At what time the personified exhibition of this pageant commenced, or when it was discontinued cannot now be correctly ascertained. If, from a moral spectacle, it became a licentious ceremony, as is by no means improbable, in imitation of electing a boy-bishop, of the feast of fools, or other similar absurdities, its termination may be looked for in the authority of some ecclesiastical council at present not easily to be traced.
CHAPTER II
Places where the Dance of Death was sculptured or depicted. – Usually accompanied by verses describing the several characters. – Other Metrical Compositions on the Dance.
The subject immediately before us was very often represented, not only on the walls, but in the windows of many churches, in the cloisters of monasteries, and even on bridges, especially in Germany and Switzerland. It was sometimes painted on church screens, and occasionally sculptured on them, as well as upon the fronts of domestic dwellings. It occurs in many of the manuscript and illuminated service books of the middle ages, and frequent allusions to it are found in other manuscripts, but very rarely in a perfect state, as to the number of subjects.
Most of the representations of the Dance of Death were accompanied by descriptive or moral verses in different languages. Those which were added to the paintings of this subject in Germany appear to have differed very materially, and it is not now possible to ascertain which among them is the oldest. Those in the Basle painting are inserted in the editions published and engraved by Mathew Merian, but they had already occurred in the Decennalia humanæ peregrinationis of Gaspar Landismann in 1584. Some Latin verses were published by Melchior Goldasti at the end of his edition of the Speculum omnium statuum, a celebrated moral work by Roderic, Bishop of Zamora, 1613, 4to. He most probably copied them from one of the early editions of the Danse Macabre, but without any comment whatever, the above title page professing that they are added on account of the similarity of the subject.
A Provençal poet, called Marcabres or Marcabrus, has been placed among the versifiers, but none of his works bear the least similitude to the subject; and, moreover, the language itself is an objection. The English metrical translation will be noticed hereafter. Whether any of the paintings were accompanied by descriptive verses that might be considered as anterior to those ascribed to the supposed Macaber, cannot now be ascertained.
There are likewise some Latin verses in imitation of those above-mentioned, which, as well as the author of them, do not seem to have been noticed by any biographical or poetical writer. They occur at the end of a Latin play, intitled Susanna, Antverp. apud Michaelem Hillenium, MDXXXIII. As the volume is extremely rare, and the verses intimately connected with the present subject, it has been thought worth while to reprint them. After an elegy on the vanity and shortness of human life, and a Sapphic ode on the remembrance of Death, they follow under this title, “Plausus luctificæ mortis ad modum dialogi extemporaliter ab Eusebio Candido lusus. Ad quem quique mortales invitantur omnes, cujuscujus sint conditionis: quibusque singulis Mors ipsa respondet.”
Luctificæ mortis plausum bene cernite cuncti.
Dum res læta, mori et viventes discite, namque
Omnes ex æquo tandem huc properare necessum.
Hic inducitur adolescens quærens, et mors vel philosophus respondens.
Vita quid est hominis? Fumus super aream missus.
Vita quid est hominis? Via mortis, dura laborum
Colluvies, vita est hominis via longa doloris
Perpetui. Vita quid est hominis? cruciatus et error,
Vita quid est hominis? vestitus gramine multo,
Floribus et variis campus, quem parva pruina
Expoliat, sic vitam hominum mors impia tollit.
Quamlibet illa alacris, vegeta, aut opulenta ne felix,
Icta cadit modica crede ægritudine mortis.
Et quamvis superes auro vel murice Crœsum,
Longævum aut annis vivendo Nestora vincas,
Omnia mors æquat, vitæ meta ultima mors est.
Imperator
Quid fers? Induperator ego, et moderamina rerum
Gesto manu, domuit mors impia sceptra potentum.
Rex Rhomanus
Quid fers? en ego Rhomulidum rex. Mors manet omnes.
Papa
En ego Pontificum primus, signansque resignans.
Et cœlos oraque locos. Mors te manet ergo.
Cardinalis
Cardineo fulgens ego honore, et Episcopus ecce
Mors manet ecce omnes, Phrygeus quos pileus ornat.
Episcopus
Insula splendidior vestit mea, tempora latum
Possideo imperium, multi mea jura tremiscunt.
Me dicant fraudis docti, producere lites.
Experti, aucupium docti nummorum, et averni
Causidici, rixatores, rabulæque forenses.
