THE KISS OF RESPECT
Margaret of Scotland, who was betrothed to Charles the Seventh’s son,
the Dauphin Louis (afterwards Louis XI.), one day walked through a hall
where Alain Chartier was sitting asleep in a chair. On perceiving the
sleeping poet, she went up to him and kissed him on the lips. Many of
her suite were astonished at this, “for nature had, so far as Chartier
was concerned, suffered a beautiful and rich mind to take up its abode
in an ugly body.” The princess replied that they were not to marvel at
what she had done, for it was not the man she had kissed, but the mouth
from which so many golden words had proceeded. Margaret’s kiss was
therefore an expression of the respect she had for the poet, and the
admiration and regard inspired by his poetical genius. A little further
back in the Middle Ages we meet with another striking instance of a
kiss as expressive of veneration; but this kiss is of a more humble
nature. We are told that, when the Emperor Otto I. had taken leave of
his pious mother in the church attached to a monastery, the latter
followed him with her eyes as long as she could, and then returned to
the church and kissed the place whereon his feet had stood.
The kiss of veneration is of ancient origin; from the remotest times we
find it applied to all that is holy, noble, and worshipful--to the gods,
their statues, temples, and altars, as well as to kings and emperors;
out of reverence, people even kissed the ground, and both sun and moon
were greeted with kisses.
In the first book of Kings God says to Elijah: “Yet I have left me seven
thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and
every mouth which hath not kissed him” (xix. 18).
In the thirty-first chapter of Job, Job extols his own piety: “If I
beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; and my
heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand” (26,
27). Here, undoubtedly, allusion is made to the kissing of hands
whereby the heathen were wont to salute the heavenly bodies.
When the prophet Hosea laments over the idolatry of the children of
Israel, he says that they make molten images of calves and kiss them.
Even in remote classical times a similar homage was paid to the gods;
people kissed the hands, knees, and feet, even the mouths, of their
idols. Cicero informs us, in one of his speeches against Verres, that
the lips and beard of the famous statue of Hercules at Agrigentum were
worn away by the kisses of devotees.
Bayle tells us, in reference to this passage, that a physician was asked
one day why it was that a bronze face could, in this manner, be worn
away through being kissed, whereas, on the other hand, kisses did not
leave the slightest trace on the countenance of the most fashionable
courtesan. His answer was that the reason, he supposed, was that statues
were kissed for centuries, but that the woman in question was only
kissed for a very few years, viz., so long as her beauty lasted. This
explanation was, however, considered unsatisfactory, and the physician’s
attention was called to the fact that soft flesh must be far sooner
worn away than hard bronze; besides, lover’s kisses being considerably
more violent than those of mere respect. The physician then urged
another reason, viz., that which kisses wear away from bronze lips is
lost for ever, but that which is worn away from living lips is
immediately replaced by renewal of tissue in the body.
The kiss of veneration came to play a very important part in Christian
society. St Luke the Evangelist tells us that when Christ sat at meat in
the Pharisee’s house there came a woman who had been a great sinner,
bringing with her a vase of ointment. “And stood at his feet behind him
weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with
the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the
ointment” (vii. 38). When the Pharisee wondered at His having allowed
such a woman to touch Him, He rebuked him by the parable of the two
debtors, and added, “Thou gavest me no kiss, but this woman since the
time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou
didst not anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.”
Again in the Psalms, “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from
the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they
that put their trust in him.”
C. H. Spurgeon used these lines as the text of a sermon he preached in
the “Music Hall,” London, on the 3rd of July 1859, in which he did his
utmost to make his congregation understand what is meant by saying we
are to “kiss Christ.” “The kiss,” says he, “is a mark of worship; to
kiss Christ is at the same time to recognise Him as God, and to pay Him
divine worship. The kiss is a mark of homage and subjection; we ought
likewise to acknowledge Christ as our King, and promise to follow
blindly His behests. The kiss is a sign of reconciliation; we ought to
show that we are reconciled with God. Lastly, the kiss is the greatest
of all tokens of love; to kiss Christ is therefore only a figurative way
of expressing to love Him with deep and fervent love.”[14]
As the woman that was a sinner showed her reverence for Christ by
kissing His feet, so all saintly men and women henceforward were
honoured in a like manner. They were saluted humbly by kisses on their
hands or feet, and the legend goes that he who kissed the hand of St
Dominic never afterwards committed sin. In many countries, more
especially in Southern Italy, kissing the hands of the priest is still
customary.
The kiss reverential was extended to everything that was holy, or had
been consecrated to sacred purposes.
