Emblems of Mortality; representing, in upwards of fifty cuts, death seizing all ranks and degrees of people

by Unknown

FOOTNOTES

[1] Anecdotes of Painting, 8vo. Vol. I. P. 123.

[2] As it may afford the Reader some Satisfaction to be informed particularly what Characters are represented in this Painting, we here give a List of them from Merian’s Engravings mentioned in the Text: At the Beginning is a Cut of Oecolompadius preaching; next follows one of a Charnel-House, and two Figures of Death piping; after which, in distinct Cuts, are given the Pope, Emperor, Empress, King, Queen, Cardinal, Bishop, Duke, Duchess, Count, Abbot, Knight, Lawyer, Magistrate, Canon, Physician, Gentleman, Lady, Merchant, Abbess, Cripple, Hermit, Young Man, Usurer, Maiden, Musician, Herald, Mayor, Grand Provost, Buffoon, Pedlar, Blind Man, Jew, Pagan, Female Pagan, Cook, Peasant, Painter, Painter’s Wife.

[3] History of Poetry, Vol. II. P. 54, in a Note.

[4] Anecdotes of Painting, 8vo. Vol. I. P. 123.

[5] History of Poetry, Vol. I. P. 210.

[6] Warton’s Hist. of Poetry, Vol. II. P. 54.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Formerly called Pardon Church-Yard, about which, says Weever, Ancient Funeral Monuments, 4to Edition, 1767, P. 168, “was artificially and richly painted, the Dance of Death commonly called the Dance of Paul’s; the Picture of Death leading all Estates.”

The above Jenken Carpenter was Executor to Sir Richard Whittington, and had a Licence granted him, Anno 1430, 8 Hen. VI. to establish upon the Charnel-House of St. Paul’s a Chaplain, to have eight Marks a Year.

Weever, ubi supra.

[9] Stow’s Survey of London, Edit. 4to. 1618, P. 616. An Engraving of it is inserted in Dugdale’s Hist. of St. Paul’s, Edit. 1658, P. 290, and under it are given Lydgate’s Verses, which he observes at the End he had translated,

“Not Word by Word, but following in Substance.”

The Characters, as may be collected from the Titles to the Verses, are the Pope, Emperor, Cardinal, King, Patriarch, Constable, Archbishop, Baron, Princess, Bishop, Squire, Abbot, Abbess, Bailiff, Astronomer, Burgess, Canon Secular, Merchant, Chartreux, Serjeant, Monk, Usurer, Physician, Amorous Squire, Gentlewoman, Man of Law, Mr. John Rekill Tregetour, [i. e. Jugler. See the Glossary to Urry’s Chaucer, Art. Treget] Parson, Juror, Minstrel, Labourer, Friar Minor, Child, Young Clerk, Hermit, the King eaten of Worms, Machabree the Doctor.—Dugdale, P. 132, says that Carpenter was a Citizen of London, and that the Painting at St. Paul’s was in Imitation of that in the Cloister adjoining to St. Innocent’s Church-Yard, in Paris.

[10] Warton’s History of Poetry, Vol. II. P. 54.

[11] Mr. Warton, in his Observations on Spenser, first Edit. P. 230, in a Note, says, that Macaber wrote a Description in Verse of a Procession, painted on the Walls of St. Innocent’s Cloister, at Paris, called the Dance of Death; so that in this Passage Mr. Warton must be supposed to understand that Macaber’s Verses were written posterior to that Painting. He further informs us, in the Additions and Corrections to the second Volume of his History of Poetry, that the earliest complete French Translation of these Verses was printed in 1499, but that a less perfect Edition had been before published in 1486, and that the French Rhymes in this last are said to be by Michel Marot. A Copy in French of La grande Danse de Macabre des Hommes et des Femmes, printed in 4to. at Troyes, for John Garnier, but without a Date, I have seen; and find from the Verses under each Cut, that the Characters are the Pope, Emperor, Cardinal, King, Legate, Duke, Patriarch, Constable, Archbishop, Knight, Bishop, Squire, Abbot, Bailiff, Astrologer, Burgess, Canon, Merchant, School-Master, Man of Arms, Chartreux, Serjeant, Monk, Usurer, Physician, Lover, Advocate, Minstrel, Curate, Labourer, Proctor, Gaoler, Pilgrim, Shepherd, Cordelier, Child, Clerk, Hermit, Adventurer, Fool. The Women are the Queen, Duchess, Regent’s Wife, Knight’s Wife, Abbess, Squire’s Wife, Shepherdess, Cripple, Burgess’s Wife, Widow, Merchant’s Wife, Bailiff’s Wife, Young Wife, Dainty Dame, Female Philosopher, New-married Wife, Woman with Child, Old Maid, Female Cordelier, Chambermaid, Intelligence-Woman, Hostess, Nurse, Prioress, Damsel, Country Girl, Old Chambermaid, Huckstress, Strumpet, Nurse for Lying-in Women, Young Girl, Religious, Sorceress, Bigot, Fool.

[12] Warton’s Hist. of Poetry, Vol. II. P. 53.

[13] Warton’s History of Poetry, Vol. II. P. 54.

[14] Ibid.

[15] It cannot be doubted that these additional Cuts are those mentioned in the Dedication to the Edition of 1538, as being then left unfinished, for, among them, is the Cut of the Waggoner there particularly described.

[16] Walpole’s Anecdotes of Painting, Vol. I. P. 123.

[17] Keysler, in his Travels before referred to, Vol. I. P. 171, speaking of the Dance of Death, at Basil, says, it is generally reputed to have been painted by Holbein, who had also drawn and painted a Death’s Dance, and had likewise painted, as it were, a Duplicate of this Piece on another House, but which Time has entirely obliterated. “However,” adds he, “for several Reasons the Death’s Dance near the French Church may be presumed not to be Holbein’s, but the Work of another Artist whose Name was Bock.”

[18] Warton’s Observations on Spenser, Vol. II. P. 117, in the Note.

[19] Walpole’s Anecdotes of Painting, Vol. I. P. 115.