Inverness.
[Consult Herbert's edition of Ames's Typographical Antiquities, vol. i. pp. 59-61. 134.; Dibdin's Typographical Antiquities, vol. i. pp. 241-255.; and Wharton's History of English Poetry.]
Archbishop of Spalatro.
—In a note to the account of Chelsea College, in Lysons' Environs of London, which contains a list of the first fellows of the college, called by Archbishop Laud "Controversy College," of which Dr. Sutcliffe was founder and provost, I read—
"Many vacancies having occurred by the promotion of some of the fellows above-mentioned to bishoprics, and by the death of others, King James, by his letters patent, Nov. 14, 1622, substituted others in their room, among whom was the celebrated Archbishop of Splalato, then Dean of Windsor."
I wish to ask who this archbishop was? and should be glad to learn any further particulars respecting him, especially as to whether he ever acted as a bishop in England? Splalato is, I presume, an error of the press for Spalatro.
W. FRAZER.
[Mark Antony de Dominis, born about 1561, was educated among the Jesuits, and was Bishop of Segni, and afterwards Archbishop of Spalatro. Bishop Bedell met with him at Venice, and corrected, previous to publication, his celebrated work De Republica Ecclesiastica. When Bedell returned to England, Dominis came over with him. Here he preached and wrote against the Romanists, and the king gave him the Deanery of Windsor, the Mastership of the Savoy, and the rich living of West Ildesley in Berkshire. De Dominis's wish seems to have been to re-unite the Romish and English churches. He returned to Rome in 1622, where he abjured his errors, but on the discovery of a correspondence which he held with some Protestants, he was thrown into prison, where he died in 1625. He was a man of great abilities and learning, although remarkable for a fickleness in religious matters. He was author of a work entitled De Radiis Visus et Lucis in Vitris Perspectivis et Iride Tractatus, and was the first person, according to Sir Isaac Newton, who had explained the phenomena of the colours of the rainbow. We are also indebted to him for Father Paul's History of the Council of Trent, the manuscript of which he procured for Archbishop Abbot.—See Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary, s.v. DOMINIS.]
Play of "The Spaniards in Peru."—John Heywood.
—Who was the author of The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru, expresst by Instrumentall and Vocall Musick, and by Art of Perspective in Scenes, &c., said to have been represented in the Cock Pit, in Drury Lane, at three in the afternoon punctually, 1658? Thus it stands in Jacob, but is not mentioned by Langbaine. The author of the British Theatre, however, mentions a remarkable circumstance in regard to it, which is, that Oliver Cromwell, who had prohibited all theatrical representations, not only allowed this piece to be performed, but even himself actually read and approved of it.