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CORNELL
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

 

 

 

CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
Gift of

SAMUEL B. BIRD ’21
 

] 7 =o a TERT: cae

poe
TN

 

 
 

 

By gw Ce, Hablot AD ight [SIS- 1882,
a

oul
ABOUT KISSES.

BY

DAMOCLE S.pse ide.

 

WITH ONE HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS
BY

HABLOTT K. BROWN,

(PHIZ).

LONDON:
CHARLES HENRY CLARKE,
13, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.

4

 

 

 
PN
baz
Ks

Bes

LONDON:
WALTER ARNOLD AND CO., PRINTERS, 40 AND 41, KIRBY STREET,

HATTON GARDEN, E.C.

 

WR PE, ee eee,
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

Contents.

Otero
* PART I.
PAGE
OPENING REMARKS she 93 oo ae I
ORIGIN OF THE Kiss ee #3 ass oe 3 |
WHaT Is A Kiss? xe ay side Se) 4
Eary KissEs aie oe ti vee eo 6

LATER KIssES

 

CONVENIENT SUBJECTS FOR KISSING ...
AWKWARD Susycts FOR KIssInG
DIFFERENT Kinps oF Kisses wi
How To Kiss wi ve aa Sop
WHEN To Kiss, AND WHEN Nort... oe
KIssEs IN COURTSHIP a re eee
THE FLAVOUR AND FRAGRANCE oF KIssrs
THE LANGUAGE or -KIssEs ... ne ais
FAMILIAR SAYINGS ABOUT KIssES
THROWING KIssEs ... Seb ae bass
Kisses PER Post... sas $s
. Cost oF KissEs
Tue Heaine VIRTUE OF KissEs__,., sf
Kiss IN THE RING ..,
FORBIDDEN FRUIT at
MISCELLANEOUS KISSES a4
KIssEs IN THE OVEN wie

KiIssEs IN THE Cup... ee Sa

 

 
 

CONTENTS.

AN Easy Way OF MAKING GLOVES ... ces

Wuist; KissING THE DEALER aux whe aes

Kissinc THE Hanp or Foor. eae es ‘gis
Lirs se age seg ae ee ave
UNDER THE MISTLETOE vie vee aa ee
KissEs IN SONG Se a ia

Kissrs AT MARRIAGES
‘RussIAN AND GERMAN CUSTOMS ... ee se
“Kisses AND COLDS ... awe on ay ue

Kissrs AND GAPES ... see

OmMNIUM GATHERUM eas sis oats eu
PART Il.
(SELECTIONS FROM)
Byron, Lorp ne wai ae és wee
Burns cae 2 se “ive
BONNEFONS, JEAN ... ie are

| BONFADIUS... aaa is erie haae = teats ss
. BAIF oes st wae vive es aie
BUCHANAN ... we ake

BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER ... ie ase

CANNAZAR tise a us Be aes
| COLERIDGE ... wis

CoMBE as i tae ade nos ae
DruMMOND ane wa

FONTANUS ... és wa aie

PAGE
52
54
56
60
64
67
69
69
71
7t
73

103
121
192
220
220
221
143
208
133
136
142

217

 

 
 

 

vi CONTENTS,

GALLUS i yee iis ve
CASSICS sux wee

GUARINI ... wie ais eat
Hoop, Tom... ae wee

Iiunt, LEicu — see ee
HoRACE sve wes sa

HILL, AARON 188 tie

Jonson, Brn

KEATS ane nk es
Moors, Ton aay an Bt
Murer spe wees aaa win
MARTIAL... ae cea ai
OvIp tee a se
Pinvar, PeTER ee a ne
PASQUIER ... ds

Piao wie awe die ne
SUAKESPEARE sah wie wee
SECUNDUS, JOHANNES as
SHELLEY... is ies ast
SAPPHO vee se

STEPHENS ... or ae
STANLEY... eu

TENNYSON ...
WHITE, KIRKE

Various AUTHORS ... ae

 

PACE
219
 

PART I.

Biases in Prose,

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

Opening Remarks.

        

=
> es

fut about Kisses.” I can imagine the as-
v- tonished reader exclaiming, with particular
f emphasis on ‘the first word— “Bosh! all

about fiddlesticks!’’ Precisely! the reader

and I agree. It would be as absurd for
me to attempt to tell a// about kisses as it would be to
tell all about those indispensable sticks that lure the
sweet music from the fiddle! My attempt is less
absurd; my aim less presumptuous. If the reader
will remove the emphasis from “all,” and put it on

y-

 

 

I
 

 

2

the “kisses,” it will better suit “my book,” and give
greater satisfaction to the person oper ated upon.

_ If kissing is not a science, it may certainly be con-.
sidered a Fine Art. It has been practised and pro-
mulgated in all countries and in all ages, but in no
country has it found more zealous devotees, or more
of them, than in England, and yet one would be puzzled
to rake up half-a-dozen printed works on the sub-
ject! The knowledge of the art has been principally
conveyed from mouth to mouth. .

To supply a long-felt want (?), this little volume
on kisses and kissing is offered. I do not claim for
it literary merit, nor yet the reader’s seréous perusal of
its pages. My effort has been to make it as enter~
taining and useful as possible. In the advice and
observations put forth, I have addressed myself more |
particularly to man, as the stands most in need of the:
same. It is for man to kiss, and for woman to be
kissed. There is no law, however, against woman -
kissing, nor could such a law be desired. ;
_In this little labour of love I have availed myself
of the assistance of many famous authors, ancient and:
modern. The text will be illustrated with numerous)
grotesque sketches from my own pencil, which, I hope,
may provoke an occasional smile or hearty laugh. -,

THE AUTHOR.
Brighton.
 

tamiwh a0

Origin of the iss,

   

A> HE origin of the kiss, like the origin of
many other things, is involved in obscurity.
It is not our intention to clear up the mys-
tery—in fact, we can’t. Our first parents
very I:kely knew something of the matter.
It is not unreasonable to suppose that Adam bestowed
many a loving kiss on his fair partner, and that she
kissed him in return. We are strengthened in the
belief that it was so by the fact that kisses have about
them so much of the ambrosial sweetness, that, in our
ideas, we associate with an earthly paradise.

_The first kiss on record is the one Jacob gave to
Rachel, on meeting her at the well; the second is
that given to Jacob by Rachel’s father. We are not
told which kiss Jacob liked best! They were both modcl
kisses—the first was a kiss of love, and the second a
kiss of peace—a Christian salute. The ancients culti-
vated both kinds of kisses; but in modern times the
kiss of peace has fallen into disuse, especially among
men; the women occasionally use it among them-
selves, but there is more formality than ~ meaning
about it. We now rely entirely on the kiss of love,
which, of course, is capable of many degrees of ex-
pression and application. It answers every purpose
~ for’ which a kiss is required: oP

.&
4

 

 
 

 

WAbat is w Riss?

ee VERYBODY knows what a kiss is. The |
Its blushing maiden of sweet seventeen knows;
that roguish twinkle in her eye tells us that
she has often had one. The school-boy
knows what a kiss is, and so does the school-
girl. The old people know quite well, and even the
baby knows. The rich and poor, cld and young, all
know, and could show us what a kiss is—even make us
feel its meaning, but could either of them /e// us? Let
Edwin ask his Angelina what a kiss is, and if she does
not evade the question, and call him something or other,
it will be odd, and even worth entering in his diary, if
he is thoughtless enough to keep one! A kiss is one of
those things more easily felt than described. Josh
Billings says, “ The more a man tries to analyse a
kiss, the more he can’t. Any man who can sit down,
tilt his chair back, place his feet on the mantel-piece, and
tell how a kiss tastes, has no more real flavour in his
mouth than a knot-hole. The only way to define a
kiss is to take one.” There happens to be much truth
in the foregoing observations. A soldier once attempted
to define a kiss, and so far succeeded as to say that it
was “a report at head-quarters.” <A civilian also tried, ,
but signally failed.. He must have been spooney. “A
kiss,” said he, “is a receipt given you by a lady, on

 

 
 

paying your addresses!” That is a very one-sided
and exclusive definition.

Referring to my old and learned friend, Dr. Johnson,
who has helped me, as he has many others, out of
frequent wordy difficulties, I find that even he shirks
the responsibility of defining the word, but gives the
definition of Dryden, and this is it :—

JOHN SONS “YD ICTIONARY

 

 

Eureka! we need inquire no further. A kiss in Dry-
den’s time, our time, or anyone else’s time, was and
is the same,

 

 
 

 

Early Frsses.

ere that, we met with kisses. Kisses were
about the first things we received after
making our dédut in the world. Our doting

 

parents, of course, kissed us, and so did
Sairey Gamp. We might have noted the odour of gin in
her kiss at the time, although we have since forgotten it.

 

Before we were many weeks old, all our immediate
relations and friends, and many of our distant ones, espe-
cially the feminine portion of them, had given us the usual

 

—
 

7

labial salute and passed the usual compliment—“ What a
fine baby!”” Some of them would, perhaps, rather not
have kissed us, and, on the other hand, perhaps we had
rather they had not, but customs and formalities had to be
observed. Kissing was the very first thing we were
taught, and it was wonderful how soon we picked*up
the knowledge; indeed, kissing, like Dogberry’s learn-
ing, seems to come by nature. When we could kiss,
what a time we had! We were called upon to kiss

 

promiscuously everybody and nearly everything we came
in contact with! Our existence was ‘one scene of kiss-
ing and being kissed. At no subsequent period of our
lives have we been required to endure so much in that
way. Some of the kisses we used to get then were
kisses! We used to dread them! They were positively

 

— aaa

 
 

 

8

dangerous. At times we were afraid part of our little
cheeks or arms would have been sucked into somebody’s
mouth and been lost to us for ever. The mouths were
so large, as we then thought, and the kisses so vehement.
And then, again, what dreadful marks some of them
left behind, seldom smaller than a crown-piece, but they
soon disappeared. As months passed on, and we grew
into years, and could run about, we did not get quite
so many kisses as when we were in arms, and that
may be accounted for by the fact that we were not
then so near to anybody’s mouth, and that other
claimants had arrived on the scene. But we were not
short of kisses even then, we had as many as we
wanted, and were satisfied.

‘When I was a little baby,

Gals would never let me be,

For every one would snatch me up
And place me on her knee ;

Then so kiss and squeeze and hug me,
I’m sure that ‘Dad’ and ‘Mam’

Must have wondered I surviv’d it,
But I stood it like a lamb.

“*And again while but in boyhood,

They’d tempt me from my home,

Through gardens and through pleasure grounds,
O’er fairy spots to roam ;

Then with luscious fruits and sweetmeats
My small ‘tummy’ they would cram,

And half stifle me with kisses,
But I stood it like a lamb,”

 
 

 

 

Pater Risses.

   
  

g&\ HE first time in our lives when we are likely
* to run short of kisses is when we are in our
pepe teens. A certain French writer describes
Wf young ladies as creatures that cease to kiss
BAS = gentlemen at twelve, and begin again at.
twenty! He might have said something of the same

 

. sort about young gentlemen. At the period referred to
however, the kisses that are lacking in quantity are more
:

 

1*

 
 

 

10

than compensated for in quality, for, despite what the
French writer says, there are kisses. Early kisses are
insipid—in fact, nothing better than mere mechanical
salutes, those of later years are tasty, full of meaning
_ and feeling—spiritual. One of them goes a long way,
and we have often to go a long. way for it, and it is
well that it is so. It would not do for us to indulge in
the art to the extent that we did in our younger days,
It would unfit us for the affairs of daily life. We happen
to live in prosaic times, and work that we may eat. If
we lived in some happy region where labour was un-
known, we might devote ourselves to the luxurious
indulgence of kissing, without, perhaps, being much th

worse for it. As it is, we must be contented with an
occasional kiss, and, bringing our practical expe-
rience to bear upon it, extract the greatest possible
amount of bliss therefrom—then wait till fortune favours
us with the next—not forgetting the Latin metto,

« Aupaces Fortuna Juvat.”

a

 
 

 

II

Conberient Subjects for Hissing.

Exe UST as some subjects are awkward for kiss-
2 ing, others are very convenient, that is, there
are no physical, although there may be
moral, difficulties in the way. A prominent
nose is a great difficulty, and not easily sur-
mounted, but a prominent lip is quite the reverse. The

 

           

Zi™ JK 32)
oN henge
Ame, =

oY

flatter the nose and the more prominent the lips, the
easier the kissing. It is an acknowledged fact that too

 

 
 

 

12

frequent kissing has a tendency to blunt the nose and
draw out the lips. Be careful, therefore, that while you.
are indulging in kisses, you don’t at the same time spoil
the beauty of your face.

On the preceding page are a few examples of what
might be considered convenient subjects for kissing.

Mark the young gentleman at the top, and the lady
on either side. Are not their lips well located? The
noses differ, but that is of no consequence, they are out
of the way of the mouths, and so will not interfere with
the kisses. Good, kind ‘hoses! Would that they were
more general!

Looking at the young lady at the bottom, who is not

constrained to exclaim with Ovid—

‘* Short is her mouth, her lips are made to kiss,
Rosy and full, and prodigal of bliss.”

Or with our own gréat poet, Shakespeare—

~**Q how ripe in show
Thy lips, those kissing cherries tempting grow.”

And what can be said of the young gentleman facing
her. His nose will never interfere with his kissing—it
is too far away from his mouth to be guilty of such a
thing.

A moderate-sized, or small mouth is better for kissing
than a large one. If the mouth is too large, there is a
danger of the kiss slipping in instead of resting on the
lips, and, on the other hand, if the mouth is too small, it

 
 

13

will not be possible to make with the lips a nice-sized
kiss, such as a lover would prefer, although it might be
just the thing for a child. A slight moustache on a
gentleman’s lip is no objection, but very objectionable on
a lady’s.

 

 
 

 

14

Ainhwours Subjects for Aissing.
Si

 

     
 
  

 

| ENERALLY speaking, kissing is easy work,

that is if you have a subject to operate upon.

The difficulty is to find a subject. Now and

ow then, thank goodness, it is not oftener, an

eN uncommonly awkward subject turns up, one
ry ” P:

that was cither never meant for kissing or had been

 

spoilt by age, neglect, or some other cause. Kissing is
quite out of the question, even if it were possible, it
*

 
 

-

15

would never be worth the trouble. Our illustration
supplies a few examples of what might be considered
awkward subjects for kissing.

The old lady at the top, it is to be hoped, has seen
better days, and creditably passed through a kissing
career ere her nose and chin attempted to shake hands,
and for ever spoilt her mouth for the art. But what can
be said of the younger subjects? Note the leading
feature of the gentleman to the right, and the lady to
the left. Nature, when endowing them so lavishly with
noses, perchance forgot that mouths were used for cther
purposes than feeding! These are two very distressing
cases. There is only one remedy, and that is a despe-
rate one—to excise the obstructive members, and trust
to Nature to supply better ones!

Of the two remaining awkward subjects, the lady is
the most unfortunate. Her lips will persist in keeping so
far apart, and exposing the teeth. It would not be a bad
mouth for kissing if the lips could be drawn together.
The gentleman’s lips are invisible and inaccessible by
reason of the hirsute ornament under his nose. If you
made the attempt you would only kiss his hair, and if
you made an attempt with the lady, you would only kiss
her teeth! The gentleman certainly has the advantage.
Whenever he feels disposed to “go in” for kisses, it is in
his power to remove the great obstacle in a very few
minutes by the friendly aid of a pair of scissors and a
razor. It is a noteworthy fact that gentlemen of this
stamp invariable take it into their heads, at some time

=

 
 

 

16

or other, to have a “clean shave.’ The motive is un-
questionably Jaudable.

The labial salute is not easily given when a convenient
subject meets with an awkward one, but when two
awkward ones come together, what then !

 

 
 

17

ye ISSES are of great variety. They differ in

. size, strength, duration, taste, feeling, &c.
They are good, bad, or indifferent. There
are three sizes—small, medium, and large.

 

The “Suaviolum,” or small kiss, is made by
children, and persons with very small mouths, or by
persons with ordinary mouths, when a ceremonial kiss is
required. It is also used much for stage purposes, as
there is little actual meaning in it.

“The kiss, it is true,
For children may do,
The passionless, aged, or grave.”

but it is no good to the lover—he requires a more sub-

 

stantial kiss, and a worthier exponent of his feelings.
The large or “ slobbering ” kiss is the small kiss in its
most exaggerated form! One is undeveloped and the

 

 

2
 

 

18

other is over-developed. It is generally made by vulgar
people. It is a well-meant kiss, although not unlike a
playful bite. A pocket-handkerchief should be in readi-
ness to wipe the place! It covers too much space, and
makes too much noise. It is appreciated by those who
like quantity.

The Medium or “Love” kiss is the parfect one, and.
the one in most general use. It may vary to the fraction
of an inch in size, but never more. It is always a nice
size; fits everybody’s mouth, and gives universal satisfac.
tion. A person who may turn away from the other
kisses, is sure to appreciate this.

The quality of kisses cannot bctier be set forth than in
the following quotations from the poets :—

Tue Corp Kiss.

“ Cold is the kiss that senseless beauty gives.” — Sannazar.

“ Cold grew the lips, and cold,
Colder the kiss.” —Byron.

“ The very ice of chastity is in them.” —Shakespeare.

“ Those cold, cold kisses whence no rapture flows.”
Secundus.

 

Tue Warm Kiss.
“O take this warm kiss on thy pale cold lips.””
Shakespeare.

 

 
 

* 19

“ O Jannie, let me freely taste
Those kisses warm and sweet,
For which, my love, I’d gladly waste
Whole ages at thy feet.”

Tue Lone Kiss.
“A long, long kiss, a kiss of youth and love.”—Byron.
“ A kiss ;
Long as my exile, sweet as my revenge.’”’—Shakespeare.
“ The long kiss, when lips to lips adhere.”’—Secundus.

“ And fix, in ecstacy of bliss,

On thy fair lips—one long—one never-ending kiss.”
Secundus.

“ One kiss the maiden gives, one last
Long kiss.”—Moore.

 

Tue Hump Kiss.

“So, when thy humid lips encounter mine,

Sweet is the humid kiss which flows from thine.”
Secundus.

“The humid kiss with nectar rich imbued.”—Murez,
“ Give me, sweet life, the kiss that’s ripe,
With honied moisture sweet.” —Bonnefons.

“ And her moist lip to mine applied,
And dewy kisses press’d.”—Bonnefons.

 

 
 

 

20

Tue Sacrep Kiss.
“Grow to my lips thou sacred kiss,
On which my soul’s beloved swore.”—Moore.

“When from those lips, unbreathed upon for years,
I shall again kiss off the soul-felt tears,
And find those tears warm as when last they started,
Those sacred kisses pure as when we parted.”—Afoore.

“Now, by the jealous queen of heaven, that kiss
I carried from thee, dear, and my true lip
Hath virgin’d it _e’er since.”—Shakespeare.

Tue Sorr Kiss.
“Our praises are our wages, you may ride us
With one soft kiss a thousand furlongs, ere
With spur we heat an-acre.”—Shakespeare.

“ While my heart with passion glowing,
Calls thee loveliest, dearest, best,
Wilt thou, the soft kiss bestowing,
Soothe its pain, and give it rest.”—Bounefoxs.

Tur Arvent Kiss.
“So ardent kisses ardent joys impart,

And the warm transport thrills within the breast.”
Secundus.

 

Tue Zratous Kiss.
“ Upon thy cheek lay I this zealous kiss
As seal to the indenture of my love.” — Shakespeare.

a
 

21

“Your lips, dear maid, the ¢hril/ng kiss impart.”
Secundus.
““¢ Give me, sweet maid, one U/le kiss,

One little kiss,’ I-said, and sighed.” —Secundus.
“ And seal the title with a lovely kiss.”—Shakespeare.

“ While now her bending neck she plies
Backward to meet the burning kiss,
Then with an easy cruelty denies

Yet wishes you would snatch, not ask the prize.”
Horace.

. “Mild as the kisses of connubial love.”-—Kirke HWhite.
«What lack we here to crown our bliss,
While thus the pulse of joy beats high?
What but fair woman’s yielding kiss,

Her panting breath and melting eye.”
Str Walter Scott.

 

 
 

22

Bobo to iss.

AE, PERSON who confessed to not knowing how
'® to kiss would be looked upon as a natural
curiosity, or a heathen of the worst type, and
yet, even in this civilised land, there are lots
of people who are quite ignorant of the art!
They are in the habit of doing something with their lips,
which they call kissing, but-it is nothing of the sort—
they deceive themselves ! ae are kisses, and there
are xissEs, and the difference -between them is as black
is to white, or heat to cold. {The art of kissing is very

 

 

easy and simple, although so many people bungle over
it. Proficiency in it is attained by practice—practice

a
 

23

makes perfect.) Kissing requires to be done with great
care and deliberation. Kisses that are made in a hurry
are never perfect, they are deformed or fragmentary,
and would not pass for anything in the Courts of Love.
There are single and doudle kisses. The former are
not bad in their way, but lack the very thing which the
latter possesses—reciprocity. The double kiss can only
be made by the united effort of two persons—a kiss must
be given and received simultaneously by each.

