to obtain the consent of
the Prefect to make these drawings. A moveable scaffold was
constructed, which was suspended from the upper parts--and in this
_nervous_ situation the artist made his copies--of the size of the
foregoing cuts. The expense of the scaffold, and of making the
designs, was very inconsiderable indeed. The worthy Prefect, or Mayor,
was so obliging as to make the scaffold a mere gratuitous affair; six
francs only being required for the men to drink! [Can I ever forget,
or think slightly of, such kindness? Never.]

Cicognara, in his _Storia della Scultura_, 1813, folio, has given but
a very small portion of the above dance; which was taken from the
upper part of a neighbouring house. It is consequently less faithful
and less complete. [In the preceding edition of this work, there are
not fewer than _eleven_ representations of these Drolleries.]

[211] I think this volume is of the date of 1580. CONRAD DASYPODIUS was
both the author of the work, and the chief mechanic or artisan
employed in making the clock--about which he appears to have taken
several journeys to employ, and to consult with, the most clever
workmen in Germany. The wheels and movements were made by the two
HABRECHTS, natives of Schaffhausen.

[212] [The Reader may form some notion of its beauty and elaboration of
ornament, from the OPPOSITE PLATE: taken from a print published about
a century and a half ago.]

[213] See Grandidier, p. 177: where the Latin inscription is given. The
_Ephemerides de l'Academie des Curieux de la Nature_, vol. ii. p.
400, &c. are quoted by this author--as a contemporaneous authority in
support of the event above mentioned.

[214] My French translator will have it, that, "this composition, though
not without its faults, is considered, in the estimation of all
connoisseurs, as one of the finest funereal monuments which the modern
chisel has produced." It may be, in the estimation of _some_--but
certainly of a _very small_ portion of--Connoisseurs of first rate
merit. Our Chantry would sicken or faint at the sight of such
allegorical absurdity.

[215] [This avowal has subjected me to the gentle remonstrance of the
Librarian in question, and to the tart censure of M. Crapelet in
particular. "Voila le Reverend M. Dibdin (exclaims the latter) qui se
croit oblige de declarer qu'il n'a