54 



Plfl/. O SOPH 1C SCIENCES. 



Fig. 41. The Hour of Death. Allegoric Miniature placed at the beginning of the Service for 

 the Dead in a "Liber Horarum." Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century. The Library of 

 11. Ambroise Firmin-Didot. 



The sinner, at the point of death, with his sins staring him in the face, turns away from 

 them to listen, but too late, to the advice of his good angel ; his conscience, black with his 

 faults, reminds him of them all, and remorse like a serpent is devouring his heart. He 

 remains suspended between hell, a monster vomiting flames and awaiting bis prey, and God, 

 who with his right hand threatens him with his justice, and with his left expresses his desire 

 to show mercy. 