The following instructions are given by Dr. Piesse,
ard are well worth the careful consideration of all
persons interested in the subject:—

 

“ People will kiss, yet not one in a hundred knows how
to extract bliss from lovely lips, any more than he knows
how to make diamonds from charcoal. And yet it is
easy, at least for us. First know whom you are going -

 

 
 

24

to kiss. Don’t make a mistake, although a mistake may
be good. Don’t jump like a trout for a fly, and smack
a good woman on the neck, on the ear, on the corner of
her forehead, or on the end of her nose. The gentle-
man should be a little the taller. He should have aclean
face, a kind eye, and a mouth full of. expression: Don’t
kiss everybody. Don’t sit down to it; stand up. Need
not be anxious about getting in a crowd. ‘Two persons
are plenty to corner, and catch a kiss; more persons
would spoil the sport. (Take the left hand of the lady
in your right; let-your-hat-go. to—any place-out ‘of ‘the
way: place the left hand gently over the shoulder of the
lady, and let it fall down the right side, towards the belt.
Her head will fall lightly upon your shoulder—and a
handsome shoulder strap it makes. Don’t be in a hurry;
send a little life down your left arm. Her left hand is in
your right; let there be an impression to that, not like
the grip of a vice, but a gentle clasp, full of electricity,
thought, and respect. Don’t be in a hurry. Her head
lies carelessly on your shoulder, You are nearly heart
to heart. Look down into her half-closed eyes. Gently,
yet manfully, press her to your bosom. Stand firm. Be *
brave, but don’t be in a hurry. Her lips are almost
open. Lean slightly forward with your head, not the
body. Take good aim; the lips meet; the eyes closc;
the heart opens; the soul rides the storms, troubles, and .
sorrows of life (don’t be in a hurry); heaven opens
before you; the world shoots under your feet as a meteor -
flashes across the evening aky] (den’t be -afraid); the

 

—
 

25

nerves dance before the just erected altar of love, as
zephyrs dance with the dew-trimmed flowers; the heart
forgets its bitterness, and the art of kissing is learned.
No fuss, no noise, no fluttering. Kissing don’t hurt; it
don’t require a gold band to make it legal.’’

CO

 

Q*

 
 

 

26

When to Biss, and foben Hot,

CNL
ae ig, r ‘
Wea T is not everyone who knows exactly when to

kiss, and when to abstain; it requires great

   

a, discrimination, and, at times, no small amount
= of self-denial and resolution. It is impossible
to lay down any particular rules for guidance
in such a matter. Circumstances alter cases, and in
kissing, a great deal depends on the circumstances. A
few general rules may.be observed with advantage:—
Kiss as often as you can, within the bounds of pro-
priety. Never let a favourable opportunity slip by;

 

if itis not very favourable, never mind, don’t give way
to grief’ You need not trouble to ask a lady if you may

 
 

27

kiss her, ladies are as fond of Kisses as gentlemen, and
probably more so. If you ask permission, remember

that
‘* Maids in modesty say No, to that
Which they would have the profferer construe Ay.”

Two GENT. OF VERONA, act i. sc. 2.

In courtship there are many proper occasions for
kisses, don’t overlook them. Always kiss on meeting and
parting with your sweetheart, even if you omit doing
so in the interval. Whenever you take a young lady
out, take a kiss as well, if she should remonstrate with
you (if she is a sensible girl she won’t) have in readiness,
and humbly tender her this Shakesperian apology :—

*¢T were unmannerly to take you out
And not to kiss you.”—HeEwnry VIIL, act i, sc. 4.

If that don’t answer, be magnanimous, and return the
kiss :-—Part friendly—you will understand each other
better next time.

Avéid kissing in a railway train. The dangers of
that means of locomotion need no augmenting. If
perchance your valour should overcome your discretion
while passing through the tunnel, and you kiss the lady’
next to you, do it ‘quietly and deliberately, otherwise
yougmay make the other ladies jealous on hearing the
salute, or, what would be worse, make the particular
lady blush, and identify her with a transaction that
might result unpleasantly. Kissing a stranger on the
railway is always more or less dangerous. Try to
avoid such a collision,

 

 
 

 

28

If you are in the connubial state you have ample
opportunity for osculation in the bosom of your own
family. It is not well to kiss a young widow too soon
after her bereavement; better wait a week or two till
she gets over it. When adverse circumstances compel,
“kiss the rod” with all humility; it will do you no
harm, indeed you might kiss it pariodically with advan-
tage to yourself and others.

BESO

 
 

29

Hisses in Courtship.

‘*T can express no kinder sign of love
Than this kind kiss."—2 HENRY VI., act i. sc. 1.

SNe OURTSHIP would be nothing without kisses,
°. they are a sine qué non at that interesting
period of life. Kisses first break the ice,
and bring the blushing lovers face fo face,
and kisses gently fan the fire of love. The
wooer may, like Othello, be little able to “grace his
cause”? in speaking for himself,—he may tell but a
faltering and stammering tale of love in his sweetheart’s

 

 

‘© See how they kiss and court !.”
TAMING OF THE SHREW, act iv, sc. 2.

ear,—he may make a mull of it, but his impassioned

 

 
 

 

30

kisses will speak for him to her lips and heart with no
uncertain sound, and woo her with other eloquence than
words. When the lady happens to be the wooer, kisses
are just as potent. Here is proof—

4 **O, the kindest Kate !—
She hung about my neck, and kiss on kiss
She vied so fast, protesting oath on oath,
That in a twink she won me to her love.”
TAMING OF THR SHREW, act ii. sc. I.

In courtship a kiss has frequently to supply the place of
a word, and it is wonderful how much a few of them
improve a sentence and make its meaning felt. Kisses

 

cannot be used too freely in courtship, that is, between
the parties concerned, but zealous care must be taken
that they do not extend further. A single kiss misplaced

 
 

31

has often caused a catastrophe,—blown up the whole
magazine of love! There are times when kisses, how-
ever chaste, are highly dangerous, especially to lovers
and newly-married people. The Green-eyed monster
will put in an appearance, and when he does it is no easy
matter to get rid of him.

When true lovers meet, the kisses of courtship are the
most rapturous that lips can produce or heart conceive !
They are as full of bliss as an egg is of meat; especially
those following the “popping” of the question, and its
Satisfactory answer. It is usual also to seal the affair
with a “holy kiss.’

When lovers no longer relish each others kisses more
than their daily food, or aught beside, depend upon it
“there is something rotten in the state of Denmark,”
and the sooner it is looked into the better. They will do
well to pause before approaching the hymeneal altar, and,
it may be, do better by making up their minds to “kiss
and part.”

The osculation of courtship does not last for ever.
After a while (long while sometimes) the end draws
near. The happy day at last arrives, the bridegroom
meets his bride,

«* And claims her with a loving kiss.”

They are married, and it may be, done for! Their
kisses then are connubial,—very good kisses and palat-
able for an indefinite period, after which there is a
danger, yea, even a probability that they will- deteriorate
in quality and decrease in quantity !

 

 
 

32

The following convincing argument from Shakespeare’s
Comedy of “ All’s Well that Ends Well,” shows the value
of kisses in courtship—

“ Rosalind.—Come, woo me; for now I am in a holiday
humour, and like enough to consent. What would you
say to me now, an I were your very, very Rosalind?

Orlando.—I1 would kiss you before I spoke.

Rosalind —Nay, you were better speak first, and when
you were gravelled for lack of matter, you might take
occasion to kiss. Very good orators, when they are out,
they will spit; and for lovers lacking (God warn us!)
matter, the cleanliest shift-is to kiss.

Orlando.—How if the kiss be denied ?

Rosalind—Then she puts you to entreaty, and there
begins new matter.”—~Act iv. sc. I.

 

Ste
 

33

3 ISSES, of course, have no real flavour or
fragrance about them. When they are
spoken of as sweet, luscious, honied, per-
fumed, fragrant, &c., the language is but
figurative, and means only that they are
agreeable. Kissing is more a question of feeling than
taste or smell. The bliss of kissing is caused by the
union of the lips, and is more or less exquisite as the
person kissed is more or less dear.—But stay! there’s
a mistake somewhere. Kisses at times have both taste
and smell, and to the truth of that assertion here are
three ugly witnesses—

 

 

Some of the fairer sex have rather a weakness for
indulging in that strong vegetable known to us as the
onion, although well knowing that for a certain time
afterwards it spoils them for kissing. There are, of
course, exceptions. Some young ladies would not eat an

 

a

 
 

 

34

onion for the world, except on very extraordinary
occasions. Noble-minded, self-denying creatures. They
really deserve kissing! A strong -minded woman on
reading this, may somewhat indignantly exclaim, “A
pfetty libel this on our sex! Don’t the gentlemen eat
onions too ?—and besides, what about these malodorous
things 2?”

 

We must here acknowledge our own weakness. The
little luxuries portrayed above convict us. We had
better drop the subject. Before doing so, however, let
us hear what Shakespeare says:

“ Speed (reading aloud).—Item. She is not to be kissed
fasting in respect to her breath.

Lance-—Well, that may be mended by a breakfast.
Read on.

Speed—Item. She hath a sweet mouth.
Lance —That makes amends for her sour breath.”

Two GENT. VERONA, act iii. sc. I.

 
 

35

And here is something written by the great Dibdin—

“Celia hath sworn to love till death ;
For words so full of bliss
I could have long’d, but for her breath, «
To steal an ardent kiss.”

Onions are fragrant indeed compared to sour breath.
If the breath is not sweet, neither will the kisses be.
A person with fetid breath might even eat

“ garlic
To mend the kissing with.”
WINTER’s TALE, act iv. sc. 3.

If your sweetheart some day (or night) turns away
when you are about to give the accustomed kiss, or, after
receiving it, makes a wry face, begin to suspect yourself,
and, if you discover that your breath is the cause, use
every means of cure, or, depend upon it, you will lose
what Celia lost, and probably a great deal more.

A fictitious flavour and fragrance may be given to
kisses by the use of sweetmeats, but the practice is
objectionable. Sugared kisses are apt to be sticky!
Kisses are never better than when pure and simple.

é

(Monkey.) “If I were a woman I would kiss as many
of you as had beards that pleased me, complexions that
liked me, and breaths that I defied not ; and, I am sure,

 

 
 

 

36

‘as many as have good beards, or good faces, or sweet

 

breaths, will, for my kind offer, when I make curt’sy, bid

me farewell.” As You Lixe Ir. [Epilogue]

Kussine spy Deputy.

Ir is very injudicious to send kisses through a third
person. A complimentary message, or even one of love,
may be conveyed by a friend—but kisses never!
Always do your own kissing, and then you will have the
satisfaction of knowing that it is properly done. Remem-
ber the old saying—“If you want a thing done, send

your man to doit; but if you want it well done, do it
yourself,”

 
 

37

Hangnage of Risses,

KISS onthe forehead denotes Respect. ,
A kiss on the cheek denotes Friendship.

A kiss on the hand denotes Humility.

 

oe

e - Akiss onthe lips denotes Love.
OSTEO

Fariliay Sapings about Hisses.

ide

 
  

    
 
  

ISS the rod.
SNR) Kissing goés by favour.
HEC Kiss and be friends.

5 Dae Stolen kisses are sweet.

As easy as kiss my hand,

   

 

 
 

 

38

Throwing Hisses.

o ISSES may be thrown a considerable distance
—as far as the eye can reach. Being
conveyed from the mouth by the tips of the
first two fingers, they are borne to their
destination on the breeze. If there does not

 

 

happen to be a breeze—a zephyr will do as well, and if

 
 

39

there is no zephyr they will go all the same without.
Kisses thus forwarded, naturally lose much of their
fragrance on the “desert air.” They are never so good
as when delivered from mouth to mouth, but, as there
are times when lips cannot come near each other, it is
convenient and pleasant to have a means of transport for
kisses. You may chance to see your adored in a crowd,
and not be able to get near her,—you may catch sight of
her in a passing train, or, it may be, “up in a balloon ”—
she may put her head out of the window above when you
are serenading her,—under all these circumstances, and
many others, it is very nice to be able to waft her a kiss
or more, and receive others in return. It may be here
noted that kisses thus conveyed occasionally miscarry.
To prevent that keep your eye fixed on the lady and take
good aim. If you turn your eye, even for a moment, the
kiss may alight on someone else and cause mischief.

OF

 

 
 

 

40

Bisses per Post.

 
 
 

a ISSES are often transmitted through the post,

© sealed up in an ordinary envelope, and not
even registered to indicate the value—they |
are also sent on halfpenny post cards _
the latter method, however, is to be depré-
cated. Kisses are sacred, and should not be exposed to
the vulgar gaze of letter sorters and postmen—be-
sides they might steal them! Give them opportunities of
stealing postage stamps from your letters if you like,
but do not tempt them with valuable kisses! Consider
the frailty of human nature. The following is a very
common way of sending kisses, and the best also, because
they are made v7szd/e,— thus :—-

It is nonsense to say you have sent lots of kisses, or a
thousand, or ten thousand, for, if none are visible the
recipient has only your bare word for it. Kisses are
sometimes sent on a flower or leaf, or enclosed in a locket,
&c. All very neat ways of sending, but the kisses are
apt to be overlooked and lost, as the maferial object first
attracts the eye and, it may be, the heart.

 
 

Al
Gost of Risses.

y ISSES are very easily made. It is no trouble
=, at all to make them—on the other hand a
pleasure. Anyone with a pair of lips—all
the tools required—can produce them in
any quantity—thousands per day, if need be,
and yet, kisses sometimes come expensive, varying in

 

price from a few pounds to as many hundreds! A kiss
often costs a box on the ears by the young lady, or
perhaps a kick or two from her papa, but if the kiss is
anything like a good one it can scarcely be thought dear
atthe price. Sometimes a kiss costs a world of sighs,—a
heap of trouble, many artful dodges, wiles and stratagems,
but even then it may be cheap. If a man is desirous of
purchasing a costly kiss, he may easily gratify his desire
—let him take a walk in some fashionable street or
promenade, and when he meets a stern- looking old
gentleman with a charming young lady by his side, and
a smart young fellow who appears to be “sweet” on the
latter, he must rush to the charmer, clasp her lovingly
to his bosom, kiss her lips fervently, and when the two
gentlemen ask him what he means, knock them both
down! If the kiss does not cost him dear, kisses will
never be dear again. There are many other ways
of obtaining costly kisses, but it is not worth while to

 

3*

 
 

 

42

specify them—such kisses never give satisfaction—they
are worthless! Kisses that. are dear to the Acart are
infinitely better than those that are dear only to the
pocket. It it a familiar saying that ‘‘Stolen kisses are
sweet,” but it all depends upon whom they are etolen
from. Kisses may happen to be anything but sweet,

FTO

 
 

 

 

43

ordinary. Kisses are very curative. They
effected wonderful cures on many of us in
our infantile days. ‘Whenever (and it was
often) we “came to grief,” or grief came to
us, by reason of an unlucky fall, violent contact with an
article of furniture, or other mishap, the maternal kiss,
judiciously applied to the injured part, never failed to give
relief, and repeated applications to effect a perfect cure !
Kisses not only cure infantile hurts, but are very effica-
cious in many ailments of the adult. When a man is
sick at heart; when his spirit is wounded, or when his
feelings are hur/, what medicine will do him so much
good as the sweet kisses administered to him freely by
the loved ones? What will cure him of his ill-temper, and
‘stop the angry words even on the threshold of his mouth
better thana kiss? If a lady has a fit of sighing, what
will cure her so easily and pleasantly as a kiss? A kiss
has been known to give relief in face-ache, tooth-ache,
heart-ache, and nearly every other ache or pain that flesh
is heir to. And then, what a wonderful salve for the lips;
kisses will keep them soft and pliable, and prevent: their
cracking. Kisses are wonderful in their medicinal action
—they are either soothing or stimulating,—heating or

 

 

 
 

 

44

cooling as may be desired, and always very tonic. The
medicine is very agreeable to take—inexpensive— and

 

 

‘¢ Who was it caught me when I fell,
And kissed the place to make it well ?
My Mother.”

efficacious—one of natures simplest remedies. If we
took it oftener, recommended it to our neighbours—and
gave it to our neediest friends—there is no knowing what
good results might follow.

~

—-OtO-

 
 

45
Hiss in the Hing.

Wy ma ISS in the Ring is a capital out-door game,
= much in vogue with the young people on such
occasions as pic-nics, Sunday-school treats, or
other pleasure parties where there is a
good sprinkling of both sexes. The game is
also popular with grown-up people, and there is no

 

 

 

reason why it should not be. There are few prettier
sights to be seen at a pleasure-party than a good game of
Kiss in the Ring, and few enjoyments more agreeable to
the players. As long as kissing is so sweet, the game
will ever be popular, despite all that has been said against

 

 
 

 

46

it by those whom it is almost flattery to call Christians,
Font soit gud mal_y pense. z
For the information of those who may be ignorant
of the game, we may briefly say that it is played thus :—
A number (say a dozen) of boys, and about the same
number of girls (to establish a sort of equilibrium of the
sexes) form a large circle by joining hands. One player
remains out of the ring, and, if a boy, commences the
game by walking or running round the outside of the
ring and tapping the back of any girl of his fancy; he
then passes on as though nothing had happened ; the
girl upon receiving the gentle intimation, immediately
leaves her place and runs in an opposite direction to that
taken by him, when, lo! such is the magic of a circle,
they both meet somewhere on the opposite side. After
embracing and mutually exchanging kisses, they separate,
and whichever reaches the vacant place first, falls in,
and leaves the other out in the cold! The one thus left
remains out until he or she is able to displace someone
else in a similar manner. There is a great deal of
cheating, or rather unfairness, in this game, sometimes,
as there is in most others. We have known boys manage
to keep out of a place in the ring till they had kissed
all the pretty girls in succession! Girls have also been
etected in a like wickedness! Such delinquency merits
severe punishment. Perhaps the case might be met by
compelling the delinquent to submit to a given number of
kisses from the ugliest member of the opposite sex who
happened to be playing in the game.

 
 

47.

Forvbivden Fruit.

be drawn somewhere. There is the “ for-

temptation to kiss a pretty girl, though a

 

stranger, at first sight, may be very strong,
but it must be overcome. As a rule, kisses should follow
on a better acquaintance. Persons who kiss should at
least know each other, unless they kiss under privileged
circumstances. Some of the forbidden fruit is perfectly

 

‘There is net half a kiss to choose.”
WINTER’s TALE, act iv. sc. 3.

safe—no one would attempt to steal it, though the pos-
sessors may be frail! :

 

 
 

 

48

A married man, and father of a family, should refrain
from kissing his pretty maid-servants. It is never bene-
ficial. Ten to one if it pleases his wife. It is very nice
to have an agreeable neighbour—so handy to pop in for
a chat with him, and there is no harm in loving your

eighbour as yourself, but if he has a wife you must not
entertain the same love for her. Keep at a respectful
distance—never attempt to kiss her—it is forbidden fruit,
Take heed to what Horace says:—

*« Never, ah, never kiss your neighbour’s wife,
For see what thousand mischiefs round you rise,
And few the pleasures, tho’ you gain the prize.”

It is awkward and unpleasant to make such a blunder as
to kiss the wrong person, and yet blunders of that kind
are sometimes made—generally when a snatch has been
made for the forbidden fruit! Always be sure of your
intended victim before perpetrating the deed, and never
snatch a kiss if it can be avoided—there is great danger
that you may snatch it from the tip of her nose or
chin, or any other part of the face except the lips.

 

 
 

49

Miscellancous isses,

+0 ISSING is not confined to mankind alone.
Nature is so full of kisses that they may be
seen and heard on every hand. The birds
=, of the air kiss, and do it nicely too. Animals
lick and fondle each other, and kiss in their
own peculiar way, and even fishes are acquainted with
the art

 

 

*¢ And kiss like native things.”

ALL’s WELL THAT ENDS WELL, act i. sc. I.
Birds and animals and fishes not only kiss their own
species, but are even condescending enough to kiss
human beings! If a beautiful woman condescends to
kiss a cat or dog it may, perhaps, not be considered
infra dig. on the animal’s part to kiss her in return!
Some extraordinary kisses may sometimes be observed
at the Zoological Gardens,—the most curious of which
are those of the sea-lion, who at the call of a man,
comes out of the water to bestow them upon him. Sea-

 

4

 
 

 

50

tions will not kiss everybody; kissing with them, as with
us, “ goes by favour.” The leaves on the trees kiss each
other. The bee kisses the flower. The mountains kiss
the heavens. The moonbeams kiss the sea; beside which
the poets tell us of hundreds of kisses.—Kisses are here,
there, and everywhere,—we even find

Hisses in the Ooen!

The oven is the last place where one would think of
looking for kisses, and yet they may often be found there!
The loaves of bread as they lie baking in their tins, side
by side, sometimes have a disposition to kiss. They get
closer and closer to each other till at last their lips meet,
and they kiss! So strong is the attachment springing up

 

between them, that they will not separate till forced to
do so! Where the loaves have kissed, the crust is called
“ kissing crust,” and hence it is the sweetest and nicest
part of the loaf. In cakes the plums and currants fre-
quently get close together, and kiss each other. The
more kisses that are possible in a cake, the better
it is, and more worthy of the name of “Kissing Cake.”

 
 

SI

Hisses in the Cup.
Kisses often find their way into the cup, it matters not
whether it contains wine, tea, coffee, or what not.
They float about on the surface of the liquid and may
either be taken off with the lips or with a spoon.
But, after all, they are not worth much,—frothy and

 

insipid. Such kisses may serve the turn of persons
(and there are such) who have little chance of getting
-better ones, but they are not esteemed by those who have
access to pretty lips.

. C2

 

 
 

 

52

An Gasy Wap of Making Glodes,

i, LADY has the advantage over a gentleman
eit respect to gloves. She may often win a
pair, or. half-a-dozen pairs, or more, by
betting with a gentleman on the result of a
boat or horse race. Of course, if she loses,
he will not expect her to pay (as a rule she won't)
and oftentimes, if he is spooney, he will make her a
present cf the gloves to console her for losing! And
then, again, a lady has an opportunity of acquiring a
pair of gloves cheap by keeping her eyes pen.

