On the authority of Nieuhoff, a Dutchman, who came over to England with
William III., Mr. Douce asserts, that Holbein had painted the "Dance of
Death" on the walls of Whitehall. Borbonius might then have had in mind
this painting, when he mentioned the "Mors picta" of Holbein; but three
biographers of Holbein, Mander, Sandrart, and Patin, were in England
before Whitehall was destroyed by fire, and make no mention of this
painting, although Mander speaks of other paintings of Holbein,
particularly the portrait of Henry VIII., that were preserved at
Whitehall. Mander states, that he also saw at Whitehall the portraits of
Edward, Maria, and Elizabeth, by Holbein, "die oock ter selver plaetse
te sien zyn."

Sandrart, whose work was published in 1675, also mentions the paintings
of Holbein at Whitehall. Is it credible, that three travellers, two of
whom were distinguished artists themselves, should have been at
Whitehall, and seen there the paintings of Holbein, without taking
notice of the "Dance of Death," if it had been in that place?

Holbein died of the plague in London, 1554.--_Westminster Review_.

* * * * *


When I see the spirit of liberty in action, I see a strong principle at
work; and, this for awhile, is all I can possibly know of it. The wild
gas, the fixed air, is plainly broke loose; but we ought to suspend our
judgment until the first effervescence is a little subsided, till the
liquor is cleared, and until we see something deeper than the agitation
of a troubled and frothy surface. I must be tolerably sure, before I