Hos ego respicio, nihil attendens animarum,
Ecclesiæ mihi commissæ populive salutem
Sed satis est duros loculo infarcisse labores
Agricolûm, et magnis placuisse heroibus orbis.
Non tamen effugies mortis mala spicula duræ.
Ecclesiæ Prælatus
Ecclesiæ prælatus ego multis venerandus
Muneribus sacris, proventibus officiorum.
Comptior est vestis, popina frequentior æde
Sacra, et psalmorum cantus mihi rarior ipso
Talorum crepitu, Veneris quoque voce sonora.
Morte cades, annos speras ubi vivere plures.
Canonicus
En ego melotam gesto. Mors sæva propinquat.
Pastor
En parochus quoque pastor ego, mihi dulce falernum
Notius æde sacra: scortum mihi charius ipsa
Est animæ cura populi. Mors te manet ergo.
Abbas
En abbas venio, Veneris quoque ventris amicus.
Cœnobii rara est mihi cura, frequentior aula
Magnorum heroum. Chorea saltabis eadem.
Prior
En prior, ornatus longa et splendente cuculla,
Falce cades mortis. Mors aufert nomina honoris.
Pater Vestalium
Nympharum pater ecce ego sum ventrosior, offis
Pinguibus emacerans corpus. Mors te manet ipsa.
Vestalis Nympha
En monialis ego, Vestæ servire parata.
Non te Vesta potest mortis subducere castris.
Legatus
Legatus venio culparum vincla resolvemus
Omnia pro auro, abiens cœlum vendo, infera claudo
Et quicquid patres sanxerunt, munere solvo
Juribus à mortis non te legatio solvet.
Dominus Doctor
Quid fers? Ecce sophus, divina humanaque jura
Calleo, et à populo doctor Rabbique salutor,
Te manet expectans mors ultima linea rerum.
Medicus
En ego sum medicus, vitam producere gnarus,
Venis lustratis morborum nomina dico,
Non poteris duræ mortis vitare sagittas.
Astronomus
En ego stellarum motus et sydera novi,
Et fati genus omne scio prædicere cœli.
Non potis es mortis duræ præscire sagittas.
Curtisanus
En me Rhoma potens multis suffarsit onustum
Muneribus sacris, proventibus, officiisque
Non potes his mortis fugiens evadere tela.
Advocatus
Causarum patronus ego, producere doctus
Lites, et loculos lingua vacuare loquaci
Non te lingua loquax mortis subducet ab ictu.
Judex
Justitiæ judex quia sum, sub plebe salutor.
Vertice me nudo populus veneratur adorans.
Auri sacra fames pervertere sæpe coëgit
Justitiam. Mors te manet æquans omnia falce.
Prætor
Prætor ego populi, me prætor nemo quid audet.
Accensor causis, per me stant omnia, namque
Et dono et adimo vitam, cum rebus honorem.
Munere conspecto, quod iniquum est jure triumphat
Emitto corvos, censura damno columbas.
Hinc metuendus ero superis ereboque profundo.
Te manet expectans Erebus Plutoque cruentus.
Consul
Polleo consiliis, Consul dicorque salutor.
Munere conspecto, quid iniquum est consulo rectum
Quod rectum est flecto, nihil est quod nesciat auri
Sacra fames, hinc ditor et undique fio opulentus
Sed eris æternum miser et mors impia tollet.
Causidicus
Causidicus ego sum, causas narrare peritus,
Accior in causas, sed spes ubi fulserit auri
Ad fraudes docta solers utor bene lingua.
Muto, commuto, jura inflecto atque reflecto.
Et nihil est quod non astu pervincere possim.
Mors æqua expectat properans te fulmine diro.
Nec poteris astu mortis prævertere tela.
Scabinus
Ecce Scabinus ego, scabo bursas, prorogo causas.
Senatorque vocor, vulgus me poplite curvo,
Muneribusque datis veneratur, fronte retecta.
Nil mortem meditor loculos quando impleo nummis
Et dito hæredes nummis, vi, fraude receptis,
Justitiam nummis, pro sanguine, munere, vendo.
Quod rectum est curvo, quod curvum est munere rectum
Efficio, per me prorsus stant omnia jura.
Non poteris duræ mortis transire sagittas.
Ludimagister
En ego pervigili cura externoque labore.
Excolui juvenum ingenia, et præcepta Minervæ
Tradens consenui, cathedræque piget sine fructu.
