clergy. Thus the obligation was taken very seriously, and subsequently a belief grew up in Scotland that the obligation was based upon an Act of 1228, passed in the reign of Queen Margaret,[1] and imposing a maximum penalty of £100 on a bachelor who refused to be so bespoken. No such Act was ever passed, it seems, but as 'a few years later' a like law was passed in France, and in the fifteenth century the custom was legalised in Genoa and Florence,[2] it may be safely conjectured that some ancient and wide-spread usage was codified at those periods in the countries mentioned, and that in Scotland it was either judicially recognised or confirmed by royal ordinance.
In Scotland Leap-year appears to be ill-omened. Thus it is unlucky for beasts and bodies and a heap o' witchcraft is about in Leap-year—Country Folk Lore, vii., 1912, F.-L.S., Fife, p. 158. On the other hand, in Yorkshire Leap-year is lucky for marriage:
"Happy they'll be that wed and wive
Within leap-year; they're sure to thrive."[3]
For divination of the destined spouse in ashes on St. Valentine's day, see Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisnie, by Aubrey, F.-L.S. edition, 1880, p. 24. Elsewhere on 'Old Candlemass Day,' the 14th February, the first man you meet is your Valentine—because birds choose their mates on that day.
Certain other points may be noted. Hone[4] reproduces an account of St. Valentine's day as observed in Hertford-
- ↑ N.Q. seventh s., x. p. 188. But the great Queen Margaret, who suppressed marriage with a step-mother or with a deceased husband's brother, died before the end of the eleventh century (P. Hume Brown, History of Scotland, i. p. 64). Margaret of Norway (1283–4) can hardly be meant (ib. p. 128), and Margaret, daughter of Henry VII. and wife of James IV. is obviously not alluded to. In 1228 no 'Queen Margaret' was alive in Scotland.
- ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica, eleventh ed., xvi. p. 330.
- ↑ Wright, Rustic Speech and Folk-Lore, p. 272.
- ↑ Year Book, p. 101.