 

 

If, after a day’s fatigue, or from some other cause, a
gentleman should happen to fall asleep in the presence

 
53

of a lady, she has but to kiss him, and that entitles her
to a pair of kid gloves at the sleeper’s cost. This may
be described on his part as kid-napping, and on hers as
kid-nabbing. Gentlemen! beware of drowsiness when you
are in the company of ladies you don’t like. If you
like your company, and don’t mind the cost of a few
pairs of gloves, it won’t matter if you do go to sleep a
time or two in the course of an evening, but never
allow yourself to be caught shamming !

ete

 

 
 

 

gs

54

Wihist—Rissing the Dealer.
ofr ——o

‘@\\F all indoor amusements for a’ select party, the

  
  

game of Whist is perhaps the most popular.
A couple of gentlemen, and as many ladies
may play at it a long time without getting
fatigued. Ladies are an acquisition to the
game (unless the players are old and crusty), and
though they may sometimes, through carelessness, lose
the “odd trick” or spoil their partner’s “ little game,”
their participation in the amusement is desirable, if not

 

 

profitable; beside, is there not the chance of a kiss?
True it may be somewhat remote, but never mind, you

 
 

é
55

must wait, and if no earlier opportunity occurs, there is a
chance that this may.—When four cards have been
thrown out, one by each player, the numbers on which run
consecutively, thus, I, 2, 3, 4, the person playing the
fourth card may claim to kiss the dealer. If the dealer
happens to be of your own sex you ‘need not trouble to
take the kiss you are entitled to, but, if of the opposite
sex, you may as well stand on your rights, as the ladies
now make such a vigorous stand on theirs.

 

 
 

 

56

_ Kissing the Band or Foot.

 
   
  

 

    
 

el

Sy T was a Greek custom for an inferior person

to kiss the hand of a superior, as a token of
respect and humility, and when the superiority
was so great as between a sovereign and a
vassal, the latter was privileged to fall pro-
strate and kiss the foot of the former! There is not
much foot-kissing done in the present day. Sovereigns,
as a rule are less exacting, and even thankful to have
their hands kissed, if it be done sincerely. The infallible

 

* Then kiss his foot.”—TiTus ANDRONICUS, act i. sc. 3.

old man who holds sway at the Vatican still exposes
his holy foot for the labial salute, and occasionally
receives it. We have nothing to say against Aum.

 
 

57

There can be little objection to kissing a person’s hand—
if it be clean, and the custom fashionable, but to kiss the
foot is a very different matter. The foot is so very low.
Byron, in preferring the hand to the foot, says—

“Here is an honourable compromise,
A half-way house of diplomatic rest.”

The Bard of Avon makes frequent allusion to kissing of
the hand, especially as appertaining to royaity —Thus:—

“Lord Marshal, let me kiss my sovereign’s hand

And bow my knee before his majesty.”
Ric. III, act i. se. 1.

“In sign of truth I kiss your highness’ hand.”
2 Henry VL, act iv. sc. 8.

“ Behold this man ;
Commend unto his lips thy favouring hand ;—
Kiss it, my warrior.”
Ant. & CLEO.; act iv. sc. 8

“T will kiss thy royal fingers, and take leave.”
Love’s LaBour Lost, act v. sc. 2.

“O could this kiss be printed in thy hand,
That thou might’st think upon these, by the seal
Through whom a thousand sighs are breath’d for thee.”
2 HENRY VIL., act iii. sc. 2.
“There is gold, and here
, My bluest veins to kiss; a hand that kings

Have lipp’d, and trembled kissing.”
Ant. & CLEO., act ii. sc. 5.

 

4*

 
 

 

58

 

‘I kiss these fingers for eternal peace.”

1 Henry VL, act v. sc. 3.

The custom is still more or less observed in polite
society. A gentleman is ever ready to acknowledge a
lady’s superiority by kissing her hand, although he may
be very reluctant to do the same by one of his own sex,
Kissing a lady’s hand is not to be compared to kissing
her lips, but still it is a privilege not to be despised
when the greater one cannot be enjoyed. The hand isa
convenient stepping-stone to the lips, as the artful lover
well knows. If a lady wishes to keep her lips to herself,
she must not allow gentlemen to kiss her hand too ‘freely.
Ladies may court kisses through the medium of their

 
59

hands. The fact did not escape the notice of Sir Walter
Raleigh, for he thus wrote :—

«“ Were her hands as rich a prize -
As her hair, or precious eyes,
If she laid them out to take
Kisses, for good manners’ sake;
And let ev’ry lover skip
From her hand unto her lip;
If she seem not chaste to me,

What care I how chaste she be?”

 

«Why, this is he
That kiss’d away his hand in courtesy.”

Love’s LAsour Lost, act v. sc. 2

 

 
 

 

60

Ips.

g IPS are essential to kissing, and the kisses vary
ia bl bliss. as the. lips are. more. or -léss° con-
venient for the purpose. The best kind of
lips are those that are a little | prominent ; and
full. ‘Pouting lips are not the worst kind.

Some people are not blessed with lips, they have but the
bare edges of the mouth. When the mouth is shut the
edges fit closely together, and form a perfectly flat surface
from the nose to the chin. To kiss such is like kissing
a table or door, and quite as blissful, The kisses are as

 

 

“Mark you his lips.”

CORIOLANUS, act. i. sc. 2.

flat as pancakes. Some lips are soft-as velvet, and others
as hard as flint—some are warm and exquisite to the
touch, and others are as “dead as a door nail.” The

TN oe

 

 
 

6x

lips are very susceptible to emotions. They blanch with
_fear-and- burn- ‘with. over sauier with eee ‘curl with

scorn, &c.—— er TS neem
Bee eo

«O what a deal of scorn looks beautiful

In the contempt and anger of his lip!”
TWELFTH NIGHT, act ili. sc. 1.

“ Teach not thy iip such scorn; for it was made

For kissing, lady, not for such contempt.”
Ricuarp IIL, act i. se. 2.

To a ccreless observer ail I'ps are about the same
colour, but such is not the case, they are of various hues.
It is a matter of opinion which is the best. Persons
who are fond of kissing are “not to a shade,” and, on
seeing a pretty girl, are ever ready to say with Byron:—

““Whene’er I view those lips of thine
Their hue invites my fervent kiss.”

The different hues are mentioned in the following quota-
tions :—

“T saw her coral lips to move

And with her breath she did perfume the air.”
TAMING OF THE SIIREW, acti. sc. I.

“That I might touch !

But kiss; one kiss!—Ruézes. unparagon’d.”
CYMBELINE, act ii. sc. 2.

« Around those lips with crimson dyed.” —Sccundus.

 

 
 

 

62

“There’s a sweet and winning cunning
In her bright lip’s crzmson hue,
And a flitting tint of roses
From her soft cheek gleaming through.”
£. A, Fuller.
“In those lips of rosy hue
Pain and pleasure mingled lie,
Oh! how sweetly they undo,

By how many arts destroy.”—Bonnefons.
“ Sweet are those lips so ruby bright.””"—Bonnefons.
“ Those ruby lips where balmy nectar flows.”’—Secundus.

“A hundred sweet kisses, by hundreds told o’er,
I'll give those red lips, my dear charmer, of thine.”
Secundus.

“Touch but my lips with those fair lips of thine
(Though mine be not so fair, yet are they red),
The kiss shall be thine own as well as mine.” —Lucrece.

“Two lips indifferent red.”
TWELFTH NIGHT, act i, sc. 5.

“When lovers’ lips in transport join
Their souls to share that transport fly,
And, as their mingling breaths combine,
The purple gems with life supply.” —Guarind.

“Let thy lips that breathe perfume
Deeper purple now assume.”

 
 

63

“ Their lips were four red roses on a stalk

Which, in their summer beauty, kiss’d each other.”
Ricuarp III, act iv. sc. 3.

“A cherry lip.”

RICHARD IIL, act i. sc. 1

“ That womankind had but one rosy mouth,
To kiss them all at once, from north to south.”
Byron.
“ Divers philosophers hold that the lips is parcel of the

mouth.” Merry Wives oF WINDSOR, act i. sc. I.

 

‘*Once more the ruby-coloured portal open’d,
Which to his speech did honey passage yield.”
VENUS AND ADONIS.

 

 
 

64

Gnder the Mistletoe.

Ve RN N CE every year a glorious time comes round
4 for people who are fond of kissing. When
the Holly, with it ruby berries greets the eye,
aud its fair sister, the Mistletoe, with its
pearly berries gladdens the heart,—at the
season, above ail others, sacred to feasting and merry-

 

 

making, the Festival of Kisses is held. The mystic

 

 
 

65

Mistletoe then grants to all, whether old or young,
special license to kiss. In the mansions of the rich, as
well as in the humble dwellings of the poor, the Mistletoe
bough finds a place; the girls take care of that. It is
female hands alone that generally “hang the mistletoe
high in the hall”—ay, and in the kitchen too—in all
sorts of sly corners and secret places, and woe, or
rather anything but woe, betide the person who un-
warily strolls beneath it—somebody is sure to creep
up behind, or suddenly spring from some unlikely
quarter, to administer a surprising kiss. When the
Mistletoe appears, jealousy has to be put on one side
or swallowed. Sweethearts may kiss anybody else,
married people may do the same; in fact, anybody may
kiss anybody else, and everybody everybody else! Mar-
ried people enjoy the freedom quite as much as single,
and some of the old quite as much as the young. The
happy time only occurring annually (some would have it
continually), it is naturally looked forward to with longing
eagerness by certain persons, as it gives them the oppor-
tunity of parting with kisses, that, owing to their natural
modesty, they may have had on their lips for months. If
a girl is too bashful to lead an unsuspecting gentleman
under the Mistletoe, and then inflict on him the sweet
penalty, she may take frequent occasion to pass under it
herself, and if there are any gentlemen ‘about she will
not have to wait long for a kiss. In the innocence (or
artfulness) of her nature, she may then blushingly
say—

 

 
 

 

‘«’Twas not my purpose thus to beg a kiss ;
I am ashamed ; O heavens, what have I done?”
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, act iii. sc. 2.

The Mistletoe feast is of indefinite length: it may last a
week or fortnight, or it may extend over months, it all
depends upon the disposition of the persons interested.
Mistletoe is sometimes kept about till it has completely
dried up. That is using it rather hard! Kissing that
could be done under dried-up Mistletoe could be as well
done without it. There is a time for all things, and
so there is a time for the girls to take down the Mistletoe
bough ; we leave it to their discretion,

Sto

 

 
 

67

Wisses iv Song.

WARS ISSING is by far too sweet a subject to have
been overlooked by song-writers. Kisses in
song have found their way to every mouth
(or ought to have done). What is more
enchanting than to hear a mortal nymph
singing “ Kiss me Quick and Go,” or “Kiss me and Call
me your Own,” unless it is to answer the appeal? Kiss
songs are very numerous, and very popular, especially
with the fairer sex. A. young lady may be ever so shy
and modest, but is sure to be familiar with a few oscula-

 

 

tory songs, “Let me Kiss him for his Mother,”— Kiss
but Never Tell,” and “ Stolen Kisses are the Sweetest,”

 

 
 

 

68

are great favourites with both sexes. The kisses which
have left a fair singer’s lips in song, not unfrequently find
their way back again in reality.

ino

 
 

69

Kisses at Marriages.

to kiss his wife at the conclusion of the mar-
riage ceremony. Shakespeare makes the
following allusion to it in the “ Taming of the
Shrew,”’ act iii. sc. 2 :—

 

‘* He took the bride about the neck,
And kiss’d her lips with such a clamorous smack,
That, at the parting, all the church did echo !”

The custom is seldom observed now except among the
lower classes. In the upper circles the bridegroom leaves
the kissing part of the ceremony to be performed by the
elderly relations of the bride. It may be noted that the
Queen, at her marriage, was kissed by the Duke of
Sussex, but not by Prince Albert.

“OF tESO—

Qs

ussian and German Customs.

@ HERE is a custom more or less observed in
Russia, once a year, at Eastertide. After
fasting the whole forty days of Lent, which
the Russian professes to do, he naturally hails

 

with no small amount of pleasure the day
succeeding that abstemious period, and “ goes in” for a

 

 
 

 

70

few natives. He gets up carly in the morning, and put-
ting a coloured egg in his pocket and a pleasing smile on
his face, sallies forth. He offers the egg to the first
person he meets, who accepts it, and gives him another in
return, and then the two exchange kisses! On this day
the Russian is privileged to stop anyone, and offer him or
her the exchange of an egg with the festal greeting; and
so a young good-looking fellow has a good day’s work
before him. It isa remarkable fact (and yet, why
should it be?) that two persons of the same sex rarely
happen to meet on such a day!

It is the custom in Germany for a man who is en-.
gaged to a girl to salute, upon making his adieu for the
evening, the whole of the family, beginning with the
mother. Thus, in a family circle embracing half-a-dozen
girls, each having a lover, no less than forty-eight kisses
would have to be given on the occasion of a united meet-
ing; and when we consider that each lover would give
his own sweetheart ten times as many kisses as he gave
her sisters, the grand total would outnumber a hundred!

Otero

 
 

71

— Risses and Colds.

M4. KISS and a cold should never meet, they are
; incompatible. The latter completely destroys
the former. A kiss is blissful when its nectar
comes from the gods; but anything but that
if the nectar comes from above. The dif-
ference is that one is Amdroszal and the other Woséal. To
be plain, when the nose runs, the would-be-kisser should
run also. It is no time for a labial salute,—a pocket.
handkerchief answers the purpose much better.

 

FTO

Bisses and Gapes.,

 
  

eT is next to impossible to kiss the lips of anyone
who is gaping, and if it be accomplished. the
foe pleasure must naturally be infinitesimal. Be-
oe side, there is danger in such an attcmpt.
vr ‘The following lines by an old writer are
apropos :—
“ Be thy mouth like jaws of death
That they who kiss must kiss thy teeth ;

 

 
 

72
And hold by th’ handle of thy chin

Lest their foot slip, and they fall in!

Yet, if thou wilt not gape on me
What care I how broad it be?”

 

 

 

 
 

 

Sa dO

 

   

CONTE }

Omnium Gutherum.

pe @ HE 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

But short, ah! too short is the time that I stay, [voice ;

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, ye fair girls, and ye cheerful young swains,

Come search for my name and take me for your pains.
‘—A Kiss.

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

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

 

 

5*

 
 

 

74

Those who have tried it say that kissing is like a sew-
ing-machine, because it seams nice.

If the Queen kissed the Prince of Wales, and he
returned the compliment, what public building would it
name ?—The Royal Exchange.

It does not matter how watchful and vigilant a girl is,
if a rude fellow kisses her, it is ten to one he will do it
right under her nose!

What shape is a kiss ?—A-lip-tickle !

 

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.

Mock Turtirs.—Kissing before company, and fighting
afterwards.

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

What flowers are there between a lady’s nose and
chin ?—Tulips.

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

 
 

75

‘When are kisses sweetest?—When  syr1p-titiously
obtained.

If you were kissing a young lady who was very spooney,
what would be her opinion of newspapers during the
operation ?—She would not want any “ Spectators,” nor
« Observers,” but lots of “ Times.”

What is the difference between an accepted and a
rejected lover ?—One kisses his misses ; the other misses
his kisses.

     

  

as

GEG gaya

“‘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 J, on the contrary, kiss all the misses!”

 

 
 

 

75

We look out for a pretty face when we see the
mistle-/oe.

BREAD AND CHEESE AND KISSES.

““T woutp often ask her, being of an inquisitive turn of
- mind—‘ Mother, what have you got for dinner to-day?’
‘Bread and Cheese and Kisses,’ she would reply merrily.
Then I knew that one of our favourite dishes was sure to
be on the table, and I rejoiced accordingly. And to this
day, Bread and Cheese and Kisses bears for me in its
simple utterance a sacred and beautiful meaning. It
means contentment: it means cheerfulness: it means the
exercise of sweet words and gentle thought; it means
Home!”

TWELVE HUNDRED KISSES!

Tue Opinione relates a curious peace-making ceremony
which took place recently at Sedini. Twenty-nine
families of eight districts of Anglona took a share in this
solemn pact of peace. The bishop of the diocese, ac-
companied by five priests and by the authorities of the
country, assisted at the ceremony. It began by the
assembling in a large field near Sedini of the different
groups of the parties interested, who afterwards formed
into separate rows of offenders and offended by the assas-
sinations committed or wounds inflicted by vendetta within
the last ten years. Then, placing themselves opposite

 
 

77

the bishop and prefect, they embraced each other two by
two, at first with a certain reluctance, but by degrees the
ice- melted, and soon the greatest cordiality was mani-
fested on both sides. The twenty-nine families, with their
relations to the fourth generation, amounted in all to
twelve hundred people, who thus exchanged the kiss of

eace. A crowd of more than two thousand persons
formed a circle round this interesting scene, which left a
deep and most pleasing impression in all hearts. During
the remainder of the cay and on the following morning
the most sincere joy and satisfaction were manifested on
all sides, and will, it is hoped, be as lasting as it was
solemnly celebrated.

Buss—to kiss. Re-bus—to kiss again. Blunder-bus
—to kiss the wrong girl. Omni-bus—to kiss all the girls
in the room. Bus-ter—a general kisser. £ pluri-bus
unum—a thousand kisses in one.

A Missourian who stole a kiss from a pretty girl, was
fined by a magistrate, horsewhipped by her brother, and
worried into a brain-fever by his wife. The clergyman
also alluded to the affair in his sermon, the local editor
took sides with the clergyman, and reviewed the case in
print, and the potato-bug ate up every blade of the male-
factor’s crop !

 

 
 

 

78

SraTIONERY.—* What ? ”? exclaimed the accomplished
fashionable Fitzwiggle to the exquisitely lovely Miss De La
Sparrowgrass, “what would you be, dearest, if I should
press the stamp of love upon those sealing-wax lips?” « I,”
responded the fairy-like creature, “should be Stationery!”

Suicutty Artrut.—An engaged young gentleman got
rather neatly out of a scrape with his intended. She
taxed him with having kissed two young ladies at some
party at which she was not present. He owned it, but
said that their united ages only made twenty-one. The
simple-minded girl thought of ten and eleven, and laughed
off her pout. He did not explain that one was nineteen
and the other two years of age! Wasn’t it artful? Just
like the men!

A New York Judge has decided that kissing constitutes
an engagement to marry, and that the marriageable per-
son having been kissed by a marriageable person, can
thereupon compel the kisser to marry the kissee, or else
pay damages for breach of promise.

Younc men who go to see girls have adopted a new
way of obtaining kisses. They assert, on the authority
of scientific writers, that the concussion produced by a
kiss will cause the flame of a gas-jet to flicker, and easily
induce the girl to experiment in the interest of science.

 
 

79

The first kiss or two the parties watch the flame to see it
flicker, but soon become so interested in the experiments
as to let it flicker if it wants to. Try it yourself.

A Lavy caught her husband kissing the servant girl.
The doctor was sent for. He says he can patch up the
face of her better-half, but he’ll always be bald-headed !

A man in Jersey who had ravished a kiss from a school-
girl, was fined by the magistrates, horsewhipped by her
big brother, and scratched bald-headed by his own wife.
And it was not much of a kiss after all !

Tue youth who stole a kiss has been discharged on
condition that he will not embrace another opportunity.

Lovers AND THE Moon.—It was once the custem of
Highland women to salute the new moon with a solemn
courtesy. English country dames were wont to sit astride
a stile or gate, waiting the new moon’s appearance, to
welcome her with, “A fine moon, God bless her!”
Bachelors were privileged to claim a kiss and a pair of
gloves upon announcing the advent of a new moon to the
first maiden they met.

Pracarps on the St. Louis street cars declare that “This
car can’t wait for ladies to kiss good-bye ! ”

 

 
 

 

80

An Iowa justice of the peace refused to fine a man for
kissing a girl against her will, because, when the lass
came into the court, he was obliged to hold on by the
arms of his chair to keep from kissing her himself.

Amatrur Surcrry.—A gentleman in Kentucky#under
the influence of wine, undertook to kiss two young ladies
at their house, but they retreated to their room; he
followed. He got his leg through the door, but they
fastened it there by pressure against the door, and, pro-
curing a saw, amputated the leg below the knee. [The
leg was a wooden one. ]

Kissing wer Bacx! — Little boy to his mamma:
“ Mamma, I have’ something to tell you—schoolmistress
kissed me!”’ “Well, did you kiss her back?” “No,
I kissed her face.”

Some time since a party of ladies and gentlemen went
on a tour of inspection through Durham. Castie. The
“lions” were shown to them by an elderly female, of a
sour, solemn, and dignified aspect. In the course of their
peregrinations they came to the celebrated tapestry for
which the castle is famed. “These,” said the guide, in
a true showman style, flavoured with a dash ‘of piety to
suit the subject, and pointing to several groups of figures
upon the tapestry—* these represent scenes in the life

 
 

81

of Jacob.” “Oh, yes—how pretty!” said a young lady;
and, with a laugh, pointing to two figures in samewhat
close proximity, she continued, “I suppose that is Jacob
kissing Rachel?” ‘No, madam,” responded the in-
Gignant guide, with crushing dignity, “that is /acod
wrestling with the angel”? The men haw-hawed, the
young lady subsided, and offered: no further expository
remarks, but groaned under a sense of unworthiness
during the rest of the visit. :

“ Kissing your sweetheart,” says a trifling young man,
“is like eating soup with a fork; it takes a long time
to get enough.”

To prevent your hair coming off—never let your wife
catch you kissing the servant girl.”

