Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/418

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NOTES AND QUERIED [9* s. i. MAY 21,

prove that it had more than two. Fifthly, the last three words are a quotation from a Greek writer. Beside all this, it would not be gathered from GENERAL MAXWELL'S note that the line is on the scroll on Johnson's monument in St. Paul's; that the original line, from which it is varied, forms the closing words of the Rambler; that its adoption for the scroll was suggested by Seward to Dr. Parr ; that the original line is in Dionysius's ' Periegesis ' ; and that Parr altered it for reasons which may be found in Johnstone's life of him. The line quoted by the Rambler from Dionysius runs :

avxtoi/ IK /za/capioi/ avra^tos ftij djoioi/ify'. GENERAL MAXWELL should read the last appendix in Dr. Birkbeck Hill's edition of Boswell, in whose text the words are cor- rectly given. He would then have been slow to correct Dionysius and Dr. Parr. J. S. [Other replies of a similar kind are acknowledged.]

VALENTINES (9 th S. i. 248). Much has ap- peared in *N. & Q.' on St. Valentine and Valentine's Day, especially on the drawing for and choosing of valentines, with the accompaniment of flowers and articles of feminine apparel.

In N. Bailey's ' English Dictionary ' (seven- teenth edition, 1759) we find :

" Valentines (in England). About this time of the year, the birds chuse their mates, and probably thence came the custom of the young men and maidens chusing Valentines, or special loving friends, on that day."

"Valentines (in the Church of Rome). Saints chosen on St. Valentine's Day, as patrons for the year ensuing."

The earliest mention of the custom of choosing a valentine is to be found in * The Paston Letters ' (No. 783). In February, 1477, Dame Elizabeth Brews wrote, " To my wur- schypfull cosyne, John Paston, be this bill delyveryd," &c., who was desirous to press his suit with her daughter Margery :

"And cosyn, uppon Fryday is Sent Volentynes Day and every brydde chesyth hym a mate ; and yf it lyke yowe to come one Thursday at nyght, and so purvey yowe, that ye may abyde there tyll Monday, I trusty to God that ye schall so speke to myn husband, and I schall prey that we schall bryngthe mater to a conclusyon, &c. For cosyn,

It is but a sympill oke,

That (is) cut down at the first stroke."

During the same month Margery addressed him in the following letter as her valentine :

"Unto my right welebelovyd Voluntyn, John Paston, Squyer, be this bill delyvered," &c.

" Right reverent and wurschypfull, and my ryght wele beloved Voluntyne, I recomande me unto yowe, ffull hertely desyring to heare of your welfare, which

I beseche Almyghty God long for to preserve un to Hys plesur, and yowr herts desyre."

In the next letter (784) Margery says : " Yf that ye cowde be content with that good (small dowry) and my por persone, I wold be the meryest mayden on grounde ; a good true and levying volentyne, that the matter may never more be spoken of, as I may be your trewe lover and bede- woman duryng my lyfe.

Pepys, in his ' Diary,' has many references to the custom of drawing a valentine, and the accompaniment of gifts, under the dates of 14 Feb., 1060, and two following years, 1666, and the three next years.

The earliest known poetical valentines were written by Charles, Duke of Orleans, during his imprisonment in England after the battle of Agincourt, 25 Oct., 1415, which volume may be seen in the British Museum.

The description of three early pictorial valentines appears in ' N. Q.,' 4 th S. v. 168. The verses were surrounded by hearts, birds, flowers, and paper elaborately and tastefully cut with scissors. One of them is signed and dated "February 14, 1785."

A privately printed book, by F. E. Bliss, Esq., was issued in 1893, entitled 'In Praise of Bishop Valentine,' from the time of Chaucer to a recent date.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

The earliest valentine I remember to have seen is not more than a century and a quarter old. It was sent to a young lady, the daughter of a baronet of large possessions and high social standing. It is not pictorial, but is written in a fine regular hand, of the sort called Italian. There is nothing to indicate who was the sender. ASTARTE.

Pictorial valentines appear to be of com- paratively recent date. They were, of course, well established in Sam Weller's day, and Lamb's article upon them in No. 71 of the Indicator will recur to every mind. The ' Book of Days ' has nothing bearing on the question. C. C. B.

The largest collection of these, dating from 1820, and contained in one thousand volumes, is in the possession of Mr. Jonathan King, of Essex Road, Islington, one of the oldest manufacturers existing, his business having been established in 1845. W. B. GERISH.

Hoddesdon, Herts.

REV. JOHN HICKS (8 th S. xii. 509; 9 th S. i. 35, 254). Mention is made under this heading of James Adams, Clerk of the Royal Stables to George II., as "buried under a handsome monument at Stanford le Hope," Essex. Perhaps, therefore, a short description of the