Saint Valentine's Day

“ St. Valentine, be it repeated, is the saint of all true lovers of every degree, and hence the letters missive to the fair, from wooers on his festival, bear his name. Brand thinks “one of the most elegant jeu-d’esprits on this occasion,” is one wherein an admirer reminds his mistress of the choice attributed by the legend to the choristers of the air on this day, and inquires of her—
Shall only you and I forbear
To meet and make a happy pair?
Shall we alone delay to live?
This day an age of bliss may give.
[229, 230]
But, ah! ”

“ Soon his friends began to watch for the kind words that were sure to come to them whenever they were in need of help. Even the little children, when they were ill, would say, "I am sure that Father Valentine will send me a letter to-day."
After a time the good father passed away from earth, but he has not been forgotten.
Each year, when the fourteenth of February comes around, we still keep his birthday.
Think of the lonely, remember the sad,
Be kind to the poor, make every one glad,
On good old Saint Valentine's Day.
[Pg 138]
A FAMOUS OLD HOUSE
Here is a picture of a famous old house. ”

“ Valentine’s Day.
I notice that all the correspondents of ‘N. & Q.’ who have troubled themselves about the derivation of the word valentine (See 3rd S. iii. 128; 5th S. v. 141; ix. 289, 418) agree in deriving it not from the name of the saint, but from galantin (=petit galant) , the g being changed into v. And this view they support either by quoting dictionaries of Norman patois, such as Dubois and Duméril, in which valentin is given =galantin, or other French authors who have written about Normandy, and who have expressed this opinion. ”

“ Valentine is the lover’s saint. Not that lovers have more superstition than other people, but their imaginings are more. As it is fabled that Orpheus “played so well, he moved old Nick;” so it is true that Love, “cruel tyrant,” moves the veriest brute. Its influence renders the coarsest nature somewhat interesting. A being of this kind, so possessed, is almost as agreeable as a parish cage with an owl inside ”

“ Wooing His Valentine
IF I could speak in phrases fine,
Full sweet the words that I would say
To woo you for my valentine
Upon this February day.
But when I strive to tell you all,
The charms I see in your dear face,
A dumbness on me seems to fall—
O, sweetheart, let me crave your grace!
I fain would say your eyes of blue,
Like violets to me appear;
Shy blossoms, filled with heaven’s dew,
That throw their sweetness far and near.
How tender are your lips of red!
How like a rose each velvet cheek!
How bright the gold upon your head—
All this I’d say, if I could speak. ”

“ Valentine, and I'm in scribbling mood.
Pray, are you, sir, in love, or not? what's more, in love with me?
Pray, answer, for I'll frankly own I feel a love for thee.
Love has dropt in,—I know not how,—so, 'tis my heart's design
To choose you, sir, to be my beau, my constant Valentine.
What eyes, mouth, and nose! who d'ye think, would incline
To choose such an object for—Sweet Valentine.
From such a grim figure, I'm sure, any day,
I can't wonder Cupid is riding away.
E'en the donkey he rides appears frightened to see
An ugly old fellow, so much uglier than he. ”

“ Valentine’s day then is becoming, nay, it has become, a national holyday—one that brings smiles of pleasure to the young of both sexes, and the joy of recollected pleasure to the old. It is a festival in which the feelings need no stimulant, and in which it asks no boisterous expression. Beautiful is the anticipation of such a season. Some hearts beat quickly in the thought of what may be sent, and who will send it. ”

“ Love's natural hope?
Fair-meaning Earth, foredoom'd to perjury!
Behold, all-amorous May,
With roses heap'd upon her laughing brows,
Avoids thee of thy vows!
Were it for thee, with her warm bosom near,
To abide the sharpness of the Seraph's sphere?
Forget thy foolish words;
Go to her summons gay,
Thy heart with dead, wing'd Innocencies fill'd,
Ev'n as a nest with birds
After the old ones by the hawk are kill'd. ”

