In the paper referred to there is an error. The war compelled me to write from memory, which deceived me. On p. 63 the "Valerian gens" should be read for "Valentian." The reference is to De-Marchi, Il Culto Privato di Roma Antica, pt. ii. pp. 29-39. where the sacred legends of the Valerii are discussed. Valentia and Valeria appear, however, to be both derived from an old form, Valesia, a Sabine stock: ib., p. 31.
Finally, the Valentinus who founded the Valentinians was clearly not one of the "three or more" saints of that name canonised by the Church of Rome. That there is much uncertainty as to the identity of the saint connected with the customs of St. Valentine's Day is clear from the fact that all these three or more have their festival on the 14th of February.[1] Valentinus the Gnostic never seems to have been canonised in any regular sense, but that would hardly have prevented a rite associated with his teaching from being transferred to the day of a St. Valentine by the folk.
Witchcraft in Scotland.
When reading that most remarkable work Jurgen by James Branch Cabell, published by the Bodley Head, in 1921, I was interested to observe that the scene of the author's only reference to witchcraft was laid at Morven. Any student of Witchcraft in Aberdeenshire will recollect that the hot-bed of the cult inland was in such places as Blelac, Logie-Coldstone, and Tarland. Blelac lies on the slope of Morven Hill, Coldstone and Tarland lie just to the east of it. One cannot help speculating as to whether the choice of the name was purely arbitrary and accidental, or whether this minor point was an example of the erudition of the author even more startling than those contained in the trenchant allegories round which his story is formed.
London, W. 1.
- ↑ The Catholic Encyclopœdia, xv. p. 254.
