Chapter III (7)

Oh, pale, pale now, those rosy lips,
I aft hae kissed sae fondly,
And closed for aye the sparkling glance
That dwelt on me sae kindly!

BURNS.

CONSUMPTION.

Oh, then, when the spirit is taking wing,
How fondly her thoughts to her dear one cling,
As if she would blend her soul with his
In a deep and long-imprinted kiss!

PERCIVAL.

BARBARA.

Oh, that pallid face!
Those sweet, earnest eyes of grace!
When last I saw them, dearest, ’twas in another place;
You came running forth to meet me, with my love-gift on your wrist,
And a cursed river killed thee, aided by a murderous mist.
Oh, a purple mark of agony was on the mouth I kissed
When last I saw thee, Barbara!

ALEXANDER SMITH.

“I WANT TO FIND MY PAPA.”

A lady while walking in a city street met a little girl between two and three years old, evidently lost, and crying bitterly. Taking her by the hand, the lady asked her where she was going.

“I am going down town to find my papa,” was the reply, between sobs, of the child.

“What is your papa’s name?” asked the lady.

“His name is papa,” replied the innocent little thing.

“But what is his other name?” queried the lady; “what does your mamma call him?”

“She calls him papa,” persisted the baby.

The lady then took the little one by the hand and led her along, saying,—

“You had better come with me; I guess you came from this way.”

“Yes, but I don’t want to go back; I want to find my papa,” replied the little girl, crying afresh as if her heart would break.

“What do you want of your papa?” asked the lady.

“I want to kiss him.”

Just then a sister of the child came along looking for her and led her away. From subsequent inquiries, it appeared that the little one’s papa, whom she was so earnestly in search of, had recently died. In her lonesomeness and love for him, she tired of waiting for him to come home, and had gone to find him and greet him with the accustomed kiss.

THE PENALTY OF HARSHNESS.

It seems a hard and cruel thing to make the affections of a child its means of punishment for slight juvenile offences. A sad occurrence may be quoted as evidence in point.

A little girl, who, although an affectionate little creature as ever lived, was very volatile and light-hearted, could not always _remember_ to mind her mother. At the close of a winter day she had gone into the street, contrary to her mother’s injunction, to play with one of her little companions; when she came in, and was prepared to go to bed, she approached her mother for her good-night kiss.

“I cannot kiss you to-night, Mary,” said the mother; “you have been a very naughty little girl, and have disobeyed me. I cannot kiss you to-night.”

The little girl, her face streaming with tears, again begged her mother to kiss her; but she was a “strong-minded woman,” and was inexorable.

It was a sad lesson that she learned, for on that very night the child died of croup. She had asked her mother, the last thing as she went up to her little bed, if she would kiss her in the morning; but in the morning her innocent lips were cold.

VIRGINIA.

Macaulay, in his “Lays of Ancient. Rome,” includes the tragic incident which led to the downfall of the execrable government of Appius Claudius, who had made an attempt upon the chastity of a beautiful young girl of humble birth. The decemvir, unable to succeed by bribes and solicitations, resorted to an outrageous act of tyranny. A vile dependant of the Claudian house laid claim to the damsel as his slave. The cause was brought before the tribunal of Appius. The wicked magistrate, in defiance of the clearest proofs, gave judgment for the claimant; but the girl’s father, a brave soldier, saved her from servitude and dishonor by stabbing her to the heart in the sight of the whole forum. Virginius, in the course of a thrilling appeal to the people, says,—

“Have ye not graceful ladies, whose spotless lineage springs
From consuls, and high pontiffs, and ancient Alban kings?
Ladies who deign not on our paths to set their tender feet,
Who from their cars look down with scorn upon the wondering street;
Who in Corinthian mirrors their own proud smiles behold,
And breathe of Capuan odors and shine with Spanish gold?
Then leave the poor Plebeian his single tie to life,—
The sweet, sweet love of daughter, of sister, and of wife,
The gentle speech, the balm for all that his vexed soul endures,
The kiss in which he half forgets even such a yoke as yours;
Still let the maiden’s beauty swell the father’s breast with pride,
Still let the bridegroom’s arms enfold an unpolluted bride;
Spare us the inexpiable wrong, the unutterable shame,
That turns the coward’s heart to steel, the sluggard’s blood to flame,
Lest, when our latest hope is fled, ye taste of our despair,
And learn by proof, in some wild hour, how much the wretched dare.”

Having led the devoted maiden to the spot for sacrifice, he pours out in passionate language the wealth of his affection, closing thus:

“With all his wit, he little deems that, spurned, betrayed, bereft,
Thy father hath in his despair one fearful refuge left,
He little deems that in this hand I clutch what still can save
Thy gentle youth from taunts and blows, the portion of the slave;
Yea, and from nameless evil that passeth taunt and blow,—
Foul outrage which thou knowest not, which thou shalt never know.
Then clasp me round the neck once more, and give me one more kiss,
And now, mine own dear little girl, there is no way but this.’
With that he lifted high the steel and smote her in the side,
And in her blood she sank to earth, and with one sob she died.”

THE KISS IN EPIGRAM.

CASUISTRY.

