S.L.


_Vertue's MSS_. (No. 20. p. 319.) were in Horace Walpole's possession,
bought by him, I think, of Vertue's widow; and his _Anecdotes of
Painting_ were chiefly composed from them, as he states, with great
modesty, in his dedication and his preface. I do not see in the
Strawberry-Hill Catalogue any notice of "Vertue's MSS.," though some
vols. of his collection of engravings were sold.

C.


_Lines attributed to Tom Brown_.--In a book entitled _Liber
Facetiarum, being a Collection of curious and interesting Anecdotes_,
published at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, by D. Akenhead & Sons, 1809, the
passage attributed to Tom Brown by your correspondent "J.T." is given
to Zacharias Boyd.

The only reference given as authority for the account is the initials
H.B.

"Zacharias Boyd, whose bust is to be seen over the entrance
to the Royal College in Glasgow, while Professor in that
university, translated the Old and New Testament into Scotch
Metre; and, from a laudable zeal to disseminate religious
knowledge among the lower classes of the community, is said to
have left a very considerable sum to defray the expense of the
said work, which, however, his executors never printed."