[Our correspondent will find, on referring to Mr. Hampson's useful
work, _Medii Ævi Kalendarium_, vol. ii. s. v. Annus Trabentionis,
"According to Du Cange, this is the year of the crucifixion--'Annus
Trabeationis Christi (annus quo Christus _trabi_ affixus est);' but
according to _L'Art de vérifier les Dates_, it is the same as the
year of the Incarnation." Mr. Hampson adds, "the import of the word
is the year of the Crucifixion, and cannot well be reconciled with
that of the Incarnation." But, upon referring to Du Cange, s. v.
_Trabeatio_, our correspondent will find that Du Cange regards it
as the year of the Incarnation--"_Trabeatio_ autem, non a _trabe_,
quà Crux intelligi posset, sed a _trabea_ togæ species,
deducitur"--quoting, as his authority for this interpretation, a
sermon of St. Fulgentius on St. Stephen, in which he says, "Heri
enim Rex noster _Trabea carnis_ indutus."]
_Betterton's Duties of a Player._
Sir,--Betterton's _Instructions on the Art of Playing and Public
Speaking_, queried in your 5th Number, were published by the well-known
dramatic critic, Charles Gildon, and form a portion of his _Life of
Betterton_. As this work is little known, I shall quote the title at
length:--"The Life of Mr. Thomas Betterton, the late eminent Tragedian,
wherein the Action and Utterance of the Stage, Bar, and Pulpit, are
distinctly considered; with the judgment of the late ingenious Monsieur
de St. Evremond, upon the Italian and French Music and Operas, in a
Letter to the Duke of Buckingham. To which is added, The Amorous Widow,
or the Wanton Wife, a Comedy, written by Mr. Betterton, now first
printed from the Original Copy. _London, Printed for Robert Gosling, at
the Miter, near the Inner Temple Gate in Fleet Street_, 1710. 8vo."
Gildon was intimately acquainted with Betterton, and he gives an
interesting account of a visit paid to that great actor, the year before
his death, at his country house at Reading. It was on this occasion that
Gildon came into the possession of Betterton's manuscripts. Thirty-one
years after the publication of Betterton's Life, Curll, the notorious
bookseller, put forth a mutilated copy of the _Instructions on Playing_,
in a work bearing the following title:--"The History of the English
Stage, from the Restauration to the Present Time, Including the Lives,
Character, and Amours, of the most Eminent Actors and Actresses; with
Instructions for Public Speaking, wherein the Action and Utterance of
the Bar, Stage, and Pulpit, are distinctly considered. By Thomas
Betterton. _London, Printed for E. Curll, at Pope's Head in Rose-Street,
Covent Garden_, 1741. 8vo." From this title it would appear (as indeed
Curll wished it) that Betterton was the author of the entire work; but
he is only accountable for the brief _Instructions for Public Speaking_,
which, as before stated, were pillaged from Gildon.
Reverting to Colley Cibber's _Lives_, I beg to point out a curious and
rare tract in connection with them, entitled, "A Brief Supplement to
Colley Cibber, Esq.; his Lives of the Late Famous Actors and Actresses.
By Anthony (vulgò Tony) Aston. Printed for the Author. 8vo. pp. 24." The
copy now before me, which was Isaac Reed's, sold at his sale for 2_l_.
5_s_. It is reprinted in a literary journal called _The Cabinet_, and in
Bell-chambers' excellent edition of Cibber's _Apology_.
Whilst on the subject of the stage, I should be glad if any of your
correspondents could inform me what has become of "Dick Leveridge's
History of the Stage and Actors in his own Time?" Leveridge himself
informed Oldys that he had compiled such a work, and Oldys, with his
usual care, noted the fact in one of his numerous memorandum books. I
have been long engaged in a history of _The Life and Times of Henry
Purcell_, and the said MS., if it could be recovered, would, without
doubt, enlighten us much upon the subject of Purcell's career as a
dramatic composer.