A pretty Southend girl is a “mind reader.” She said
to her bashful beau the other evening, “La! I believe
you are going to kiss me!” She was right.

A youne lady being once asked whether the kiss,
being a substantive, was proper or common, archly
replied that it was do/2 proper and common.

WHAT IS A REBUS?
“ Wuat is a rebus?” I asked of dear Mary,
As close to my side the dear maiden was seated ;
I saw her eye sink and her countenance vary
As she said in reply, “’T is a kiss, sir, repeated.”

 

6

 
 

 

82

“ Wuart is a rebus?” innocently asked a lovely miss of
a black-eyed lad. Imprinting a kiss on her breathing lips,
he replied, “If you now will return the compliment, that
will be a re-bus.’’ She was satisfied with the information.

“Ma, that nice young man, Mr, Sauftong, is very fond
of kissing.” Mind your seam, Julia; who told you
such nénsense?” “Ma, dear, I had it from his own

lips.””

“T saw Esau kissing Kate,
And the fact is we all three saw;
For I saw Esau, he saw me,
And she saw I saw Esau.”

Ee
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

PART II.

Kisses in Poetry.

 

 

 
 

87

Shakespeare.
ae

« wes, CAN express no kinder sign of love, than this
oe kind kiss.”

     

2 Henry VI, acti.se. 1.

 

** Come, kiss, and let us part.”
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, act iv. sc. 5.

“ Injurious time, now, with a robber’s haste,
Crams his rich thievery up, he know not how ;.
As many farewells as be stars in heaven,
With distinct breath and consigned kisses to them,

!

 

 
 

 

88

He fumbles up into a loose adieu ;
And scants us with a single famish’d kiss,
Distasted with the salt of broken tears.”

“O, the kindest Kate !—
She hung about my neck ; and kiss on kiss
She vied so fast, protesting oath on oath,

That in a twink she won me to her love.”
TAMING OF THE SHREW, act il. sc. I.

 

“ Katharina —Husband, let’s follow, to see the end of
F.t,—First kiss me, Kate, and we will. [this ado.

 
 

$9

Kath—What, in the midst of the street ?

Pet,—What, art thou ashamed of me?

Kath—No, sir ; God forbid :—but ashamed to kiss.

Pet,—Why, then let’s home again:—come, sirrah, let’s
away. [stay.

Kath—Nay, | will give thee a kiss: now pray thee love,

Pet.—lIs not this well? Come, my sweet Kate ;
better once than never, for never too late.”

TAMING OF THE SHREW, act v. sc. I.

“What were thy lips the worse for one poor kiss?”

 

‘* Thou shalt be worshipp’d, kiss’d, lov’d, and ador’d.”
Two GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, act iv. sce 4.

 

6*

’

 
 

 

gO

“ Let me-unkiss the oath ’twixt thee and me;

And yet, not so, for with a kiss ‘twas made.”
RicuarD IL, act v. se. 1.

“Iam dying, Egypt, dying ; only
I here importune death a while, until
-Of many thousand kisses the poor last
I lay upon thy lips.”

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, act iv. se. 13.

 

“ But if thou fall, O then imagine this,
The earth, in love with thee, thy footing trips
And all is but to rob thee of a kiss.
Rich preys make true men thieves ; so do thy lips
Make modest Dian cloudy and forlorn,
Lest she should steal a kiss, and die forsworn.”

 

“ Now let me say gcod night, and so say you;
If you will say so you shall have a kiss.
‘Good night,’ quoth she; and ere he says adieu,
The honey fee of parting tender’d is:

 
 

gI

Her arms do lend his neck a sweet embrace,
Incorporate then they seem, face grows to face.”

“ Agamemnon.—Is this the Lady Cressid ?
Diomed.— Even she.
Agam.—Most dearly welcome to the Greeks, sweet lady.
Nestor —Our general doth salute you with a kiss.
Ulysses.—Yet is the kindness but particular :
*Twere better she were kissed in general.
Nest——And very courtly counsel. ’ll begia —So
much for Nestor.
Achilles.—I'll take that winter from your tips, fair lady.
Achilles bids you welcome
Menelaus.—I had good argument for kissing once.
Patroclus.—But that’s no argument for kissing now :
For thus popp’d Paris in his hardiness ;
And parted thus you and your argument.
Ulyss.—O deadly gall, and theme of all our scorns!
For which we lose our heads, to gild his horns.
Patr.—The first was Menelaus’ kiss ;—this mine ;
Patroclus kisses you.
Men.— O, this is trim !
Paty —Paris, and.I, kiss evermore for him.
Men.—I'll have my kiss, sir ;—Lady, by your leave.
Cressida —In kissing do you render or receive ?
Patr.—Both take and give.
Cress. — I'll make my match to live,
The kiss you take is better than you give ;
Therefore no kiss.

 

 
 

 

92

Men.—V'll give you boot, I’ll give you three for one.

Cress.—You’re an odd man; give even or give none.

Men.—An odd man, lady ? every man is odd.

Cress.—No, Paris is not; for you know, ’tis true
That you are odd, and he is even with you.

Men.—You fillip me o’ the head.

Cress.— No, I’ll be sworn.

Clyss.—It were no match, your nail against his horn.
May I, sweet lady, beg a kiss of you?

Cress —You may.

Ulyss.— I do desire it.

Cress.— Why, beg then.

Ulyss.—Why then, for Venus’ sake, give me a kiss,
When Helen is a maid again, and his.

Cress.—I am your debtor, claim it when ’tis due.

Ulyss.—Never’s my day, and then a kiss of you.”

TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, act iv. sc. 5.

& “T kiss’d it:
I hope it be not gone to tell my lord

That I kiss aught but he.”
CYMBELINE, act ii. sc. 3.

“ ,  , thus kiss’d he me
As if he pluck’d up kisses by the roots.”

OTHELLO, act ili. sc. 4.

“ The swiftest harts have posted you by land ;
And winds of all the corners kissed your sails

To make your vessel nimble.’
CYMBELINE, act ii. sc. 4.

 
 

93

“So sweet a kiss the golden sun gives not
To those fresh morning drops upon the rose,
As thy eye-beams, when their fresh rays have smote

The night of dew that on my cheeks down flows.”
Love’s Lasour Lost, act iv. sc. 2.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ee a‘ 5 the ladies call him sweet ;
The stairs, as he treads on them, kiss his feet.”
Lovez’s LaBour Lost, act v. sc. 2.

“ Sir, I have foretold you then what would ensue :
My prophecy is but half his journey yet ;

For yonder walls, that pertly front your town,
Yon towers, whose wanton tops do buss the clouds,

Must kiss their own feet.”
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, act iv. sc. 5.

 

 
 

 

94

“ Rosalind.—And_ his kissing is as full of sanctity as
the touch of holy bread..

Celia.—He hath bought a pair of cast lips of Diana:
A nun of winter’s sisterhood kisses not more religiously ;

the very ice of chastity is in them.’ ,
AS YOU LIKE IT, act ili. sc. 4.

 

“To bear my lady’s train; lest the base earth
Should from the vesture chanced to steal a kiss,
And, of so great a favour growing proud,

Disdain to root the summer-swelling flower,
And make rough winter everlastingly.”
Two GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, act ii. sc. 4.

“Tell them your feats ; while they with joyful tears
Wash the congealment from your wounds, and kiss

The honour’d gashes whole.”
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, act iv. sc. 8.

 
 

95

“ And yet not cloy thy lips with loath’d satiety,
But rather famish them amid their plenty,
Making them red and pale with fresh variety,

Ten kisses short as one, one long as twenty:
A summer’s day will seem an hour but short,
Being wasted in such time-beguiling sport.”

“ Thou art no man, though of a man’s complexion,
For men will kiss even by their own direction.”

 

** Some there be that shadow’s kiss:
Such have but a shadows bliss.”

 

“ Her lips to mine how often hath she join’d ;
Between each kiss her oaths of true love swearing.

 

 
 

96

“ Even so she kiss’d his brow, his cheek, his chin,
And where she ends, she doth anew begin.”

“ Pure lips, sweet seals in my soft lips imprinted,
What bargains may I make, still to be sealing ?
To sell myself I can be well contented,
So thou wilt buy, and pay, and use good dealing;
Which purchase if thou make, for fear of slips,
Set thy seal-manual on my wax-red lips.

A thousand kisses buys my heart from me;

And pay them at thy leisure, one by one.
What is ten hundred touches unto thee ?

Are they not quickly told, and quickly gone?
Say, for non-payment that the debt should double
Is twenty hundred kisses such a trouble ? ”

“ Give me one kiss, I’ll give it thee again,
And one for interest, if thou wilt have twain.”

“Here come and sit, where never serpent hisses
And being set, I’ll smother thee with kisses.”

“ But when her lips were ready for his pay, =

He winks, and turns his head another way.”
VENUS AND ADONIS,

“T dreamt my lady came and found me dead ;
(Strange dream, that gives a dead man leave to think!)
And breath’d such life with kisses in my lips

That I reviv’d, and was an emperor.”
ROMEO AND JULIET, act v. sc. I.

 
 

97

“ And lips, O you
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss.”
RoMEO AND JULIET, act v. sc. 3.

  
  
 
    

Y

oe
Wf

1
D
—_—
oT

Ly MM
S,

ee
ea
Ae

;

** This is a soldier’s kiss.”
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, act iv. Sc. 4.

“ The ruddiness upon her lip is wet ;
You’ll mar it, if you kiss it; stain your own

With oily painting.”
WINTER’s TALE, act v. Sc. 3.

‘« Just as I do now,
He would kiss you twenty with a breath.”

“ Bear her my true love’s kiss, and so, farewell.”

 

 
 

 

 

53

“ Romeo—Tlf I-profane with my unworthy hand
This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this—
My ps, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
Tuliet —Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too
much.
Which mannerly devotion shows in this ;
For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch,
And palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.
Romeo. —Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too ?

 

Juliet.—Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.

Komeo.—O then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do;
They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.

Juliet,—Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’
sake.

Komeo——Then move not, while my prayers’ effect I
take.

Thus from my lips, by thine my sin is purg’d
[ktsstng her].

Juliet—Then have my lips the sin that they have

took.

 
 

99

Roneo.—Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urg’d!
Give me my sin again.
Julie¢ —You kiss by the book.”

KOMEO AND JULIET, act i. sc. 5.

“°Tis time to fear when tyrants seem to kiss.”
PERICLES, act i. sc. 2.

“Ts’t night’s predominance, or the day’s shame,
That darkness does the face of earth intomb,
When living light should kiss it?”
MACBETH, act ii. sc. 4.

 

“O, take this warm kiss on thy pale cold lips.”
Tirus ANDRONICUS, act v. Sc. 3.

 

 
 

 

 

100

“You that choose not by the view,
Chance as fair, and choose as true!
Since this fortune falls to you,

Be content, and seek no new.

If you be well pleas’d with this,
And hold your fortune for your bliss,
Turn you where your lady is

And claim her with a loving kiss.”

“ And, that I love the tree from whence thou sprang’st,
Witness the loving kiss I give the fruit :—
(To say the truth, so Judas kiss’d his master ;

And cried—all hail! when as he meant—all harm!”’)
3 Henry VL, act v. sc. 7.

“Play the maid’s part ; still answer nay, and take it.”
RIcHARD IIL, act iii. sc. 7.

“J will kiss thy lips—
Haply, some poison yet doth hang on them
To make me die with a restorative.”
ROMEO AND JULIET, act v. sc. 3.

“Bear her my true love’s kiss, and so, farewell.”
RICHARD IIL, act iv. sc. 5.

“ Boys are not to kiss.’’
ALL’s WELL THAT ENDS WELL, act iv. sc. 3.

 
 

IOI

 

‘¢ And steal immortal blessings from her lips ;
Who, even in pure and vestal modesty,
Still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin.”
ROMEO AND JULIET, act iii. sc. 3.

“‘ How oft, when thou, my music, music play’st,

Upon that blessed wood whose motion sounds

With thy sweet fingers, when thou gently sway’st
The wiry concord that mine ear confounds,

Do I envy those jacks, that nimble leap
To kiss the tender inward of thy hand

Whilst my poor lips, which should that harvest-reap,
At the wood’s boldness by thee blushing stand !

To be so tickled, they would change their state
And situation with those dancing chips,

O’er whom thy fingers walk with gentle gait,
Making dead wood more bless’d than living lips.

Since saucy jacks so happy are in this,

Give them thy fingers, me thy lips to kiss.”
SONNET 128.

 

 
 

 

 

“ Dut if thou fall, O then imagine this

The earth, in love with thee, thy footing trips,
And all is but to rob thee of a kiss!”
VENUS AND ADONIS.

SPO

 
 

103

ord Moron,

And beauty, all concentrating like rays
Into one focus, kindled from above ;

Such kisses as belong to early days
Where heart, and soul, and sense in concert
And the blood’s lava, and the pulse a blaze, — [move,
Each kiss a heart quake,—for a kiss’s strength,

I think, it must be reckon’d by its length.”

 

 

**Such kisses as belong to early days.”

“Tis pleasing to be school’d in a strange tongue .
By female lips and eyes—that is, I mean,
When both the teacher and the taught are young
As was the case, at least, where I have been;

 

 

 
 

 

104

They smile so when one’s right, and when one’s wrong *
They smile still more, and then there intervene

Pressure of hands, perhaps even a chaste kiss ;—
I learn’d the little that I know by this.”

“¢ Kiss ’ rhymes to ‘bliss’ in fact as well as verse—
I wish it never led to something worse.”

“ . .  . She press’d
His lips to hers, and silenc’d him with this,
And then dismiss’d the omen from her breast,
Defying augury with that fond kiss.”

 

 

“When we two parted

In silence and tears,
Half broken-hearted
To sever for years,

 
 

105 -

Pale grew thy chcek and cold,
Colder thy kiss:
- Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this,”

 

«“—by God’s blessing
With youth and health all kisses are heaven-kissing.”

 

“‘Ghe Hirst Hiss of Lobe.

Away with your fictions of flimsy romance ;
Those tissues of falsehood which folly has wove !
Give me the mild beam of the soul-breathing glance,

Or the rapture which dwells on the first kiss of love.
Ld

Ye rhymers, whose bosoms with fantasy glow,
Whose pastoral passions are made for the grove ;

From what blest inspiration your sonnets would flow,
Could you ever have tasted the first kiss of love. !

 

7*

 
 

 

106

If Apollo should e’er his assistance refuse,

Or the Nine be disposed from your service to rove,
Invoke them no more, bid adieu to the muse,

And try the effect of the first kiss of love!

I hate you, ye cold compositions of art!

Though prudes may condemn me, and bigots reprove,
I court the effusions that spring from the heart,

Which throbs with delight to the first kiss of love!

Your shepherds, your flocks, those fantastical themes,
Perhaps may amuse, yet they never can move:
Arcadia displays but a region of dreams ;
What are visions like these to the first kiss of love ?

Oh! cease to affirm that man, since his birth,

From Adam till now, has with wretchedness strove ;
Some portion of paradise still is on earth,

And Eden revives in the first kiss of love.

When age chills the blood, when our pleasures are past—
For years fleet away with the wings of the dove—
The dearest remembrance will still be the last,
Our sweetest memorial, the first kiss of love.”

“Eo Glew.

Oh! might I kiss itiosé eyes of fire,
A million scarce would quench desire :
Still would I steep my lips in bliss,
And dwell an age on every kiss :

 
 

107

Nor then my soul should sated be ;

Still would I kiss and cling to thee:
Nought should my kiss from thine dissever ;
Still would we kiss, and kiss for ever.;

E’en though the numbers did exceed

The yellow harvest’s countless seed.

To part would be a vain endeavour :

Could I desist ?—ah ! never—never !”

oS PtSo—

 

 
 

 

108

Com Moore.

Like a dewdrop shall lingering lie ;
’Twas nectar she gave me to sip ;
’Twas nectar I drank in her sigh.

 

 

The dew that distill'd in that kiss,
To my soul was voluptuous wine:

Ever since it is druak with the bliss,
And feels a delirium divine.”

“ When infant bliss in roses slert,
Cupid upon his slumbers crept,

 
 

109

And while a balmy sigh he stole,
Exhaling from the infant’s soul,

He smiling said, ‘ With this, with this,
V’ll send my Julia’s burning kiss.’ ”

“‘ Sweetly you kiss, my Lais dear !
But, while you kiss, I feel a tear,
Bitter, as those when lovers part,
In mystery from your eyelid start !
Sadly you lean your head to mine,
And round my neck in silence twine,
Your hair along my bosom spread,
All humid with the tears you shed!
Have I not kissed those lids of snow ?
Yet'still, my love, like founts they flow,
Bathing our cheeks, whene’er they meet—
Why is it thus? do tell me, sweet!
Ah! Lais, are my bodings right ?
Am I to lose you ? is to-night
Our last ?9—go, false to heaven and me,
Your very tears are treachery.”

“ While she stole thro’ the garden, where heart’s ease was
growing,
She cull’d some, and kiss’d off its night-fallen dew ;
And a rose further on looked so tempting and glowing,
That, spite of her haste, she must gather it too ;

 

 
 

 

110

But while o’er the roses too carelessly leaning
Her zone flew in two and the heart’s ease was _lost :
‘Ah! this means,’ said the girl (and she sigh’d at its
meaning),
‘ That love is scarce worth the repose it will cost.’ ”’

Ot vowd Bet Hie!

I ne’er on that lip for a minute have gazed
But a thousand temptations beset me,

And I’ve thought, as the dear little rubies you raised,
How delicious ’twould be—if you’d let me!

 

Then be not so angry for what I have done,
Nor say that you’ve sworn to forget me;

They were buds of temptation too pouting to shun,
And I thought that—you could not but let me!

 
 

IIt

When your lip with a whisper came close to my cheek,
O think how bewitching it met me !

And plain as the eye of a Venus could speak,
Your eye seemed to say—you would let me!

Then forgive the transgression and bid me remain,
For in truth, if I go, you’ll regret me ;

Or, oh! let me try the transgression again,
And [’ll do all you wish—will you let me ?’”

** Rondeau.
*Good night!’ ‘Good night ! ’—and is it so?
And must I from my Rosa go?
Oh, Rosa! say ‘Good night!’ once more,
And I’ll repeat it o’er and o’er,
Till the first glance of dawning light
Shall find us saying still ‘Good night.’
And still ‘Good night !’ my Rosa, say—
But whisper still, “ A. minute stay; ’
And I will stay, and every minute
Shall have an age of rapture in it,
We'll kiss and kiss in quick delight
And murmur, while we kiss, ‘Good night!’

“Good night!’ you’ll murmur with a sigh,

And tell me it is time to fly ;

And I will vow to kiss no more,

And kiss you closer than before ;—

Till slumber seal our weary sight—

And then, my love! my soul! ‘Good night !’”

 

 
 

 

112

“When your lip has met mine in abandonment sweet,
Have we felt as if virtue forbid it ?
Have we felt as if Heaven denied them to meet ?
No, rather ’twas Heaven that did it!

So innocent, love! is the pleasure we sip,
So little of guilt is there in it,

That I wish all my errors were lodged on your lip,
And I’d steal them away in a minute !”

‘‘My kisses have not stained the rose
Which Nature hung upon your lip;
And still your sigh with nectar flows
For many a raptured soul to sip.

Farewell! and when some other fair
Shall call your wanderer to her arms,
*T will be my luxury to compare
Her spells with your remembered charms!

‘This cheek,’ I’ll say, ‘is not so bright,
As one that used to meet my kiss ;
This eye has not such liquid light
As one that used to talk of bliss !’”?

“¢T never give a kiss,’ says Prue,
‘To naughty man, for I abhor it,’
She will not g7ve a kiss ’tis true,
She'll /ake one though, and thank you for it !”

 
 

113

* Old Cloe, whose withering kisses
Have long set the loves at defiance,
Now, done with the science of blisses
May fly to the blisscs of science !”

“How heavenly was the poet’s doom,
To breathe his spirit through a kiss ;
And lose within so sweet a tomb,
The trembling messenger of bliss !

And, ah! his soul returned to feel
That it again could ravished be ;

For in the kiss that thou didst steal,
His life and soul have fled to thee !’

 

“Her lip !—oh, call me not false-hearted,
When such a lip I fondly pressed ;

 

 
 

 

114

’Twas Love some melting cherry parted,
Gave thee one half and her the rest!

And when, with all thy murmuring tone
They sued, half open, to be kissed,

I could as soon resist thine own—
And them, Heaven knows! I ne’er resist!’’

Ohe Riss.
Grow to my lips, thou sacred kiss,
On which my soul’s beloved swore,
That there should come a time of bliss,
When she would mock my hepes no more ;
And fancy shall thy glow renew,
In sighs at morn, and dreams at night,
And none shall steal thy holy dew
Till thou’rt absolv’d by rapture’s rite ;
Sweet hours that are to make me bless’d,
Oh! fly, like breezes, to the goal,
And let my love, my more than soul,
Come panting to this fever’d breast :
And while in every glance I drink
The rich o’erflowings of her mind,
Oh! let her all impassioned sink,
In sweet abandonment resign’d,
Blushing for all our struggles past,
And murmuring, ‘I am thine at last!’

 
115

« Thou weep’st for me—do weep—oh ! that I durst
Kiss off that tear ! but, no—these lips are curst,
They must not touch thee ;—one divine caress,
One blessed moment of forgetfulness
I’ve had within those arms, and ¢ha/ shall lie

Shrin’d in my soul’s deep memory till I die.”
LALLAH ROOKH.