When Sarah Jane, the moral miss,
Declares ’tis very wrong to kiss,
I’ll bet a shilling I see through it:
The damsel, fairly understood,
Feels just as any Christian should,—
She’d rather _suffer_ wrong than _do it_.

SAXE.

THE DIFFERENCE.

“I never give a kiss,” says Prue,
“To naughty man, for I abhor it.”
She will not _give_ a kiss, ’tis true:
She’ll _take_ one, though, and thank you for it.[30]

MOORE.

MODESTY.

“Kiss me, dear maid, to seal the vow
Of love that you have made.”
“I have no _right_ to kiss you now,”
The modest maiden said.

“If you can find it in your heart
My first wish to refuse,
Perhaps ’tis best that we should part
Ere we our freedom lose.”

“Although to kiss _you_ I demur,
Yet please to recollect
That if you choose to kiss _me_, sir,
Of course, I—can’t object.”

FOOLISH ROBIN.

“Come kiss me,” said Robin. I gently said, “No!
For my mother forbade me to play with men so.”
Abashed by my answer, he glided away,
Though my looks very plainly advised him to stay.
Silly swain, not at all recollecting—not he—
That _his_ mother ne’er said that he must not kiss _me_.

THE PRINTER’S KISSES.

_Print_ on my lips another kiss,
The picture of thy glowing passion;
Nay, this won’t do—nor this—nor this—
But now—Ah, that’s a _proof impression_!

But yet, methinks, it might be mended—
Oh, yes, I see it in those eyes;
Our lips again together blended
Will make the _impression_ a REVISE.

TULIPS AND ROSES.

My Rosa from the latticed grove
Brought me a sweet bouquet of posies,
And asked, as round my neck she clung,
If _tulips_ I preferred to _roses_.
“I cannot tell, sweet wife,” I sighed,
“But kiss me ere I see the posies:”
She did. “Oh, I prefer,” I cried,
“Your _two lips_ to a dozen roses.”

SEALING AN OATH.

“Do you,” said Fanny, t’other day,
“In earnest love me as you say?
Or are those tender words applied
Alike to fifty girls beside?”
“Dear, cruel girl,” cried I, “forbear;
For by those eyes—those _lips_—I swear!”
She stopped me as the oath I took,
And cried, “You’ve sworn—_now kiss the book_.”

MOUSTACHES.

Kate hates moustaches; so much hair
Makes every man look like a bear;
But Nellie, whom no thought could fetter,
Pouts out, “The more like bears the better,
Because” (her pretty shoulders shrugging)
“Bears are such glorious chaps for hugging.”

THE ANCIENT MAIDEN’S LAMENT.

I have a mouth for kisses,
No one to give or to take;
I have a heart in my bosom
Beating for nobody’s sake.

THE STAKES.

The following playful lines of Strode first appeared in a little volume entitled “New Court Songs and Poems,” printed in 1672, and were reproduced in Dryden’s “Miscellany,” 1716:

My love and I for kisses played:
She would hold stakes; I was content;
But when I won, she would be paid;
With that, I asked her what she meant.
“Nay, since I see,” quoth she, “your wrangling vain,
Take your own kisses; give me mine again.”[31]

DECLINING A KISS.

Said the master to Mary, a sweet-lipped lass,
As she stood in her place at the head of her class,
“You can decline ‘a kiss,’ no doubt?”
“I can,” she replied, with a blush and a pout,
And a glance to the master’s heart there shot,
“But, sir, if you please, I would rather not.”

EARLIEST RECOLLECTIONS.

I recollect a nurse called Ann,
Who carried me about the grass,
And one fine day a nice young man
Came up and kissed the pretty lass.
She did not make the least objection!
Thinks I, “Ah!
When I can talk, I’ll tell mamma”—
And that’s my earliest recollection.

FREDERICK LOCKER.

THE DISAPPOINTMENT.

Old Birch, who taught a village school,
Wedded a maid of homespun habit:
He was as stubborn as a mule,
And she was playful as a rabbit.
Poor Kate had scarce become a wife,
Before her husband sought to make her
The pink of country polished life,
And prim and formal as a Quaker.
One day the tutor went abroad,
And simple Katy sadly missed him:
When he returned, behind her lord
She slyly stole, and fondly kissed him.
The husband’s anger rose, and red
And white his face alternate grew.
“Less freedom, ma’am!”[32] Kate sighed, and said,
“_Oh, dear! I didn’t know ’twas you!_”

NON-COMPUTATION.

Old Jealousy would count our blisses;
Then give to me a thousand kisses,
Quick kissing me—quick kissing thee—
Oh, quick, oh, quick, the jade to trick!
O Ada, kiss so many kisses,
She, counting ever, ever misses.

LESSING.

BIANCA’S DREAM.

Meanwhile, remindful of the convent bars,
Bianca did not watch these signs in vain,
But turned to Julio at the dark eclipse,
With words like verbal kisses on her lips.

He took the hint full speedily, and, backed
By love, and night, and the occasion’s meetness,
Bestowed a something on her cheek that smacked
(Though quite in silence) of ambrosial sweetness,—
That made her think all other kisses lacked
Till then, but what she knew not, of completeness:
Being used but sisterly salutes to feel,
Insipid things—like sandwiches of veal.

HOOD.

THE HONEY-MOON.

