was not made a Bishop; but all agree in assigning to him the palm of martyrdom under CLAUDIUS the Second, at Rome, A. D. 271. Being placed for future punishment under the custody of ASTERIUS, he was resolved, say his legends, "to exercise the power his piety had given him ;" and he accordingly prayed to Heaven, and restored to sight one of the daughters of ASTERIUS, who had been blind from her infancy; a miracle so extraordinary and unexpected, that the whole family were instantly converted, and "joyfully suffered death" amidst the greatest torments. VALENTINE himself, who was kept in prison for about a twelvemonth, was beheaded; and it was, as we are assured, for the sake of perpetuating his virtue, and miraculous power, that he was enrolled among the first martyrs of the church. "To abolish the heathen, lewd, superstitious custom of boys drawing the names of girls, in honour of their goddess Februata, or Juno, on the 15th of February, several zealous pastors substituted the names of saints in billets given on that day," says a respectable writer; and Valentine is alleged to have been conspicuous in overthrowing this custom; while others contend, that ST. FRANCIS DE SALES was the first and principal person, who so successfully combated the pagan error: certain it is, that in the papal dominions patron saints are chosen on this day, and hence, perhaps, our less absurd custom, of choosing lovers or valentines, for the year. While authors in general accede to the above statement, some are of opinion that Valentine, who, as before observed, abjured his religion, because he was not elected bishop, used to call together the male proselytes to his new and heretical doctrines, on the 14th of February, when each chose a female to instruct in religious, and even in worldly affairs, during the year, and from thence deduce our present innocent custom. Another Valentine, the ninety-ninth bishop of Rome, who died in the year 827, is by some considered as the first who changed the heathen practice of drawing for girls, &c.; and as he established the annual usage of the poorer clergy drawing lots for their patron for the ensuing year, he seems to have some claim for the honour assigned to him. It is difficult to come to any probable conclusion, even if the matter were worthy of further research: our custom might have sprung from either of the before-mentioned sources, or we may merely have continued, with proper alterations, from our superior religious advantages, the Lupercalia of the Romans. St. Valentine's day being the one immediately preceding the antient Feast of the Lupercalia, or Februata, as it was at first called, the practice may very easily have changed its title, as it had in part its rights and even the most strict of our religious ancestors may have submitted without repining to a change from a barbarous pagan ceremony, to one that seemed consonant to nature; which, at this season of the year, prompts the feathered tribe to choose their mates, particularly in warm climates, where the substituted custom arose; and gives as it were fresh animation to the renovated world. Quadragesima, or First (16TH FEBRUARY, 1812.) Under the article of Ash-Wednesday, an planation has already been given with respect to the actual commencement of the Lent season; and it is requisite, therefore, only to notice, that the Sunday now treated upon, is very properly denominated the first Sunday in Lent. The name of LENT is almost universally admitted to have had its origin from the old Saxon word, Lenten, Lentz, signifying the spring of the year, because the fast it is meant to distinguish, usually happens about the commencement of the spring; or when the days are increasing in length, which the Saxon word, from which Lenten is derived, implied. The antient Christians abstained wholly from food until the evening of each day throughout this long Fast; one meal was deemed sufficient for their refreshment and support, and the value of what they saved, by this severe privation, was in all instances given to the poor. The commonalty, sensible of the benefits thus extended to them, were not backward in perpetuating its remembrance, by various apt proverbs; but occasionally, however, they conveyed at the same time some allusions to the contingencies attached to their lowly state, not quite expressive of entire satisfaction. "La carcel y la quaresma para los pobres es hecha," that is, "The jail and Lent were made for poor folks," may be adduced as a striking instance of the popular feeling upon this point in SPAIN, a country celebrated above all others for the force of its proverbial sayings. The moderate use of either flesh, or fish, was admitted; and it remained for subsequent ingenuity to create a religious distinction between the flesh of terrene animals and fish. The object evidently was that the Christians should subject themselves to self-denial; but the particular taste of each individual ought to have been known, before it could be ascertained whether that were really effected by an abstinence from flesh or fish, &c. These considerations had not, however, any weight at those periods; every bull issued by papal authority, whether of absolute or modified restriction, was most rigorously enforced; and we find that about the year 1212, upwards of 100 persons were burnt, for venturing to assert their opinion, that it was lawful for Christians to eat flesh during Lent, and, what was then deemed even more sinful, "for a priest to marry at any time of the year," contrary to ecclesiastical regulation, which afterwards absolutely interdicted them from ever entering into the connubial state. BECCARIA, in his Essay on Crimes and Punishments, states that in the archives of St. Claude in Burgundy, is preserved the following abominable sentence: Having seen all the papers of the process, and heard the opinions of the doctors learned in the laws; we declare CLAUDE GUILLON to be fully attainted, and convicted of having taken away part of the flesh of a horse, and of eating the same, on the 1st of March, 1629," being a fish day; for which crime the poor wretch was beheaded on the 28th of July following!! Happily released in this country from the papal yoke, nothing but the most unequivocal and corroborative testimonies can satisfy our minds that such vile proceedings could ever have occurred; and yet LEWIS, in his Patriot King, affords us one instance, among hundreds that might be adduced, of the tyranny of our ecclesiastical jurisdiction, so late as the Reformation. 66 "THOMAS FREBURN's wife of Paternoster-row, London," says that author, longed for pig. Fisher, a butter-woman, brought him a pig ready for the spit, but carried a foot of it to DR. COCKS, dean of Canterbury, whilst at dinner. One of |