Haithless.
“ Take back the sigh, thy lips of art
In passion’s moment breath’d to me,
Yet, no—it must not, will not part,
Tis now the life breath of my heart,
And has become ‘too pure for thee.
Take back the kiss, that faithless sigh,
With all the warmth of truth imprest ;
Yet, no—the fatal kiss may lie.
Upon thy lips its sweets would die,
Or bloom to make a rival blest.
‘Take back the vows that, night and day,
My heart receiv’d, I thought, from thine,
Yet, no—allow them still to stay,
They might some other heart betray,
As sweetly as they’ve ruin’d mine.”

A Riss w L Antique.
“ Behold, my love, the curious gem
Within this simple ring of gold;

 

 
 

 

116

’Tis hallowed by the touch of them
Who Ived in classic hours of old.

Some fair Athenian girl, perhaps,
Upon her hand this gem display’d,

Nor thought that Time’s eternal lapse
Should see it grace a lovelier maid.

Look, darling, what a sweet design !
The more we gaze, it charms the more;
Come,—closer bring that cheek to mine,
And trace with me its beauties o’er.

Thou see’st it is a simple youth

By some enamoured nymph embraced ;
Look, Nea, love, and say in sooth

Is not her hand most dearly placed ?
Upon his curly head behind

It seems in careless play to lie,
Yet presses gently, half inclined

To bring his lips of nectar nigh.
Oh! happy maid, too happy boy ;

The one so fond and faintly loth,
The other yielding slow to joy—

Oh! rare indeed, but blissful both.
Imagine, love, that I am he,

And just as warm as he is chilling ;
Imagine, too, that thou art she,

But quite as cold as she is willing.

So may we try the graceful way
In which their gentle arms are twined,

 
 

117

And thus, like her, my hand I lay
Upon thy wreath’d hair behind,

And thus I feel thee breathing sweet,
As slow to mine thy head I move!

And thus our lips together meet,
And—thus I kiss thee—oh, my love.’

‘Tis stuect to Think.

’Tis sweet to think, that, where’er we rove,
We are sure to find something blissful and dear,
And that, when we’re far from the lips we love,
We've but to make love to the lips that are near !

 

The heart, like a tendril, accustom’d to cling,
Let it grow where it will, cannot flourish alone,

 

 
 

 

118

But will lean to the nearest and lovliest thing
* It can twine in itself, and make closely its own.

Then oh! what pleasure, where’er we rove,
To be sure to find something, still that is dear,
And to know, when far from the lips we love,
We've but to make love to the lips we are near.
’Twere a shame, when flowers around us rise,
To make light of the rest, if the rose isn’t there ;
And the world’s so rich in resplendent eyes,
*Twere a pity to limit one’s love to a pair.

Love’s wing and the peacock’s are nearly alike,

They are both of them bright, but they’re change-

able too !

And wherever a new beam of beauty can strike

It will tincture Love’s plume with a different hue!
Then, oh! what pleasure, where’er we rove,

To be doom’d to find something, still that is dear,
And to know, when far from the lips we love,

We have but to make love to the lips we are near.”

“Here maidens are sighing, and fragrant their sigh
As the flower of the Amra just op’d by a bee ;
And precious their tears as that rain from the sky,
Which turns into pearls as it falls in the sea.
Oh !. think what the kiss and the smile must be worth
When the sigh and the tear are so perfect in bliss,
And own if there be an Elysium on earth,
It is this, it is this.” Larran Rooxu.

 
 

II9

“Oh! let our lips, our cheeks be laid
But near each other while they fade ;
Let us but mix our parting breaths,

And I can die ten thousand deaths.’
LALLAH ROOKH.

‘but the Bee is to the Flotoeret.

What the bee is to the floweret,
When he looks for honey dew,

Through the leaves that close embow’r it,
That, my love, I'll be to you.

What the bank with verdure glowing,
is to waves that wander near,

Whisp’ring kisses, while they’re going,
That Vil be to you, my dear.

But they say the bee’s a rover,

_ That he’ll fly when sweets are gone ;

And, when once the kiss is over,
Faithless brooks will wander on !

Nay, if flowers will lose their looks,
If suany banks will wear away,

’Tis but right that bees and brooks
Should sip and kiss them while they may.”

 

 
 

 

120

« Drink to ‘me only with thine eyes
And I will pledge with mine ;
Or leave a kiss within the cup,
And I'll not ask for wine.”

“ Sweet seducer ! blandly smiling,
Charming still, and still beguiling ;
Oft I swore fo love thee never,
Yet I love thee more than ever.
Why that little wanton blushing,
Glancing eye and bosom flushing ?
Flushing warm, and wily glancing,
All is lovely, all entrancing.

Turn away those lips of blisses—
I am poison’d by thy kisses ;

Yet again, ah! turn them to me;
Ruin’s sweet when they undo me.
Oh! be less, be less enchanting ;
Let some little grace be wanting ;
Let my eyes, when I’m expiring
Gaze awhile, without admiring.”

“Oh! never let him know how deep the brow

He kiss’d at parting is dishonour’d now.”
LALLAH ROOKH.

“ From the heretic girl of my soul should I fly
To seek somewhere else a more orthodox kiss ? ”’

 
 

121

Buns.

“Go w Riss.

"UMID seal of soft affections,
Tend’rest pledge of future bliss,

Dearest tie of young connections,
Love’s first snowdrop, virgin kiss.

 

Speaking silence, dumb confession,
Passion’s birth, and infants’ play,
Dove-like fondness, chaste concession,
Glowing dawn of brighter day.

Sorrowing joy, adieu’s last action

When ling’ring lips no more must join;
What words can ever speak affection

So. thrilling and sincere as thine!”

“Gin a body meet a body
Coming through the rye,
Gin a body kiss a body,
Need a body cry ?

Gin a body meet a body
Coming through the glen,

Gin a body kiss a body,
Need the world ken?”

 

 
 

 

122

‘Ae fond aiss.

Ae fond kiss, and then we sever ;

Ae fareweel, and then for ever!

Deep in heart-wrung tears I’ll pledge thee,
‘Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee.
Who shall say that fortune grieves him
While the Star of Hope she leaves him?
Me, nae cheerfu’ twinkle lights me ;

Dark despair around benights me.

Pll ne’er blame my partial fancy,
Naething could resist my Nancy ;
But to see her, was to love her ;
Love but her, and love for ever.
Had we never loved sae kindly,
Had we never loved sae blindly,
Never met or never parted,

We had ne’er been broken-hearted

Fare-thee-weel, thou first and fairest !
Fare-thee-weel, thou best and dearest !
‘Thine be ilka joy and treasure,

Peace, enjoyment, love, and pleasure !

Ae fond kiss, and then we sever ;

Ae farewecl, alas ! for ever 7
Deep in heart-wrung tears I’ll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and groans I’ll wage thee.”

 
 

123

“When in my arms, wi’ a’ thy charms,
I clasp my countless treasure,
I seek nae mair o’ Heaven to share,
Than sic a moment’s pleasure.

And by thy e’en, sae bonnie blue,
I swear I’m thine for ever,

And on thy lips I seal my vow,
And break it shall I never.”

 

“Tf thou should ask my love,
Could I deny thee ?
If thou would win my love,
Jamie, come try me!

If thou should kiss me, love,
Wha could espy thee ?

If thou wad be my love,
Jamie, come try me!”

 

 
 

 

Melia.

Fair the face of orient day,
Fair the tints of op’ning rose;
But fairer still my Delia dawns,
More lovely far her beauty blows.

Sweet the lark’s wild-warbling lay,
Sweet the tinkling rill to hear ;

But, Delia, more delightful still,
Steal thine accents on mine ear!

The flower-enamour’d busy bee,
The rosy banquet loves to sip;

Sweet the streamlet’s limpid lapse
To the sun-brown Arab’s lips.

But, Delia, on thy balmy lips
Let me, no vagrant insect, rove!
Oh! let me steal one liquid kiss,
For, oh! my soul is parch’d with love.”

« A man may drink and no be drunk;
A man may fight and no be slain;
A man may kiss a bonnie lass,
And aye be welcome back again!”

“The minister kiss’d the fiddler’s wife,
And coulda preach for thinking o’t.”

 
 

125

Philly und silly.

He.
The bee that through the sunny hour
Sips nectar in the opening flower,
Compared wi’ my delight is poor,
Upon the lips o’ Philly.

_ SHE.
The woodbine in the dewy weet
When evening shades in silence meet,
Is nocht sae fragrant or sae sweet
As is a kiss 0’ Willy.”

“ Heaven spare you lang to kiss the breath
O’ mony flowery simmers.”

‘Her lips are like the cherries ripe
That sunny walls from Boreas screen,
They tempt the taste and charm the sight
And she’s twa glancin’, sparklin’ e’en.”

“Oh pale, pale now, those rosy lips
I aft hae kiss’d sae fondly !
And closed for aye, the sparkling glance
That dwelt on me sae fondly.”

“Tl pu’ the budding rose when Phcebus peeps in view,

2237

For it’s like a balmy kiss o’er her sweet bonnie mou’.

 

 
 

 

By HAT eyes like thine have waken’d hopes ?
What lips like thine so sweetly join’d ?

Where on the double rose-bud droops
The fulness of her pensive mind.”

 

“ O Love, O fire! once he drew
With one long kiss my whole soul thro’
My lips, as sunlight drinketh dew.”

 

‘* 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.”

 
 

127

“ But all my heart is drawn above,
My knees are bow’d in crypt and shrine,
I never felt the kiss of love,
Nor maiden’s hand in mine.”

 

 Ghe Ringlet.

‘Your ringlets, your ringlets,
That look so golden-gay,
If you will give me one, but one,
To kiss it night and day,
Then never chilling touch of Time
Will turn it silver-grey ;
And then shall I know it is all true gold
To flame and sparkle and stream as of old,
Till all the comets in heaven are cold,
And all her stars decay.’
‘ Then take it, love, and put it by ;
This cannot change, nor yet can I.’

 

 
 

 

128

‘My ringlct, my ringlet,
That art so golden-gay,
Now never chilling touch of Time
Can turn thee silver-gray ;
And a lad may wink, and a girl may hint,
And a fool may say his say ;
For my doubts and fears were all amiss,
And I swear henceforth by this and this,
That a doubt will only come for a kiss,
And a fear to be kiss’d away.’
«Then kiss it, love, and put it by:
If this can change, why so can I.’

*O ringlet, O ringlet,
I kiss’d you night and day,
And ringlet, O ringlet,
You still are golden-gay,
But ringlet, O ringlet,
You should be silver-gray :
For what is this which now I’m told,
I that took you for true gold?
She that gave you’s bought and sold,
Sold, sold.

“O ringlet, O ringlet,

She blush’d a rosy red,
When ringlet, O ringlet,

She clipt you from her head,
And ringlet, O ringlet,

She gave you me, and said,

 
 

129

«Come, kiss it, love, and put it by:

If this can change, why so can I.’

O fie, you golden nothing, fie,
You golden lie.

*O-ringlet, Q ringlet,

I count you much to blame,
For ringlet, O ringlet,

You put me much to shame.
So ringlet, O ringtet,

I doom you to the flame.
For what is this which now I learn,
Has given all my faith a turn ?
Burn, you glossy heretic, burn,

Buyn, burn.’ ”’

-

Tbe talking Oak.

‘But tell me, did she read the name
I carved with many vows,
When last with throbbing heart I came
To rest beneath thy boughs ?’

*O yes, she wander’d round and round
These knotted knees of mine,

And found, and kiss’d the name she found,
And sweetly murmur’d thine.

‘A tear-drop trembled from its source,
And down my surface crept,

 

 
 

 

130

My sense of touch is something coarse,
But I believe she wept.

 

‘Then flush’d her cheek with rosy light,
She glanced across the plain ;

But not a creature was in sight:
She kiss’d me once again.

“Her kisses were so close and kipd,
That, trust me on my word,

Hard wood I am, and wrinkled rind,
But yet my sap was stirr’d,.’”

“ His spirit flutters like a lark,
He stoops—to kiss. her—on his knee,
‘Love, if thy tresses be so dark,
How dark those hidden eyes must be!’”

 
 

131

“0 eyes long laid in happy sleep .
. O happy sleep that lightly fled !
O happy kiss, that woke thy sleep !
O love, thy kiss would wake the dead!’ ”

 

“* The page has caught her hand in his;
Her lips are sever’d as to speak :
His own are pouted to a kiss :
The blush is fix’d upon her cheek.”

“A touch, a kiss! the charm was snapt! ”

“ As thro’ the land at eve we went,
And pluck’d the ripen’d ears,
We fell out, my wife and I,
O we fell out, I know not why,
And kiss’d again with tears.

 

 
 

132

For when we came where lies the child
We lost in other years,

There above the little grave,

O there above the little grave,
We kiss’d again with tears.”

* Dear as remember’d kisses after death,
And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feign’d
On lips that are for others.”

“ 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.”

SSS

 
 

133
Coleridge.

Go wx Riss.

alzs\eNNE kiss, dear maid !’ I said, and sigh’d—

Your scorn the little boon denied.

 

Yon viewless wand’rer of the vale,
The Spirit.of the Western Gale,

At morning’s break, at evening’s close
Inhales the sweetness of the rose,
And hovers o’er th’ uninjur’d bloom,
Sighing back the sweet perfume,
Vigour to the zephyr’s wing

Her nectar-breathing kisses fling ;
And he the glitter of the dew
Scatters on the rose’s hue.’

Bashful, lo, she bends her head,

And darts a flush of deeper red.

Too well those lovely lips disclose

The triumphs of the op’ning rose;

O fair! O graceful! bid them prove

As passive to the breath of Love.

In tender accents, faint and low,
Well-pleas’d, I hear the whisper’d ‘No!’

 

 
 

 

134

The whisper’d ‘ No ’—how little meant!
Sweet Falsehood, that endears Consent ;
For on those lovely lips the while
Dawns the soft relenting smile,

And tempts with feign’d dissuasion coy
The gentle violence of joy.”

“‘Dhe Composition of x Riss

Cupid, if storying legends tell aright,

Once framed a rich elixir of delight.

A chalice o’er love-kindled flames he fix’d,

And in it nectar and ambrosia mix’d.

With these the magic dews which evening brings,
Brush’d from the Idalian. star by fairy wings ;

 

Each tender pledge of sacred faith he join’d,
Each gentler pleasure of the unspotted mind—

 
 

135

Day dreams, whose tints with sportive blightness glow,
And Hope, the blameless parasite of Woe.

The eyeless chemist heard the process rise,

The steamy chalice bubbled up in sighs ;

Sweet sounds transpir’d, as when the enamour'd dove
Pours the soft murm’ring of responsive love.
The finish’d work might Envy vainly blame,

And ‘ Kisses ’ was the precious compound’s name

With half the god his Cyprian mother blest,

And breath’d on Sara’s lovelier lips the rest.”

Ct

 

 
 

 

136

Combe.

Why, my good sir, you have not kiss’d her.
SynTax.—Do not suppose, I’m such a brute
As to disdain the sweet salute.
Souire.—And this, sir, is my loving wife,
The joy and honour of my life.
Syntax.—A lovely lady to the view !
And, with your leave, ['ll kiss her too.”

 

“ Her warm embraces she renew’d ;
While he, delighted, fondly kiss’d
Those hands which, formed into a fist,
Had often warmed his eyes and nose
To turn from their tremendous blows.”

“ How sweet to wind along the cool retreat,
To look and gaze on Delia as I go;
To mingle sweet discourse with kisses sweet,
And teach my lovely scholar all I know.”

“ With heart of joy and look of woe,
The Doctor now prepar’d to go,
He silent squeez’d the Squire’s hands
And ask of madam her commands.

 
 

137

The Squire exclaim’d, ‘Why so remiss?
She bids you take a hearty kiss ;

And if you think that one won’t do,

I beg, dear sir, you'll give her swo:’

* Nay, then,’ said Syntax, ‘ you shall see!’
And straight he gave the lady /hree.

The lady, blushing, thank’d him too,

And in soft accents said, ‘ Adieu !’ ”

estes

 

 
 

 

138

Gom Hood.

Ay, though the very birch’s smart
Should mark those hours again ;

I’d ‘kiss the rod,’ and be resigned,

Beneath the stroke, and even find
Some sugar in the canc.”

 

“ He took the hint full speedily, and, back’d
By love, and night, and the occasion’s mectness,
Bestowed a something on her cheek that smack’d
(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.”

“O 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 !”

 
 

139

Stanlen.

   

5

; anya \e HEN on thy lips my soul I breathe,
Va REN Which there meets thine ;
ae Freed from their fetters by that death,
Our subtle forms combine :
" Thus without bonds of sense they move,
And like two cherubims converse by love.

Spirits, to chains of death confin’d,
Converse by sense ;
But ours, that are by flames refin’d,
With those weak ties dispense :
Let such in words their minds display,
We in a kiss our mutual thoughts convey.

But since my soul from me doth fly,
To thee retir’d,
Thou canst not both retain, for I
Must be by one inspir’d :
Then, dearest, either justly mine
Restore, or in exchange let me have thine.

Yet if thou dost return mine own,
Oh! tak’t again !
For “tis this pleasing death alone
Gives ease unto my pain:
Kill me once more, or I shall find~ '
Thy pity than thy cruelty less kind.”

 

 
 

 

140

Rosa,

Oh! Rosa, I have never felt
Till now, the bliss of wooing,

Or known how scon the soul could melt
With rapture, love, and ruin.

But you, bewitching girl! have taught
My soul to woo sincerely,

And you have robb’d that soul of aught
It yet had valued dearly.

The kiss you gave the other night,
Though full of woe and anguish,

Was one for whose intense delight
My soul in pain could languish.

And keener as the torment grew
That kiss would sure be sweeter ;
And faster, as my reason flew,
Its throbbing joy completer.

Until, confounded with the bliss
We turn’d awhile to sorrow

Resolv’d to taste another kiss
Of equal warmth to-morrow.

Oh ! not to-morrow, but to-night
Let us again indulge it ;

And by yon moon’s auspicious light
I swear not to divulge it.

 
 

141

And if, like yonder moon, my fair
Grow larger, lovelier, brighter,

With many a warmer kiss I swear
In future to delight her.

Then each inspired kiss imparts,
In sounds, half utter’d, half suppress’d,
The tender secrets of their hearts,
Secrets to lips alone confess’d.

Where soul is thus with soul entwined,
The living rapture is improved ;
*Tis rapture of the sweetest kind,
To kiss when kiss’d, to love when loved.”

oF PEO

Leigh Bunt

ENNY kiss’d me when we met,

Jumping from the chair she sat in,
Time, you thief, who love to get

Sweets upon your list, put that in ;
Say I’m weary, say I’m sad,

Say that health and wealth have miss’d me,
Say I’m growing old,—but add—

Jenny kiss’d me! ”

 

 

 
 

 

142

Drummond.

   

/ To ee those lips am set on fire,

ee : Yet will I cease to crave

ae Sweet kisses in such store

As he who long before

In thousands them from Lesbia did receive ;
Sweetheart, but once me kiss,
And I, by that sweet bliss,

E’en swear to cease you to importune more:
Poor one, no number is—

Another word of me you shall not hear

After one kiss, but still one kiss, my dear !””

“ Dear life, when I do touch j
Those coral ports of bliss,
Which still themselves do kiss—
And sweetly me invite to do as much;
All panting on thy lips
My heart my life doth leave,
Nor sense my senses have,
And inward powers do feel a strange eclipse ;
This death so heavenly well
Doth me so please, that I
Would never longer seek in sense to dwell,
If that e’er thus I only could but die.”

 
 

143

     

That so sweetly were forsworn,

And those eyes, the break of day,
Lights that do mislead the morn;

But my kisses bring again

Seals of love, but seal’d in vain.

Hide, oh! hide those hills of snow,
Which thy frozen bosom bears ;
On whose tops the pinks that grow
Are of those which April wears ,
But my poor heart, oh! first set free,
Bound in those icy chains by thee.”

 

 
 

 

144

“ Humid seal of soft affection,
Tend’rest pledge of future bliss ;
Dearest tie of young connection,
Love’s first snowdrop, virgin kiss.

Speaking silence! dumb confession !
Passion’s birth and infants’ play,
Dove-like fondness, chaste concession,
Glowing dawn of brighter day.

Sorrowing joy! adieu’s last actign,

When ling’ring lips no more must join;
What words can ever speak affection

So thrilling, so sincere as thine !

Thee the fond youth untaught and simple
Nor on the naked breast can find,

Nor within the cheek’s small dimple—
Sole offspring thou of lips conjoin’d.

Then haste thee to thy dewy mansion,
With Hebe spend thy laughing day ;

Dwell in her rubied lips’ expansion,
Bask in her eye’s propitious ray.”

‘So I left this young Sappho, and hasten’d to fly
To those sweeter logicians in bliss,
Who argue the point with a soul-telling eye,
And convince us at once with a kiss.”

 
 

145

Sen Jonson,

There’s none to spy or see;
Why do you doubt or stay ?
Pll taste as lightly as the bee
That doth but touch his flower, and fly away

 

Once more, and, faith, I will be gone,
Can he that loves take less than one?
Nay, you may err in this,
And all your bounty wrong ;
This could be called but half a kiss,
What we’re to do but once, we shculd do long.

I will but mend the last, and tell
Where now it would have relish’d well®
Join lip to lip and try,
Each suck other’s breath,
And whilst our tongues perplexed lie
Let who will think us dead, or wish our death.”

“ The parting kiss, the soft embrace,
I feel them at my heart!
*Twas joy to clasp you in these arms,
But agony to part.

 

ro

 
 

 

146

Yet let us tranquillise our minds,
And hope the time may be,
When IJ shall see that face again,

So lov’d, so dear to me.”

SRO

 
 

147

i Stephens.

