PLATE XLI.—THE OLD MAN.
Here we see Death leading away, playing on a psaltery, an Old Man to the brink of the grave, bent under the load of years, and verging to the last degree of frailty. The Old Man allows himself to be carried off, with that calmness and tranquillity, which are the effects of wisdom, and the fruits of a good conscience.
Spiritus meus attenuabitur, dies mei breviabuntur, & solum mihi superest sepulchrum. Job xvii. 1.
PLANCHE XLI.—LE VIEILLARD.
L’on voit ici la Mort qui conduit sur le bord de sa fosse, en jouant du psalterion, un Vieillard courbé sous le poids des années, & parvenu au dernier degré de la caducité. Le Vieillard se laisse emmener avec ce calme & cette tranquillité qui sont l’apanage de la sagesse & les fruits d’une bonne conscience.
PLATE XLII.—THE OLD WOMAN.
The grim countenance of this good old Dame does not indicate the same resignation as appears in the former subject. Wholly occupied in mumbling her rosary, she pays no attention to the sound of a dulcimer, on which one of her conductors is playing. The other skeleton, impatient of the slowness of the Old Woman’s march, is employing menaces and blows to make her advance.