PLATE XXXVII.—THE MISER.
The character of the Miser is very forcibly expressed in this sketch. Shut up in a vault, which receives the light only through a wicket, secured with a double grate of thick iron bars, he is entirely taken up with his beloved treasure, a considerable part whereof Death is snatching up before his eyes. This loss excites in him all the symptoms of the most violent desperation, and it plainly appears that his gold is an hundred times dearer to his heart than his life.
Stulte, hac nocte repetunt animam tuam: & quæ parasti, cujus erunt? Lucæ xii. 20.