“ A better might have been selected from the “Magazine of Magazines,” the “Gentleman’s,” wherein Mr. Urban has sometimes introduced the admirers of ladies to the admirers of antiquities—under which class ladies never come. Thence, ever and anon, as from some high barbican or watchtower old, “songs of loves and maids forsaken,” have aroused the contemplation from “facts, fancies, and recollections” regarding other times, to lovers “sighing like furnace” in our own. Through Sylvanus, nearly a century ago, there was poured this
Invocation of St. Valentine.
Haste, friendly Saint! ”

“ Valentine, the tender, loving wife, who, before a year of married life had rolled by, so often assured him that her affection had grown into a deep, confiding love, that her devotion had grown stronger every day, and that her only prayer was that God would take them both together, since life would be a burden without her noble husband to shield and cherish her—could she have been acting a lie for twenty years? ”

“ He says: "My heart will constant prove, Since every beat of it is thine; The sweetest joy of life is love." The birds are mating in the grove— The day is yours, St. Valentine.
What matter that the wind blows chill Through leafless tree and naked vine, That snowdrifts linger on the hill, When warm love makes the pulses thrill? The day is yours, St. Valentine.
[249]
TWO JUNE NIGHTS.
A red rose in my lady's hair, A white rose in her fingers, A wild bird singing low, somewhere, A song that pulses, lingers. ”

“ My very gentle Valentine,
Since for me you were born too late,
And I for you was born too soon.
God forgives him who has estranged
Me from you for the whole year.
I am already sick of love,
My very gentle Valentine. ”

“ Cupid and the Fairy should precede the procession; next should come one of the tiny Pages, with the ring on a velvet cushion. Bluebell and Rosebud follow, as flower girls, then the Queen, followed by her Maidens, two by two. No change is necessary in any of the costumes but to add a long veil of mosquito netting to the Queen’s costume. At the altar, St. Valentine meets her, and they arrange themselves as for the ceremony, the Bride and Groom kneeling before the Clergyman. The curtain may fall on this tableau, or they may rise, and march out, to the wedding march, if desired. ”

“ For youth to be bold;
So the brave and the fair
May venture to dare,
Like the birds of the air,
Their feelings unfold.
This day of the year,
To the young very dear,
Suggests to the heart
A sweet happiness near;
And a hope bright and gay,
May tempt them to say,
On St. Valentine’s Day,
Words tender and queer.
Shy lovers, begin,
Faint hearts never win,
Nor is it a sin
[66] To love wisely and well;
And the coy and the fair
May be yearning to hear,
At least once a year,
What a lover might tell.
So, gents, your attention ”

“ And be my chosen Valentine.
What mortal on thee without rapture can gaze,
Whose form so angelic such graces displays?
Such virtue, such beauty, so noble an air,
Our heart must enslave, and our senses ensnare
O cease, then, dear maid, so enchanting to be,
O list to thy lover who doats upon thee.
When evening sets in, when the world is at rest,
Calm reflection we most can enjoy:
While the stillness around us at once gives a zest,
To the thoughts which no objects decoy.
Then how sweet ’tis to muse on the time that hath
If in love, or in friendship ’twere past ”

“ You must never, never breathe to a living soul what was on your valentine. To tell even your best and truest little girl friend was to prove faithless to the little boy sending the valentine. These things reached Emmy Lou. ”

“ You'll be my Valentine.
Though a female of spirit, I am not inclined
To go after the Devil, a husband to find,
For I fear if with you I a bargain should strike,
I might have a reception more warm than I like,
Since 'tis very well known to us poor little souls,
You love to be "calling us over the coals;"
Though my heart's in a flame, yet I cannot design
My whole body's consumption for such, Valentine. ”

“ Each hour I pray that I may meet
The faithful love of thine.
Ye gentle gales that waft my sighs.
Go to the youth for whom they rise,
And win him to approve my prayer,
That he will love and end my care.
Oh! would he deign on me to smile,
All my wo it would beguile;
Blest indeed the days of mine,
When passed with such a Valentine.
Sweet youth, be mine, thy charms divine
Subdue my stubborn heart;
At Hymen’s shrine, oh! call me thine,
And never, never part.
Let sordid mortals search for wealth,—
This never shall be my employ ”

