_Betterton's Essay._
The "best piece" of Betterton, for which T.J.L. inquires (p. 68.), is
contained in his Life, printed by Gosling, 1710; in fact, this is merely
a vehicle to introduce the treatise, the Life filling only from p. 5. to
11, and thus concluding:--"He was bury'd with great decency in
Westminster Abbey."
"The year before his death, (he) being at his country house in
Reading, my friend and I travelled that way.... One day, after
dinner, we retired to his garden, and fell into the discourse of
acting." Thus is introduced his _Essay_, &c., continuing to p.
174, where it abruptly ends thus:--"After this discourse, we took
our leaves of Mr. Betterton, and returned to London. I was pleased
with his story," &c.
My copy is dedicated to Richard Steele, Esq., by Charles Gildon, and has
prefixed to it the beautiful portrait of Betterton, engraved by Vander
Gucht, from Kneller's picture, and, at its close (but separately paged),
"The Amorous Widow or the Wanton Wife, now first printed from the
original copy," 1710. E.
_Incumbents of Church Livings._
A correspondent in Number 4, writes to inquire for information relative
to the "names and birthplaces of incumbents of church livings prior to
1680, and the patrons of them."
It may slightly help his investigations to know that there is a Latin
MS. in the British Museum, numbered Additional MSS. 12,483, with the
title "Ecclesiastical Visitation of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight,
held in March and April 1543, by Nicholas Harpisfelde, Official of the
Archdeacon of Winchester," folio, containing the names of the incumbents
and churchwardens of the livings in those counties.