Oh, happy, happy, thrice happy state,
When such a bright planet governs the fate
Of a pair of united lovers!
’Tis theirs, in spite of the serpent’s hiss,
To enjoy the pure primeval kiss
With as much of the old original bliss
As mortality ever recovers.

HOOD.

NO DOUBT OF IT.

She felt my lips’ impassioned touch,—
’Twas the first time I dared so much;
And yet she chid not,
But whispered o’er my burning brow,
“Oh! do you doubt I love you now?”
Sweet soul! I did not.

A REBUS.

“What is a rebus?” I asked of dear Mary,
As close by my side the dear maiden was seated:
I saw her eye droop and her countenance vary
As she said in reply, “’Tis a kiss, sir, repeated.”

THE DIFFERENCE.

My brother is shy,—I am not shy at all;
So, when there’s a mistletoe hung in our hall,
_He_ manages always to miss all the kisses,
While _I_, on the contrary, kiss all the misses.

STOLEN KISSES.

Kiss her gently, but be sly;
Kiss her when there’s no one by;
Steal your kiss, for then ’tis meetest—
Stolen kisses are the sweetest.

THE REASON WHY.

An impertinent youth at Saratoga amused himself by exhibiting the following lines to some of the ladies at a hotel:

Men scorn to kiss among themselves,
And scarce would kiss a brother;
But women want to kiss so bad,
They kiss and kiss each other.

Whereupon a young lady pencilled this retort on the back of an envelope, and left it for the fool’s instruction:

Men do not kiss among themselves,
And it’s well that they refrain:
The bitter dose would vex them so,
They would never kiss again.

As sometimes on poor woman’s lip
Is applied this nauseous lotion,
We _have_ to kiss among ourselves
As a counteracting potion.

THE INVENTOR OF KISSING.

When we dwell on the lips of the girl we adore,
What pleasure in Nature is missing?
May his soul be in heaven—he deserves it, I’m sure—
Who was first the inventor of kissing.

Master Adam, I verily think, was the man
Whose discovery can ne’er be surpast;
Then, since the sweet game with creation began,
To the end of the world may it last.

WOLCOT.

FORGIVENESS.

Forgive thy foes; nor that alone;
Their evil deeds with good repay;
Fill those with joy who leave thee none,
And kiss the hand upraised to slay.

So does the fragrant sandal bow,
In meek forgiveness, to its doom,
And o’er the axe at every blow
Sheds in abundance rich perfume.

THE RIGHTS OF MEN.

While others, Delia, use their pen
To vindicate the rights of men,
Let us, more wise, to bliss attend:
Be ours the rights which they defend.
Those eyes that glow with love’s own fire,
And what they speak so well inspire;
That melting hand, that heaving breast,
That rises only to be prest;
That ivory neck, those lips of bliss
Which half invite the offered kiss;
These, these—and Love approves the plan—
I deem the dearest rights of man.

TO A PAINTED LADY IN THE OLDEN TIME.

Is’t for a grace, or is’t some dislike,
Where others give ye lippe you give the cheeke;
Some houlde it for a pride of your behaviour,
But I do rather count it as a favour.
Wherefore to shew my kindnesse and my love,
I leave both lippes and cheekes, and kisse your glove.
Now what’s the cause? To make you full acquainted,
Your glove’s perfumed, your lippes and cheekes bepainted.

THE SOURCE ALIKE OF LIFE AND DEATH.

Nature that gave the bee so feate a grace
To find honey of so wondrous fashion,
Hath taught the spyder out of the same place
To fetch poyson by strange alteration,
Though this be strange, it is a stranger case
With one kiss, by a secret operation,
Both these at once in those your lips to finde,
In change whereof I leave my heart behinde.

SIR THOMAS WYATT.

ON A LADY STUNG BY A BEE.

To heal the wound the bee had made
Upon my Delia’s face,
Its honey to the wound she laid,
And bid me kiss the place.

Pleased, I obeyed, and from the wound
Sucked both the sweet and smart:
The honey on my lips I found,
The sting went through my heart.

THE KISS IN METAPHOR.

MORNING SONG.

Speed, zephyr! kiss each opening flower,
Its fragrant spirit make thine own,
Then wing thy way to Rosa’s bower,’
Ere her light sleep is flown.

There, o’er her downy pillow fly,
Wake the sweet maid to life and day:
Breathe on her balmy lip a sigh,
And o’er her bosom play.

MRS. HEMANS.

SUNRISE ON THE HILLS.

I stood upon the hills, when heaven’s wide arch
Was glorious with the sun’s returning march,
And woods were brightened, and soft gales
Went forth to kiss the sun-clad vales.

LONGFELLOW.

SPRING.

No icy fetters hold the stream;
The sun’s bright beam
Comes dancing o’er it to my feet;
The violets that skirt the bank
Bend down to thank
The laughing stream with kisses sweet.

SPRING FLOWERS

Spring has come with a smile of blessing,
Kissing the earth with her soft warm breath,
Till it blushes in flowers at her gentle caressing,
And wakes from the winter’s dream of death.

THE VIOLETS.

Close by the roots of moss-grown stumps,—
The sweetest and the first to blow,—
The blue-eyed violets, in clumps,
Kiss one another as they grow;

And, kissing one another, blend
Their dewy tears upon the earth,
And purest fragrance upward send,
Unconscious types of modest worth!