“ Valentine’s Day was kept as a joyous festival, the drawing of a kind of lottery took place, followed by ceremonies not much unlike what is now generally called the game of ‘forfeits.’ Married and single persons were alike liable to be chosen as a valentine, and a present was invariably given to the choosing party. ”

“ One comfort I had in all this—if my valentine could not reach him, that of no other female could; and my offer is sure to be first, though I shouldn't wonder if that girl who sent him her card tied round a canary bird's neck might try. She's forward enough, anyway.
Then, there is another comfort—Valentine's Day don't cover the whole Leap Year, and there are other men than the great Grand Duke in the world. We females have a whole twelvemonths to try our luck in. ”

“ Was Valentine very good, and is it his birthday as Christmas is Christ's birthday?"
"Mercy, no! What queer things you do ask when you get going, Polly! Valentine's Day is just Valentine's Day, when folks send these poetry and picture things for fun, and don't sign their own names, only 'Your Valentine,' and that means somebody who has chosen—chosen to be your—well, your beau, maybe."
"What's a beau?" asked innocent Polly.
"Polly, you don't know anything!" cried Jane, in an exasperated tone. "A beau is—is somebody who likes you better 'n anybody else." ”

“ Valentine is commended to the gentler affections of all, by the loveliness and beauty which his own purity and grace threw around the affections of the human heart, and the loftiness which his own goodness gave to the character of earthly love, assimilating that passion with our affections for things divine, and showing the intimate connection between the two—the difference being only in degree consequent upon the objects. ”

“ Would you lift me away from my low estate,
And carry me nearer you?
If you were the king among men,
And only my love were mine,
Would you single me out from all maidens on earth,
To choose me your Valentine? ”

“ On the eve of the 14th of February, St. Valentine’s day, the young folks in England and Scotland, by a very ancient custom, celebrate a little festival. An equal number of maids and bachelors get together, each writes their true or some feigned name upon separate billets, which they roll up, and draw 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 hers. ”

“ 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? ”

“ Valentine will be celebrated. Celebrated this year, we venture to assert, with a pomp and circumstance very far beyond that of any other February since the office of Juno gave a name to the month. Celebrated in a way to demonstrate the growing estimation in which the kindly feelings are held.
This will be as it should be. A day has been found in which all may have an occasion for present pleasure; some (and most) to be active in the circulation of those delicate compositions or handy-works which express regard and sometimes promote affection ”

“ By this means each has two valentines: but the man sticks faster to the valentine that is fallen to him, than to the valentine 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. ”

“ And what can be happier than a long engagement? One gets to know and understand the man one is to marry so thoroughly. I think I know every turn of thought in Valentine's mind; every taste, every fancy; and I feel myself every day growing to think more and more like him. I read the books he reads, so as to be able to talk to him, you know; but I am not so clever as you, Di, and Valentine's favourite authors do sometimes seem rather dry to me. But I struggle on, you know; and the harder I find the struggle, the more I admire my dear love's cleverness. ”

“ To share with thee, dear Valentine, the virtuous embrace,
Such tender and such pure delight as often as I’ve proved,
So often have I felt how much and truly I have loved.
The charm that best can sweeten life,
Is found to be a faithful wife ”

“ VALENTINE'S DAY Hail to thy returning festival, old Bishop Valentine! Great is thy name in the rubric, thou venerable Archflamen of Hymen! ”

“ No, Valentine, for I have foreseen all their plots; no, your enemy is conquered since we know her, and you will live, Valentine–live to be happy yourself, and to confer happiness upon a noble heart; but to insure this you must rely on me. ”

“ In the afternoon, Hazel received a box by messenger, with, "Please return by bearer," on the wrapper. On opening it, she found the Doctor's valentines with the following sentiments appropriately attached.
I
By Rose-pose made, by March adorned,
'T is not a Heart that one should scorn:
For use each day, the whole year through,
Where find a Valentine so true? ”