Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1861-02-13

VAIESTEE's DAV.-our friend E. W. g.,
has handed US the following, concerning the
history and some customs ofthat day, which
common consent has set spart, as the espeo-
ial property of good Saint Valentine:
Saint Valentine was Presbyter of the
early Christian Church, and was beheaded
in the time of Claudius, the Emperor Of
Rome, but there is no occurrence in the
legendary life of this Saint, in the slightest
degree connected with the customs which
have long been observed on this day; though
Wheatly in his illustration Of the Common
Prayer, Informs US, that he ''was a man Of
most admirable parts, and so famous for his
ioUe and charity, that the custom Of choos-
ing valentines upon his festival (which is
still praoticed) took its rise from thence" It
is a very general custom Of doubtful origin,
but of great antiquity, for young people to
draw lots on the eve Of Valentines Day; the
names Of a select number Of one sex are, by
an equal number of the other, put into a
vase, or other vessel, out of which each per-
son draws one, which is called his valen-
tine, and is looked upOnas good omen Of
their being man and wife afterwards. This
custom of choosing valentines was a sport
practised in the houses ofthe gentry of Eng
land as early as the year 1476; and John
Lydgate, the Monk of Bury, alludes to it in
poem written BY him in praise Of Queen
Catherine. In Dudley Lord North's "Forest of
Varieties" he in a letter to his brother, says:
"a lady of wit and qualitie whoam you well
know, would never put herself to the chance
ofa valentine, saying she would never couple
herself but by choyce. The custom and
charge Of valentines is not i'll left with many
other such costly and idle customs, which by
a tacit general consent we lay down as obso-
let" The "eharge" and "eOstly custom"
here mentioned, most probably refer to the
making presents on this day, which the
learned Morrison tells us was frequent. The
custom of drawing lots for valentines is still
observed in some Of the northern counties
of England, where also the first woman seen
by man, or man seen by a woman, on this
day, is marked fer their valentine for the en-
suing year. The rural tradition that, on this
day, every bird chooses his mate, is alluded
to by Chaucer and numerous other writers.
shakespear in his Midsummer Nights
Dream, says: "st. Valentine is past; be-
gin these wood birds but to couple now ?"
And Herriek in his Hssperides, has the fol-
lowing:
To my valentine on st. Valentines Day
'Oft have heard both youth and virgin say,
Birds choose their mates, and couple, too, this
day,
But, by their flight never can divine,
When l shall couple with my Valentine"
Nilsson, in his travels in England, says
''On the eve of the 14th of February, Saint
Valentines Day, time when all living na-
ture inclines to couple, the young folks in
England and Scotland too, by very ancient
custom, celebrate a little festival that tends
to the same end. An equal number of
maids and bachelors get together, each writes
their true, or some feigned name upon separ-
ste billets, which they roll up. and draw by
way Of lots, Qove's bsllot-box, presume,)
the maids taking The mems billets, and the
men the maids; so that each lights upon one
of the opposite sex, which they call his or
her valentine. But the --sn- generally silks
faster TO the Yaleptine that has fallen to him,
than to the valentine to whoam he is fall
len.i' There is also another kind of vslen-
tine lottery, which is the first young man or
woman that chance throws in your way in
the street, or elsewhere, on that day. Gay
has left US a poetical description of rural
ceremonies used on the morning of this day
in his time, thus:
LAST Valentine, the day when birds of kind
Their paTamours with mutual chirpings find;
/ early rose, just at the break of day,
Before the sun had chas'd the stars away;
A field went, amid the morning dew,
To milk my kline, (for so should housewives do)
Thee first spied, and the first swain we see,
In spite of fortune shall our true love be-"
And in the Connoisseur we have the fol-
lowing: "The custom of st. Vanentine's
Day, seem at present confined to young PEG
pie sending complimentary or satirical let
ters to their acquaintance, sometimes accom-
panied with carieature engraving; and to
such an extent is this custom carried, that
in London alone, the increase of the deliv-
cry of letters, amounts to the enormous sum
250, 900 to 100000.
REMARK would advise all our young
lady friends to try "Gay's" method, though
not quite SO early as our milk maid above,
aud they viii improve their health and
beauty, perchance light upon
F "Some youth Thoam tender passions move,
To seek the girl, he'd fondly love,
Pressing thy hand, my Valentine
Wilt thOu exchange thy heart for mine.p