A print depicting a Victorian couple in love, 1850s.

This print illustrates a courting couple standing or walking arm-in-arm in a garden. The woman wears a long pink dress with lace collar and cuffs and holds a lace handkerchief. She has one of the garden’s roses tucked in her fashionably arranged hair. The bearded man wears a formal, fitted double-breasted coat with a velvet collar, a vest, bow tie and striped trousers, and carries a small book. The print is typical of sentimental “genre prints” showing idealized Victorians performing their proper roles in society, serving both as moral instruction and as uplifting decoration for a home or business. The picture’s title, “Don’t Say Nay,” suggests that the man hopes his companion will accept him as a suitor or potential husband; their peaceful expressions (and the church in the background) hint that the courtship may be successful.