The Mirrour Which Flatters Not
John Payne (1639)
This engraving, by the 17th century English artist John Payne, is the frontispiece to The Mirrour Which Flatters Not. Dedicated to their Maiesties of Great Britaine, by Le Sieur de la Serre, Historiographer of France. Enriched with faire Figures. (1639), a book of poetry by Jean Puget de La Serre, translated into English by Thomas Carey. The epigrams beneath the engraving read O that they were Wise, that they understood This, that they would Consider their Latter End! Deut. 32:29
and –Mors sola fatetur Quantula sint hominum corpuscula,
a line from Juvenal’s tenth satire, which translates roughly to Only death reveals what a nothing the body of man is.