3-052-428 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Months: February, 1880. 'A special day of interest to many in the present month, is the festival of St. Valentine, although there is no recorded incident of his life that can have given rise to the various jocular customs associated with his anniversary. Whatever, however, may be the historical origin of the celebration, whether heathen or Christian, there can be no doubt of its antiquity. According to an old tradition to which Chaucer refers, birds choose their mates on St. Valentine's Day; and hence in the "Midsummer Night's Dream" Theseus asks: "Good morrow, friends, St. Valentine is past; Begin these wood-birds but to couple now?".' From "Illustrated London News", 1880.