sui salte la Danse Macratre fsor ΜacabreJ auxInnocents ; et sui commencόe environ te moys dyAoust et achevέ au carθmesvivant. V M. Barante, the historian of the Dukes of Burgundy, and also Μ. Villareis, in the lace of this preci Se Statement, appear to ConSider relying upon another record of the periodὶ that the Danse Μacabre was an acted Perso ance inStead os a polychrome Sculpture; and perhaps they were right, notwithstanding the contemporary record justcited ; sor Μ. Branche, in a repori os the stances de la Socides four la Conservation des Monuments s Caen, I 842 , asseris that, aestheticatly SPe ing, the UDanse des Moris V was both danceae and fainteae, Such per mancesssounded originalty, perhaps, on the lanereal and other ritualistic dances previousty alluded to) being of the fame character as the UΜysteries V ando Μoralities, ' in which there were spolien dialogues heiween Death and his victims, similar to those of the poems. Μ. Κestner is os this opinion, and gives examples Dom lanereat carois in support of it. The actors os Deathwere naked, sayS Μ. Branche, With the exception os a sew Shreds of reii cloth, repulsively intended to represent sal ling portions os decaying flesh ; and hecites a miniature in a ΜS. preserved in the Bibliothhque Impόriale, in whichan acted Dance os Death V is represented with the figures dressed in this manner. He states also that the actors discoloured their shin, and crimpediheir hair so as to look like that os a negro, which seems to assord some sortos esue to the figure os the negro or blach man, Mund in the early Frencheditions os the Danse Μacabre.' Μ. Κestner quotes a PaSSage Doma book of accounts, in Which the actuat payment to Some monkS, RS performers of a dramatic representation os the Dance of Death, V is set sorth-the remuneration consisting in certain barreis os wine, and other resectorial condiments. The nexi examples are thoSe at Strasbourg, and in one os the churches in
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Ddon ; aster Which the subject came very popular as a church decoration in many paris os France and Germans But the V Dance os Death, V as a murat decoration, which at an early period was the most celebrated, was certainly the one executed about the year IMI, by an anonymouS artiSt,upon the walis os the Dominican cemetery close to one of the gates os the
City of Basle, the main characteristics of which were evidently copled Domthe painting in the suburb of the Κlingenthes, with the addition. possibiyfor the first time, os direct personat allusions,-a Dature which was one os the principat causes of the immediate and lasting popularity of that work, while iis erroneous attribution in recent times to the pencit os Hothein has greatly tended to continue iis celebrity. The execution os this painting was possibiy suggested by the ravages of the ineat epidemic of I438, whichCarried off so many victims during the protracted sitiings os the well-known
engraver Μerian in I 649, who asseris that ali the figures were actualvortraiis os contemporary personages, citing aS Very conSpicuous, and
Myond doubi, those of Pope Felix V., the Emperor Sigismund, Alberi Ring os the Romans, and others who were present at the Councii ot
The order in whicli the subjecis occurred cannot now he ascertained. asthe remains os the work, aster severat restorations by more orlegs unguillathands, were Some years ago delached DOm the wall, to save them Domtotat decay, and placed in the crypt of the cathedral, Without muchattention to the order of the sew subjects which remain intact. It may bementioned here that in Merian's plates of this work the first Dature, and that, toO, made a very important orie, is not Mund in the other Dances os Death V of the Isth century. This stature consislsos apreacher ad tressingwords of warning to a congregation composed os persons of every rank ;while surther on is seen a chamel-house filled with human Aulis and bones, hom Which two figures of Death are issuing, playing on a kind of flageoletand tambourine. This device was astemards retained, with additions and improvemenis, in ali the Versions of the subjeci Munded directly on the Baesilean series. It has been said that the treaiment of the figure of Death in two of Ηolbein's designs was immediately Munded on two of those of the Basle series ; but is that be the case, the great artist did not avail himselfos either os the two most strihing of that series, that in whicli Death hasa inuti strupped round his maist in mise of a drum. While he uses a stin- bone as a drumstich, as he leads off his Holiness the Pope, or that in whicli Death arresis a miser in the aci os weighing his gold as he wallis along aco tW road. There is every reason to belleve that the subject with thepreacher was added by the painter Hans Κimber, When he repatred the work in I 368, after the Resormation, more than a century aster the execution os theoriginal devices. This is rendered the more probabie by the figure os the
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Preacher, Whicli is a portrait os incolampadius, one of the most ardent advocates os the Protestant doctrines. Among other mural Dances os Death V which have been alluded to by modern writers on the subjeci, Wasone in the cloister os the cathedral at Amiens, known as the DanseMambre, ' the last remains os which were reckl sty obliterated so recentlyas I 8I7. There was also a V Dance os Death V in the church of St. Μaclou at Rouen ; while at Fecamp the fame subject was sculpturedupon the columns. The Dance os Death ' at Strasbourg, previo lyalluded to, bears the date I so, and was possibiy the work of Μartin Schoen. At Beme, Nicholas Emmanuel Deutch painted a V Dance os Death V on the walis os the cemetery in I484 ; while othera are describedas having been executed at Lucerne, at Lubeck, at Dresden, and Severatother places. Among the sew examples os frescoes of the Danceos Death V which stili remain sussiciently persect to convey a tolerablycorrect idea of their original charactem, that one recently brouot undernotice in the Temple Νeus at Strasbouin deserves espectat mention, as also the one discovered in the church os Chaise Dieu in Auverme, os which an account, with copious illustrations, was published in I 84Iby Μ. Achille Jubinal. There is also one in the church os Clusone, near Brescia, in the north os Italy, of which Μ. Vallardi of Μilan pub-tished an account in I 859. This last, a work of the middie of the Isth century, is a very important composition, forming one grand Picture, which might be compared without diindvantage to the best works of
Giotio or Fillippo Lippi. The Italian antiquary Zandetti, writing in I 3,
described another Italian Dance of Death, ' then recently brought intonotice at Como. The subject cloes not. however, appear to have taliensuch firm hold on the popular iaste in Italy or Spam, as in France, Ger
Besore quitiing the subject os the murat illustrations os the Dance of Death, V it should he remacted that in the earlier examples the treaiment Varied Very considerably, and it was not tili aster the middie of the Isthcentury that a finalty setiled form and order appeam to have been adopted ;sor instance, in the Lubeck Dodendantet, the hour- s, a classical Symbol, is Deely introduced, while in the miniing in the Temple Νeus at Strasbouinthat symbol is nowhere used ; and a stili more remarkahle distinction is to benoticed in the Painting at Lubeck, in which the figure os Death is represented aS armed with a sword, and riding on a lion as an emblem os destruction, going aboui, as it were, Ulike a maring lion, Seeking whombe may devour. VI have no intention os even briefly alluding to ali the monumentat examples ich have been reserred to by recent writers, and more or leSS copiouStydescribed and illustraled, as such a list would be out os place in a inon preface ; but it is weli to allude to their existence, en sanant, M ShoWing the great interest which this singular series of devices has excited among
The illustrations os the Dance os Death V which occur in the ΜSS. are of nearly, is not quite equat, antiquity with the mural paintings justdescribed. Μ. Champollion Figeac alludes to an illuminated ΜS. of thei sth centu , formerly in the library of the Chatem of Blois. Othera, also,