People kissed the Cross with the image of the Crucified, and such
kissing of the Cross is always regarded as a particularly holy act. In
many countries it is required, on taking an oath, as the highest
asseveration that the witness is speaking the truth, and as a last act
of charity, the image of the Redeemer is handed to the dying or
death-condemned to be kissed. Kissing the Cross brings blessing and
happiness. In the south of France people used formerly, in moments of
difficulty or danger, when no Cross was at hand, to kiss their thumbs
laid in the form of a cross. When devout Catholics salute the Pope by
humbly kissing his slipper, they are fond of explaining away this
greeting. They say that it is not to be taken as any personal homage
paid to the Pope; the kiss having nothing to do with his slipper, but
the cross which is embroidered on it. Therefore Christ it is to whom
they are prostrating themselves. This idea, however, is undoubtedly a
later fancy; the kiss on the slipper ought, I take it, more correctly to
be considered as humble homage to the Pope as primate of the Church, and
such, therefore, must be the view the Pope himself holds, since he has,
times without number, exempted cardinals and other persons of high rank
from kissing his slipper. The number of kings and ambassadors who, in
the course of time, have refused to submit to this ceremony, have
undoubtedly regarded it as a humiliation; and popular conception bears
this out thoroughly. To “kiss the slipper” has become in many languages
synonymous with a low and unworthy cringing. In the old German war-song
against Charles V., we find:
Ah, think the whole imperial race
Through Popery fell in sore disgrace
And German might was riven.
Will you for all their knavery
To slipper-kiss be given?
W. F. H.
People kiss the image of Our Lady. The legend tells us that John of
Antioch even dared to kiss Mary’s mouth, and this kiss gave him wisdom
and great eloquence, and spread a golden glory round his mouth, hence
his surname Chrysostom (golden mouth).[15]
People kiss the pictures and statues of saints. Down in St Peter’s
church in Rome there is a remarkable old bronze figure of St Peter,
which is said to date from the fifth century, and the faithful have, in
all ages, shown the highest veneration to this image, in consequence of
which a great part of the right foot has been gradually kissed away.
Even nowadays the kiss bestowed on the pictures of the saints plays an
enormous part in the Roman Catholic, but more particularly in the Greek
Church. Not only their pictures, but even their relics are kissed; they
make both soul and body whole. St Balbina obtained forgiveness for her
sins by kissing St Peter’s chains, and Pascal’s niece was cured of a
disease in her eyes by kissing one of the thorns of Christ’s Crown. This
cure, the historical authenticity of which is, however, somewhat
doubtful, made a great sensation, and provoked a violent controversy
between the Jansenists and Jesuits.
Besides, there are legends innumerable of sick people regaining their
health by kissing relics; innumerable, too, are the satires which arose
by reason of abuses in respect to cures which were achieved with relics
genuine and false. One of the best known is perhaps the mediæval story
of _The Monk’s Breeches_.
A Franciscan friar was a very intimate friend of a merchant in Orleans
and his wife--especially of the latter. One evening the merchant
returned home unexpectedly from a journey, and the friar, who had tried
to the best of his ability to entertain the wife in the husband’s
absence, for certain circumstances which were capable of being
misunderstood, thought it wisest to disappear as quick as possible; but
in his haste he forgot his breeches. The merchant, however, did not
notice anything; the night was dark, and next morning he even put on the
friar’s breeches instead of his own. On coming back home from his office
in the afternoon--he had long discovered his mistake--he demanded, with
violent and hasty words, an explanation from his wife; but the latter,
who had discovered at once in the morning what had happened, hurriedly
sent a messenger to the friar to consult with him as to what was to be
done. According to their arrangement she answered her husband very
calmly:
“My dear friend, don’t fly into a passion; you ought to thank me instead
of quarrelling with me. You know we have no children, and we have tried
everything--but all in vain. Now I heard that St Francis’ breeches could
work miracles, even of that sort, and that is why I had them fetched for
you. Take them off now, for I expect some one from the monastery will be
coming for them directly.” The poor man in his delight quickly got out
of his breeches, and directly he had done so there came a knocking at
the door. It was the friar, followed by a choir boy carrying holy-water
and a censer. He had come to fetch the precious relic of the monastery,
and inquisitive neighbours flocked in from all quarters. He wrapped the
breeches reverently up in a white hand-cloth, and sprinkled them with
holy-water while the boy incensed them, after which he lifted up the
sacred bundle. Meanwhile all fell on their knees, and after pronouncing
a panegyric on St Francis, he himself carried round the breeches so that
the people who had assembled might kiss them. This they did with deep
piety and emotion, more especially the honest and grateful merchant.
