The Express.
London, England, 1857-02-14 00:00:00

have been of all values, from the rare jewels
bestowel by French and Italian princes, and
the enemies gloves and silks which the
gallant Parrs complains and exults over in his
Diary, to the gingerbread heart of the village wheel-
boy, or the gaudy Cupid which the town apprentice
buys for twopence. Of these and many other ancient
forms, some have become obsolete; others are com-
promised, and the rest transmuted; but the genial
spirit of the day and the Saint remain. The anony-
mous gilts, thrown in at nightfall, have ceased in
favour of the German Christmas tree ; and the pair-
ing by lot is not the serious and exciting scene it
was; but the sending of letters is on the increase
from year to year, and the beauty and costliness of
the postal offerings are something remarkable—in
any place but Paris. No doubt, a great number come
from Paris. It is said that tho importation deserves
a separate heading in our national accounts : but
there is still plenty of employment left for our artists
at home, and a brisk circulation of capital en-
gaged in the business. If one could look
into any aristocratic nursery, or into the home
of any spoiled only child, one might be astonished
at the display of fillagree, of flower and bird paint-
ing of a high order, and of exquisite caricature ; so
that the young gentleman or little lady is provided
by the end of the day with an album that has cost
more guineas than one would tell of in Smithfield
meetings or workhouse receiving rooms. Not that
there is any censurable luxury in this way of keep-
ing the festival. It is an innocent and useful re-
course, once a year, to art-pleasures ; and the money
is well earned and well spent. But the mode of
expenditure has changed. Instead of the twopenny
Post-office sending out 200,000 Valentines, the
General Post-office sends out now 800,000 or up-
wards, the number increasing every year. Instead
of an anxious morning reception or evening lottery,
in which youths and maidens believed they were find-
ing their mates for life, we have fun, frolic, and
bounty ; caricatures of old bachelors, with arms made
to swing the walking-stick, or of old maids whose
heads nod to the needle; or surprises of gifts to
young people from papa or mamma, acting the lover
for the fun. The real earnest is mow for the children
The rest is fun and frolic. A great change in an

observance which can boast so old a date. Some say
that it goes back to ancient Roman days, when vir-
gins' names were drawn in honour of PAN and Juno
on a February day which the early Christian priests
laid hold of in the name of St. VALENTINE, the meet
loving of martyrs. Others give the credit of the
festival to the French princess, daughter of
HENRI IV., who named her Italian palace after St.
VALENTINE, and also compelled her cavaliers and
maids of honour to pair off for the year by lots, she
alone being free to choose her partner in the chase
and in the dance. Again, it is certain that the monk
poet LTUGATE, early in the fifteenth century,
and CHARLES Duke of ORLEANS, who was
brought from the field of Agincourt to the
Tower of London, wrote Valentines ; and CHAUCER,
at an earlier date, told how the birds
chose their mates on that soft-hearted saint's day.
Whoever began the observance, it is very old ; and
with as it has not ceased to be venerable. Though
the old methods are changed, though the Poet-office
and the mails are altered almost beyond knowledge,
and we are reputed to be a graver and a wiser
people than of old, we are keeping VALENTINE'S-day
more liberally and more fully than ever. It is at
this moment dividing life in London into two
aspects. It is ushered in while Parliament is dis-
cussing grave facts of past war, present expenditure,
and future tax-paying, and under its star statesmen
have gone home thoughtful, and with brains all
bent on business. But the loving saint presents
another aspect of life on the same spot. lie brings
in love and wooing, a little impersonal satire and
harmless quizzing, and a host of pleasant thoughts
about spring, with its doves, and lambs, and early
flowers. We will make him welcome this year and
every year, because life itself is better than its cares,
and because love is higher than politics, and the
new-born generation, to-day:exulting in its special
festival, is worth at least as much as us grey
beards; and more so, if we think too much of politics
and pelf.

Sir Robert Peel corrects an error which occurs in
the report of his 'yeah on Thursday night. He write.—" I
said that Mr. Adderley invited me to attend a public meeting
at the Saitley Literary Institution on the oecaeion of its ' in-
auguration whereas lam made to say, 'on the occasion of
a jollification,' which latter word, of course, never passed my
lips."
It is under Mr. Beale's financial auspices (says the
Literary Gazette) that Mr. Theckeray has been making his
recent appearance*, although the satirical huniourist, in
replying to an invitation from the secretary of a suburban
literary institution to repeat him lectures on the Georges at a
• reduced rate, refused, on the ground of having ' sold him-
self to Mr. Barnum'--an intimation which was gravely
repotted to the committee of the institution by the disap-
pointed secretory."
We (Literary Gazette) regret to observe the
_ _

announcement of the death of Dr Eli Smith, the superin-
tendent of the American minion at Beyrout. Dr. Smith
was the companion of Dr. Itebinaos in hi. tour of explora-
tion in Palestine, and his long residence in these regions
has enabled him to render tallied& aid to other eastern
travellers.

In consequence of the decease of Mr. Richard
Smith, brother to Mr. Albert Smith, the Egyptian Hall will
be clewed all next week.

The lecture-room of the Royal Institution was
crowded last night to hear a lecture by Mr. Malone, on the
most recent improvements in photography—the engraving of
photographs by the electrotype process, to which the name of
. . .

hiss been given.

It ie said in the germ-rooms, and we (At/tenant

Mrs. Nisbet's return to

Imagine with good
lb* slug& niegke shortly looked for.
W• Nei `the Carmarthen journal :—" The op-
paneling disk' Propert, Esq., of New Cavendish-street
Loel owl d Blaenpystill, Cardiganshire, as Sheriff for
thee. his native county, is a signal instancy of what industry
Offeligegrity will accomplish. We believe the worthy High
andflakes pride in avowing that ho left Wales some half
swim ego without a shilling more than would carry him to
Liffeffeg.where his honourable ambition led hint, and where he
WNW the field for that honest unremitting struggle which
• limigrovidenee never disregards. We hear he has not
mil dewed the ineumbrance, which equalled the value of
dr lYa property his thriftless parent left as his only heri-
WO* has by purchase added considerably to it, and now
reaps Iha reward of his industry by the distinction of serving
as aboff for the county he quitted—friendless and poor."

The Pays' London correspondence says that a
lodging has been taken in Piccadilly for Ferukh Khan, and
that the Persian ambassador gets on extremely well with
Lord Cowley, whose affability he (bide. pleasing contrast to
the more demonstrative manners of Lord Stratford de
Radcliffe.

The marriage of the Grand Duke Michael of
RUM with the Princess Cecile of Baden is to take plane at
St. Petersburg in March.
LONDON AND MIDDLESEX ARCILEOLOOICAL
Soctcrv.—A general meeting of this society will be held on
Wednesday evening, the 18th inst., at the Gallery of British
Artists, Suffolk-street, when the chair will be taken, at eight
o'clock, by the Very Rev. the Dean of Westminster, a von-
president of the society, and the following pa will be
read Middlesex at the time. of the Do 8 y.
By Edward Griffith, Esq., P.R.S.-2. Walks in the City
Blehopegate Ward. By ths Rev. Thomas Hugo, M.A.-
3. Monumental Brasses of London and Middlesex. By the
Rev. Charles Boutell, M.A. A collection of antiquities will
be formed at the place of meeting to which members sad
others are invited to contribute. The society intends to visit
the Tower of London in the month of Jose.
The Builder,of this day,states that Mr. Planc.he has
accepted the invitation of the Committee of the Exhibition
of Art Treasures to superintend the arrangement of armour
and arms.