SPRING SONG.

When the soft winds blow,
And kiss away the snow,—
When the bluebirds sing,
For the dear warm spring,—
Then we’ll go a-Maying,
Through the meadows straying.

ROSE TERRY.

AUTUMN.

Morn on the mountain, like a summer bird,
Lifts up her purple wing, and in the vales
The gentle wind, a sweet and passionate wooer,
Kisses the blushing leaf, and stirs up life
Within the solemn woods of ash deep-crimsoned,
And silver beech, and maple yellow-leaved.

LONGFELLOW.

THE EVENING WIND.

The faint old man shall lean his silver head
To feel thee; thou shalt kiss the child asleep,
And dry the moistened curls that overspread
His temples, while his breathing grows more deep.

BRYANT.

THE CRIMSON SUNSET.

Fall on her, tell her dying glow,
How I am dreaming of her here,
And kiss for me her snowy brow;
Love, I am weak with hope and fear,
Thinking of thee.

HONE.

THE MOON-BEAM.

The silver light, so pale and faint,
Showed many a prophet, and many a saint,
Whose image on the glass was dyed;
Full in the midst, his cross of red
Triumphant Michael brandishèd,
And trampled the Apostate’s pride.
The moon-beam kissed the holy pane,
And threw on the pavement a bloody stain.

SCOTT.

THE LIGHT FROM THE TOMB.

No earthly flame blazed e’er so bright:
It shone like heaven’s own blessed light,
And, issuing from the tomb,
Showed the monk’s cowl, and visage pale,
Danced on the dark-browed warrior’s mail,
And kissed his waving plume.

SCOTT.

TIME AND TIDE.

The bridegroom sea
Is toying with the shore, his wedded bride,
And in the fulness of his marriage joy
He decorates her tawny brow with shells,
Retires a pace to see how fair she looks,
Then, proud, runs up to kiss her.

THE LIGHT-HOUSE.

It sees the ocean to its bosom clasp
The rocks and sea-sand with the kiss of peace;
It sees the wild winds lift it in their grasp,
And hold it up, and shake it like a fleece.

LONGFELLOW.

THE GROWING CORN.

Then, like a column of Corinthian mould,
The stalk struts upward and the leaves unfold;
The bushy branches all the ridges fill,
Entwine their arms, and kiss from hill to hill.

BARLOW.

FROM THE PSALMS OF DAVID.

Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.—lxxxv. 10.

PARAPHRASE.

In the book of Deuteronomy, ch. xxxiv. v. 5, occurs the sentence, “So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord.” The literal rendering of the last words is, “by the _mouth_ of the Lord,” or, as the Hebrews express it, “with a kiss from the mouth of God.” It is thus paraphrased by an old English poet:

Softly his fainting head he lay
Upon his Maker’s breast;
His Maker kissed his soul away,
And laid his flesh to rest.

TO CELIA.

Drink to me only with thine eyes,
And I will pledge with mine;
Or leave a kiss but in the cup,
And I’ll not look for wine.

BEN JONSON.

FROM ANACREON.

The shadowy grove,
Where, in the tempting guise of love,
Reclining sleeps some witching maid,
Whose sunny charms, but half displayed,
Blush through the bower, that, closely twined,
Excludes the kisses of the wind.

_Ode 59._

LOVE’S PHILOSOPHY.

The fountains mingle with the river,
And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of heaven mix forever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In one another’s being mingle—
Why not I with thine?

See the mountains kiss high heaven,
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother:
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea;
What are all these kissings worth,
If thou kiss not me?

SHELLEY.

FROM PLATO.

Kissing Helena, together
With my kiss, my soul beside it
Came to my lips, and there I kept it,—
For the poor thing had wandered thither,
To follow where the kiss should guide it;
Oh, cruel I, to intercept it!

SHELLEY.

FROM “THE LOVER’S CREED.”

I believe if I should die,
And you should kiss my eyelids when I lie
Cold, dead, and dumb to all the world contains,
The folded orbs would open at your breath,
And, from its exile in the Isles of Death,
Life would come gladly back along my veins.

NATURE’S MINISTRATIONS.

Nature’s voice
Bids thee hie fieldward and rejoice;
She calls thee from unhallowed mirth
To walk with beauty o’er the earth;
Proudly she calls thee forth, and now
Prints blandest kisses on thy brow;
On lip, on cheek, on bosom bare,
She pours the balmy morning air.

MOTHERWELL.

“GENTLEST OF MY FRIENDS.”

The branches of the trees
Bend down thy touch to meet,
The clover-blossoms in the grass
Rise up to kiss thy feet.

LONGFELLOW.

THE RELEASED CAPTIVE.

The hour which back to summer’s light
Calls the worn captive, with the gentle kiss
Of winds, and gush of waters, and the sight
Of the green earth.

MRS. HEMANS.

FROM “PHILASTER.”

Let me love lightning, let me be embraced
And kissed by scorpions, or adore the eyes
Of basilisks, rather than trust the tongues
Of hell-bred women.

BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.

FROM “THE TRAITOR.”

Does not
That death’s head look most temptingly? the worms
Have kissed the lips off.