Quid dabitur fructus, tanti quæ dona laboris?
Omnia mors æquans, vitæ ultima meta laboris.
Miles Auratus
Miles ego auratus, fulgenti murice et auro
Splendidus in populo. Mors te manet omnia perdens.
Miles Armatus
Miles ego armatus, qui bella ferocia gessi.
Nullius occursum expavi, quam durus et audax.
Ergo immunis ero. Mors te intrepida ipsa necabit.
Mercator
En ego mercator dives, maria omnia lustro
Et terras, ut res crescant. Mors te metet ipsa.
Fuckardus
En ego fuckardus, loculos gesto æris onustos,
Omnia per mundum coëmens, vendo atque revendo.
Heroës me solicitant, atque æra requirunt.
Haud est me lato quisquam modo ditior orbe.
Mortis ego jura et frameas nihil ergo tremisco
Morte cades, mors te rebus spoliabit opimis.
Quæstor
Quæstor ego, loculos suffersi arcasque capaces
Est mihi prænitidis fundata pecunia villis.
Hac dives redimam duræ discrimina mortis
Te mors præripiet nullo exorabilis auro.
Nauclerus
En ego nauclerus spaciosa per æquora vectus,
Non timui maris aut venti discrimina mille.
Cymba tamen mortis capiet te quæque vorantis.
Agricola
Agricola en ego sum, præduro sæpe labore,
Et vigili exhaustus cura, sudore perenni,
Victum prætenuem quærens, sine fraude doloque
Omnia pertentans, miseram ut traducere possim
Vitam, nec mundo me est infelicior alter.
Mors tamen eduri fiet tibi meta laboris.
Orator
Heroum interpres venio, fraudisque peritus,
Bellorum strepitus compono, et bella reduco,
Meque petunt reges, populus miratur adorans.
Nulla abiget fraudi linguéve peritia mortem.
Princeps Belli
Fulmen ego belli, reges et regna subegi,
Victor ego ex omni præduro quamlibet ecce
Marte fui, vitæ hinc timeo discrimina nulla.
Te mors confodiet cauda Trigonis aquosi,
Atque eris exanimis moriens uno ictu homo bulla.
Dives
Sum rerum felix, fœcunda est prolis et uxor,
Plena domus, lætum pecus, et cellaria plena
Nil igitur metuo. Quid ais? Mors te impia tollet.
Pauper
Iro ego pauperior, Codroque tenuior omni,
Despicior cunctis, nemo est qui sublevet heu heu.
Hinc parcet veniens mors: nam nihil auferet à me,
Non sic evades, ditem cum paupere tollit.
Fœnerator
Ut loculi intument auro, vi, fraude, doloque,
Fœnore nunc quæstum facio, furtoque rapinaque,
Ut proles ditem, passim dicarque beatus,
Per fas perque nefas corradens omnia quæro.
Mors veniens furtim prædabitur, omnia tollens.
Adolescens
Sum juvenis, forma spectabilis, indole gaudens
Maturusque ævi, nullus præstantior alter,
Moribus egregiis populo laudatus ab omni.
Pallida, difformis mors auferet omnia raptim.
Puella
Ecce puellarum pulcherrima, mortis iniquæ
Spicula nil meditor, juvenilibus et fruor annis,
Meque proci expectant compti, facieque venusti.
Stulta, quid in vana spe jactas? Mors metet omnes
Difformes, pulchrosque simul cum paupere dices.
Nuncius
Nuncius ecce ego sum, qui nuncia perfero pernix
Sed retrospectans post terga, papæ audio quidnam?
Me tuba terrificans mortis vocat. Heu moriendum est.
Peroratio.
Mortales igitur memores modo vivite læti
Instar venturi furis, discrimine nullo
Cunctos rapturi passim ditesque inopesque.
Stultus et insipiens vita qui sperat in ista,
Instar quæ fumi perit et cito desinit esse.
Fac igitur tota virtuti incumbito mente,
Quæ nescit mortem, sed scandit ad ardua cœli.
Quo nos à fatis ducat rex Juppiter, Amen.
