LONDON: PUBLISHED BY R. ACKERMANN, REPOSITORY OF ARTS, 101 STRAND. 8vo.
'Advertisement.—The eight monthly numbers to which this work was limited being completed, it is presented to the public in an accumulated volume. Though an acquaintance has taken place between the artist and the writer, the same principle has in a great degree, if not altogether, predominated in the originality of the designs and attendant illustrations of them as produced the Tour of Doctor Syntax and the Dance of Death.'
Illustrations.
Frontispiece.—The Dance of Life; a panoramic scroll, on which Rowlandson's pictures which illustrate the series are represented in miniature. Father Time, with his accessories of scythe, hourglass, and globe, is acting as showman and pointing out the subjects of the work to a group of spectators, whose faces and attitudes are expressive of the admiration and interest which the pictorial history is exciting.
Titlepage.—The vignette of a lightly touched and gracefully drawn female dancing figure, with a scarf airily floating from her shoulders. The nymph is encircled by a ring of pretty children, hand in hand, who are dancing round her; while roses are scattered at the feet of the group.
1. Infancy.—The hero is introduced to the world as an infant.
The Dance of Life begins, with all its charms
In the fond dandling of the nurse's arms.
2. Childhood.—The first tutor.
The tender nurse's care is now resign'd
To the first grave instructor of the mind.
3. Boyhood.—The public school.