In the most deplorable situation, lame, and exposed almost naked to the injuries of the weather, he is set down before a rich man’s house, into which he has the mortification to see several enter, who look at him without ever thinking of relieving his distress. Death, not less cruel than capricious, whose aid alone he implores, and in whose power it is to make him happy, deaf to his prayers, allows him to groan under the load of evils which overwhelm him, whilst he delights to tear from this life those who think themselves happy, or are attached to it by the strongest ties. [Illustration: _Corruit in curru suo. Chron. xxii._] PLANCHE XLIV.—LE MENDIANT. Dans l’état le plus déplorable, estropié, exposé presque nud aux injures du tems, il est assis devant la maison d’un homme opulent, dans laquelle il a la douleur de voir entrer plusieurs personnes qui le regardent sans songer à soulager ses peines. La Mort non moins cruelle que bizarre, dont lui seul implore le secours, & qui pourroit faire son bonheur, sourde à ses prières, le laisse gémir sous le poids des maux qui l’accablent, tandis qu’elle se plaît à arracher de cette vie ceux qui s’y croient heureux, ou qui y tiennent par les liens les plus puissans. PLATE XLV.—THE CHILD. If under the roof of poverty there is any comfort, it is in having children, by whom we may hope one day to be solaced. This is the case with this poor widow; but death is of a different opinion, and is come to carry off her youngest Child, unmoved by her prayers and lamentations. [Illustration: _Homo natus de muliere, brevi vivens tempore, repletur multis miseriis: qui quasi flos egreditur & conteritur, & fugit velut umbra. Job xiv. 1, 2._] PLANCHE XLV.—L’ENFANT. Si sous le toit de la pauvreté il y a quelque consolation, c’est d’avoir des enfans dont on peut espérer d’être un jour soulagé. C’est le cas de cette pauvre veuve, mais la Mort n’est point de cet avis, & vient de lui enlever le plus petit sans se laisser fléchir, ni par ses prières ni par ses lamentations. PLATE XLVI.—THE FOOL. Death is leading him away gaily, making him dance to the sound of a bagpipe. The Fool, ignorant without doubt of the catastrophe that awaits him, seems to be meditating some piece of mischief, which will probably be his last. This dancing couple finish the procession, wherein HOLBEIN has had the skill to unite a salutary moral with the gayest and liveliest sallies that form a singular contrast with the sadness of the subject. [Illustration: _Quasi agnus lasciviens, & ignorans quod ad vincula stultus trahatur. Prov. vii. 22._] PLANCHE XLVI.—LE FOU. La Mort l’emmène gaiement en le faisant danser au son d’une cornemuse; le Fou qui ne sait pas sans doute la catastrophe qui l’attend, paroît méditer une malice qui sera vraisemblablement la dernière.