[9] A Tour throughout North Wales and Monmouthshire, etc., etc. (by J. T. Barbor, F.S.A., London, 1803), pp. 103-9.
[10] The Stranger in Ireland, by John Carr.
[11] "On his way to Ireland he passed through Wales, and gives us a slight sketch of the character of that people and country. It must afford no small gratification to a New England man to learn that the practice of BUNDLING is not peculiar to us, but that this pleasing though dangerous art was probably imported from abroad."—A review of The Stranger in Ireland, in Connecticut Courant for November 19th, 1806.
[12] In this connection we may give the following extract from Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales, etc., etc., printed by command of his late Majesty King William IV, under the direction of the commissioners on the Public Records of the Kingdom. MDCCCXLI. Folio. From page 369.—The Gwentian[13] Code.
"A woman of full age who goes with a man clandestinely, and taken by him to bush, or brake, or house, and after connection deserted; upon complaint made by her to her kindred, and to the courts, is to receive, for her chastity, a bull of three winters, having its tail well shaven and greased and then thrust through the door-clate; and then let the woman go into the house, the bull being outside, and let her plant her foot on the threshold, and let her take his tail in her hand, and let a man come on each side of the bull; and if she can hold the bull, let her take it for her wynet-werth[14] and her chastity; and, if not, let her take what grease may adhere to her hands."
[13] Gwent, the appellation of the district in Wales inhabited by the Silures, comprised the diocese of Landav.
[14] This word means face shame or face worth.
[15] A good honest word, which although not exactly English, is at least first cousin to our quest, and quiz, etc.
Worcester gives the following: "†Quēse, v. a., to search after. Milton." [obsolete ē long, s like z.] Quĕst, v. n., to join search. B. Jonson. †Quĕster, n., a seeker. Rowe.
Is it not allowable to derive from one of these words Quēsing, or Quĕsting, pronounced Qweesting, and from the other Quĕsting [è short]? So that he who went queesting was simply searching after a wife, understood.