We have seen before, that this Dance consisted of several groups of two or more figures, one of which was always Death in the act of claiming a victim; and for the clear comprehension of what follows, it is necessary to anticipate a little, and remark, that there is no doubt that the Dance was first represented by living performers.  Strange as this seems to us, it was but in keeping with the spirit of the time, which we call, perhaps with some presumption, the Dark Ages.

The story which is probably the germ of this Dance was called Les Trois Morts et les Trois Vifs,—­“The Three Dead and the Three Living.”  It is of indefinable antiquity and uncertain origin.  It is said, that three noble youths, as they returned from hunting, were met in the gloom of the forest by three hideous spectres, in the form of decaying human corpses; and that, as they stood rooted to the ground by this appalling sight, the figures addressed them solemnly upon the vanity of worldly grandeur and pleasure, and admonished them, that, although in the heyday of youth, they must soon become as they (the spectres) were.  This story, or dit, “saying,” as it was called in French, was exceedingly popular through-out Europe five or six hundred years ago.  It is found in the language of every Christian nation of the period, and, extended by means of accessory incidents and much moralizing, is made to cover several pages in more than one old illuminated manuscript.  In the Arundel MSS., in England, there is one of the many versions of the legend written in French so old that it is quite as difficult for Frenchmen as for Englishmen to read it.  But over an illuminated picture of the incident, in which three kings are shown meeting the three skeletons, are these lines in English, as old, but less obsolete:—­

  Over the Kings.

  “Ich am afert
  Lo whet ich see
  Methinketh hit be develes thre.”

  Over the Skeletons.

  “Ich wes wel fair
  Such schel tou be
  For Godes love be wer by me.”

In these rude lines is the whole moral of the legend, and of the Dance of Death which grew out of it.  That growth was simple, gradual, and natural.  In the versions and in the pictorial representations of the legend there soon began to be much variety in the persons who met the spectres.  At first three noble youths, they became three kings, three noble ladies, a king, a queen, and their son or daughter, and so on,—­the rank of the persons, however, being always high.  For, as we shall have occasion to notice hereafter more particularly, the mystery of the Dance had a democratic as well as a religious significance; and it served to bring to mind, not only the irresistible nature of Death’s summons, but the real equality of all men; and this it did in a manner to which those of high condition could not object.