   

“E delicate lovelies, with leave I maintain

That happiness here you must find ;

To yourselves I appeal for felicity’s reign,
When you meet with a man to your mind.

When gratitude friendship to fondness unites,
Inexpressive endearments arise ;
Then hopes, fears, and fancies, strange doubts and
delights
Are announced by those tell-tale eyes.

Those technical terms in the science of love
Cold schoolmen attempt to describe,

But how should they paint what they never can prove?
‘For tenderness knows not their tribe!

Of all the abuse on enjoyment that’s thrown,
The treatment love takes most amiss,.

Is the rant of the coxcomb, the sot, and the clown,
Who pretend to indulge in a kiss.

In circling embraces, when lips to lips move,
Description, oh! teach me to praise

The overture kiss to the opera of love—
But beauty would laugh at the phrase.

Love’s preludes are kisses, and, after the play,
They fill up the pause of delight ;

 

 
 

148

The rich repetitions, which never decay
The lips’ silent language at night.

The rapture of kissing we only can taste,
When sympathies equal inspire ;

And while to enjoyment unbounded we haste,
Their breath blows the coals of desire.

Again, and again, and again, beauty sips,
When feeling these pressures excite; _

When fleeting life’s stopp'd by a kiss of the lips,
Then sinks in a flood of delight.”

STS

 

 
 

149

  

Ke, HEN we dwell on the lips of the lass we adore,

« B Not a pleasure in nature is missing ;
ie eS 4 May his soul be in heav’n, he deserv’d it, I’m
fe $ sure,

Who was first the inventor of kissing.

Master Adam, I verily think, was the man,
Whose discovery will ne’er be surpass’d ;

Well, since the sweet game with creation began,
To the end of the world may it last.”

 

 
 

 

150

“ For soon I led the yielding fair
By gentlest words, and tend’rest care,
From granting first a sidelong kiss,
To the more dear delightful bliss,
With which the melting soul’s replete
When lips meet lips in kisses sweet !”

OO

 

“«¢T'll scream if you touch me!’
Exclaimed a pert miss,
Whose lover was seeking

An innocent kiss.

By this prudish conduct
Cold water was thrown;

The lover drew backward
And let her alone.

 
 

151

 

‘T'll scream if you touch me!’
She holler’d once more ;
' He cried, ‘I aint near you !’
And turned on the shore.

She quickly subsided,
Grew tender to view,
And whisper’d quite softly—
“Tl scream till you do!’”

Ott o-
“T dare not ask a kiss,
I dare not beg a smile,
Lest, having that or this,
I might grow proud the while.

 

 
 

 

152

No, no; the utmost share
Of my desire shall be,

As I now kiss the air,
It may be borne to thee.”

nO

 
 

 

153

Hearts,

ie. UST so may love, although ’tis understood

‘The mere commingling of passionate breath,

Produce more than our searching witnesseth ;

What I know not; but who, of men, can tell

That flowers would bloom, or that green fruit
would swell

To melting pulp, that fish would have bright mail,

The earth its dower of rivers, wood, and vale,

The meadows runnels, runnels pebble-stones,

The seed its harvest, or the lute its tones,

Tones ravishment, or ravishment its sweet,

If human souls did never kiss and greet.”

« Now a soft kiss—
Ay, by that kiss, I vow an endless bliss,
An immortality of passion’s thine.”

“Echo hence shall stir
No sighs but sigh-warm kisses.”

“ Like the hid scent in an unbudded rose—
Ay, a sweet kiss.”

“Catch the white-handed nymphs in shady places
To woo sweet kisses from averted faces.’’

1o*

 
 

 

154

“Straight he seized her wrist,
It melted from his grasp; her hand he kiss’d,
And, horror! kiss’d his own—he was alone !”’

. «“ My Indian bliss !
My river-lily bud! one human kiss.”

. Birhe White.

“Ox! I would walk
A weary journey to the farthest verge
Of the big world, to kiss that good man’s hand,
Who, in the blaze of wisdom and of art,
Preserves a lowly mind!”

 

“Happy is he, who, though the cup of bliss
Has ever shunn’d him when he thought to kiss ;
Wha, still in abject poverty or pain,
Can count with pleasure what small joys remain.”

SEO

 
 

155

Shelley.

  

(tT A Y yet awhile! speak to me once again;

Kiss me, so long but as a kiss may live;

And in my heartless breast and burning brain

That word, that kiss, shall all thoughts else
survive,

With food of saddest memory kept alive.”

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

“ A sensitive plant in a garden grew,
And the young winds fed it with silver dew,
And if opened its fan-like leaves to the light,
And closed them beneath the kisses of night.”

 

“But the bee, and the beamlike ephemeris,
‘Whose path is the lightning’s, and soft moth that kiss
The sweet lips of the flowers, and harm not.”

—F2z3—-

 
 

 

159

Garrich,

  

RS 6 OR me my fair a wreath has wove,

“eS

Where rival flow’rs in union meet ;
As oft she kiss’d the gift of love,
Her breath gave sweetness to the sweet.

A bee within a damask rose
Had crept, the nectar’d dew to sip;
But lesser sweets the thief foregoes—
And fixes on Louisa’s lip.

There tasting all the bloom of spring
Wak’d by the ripening breath of May
Th’ ungrateful spoiler left his sting
And with the honey flew away.”

‘“‘ When zephyr on the violet blows,
Or breathes upon the damask rose,

 

He does not half the sweets disclose
That does my lovely Peggy.

 
oo

157

I stole a kiss the other day,

And, trust me, naught but truth I say,

The fragrance of the blooming May
Is not so sweet as Peggy.”

 

 
 

“

 

 

158

Aaron Will,

Wl ty URELIA, thou art mine!" I cried; and she

Sigh’d soft, ‘Now, Damon, thou art lord of me!’
‘But wilt thou,’ whisper’d she, ‘the knot now tied,
Which only death’s keen weapon can divide,
Wilt thou, still mindful of thy raptures past,

Permit the summer of love’s hope to last ?

Shall not cold wintry frosts come on too soon ?

Ah, say! what means the world by honey-moon ?
If we so short a space our bliss enjoy,

What toils does love for one poor month employ ?’:
‘Lest more,’ said I, ‘thou shouldst profane the bliss
I'll seal thy dang’rous lips with this close kiss ;

Nor thus the heav’n of marriage hopes blaspheme,
But learn from me to speak on this lov’d theme,
There have been wedlock joys of swift decay

Like lightning, seen at once, and shot away ;

But theirs were hopes, which, all unfit to pair,

Like fire and powder, kiss’d, and flash’d to air !
Thy soul and mine, by mutual courtship won,
Meet like two mingling flames, and make but one,
Union of hearts, nor hands, does marriage make ;
*Tis sympathy of minds keeps love awake.

Our growing days increase of joy shall know,

And thick-sown comforts leave no room for woe,

 
 

159

Thou, the soft-swelling vine, shalt fruitful last,

I, the strong elm, will prop thy beauty fast ;

Thou shalt strew Sweets to soften life’s rough way
And, when hot passions my proud wishes sway,
Thou, like some breeze, shalt in my bosom play.:
Thou, for protection, shalt on me depend,

I, find in thee a soft and faithful friend ;

I, in Aurelia, shall for ever view

At once my care, my fear, my comfort too ;

Thou shalt first partner in my pleasures be,

But all my pains shall, last, be known ‘to thee.
Aurelia heard, and view’d me with a smile,
Which seem’d at once to cherish and revile ;

*O, god of love!’ she cried, * what joys were thine,
If all life’s race were wedding days like mine !’”

tO

 

 
 

 

160

Various Authors.
OF 8eSO-

Dhe Miistletor.

\) EY! for the mistletoe!
Trip it, and twistle toe!
I prithee, young miss
A dance and a kiss,
The season shall be your immunity,
Say ‘yes’ to the dance,
And off with a glance
That leaves all the rest,
To your partner when best
Occasion shall give opportunity !

 

What now? Hesitation!

Then hear my narration,

That’ll prove to you how,

*Neath the mistletoe bough,
Your duty at Christmas to kiss is ;

How girls that refuse

Their lovers shall lose,

And always regretting

Their foolish coquetting,
Remain everlastingly—misses !

When the British warrior queen
(Ere she heard of Roman rods)—

 
 

161

Sought one day with pensive mien,
Counsel from Sir Thomas Dods.

Sage beneath a spreading oak
Sat that Druid hoary chief,

Every solemn word he spoke
Gaining from her quick belief.

She had told that her about
Suitors swarmed of every kind,
And her heart was quite in doubt,
Which way to make up her mind.

‘ Tell me, Dods, how I’m to know.
Which are lovers of my pelf,

Which aspire to consort’s show,
Which one loves me for myself!’

‘Maiden Queen! our isle’s defender !
See, above us in the tree,

Grows the bane of each pretender ;
Take this sprig I give to thee.

And when any ardent wooer,
Makes his last appeal to thee,

You can tell which is the truer,
And your lover’s motive see.

As he lowly bends before you,
Pouring forth his tale of love,

Swearing how he doth adore you—
Gently wave this spray above.

 

It

 
 

 

162

This shall help you to discover
Whether truth is in his prayer ;
Show you if an honest lover
Or a lying knave be there!’

Came then many a lordly prince
Making love with clam’rous vow,

But sudden each began to wince—
Falt’ring spoke with puzzled brow.

The queen had gently waved the spray,
Which stopped the feigned anguish—
The melting words did frozen stay,
The earnest prayer did languish.

At last there came a gentle youth,
Who knelt in sad confusion,

His tongue refused to tell his truth
His tale had no conclusion,

The queen held out the spray above
And then with sudden rush,

There came the tale of true, true love,
With proper force and gush.

She married him, and many years
They reigned side by side—

The court was all aswim with tears
The day he gently died.

And then the queeen did make a law,
By which you still are bound,

 
 

163°
Your wretched fate shall ail deplore
If breaking it you’re found !

* Ourselves, whereas the mistletoe
Hath lent us timely aid,
Let every girl our mandate know,
And listen every maid !

What time the snow is on the ground
Hang up this plant with care,

And after dancing it around
Salute your sweetheart there.

And further learn, that she who won’t
Shall always be a—spinster !

Given this day, at Oidubront—
(The Saxon for Westminster.)’”

“The Mistletor,

HOH#’ER is kiss’d beneath my shade,

Widow, wife, or artless maid,

. And culls my fruit to search my heart,

é And place it next her counterpart,

tp ‘True shall her ardent wishes at the. moment

 
 
  

Foster’d to life, like me, upon the plant Ilove. _[prove,
Should they by fate be grafted on
‘The hazel, crab, or prickly thorn,

 
 

 

164

Tasteless, or soon degen’rate, wild,

With cares beset, with tears beguil'd,
Partaking of the nature where they hapless grow,
She’ll rue the baleful plant, the mystic mistletoe.”

SERS O—

 

i, H, no! the oak her wishes bear,

The nymph by tender love led there ;
Come, then, in Christmas gambols play,
And dance the midnight hours away ;
And join in song the warbling lute,

And gather kisses with my fruit;

Let her fond bosom still with mutual rapture glow—
She’ll bless the evergreen, the sacred mistletoe.”

 

 
 

165

‘Xl ODDESS ! I do love a girl

IG Ruby lipp’d and tooth’d ywith pearl,
If so be I may but prove,

Lucky in this maid I love,

I will promise there shall be
‘Myrtles offered up to thee.”

 

OS tro—

“Het Me Hiss Him tor bis other.

Let me kiss his youthful brow ;
I will love him for his mother,
And seek her blessing now.
Kind friends have soothed his pillow—
Have watch’d his ev’ry care ;
Beneath the weeping willow
Oh! lay him gently there!

 

Let me kiss him for his mother ;
What tho’ left a stranger here,

She has lov’d him as none other:
I feel her blessing near.

Tho’ cold that form lies sleeping,
Sweet angels watch around,

Dear friends around are weeping,
O! lay him gently down!”

 

 
 

 

166

 

avodesty.

  
    
 

A je! SS me, dear maid, to seal the vow
BA Of love that thou hast made.’
“I have no right to kiss thee now,
op The-modest maiden said.
Aa :

’

‘If thou canst find it in thine 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.’”
a
 

167
Rings md Seals,

) 40!’ said the angry, weeping maid,
‘The charm is broken !—once betray’d,
Never can this wrong’d heart rely
On word or look, on oath or sigh.
Take back the gifts so fondly given,
With promis’d faith, and vows to heaven ;
That little ring which night and morn,
With wedded truth my hand hath worn;
That seal which oft, in moments blest,
Thou hast upon my lips imprest,

And sworn its sacred spring should be

A fountain seal’d for only thee :

Take, take them back, the gift, the vow,
All sullied, lost, and hateful now !’

 

I took the ring—the seal I took,
While, oh! her every tear and look
Were such as angels look and shed,
When man is by the world misled.
Gently I whisper’d, ‘Fanny, dear !

Not half thy lover’s gifts are here,

Say, where are all the kisses given,

From morn to noon, from noon to even,—
Those signets of true love, worth more
Than Solomon’s own seal of yore—
Where are those gifts, so sweet, so many ?
Come, dearest,—give back all, if any.’

 

 
 

 

168

While thus I whisper’d, trembling too
Lest all the nymph had sworn was true,
I saw a smile relenting rise
’*Mid the moist azure of her eyes,
Like daylight o’er a sea of blue,
While yet in mid-air hangs the dew.
She let her cheek repose on mine,
She let my arm around her twine—
One kiss was half allowed, and then—
The ring and seal were her’s again.”

OREO

   

*Twas the first time I dared so much.
And yet she chid not ;

But whisper’d o’er my burning brow,

‘Oh! do you doubt I love you now?’
Sweet soul! I did not.”

 

$$ —
 

169
“The Contract.

y? ECEIVE, dear maid, the warmest sigh
Wx That ever burst from lover’s heart,
And let the beaming, tearful eye,
What lips dare not reveal, impart

  

And, oh, return one look of eo
One sigh of soft impassioned bliss,

Say but the impulse you approve,
And seal the contract with a kiss.”

- -8RO

« What do the ladies with their looks,
Their kisses, and their smiles ?

Can no receipts in those fair books
Repair their former spoils ?”

-Sak*o—
“* False!

 

Cy

“ITH a kiss my vow was greeted,
As I knelt before thy shrine ;
But I saw that kiss repeated
On another lip than mine ;
3 And a solemn vow was spoken
That thy heart should not.be changed ;

But that binding vow was broken,

And thy spirit was estranged!”

 

 

11*

 
 

 

170

HAVE made a part of mine
All my lov’d one’s being ;
Trifling when he trifles,
Smiling when he smiles,

 

Mourning when he mourns,
And joyous when he joys ;—
se he, forgetting me,
Frequent kiss to other gives,
O! I weep, I weep!”

“Come in the evening, or come in the morning ;
Come when you’re look’d for, or come without warning ;
Kisses and welcome you’ll find here before you,
And the oft’ner you come, the more I’ll adore you.”

 

Thy smile like the clear moon rising,
And thy kiss is as sweet as the honey’d bee,
And more and more enticing.”

 

“My gentle love, caressing and caress’d,
With heaving heart shall cradle me to rest,
Shed the warm tear-drop from her smiling eyes,
Lull with fond care, and med’cine me with sighs,
While finely flushing float her kisses meek,
Like melted rubies o’er my pallid cheek.”

 
 

171
' She Hissed ihe Bewbd.

4H E kissed the dead. Her warm, red lips

\ Were pressed against his marble brow,

‘For if he’s but asleep,’ she said,

‘ And is not numbered with the dead,
He'll rise and kiss me now.’

 

 

She kissed the dead. Her warm, red lips
Were pressed against his hueless cheek,
‘For he will know,’ she softly said,
‘My kiss; and if he be not dead,
He’ll turn to me and speak.’

She kissed the dead. Her warm, red lips
Were pressed against his lips of ice.
‘He answers not,’ she weeping said ;
‘I know my darling must be dead,
For I have. kissed him thrice.’ ”

StS

T oft will memory paint one happy scene,
One moment fraught with ecstacy of bliss

_ When, thrilling with the soft clasp of thy
hand, [kiss ;

My lips meet thine in one long glowing

 

Ah, fatal gift! that was our parting doom—
How wert thou shadowed by fate’s stern decree ?
Alas! that clouds of sadness should have dimmed
The first, the only boon of love from thee !”

 

 
 

 

172

“From yon island gentle breezes
Waft a fragrance o’er the deep,
The kisses of a thousand flowers,
Stolen from them while they sleep.”

“‘Might we but share one wild caress,
Ere life’s autumnal blossoms fall,
And earth’s brown, clinging lips impress
The long cold kiss that waits us all.”

 

‘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 !”

 

 
 

173

“ The days, the weeks, the months of bliss
That we, my love, have passed together,
Th’ impression of your balmy kiss
At Richmond, in the summer weather,

Shall long remain fixed in my mind,
To please me when my spirit’s low,
For they still leave a joy behind,
To soften every sting of woe.”

 

“ Haply, when lock’d in sleep’s embrace,
Again I shall behold my Laura’s face,—
Again with transport hear
Her voice soft whispering in my ear ;
May steal once more a balmy kiss,
And taste, at least, of visionary bliss.”

 

 
 

 

174

“Those ruby lips, where roses bloom
And violets scatter sweet perfume ;
There, while entranc’d with rapt’rous joy,
I snatch delicious kisses.”

ISO

 
 

175

THE KISSES -
JOHANNES SECUNDUS.
as

Kiss I. -

GDhe Origin of the Riss.

  

© HEN in her lap the parent queen of love
Had borne Ascanius to Cythera’s grove.
On a sweet couch of tender violets made,
Hush’d in repose, her precious charge
she laid,
Then all around bade milk-white roses bloom,
And every air impregn’d with sweet perfume.

Adonis’ image to her mind return’d:
Once more her soul with tender passions burn’d ;
And oft she cried, in ecstacy of joy .
‘Such was Adonis! such the lovely boy!’

i

 

 
 

 

176

Oft, as in rapture o’er the youth she hung,

Her eager arms around his neck had flung,

But fear’d to break the artless sleeper’s rest,
And the fond ardour of her soul repress’d 5

And on each rose that blossom’d round his head
A thousand, thousand burning kisses shed ;
Beneath her lips the conscious flow’rets blush’d,
O’er every bud a warmer colour rush’d ;

While sighs in gently murmur’d sounds, confess’d
Each tender wish that struggled in her breast,
Where touch her lips the bursting buds disclose
A glowing kiss in every blushing rose,

And in each fresh-blown flow’ret multiply

The thrilling transports of Dione’s joy.

But when again her native realm she sought,
Drawn by her cygnets o’er the azure vault,
As through the void her chariot roll’d along,
Thrice mutt’ring, as she went, the magic song ;
Like Celeus’ son of old, her lavish hand
Shed kisses round, and fertiliz’d the land :
Thence for mankind the teeming harvest rose,
And hence the balm that mitigates my woes,

All hail! ye kisses of ambrosial birth,
Whom rapture’s thrilling hour produc’d on earth,
Sweet joys, that soothe the pangs of fierce desire,
For you the bard shall wake the sounding lyre ;
And while the Muses’ hill shall last, your praise
Shall live immortal in the poet’s lays;

 
 

177,
And love, who boasts himself, with conscious pride;
To that dear race from which ye spring allied,
In Roman strains your raptures shall rehearse
In all the liquid melody of verse.”

 

Kiss II.
“ To crown our raptures ’tyvas agreed, dear maid,
A sweet two thousand should the number be ;
And on thy glowing lips a thousand paid, =
A thousand kisses I received of thee.

Complete, I own, the number’d raptures prove,
But when did numbers e’er suffice with love ?

When the ripe autumn yellows all the plain,

Or spring with verdure clothes the blooming field
For number’d harvests ask the anxious swain,

Or counts the blades the grassy meadows yield ;
Or importunes with prayer the god of wine, :
With number’d clusters to enrich the vine?

 

12

 
 

 

178

Who from the guardian of the hive demands
A thousand honey-bees, yet asks no more?

Or when the Thunderer bids his lavish hands
On the parch’d earth refreshing waters pour,

Strive we to count each drop of falling rain,

As the swift torrents moisten all the plain!

When Jove in terror clothes his angry arm,
And hail descends, and wasting whirlwinds fly,
While earth and ocean, shook with pale alarm,
Feel all the loosen’d vengeance of the sky,
Unmov’d he views the mischiefs they perform
Nor measures out the horrors of the storm.

Or good or ill alike descend from heaven,
Extremes in both befit the race of Jove.

O thou! to whom celestial charms are given,
Ah! why thus sparing of thy bounty prove ?

O goddess! than that goddess lovelier far

Who roams blue oceans in her pearly car—

Why count thy kisses, and not count my sighs ?
Why count each kiss, nor count my every tear:

Those tears, that ever streaming from my eyes,
Adown my cheeks and breast a channel wear ?

Or cease to count thy kisses, or count all

The sighs that heave—the tears that streaming fall.

Yes, count my tears. Yet if thou cease to count,
O cruel maid! each kiss thy lips bestow,

 
 

179

Then of my sorrows heed not the amount ;
But, oh! if such can mitigate my woe,

Let the unnumber’d tears these eyes have shed,

By thy unnumber’d kisses be repaid.”

Kiss III.

“Oh! brighter than that planet far,
That sheds her silvery beams at eve,
Fairer than Venus’ golden star,
Sweet maid, a hundred balmy kisses give;
As many as th’ impassion’d bard could crave,
As many as his beauteous Lesbia gave;

As countless as the charms that play
Around those lips with crimson dyed;
As countless as the loves that stray
O’er those fair cheeks, and in their blushes hide;
As countless as the lives your eyes impart;
As countless as the deaths your glances dart.