Plaudite nunc, animum cuncti retinete faventes
FINIS
Antwerpiæ apud Michaelem Hillenium M.D.XXXIIII. Mense Maio
A very early allusion to the Dance of Death occurs in a Latin poem, that seems to have been composed in the twelfth century by our celebrated countryman Walter de Mapes, as it is found among other pieces that carry with them strong marks of his authorship. It is intitled “Lamentacio et deploracio pro Morte et consilium de vivente Deo.”37 In its construction there is a striking resemblance to the common metrical stanzas that accompany the Macaber Dance. Many characters, commencing with that of the Pope, are introduced, all of whom bewail the uncontrolable influence of Death. This is a specimen of the work, extracted from two manuscripts:
Then follow similar stanzas, for presul, miles, monachus, legista, jurista, doctor, logicus, medicus, cantor, sapiens, dives, cultor, burgensis, nauta, pincerna, pauper.
In Sanchez’s collection of Spanish poetry before the year 1400,38 mention is made of a Rabbi Santo as a good poet, who lived about 1360. He was a Jew, and surgeon to Don Pedro. His real name seems to have been Mose, but he calls himself Don Santo Judio de Carrion. This person is said to have written a moral poem, called “Danza General.” It commences thus:
“Dise la Muerte
“Yo so la muerte cierta a todas criaturas,
Que son y seran en el mundo durante:
Demando y digo O ame! porque curas
De vida tan breve en punto passante?” &c.
He then introduces a preacher, who announces Death to all persons, and advises them to be prepared by good works to enter his Dance, which is calculated for all degrees of mankind.
“Primaramente llama a su danza a dos doncellas,
A esta mi danza trax de presente,
Estas dos donzellas que vades fermosas:
Ellas vinieron de muy malamente
A oir mes canciones que son dolorosas,
Mas non les valdran flores nin rosas,
Nin las composturas que poner salian:
De mi, si pudiesen parterra querrian,
Mas non proveda ser, que son mis esposas.”
It may, however, be doubted whether the Jew Santo was the author of this Dance of Death, as it is by no means improbable that it may have been a subsequent work added to the manuscript referred to by Sanchez.
In 1675, Maitre Jacques Jacques, a canon of the cathedral of Ambrun, published a singular work, intitled “Le faut mourir et les excuses inutiles que l’on apporte à cette nécessité. Le tout en vers burlesques.” Rouen, 1675, 12mo. It is written much in the style of Scarron and some other similar poets of the time. It commences with a humorous description given by Death of his proceedings with various persons in every part of the globe, which is followed by several dialogues between Death and the following characters: 1. The Pope. 2. A young lady betrothed. 3. A galley slave. 4. Guillot, who has lost his wife. 5. Don Diego Dalmazere, a Spanish hidalgo. 6. A king. 7. The young widow of a citizen. 8. A citizen. 9. A decrepit rich man. 10. A canon. 11. A blind man. 12. A poor peasant. 13. Tourmenté, a poor soldier in the hospital. 14. A criminal in prison. 15. A nun. 16. A physician. 17. An apothecary. 18. A lame beggar. 19. A rich usurer. 20. A merchant. 21. A rich merchant. As the book is uncommon, the following specimen is given from the scene between Death and the young betrothed girl:
La Mort
A vous la belle demoiselle,
Je vous apporte une nouvelle,
Qui certes vous surprendra fort.
C’est qu’il faut penser à la mort,
Tout vistement pliés bagage,
Car il faut faire ce voyage.
La Demoiselle
Qu’entends-je? Tout mon sens se perd,
Helas! vous me prener sans verd;
C’est tout à fait hors de raison
Mourir dedans une saison
Que je ne dois songer qu’à rire,
Je suis contrainte de vous dire,
Que très injuste est vostre choix,
Parce que mourir je ne dois,
N’estant qu’en ma quinzième année,
Voyez quelque vielle échinée,
Qui n’ait en bouche point de dent;
Vous l’obligerez grandement
De l’envoyer à l’autre monde,
Puis qu’ici toujours elle gronde;
Vous la prendrez tout à propos,
Et laissez moi dans le repos,
Moi qui suis toute poupinette,
Dans l’embonpoint et joliette,
Qui n’aime qu’à me réjouir,
De grâce laissez moi jouir, &c.
