REVIEWS — THE DANCE OF DEATH. 217 



The carrion in the bush, with throat ycorve, 

 A thousand slain and not of qualme ystorve ; 

 The tyrant with the prey by force yreft, 

 The town destroyed, there "was nothing left. 

 There saw I burnt the shipes hopesteres, 

 The hunter strangled with the wilde bears; 

 The Sow fretiug the child right in the cradle ; 

 The Cook yscalded, for all hi's long ladle. 

 Nought was forgot by the infortune of Mart ; 

 The Carter over-ridden with his cart, 

 Under the wheel full low he lay adown." 



Many of the scenes and characters depicted by the poet, — includ- 

 ing some of those which appear the least poetical among the figures 

 introduced, — are directly borrowed from familiar allegorical paintings, 

 in examples of the " Dance of Death" which have been preserved ; 

 and are no doubt derived from some well known picture of the time, 

 which the poet knew to be familiar to his readers. Several of them 

 are reproduced among the curious wood-cuts of Mr. Bohn's publica- 

 tion. There was a famous representation of this ancient suggestive 

 Morality, on the cloister walls of old St, Paul's, London, and if that 

 existed, as is by no means improbable, in the time of Chaucer, its 

 mortal pageantry would be readily recognised by his readers. 



Stowe tells us, in his " Survey of London," printed in 1618, that 

 there was a great cloister on the north side of St. Paul's Church, 

 surrounding a plot of ground, known of old as Pardon Churchyard. 

 He then states that about this cloister was artificially and richly 

 painted the Dance of Machabray, or Dance of Death, commonly 

 called the Dance of Paul's ; the like whereof was painted about St. 

 Linocent's cloister at Paris. The metres or poesie of this Dance 

 were translated from French into English, by John Lydgate, Monk 

 of Bury ; the picture of Death leading all estates being executed at 

 the expense of Jenkin Carpenter, in the reign of Henry YI. Again 

 we learn from the same authority, of the destruction of this curious 

 relic of Medieval Art. " On the 10th of April, 1549, the cloister 

 of St. Paul's Church, called Pardon Churchyard, with the Dance of 

 Death, commonly called the Dance of Paul's, about the same cloister, 

 costly and cunningly wrought, and the chapel in the midst of the 

 same churchyard, were all begun to be pulled down." This destruc- 

 tion was the work, as we learn, of the Protector Somerset, in order 

 to obtain materials for building his own palace in the Strand. 