As countless as the hopes and fears,
As countless as the lover’s sighs ;
As countless as the ceaseless cares
That ever mingle with his tenderest joys,
Or as those arrows sheath’d within my breast,
Or those that still in love’s bright quiver rest.

But mingle all your balmy kisses
With fond endearments, mirth and smiles ;
With soft delights, with murmuring blisses,
With love-inspiring jests and wanton wiles ;

 

 
 

 

180

So, in returning spring, the billing doves,
With quivering pinions interchange their loves.

And while upon my cheek you he,
Your senses lost in amorous trance,
And here and there in rapturous joy,
Your passion-beaming eyes’ voluptuous glance,
To me in sweetly plaintive murmurs sigh,
‘ Support me, dearest, for I faint, I die

My circling arms around you throwing,
I'll press you to my beating heart;
And the long, humid kiss bestowing,
Recall the fleeting sense, and life impart ;
Till, with the frequent rapture breathless grown,
In dewy kisses I expire my own,

And cry in accents faint and low,
‘In those dear arms, my love, uphold me!’
Then round me your fond arms you'll throw,
And closely to your fostering bosom fold me;
And pressing on my lips the glowing kiss,
Call back my fainting soul to life, and bliss.

‘Thus, lovely maid, while yet we may
Improve the moments as they fly,
While life is in its vernal day,
And youth invites us with a smiling eye ;
Soon with its cares will frowning age be here,
And pale disease, and death close pressing on his rear.”

 
 

181

Kiss IV.

«A hundred sweet kisses by hundreds told o’er,
I'll give those red lips, my dear charmer, of thine,
And thousands by thousands as lavishly pour
On those cheeks, and those eyes that bewitchingly
shine ;
Till the sums of my raptures as numberless grow
As the props that in ocean incessantly roll ;
Or countless as those little orbits that glow
In the mantle of night when it covers the pole.

But, oh! when entranc’d on thy bosom I lie,
And my lips to thy lips with fond ardour adhere ;
When I kiss thy fair cheeks or thy tale-telling eye,
The charms that I gaz’d on at once disappear.
The sweet pouting lips that inspir’d with delight,
The beam of those eyes that bewitch’d me the while ;
The rose on thy cheeks—are all snatch’d from my sight,
And the dimple that laughs in thy delicate smile.

That delicate smile that, with solacing beam,
Dispels from my soul all the darkness of woe,
And enlivening my bosom with Hope’s cheering gleam,
Bids the sigh cease to heave, and the tear-drop to
flow.
So Sol when he rises, dispels from the sky
The mists that would gather, and darken his way,
And borne on his gem-studded chariot on high,
From the cloudless serene pours the splendour of day.

 

 
 

 

* 182

Ah, me! thus, by jealous emotion possess’d
What rivalry glows ’twixt my lips and my eyes!
Each fondly admires thee, and longs to be blest,
And envies the pleasure the other enjoys.

Then, oh! if with jealousy eyes disagree,
Nor my lips bear a rival in rapture, my love,
Can I bear that another should emulate me,
And share in thy smiles, though that rival be Jove?”

Kiss V.

“°Gainst thee, my life, he stood prepar’d to wing
The fiery shaft, and stretch’d the sounding string ;
But when thy blooming cheeks, thy forehead fair,
The wanton ringlets of thy flowing hair,

And those thy gently heaving breasts he spied,
Those breasts that with his beauteous mother’s vied,
Love paus’d in doubt, enamour’d of thy charms,
Then flung the dart aside, and sought thy arms ;
There on thy lips with childish transport hung,
And kiss’d and wanton’d as he fondly clung—
Breath’d Cyprian odours in each kiss he press’d,
And fill’d with fragrant sweets thy inmost breast,
Then by each god tke solemn oath he swore,
And lovely Venus, ne’er to harm thee more,
What wonder then such sweets thy kiss imbue
Such balmy fragrance, such ambrosial dew!
What wonder then thy heart can never prove,
Oh, cruel maid! the gentle fires of love !”

e

 
 

 

Kiss VI.

“ Not certain kisses please my changeful mind,
Each has its varied rapture undefin’d ;
So, when thy humid lips encounter mine,
Sweet is the humid kiss which flows from thine ;
So ardent kisses ardent joys impart,
And the warm transport thrills within the heart ;
So when thine eyes with tender passion glow,
Tis sweet to kiss the authors of my woe ;
Tis sweet to kiss thy cheeks, and breathless lie
On thy fair neck with rapturous ecstacy,
And on thy rosy cheeks the joy indite,
Thy shoulders fair, and bosom snowy white ;
And while our glowing lips, in amorous play,
In rapture meet and snatch the kiss away,
’Tis bliss to feel, as lips with lips unite,
Our souls commingling with the dear delight—
The heart forsaking with the fleeting breath—

While love lies panting on the brink of death.
*

 

 
 

 

184

To me, or whether to thy lips I give,
Or from thy ruby lips the kiss receive,
Or the long kiss, when lips to lips adhere,
The soft, the rapid,—all alike are dear,
Only be thine, with sweet inzenious art,
Each kiss to vary that thy Nps impart :-
Nor what thy lips receive on mine bestow,
So shall our joys with varied transports flow !
‘But let the first who from this pact shall swerve
With meek submissive looks this law observe!

‘As many kisses each at first may give,
As many kisses each at first receive,
So many kisses shall the vanquish’d pay,
So many kisses varied every way.’”

Kiss VII.

“ A brighter crimson, with the morning light,
Blushes the rose impearl’d with nightly dew,
So glow thy ruby lips with brighter hue,
Moist with the kisses of a rapturous night; «
And thy fair cheeks a fairer tint assume
From violets, as some hand of lily white ;
So new ripe cherries shine ’midst lingering bloom,
When spring and summer in the tree unite. .
But, ah! when thus thy kisses sweetest flow,
Why forced to leave thee, and forego their charms !
Still let thy lips retain that beauteous glow
Till eve restores me to thy circling arms!”

 
 

185

Kiss VIII.

‘‘Oh, cease the balmy kiss, and cease awhile
The murmur’d rapture, the endearing smile ;
Nor always thus your arms around me twine,
And faint, and breathless on my neck recline ;

 

E’en pleasure has its hounds ; the rapturous joy
Repeated oft, will lose its zest, and cloy.

When thrice three kisses from thy lips I sue,
Withhold the seven, and give me only two;
Nor these with too much rapture be replete,
Nor yet too long, nor yet too balmy sweet ;

Such as chaste Dian’ to her brother gives,

Or from some artless maid her sire receives ;
Then bursting from my arms, with bounding feet,
Fly swift, and hide you in some dark retreat ;
Close I’ll pursue through each perplexing shade,
Search every spot, and find where you are laid,.

 

12*

 
 

 

186

And, as the towering falcon bears away

The timid dove, I’ll seize my beauteous prey.
Around me then your suppliant arms you’ll fling,
And hang upon my neck, and closely cling,

And on my lips seven coaxing kisses press,

And with endearments sue for your release,

But sue in vain: not seven shall set you free,
But seven times seven the price of freedom be;
Still shall my glowing arms your neck enfold,
And captive still my beauteous wanton hold.
Then, when you pay the balmy ransom, swear
By all your graces, all your charms, my fair,
That oft again such frolics you’ll pursue

And oft for faults like these such balmy sums be due.”

Kiss IX.

“ Faint with the rapturous joy, and breathless grown,
Around thy neck my languid arms were thrown,
And on thy burning lips, prepar’d to part,
Hover’d my soul, and ceas’d to warm my heart;
Pale Styx already swam before my sight,

And hell’s grim pilot, and the shades of night,
When, gently breathing from thy inmost breast
Thy lips on mine a humid kiss impress’d!

That kiss redeem’d me from the Stygian vale
And bade the infernal vessel freightless sail,
But, ah! no freightless voyage the pilot made.
Still in these regions flits my plaintive shade ;

 
 

187

Breath’d in this frame, a part of thee remains,
Part of thy soul, and these faint limbs sustain ;
But through each passage, eager to be free,

It pants, it struggles, to revert to thee;

And, oh! unless thy fostering breath retain,

Life will desert this sinking frame again.

Then to my lips thy lips, Nezera, join

And with thy soul sustain this soul of mine!

So, when this scene of life and love is o’er,

From our joint frames one single soul shall soar,”

Kiss X.
“Why tempt me with those lips of scarlet glow ?
For learn, O maiden, with the flinty breast,

 

Ne’er shall those proffer’d lips by mine be press’d !
Since you would have me prize your kisses so,
Those cold, cold kisses, whence no raptures flow,

 

 
 

 

188

That when, all glowing with the wild desire,
In every pulse I feel the scorching fire,
As the warm life-blood rushes to-and fro ;
You thus refuse me, and my pangs deride.
But whither now? Oh! fly me not, but stay;
Oh! turn not, turn not those sweet lips aside ;
Oh! turn not thus those sparkling eyes away ;
Yes! I will’ kiss thee, to thy lips be press’d,
Dear maid, more gentle far than cygnet’s downy breast!”

 

Kiss XI,

“Give me, sweet maid, one little kiss,
One little kiss, I said, and sigh’d,
Scarce had I felt the thrilling: bliss,
Scarce were your glowing lips to mine applied,

When from my lips your lips you take
In sudden haste, and burst away ;

 
 

189

So, when he feels the coiling snake,
The heedless rustic startles in dismay.

Not this to give the balmy kiss !

Ah! no, my love, but in the mind

To raise the fond idea of bliss

Then leave the sting of fierce desire behind.”

Kiss XII.

“Tis not a kiss those ruby lips bestow,
‘But richest nectar, and ambrosial dews ;
Such as from fragrant nard or cassia flow ;
Or blest Arabia’s spicy shrubs diffuse ;
Or sweets, that from Hymettus’ thymy brow,
Or roses that Cecro;, ian bowers produce,
Unwearied honey-bees selecting bear
To cells of virgin wax, and temper there.
But if thy vermeil lips, in ev’ry kiss,
Thus give to banquet on celestial fare,
And thrill my soul with ecstacy of bliss,
Soon shall this frame imbibe celestial powers,
And I shall revel in Olympian bowers.
Then shall thy precious boon, Nezera, spare,
Or with me those immortal honours share !
For ev’n should Jove, by rebel godheads driven,
To me resign the majesty of heaven—
That heaven, without thy presence, were unblest,
And all is nectar’d feasts without a zest !’’

 

 
 

 

290

Kiss XIII.

“ While circled by those fond, endearing arms,

That here and there in amorous fervour twine,

Nezera, you, with soul-entrancing charms,
Or on my neck, or shoulder soft recline,

And, fondly hanging o’er, unfold to sight

That beauteous neck, and bosom snowy white ;
And to my lips your glowing lips you join,

And on my cheek the thrilling joy indite,

Then, gently murmuring, chide your ardent swain,
If the fond jest he pay you back again.

While to my lips, in tremulous ecstacy,
Your lips, dear maid, the thrilling kiss impart ;
And, breathing forth the sweetly murmur’d sigh,
Pour your warm spirit through my raptur’d heart—
That sigh to me with genial life replete
So softly musical, so balmy sweet ;
While you, Nezera, snatch my breath away,
That, glowing with my bosom’s inward heat,
Fleets on my lips, and ’most forgets to play ;

And, O! sweet soother of my passion’s rage !
Once more, with that re-animating breath,
Recall my spirit from the gates of death,
And the fierce ardour of my soul assuage ;
Impassion’d with the bliss—‘ With Love,’ I cry,
‘O’er every power supreme in sovereignty—

 
19!

With Love, nor god nor mortal can compare ;
But, oh! with him if any power can vie,
Tis you, Nezera, you, my charming fair !’’’

The Bepulse.

  
 

fj BN N E kiss you earnestly implore,
And I, for this, dear youth, must fly thee :
That boon obtain’d, you’d ask for more,
And I, alas! could not deny thee.

For short would be love’s tender tie,
That strives to bind thy heart in vain ;
And then the hapless maid might sigh,
While thou wouldst triumph in her pain.”

Ste

 

 

 

 
 

 

192

THE KISSES

OF

JEAN BONNEFPONS.,

Kiss I.

Y MPH, all other nymphs excelling,
On whose lips, so rosy bright,

All my hopes of bliss are dwelling,
Source of every fond delight.

 

Gentle nymph, on whom is lavish’d
Ev’ry sweet, enchanting grace,

Charms from other beauties ravish’d,
To adorn thy lovely face.

While my heart, with passion glowing,
Calls thee loveliest, dearest, best,

Wilt thou, the soft kiss bestowing,
Soothe its pains, and give it rest ?

No, ah no! withhold the blessing,
Keep the dang’rous boon away ;

Let its thrilling touch, increasing,
Bid the flame more fiercely prey ;
 

193

But thy lips to mine applying,
Gently steal my breath away ;

 

Till with rapture fainting, dying,
Ev’ry pulse forgets to play.

No, ah, no! ev’n that were danger,
And my soul might wing her flight,
And be, dearest girl, a ranger
In those realms of endless night,

Where, condemn’d to gloom and sadness,
Plaintive spirits ever stray ;

Where love ne’er cheers, nor mirth, nor
E’er beguile the ling’ring day. [gladness,

Yet come! to mine thy lips applying,
Steal me from myself away ;

 

13

 
 

 

194

Till with rapture fainting, dying,
My soul, loos’d from these bonds of clay,

” Hovers where in dark meanders
Styx rolls on his lurid tide ;
Where the soft Catullus wanders

With Tibullus by his side.

I, too, in turn, my lips applying,
Will gently steal thy honied breath,
Till thy soul enraptuf’d, flying,
Hastens to the realms beneath ;

And in those bright regions hovers,
Where so sweetly, side by side,

Undivided from their lovers,
Nemesis and Lesbia glide.

For within that realm of spirits
Tend’rest joys await the bless’d ;

Each his former love inherits—
Still possessing, still possess’d.

There, my lovely girl, I’ll meet thee,
Pale and trembling, on that coast ;

And with rapturous kisses greet thee,
Till in silent wonder lost—

E’en those bards, whose gentle measures,
Told of bliss, and taught the way ;

Who, o’er love’s delightful pleasures,
Held the undisputed sway.

 
 

195

All, with one accord, shall hail us
Welcome to the blissful grove,

And confess that none excel us
In the tender arts of love.”

Kiss II.

“«Clasp’d, sweet maid, in thy embrace,
While I view thy smiling face,
And the sweets with rapture sip,
Flowing from thy honied lip ;
Then I taste in heav’nly state
All that’s happy, all that’s great.

But when you forsake my arms,
And displeasure clouds thy charms,
Sudden, I, who proved so late

All that’s happy, all that’s great-
Prove the tortures of a ghost
Wandering on the Stygian coast.”

Kiss III.

Fairest of blossoms, on whose lips the rose
Hath left its sweetness ; from the wanton wreaths’
Of whose bright ringlets and whose bosom flows
Fragrance like that the vernal violet breathes,
Or the od’rous shrubs of Araby exhale,
Flinging their spicy sweets on ev’ry passing gale:

 

 
 

 

196

Come, breathe, then, from thy lips, and gently press
On mine the honied dews of many a kiss,
Rapt’rous and warm with love, and numberless,
Like young doves be our interchange of bliss,
And, not like her, the Roman maid of old,
Who counted the sweet store—oh! be not thou so cold.

Come, dearest, with thy smiling lips apart,
Pouring a show’r of kisses sweet, then join
Them closer still, and from thy inmost heart
Breathe forth thy soul, and let it mix with mine:
But mingle, so that never art shall sever,
And like our endless love be thus conjoined for ever.”

Kiss IV.

“T mourn not that the soft melodious tone
Of thy sweet voice hath, like enchantment, reft
My ev’ry sense, or that my soul has left

This feeble clay untenanted, and flown,

To join in pleasing dalliance with thine own,
Lur’d from me by thy moist lips, when I quaff'd
Of dewy kisses the ambrosial draught ;

Nor that my foolish heart from me hath gone

To dwell with thee; ah! no, I only sigh
To think that when, with fast-receding breath,

In the delirious trance of ecstacy.

My spirit hovers on the brink of death,

 
 

197

*Twill not at that dear moment wholly fly,
And let me in thy fond embraces sweetly die.”

Kiss V.

** And wouldst thou have me hide the smart
That thrills in every aching vein ;
And with dissimulative art,
Conceal from all my inward pain?

Thou know’st not what the task would be:
Did fires like these within thee prey,
No, not all thy philosophy
Could charm the urchin, Love, away.

Can-I behold each auburn tress

That wantons round her lovely neck,
Lips that were surely made to bless,

And th’ rose that blooms on either cheek,

Nor deem e’en kingdoms cheaply lost
For one short hour of rapt’rous bliss,
Give all that ever Ind’ can boast
To snatch one dear delicious kiss ?

Perish the wretch that could behold
Beauties like these with careless eye ;

To-all love’s warmer raptures cold,
Unheeded let hirn live and die.”

 

 
 

 

198
Kiss VI.
Go u Lay Bog.

“Bless’d is thy lot, supremely bless’d ;
Who sees must envy thee ;
Thus by that gentle hand caress’d,
And fondled in the rosy breast .
Of that fair queen of chastity..

 

Diverted by thy artless play,
Companion of her home,
With thee she sports the live-long day,
And makes thee partner of her way,
When fancy leads her steps to roam.

Her daily meal she bids thee share,
And, with unfeign’d delight,

Selecting with attentive care,

The choicest morsels for thy fare,
Provokes thy little appetite.

 
 

199

Then when the sweet repast is o’er,
Strives with new joys to bless ;
Takes to her fragrant breast once more

And kisses sweet, a balmy store,
Her lips more prodigally press,

Than he, of such delights the sire,
From Lesbia crav’d of old ;

Catullus, whose sweet sounding lyre

Breath’d the soft notes of fond desire,
And all love’s tender raptures told.

Bless’d is thy lot, supremely bless’d,
With all love’s sweetest store!

And is there whose insatiate breast

With soft delights like thee possess’d,
Would madly wish, and sigh for more?

And yet there is, by thee enjoy’d,

E’en gods would give, to share,
The spangl’d heaven in which they pride,
Like thee to slumber by her side

-All the night long, and wanton there.

Sweet fav’rite, while ’tis thine to share
What all with envy see ;
For this her kindness, this her care
Let gratitude reward the fair
With pleasing, fond fidelity.”

 

 
 

 

200

Kiss VII.
“ Let me kiss those soft lids, my dear joy,
Where those glances bewitchingly play
Let me kiss those bright tresses that vie
With the god who illumines the day.

Ah! wouldst thou, ungrateful, deny
To the poet so slight a request ?

No, no, I can read in thine eye
The denial was only in jest.

Thou wouldst be but provokingly coy,
And seem to deny it to me;

With refusal enhance the sweet joy,
And tempt me to snatch it from thee.

 

Then thus in my arms will I fold thee,
Thus circle that white neck of thine;

Thus—thus to my bosom I’ll hold thee,
And thus press those moist lips to mine.

 
 

201

Thou mayst pout, and look gloomy, and threat me
And struggle to guard our own bliss ;

With scratches and pinches beset me,
While I snatch away kiss after kiss.

I'll fear not the threats thou mayst make,
And laugh at each fruitless endeavour :

In my arms thee more firmly I’ll take,
And kiss thee still closer than ever.

Oh! dearer to me are the joys

That spring from sweet struggles like these,
For we deem it no longer a prize

If we can enjoy when we please.

Then, oh! wouldst thou heighten the bliss ?
Thus ever, my Pancharis, fly me;

Thus, thus, let me snatch the sweet kiss
Thus ever resist, and deny me.”

Kiss VIII.
« Silly thing, in search of bliss,
Didst thou dare to touch her lip,
And in each delicious kiss,
‘Balmy dews of nectar sip ?

Tempt the sweet repast no more
For in every kiss’s breath,

While thou sipp’st the honied store,
Deadly poison lurks beneath.

Though the liquid ardours flow
Swiftly through each vital part,

 

13*

 
 

202

Till in ev’ry pulse they glow,
And consume thy aching heart.

Still unmindful of the past,
To her ruby lips thou fliest,
And there madly dar’st to taste
The honied bliss by which thou diest.

In those iips of rosy hue

Pain and pleasure mingled lie;
Oh! how sweetly they undo,

By how many arts destroy !

Fair destroyers of my peace,
Why so many pangs impart?
Cease those fiery torments, cease,

And no more distract my heart.

Give me sweets, but give them pure ;
When I seek the balmy kiss ;

Let me sip, but sip secure,
Nor with tortures taint the bliss.”

Kiss IX.
«Then hear me, goddess, thou, whose care benign,

Guards watchful o’er the lover’s destiny,
If, when again in am’rous ecstasy

On her fair bosom breathless I recline,

Life should forsake this feeble frame of mine,
And my frail spirit bursts her bonds of clay ;
For such may yet arrive, when slow decay

 

 
 

203

Hath weaken’d every barrier; be it thine,
Sweet pow’r, to guide the disembodied sprite

To’thy fair mansions, where for ever reign,
In sunny regions of celestial light,

Laughter, and mirth, and joy, unmixed with pain;

There, in the green recesses of the bless’d,
Lulled in Elysian raptures, let me rest.”

Kiss X.

“ While round thee my fond arms I twine,
And press my glowing lips to thine,

 

And eager of the bliss, inhale

The balmy breath’s nectareous gale-
Lost in the ecstacies of love,

I seem to soar in worlds above,

 

 
 

 

204

And seem, my fair one, seem to be
E’en happier than divinity.”