SHIRLEY.

FROM “THE DYING SOLDIER.”

And here upon the battle ground,
Exhausted with the march and fight,
And sickened with the dreary sight
Of the red carnage all around,
I sigh to taste one cooling breath
Blown from the icy hills and sea;
Then welcome as a bride’s to me
Would be the gentle kiss of Death.

MARY IN HEAVEN.

Ayr, gurgling, kissed his pebbled shore
O’erhung with wild woods thickening green.

BURNS.

QUEEN GUINEVERE.

A man had given all other bliss,
And all his worldly worth, for this,
To waste his whole heart on one kiss
Upon her perfect lips.

TENNYSON.

THE PARTING.

The trance gave way
To those caresses, when a hundred times
In that last kiss, which never was the last,
Farewell, like endless welcome, lived and died.

TENNYSON.

THE POET’S FOOD.

Nor seeks nor finds he mortal blisses,
But feeds on the aërial kisses
Of shapes that haunt Thought’s wildernesses.

SHELLEY.

SLEEP.

Sleep, the fresh dew of languid love, the rain
Whose drops quench kisses till they burn again.

SHELLEY.

THE KISS IN ENIGMA.

I am just two and two, I am warm, I am cold,
And the parent of numbers that cannot be told;
I am lawful, unlawful,—a duty, a fault;
I am often sold dear, good for nothing when bought;
An extraordinary boon, and a matter of course,
And yielded with pleasure—when taken by force.[33]

COWPER.

* * * * *

A lady gave a gift, which she had not,
And I received her gift, which I took not;
She gave it me willingly, and yet she would not;
And I received it, albeit I could not;
If she gives it me, I force not,
And if she takes it again, she cares not.
Construe what this is, and tell not;
For I am fast sworn, I may not.

WYATT.

* * * * *

A lady once did ask of me
This pretty thing in privity:
Good sir, quoth she, fain would I crave
One thing which you yourself not have;
Nor never had yet in times past,
Nor never shall while life doth last;
And if you seek to find it out,
You lose your labor out of doubt.
Yet, if you love me as you say,
Then give it me, for sure you may.

GASCOIGNE.

* * * * *

The instant I’m born, though my frame is quite weak,
Most wondrous to utter, I smartly can speak;
My parents are pleased, and greatly rejoice,
And seem quite enraptured to hear my sweet voice;
But short, ah! too short is the time that I stay,
For when I’ve done speaking I languish away;
Yet this to my parents but seldom gives pain,
For they with a touch can call life back again!
Now all ye fair girls, and ye cheerful young swains,
Come search for my name and take me for your pains.

* * * * *

What part of speech is a kiss?—A conjunction.

What is the shape of a kiss?—A-lip-tickle.

Why is a kiss like a sermon?—Because it requires, at least, two heads and an application.

Why is a kiss like a rumor?—Because it goes from mouth to mouth.

When is a man like a spoon?—When he touches a lady’s lips without kissing them.

When are kisses sweetest?—When _syrup_-titiously obtained.

Why are two young ladies kissing each other an emblem of Christianity?—Because they are doing to each other as they would men should do unto them.

PROVERBS AND PROVERBIAL PHRASES.

Kissing goes by favor.

If you can kiss the mistress, never kiss the maid.

Many kiss the child for the nurse’s sake.

She would rather kiss than spin.

Better kiss a knave than be troubled with him.

He that kisseth his wife in the market-place shall have enough to teach him.

To kiss a man’s wife, or wipe his knife, is but a thankless office.

Kisses are the messengers of love.

Kiss and be friends.

None kitheth like the lithping lath (lass).

There’s something in a kiss that never comes amiss.

Stolen kisses are sweet.

Kissing is the prologue to sin.

Kissing is lip-service.

As easy as kiss your hand.

Kisses are the interrogation-points in the literature of love.

A sweetmeat which satisfies the hunger of the heart.

Cherries kiss as they grow.

GEMS OF THOUGHT.

A kiss from my mother made me a painter.

BENJAMIN WEST.

* * * * *

I came to feel how far above all fancy, pride, and fickle maidenhood, all earthly pleasure, all imagined good, was the warm tremble of a devout kiss.

KEATS.

* * * * *

It is delightful to kiss the eyelashes of the beloved—is it not? But never so delightful as when fresh tears are on them.

LANDOR.

* * * * *

The fragrant infancy of opening flowers flowed to my senses in that opening kiss.

SOUTHERN.

* * * * *

Kisses are like grains of gold or silver found upon the ground, of no value themselves, but precious as showing that a mine is near.

GEORGE VILLIERS.

* * * * *

The first lesson which the infant is taught is to kiss; it is at once the language of infancy and the currency of childhood. The little passionless face as it rests upon its mother’s bosom is moulded into smiles by a kiss, and thus by love’s fruit sweet echo is produced. Who shall tell the mystery, the deep love and earnestness, the quiet joy, the proud hope, of a mother’s kiss? and what brow or cheek of all that have gone forth into the wide, wide world, but wears this heavenly jewel, as imperishable as the glance of a diamond?

* * * * *

Like Dian’s kiss, unasked, unsought,
Love gives itself, but is not bought.

LONGFELLOW.

