British Popular Customs, Present and Past. T. F. Thiselton-Dyer

to whom he is fallen. Fortune having thus divided the company into so many couples, the Valentines give balls and treats to their mistresses, wear their billets several days upon their bosoms or sleeves, and this little sport often ends in love. There is another kind of Valentine, which is the first young man or woman that chance throws in your way in the street, or elsewhere, on that day.

      In some places, says Hone (Every Day Book, vol. i. p. 226), at this time, and more particularly in London, the lad’s Valentine is the first lass he sees in the morning, who is not an inmate of the house; the lass’s Valentine is the first youth she sees.

      Gay mentions this usage on St. Valentine’s Day; he makes a rustic housewife remind her good man—

      “I early rose just at the break of day,

       Before the sun had chas’d the stars away;

       A-field I went, amid the morning dew

       To milk my kine (for so should house-wives do);

       Thee first I spied, and the first swain we see,

       In spite of Fortune shall our true-love be.”

      Shakespeare bears witness to the custom of looking for your Valentine, or desiring to be one, through poor Ophelia’s singing:

      “Good morrow! ’tis St. Valentine’s day,

       All in the morning betime,

       And I a maid at your window,

       To be your Valentine!”

Derbyshire.

       Table of Contents

      At Ashborne the following custom is observed on Valentine’s Eve. When a young woman wishes to divine who her future husband is to be, she goes into the churchyard at midnight, and as the clock strikes twelve commences running round the church, repeating without intermission:

      “I sow hempseed, hempseed I sow,

       He that loves me best

       Come and after me mow.”

      Having thus performed the circuit of the church twelve times without stopping, the figure of her lover is supposed to appear and follow her.—Jour. Arch. Assoc. 1852, vol. vii. p. 209.

Devonshire.

       Table of Contents

      The peasants and others believe that if they go to the porch of a church, waiting there till half-past twelve o’clock on the Eve of St. Valentine’s day, with some hempseed in his or her hand, and at the time above-named, then proceed homewards, scattering the seed on either side, repeating these lines:

      “Hempseed I sow, hempseed I mow,

       She (or he) that will my true-love be,

       Come rake this hempseed after me,”

      his or her true love will be seen behind raking up the seed just sown, in a winding-sheet.—N. & Q. 1st S. vol. v. p. 55.

Norfolk.

       Table of Contents

      As soon as it is dark, packages may be seen being carried about in a most mysterious way; and as soon as the coast seems clear, the parcel is laid on the doorstep, the bell rung, and the bearer runs away. Inside the house is all on the qui vive, and the moment the bell is heard, all the little folks (and the old ones too, sometimes) rush to the door, and seize the parcel and scrutinize the direction most anxiously, and see whether it is for papa or mamma, or one of the youngsters. The parcels contain presents of all descriptions, from the most magnificent books or desks, to little unhappy squeaking dolls. These presents are always sent anonymously, and nearly always contain a few verses, ending with the distich:

      “If you’ll be mine, I’ll be thine,

       And so good morrow, Valentine.”

      The last three words are for the most part written on the wrapper also, with the address, thus:

      Miss Mary Isabella King,

       St. Giles,’

       Norwich.

      Good Morrow, Valentine.

      N. & Q. 1st S. vol. x. p. 5; 4th S. vol. xi. p. 173.

      

      At Swaffham, also, Valentines are sent on this evening. Watching for a convenient opportunity, the door is slyly opened, and the Valentine attached to an apple or an orange, is thrown in; a loud rap at the door immediately follows, and the offender taking to his heels, is off instantly. Those in the house, generally knowing for what purpose the amusing rap was made, commence a search for the juvenile billet-doux: in this manner numbers are disposed of by each youth. By way of teasing the person who attends the door, a white oblong square the size of a letter is usually chalked on the step of the door, and should an attempt be made to pick it up, great amusement is thus afforded to some of the urchins, who are generally watching.—Every Day Book, vol. ii. p. 222.

Feb. 14.] ST. VALENTINE’S DAY.

       Table of Contents

      Feb. 14.]

      ST. VALENTINE’S DAY.

      This is a festival which lovers have observed and poets have honoured from time immemorial. The observance is much more than sixteen hundred years old, when the Christian Valentine was beaten by clubs and beheaded, at the time of the great heathen festival of love and purification. A few years ago the observance was dying out; but it has lately revived, especially in London.—N. & Q. 4th S. vol. xi. p. 129.

      In that curious record of domestic life in England in the reign of Charles II., Pepys’ Diary, we find some notable illustrations of the customs connected with this day.

      It appears that married and single were then alike liable to be chosen as a Valentine; and that lady Valentines were honoured not by anonymous verses, but by substantial gifts. Four days after Pepys had chosen Martha Batten for his Valentine, he took her to the Exchange, and there, “upon a pair of embroidered, and six pair of plain white gloves, I laid out 40s.” The question of expense troubled the diarist. When, in 1667, he took his wife for (honorary) Valentine, he wrote down the fact that it would cost him 5l.; but he consoled himself by another fact, that he must have laid out as much “if we had not been Valentines.” The outlay at the hands of princes and courtiers was enormous. When the Duke of York was Miss Stewart’s Valentine, he gave her a jewel of about 800l. in value; and in 1667, Lord Mandeville, being that lady’s Valentine, presented her with a ring worth 300l. The gifts of Pepys to his wife look small by the side of presents made by lovers to ladies. Pepys came to an agreement with Mrs. Pepys to be her Valentine (which did not preclude others from being so) every year, “and this year,” he remarks, in 1668, “it is likely to cost 4l. or 5l. in a ring for her, which she desires.” In 1669, he bought more useful things for his cousin Turner, who told him she had drawn him for her Valentine. Straightway he went to the New Exchange, and bought her a pair of fashionable “green silk stockings, and garters, and shoe-strings, and two pairs of jessimy gloves, all coming to about 28s.” London shops do not now exhibit green silk stockings, but they tempt buyers with gallant intentions; and “Valentine gifts” are in windows or on counters at prices to suit a few and terrify many.

      Other