408 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s. N» 73., Mat 23. »57. 



rernment. We assume this to be Henry Ather- 

 ton of Christ's College, Cambridge, A.B., 1667, 

 3iI.B., 1669, M.D., 1674, and therefore trust some 

 of your correspondents may be able to give further 

 information respecting him. 



C. H. & Thompson Coopee. 

 Cambridge. 



Simonet Family. — Perhaps some of your corre- 

 spondents who are versed in, or have works treat- 

 ing on, foreign heraldry, may be able to give me 

 some information concerning the family of " Si- 

 monet ?" 



The tradition concerning it, as held by its pre- 

 sent representative, is that the name was formerly 

 Simonette, and of Italian origin ; that they settled 

 in Poitou, and finally emigrated to Jersey, circa 

 1685, shortly after the Revocation of the Edict of 

 Nantes. Any confirmation of the above, and their 

 family arms, will much oblige • A. 



Jersey. 



Bossxiet. — Can any gentleman oblige me with a 

 list of biographies of this illustrious man, in ad- 

 dition to those of De Burigny, Bausset, and Le 

 Dieu ? If early notices could be referred to, as 

 well as separate works, so much the better. 



B. H. C. 



'■'^ Aquinas de Articulis et Sacramentis" — Per- 

 haps some correspondent versed in bibliography 

 can give me information about a small 4to. vol. in 

 my possession. It is the treatise of Thomas 

 Aquinas de Articidis et Sacramentis. It corre- 

 sponds nearly, but not quite, with the description 

 given in Home's Bibliography (App. li.)> and 

 Dibdin's Bibl. Spenc, iii. pp. 153, 154., of the 

 edition of the treatise printed by Gutenberg about 

 1460. It has no printer's name, date, place, or 

 catchword, but it has signatures, thus differing 

 from that described in Home, which is without 

 them. Then, though like this it has twelve leaves, 

 yet there are not thirty-six but thirty-two long 

 lines in each page. Dibffin says there are thirty- 

 four lines in a page, and gives the opening thus : 

 " [P]ostulat a me vestra dileccio," my copy has 

 " dilectio." The book (my copy) ends with the 

 following note : 



« Venerabilis dominus Nicolaus de Cusa presbyter, 

 Cardinalis, apostolice sedis legatus per Alemaniam in inno- 

 vatione statutorum provincialium ecclesise Coloniensis, 

 eisdem statutis interseruit articulum qui sequitur. 



" Item laudamus et legi mandamus in sinodo, diocesa 

 nis (^sic) libellum Sancti Thome de Aquino, de Articulis 

 fidei et Sacramentis ecclesise. Quodque precipiatur cu- 

 ratis ut partem quo est de sacramentis habeant, et 

 studeant diligenter." 



Nicolas de Cusa died in 1464, according to 

 Haefer's Biographic Universelle. The tract is in 

 perfect condition, as clean as if printed this year, 

 on a stout vellum paper. What is its date and 

 value ? Lethbediensis. 



Steele's Daughter Mary. — In the preface to the 

 Correspondence of Sir Richard Steele (p. xx.), 

 Nichols gives what he calls a specimen of Mary 

 Steele's " correspondence with her sister." The 

 letter so given is dated "Aug. 7, 1730," and the 

 writer says, " there is a great deal of company ; 

 but tell my father there is but few I think agree- 

 able." Now there is no hint that this date is con- 

 jectural ; and yet it must have been so, and a very 

 foolish conjecture too ; for Steele, the father, died 

 Sept. 1, 1729, and Mary Steele, as Nichols him- 

 self tells us (p. 659.), on April 18, 1730. Is the 

 true date known ? S. D. M. 



First Actor of Hamlet. — Mr. J. Payne Collier, 

 in his volume containing the corrections in the 

 Perkins Folio (1852), p. 421., says that Richard 

 Burbage was the original representative of Ham- 

 let, and that he was succeeded in the part by 

 Joseph Taylor. 



In the Rise and Progress of the English Thea- 

 tre, appended to Cibber's Apology (1750), it is 

 stated that — 



" Lowen, though somewhat later than Burbage, is said to 

 have been the first actor of Hamlet, and also the original 

 Henry the Eighth ; from an observation of whose acting 

 it in his later days, Sir W. D'Avenant conveyed his in- 

 structions to Mr. Betterton." 



A similar account is given, if I remember 

 rightly, in Dibdin's History of the Stage. 



It is not unlikely that some of these instructions 

 have descended by stage tradition. Upon the 

 death of Betterton (1710) Wilks succeeded to the 

 part, and retained it till his decease in 1732. 



Ten years afterwards it was assumed by Gar- 

 rick, from whose time it may easily be traced, 

 through its principal representatives, to the pre- 

 sent day. Who was the first ? that is the ques- 

 tion. Charles Wymb. 



Witigless Bird mentioned by Strabo. — In 

 Strabo's description of the countries bordering on 

 the Red Sea occurs this curious passage (b. xvi. 

 c. iv. § 11.), which seems to refer to some species 

 of bird resembling the dodo of the Mauritius, or 

 the wingless birds of New Zealand, as inhabiting 

 at that time the eastern coast of Africa. Can 

 any of your readers inform me whether it has 

 been identified by naturalists with any existing 

 species, indigenous to Asia or Africa, or whether 

 it must be classed amongst the extinct tribes 

 scattered so widely in the geologic ages through- 

 out the American and Asiatic continents : 



"Above this nation is situated a small tribe, the 

 Struthophagi (or bird-eaters), in whose country are birds 

 of the size of deer, which are unable to fly, but run with 

 the swiftness of the ostrich. Some hunt them with bows 

 and arrows, others covered with the skins of birds. They 

 hide the right hand in the neck of the skin, and move it 

 as the birds move their necks. With the left hand they 

 scatter grain from a bag suspended to the side; they 

 thus entice the birds till they drive them into pits, where 



