&c.-The rarity of this book is much exaggerated. We have a copy of the last edition, Romæ, 1624. 12mo. The Life of Tasso was compiled in 1600, not published till 1621 at Venice, reprinted in 1624, and with additions by Cavalli at Rome, 1634. Serassi says that Manso only became acquainted with Tasso in the latter part of his life, and advances many circumstances relative to the early part of it, which are exaggerated or improbable, that he is inaccurate in dates, but that it is valuable as regards the time Tasso spent at Naples in the latter part of his life, where he lived in intimacy with his biographer.

P. 13. "The origin of English blank verse, which naturally falls within the editor's (i. e. Dr. Percy's) plan, is a curious subject, and will, I am sure, be ably treated by our learned and ingenious friend," &c. - Dr. Percy collected and printed many specimens of early English blank verse at the end of his edition of Surrey; so many as to double the size of the volume; but sometimes Percy's edition is found without them: they exist in Mr. Collier's copy, but not in ours. "The unrhymed metre of five accents, or, as it is generally called, blank verse, we certainly owe to Surrey. English verse without rhyme was no novelty, but I have seen no specimen of any definite unrhymed metre of five accents which can date earlier than Surrey's translation." Mr. Guest's Hist. of English Rhythm, vol. ii. p. 239.

P. 27. "His (Gibbon) attacks on Christianity have raised him a host of enemies; but he is covered with a shield of adamant, from which their shafts fall blunted to the ground." Had the editor not a word to spare on this subject? Might it not have been as well to say that their shafts never fell blunted to the ground at all, but remained fixed in the side of the infidel?" Hærit lateri lethalis arundo." Mr. Benson well remarks in his Hulsean Lectures, vol. i. p. 303, "Whatever be the force of secondary or human causes, they apply only to the propagation of Christianity among the Gentiles: they cannot be made to account for its original and extensive success among the Jews." See some excellent observations on Gibbon as an historian

by the late learned Dr. Vincent, in Classical Journal, No. xiv. p. 393.

P. 94. The History of Scottish Poetry published here, is a ridiculous quarto, by Campbell, a Musician," &c.

Of this work only ninety copies were printed, and those on small paper are scarce. The date is 1798, and not 1799, as the editor gives. In a London Catalogue, the following MS. work was offered for sale. "Campbell, Alex. (author of the History of Scottish Poetry, &c.) on Fiction, or a colloquial and familiar rhapsody, regarding Prosaic, Poetic, and Dramatic Fiction. Complete, with index of authors mentioned, 21. 12s. 6d."

P. 139. When the editor praised Mr. Mathias for republishing Gravina's Treatise, La Ragione Poetica, he might have spared a few additional words in favour of the late learned Dr. Burgess, Bishop of Salisbury, for his elegant and classical little edition of Gravinæ Opuscula ad Historiam Literariam pertinentia; with his Life by Fabroni; and his Epistola ad Maffeium de Poesi, Oxon. 1792. It is dedicated to Dr. Joseph Warton. See high praise of Gravina in Morhoff Polyh. Lit. tom. i. p. 978; and see Foreign Quarterly Rev. No. vi. p. 394. There is a good account of Gravina, published under the title of J. Andr. Serrai de Vita et Scriptis T. V. Gravinæ Commentarius. Romæ, 1758, 4to. His entire works were published (Latin and Italian) at Naples, by Sergio, 1756-8, 3 vols. 4to. All his Latin works are not to be found in the edition of Mascow, Lips. 1737, 4to. In the clever Satires of Q. Sectanus, (the real author of which was L. Sergardi) Gravina is bitterly satirised under the name of Philodemus. The works of Sergardi were published Luccæ, 1793, 4 tom. 8vo. The editor of Pinkerton's Letters observes, that "in former letters Mr. Walker has spoken of Elegies by Gravina, of which I find no mention." The fact is Elegies is a mistake for Eclogues. Gravina wrote and printed "Egloghe tre."

P. 143. The original drawings of Medina, for Lord Somers' edition of Milton's Paradise Lost, are now in the possession of the Rev. Alex. Dyce, the learned and accurate editor of our old dramatic poets.

P. 167. "The Complaynt of Scotland, accompanied by a preliminary dissertation and glossary, by Dr. Leyden, &c."-This dissertation is worthy of something more than the mere mention of it by the editor, being a truly learned and valuable work: see praise of it, in Chalmers' edition of Sir D. Lindsay, vol. i. p. 96, vol. iii. p. 203, and Motherwell's Ancient Minstrelsy, p. xl. lvi. For perhaps the earliest mention of Leyden, see Campbell's Diss. on Scottish Poetry, p. 67. The editor says: " This work does not appear to have been published till four years subsequently to the date of this Letter;" but this is not so. Mr. Walker's Letter is dated 1800, and Leyden's work was published in 1801. The announcement by the bookseller states it is to be published in March 1801. It was dedicated to Mr. Heber.

