14 February 1824 Valentines Day
As the 14th February is a day eventful in the history of young lovers, and, as the feast of St. Valentine occurs on this day, it may not be uninstructive to our juvenile friends, or unamusing to our senior readers, to give a sketch of the history of the great personage whose name the day bears and the origin of the customs which prevail. St. Valentine was a Presbyter of the Church, who was beheaded in the time of Claudius the Emperor, 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 love charily, that the custom of choosing Valentines upon this festival (which is still practiced) 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 Valentine’s day; the names of a select number of one sex are, by an equal number of the other, put into some vessel, out of which, each person draws one, which is called their Valentine, and is looked upon as a good omen of their being man and wife afterwards. This custom of choosing Valentines was a sport practiced in the houses of the gentry of England as early the year 1746; and John Lydgate, the monk of Bury, alludes to it in a poem written by him in praise of Queen Catherine. The custom of drawing for Valentines is still observed in the northern counties of England, where also the first woman seen by a man, or a man seen by a woman, on St. Valentine's day, is marked for their Valentine for the ensuing year. The rural tradition that on this day, every bird chooses its mate, is alluded to by Chaucer and a numerous of other writers. Shakespeare, in his Midsummer Night's Dream, says; St. Valentine is past Begin these wood-birds but to couple now Miason, (?) in his travels in England, says; “On the eve of 14th February, St. Valentine’s day, a time when all living nature inclines to couple, the young folks in England and Scotland too, by a 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 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. 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 has fallen” 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. Gay has left us a poetical description of some rural ceremonies used on the morning of this day, in his time "Last Valentine, the day when birds of kind Their paramours with mutual chirpings find, I early rose, just at the break of day, Before the sun had chased the stars away; A field I went, amid the morning dew, To milk kine (for so should housewives do) Thee first I spied, and the first we see, In spite of fortune, shall our true love be And in The Connisseur, we have an account of a curious species of divination practiced on St Valentine’s day. The customs of St. Valentine's day, seem at present, confined to that of young people sending complimentary or satirical letters to their acquaintance, sometimes accompanied with a caricature engraving and to such an extent is this custom carried, that in London alone, the increase of two-penny post letters on Valentine's day, in 1821, exceeded 200,000. Dublin Evening Post 25 Apr.1825 Belfast Quarter Sessions Jilting and Nose pulling John MURRAY was indicted for an assault on Thomas COSNAGHAN, at Belfast. This assault originated in some provocation which MURRAY had received from COSNAGHAN COSNAGHAN, a raw, slim youth, scarcely out of his teens, had felt irresistible longings after matrimony, about that exciting period, Valentine’s day, when postmen toil under loads of loving compliment, made up in neat two-penny packets and maiden ladies and ladies maids pant for pictures of bleeding hearts, cupid’s darts, Hymen’s torches, church’s porches, and scraps of Tom Moore’s poetry. COSNAGHAN, in such a season, fell to courting traversers sister and he being young, tolerably good looking and persuasive, and she, inexperienced in this world’s wicked ways, they agreed to become husband and wife, according to law. To perpetuate old customs, which ordain the enjoyment of fun and whiskey at wakes and weddings; COSNAGHAN made festive preparations and assembled his friends; the bride assembled her friends; and COSNAGHAN, to wind up the affair, begged the company to enjoy themselves as well as they could, while he went for the priest. The company waited, but the bridegroom never returned. He took the priest to another of St. Valentine’s she-votaries, to whom he was buckled, leaving his first betrothed to the maiden melancholy of a solitary pillow, and the brides-men and bride’s-maidens to whatever solace they might find in tea and punch, with cakes and comfits. But the bride’s brother nursed his wrath and meditated revenge on the jilter and, accordingly, seeing him one Sunday shortly after this faithless conduct of his, busked in his bridals, and lounging in insolent ease, at his own door, he deliberately walked up to him and after merely saying "there’s a fine day" caught COSNAGHAN by his little nose and so unmercifully twisted it, "first this way and then that way" as if he had been exercising a pump handle. COSNAGHAN smarting under this punishment, disengaged himself and, determined to show fight, was about to pull off his new green bridal surtout, but suddenly recollecting the day was Sunday, he resolved neither to profane it, nor risk a beating, but 'take the law' of the traverser. MURRAY offered no defense - his respectable jury found him guilty of the assault and the bench, taking into consideration the provocation he had received, fined him 6d. and ordered him to be discharged. Belfast Commercial Chronicle 30 July 1823 St. Swithin's “The months" says Bourne, in his Antiquitates Vulgates, "give some show or reason why rain should happen about the time St. Swithin, for about the time of this feast, there are 2 rainy Constellations, Proesepe (?) and Asellus which arise cosmically, and generally produce rain. St. Swithin is not the only day on which observations are made about the weather. St. Pauls, Candlemas Day and Valentine’s Day, are equally ominous. The following lines, used to appear, many years ago in sheet almanacks If St. Pauls be fair and dear. It doth betide a happy year If blustering winds do soar aloft, The wars will trouble England oft And if it chance to snow or rain. Then will be dear all sorts of grain, above from Saunders Newsletter 30 March 1843 Who will claim them? The morning after Valentine’s Day, 2 letters were delivered from the post-office, Warrington, to the letter carrier. One was addressed to "The ugliest woman” and the other to "The prettiest girl” in Penketh. The postman must have found himself in a fix. He wisely returned them, affirming that there were none of the former, and that to the latter, there were so many he did not know which of them the valentine ought properly to be delivered. Enniskillen Chronicle and Erne Packet 15 Feb. 1828 Married On the 14th inst. by the Rev. Carr, Richard BARNETT, dentist, to Sarah third daughter of Mr. John MILFORD both of this town. (Belfast) On the 14th inst. Mr. John MOORE of Lisburn, to Ann, daughter of Mr. Geo. MOORE of same place. Belfast newsletter transcribd from the noted newspapers. have a Lovely day friends Teena _______________________________________________ UlsterAncestry@cotyrone.com UlsterAncestry Mailing List Searchable Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/ulsterancestry@cotyrone.com/ http://lists.cotyrone.com/mailman/listinfo/ulsterancestry Website: https://cotyrone.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CoTyroneIrelandGenealogy/
