Chapter C: W. B

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Queries.

BIDDINGS IN WALES.

There is a nursery song beginning--

"Harry Parry, when will you marry?
When apples and pears are ripe.
I'll come to your wedding, without any bidding,
And," &c. &c. &c.

Does this mean that I will come without an invitation, or without a marriage-present? It will be observed that Parry is a Welsh name, and that bidding is a Welsh custom, as is shown by MR. SPURRELL (Vol. iii., p. 114.). He has anticipated my intention of sending you a bidding-form, which has been lying upon my table for some weeks, but which I have not had time to transcribe; I now send it you, because it somewhat varies from MR. SPURRELL'S, and yet so much resembles it as to show that the same formula is preserved. Both show that the presents are considered as debts, transferable or assignable to other parties. Is this the case in all districts of Wales where the custom of bidding prevails? I think I have heard that in some places the gift is to be returned only when the actual donor "enters into the matrimonial state." It will be observed, too, in these forms, relations only transfer to relations. Is it considered that they may assign to persons not relations? Some of your Welsh correspondents may reply to these questions, which may elucidate all the varieties of practice in a custom which contributes much to the comfort of a young couple, and, in many instances, is an incentive to prudence, because they are aware that the debt is a debt of honour, not to be evaded without some loss of character.

"December 26. 1806.

"As we intend to enter the Matrimonial State on _Tuesday_ the 20th of
_January_, 1807, we purpose to make a Bidding on the occasion the same
day for the young man at his father's house, in the village of
_Llansaint_, in the parish of _St. Ishmael_; and for the young {208}
woman, at her own house, in the said village of _Llansaint_; at either
of which places the favour of your good company on that day will be
deemed a peculiar obligation; and whatever donation you may be pleased
to confer on either of us then, will be gratefully received, and
cheerfully repaid whenever required on a similar occasion, by

Your humble servants,
SETH REES,
ANN JENKINS.

"The young man's father and mother, and also the young woman's father
and mother, and sister Amy, desire that all gifts of the above nature
due to them, may be returned on the same day; and will be thankful for
all favour shown the young couple."

E. H.

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Minor Queries.

_Lord of Relton_ (Vol. iii., p. 56.)--Will your correspondent MONKBARNS favour me with the date of the paper from which he copied the paragraph quoted, and whether it was given as being then in use, or as of ancient date?

Can any of your readers inform me from what place the Lord of Relton derived his name? What was his proper name, and who is the present representative of the family?

Is there any family of the name of Relton now existing in the neighbourhood of Langholme, or in Cumberland or Westmoreland?

F. B. RELTON.

_Beatrix de Bradney._--In your "NOTES AND QUERIES" for January 25th, 1851, p. 61., you have given Sir Henry Chauncy's Observations on Wilfred Entwysel.

Sir Bertin left a daughter named Lucy, of whom Master Bradene of Northamptonshire is descended. Can F. R. R., or any genealogist, inform me whether this Master Bradene is descended from Simon de Bradney, one of the Knights of the Shire for Somersetshire in the year 1346? In Collins's _Somersetshire_, vol. iii. p. 92., he mentions:

"In St. Michael's Church, Bawdrip, under a large Gothic arch lies the
effigy in armour of Sir Simon de Bradney or Bredenie.

"The Manor of Bradney, in Somersetshire, supposed to have ended in
Beatrix de Bradney, an heiress, and passed with her into other
families; this Beatrix was living in the forty-sixth year of Edward
III."

Can you inform me whom she married? About sixty-five years ago it was purchased by the late Joseph Bradney, Esq., of Ham, near Richmond; and his second son, the Reverend Joseph Bradney, of Greet, near Tenbury, Shropshire, is the present possessor.

JULIA R. BOCKETT.

Southcote Lodge, near Reading.

"_Letters on the British Museum._"--In the year 1767 was published by Dodsley a work in 12mo. pp. 92., with the above title; and at p. 85. is printed "A Pastoral Dialogue," between _Celia_ and _Ebron_, beginning, "As Celia rested in the shade," which the author states he "found among the manuscripts." I wish to know, first, who was the anonymous author of these letters; and, secondly, in what collection of manuscripts this "Dialogue" is to be found.

[mu].

_Ballad Editing._--The "_Outlandish Knight_" (Vol. iii.,p. 49.).--I was exceedingly glad to see Mr. F. Sheldon's "valuable contribution to our stock of ballad literature" in the hands of Mr. Rimbault, and thought the treatment it received no better than it deserved. _Blackwood_, May, 1847, reviewed Mr. Sheldon's book, and pointed out several instances of his "godfathership;" among others, his ballad of the "Outlandish Knight," which he obtained from "a copy in the possession of a gentleman at Newcastle," was condemned by the reviewer as "a vamped version of the Scotch ballad of 'May Collean.'" It may be as the reviewer states, but the question I would wish answered is one affecting the reviewer himself; for, if I mistake not, the Southron "Outlandish Knight" is the original of "May Collean" itself. I have by me a copy, in black letter, of the "Outlandish Knight," English in every respect, and as such differing considerably from Mr. Sheldon's border edition, and from "May Collean;" and, with some slight alterations, the ballad I have is yet popularly known through the midland counties. If any of your correspondents can oblige me with a reference to the first appearance of "May Collean," sheet or book, I shall esteem it a favour.

EMUN.

Birmingham.

_Latin Epigram on the Duchess of Eboli._--In his controversy with Bowles touching the poetry of Pope, Byron states that it was upon the Princess of Eboli, mistress of Philip II. of Spain, and Mangirow, the minion of Henry III. of France, that the famous Latin epigram, so well known to classic readers, was composed, concluding with the couplet:

"Blande puer lumen quod habes concede parenti,
Sic tu cæcus Amor, sic erit illa Venus."

Can any contributor to the "NOTES AND QUERIES" suggest what authority his lordship has for his statement? Many years since, a curious paragraph appeared in one of the public journals, extracted apparently from an historical work, specifying the extraordinary political embroglios which the one-eyed duchess occasioned, eliciting from one of the statesmen of her times the complimentary declaration, that if she had had two eyes instead of only one, she would have set the universe on fire. A reference to this work--I fancy one of Roscoe's--would be of material service to an historical inquirer.