CHAPTER III
Macaber not a German or any other poet, but a nonentity. – Corruption and confusion respecting this word. – Etymological errors concerning it. – How connected with the Dance. – Trois mors et trois vifs. – Orgagna’s painting in the Campo Santo at Pisa. – Its connection with the trois mors et trois vifs, as well as with the Macaber dance. – Saint Macarius the real Macaber. – Paintings of this dance in various places. – At Minden; Church-yard of the Innocents at Paris; Dijon; Basle; Klingenthal; Lubeck; Leipsic; Anneberg; Dresden; Erfurth; Nuremberg; Berne; Lucerne; Amiens; Rouen; Fescamp; Blois; Strasburg; Berlin; Vienna; Holland; Italy; Spain.
The next subject for investigation is the origin of the name of Macaber, as connected with the Dance of Death, either with respect to the verses that have usually accompanied it, or to the paintings or representations of the Dance itself; and first of the verses.
It may, without much hazard, be maintained that, notwithstanding these have been ascribed to a German poet called Macaber, there never was a German, or any poet whatever bearing such a name. The first mention of him appears to have been in a French edition of the Danse Macabre, with the following title, “Chorea ab eximio Macabro versibus Alemannicis edito, et à Petro Desrey emendata. Parisiis per Magistrum Guidonem Mercatorem pro Godefrido de Marnef. 1490, folio.” This title, from its ambiguity, is deserving of little consideration as a matter of authority; for if a comma be placed after the word Macabro, the title is equally applicable to the author of the verses and to the painter or inventor of the Dance. As the subject had been represented in several places in Germany, and of course accompanied with German descriptions, it is possible that Desrey might have translated and altered some or one of these, and, mistaking the real meaning of the word, have converted it into the name of an author. It may be asked in what German biography is such a person to be found? how it has happened that this famous Macaber is so little known, or whether the name really has a Teutonic aspect? It was the above title in Desrey’s work that misled the truly learned Fabricius inadvertently to introduce into his valuable work the article for Macaber as a German poet, and in a work to which it could not properly belong.39
M. Peignot has very justly observed that the Danse Macabre had been very long known in France and elsewhere, not as a literary work, but as a painting; and he further remarks that although the verses are German in the Basil painting, executed about 1440, similar verses in French were placed under the dance at the Innocents at Paris in 1424.40
At the beginning of the text in the early French edition of the Danse Macabre, we have only the words “la danse Macabre sappelle,” but no specific mention is made of the author of the verses. John Lydgate, in his translation of them from the French, and which was most probably adopted in many places in England where the painting occurred, speaks of “the Frenche Machabrees daunce,” and “the daunce of Machabree.” At the end, “Machabree the Doctoure,” is abruptly and unconnectedly introduced at the bottom of the page. It is not in the French printed copy, from the text of which Lydgate certainly varies in several respects. It remains, therefore, to ascertain whether these words belong to Lydgate, or to whom else; not that it is a matter of much importance.
The earliest authority that has been traced for the name of “Danse Macabre,” belongs to the painting at the Innocents, and occurs in the MS. diary of Charles VII. under the year 1424. It is also strangely called “Chorea Machabæorum,” in 1453, as appears from the before cited document at St. John’s church at Besançon. Even the name of one Maccabrees, a Provençal poet of the 14th century, has been injudiciously connected with the subject, though his works are of a very different nature.
Previously to attempting to account for the origin of the obscure and much controverted word Macaber, as applicable to the dance itself, it may be necessary to advert to the opinions on that subject that have already appeared. It has been disguised under the several names of Macabre,41 Maccabees,42 Maratre,43 and even Macrobius.44 Sometimes it has been regarded as an epithet. The learned and excellent M. Van Praet, the guardian of the royal library at Paris, has conjectured that Macabre is derived from the Arabic Magbarah, magbourah, or magabir, all signifying a church-yard. M. Peignot seems to think that M. Van Praet intended to apply the word to the Dance itself,45 but it is impossible that the intelligent librarian was not aware that personified sculpture, as well as the moral nature of the subject, cannot belong to the Mahometan religion. Another etymology extremely well calculated to disturb the gravity of the present subject, is that of M. Villaret, the French historian, when adverting to the spectacle of the Danse Macabre, supposed to have been given by the English in the church-yard of the Innocents at Paris. Relying on this circumstance, he unceremoniously decides that the name of the dance was likewise English; and that Macabrée is compounded of the words, to make and to break. The same silly etymology is referred to as in some historical dictionary concerning the city of Paris by Mons. Compan in his Dictionaire de Danse, article Macaber; and another which is equally improbable has been hazarded by the accomplished Marquis de Paulmy, who, noticing some editions of the Danse Macabre in his fine library, now in the arsenal at Paris, very seriously states that Macaber is derived from two Greek words, which denote its meaning to be an infernal dance;46 but if the Greek language were to be consulted on the occasion, the signification would turn out to be very different.
