Notes and Queries, Number 68, February 15, 1851. Various

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      Notes

      DEFENCE OF THE EXECUTION OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS

      Allow me to supply a deficiency in my last volume of Extracts from the Registers of the Stationers' Company, printed by the Shakspeare Society. It occurs at p. 224., in reference to an entry of 11th Feb., 1587, in the following terms:

      In the note appended to this entry I point out a mistake by Herbert (ii. 1126. of his History of Printing), who fancied that the Defence of the Execution of Mary Queen of Scots, and Kyffin's Blessedness of Britain, were the same work; and I add that "the Analogy here entered is not recorded among the productions of John Windet's press." This is true; but Mr. David Laing, of Edinburgh, has kindly taken the trouble to send me, all the way from Scotland, a very rare volume, which proves that the Analogy in question was printed by Windet in consequence of the registration, and that it was, in fact, part of a volume which that printer put forth under the following title:

      It has no date: but it may be supplied by the entry at Stationer's Hall, and by the subject of the volume. The first chapter of the work is headed "An Analogie or Resemblance betweene Ione, queene of Naples, and Marie, queene of Scotland," which are the terms of the entry; and the probability seems to be, that when Windet took, or sent, it to be licensed, the book had no other title, and that the clerk adopted the heading of the first chapter as that of the whole volume. It consists, in fact, of eight chapters, besides a "conclusion," and a sort of supplement, with distinct signatures (beginning with D, and possibly originally forming part of some other work), of Babington's letter to Mary, her letter to Babington, the heads of a letter from Mary to Bernardin Mendoza, and "points" out of other letters, subscribed by Curle. The whole is a very interesting collection in relation to the history and end of Mary Queen of Scots; but 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:—

      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.

      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 bibliothèque royale, I made this remark:—

      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 litérature hollandaise est presque inconnue aux étrangers à cause de la langue peu répandue 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.

      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 on head and ordinary dress, often take the lead of fifty or a hundred smart fellows over rough roads that would shake your Astley riders out of their seats and propriety.