Seynte _Valentine_. Of custome, yeere by yeere,
Men have an usaunce, in this regioun,
To loke and serche Cupide's kalendere,
And chose theyr choyse, by grete affeccioun;
Such as ben _move_ with Cupide's mocioun,
Taking theyr choyse as theyr sorte doth falle;
But I love oon whyche excellith alle.
LYDGATE'S _Poem of Queen Catherine, consort to Henry V._, 1440.
In some villages in Kent there is a singular custom observed on St.
Valentine's day. The young maidens, from five or six to eighteen years
of age, assemble in a crowd, and burn an uncouth effigy, which they
denominate a "_holly boy_," and which they obtain from the boys;
while in another part of the village the boys burn an equally ridiculous
effigy, which they call an "ivy girl," and which they steal from the
girls. The oldest inhabitants can give you no reason or account of this
curious practice, though it is always a sport at this season.
Numerous are the sports and superstitions concerning the day in
different parts of England. In some parts of Dorsetshire the young folks
purchase wax candles, and let them remain lighted all night in the
bedroom. I learned this from some old Dorsetshire friends of mine, who,
however, could throw no further _light_ upon the subject. In the
same county, I was also informed it was in many places customary for the
maids to hang up in the kitchen a bunch of such flowers as were then in
season, neatly suspended by a true lover's knot of blue riband. These
innocent doings are prevalent in other parts of England, and elsewhere.
Misson, a learned traveller, relates an amusing practice which was kept
up in his time:--"On the eve of St. Valentine's day, the young folks in
England and Scotland, by a very ancient custom, celebrated a little
festival. An equal number of maids and bachelors assemble together; all
write their true or some feigned name separately upon as many billets,
which they rolled up, and drew by way of lots, the maids taking the
men's billets, and the men the maids'; so that each of the young men
lights upon a girl that he calls his Valentine, and each of the girls
upon a young man which she calls her's. By this means each has two
Valentines; but the man sticks faster to the Valentine that falls to
him, than to the Valentine to whom he has fallen. Fortune having thus
divided the company into so many couples, the Valentines give balls and
treats to their fair mistresses, wear their billets several days upon
their bosoms or sleeves, and this little sport often ends in love."
In Poor Robin's Almanack, 1676, the _drawing_ of Valentines is thus
alluded to:
"Now Andrew, Antho-
Ny, and William,
For Valentines _draw_
Prue, Kate, Jilian."
Gay makes mention of a method of choosing Valentines in his time, viz.
that the lad's Valentine was the first lass he spied in the morning, who
was not an inmate of the house; and the lass's Valentine was the first
young man she met.
Also, it is a belief among certain playful damsels, that if they pin
four bay leaves to the corners of the pillow, and the fifth in the
middle, they are certain of dreaming of their lover.
Shakspeare bears witness to the custom of looking out of window for a
Valentine, or desiring to be one, by making Ophelia sing:--
Good morrow! 'tis St. Valentine's day,
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window.
To be your Valentine!
In London this day is ushered in by the thundering knock of the postman
at the different doors, through whose hands some thousands of Valentines
pass for many a fair maiden in the course of the day. Valentines are,
however, getting very ridiculous, if we may go by the numerous doggrels
that appear in the print-shops on this day. As an instance, I transmit
the reader a copy of some lines appended to a Valentine sent me last
year. Under the figure of a shoemaker, with a head thrice the size of
his body, and his legs forming an oval, were the following rhymes:--
Do you think to be my Valentine?
Oh, no! you snob, you shan't be mine:
So big your ugly head has grown,
No wig will fit to seem your own
Go, find your equal if you can,
For I will ne'er have such a man;
Your fine _bow_ legs and turned-in feet,
Make you a _citizen_ complete."
The _fair_ writer had here evidently ventured upon a pun; how far
it has succeeded I will leave others to say. The lovely creature was,
however, entirely ignorant of my calling; and whatever impression such
a description would leave on the reader's mind, it made none on mine,
though in the second verse I was certainly much pleased with the fair
punster. I wish you saw the engraving!