Drawing lots or billets for Valentines is a custom observed in the neighbourhood of Mansfield, where a few young men and maidens meet together, and having put each their own name on a slip of paper, they are all placed together in a hat or basket, and drawn in regular rotation. Should a young man draw a girl’s name, and she his, it is considered ominous, and not unfrequently ends in real love and a wedding.--_Jour. of the Arch. Assoc._ 1853, vol. viii. p. 231. OXFORDSHIRE. In this county the following rhymes were used: “Good morrow, Valentine! I be thine, and thou be’st mine, So please give me a Valentine!” Also “Good morrow, Valentine! God bless you ever! If you’ll be true to me, I’ll be the like to thee. Old England for ever!” Also “Good morrow, Valentine, First ’tis yours, then ’tis mine, So please give me a Valentine.” _The Antiquary_, 1873, vol. iii. p. 107; Brand, _Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 60. YORKSHIRE. “On Valentine’s Day,” says Clarkson (_Hist. of Richmond_, 1821, p. 293), “the ceremony of drawing lots called Valentines is seldom omitted. The names of a select number of one sex with an equal number of the other are put into a vessel, and every one draws a name, which is called their Valentine; and which is looked upon as a good omen of their being afterwards united.” MARCH. 1.] ST. DAVID’S DAY. Various attempts have been made to account for the custom of wearing the leek. Owen, in his _Cambrian Biography_ (1803), considers it to have originated from the custom of _cymhortha_, or the neighbourly aid practised among farmers. He says that it was once customary in some districts of South Wales for all the neighbours of a small farmer without means to appoint a day, when they all met together for the purpose of ploughing his land, or rendering him any service in their power. On such an occasion each individual carried with him his portion of leeks to be used in making the pottage for the company. Some also are of opinion that the practice took its rise in consequence of a victory obtained by Cadwallo over the Saxons on the 1st of March, 640, when the Welsh, to distinguish themselves, wore leeks in their hats. Shakespeare introduces the custom into his play of Henry V., act iv. sc. 7. Fluellin addressing the monarch says: “Your grandfather of famous memory, an’t please your majesty, and your great uncle Edward the plack prince of Wales, as I have read in the chronicles, fought a most prave pattle here in France. “_K. Hen._ They did, Fluellin. “_Flu._ Your majesty says very true: if your majesty is remembered of it, the Welshmen did goot service in a garden where leeks did grow, wearing leeks in their Monmouth caps; which, your majesty knows, to this hour is an honourable padge of the service; and I do believe your majesty takes no scorn to wear the leek upon Saint Tavy’s day.”