This little story afforded much merriment in the Middle Ages. People
found much enjoyment in its burlesque humour, and never got tired of
hearing it. It occurs as a _fabliau_, a _farce_, and a story, and
belongs to the _facetiæ_ with which the Pope’s Secretary, Poggio, amused
his friends in _Il Bugiale_ (The Lie Manufactory).
Even as regards the great ones of this world the kiss used to serve in
various ways as a mark of humility and reverence. Its use in ancient
times was remarkably widespread; people threw themselves down on the
ground before their rulers, kissed their footprints, literally “licked
the dust,” as it is termed. In the Psalms, Solomon sings of the promised
King: “They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his
enemies shall lick the dust”; and the prophet Isaiah says: “Kings shall
be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow
down to thee with their face before the earth and lick up the dust of
thy feet” (xlix. 23).
They kissed not only the ground under the powerful, but also their feet,
knees, hands, or the hem of their garments.
Certain Roman Emperors adopted these oriental usages. Thus Caligula
ordered people to kiss his hands and feet, and even in the Middle Ages
the custom of kissing the feet of kings was in vogue.
Nearly everywhere, wheresoever an inferior meets a superior, we observe
the kiss of respect. The Roman slaves kissed the hands of their masters;
pupils and soldiers those of their teachers and captains respectively.
During the Middle Ages the vassal paid homage to his feudal lord by a
kiss on the hand or foot, hence the expression _devoir la bouche et les
mains_. It is well-known what befell Charles the Simple when Rollo, the
Norman chieftain, had to pay him feudal homage. The proud Viking would
not bow down to the king, but laid hold of the latter’s feet and lifted
them up to his mouth, whereat the king, amidst the laughter of the
spectators, tumbled down. Thus the scene is depicted briefly and
graphically in the _Roman de Rou_:--
Quant baisier dut le pie, baisier ne le deigna,
La main tendi aual, le pie al rei leua,
A sa bouche le traist e le rei enuersa;
Asez s’en ristrent tuit, e li reis se dreça.[16]
They also kissed their liege lords on the thigh, and this method of
kissing can be traced down to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries;
but the kiss on the hand was undoubtedly most frequently in use; and it
was the general custom for the vassal at the same time to hand his lord
a present, which is the reason why the word _baise-main_ (hand-kiss)
gradually got this meaning.
If the lord was absent when the vassal waited on him, the latter had to
kiss the door, the lock or bolt, which was regarded as a valid
substitution for kissing the hand. From this arose the expressions,
_baiser l’huis_, (the door), _baiser le verrouil_, (the bolt), which
were used partly as an expression of slavish subserviency, and partly
in an ironical sense of lovers who have been rejected by their
mistresses, and thus constrained to
Kiss the door, and kiss its chains
For ladies’ sake who are within.
W. F. H.
As expressive not only of respect, but also of repentance, children in
former days were made to kiss the rod by which they had been chastised.
Geiler von Keiserberg writes in the sixteenth century: “When children
are thrashed they kiss the rods and say:
Liebe ruot, trute ruot
werestu, ich tet niemer guot.[17]
“They kiss the rods and jump over them, yea they leap over them.” We
have a memorial of this custom in the phrase, “kissing the rod.”
There is still one great power that we have not mentioned, and one who
demands, too, homage by kisses, _i.e._, the devil; but, in order that
the humility shown to him may be as great as possible, he must be kissed
on his behind, _i.e._, on the place where the back ceases to be called
the back. Old pictures of the Sabbath on Blocksberg exhibit to us his
Satanic majesty, in the guise of a goat or cat, sitting on a high seat,
while his worshippers reverently approach and kiss him under his tail.
In several confessions of witches we find this kiss still more closely
described: “The devil has a big tail, and under it a sort of face, but
with this face he never speaks, as the only use he makes of it is to let
his most devoted followers kiss the same; for kissing this face is
regarded as an especially great honour.” This somewhat awkward kiss
occurs, moreover, in several sagas. In _Harehyrden_ the Jeppe gives up
his magic flute to the king on condition that the latter kisses his ass
under its tail. It can also be shown in actual life, and we have some
anecdotes from the Middle Ages which seem to prove that the _podex_-kiss
was used as a derisory punishment. There is also a story told of a merry
knight, once upon a time, compelling a party of monks to pay their
respects to their abbot in the aforesaid less dignified way.
Kisses _in ano_ seem also to have been required of neophytes on their
reception into certain secret societies.
