"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. * * * * * 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 _bibliotheque 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 literature hollandaise est presque inconnue aux etrangers a cause de la langue peu repandue 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. * * * * * A BIDDING AT WEDDINGS IN WALES.