It must not be left unnoticed that M. De Bure, in his account of the edition of the Danse Macabre, printed by Marchant, 1486, has stated that the verses have been attributed to Michel Marot; but the book is dated before Marot was born.47
Again, – As to the connexion between the word Macaber with the Dance itself.
In the course of the thirteenth century there appeared a French metrical work under the name of “Li trois Mors et li trois Vis,” i. e. Les trois Morts et les trois Vifs. In the noble library of the Duke de la Valliere, there were three apparently coeval manuscripts of it, differing, however, from each other, but furnishing the names of two authors, Baudouin de Condé and Nicolas de Marginal.48 These poems relate that three noble youths when hunting in a forest were intercepted by the like number of hideous spectres or images of Death, from whom they received a terrific lecture on the vanity of human grandeur. A very early, and perhaps the earliest, allusion to this vision, seems to occur in a painting by Andrew Orgagna in the Campo Santo at Pisa; and although it varies a little from the description in the above-mentioned poems, the story is evidently the same. The painter has introduced three young men on horseback with coronets on their caps, and who are attended by several domestics whilst pursuing the amusement of hawking. They arrive at the cell of Saint Macarius an Egyptian Anachorite, who with one hand presents to them a label with this inscription, as well as it can be made out, “Se nostra mente fia ben morta tenendo risa qui la vista affitta la vana gloria ci sara sconfitta la superbia e sara da morte;” and with the other points to three open coffins, in which are a skeleton and two dead bodies, one of them a king.
A similar vision, but not immediately connected with the present subject, and hitherto unnoticed, occurs at the end of the Latin verses ascribed to Macaber, in Goldasti’s edition of the Speculum omnium statuum à Roderico Zamorensi. Three persons appear to a hermit, whose name is not mentioned, in his sleep. The first is described as a man in a regal habit; the second as a civilian, and the third as a beautiful female decorated with gold and jewels. Whilst these persons are vainly boasting of their respective conditions, they are encountered by three horrible spectres in the shape of dead human bodies covered with worms, who very severely reprove them for their arrogance. This is evidently another version of the “Trois mors et trois vifs” in the text, but whether it be older or otherwise cannot easily be ascertained. It is composed in alternate rhymes, in the manner, and probably by the author of Philibert or Fulbert’s vision of the dispute between the soul and the body, a work ascribed to S. Bernard, and sometimes to Walter de Mapes. There are translations of it both in French and English.
For the mention of S. Macarius as the hermit in this painting by Orgagna, we are indebted to Vasari in his life of that artist; and he had, no doubt, possessed himself of some traditionary information on the subject of it. He further informs us, that the person on horseback who is stopping his nostrils, is intended for Andrea Uguzzione della fagivola. Above is a black and hideous figure of Death mowing down with his scythe all ranks and conditions of men. Vasari adds that Orgagna had crowded his picture with a great many inscriptions, most of which were obliterated by time. From one of them which he has preserved in his work, as addressed to some aged cripples, it should appear that, as in the Macaber Dance, Death apostrophizes the several characters.49 Baldinucci, in his account of Orgagna, mentions this painting and the story of the Three Kings and Saint Macarius.50 Morona, likewise, in his Pisa illustrata, adopts the name of Macarius when describing the same subject. The figures in the picture are all portraits, and their names may be seen, but with some variation as to description, both in Vasari and Morona.51
Now the story of Les trois mors et les trois vifs, was prefixed to the painting of the Macaber Dance in the church-yard of the Innocents at Paris, and had also been sculptured over the portal of the church, by order of the Duke de Berry in 1408.52 It is found in numerous manuscript copies of Horæ and other service books prefixed to the burial office. All the printed editions of the Macaber Dance contain it, but with some variation, the figure of Saint Macarius in his cell not being always introduced. It occurs in many of the printed service books, and in some of our own for the use of Salisbury. The earliest wood engraving of it is in the black book of the “15 signa Judicii,” where two of the young men are running away to avoid the three deaths, or skeletons, one of whom is rising from a grave. It is copied in Bibliotheca Spenceriana, vol. i. p. xxx.
