Lastly, a very beautiful device made for Reinhold Wolfe[470] appears to have been produced during Holbein’s last residence in England, though the cutting of the block was most probably done in Basel. It represents three boys flinging sticks into an appletree laden with fruit, and bears his motto “Charitas.”[471] Wolfe, who was settled in London, was possibly some relation of Thomas Wolff, the Basel publisher, and so may have sent his book illustrations to Switzerland to be engraved. This particular device, in any case, is too finely cut to have been done in England at that period. Wolfe was the publisher of John Leland’s _Naeniæ_, which contained a woodcut portrait of Sir Thomas Wyat after Holbein,[472] and also of the same writer’s poem on the birth of the Prince of Wales, which was not issued until 1543. On the back of the title-page of the last publication is the device of the Prince, “Ich Dien” under a crown of ostrich feathers, within a halo, which appears to be after a design by Holbein.[473] A few other woodcuts which date from the artist’s last residence in England are referred to in a later chapter.[474] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER X THE “DANCE OF DEATH” AND OLD TESTAMENT WOODCUTS The “Dance of Death” in literature and art—Early examples in Basel—Date of Holbein’s “Dance of Death” woodcuts—Early proofs—Date of publication—Description of the first edition—Reasons for delay in publication—Description of the separate woodcuts—Holbein’s “Alphabet of Death”—His illustrations to the Old Testament. HOLBEIN’S fame as a designer of woodcuts, which had spread throughout Europe before the close of the sixteenth century, was due almost entirely to his celebrated “Dance of Death” pictures, and, in a lesser degree, to his Old Testament illustrations, both first published in 1538, though they were drawn, and for the greater part cut, between the years 1523 and 1526. They attained an immediate and widespread popularity, a popularity which has been a lasting one. Edition after edition followed in quick succession, and throughout the succeeding years down to the present day hardly a decade has passed without a fresh version being given to the world.