* * * * *

Pant on thy lip, and to thy heart be pressed;
Give all thou canst—and let me dream the rest.

POPE.

* * * * *

The gilliflower, the rose, is not so sweet
As sugared kisses be when lovers meet.

BURTON.

* * * * *

Kisses are like creation, because they are made out of nothing and are very good.

SAM SLICK.

* * * * *

He hath at will
More quaint and subtle ways to kill;
A smile or kiss, as he will use the art,
Shall have the cunning skill to break a heart.

SHIRLEY.

* * * * *

You may conquer with the sword, but you are conquered by a kiss.

HEINSIUS.

* * * * *

Oliver Wendell Holmes says a kiss is “the twenty-seventh letter of the alphabet,—the love-labial which it takes two to speak plainly.”

* * * * *

I put my lips to the panel of the door, as a kiss for my dear, and came quietly down again, thinking that one of these days I would confess to the visit.

DICKENS.

* * * * *

I picture you to myself as my hand glides over the paper. I think I see you, as you look on these words, and envy them the gaze of those dark eyes. Press your lips to the paper. Do you feel the kiss that I leave there?

BULWER-LYTTON.

* * * * *

He, from his very birth, cut off from the social ties of blood,—no mother’s kiss to reward the toils, or gladden the sports, of childhood,—no father’s cheering word up the steep hill of man.

BULWER-LYTTON.

* * * * *

Many a man and woman has been incensed and worshiped, and has shown no more feeling than is to be expected from idols. There is yonder statue in St. Peter’s, of which the toe is worn away with kisses, and which sits, and will sit eternally, prim and cold.

THACKERAY.

* * * * *

Now let me say good-night, and so say you:
If you will say so, you shall have a kiss.

SHAKSPEARE.

FOOTNOTES

[1] The ancients supposed that honey contained a tenth part of nectar, and therefore the lips of Lydia were imbued with double the nectar bestowed on honey.

[2] Ulysses had been sent by Agamemnon to the offended Achilles to induce him to return, but was treated by the latter with disdain, hence the importunity of Briseis.

[3] “Os parvum decensque labia corallini coloris ad morsum aptissima.”

[4] “Teneris labellis molles morsiunculæ.”

[5] The temple of Jupiter Ammon and the tomb of Battus, founder of the city of Cyrene, were four hundred miles apart, the intervening space being a waste of sand.

[6]

What more? All’s not enough: mix all t’express
My dear girl’s morning kisses’ sweetnesses.
You’d know her name? I’ll naught but kisses tell;
I doubt, I swear, you’d know her fain too well.

_Old MS. 16th. Century._

[7] Tennyson.

[8] The Duke of Clarence to Lady E. Beauchamp.

[9] Ruprecht may be called the Father Nicholas, who comes on Christmas eve and plays all sorts of tricks.

[10] The pax is a piece of board having the image of Christ upon the cross on it, which the people used to kiss after the service was ended, that ceremony being considered the kiss of peace.

[11] The admirers of Robert Burns will remember the lines:

“——bent on winning borough towns,
Come shaking hands wi’ wabster loons,
And kissing barefit carlins.”

[12] An actual expression of a child.

[13] Francesca da Rimini.

[14] Mr. Longfellow translates the passage thus:

“Alone we were and without any fear.
Full many a time our eyes together drew
That reading, and drove the color from our faces;
But one point only was it that o’ercame us,
Whenas we read of the much-longed-for smile
Being by such a noble lover kissed,
This one, who ne’er from me shall be divided,
Kissed me upon the mouth all palpitating.”

_Inferno_, v.

[15] Burns.

[16] Neck.

[17] “But I think my heart was e’en sairer when I saw that hellicat trooper, Tam Halliday, kissing Jenny Dennison afore my face. I wonder women can hae the impudence to do sic things; but they are a’ for the redcoats.”—SCOTT: _Old Mortality_.

[18] “The Merry Pranks of Robin Goodfellow,” from which this stanza is taken, though attributed to Ben Jonson, is not found among his works.

[19] Shakspeare, it will be observed, represents Hermione as a _colored_ statue. Paulina will not allow it to be touched, because the paint is not yet dry.

[20] A kiss appears to have been an established incident in ancient English marriage ceremonies.

[21] That by the impression of my kiss forever remaining on thy hand, thou mightst think on those lips through which a thousand sighs will be breathed for thee.

[22] A kiss was anciently in England the established fee of a lady’s partner. The custom is still prevalent among some of the country-people.

[23] Thus Bassanio, in “The Merchant of Venice,” when he kisses Portia:

“Fair lady, by your leave,
I come by note to _give_ and to _receive_.”

[24] Queen Mab.

[25] Probable allusion to the kissing comfits mentioned by Falstaff, “Merry Wives,” v. 5.

[26] The poet here, no doubt, copied from the mode of his own time, since kissing a lady in a public assembly was not then thought indecorous. In King Henry VIII., Act i., scene v., Lord Sands is represented as kissing Anne Boleyn, next whom he sat at supper.

[27] The handkerchief.

[28] In the serious treatment of this idea the following lines from Whittier’s “Angels of Buena Vista” are among the most beautiful:

“Whispered low the dying soldier, pressed her hand and faintly smiled:
Was that pitying face his mother’s? did she watch beside her child?
All his stranger words with meaning her woman’s heart supplied;
With her kiss upon his forehead, ‘Mother,’ murmured he, and died.”