Kiss XI.
“ How can two such extremes combine,
Dear maid, in thee;
That, when such sweetness all is thine,
Sweeter than sweet can be,
Thy lips such bitterness impart
And from thine eyes envenom’d sorrows dart?

But when thou art so bitter all,
To such degree,
That all the bitterness of gall
Cannot e’en equal thee:
Why are thy kisses then so sweet,
And with ambrosial dews thy lips replete ?

Why do the glances of thine eyes
No longer sting,
But with each shaft that with them flies
Such gentle pleasures bring ?
Is’t in thy lips, I pr’ythee tell,
Or in thy glances that such virtues dwell:
That thus at times. my soul they bless
With bitter joy,
And now with honied bitterness
Oppress me and destroy ?
Oh! bitterness too cloying sweet :
Oh! sweet with too much bitterness replete ?”

 
 

205

Kiss XII.

6 Give me, sweet life, the kiss that’s ripe
With honied moisture sweet,
That will assuage the fires that rage
With such consuming heat :

And with the dew that doth imbue
Thy lips, so ruby bright,

Bid them allay the flames that play
Within me day and night.

Oh! no, forbear, my gentle fair,
I know not what I sue;

Oh! keep away from me, I pray,
Those lips that might undo,

And fan the fire of fierce desire,
Till, glowing in my heart,

O’er all my soul the torrents roll,
Consuming ev’ry part.

Why snatch from me so hastily
The lip that presses mine ?

Oh! come and pour the burning shower
Of kisses all from thine.

Let me expire by their sweet fire,
Till, from each burning kiss,
Like him I rise, who, to the skies,

From (Eta soar’d to bliss.”

 

 
 

 

206

Oorace.

RUEL who hurts the fragrant kiss
Which Venus bathes with quintessence of

bliss.”

 

 

‘“ While now her bending neck she plies
Backward to meet the buming kiss,
Then with an easy cruelty denies,
Yct wishes you would snatch, not ask the bliss.””

“*Twas night, and heav’n, intent with all its eyes,
Gaz’d on the deceitful maid :
A thousand pretty things she said,
A thousand kisses sweetly paid
From me, deluded me, her falsehood to disguise.

 
 

207

She clasp’d me in her soft encircling arms,
She press’d her glowing cheeks to mine,
The clinging ivy, or the curling vine,
Did never yet so closely twine ;
Who could be man and bear the lustre of her charms ?

And thus she swore—‘ By all.the powers above,
When winter storms shall cease to roar,
When summer suns shall shine no more
When wolves their cruelty give o’er,

Nezera then, and not till then, shall cease to love.’

Ah! false Nezera ! perjured fair! but know,
I have a soul too great to bear
A rival’s proud insulting air ;
Another may be found as fair,
As fair, ungrateful nymph! and far more just than thou,

Shouldst thou repent, and at my feet be laid,
Dejected, penitent, forlorn,
And all thy former follies mourn,
Thy proffer’d passion I would scorn ;

The gods shall do me right on that devoted head.”

SiO

 

 

 
 

 

208

Cannazar.

°Till not e’en the stars shall outnumber our
blisses,

 

Or sands that are spread on the surge-
beaten shore.

Let their sums be as countless as leaves that are playing
On the forest's green boughs when the summer is near,
Or the hues of the field when, with flow’rets arraying
Its bosom, spring breathes her warm gale on the year ;

Or the fishes that swim in the ocean’s deep bosom,
Or pinions that beat the wide vault in their flight ;
Or the bees that, still roving, from blossom to blossom,
Collect their sweet treasures by morn’s early light.

If these, my dear maid, by thy bounty be given,
As countless and sweet as thy lover demands,

For them would he spurn all the raptures of heaven,
And the nectar that sparkles in Ganymede’s hands.’

ots
 

209
Obivd.

, MILING, she said—‘ How grateful thy request,

’ If e’er my kisses please thee, take the best.’

Oh! with what gust, as from her soul they
came,

Such might melt Jove, and stop the vengeful
flame !”

 

“ With what a gust, ye gods, we then embrac’d,
How every kiss was dearer than the last.”

 

‘ They all appear to shun the bliss,
But when they once have felt a kiss,
They long and sigh for others.”

“Nor fret I thou in kissing shouldst excel,
And yet, ’tis strange to know to kiss so well.”

 

14

 
 

 

210

Ghe Story of Hurcinsus.

   
 

A < HERE stands a fountain in a darksome wood,
ae Nor stain’d with falling leaves nor rising
ne Oe: is. mud ;
Eee z >‘ Untroubled by the breath of winds it rests
Bee Unsully’d by the touch of men or beasts ;

High bow’rs of shady trees above it grow,

And rising grass and cheerful greens below.

Pleas’d with the form and coolness of the place

And over-heated by the morning chase

Narcissus on the grassy verdure lics :

 
 

 

And as his own bright image he survey’d,
He fell in love with the fantastic shade ;

 
 

211

And o’er the fair resemblance hung unmov’d,
Nor knew, fond youth! it was himself he lov’d.
The well-turn’d neck and shoulders he descries,
‘The spacious forehead, and the sparkling eyes ;
The hands that Bacchus might not scorn to show,
And hair that round Apollo’s head might flow ;
With all the purple youthfulness of face,

That gently blushes in the wat’ry glass.

By his own flames consum’d the lover lies,

And gives himself the wound by which he dies.
To the cold water oft he joins his lips,

Oft catching at the beauteous shade he dips

His arms, as often from himself he slips.

Nor knows he who it is his arms pursue

With eager clasps, but loves he knows not who.

What could, fond youth, this helpless passion move ?
What kindled in thee this unpity’d love ?
Thy own warm blush within the water glows
‘With thee the colour’d shadow comes and goes,
Its empty being on thyself relies ;
Step thou aside, and the frail charmer dies.

Still o’er the fountain’s wat’ry gleam he stood,
Mindless of sleep, and negligent of food ;
Still view’d his face, and languish’d as he view’d,
At length he rais’d his head, and thus began
To vent his griefs and tell the woods his pain—
* You trees,’ says he, ‘ and thou surrounding grove,
Who oft have been the kindly scenes of love,

 

 
 

 

212.

Tell me, if e’er within your shades did lie

A youth so tortur’d, so perplex’d as I?

I, who before me see the charming fair

Whilst there he stands, and yet he stands not there.
In such a maze of love my thoughts are lost ;
And yet no bulwark’d town, nor distant coast,
Preserves the beauteous youth from being seen,
No mountains rise, nor oceans flaw between,

A shallow water hinders my embrace ;

And yet the lovely mimic wears a face

That kindly smiles, and when I bend to join
My lips to his, he fondly bends to mine,

Hear, gentle youth, and pity my complaint,
Come from thy well, thou fair inhabitant.

My charms an easy conquest have obtained
O’er other hearts, by thee alone disdain’d.

But why should I despair? I’m sure he burns
With equal flames, and languishes by turns,
‘Whene’er I stoop, he offers at a kiss,

And when my arms I stretch, he stretches his.
His eye with pleasure on my face he keeps,
He smiles my smiles, and when I weep he weeps,
Whene’er I speak, his moving lips appear

To utter something which I cannot hear.

Ah wretched me! I now begin too late
To find out all the long perplex’d deceit :
It is myself I love, but self I see;

The gay delusion is a part of me

 
 

213

I kindle up the fires by which I burn

And my own beauties from the well return.

How gladly would I from myself remove !

And at a distance set the thing I love.

And now I faint with grief; my fate draws nigh;
In all the pride of blooming youth I die.

Death will the sorrows of my heart relieve.

Oh, might the visionary youth survive,

I should with joy my latest breath resign !

But, oh! I see his fate involv’d in mine.’

This said, the weeping youth again return’d
To the clear fountain, where again he burn’d.
His tears defac’d the surface of the well

 

With circle after circle, as they fell ;

And now the lovely face but half appears,
O’errun with wrinkles, and deform’d with tears.
* Ah, whither,’ cries Narcissus, ‘ dost thou fly ?
Let me still feed the flame by which I die;

 

 
 

 

214

Let me still see, tho’ I’m no further blest.’
Then rends his garments off, and beats his breast
His naked bosom redden’d with the blow,

In such a blush as purple clusters show,

Ere yet the sun’s autumnal heat refine

Their sprightly juice, and mellow’d it to wine.
The glowing beauties of his breast he spies,
And with a new redoubled passion dies.

As wax dissolves, as ice begins to run,

And trickle into drops before the sun;

So melts the youth, and languishes away,

His beauty withers, and his limbs decay ;
And none of those attractive charms remain
To which the slighted echo su’d in vain.”

BLS

“a ‘B\ INDS! whisper gently while she sleeps,
6 And fan her with your cooling wings,
While she her drops of beauty weeps
From pure and yet unrivall’d springs.

 

Glide over beauty’s field, her face ;
To kiss her lip and cheek be bold:

But with a calm and stealing pace,
Neither too rude, nor yet too cold.

Play in her beams and crisp her hair,
With such a gale as wings soft love;
 

215

And with so sweet, so rich an air
As breathes from the Arabian grove.

A breath as hush’d as lover’s sigh,

Or that unfolds the morning’s door ;
Sweet as the winds that gently fly

To sweep the spring’s enamell’d door.”

 

“ Like doves we would be billing,
And clip and kiss so fast,
Yet he would be unwilling,
That I should kiss the last.”

“ The billows kiss the shore, and then
Flow back into the deep again,
As tho’ they did not kiss.”

Ores

EQ = NTENT to frame some new design of bliss,
The wanton Cyprian queen composed a kiss,

With mystic skill she temper’d first for use.
This done, her infant work was well bedew’d
With choicest nectar ; and o’er all she strew’d

Part of the honey which shy Cupid stole,

Much to his cost, and blended with the whole ;

Then that soft scent which from the violet flows

She mix’d with spoils of many a vernal rose ;

 

 

 
 

 

216

Each gentle blandishment in love we find,

Each graceful winning gesture, next she join’d

And all those joys that in her zone abound,

Made up the kiss, and the rich labour crown’d.
Consid’ring now what beauteous nymph might prove
Worthy the gift, and worthy of her love,

She fixed on Chloe as her fav’rite maid,

To whom the goddess, sweetly smiling, said—

‘ Take this, my fair, to perfect every grace,

And on thy lips the fragrant blessing place.’ ”

 

“ Our vicar he calls it damnation to sip
The ripe ruddy dew of a woman’s dear lip,
Says that Beelzebub lurks in her kerchief so sly,
And Apollyon shoots darts from her merry black eye ;
Yet, whoop, Jack! kiss Gillian the quicker,
Till she bloom like a rose—and a fig for the vicar!’

OF ko

 
 

My eyes with envy view the bliss, [dwell ;
And fear to lose those charms on which they
And, oh! whene’er I sirive to raise
My eyes to you, and fondly gaze,
At once my lips the vain attempt repel.
Such are the charms your lips display,
So tempt me with their rosy hue, -

 

 

As steel the magnet’s force, so they
At once attract my lips to you. #
Thus, beauteous tyrant, you control, _ [soul.”

Thus steal me from myself, and sway my am’rous P

Ste

Hontanus ;

HEN thy clos’d lips the joyless kiss impart,

Nor thy warm breath comes glowing from
thy heart,

A something saddens all my soul, I feel

! E’en on my lips the silent kiss grow chill.

But when thy swelling lips reply to mine,

And my warm spirit flies to thine,

My pulses fail, sense, strength, and colour fly,

And pale and breathless in thine arms I lie.

 

 

 

14*
 

 

218
es
Come, kiss me close, and with each glowing kiss,

O let our spirits mingle into bliss!
But leave no space through which my soul can fly,
Lest in thy circling arms thy lover die.”

SEE

PX IVE me, Lydia, kisses sweet,

Kisses, love’s delicious treat ;

Honied kisses from thy lip,

Cupid’s self might joy to sip,

Sweeter than the flowers which bloom,
And around shed rich perfume—

Softer than the zephyr’s breath,

Wafted o’er the flowry heath !

 

Freely give thy soul to joy;
Mercenary pleasures cloy,

While the. voluntary bliss,

Kiss so sweetly answering kiss,

Fills the soul with real pleasure,
Bless’d and blessing without measure.”

“I wish that I were
A voiceless sigh,
Floating through air
When thy beauty draws nigh:
Unperceived I would steal o’er thy cheek of down,
And kiss thy soft lip unchecked by a frown.”

 
 

219

Gallus.

As lilies sweet, as soft as air,
Let loose thy tresses, spread thy charms,
>} And to my love give fresh alarms.

 
  

Oh! let me gaze on those bright eyes,
Though sacred lightning from them flies ;
Show me that soft, that modest grace,

Which paints with charming red thy face.

Give me ambrosia in a kiss,

That I may rival Jove in bliss ;
That I may mix my soul with thine
And make the pleasure all divine.”

 

“Oh! heavenly fool, thy most kiss-worthy face
Anger invests with such a lovely grace,
That anger’s self I needs must kiss again.”

 

 

 
 

 

B wif.

{OME hither, and give me moist kisses,
2, Dear girl, such as none ever gave!
What! wouldst thou then number my blisses,
And ask me how many I’ll have!

 

I know not the number of kisscs
That Lesbia was ask’d for, or gave;
But sure, who can number his blisses
Can never have many to crave.”

ST

Bonfadins.

   

ow grots, ye groves, were witness of my bliss,

‘When from her lips I snatch’d the nectar’d
kiss !

The thrilling joy of life, and sense bereft,

And on her humid lips my soul was left,

But when she saw me pale, and breathless
laid,

With fond encircling arms the lovely maid

My languid form drew closer to her breast,

And on my lips a sweeter kiss impress’d ;

 
 

221

And scarce had I inhal’d the balmy dow,
When to my heart my wand’ring spirit flew.
To me now dearer is the vital flame,

Since from her lips, her ruby lips, it came.”

SEI

Buchanan,

Such nectar’d streams, such rich ambrosia
flow, “

With gods I seem their heav’nly state to
share,

With gods I banquet on celestial fare ;

And lost in pleasing dreams of ecstasy,

Seem far more bless’d than e’en a god can be.

But, oh ! whene’er those balmy kisses flow,

With falsehood mix’d, and treach’ry lurks below,

Then instant I, who shar’d the realms of bliss,

Plunge headlong down to hell’s profound abyss ;

In darker horrors lost, and deeper woe

Than those that suffer in that world below!”

 

2 one >

 

 
 

 

222

Anucreontic.

: FILL’D to thee, to thee I drank,
I nothing did but drink and fill ;

The bowl by turns was bright and blank
’Twas drinking, filling, drinking still.

 

At length J bid an artist paint
Thy image in this ample cup,

 

That I might see the dimpled saint,
To whom I quaff’d my nectar up.

Behold how bright that purple lip

Now blushes through the wave at me
And every roseate drop I sip

Is just like kissing wine from thee.

 
 

223

And still I drink the more for this ;
For, ever when the draught I drain,
Thy lip invites another kiss,
And in the nectar flows again.

So, here’s to thee, my gentle dear,
And may that eyelid never shine
Beneath a darker, bitterer tear
Than bathes it in this bowl of mine.”

Stee

  
 

“i HERE is a sweet, a pleasing death ;
‘A soft suspension of the breath,
Replete with tenderest bliss;
I find it in my Lucy’s arms,
A I taste it in her ripen’d charms,
And in her murm’ring kiss.
Wild fancy riots in the thought
Of rapture with endearment fraught
‘What mortal sense like this ?
For you to catch my fleeting breath,
To share in that delicious death
Which hovers on your kiss.”

Sto

 

 
 

 

224

Sappho.

‘\ ITHER, Venus! queen of kisses,
This shall be the night of blisses :
This the night, to friendship dear,
Thou shalt be our Hebe here,
Fill the golden brimmer high,

Let it sparkle like thine eye ;

Bid the rosy current gush,

Let it mantle like thy blush,”

 

Faro

Surint.

HEN o’er the virgin cheek we meet
Health’s tender blooming roses spread,
To kiss those roses may be sweet,

To kiss them on their native bed.

 

Full well experienc’d lovers know,
And chief, the few who blissful burn,
That kiss is lifeless we bestow
On charms that yield no kind return,

 
 

225

Be sure those kisses breathe delight,
Where love the sweetly vengeful dart
Exchanges, while fond lips unite,
Lips echoing soft as kisses part.

When one warm wish inflames the pair,
Not less endearing kisses prove ;

Each gives, each takes, an equal share,
Sweet interchange of sweetest love.

Kiss the dear lip the swelling breast,

The snow-white hand, the forehead kiss !
‘Tis by the lip the joy’s expresse’d,

’Tis the kind lip repays the bliss.

When lovers’ lips in transport join,
Their souls to share that transport fly ;
And as their mingling breaths combine,
The purple gems with life supply.

Then each inspired kiss imparts
In sounds half utter’d, half suppressed,
The tender secrets of their hearts,
Secrets to lips alone confess’d,

When soul is thus with soul entwined
The living rapture is improved ;
*Tis rapture of the sweetest kind
To kiss when kissed, to love when loved.”

Sto

 

 

15
 

226

i E smil’d consenting, and her lips impart
To my parch’ d ies one dear delicious kiss,

Recall’d my spirit from the dark abyss:
A humid kiss, rich with ambrosial dews,
And all the spicy sweets Arabia’s shrubs diffuse,”

 

FEO

 

 

ANY E: felt her flesh, (his fancy thought it such),

" And fear’d to hurt her with too rude a
touch.

He kiss’d her with belief so strong and vain,

That he imagin’d how she kiss’d again.”

 

 
 

227

Pasquier,

MW EAR maid, a gentle kiss impart,

/, Like that in innocence of heart,

Which some young girl, with fond caresses,
On her fair sister’s cheek impresses ;

For joys like that, so pure and chaste,
Must ever please, and ever last.”

 

Sis

Plato.

wByHENE’ER thy nectar’d kiss I sip,
And drink thy breath, in melting twine,
My soul then flutters to my lip,
Ready to fly and mix with thine.”

 

tO

“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 kisses worth
If thou kiss not me!”

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

“Why, Anna, why let sparrows sip
The nectar from your rosy lip?
Ask but your heart—it will suggest
They value not what makes me blest.”

Sts
aartial.

1OME, Chloe, and give me sweet kisses,
For sweeter, sure, girl never gave;

But why, in the midst of my blisses,
Do you ask me how many I’d have?

I’m not to be stinted in pleasure,

Then, prithee, my charmer, be kind;

 

 
 

229

For whilst I love you above measure,
To numbers I'll ne’er be confined.

Count the bees that on Hybla are playing,
Count the flowers that enamel the fields ;
Count the flocks that on Tempe are straying,
Or the grain that rich Sicily yields;

Go, number the stars in the heaven,
Count how many sands on the shore ;
When so many kisses are given,
I still shall be craving for more.

To a heart full of love let me hold thee,
To a heart, which, dear Chloe, is thine!

With my arms I'll for ever enfold thee,
And twist round thy limbs: like a vine.

What joy can be greater than this is?
My life on thy lips shall be spent;

But the wretch that can number his kisses
With few will be ever content.”

ESS

 

 
 

 

 

230

 

Bow FHoee.

“How very odd that poets should suppose
There is no poetry about your nose,
When, plain as a man’s nose upon his face,
A noseless face would lack poetic grace.
Noses have sympathy, a lover knows ;
Noses are always touched when lips are kissing—
And who would care to kiss if nose were missing ?
Why, what would be the fragrance of the rose,
And where would be the mortal means of telling
Whether a vile or wholesome odour flows
Around us, if we own’d no sense of smelling ?
I know a nose—a nose no other knows—
*Neath starry eyes, o’er ruby lips it grows—
There’s beauty in its form and music in its blows!”

 
 

231

Krom the French.

“While you incline that neck of snow
To every kiss my lips bestow,
And in those passion-beaming eyes
Such inexpressive meaning lies,
Enraptur’d by the kindling glance,
My: soul dissolves in am’rous trance ;
And on your gently heaving breast
Exanimate, I sink to rest.

But when our lips in wanton play,

So sweetly kiss for kiss repay,
And from that humid, panting lip
Such sweets, such balmy dews I sip,
As bathe the newly op’ning flower
That blooms in some ambrosial bower.
*Midst heavenly scenes I seem to rove,
And taste the nectar’d feasts of Jove.”

Cres
Hrom the Stalian.

“The bee sips honey in each flow’ret’s bell,
Thence bearing tempers in her waxen cell;
‘Whence man prepares the rich Metheglius juice ;
And gods their sweet nectareous draughts produce.
But on thy lips hang sweeter dews, my fair,
Bees seek in flowers, but I find honey there ;
There Venus spreads ambrosia to my taste
And she alone can yield the sweet repast.”

 

 
 

 

232

Hrom the German.
“ The kiss that you pressed on my lip
Has but kindled more fiercely the fire,
And e’en gods ’midst their raptures would weep,
Did they burn as I do with desire.:
For scarce had my soul felt the bliss,
When you left me to mourn that ’twas given ;
Is this, to impart the sweet kiss, ,
The nectar they boast of in heaven?
No, no—ah! believe me, ’tis merely
To sharpen the stings of desire,
And make me but feel more severely
The tortures by which I expire.
‘So feels, when thirst parches the lip,
The traveller, to whom rustics tell,
Of the cool, sparkling stream he may sip,
Yet refuse him access to the well.”

« Alas! madame, for stealing a kiss
Have I so much therein your mind offended ?
. Or, have I done so grievously amiss
That by no means can it be e’er amended ?
Revenge you, then,—the readiest way is this—
Another give, and see me die with bliss!”

THE END.

 

W. Ainoid & Co., Printers, 40 & 41, Kirby Street, Hatton Garden.