The Thought of this allegorical Representation of Death, though in the present Instance immediately suggested by the Event above related, was not in itself original, but borrowed in some Measure from a Kind of Masquerade, which Mr. WARTON[5] observes was anciently celebrated in the Churches abroad, particularly those of France (and, among others, it seems to have been performed in St. Innocent’s Church at Paris) and in which all Ranks and Degrees of Persons were personated by the Ecclesiastics of those Churches, who all danced together, and then disappeared; and it is certain that before the Calamity above-mentioned happened at Basil, and consequently before this Painting there was begun, Allusions to a _Dance of Death_ occurred in the Writings of the Authors of the Time, in Reference, no Doubt, to that Kind of Masquerade. It were needless to introduce a Number of Quotations to support this Assertion; but as some Proof may, perhaps, be expected, I here insert from _The Vision of_ PIERS PLOWMAN, written about 1350, the following Passage, with which Mr. WARTON’s _Hist. of Poetry_, Vol. II. P. 54, has furnished me:
“Death came driving after, and all to Dust pash’d Kings and Cæsars, Knights and Popes.”
And I further find that, several Years prior to the Breaking out of this Plague at Basil, the Idea had even been carried into Execution; for that in 1384, a _Death’s Dance_ had been painted at Minden, in Westphalia[6]: But, no sooner had this Painting at Basil been finished, and become, as it very soon after did, universally celebrated all over Europe, but the _Dance of Death_ became a very favourite Subject, and was frequently painted in public Buildings. The earliest Instance which has yet occurred, subsequent to the Painting at Basil, is one which Mr. WARTON[7] mentions at Lubec, in the Portico of St. Mary’s Church, painted in 1463; and of which Dr. NUGENT, in his _Travels_, Vol. I. P. 102, speaking of Lubec, gives the following Account:
“But the most noted Thing in St. Mary’s Church is the Painting called _Death’s Dance_, so much talked of in all Parts of Germany. It was originally drawn in 1463, but the Figures were repaired at different Times, as in 1588, 1642, and last of all in 1701. Here you see the Representation of Death leading an Emperor in his imperial Robes, who with his other Hand takes hold of such another Figure, which leads up a King; and so alternately a Figure of Death and a human Person through all Conditions and Stages of Life. The Intention of the Artist was to shew that Death pays no Regard to Age or Condition, which is more particularly expressed in the Verses underneath. They were composed at first in Plat Deutch, or Low Dutch; but at the last Repair, in 1701, it was thought proper to change them for German Verses, which were written by NATHANIEL SCHLOTT, of Dantzick.” Of these Verses Dr. NUGENT has inserted a Translation from the original German, by a Lady of Dantzick, from which it appears that the Originals consist of, first, an Apostrophe of Death to all, and then an Address of Death to one Individual; then follows his Reply; after that, Death’s Address to another; next, his Reply; and so on. It further appears from the Translation, that the Characters delineated in the Painting are the following: The Pope, Emperor, Empress, Cardinal, King, Bishop, General, Abbé, Knight, Carthusian, Burgomaster, Prebendary, Nobleman, Physician, Usurer, Chaplain, Steward, Church-Warden, Tradesman, Recluse, Peasant, Young Man, Maiden, Infant, Dancing-Master, and Fencing-Master.