To The Editor Of The Time...
Winchester, June 10, 1824. Sir,--Observing a letter in your paper of this inorning mentioning that a dispute has arisen respecting a Nova Scotia Baronetage, I beg leave to state, for the in- formation of the public and the Herald's College, that I .was employed professionally some years ago, to inspect the manlscripts at the Vatican, and during:my research J fell upon some papers relating to an Abbate Pretirmano, who had been desirous of proving himself a descendant of an old family; whereas it was known that his father came to Rome as a pedler, ftom Englandl, and- was called "Prety- man," but supposed not to be his real name,and only meant as a joke from his excessive ugline-s: lie was never called otherwise than the Abbate Squintifogo. In conisequence of' a thousand sequins left him by Cardinal Tomolini, he as-. sslmec that name afterwards. He was a great mathemati- cian,and was said to be the inventor of that musical instru- inent called the liar, so spelt in the tiime of Henry VIII.: he was full of ambition, and repeatedly wished to be sent to England as Pope's Nuncio, in which he failed, but obtained a bishoprick. lie was intrustd with the edu- cation of the son of a Florentine nobleman of the Pitti fa- mily, a young man of great promise, and who, having at- tained the age of 22 years, was placed at the head of the Governmenit of the Venetian States; they were so cap. tivated bv his oratory, that by the advice of evil coun- sellors, mnany of them weak and designing mcn, he involved his COulitry in longt and expensive wars; and though his influence With his Sovereign was great, it never arrived at that height which could induce the monarch to promote this High Priest to the See of Canterbury, which was his great object; for the sturdy Harry, in a moment of anger, exclaimed, " By mv Crown,never shall that cloistg _ ed tutorbc mny archbisiop! I will have one of noble bluod !" and so he had. He attended the young Florentine States- man on his deatlh-bed, and it appears in part of the manu- script that he clandestinely got possession of/some Yaluable books belonging to this young man, and also. th}t lie pub- lisbed his life, having in the samc work taken the unwar- rantable libertyof inserting the private correspondence be- twveen his pupil and his sovereign, the Grand Duke of Florence; nor did he behave more hoinourably towards the publisher whom he emnploved-one Mollini, of Florence. The initials of the Pitti family were in most of the books which the Abbate possessed. An epigram upon this Prelate is extant-at Florence, which was written on the walls of the Pitti Palace, in the year 1573, as follows "Nonni nai veduto, uno sibello Prettiniano. Uno Perruquo 5i grande. un occhio si Squintano." I am your obedient humble servant. J (;ROSSLET. late Rouge Dragon. TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.