[29] The readers of Byron’s “Don Juan” will remember the wish

“That womanhood had but one rosy mouth,
To kiss them all at once, from North to South.”

[30] This epigram, though taken from the French, may be traced back to the Latin Anthology:

“Kisses my Phillis takes, but ne’er bestows:
Taking’s all one with giving, Phillis knows.”

[31] There is a similar point in a Greek epigram of Strato:

“While thus a few kisses I steal,
Dear Chloris, you bravely complain;
If resentment you really do feel.
Pray give me my kisses again.”

[32] Mrs. Thomson, in her “Life of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough,” says:

“The proud Duke of Somerset married twice. His second duchess once tapped him familiarly on the shoulder with her fan; he turned round, and, with an indignant countenance, said, ‘My first duchess was a Percy, and she never took such a liberty.’”

[33] This riddle was originally published in the “Gentleman’s Magazine.” A correspondent furnished the following answer:

“A riddle by Cowper
Made me swear like a trooper;
But my anger, alas! was in vain;
For, remembering the bliss
Of beauty’s soft kiss,
I now long for such riddles again.”

INDEX.

THE KISS IN HISTORY.
_Diversities in the Bible_, 10.
_Freaks and Phases of Local Custom_, 56.
Arabian Salutation, 78.
Blarney Stone, 68.
Custom of Kissing Hands, 61.
Dangerous Game, 89.
Detective Utility, 92.
French Cheapening and Degeneracy, 74.
Husking-Frolics, 83.
Kiss for a Vote, 73.
Kiss-me-quick, 83.
Kiss of Peace, 56.
Kissing Dances, 74.
Kissing Hands in Austria, 76.
Kissing in China, 80.
Kissing the Pope’s Toe, 70.
Latter-day Kiss of Peace, 91.
National Differences, 92.
New-Year’s Day in New Amsterdam, 81.
New York Drummer’s Predicament, 88.
Old Roman Code, 79.
Paraguayan Compulsion, 87.
Pompeian Tokens, 77.
Question of Taste, 90.
Royal Feet-Washing and Kissing, 58.
Taking Toll at the Bridge, 84.
Templar Interdiction, 77.
Under the Mistletoe, 63.
Wedding Ceremony in Turkey, 79.
_Kiss Imprimis_, 9.
_Memorable Kisses_, 41.
_Significance among the Hebrews_, 9.
_Traces in English History_, 33.

THE KISS IN POETRY.
Anacreontic, 100.
Blooming Nelly, 101.
Bonnie Peggy Alison, 103.
Cock and Fox, 99.
Consecration, 115.
Dinna kiss afore Folk, 104.
Dinner and a Kiss, 112.
Don Juan and Haidee, 104.
First Kiss of Love, 105.
Five Twices, 126.
Give me Kisses, 111.
Glove, The, 95.
Hint, A, 113.
How it happened, 118.
In Ambush, 119.
Ines sent a Kiss to me, 97.
Julia’s Kiss, 107.
Kiss, A, 126.
Kiss at the Door, 125.
Kiss, The, 95.
Kiss, The, 108.
Kiss, The, A Dialogue, 93.
Kisses, 110.
Kisses To-Day, 114.
Landlady’s Daughter, 101.
Long Branch Episode, 120.
Nursery Rhymes, 128.
Parting Kiss, The, 96.
Platonic Kisses, 116.
Rhapsodies, 130.
Siren’s Song, 94.
Sonnet upon a Stolen Kiss, 93.
Teacher and Pupil, 106.
Thine at Last, 106.
Three Kisses, 121.
Throwing Kisses, 114.
To a Child embracing his Mother, 109.
To a Lady on her translation of Voiture’s Kiss, 108.
To Charis, 96.
To my Love, 112.
Too Old for Kisses, 123.
Under the Rose, 115.
Wandering Knight’s Song, 98.
Wedding Song, 124.
Yielding to Temptation, 97.
_Basia of Johannes Secundus_, 170.
_Excerpts from the Poets_, 132.
_Extracts from the Old Ballads_, 153.
_Humors of Verse_, 158.
Ancient Spanish Lyric, 168.
Auld Wifie, 160.
Ballad of the Oysterman, 167.
Beware of Paint, 164.
Broken Pitcher, 168.
Caprice, 161.
Carlo and Sally, 161.
Dance about the May-pole, 159.
Delia’s Handkerchief, 162.
Dumbarton’s Drums, 163.
Kissing no Sin, 160.
Kissing the Rod, 162.
King Keder, 161.
Mock Heroics, 158.
Noses, 164.
On refusing Angeline a Kiss, 158.
Publican’s Daughter, 162.
Robin Goodfellow, 163.
Shadows, The, 165.
Smack in School, 166.
Souter and his Sow, 160.