The part this kiss plays in insulting speech ought to be sufficiently
well known. The Romans ere now spoke about _lingere culum_ or _lambere
nates_; the Germans more decently say: _Küss mich da ich sitz’_ (Kiss me
where I sit), or _Er kann mich küssen da wo ich keine Nase habe_ (He can
kiss me where I have no nose). Frenchmen even use the last mentioned
paraphrastic expression. It is told in an old poem about Theodore de
Beza, whose youth was, as you are aware, a very dissipated one, that, on
one occasion, he said of a lady that he would like to kiss her, but he
did not know how he could manage to do so as her nose was far too long.
When the lady learnt this she wittily replied:
... Pour si peu ne tenez,
Car si cela seulement vous en garde!
J’ai bien pour vous un visage sans nez.[18]
We have no knowledge if this offer tempted the rigid Calvinist that was
to be; but the lady was undoubtedly young, and even if he had not found
her face so remarkably beautiful, yet it would have been very different
had the invitation come from an old crone, as the well-known saying,
“_baiser le cul de la vieille_,” implies the deepest ignominy that can
befall a man, at any rate a gambler--viz., to lose without scoring a
point.
There is a Jutland variant of the story about Theodore de Beza: “I was
driving one day with Niels Hundepenge, and we saw at a distance a woman
walking on in front. Says Niels, ‘Peter, there goes a pretty girl; just
see what a figure, and how she steps out.’ When we got up to her we
found she was pock-marked and hideous. Then says Niels, ‘Now, my girl,
if you were only as good-looking in front as you are behind, I should
want to kiss you.’ ‘Well, if you think so,’ replied she, ‘you can kiss
me, you know, where you fancy I am best looking.’”
Allow me, in connection with this, to call your attention to a
peculiarity about the Latin word _osculum_. The first syllable os of
course signifies “mouth,” the two last, on the other hand, mean the
correlative part on the reverse side of the body. This circumstance has
been made use of in a Latin anecdote about a married lady. An
importunate suitor asked her for a kiss, whereupon she replied that
this could not be granted, inasmuch as the first of what he asked
absolutely belonged to her husband, but, as she did not wish to be too
hard on him, he was welcome to have the last:
Syllaba prima meo debetur tota marito,
Sume tibi reliquas, non ero dura, duas.[19]
In modern times the ceremonious kiss of respect has gone clean out of
fashion in the most civilised countries; it is only retained in the
Church, but in all other domains it is practically unknown--so unknown,
indeed, that in many cases the practice would be offensive or
ridiculous.
Kissing the earth is another instance of such kisses that I shall quote.
It plays a part in the old stories about Junius Brutus. Together with
King Tarquin’s sons he journeyed to Delphi to consult the oracle. The
answer they received was that the supreme power would fall to the lot of
him who first kissed his mother. Brutus then made a pretence of
stumbling, and as he fell he kissed the earth, our common mother. A few
years after this, the royal family were expelled from Rome, and Brutus
and Lucius Tarquinius were elected consuls.
People also kissed the earth for joy on returning to their native land
after a lengthened absence. When Agamemnon returned from the Trojan War:
Stepped he forth inwardly glad to the shore of his well-loved country,
Kissing and kissing again his mother earth while the scalding
Tears down his cheeks were coursing, though his heart was
brimming with blitheness.
Even nowadays people feel glad at seeing their native country again
after long absence, but they have another way of expressing their joy,
and, without exaggeration, it would be safe to assert that if any one
returning from a journey wished to emulate Agamemnon, that person would
undoubtedly be put down as mad.
We find in Holberg (“Ulysses of Ithaca,” or “A German Comedy”) a parody
of the old usage, where Ulysses says: “Let us fall down, after the old
hero’s fashion, and kiss our mother earth.” They fall down and kiss the
ground, but Chilian gets up hurriedly and says: “The deuce! I don’t
really understand the use of these ceremonies. Eugh, somebody has been
here before--that I can plainly perceive.”
The old custom now only survives in certain sayings. Frenchmen use the
expression _baiser la terre_ (to kiss the earth), jeeringly, of a person
falling; and the German, _die Erde küssen_ (to kiss the earth), is a
euphemistic way of saying “die.” I may add, for the sake of
completeness, that kissing the earth still occurs sporadically nowadays
in the sense of the profoundest humility mingled with regret. When
Raskolnikow, in Dostojewski’s novel of that name, has confided to Sonja
how he murdered the old usurer’s wife, he exclaims in his despair: “And
what shall I do now?”--“What shall you do now,” exclaims Sonja, and her
eyes flash: “Get up, go hence at once; station yourself at a crossway,
kneel down and kiss the earth you have defiled, bow down thus before all
the people, and say to them: ‘I have committed murder.’ Then God shall
give you new life.” And, finally, when Raskolnikow has determined
publicly to acknowledge his crime and denounce himself as a murderer, he
falls prostrate on his knees in the middle of the market-place, bows
down, and, amidst the laughter and derision of the bystanders, kisses
the dirty ground with ecstasy and delight.
