30 THE DANCE OF DEATH. Coxe* thinks he followed the drawings engraved by De Mechel, which he imagines to have been in the Arundeljan collection. Both these opinions seem erroneous ; for many of Hollar's prints are materially different, as well from the cuts as the drawings ; and are, with two or three exceptions, very close copies of the cuts already mentioned to have been first published in 1555, with the mark of J f. He must therefore have either had before him both the sets of wooden cuts, or have copied the paintings at Whitehall; for his acknowledged fidelity would have hardly suffered him to depart from his originals, whatever they were, and as they now remain, they are not correct copies of any single existing model. Hollar's prints were first published in 1651J, with borders designed by Abraham a Diepenbeke, and afterwards without the borders. In this latter impression the letters^, i. occur upon everyprint, and are intended for cc Holbein invenit," as ap- ? Travels in Swisserland. f It is not a little remarkable, that almost the same variations from the original cuts, are to be found in those of the edition of 1555, in De Mechel's prints, and in Hollar's etchings; a circumstance which renders it probable that these last were all copied from the same originals, which might have been the work of Holbein, to whom the variations may be likewise attributed. | In 1682 there appeared engraved copies of the Dance of Death, in a work entitled " Theatrum mortis humanze," by J. Weichard. These engravings are within borders of fruit, flowers, and animals, which are executed with an uncommon degree of elegance.