2 
462 
there is a Frankfort edition of the fame 
work, printed in the year 1671) under the 
sear 1524, the following prophecy relative 
to France: 
Aftrologus vates hec nuncio mefta,Nepotcs : 
Corpore qui grandis, rex tertius ordine fra- 
trum, 
Preedirasedet czedes, lanio ipfe fuorum: 
Quas propter furget civili Francia bello, 
Proh dolor! et procerum praceps cadet ifta 
~duello. 
Non erit una fides, non lex, non unicus et 
meme st ; 
Multi fed reges, leges et relligiones: 
Serviet haud minimis in partes fcifla ruinis, 
© Deus! a variis feve lacerata tribunis 
Si¢ rpet infelix per reges Francia cives, 
Antea quz felix per reges Francia dives. 
On reading thefe verfes, who can help 
thinking of the times we have lived to fee ; 
however little inclined to acknowledge the 
aftrological fecond-light of the good rector. 

THE MANSION-HOUSE. 
The following circumfance concerning 
the building of the Manfion-Houfe ts re- 
jated by an eminent architect, and affords 
a happy inftance of that good fenfe and 
attention to the true interetts of religion, 
for which the citizens of London were once 
fo peculiarly diftinzuithed. 
When it was refolved in the common 
council to build a Manfion-Houfe for the 
Lord Mayor ; Lord Burlington, zealous in 
the caufe of the arts, fent down an original 
deficn of Palladio, worthy of its author, 
for their approbation and adoption. 
~The firft queftion in court was not whe-— 
ther the defgn was proper, but whether 
this fame Palladio was a freeman of the 
City? On this important point great de- 
bates arofe, and it is hard to {ay how it 
might have terminated, had not a worthy 
deputy arofe, and gravely remarked that 
it was-of little confequence to difculs this 
point, when it was notorious that Palla- 
dio was a papitt, and incapable of courfe. 
Lord Burlington’s propofal was_ then 
rejected nem coa, and the plan of a free- 
man and a proteftant adopted in its place. 
The perfon pitched upon, who afterwards 
carried the plan into execution, was origi- 
nally a fhipwright, and, todo him juftice, 
has never Jott fight of his original profe{- 
tion. The front of his Manfion-Houfe 
was all the refemblance poffible to a deep- 
Jaden. Indiaman, with her itern galleries 
and gingerbread-work... The ftairs and 
»aflaces within are all fiairs and sangways 
Bei oR : samt Pl 738 
and the fupeiitraction at top, aniwers 
From the Port-Folio of a Man of Letters. 
[June r, 
pretty accurately to the idea we ufually 
form of Noah’s Ark. 

SHARSPEARE’6 COMMENTATORS IMI- 
TATED. ; 
“© Stilton Cheefe’’—So fome of the olé 
copies ; yet the 4to, 1600, reads ‘* Tiltoz.”” 
But I confefs the word Tilton gives me no 
idea. I find Stilton to be a village in 
Huntingdonfhire, famous for its cheefe— 
a fact, which clearly evinces the propriety 
of the reading in the old copy, and jufti- 
fies my emendation. Theopald, 
Here we have a very critical note! The 
word Tiltoz can give Mr. Theobald ne 
idea! And it is true, words cannot give a 
man what nature has denied him. But, 
though our critic may be ignorant of it, it 
is well known that, in the days of chivalry, 
Tilting was a very common amufement in 
this country; and I find that, duyjng the 
performance of thefe martial exercifes, the 
fpectators were frequently ente.tained with 
a fort of cheefe, which, from the occafion 
en which it was made. was called Tilting, 
and by corruption Tilton cheefe. Mr. 
Theobald’s emendation therefore, as need - 
lefs and truly abfurd, ought by all means 
to be rejected. Warburton. 
The emendation in my opinion is not 
more abfurd than the remark which the 
learned annotator has made upon it There 
is indeed a ftupid error in fome of the old 
copies. But difcordant opinions are not 
always nugatory, and by much agitation 
the truth is elicited. Ithink Mr. Theo- 
bald’s alteration right. Fohniox. 
, Stilton is a village in Huntingdonhhire, 
on the great North road. Yiltom, though 
not fo wel! known, is a village-in Leicef- 
terfhire. In an old collection of fongs, 
black letter, no date, we read ‘¢ Tilton’s 
homely fare,”’ which all critics will allow 
can only mean cheefe. It is an old MS. 
of which I remember neither the date nor 
the title, Tz/toz is faid to abound in rich 
- pafturage: both which circumiftances make 
it highly probable that our author wrote 
not, as Mr. Theobald fuppofes, ** Stzltoz 
but Ti/tox :°? though I confefs, the paflage 
is not without difficulty. Steevens. 

PRICES of BOOKS before the INVENTION 
of PRINTING. 
In the eleventh century, a French coun- 
tefs agreed to purchafe of her chaplain 
HaimosHomiliarium, on the following con- 
ditions: ** Una vice Hbri caula centum 
oves illi dedit, altera vice iphus libri unum 
modium frumenti, et alterum figalis, et 
tertiom 
