"But, papa," said Richard, "which were they really? Magi or Kings?"

"Scripture," returned Mr. Paulett, "gives us little reason to think them Kings (and even much the contrary), any more than to suppose their number to be three; but I imagine that it has been held at least to countenance both those propositions, in that part of the recital where it speaks of their 'treasures,' and makes their offerings three in species; that is, 'gold, and frankincense, and myrrh*.' It seems, also, from other authorities than those of these travellers, that the legend is very precise as to the personal description of each of the Three Kings, and as to the particular offering of each. It tells us, that Melchior was an aged man, with length of beard; Balthazar, a Moor, with a large spreading beard; and Gaspar, or Jasper, a fair and beardless youth; and, again, that Melchior offered the gold; Gaspar, or Jasper, the frankincense; and Balthazar myrrh. For my own part, I believe that it would be possible to explain why these persons should be three; why they should be equally called Magi or Wise-men, or Kings; and why there should be these differences in their ages, and in their complexions+."

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Now, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, behold, there came Wise-men from the East to Jerusalem."

"And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child, with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented to him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”—Matthew, ii. 1, 11.

+ There must be much more to be learned than is perhaps yet explored, concerning the religious history of the city of Cologne, and the history of its Three Holy Kings. The name should imply the city of the Dove or Pigeon; that bird regarded as of such general sanctity throughout the East, and the national veneration for which still discloses itself in the most impressive manner, as we proceed eastward from Germany, through Muscovy, Russia, Tartary, Persia,

"You know, papa," said Emily, "that in the pic. ture which we saw, of the Wise-men's Offerings, one was an old man, and one was black, and one a youth; and all were offering, besides other gifts, their diadems or crowns?"

"Yes, my dear," answered Mr. Paulett," it is always in this manner that the subject is painted. But we have said enough of this; and need only further call to mind, that as to the King and Queen of the Twelfth Cakes, and as we have already mentioned, an entirely different origin is sometimes ascribed; and that the whole affair of the Twelfth Night is managed otherwise in France than it ever was in England. In France, a single bean is put into the cake; the gentleman who happens to receive the slice of cake containing the bean is King; and the King chooses his Queen for that occasion, and gives the cake to the same company the following year."

Mr. Paulett ceased to speak, and I had not listened without the sensation of a piercing pain, to the (to me) melancholy revival of the memory of the late Twelfth Day; that day so full of evil; of evil in itself, to me and my poor starving mate; and so productive of evil to us both, far more lasting than the day, and never yet repaired! But, now (and not a little to my partiAsia Minor, and so many other countries. Cologne despises Berlin for its want of antiquity, and is itself in a high degree antique. It has "a religion," it is said, "of its own;" and that religion is probably an antique Paganism, only scantily covered, even now, with the Christianity which was forced upon it by the sword of Charlemagne. But its Three Holy Kings (notwithstanding their skeletons), if not immortal, seem at least to enjoy a reputation for long life. In the sixteenth century, Marsilius Ficinus advised, to promote longevity, an astrological consultation every seven years, and the use of the means of the Three Holy Kings; which means he explained to be, gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

cular relief), Emily and Richard, somewhat satisfied as to the Three Kings of Colen, returned to their questions concerning Valentines; and, this time, Mr. Paulett explained with more minuteness the connexion which he imputed between Saint Valentine's Day and the Roman Saturnalia.

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"The Saturnalia,” he said, were the festivities, the ceremonies, and the annual customs of the feast of Saturnia, or of Juno; called, with reference to this feast, Juno Februata. The day was the fifteenth day of February; and upon that day males and females drew marriage lots. This was the custom with Rome Pagan.

"When Rome received Christianity, the cessation of the festival, with all its rites and practices, was necessarily aimed at by the Church; and, at least in process of time, it happened that the Romish calendar afforded a saint's-day so near to the day of Juno or Saturnia, that a hope presented itself of turning the popular attention from the one day to the other. The saint's-day was that of Saint Valentine, or Valentinus, a Roman Christian martyr, who was beheaded, or was said to have been beheaded, upon the fourteenth day of February, in the year 271.

"Now, the people being still inveterately attached to the drawing of their February lots (whether for marriage only, or for other objects also), the Church proposed to them, that upon the fourteenth of February, or feast of Saint Valentine, they should draw, indeed, lots, and lots that were as theretofore; but, instead of names of husbands and wives (and not, as now, with us, upon Twelfth Day, the titles or names of king and queen, and originally of other dignitaries of state), the names of saints, who should be their protectors,

for the year, against sickness, charms, and misfortunes of all kinds. This direction, perhaps, of the drawing of lots, was not wholly new. Paganism, perhaps, had drawn for annual guardian deities at the same time, and in the same manner; but, be this as it may, the attempt to abolish the drawing for husbands and wives was never wholly successful; and modern Europe retains this part of the Saturnalia, or of the lots of the feast of Saint Valentine; but, of this part itself, only the light and innocent shadow comprised within our 'Valentines.'

"If," continued Mr. Paulett, "I am right, in this explanation of the originals of our paper 'Valentines,' I shall next adventure upon that of the personal 'Valentines,' which are said to be made such by being first seen upon the morning of Saint Valentine's Day. In this, there is nothing but the common feature of the doctrine of omens, only applied to the particular occasion of the day, such as the day was, under the ancient festival. Ancient superstition attached the highest and most conclusive ominous importance to the first thing seen in the morning; and it was but a consequence, or particular application, of the general doctrine, to believe, that upon a day sacred to marriage, the first unmarried person, seen by an unmarried person, should be the individual divinely marked and pointed out for marriage. By the same notion of omens in the general, and expectation of guides for human conduct, preternaturally afforded, you must interpret what voyagers and travellers tell you of the worship for the day, paid by the Javanese to whatever animal they see first in the morning; and as a same sort of superstition (if properly instructed) you will interpret what is said of Socrates's Demon; for

Socrates, like his Athenian brethren, believed in these supernatural assistances; and it will prove nothing against the value of the general cast of that philosopher's ideas, to admit, that in this particular, and in common with so many other persons and nations, of piety, understanding, learning, and sound reasoning upon other subjects, and especially in common with his countrymen at large, he was addicted to that error*. But, concerning omens, as personal Valentines, I shall offer but one or two further considerations. In certain predicaments, it is jocularly said among us, 'You will not be married this year;' and I think that the expression refers to the same Saturnalian period for the adjustment of marriages. The Saturnalia occurred but once a year, and this in the month of February, or close of the ancient twelvemonth. Now, if antiquity had any list of ominous mischances which forbade the expectation of a favourable lot at the succeeding Saturnalia; then, it is plain, that the chance might be lost for the year,'-for the whole year-which is what our saying implies. Add to this, too (and assuredly we repeat it from our fathers, with the same reference to lots, as showing either the divine ordinance, or divine will), that marriages are made in heaven.' I might, perhaps, go safely further

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* The attachment to this demon-worship, or devotion to the idea of help from so imaginary an agency, is properly what St. Paul charges upon the Athenians, where, in our English translation, he is made to say, "I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious." Pagan Athens was a city eminently religious, but religious after its own Pagan fashion.

It might be straining the tissue of derivative expressions too tightly, to say that we owe to these customs also, the expression that marriage is a lottery;" yet it is certain that, in Rome, the lots of the Saturnalia, sooner or later, gave birth to general lotteries, such as

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