indignation
against all who, either by actual injustice in this life, or by what he
holds to be false promise of another, destroy the good, or the energy,
of the few days which man has to live. Against the rich, the luxurious,
the Pharisee, the false lawyer, the priest, and the unjust judge,
Holbein uses his fiercest mockery; but he is never himself unjust; never
caricatures or equivocates; gives the facts as he knows them, with
explanatory symbols, few and clear.

87. Among the powers which he hates, the pathetic and ingenious
preaching of untruth is one of the chief; and it is curious to find his
biographer, knowing this, and reasoning, as German critics nearly always
do, from acquired knowledge, not perception, imagine instantly that he
sees hypocrisy in the face of Holbein's preacher. "How skillfully,"
says Dr. Woltmann, "is the preacher propounding his doctrines; how
thoroughly is his hypocrisy expressed in the features of his
countenance, and in the gestures of his hands." But look at the cut
yourself, candidly. I challenge you to find the slightest trace of
hypocrisy in either feature or gesture. Holbein knew better. It is not
the hypocrite who has power in the pulpit. It is the _sincere_ preacher
of untruth who does mischief there. The hypocrite's place of power is in
trade, or in general society; none but the sincere ever get fatal
influence in the pulpit. This man is a refined gentleman--ascetic,
earnest, thoughtful, and kind. He scarcely uses the vantage even of his
pulpit,--comes aside out of it, as an eager man would, pleading; he is
intent on being understood--_is_ understood; his congregation are
delighted--you might hear a pin drop among them: one is asleep indeed,
who cannot see him, (being under the pulpit,) and asleep just because
the teacher is as gentle as he is earnest, and speaks quietly.

88. How are we to know, then, that he speaks in vain? First, because
among all his hearers you will not find one shrewd face. They are all
either simple or stupid people: there is one nice woman in front of all,
(else Holbein's representation had been caricature,) but she is not a
shrewd one.

Secondly, by the light and shade. The church is not in extreme
darkness--far from that; a gray twilight is over everything, but the sun
is totally shut out of it;--not a ray comes in even at the
window--_that_ is darker than the walls, or vault.

Lastly, and chiefly, by the mocking expression of Death. Mocking, but
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