The composition echoes that of The Prince enters the Briar Wood (Briar Rose Series Final Version Buscot) and is an interesting commentary upon it. The present drawing deals with the transience of life and beauty symbolised by bubbles, which was a widely used convention throughout Renaissance and later western art. Here a bewitching figure casts bubbles amongst a group of beautiful young men, who fall into a deathly slumber and will now never grow old. Numbers 498,499 and 500 in the Secret Book of Designs show an empty stage similarly bound by curtains in front of a void. Many of the designs in the Secret Book appear to relate to the theme, and pose questions regarding the passing of life. An similar idea occurs in the Flower Book as False Mercury in which a image of Mercury carrying bubbles signifying dreams to sleeping mariners in a boat at sea.