P. 352. Mr. Irving's Lives of Buchanan and of the Scottish Poets, are works abounding in learning, instruction, and sound criticism. Mr. Park says of the latter work, that it is written "with great research and critical ingenuity." See Warton's History of English Poetry, ed. 8vo. vol. iii. p. 467.

P. 423. "In glancing over the work of Colomesius, I found a passage confirming what you mentioned to me, relative to the edition of Marco Polo," &c. On this the editor in a note says,

ment.

At the dissolution of religious houses, the buildings of the Austin Friary were granted by Henry VIII, in common with those of other establishments of a similar nature, to one of his courtiers, Sir William Powlet or Paulet, Lord Treasurer, and afterwards created, in 1551, Marquis of Winchester.

The new possessors of the Church lands appear to have evinced in this neighbourhood a great contempt for good opinion, by their proceedings on obtaining possession of their acquisitions. Cromwell, the Vicar-general, as might be expected from his unscrupulous character, regarded but little the rights of property in other men, as the instance of oppression exercised on the father of Stowe the historian sufficiently testifies. The Lord Treasurer, on obtaining possession of his share of the spoil, began by shutting up foot-paths, and treating with indignity that portion of the

J. M.

church that had not been granted to the Foreign Protestant congregation which held possession of the nave. His son and successor sold the monuments of the illustrious dead, and the pavement and lead from the chancel, and stabled his horses in the choir, a portion of the sacred building which he subsequently destroyed, and in defiance of a respectful memorial, signed by the Lord Mayor and the inhabitants of the parish of St. Peter-lePoor, pulled down the beautiful steeple of the church, to save the expense of some trifling repairs.

By the Lord Treasurer or his son, a mansion was erected on the site of the Friary, which appears to have occupied the whole of the south side of Winchester-street, and to have extended along the west side of Broadstreet, until it reached the Church of St. Peter-le-Poor. This mansion was of vast size, and was subdivided in after-times: a portion of it was appropriated to the Hall of the Pinners' Company, which was taken down at the close of the last century; other parts were pulled down at various times, leaving only the fragment, which is represented in the engraving, which must have constituted but a small portion of the original mansion.

There is, however, no evidence afforded by the architecture of the pile to allow of its being supposed to be a relic of the mansion erected by the Lord Treasurer or his son; for, judging by the style and character of its architectural features, there is no reason for assigning it to an earlier period than the beginning of the seventeenth century.

There remained, however, a building which was situated eastward of the structure lately destroyed, the front of which was concealed from observation by a dwelling erected before it; although the back might be seen from the passage leading from Winchester-street to Austin Friars. This structure was built of timber, covered with lath and plaster, and had bow-windows in the north front, and much resembled in style and materials the ancient building in Palace-yard adjacent to Westminster Hall, which was known as the Star Chamber. This fragment was evidently a portion of the building erected by one of the Paulets on the site of the Friary.

The structure which is shewn in the engraving, it will be observed, consisted in height of three stories, the ground and principal floors being the original portion of the edifice; they were constructed of red brick with stone quoins and dressings, the windows being large with rectangular openings, and made by mullions into various lights; the genuine character of the architecture being in the style of the period to which we have assigned the structure. The original doorway, which had been long closed, was near the centre; it had a circular arch with key-stone inclosed within a square frontispiece. The upper story was an addition of the latter part of the same century; the original structure having probably risen no higher than two stories. At the period of this addition being made, a new entrance nearer to the east was constructed, which was decorated with carved foliage in the Italian taste of the day; and this new doorway appears from that time to have formed the principal entrance. At the same period the interior fittings seem to have undergone a great change: the great staircase and much of the internal woodwork bore the character of the work of that century.

The outer gate, with its huge shellformed pediment, is a striking example of the massive entrance porches to the old residences of London, of which a very few still exist. The date of this appendage is of the same period as the alterations we have just noticed.

For many years this ancient pile had been used as warehouses, and from time to time the internal fittings and ornamental work had disappeared. In 1828 the motto of the Pouletts, "AYMES LOYAULTE," was to be seen in the windows of the principal apartment on the first floor, in yellow letters disposed in diagonal stripes, which motto was probably put there by the loyal Marquis of Winchester, in the time of Charles I. by whom the same sentence was inscribed in every window of his residence at Basing-house in Hants, which he so gallantly defended against the Parliamentarians. At the same time, a large and handsome chimney-piece, richly ornamented in carved oak, existed in this apartment. The architecture was Italian, and two lonic columns then remained; it was probably one of the original features of the mansion.

Of late years this place has been much neglected, and having been allowed to sink into a state of dilapidation, has been recently taken down, the materials being sold by public auction. As an interesting feature of ancient London, we have thought a representation of its external features worthy of preservation. E. I. C.