From the preceding statement then there is every reason to infer that the name of Macaber, so frequently, and without authority, applied to an unknown German poet, really belongs to the Saint, and that his name has undergone a slight and obvious corruption. The word Macabre is found only in French authorities, and the Saint’s name, which, in the modern orthography of that language, is Macaire, would, in many ancient manuscripts, be written Macabre instead of Macaure, the letter b being substituted for that of u from the caprice, ignorance, or carelessness of the transcribers.
As no German copy of the verses describing the painting can, with any degree of certainty, be regarded as the original, we must substitute the Latin text, which may, perhaps, have an equal claim to originality. The author, at the beginning, has an address to the spectators, in which he tells them that the painting is called the Dance of Macaber. There is an end, therefore, of the name of Macaber, as the author of the verses, leaving it only as applicable to the painting, and almost, if not altogether confirmatory of the preceding conjecture. The French version, from which Lydgate made his translation, nearly agrees with the Latin. Lydgate, however, in the above address, has thought fit to use the word translator instead of author, but this is of no moment, any more than the words Machabrée the Doctour, which, not being in the French text, are most likely an interpolation. He likewise calls the work the daunce; and it may, once for all, be remarked, that scarcely any two versions of it will be found to correspond in all respects, every new editor assuming fresh liberties, according to the usual practice in former times.
The ancient paintings of the Macaber Dance next demand our attention. Of these, the oldest on record was that of Minden in Westphalia, with the date 1383, and mentioned by Fabricius in his Biblioth. med. et infimæ ætatis, tom. v. p. 2. It is to be wished that this statement had been accompanied with some authority; but the whole of the article is extremely careless and inaccurate.
The earliest, of which the date has been satisfactorily defined, was that in the church-yard of the Innocents at Paris, and which has been already mentioned as having been painted in 1434.
In the cloister of the church of the Sainte Chapelle at Dijon the Macaber Dance was painted by an artist whose name was Masonçelle. It had disappeared and was forgotten a long time ago, but its existence was discovered in the archives of the department by Mons. Boudot, an ardent investigator of the manners and customs of the middle ages. The date ascribed to this painting is 1436. The above church was destroyed in the revolution, previously to which another Macaber Dance existed in the church of Notre Dame in the above city. This was not a painting on the walls, but a piece of white embroidery on a black piece of stuff about two feet in height and very long. It was placed over the stalls in the choir on grand funeral ceremonies, and was also carried off with the other church moveables, in the abovementioned revolution.53 Similar exhibitions, no doubt, prevailed in other places.
The next Macaber Dance, in point of date, was the celebrated one at Basle, which has employed the pens and multiplied the errors of many writers and travellers. It was placed under cover in a sort of shed in the church-yard of the Dominican convent. It has been remarked by one very competent to know the fact, that nearly all the convents of the Dominicans had a Dance of Death.54 As these friars were preachers by profession, the subject must have been exceedingly useful in supplying texts and matter for their sermons. The present Dance is said to have been painted at the instance of the prelates who assisted at the Grand Council of Basle, that lasted from 1431 to 1443; and in allusion, as supposed, to a plague that happened during its continuance. Plagues have also been assigned as the causes of other Dances of Death; but there is no foundation whatever for such an opinion, as is demonstrable from what has been already stated; and it has been also successfully combated by M. Peignot, who is nevertheless a little at variance with himself, when he afterwards introduces a conjecture that the painter of the first Dance imitated the violent motions and contortions of those affected by the plague in the dancing attitudes of the figures of Death.55 The name of the original painter of this Basle work is unknown, and will probably ever remain so, for no dependance can be had on some vague conjectures, that without the smallest appearance of accuracy have been hazarded concerning it. It is on record that the old painting having become greatly injured by the ravages of time, John Hugh Klauber, an eminent painter at Basle, was employed to repair it in the year 1568, as appears from a Latin inscription placed on it at the time. This painter is said to have covered the decayed fresco with oil, and to have succeeded so well that no difference between his work and the original could be perceived. He was instructed to add the portrait of the celebrated Oecolampadius in the act of preaching, in commemoration of his interference in the Reformation, that had not very long before taken place. He likewise introduced at the end of the painting, portraits of himself, his wife Barbara Hallerin, and their little son Hans Birich Klauber. The following inscription, placed on the painting on this occasion, is preserved in Hentzner’s Itinerary, and elsewhere.