THE KISS IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE.
_Selections from Shakspeare_, 191.
Alfieri, 221.
Beaumont and Fletcher, 212.
Ben Jonson, 209.
Browning, Mrs., 223.
Bulwer-Lytton, 221.
Dryden, 219.
Ford, 217.
Goethe, 221.
Goldsmith, 219.
Heywood, 218.
Knowles, 220.
Lansdowne, 219.
Lilly, 214.
Longfellow, 221.
Marlowe, 215.
Marston, 215.
Massinger, 216.
Mitford, 223.
Otway, 219.
Procter, 223.
Schiller, 220.
Shirley, 218
Talfourd, 222.
Tennyson, 224.

THE KISS IN FICTION.
_Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Novels_, 225.
Selections from Richardson, Mrs. Behn, Jane Porter, Thackeray,
Dickens, Victor Hugo, Reade, Mühlbach, W. Scott, Hawthorne,
Kingsley, Zchokke, Brontë, Disraeli, Bulwer-Lytton, Warren, and
others, 225.

THE KISS IN HUMOROUS STORY AND ANECDOTE.
All-embracing Inclusion, 295.
Amorous Western Youth, 281.
Awakening, The, 291.
Baffled Courtier, 286.
Clergyman’s Joke, A, 288.
Early Discrimination, 285.
Father Tom and the Pope, 273.
First Kiss, The, 293.
Jean Paul’s Schoolboy Experience, 292.
Kissing the Feet, 294.
Kiss in the Dark, 296.
Let me Kiss him for his Mother, 290.
Love in a Street-Car, 282.
Student of Upsala, 276.
Sudden Attachment, 284.
Taking Toll, 283.
Thankful Spirit, A, 287.
Tunnel Stories, 278.
_Budget of Facetiæ_, 299.
_Prenticeana_, 318.

MISCELLANEOUS ASPECTS AND RELATIONS.
_Qualitative Analysis_, 321.
Composition of a Kiss, 324.
Philosophy of Kissing, 322.
Science of Kissing, 322.
Sound of a Kiss, 324.
_The Dangerous Side_, 326.
Legal View, 326.
Medical View, 331.
_The Sorrowful Side_, 339.
After the Ball, 341.
After the Wedding, 342.
Barbara, 351.
Chevy-Chase, 345.
Consumption, 351.
Death of an Infant, 350.
Death of a Friend’s Child, 351.
Dying Injunction, 347.
Earl March’s Daughter, 346.
Enoch Arden, 349.
Evangeline, 350.
Exiles, The, 348.
Faithful unto Death, 347.
Highland Mary, 351.
I want to find my Papa, 352.
Jephthah’s Daughter, 349.
King of France’s Daughter, 346.
Last Observance, 348.
Margaret, 339.
Œnone, 349.
Old Love, The, 345.
Orate hic pro me, 348.
Over the Starry Way, 350.
Penalty of Harshness, 353.
Quarrel and Reconciliation, 350.
Virginia, 353.
Welcome Home, 341.
_The Treacherous Side_, 333
Algerine Revenge, 335.
All for Show, 336.
Artifice, 339.
Conspiracy against Edward II., 338.
Cupid’s Wiles, 339.
Descent from the Tree, 337.
Fabulla, 336.
False Lady, 337.
Gay Deceiver, 338.
Judas Kiss, 334.
Kiss Fuliginous, 336.
Lady Bothwell’s Lament, 338.
Lures of the Enchantress, 339.
Madame de Staël’s Hypocrisy, 333.
Perjury, 338.
Wife’s Infidelity, 334.
Woman, 337.
_The Kiss in Enigma_, 373.
_The Kiss in Epigram_, 356.
Ancient Maiden’s Lament, 358.
Bianca’s Dream, 360.
Casuistry, 356.
Declining a Kiss, 359.
Difference, The, 356.
Difference, The, 362.
Disappointment, The, 359.
Earliest Recollection, 359.
Foolish Robin, 357.
Forgiveness, 363.
Honey-Moon, The, 361.
Inventor of Kissing, 363.
Lady Stung by a Bee, 364.
Modesty, 356.
Moustaches, 358.
No Doubt of It, 361.
Non-Computation, 360.
Painted Lady in Olden Time, 364.
Printer’s Kisses, 357.
Reason Why, 362.
Rebus, A, 361.
Rights of Men, 363.
Sealing an Oath, 358.
Source of Life and Death, 364.
Stakes, The, 358.
Stolen Kisses, 362.
Tulips and Roses, 357.
_The Kiss in Metaphor_, 365.
Autumn, 366.
Crimson Sunset, 367.
Evening Wind, 366.
From Anacreon, 369.
From Philaster, 371.
From Plato, 370.
From The Dying Soldier, 371.
From The Lover’s Creed, 370.
From The Psalms, 368.
From The Traitor, 371.
Gentlest of My Friends, 371.
Growing Corn, 368.
Light from the Tomb, 367.
Light-house, The, 368.
Love’s Philosophy, 369.
Mary in Heaven, 372.
Moon-beam, The, 367.
Morning Song, 365.
Nature’s Ministrations, 370.
Paraphrase, 368.
Parting, The, 372.
Poet’s Food, 372.
Queen Guinevere, 372.
Released Captive, 371.
Sleep, 372.
Spring, 365.
Spring Flowers, 365.
Spring Song, 366.
Sunrise on the Hills, 365.
Time and Tide, 367.
To Celia, 369.
Violets, The, 366.
_The Kiss in Proverbs_, 375.
_Gems of Thought_, 376.