Bishop Warburton and Mr. Malone have referred to old Moralities, in which the fool escaping from the pursuit of Death is introduced. Ritson has denied the existence of any such farces, and he is perhaps right with respect to printed ones; but vestiges of such a drama were observed several years ago at the fair of Bristol by the present writer. See the notes to Measure for Measure, Act iii. sc. 1, and to Pericles, Act iii. sc. 2.
In “Musart Adolescens Academicus sub institutione Salomonis,” Duaci, 1633, 12mo. is an engraving on copper of a modern Bacchus astride upon a wine cask drawn by two tigers. In one hand he holds a thyrsus composed of grapes and vine leaves, and in the other a cup or vase, from which a serpent springs, to indicate poison. Behind this Bacchus Death is seated, armed with his scythe and lying in wait for him. The motto, “Vesani calices quid non fecere,” a parody on the line, “Fecundi calices quem non fecere disertum?” Horat. lib. i. epist. v. 1. 19.
In “Christopher Van Sichem’s Bibels’ Tresoor,” 1646, 4to. there is a wood-cut of Death assisting Adam to dig the ground, partly copied from the subject of “the Curse,” in the work printed at Lyons.
In “De Chertablon, maniere de se bien preparer à la mort, &c.” Anvers, 1700, 4to. there is an allegorical print in which a man is led by his guardian angel to the dwelling of Faith, Hope, and Charity, but is violently seized by Death, who points to his last habitation, in the shape of a sepulchral monument.
In Luyken’s “Onwaardige wereld,” Amst. 1710, 12mo. are three allegorical engravings relating to this subject.
In a very singular book, intitled “Confusio disposita rosis rhetorico-poeticis fragrans, sive quatuor lusus satyrico morales, &c. authore Josepho Melchiore Francisco a Glarus, dicto Tschudi de Greplang.” Augsburg, 1725, 12mo. are the following subjects. 1. The world as Spring, represented by a fine lady in a flower-garden, Death and the Devil behind her. 2. Death and the Devil lying in wait for the miser. 3. Death and the Devil hewing down the barren fig-tree. 4. A group of dancers at a ball interrupted by Death. 5. Death striking a lady in bed attended by her waiting maid. 6. Death gives the coup-de-grace to a drunken fellow who had fallen down stairs. 7. Death mounted on a skeleton-horse dashes among a group of rich men counting their gold, &c. 8. A rich man refused entrance into heaven. He has been brought to the gate in a sedan chair, carried by a couple of Deaths in full-bottom periwigs.
In Luyken’s “Vonken der lief de Jezus,” Amst. 1727, 12mo. are several engravings relating to the subject. In one of them Death pours a draught into the mouth of a sick man in bed.
In Moncrief’s “March of Intellect,” 1830, 18mo. scene a workhouse, Death brings in a bowl of soup, a label on the ground, inscribed “Death in the pot.” An engraving in wood after Cruikshank.
In Jan Huygen’s “Beginselen van Gods koninryk,” Amst. 1738, 12mo. with engravings by Luyken, a dying man attended by his physician and friends; Death at the head of the bed eagerly lying in wait for him.
In one of the livraisons of “Goethe’s Balladen und Romanzen,” 1831, in folio, with beautiful marginal decorations, there is a Dance of Death in a church-yard, accompanied with a description, of which an English translation is inserted in the “Literary Gazette” for 1832, p. 731, under the title of “The Skeleton Dance,” with a reference to another indifferent version in the “Souvenir.”