Dec. 15. 1849.] 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
105 
will show the connection in which it is intro- 
duced : — 
“ No man, who is not inflamed by vain-glory into 
enthusiasm, can flatter himself that his single, unsup- 
ported, desultory, unsystematic endeavours are of power 
to defeat the subtle designs and united cabals of am- 
bitious citizens. When bad men combine, the good 
must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an 
unpitied sacrifice, in a contemptible struggle.” 
I have some suspicion that the maxim may 
be found, with probably a slight variation of 
expression, repeated in one of Burke’s later tracts. 
But this is certainly its first appearance. G. L.C. 
Old Brompton, Dee. 8. 1849. 
Annus Trabeationis. 
Sir Harris Nicholas, in his Chronology of His- 
tory, p- 4., gives “annus Trabeationis” as one way 
in which the year of our Lord is designated in 
ancient documents. Would any of your readers 
favour me with the meaning of the word Tra- 
beatio ? Gar 
[Our correspondent will find, on referring to Mr. 
Hampson’s useful work, Medii Zvi Kalendarium, vol. ii. 
s. y. Annus Trabentionis, “ According to Du Cange, 
this is the year of the crucifixion—‘ Annus Traben- 
tionis Christi (annus quo Christus ¢rabi 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 Cruci- 
fixion, 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 ¢rabe, qua Crux intelligi posset, sed a 
trabea toge species, deducitur ” — quoting, as his autho- 
rity 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 dra- 
matic 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 Tra- 
edian, wherein the Action and Utterance of the 
tage, 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 Ori- 
ginal Copy. London, Printed for Robert Gosling, 
at the Miter, near the Inner Temple Gate in Fleet 
Street, 1710. 8vo.” Gildon was intimately ac- 
quainted with Betterton, and he gives an interest- 
ing 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 manu- 
scripts. Thirty-one years after the publication of 
Betterton’s Life, Curll, the notorious bookseller, 
put forth a mutilated copy of the Jnstructions 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, Characters, and Amours, of the most Emi- 
nent Actors and Actresses; with Instructions for 
Public Speaking, wherein the Action and Utter- 
ance 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 Ac- 
tors and Actresses. By Anthony (vulgo Tony) 
Aston. Printed for the Author. 8vo. pp. 24.” 
The copy now before me, which was Tsaac Reed's, 
sold at his sale for 2d. 5s. 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 ifany of your correspondents could inform me 
what has become of “ Dick Leveridge’s History of 
the Stage and Actors in his own Time?” Leve- 
ridge 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. 
Epwarp F. Rimsavrr. 
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 tra- 
velled that way..... One day, after dinner, we 
retired to his garden, and fell into the discourse of 
acting.” Thus is introduced his Essay, &c., con- 
tinuing to p. 174., where it abruptly ends thus: — 
“ After this discourse, we took our leaves of Mr. 
