Notes and Queries, Number 68, February 15, 1851 | Page 2

nobody who had not seen the book could be aware that the entry in the Stationers' Registers, of "An Analogie," &c., applied to this general Defence of her execution. The manner in which the "analogy" is made out may be seen by the two first paragraphs, which your readers may like to see quoted:--
"Ione, Queene of Naples, being in love with the Duke of Tarent, caused her husband Andrasius (or, as {114} some terme him, Andreas), King of Naples (whom she little favoured), to be strangled, in the yeare of our Lord God 1348."
"Marie, Queene of Scotland, being (as appeareth by the Chronicles of Scotlande and hir owne letters) in love with the Earle of Bothwell, caused hir husband, Henrie Lorde Darley, King of Scotland (whome she made small account of long time before) to be strangled, and the house where he lodged, called Kirk of Fielde, to be blowen up with gunpowder, the 10th of Februarie in the yeare of our Lord God 1567."
In this way the analogy is pursued through twelve pages; but, for my present purpose, it is not necessary to extract more of it. I beg leave publicly to express my thanks to Mr. Laing for thus enabling me to furnish information which I should have been glad to supply, had it been in my power, when I prepared volume ii. of Extracts from the Stationers' Registers.
J. PAYNE COLLIER.
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DE NAVORSCHER.
An idea recorded in 1841, is to be realized in 1851--which promises, in various ways, to be the annus mirabilis!
In an appeal to residents at Paris for a transcript of certain inedited notes on Jean Paul Marana, which are preserved in the biblioth��que royale, I made this remark:--
"If men of letters, of whatever nation, were more disposed to interchange commodities in such a manner, the beneficial effects of it in promoting mutual riches, would soon become visible."--Gent. Mag. XV. 270. N. S.
The appeal was unsuccessful, and I could not but ascribe the failure of it to the want of a convenient channel of communication. A remedy is now provided--thanks to the example set at home, and the enterprising spirit of Mr. Frederik Muller of Amsterdam.
We contemplate Holland as the school of classical and oriental literature, and as the studio of painters and engravers; we admire her delicate Elzevirs and her magnificent folios; we commend her for the establishment of public libraries, made available by printed catalogues; we do justice to the discoveries of her early navigators; but we had scarcely heard of her vernacular literature before the publications of Bosworth, and Bowring.
As M. Van Kampen observes, "La lit��rature hollandaise est presque inconnue aux ��trangers �� cause de la langue peu r��pandue qui lui sert d'organe." Under such circumstances it may be presumed that many a query will now be made, and many a new fact elicited. We may expect, by the means of De Navorscher, the further gratification of rational curiosity, and the improvement of historical and bibliographic literature.
In assuming that some slight credit may be due to one who gives public expression to a novel and plausible idea, it may become me to declare that I renounce all claim to the substantial merit of having devised the means of carrying it into effect.
BOLTON CORNEY.
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A BIDDING AT WEDDINGS IN WALES.
The practice of "making a bidding" and sending "bidding letters," of which the following is a specimen, is so general in most parts of Wales, that printers usually keep the form in type, and make alteration in it as occasion requires. The custom is confined to servants and mechanics in towns; but in the country, farmers of the humbler sort make biddings. Of late years tea parties have in Carmarthen been substituted for the bidding; but persons attending pay for what they get, and so incur no obligation; but givers at a bidding are expected and generally do return "all gifts of the above nature whenever called for on a similar occasion." When a bidding is made, it is usual for a large procession to accompany the young couple to church, and thence to the house where the bidding is held. Accompanying is considered an addition to the obligation conferred by the gift. I have seen, I dare say, six hundred persons in a wedding procession, and have been in one or two myself (when a child). The men walk together and the women together to church; but in returning they walk in pairs, or often in trios, one man between two women. The last time I was at such a wedding I had three strapping wenches attached to my person. In the country they ride, and generally there is a desperate race home to the bidding, where you would be surprised to see a comely lass, with Welsh hat