In Europe, at least, we no longer kiss the ground before the feet of the
mighty, any more than we salute them by kissing their hands or feet; a
bow more or less gracious, according to circumstances, serves the same
purpose generally. Nevertheless, at certain courts, such as the Spanish,
English, and Russian, kissing the hand is still customary as a sort of
ceremonial salutation; but its practice is usually confined to certain
solemn occasions.
Individuals of princely rank excepted, the kiss of respect to superiors
is to be regarded as all but extinct; but even in the eighteenth
century, kissing the hem of their garments is mentioned as a salutation
befitting ladies of exalted rank, and in Holberg’s _Politiske
Kandestøber_ (the Political Pewterer), we see how Madame Abrahamsen and
Madame Sanderus even kissed Gedske on the apron.
Kissing, as expressive of admiration, still undoubtedly occurs, but can
scarcely be said to be particularly general; it becomes less and less
common as we approach our own time.
A half-ironical instance occurs in Molière; in _Les Femmes Savantes_
Armande and Philaminte fall into raptures over Vadius’ great learning.
_Du grec! O ciel! du grec! Il sait du grec, ma sœur!_ (Greek! good
heavens! Greek! He knows Greek, sister), says the one, and the other
answers: _Du grec! quelle douceur!_ (Greek! how sweet!). In their
boundless enthusiasm they ask Vadius to let them kiss him as a mark of
their admiration. He accepts this salutation very politely, if not with
any particularly great joy; but when he turns to young Henriette, from
whose lips he is especially desirous of receiving so tender an
expression of admiration, she rejects him quite abruptly with the
remark: _Excusez-moi, monsieur, je n’entends pas le Grec_ (Excuse me,
sir, I don’t understand Greek).
The pedantic Vadius got just what he deserved--a kiss as dry as dust
from two middle-aged, sexless blue-stockings, which nobody begrudges
him. On the other hand, many, perhaps, will read with envy of the
homage received by Benjamin Franklin at the French Court. Mme. de
Campan, in her _Mémoires_, says: “At one of the splendid entertainments
given in Franklin’s honour, I saw how the most beautiful of the three
hundred ladies present was chosen to place a laurel crown on the white
locks of the American philosopher and imprint a kiss on each of the old
man’s cheeks.”
The kiss of admiration and respect has, I suppose, been the longest to
survive in the form of kissing ladies’ hands. Formerly, in many
countries, it constituted a friendly greeting on meeting a lady or
saying good-bye to her; but nowadays this custom has grown obsolete in
most places; nevertheless we have certain literary reminiscences of it.
In Austria people say _Küss die Hand, gnädige Frau_, and _Sârut mâna_ in
Roumania, but still it is comparatively rare that this expression is
followed by actual kisses, as was formerly the case. _Je vous baise les
mains_ is now only used in an ironical sense in France. Ceremonial
kisses, however, still flourish in Spain to a marked degree, not only in
the language of the Court, but also in general conversation. When I was
first presented to a Spanish lady I expressed my gladness at making her
acquaintance by kissing her hand--only, however, by figure of
speech--but her husband at once pointed out to me in a laughing way,
that I had failed to show her proper respect. One can only kiss a
Spanish lady’s feet: _Beso à usted los pies_ or _à los pies de usted_ (I
kiss your feet), as they say.
Before leaving the subject of the kiss reverential I will mention two
different ways in which it has been used. Formerly it was the custom, at
least at the French Court, for pages to first kiss the articles they
were to hand to distinguished personages. Henri Estienne tells an
anecdote about a page who had to carry a letter to the Princess of
Naples. It was expressly enjoined on him to kiss it (_baisez-la_), but
the page pretended he had misunderstood the words, so when he had to
leave the letter he first kissed the unsuspecting princess.
We find another peculiar form of the kiss reverential in the cases when
a person kisses his own hand before offering it to the guest he would
especially honour, or before accepting a present for which he wishes to
show his gratitude in an extraordinarily polite manner.[A]
In an old comedy of Marivaux, “_Harlequin poli par l’Amour_,” a fairy
falls in love with a rustic lout. She carries him off, entertains him in
her castle, and tries in every possible way to gain his love; but he
remains utterly callous to all her blandishments, and behaves all the
time in a most foolish manner. He takes a fancy to a valuable ring the
fairy is wearing; she removes it from her finger and gives it to him,
but when he scarcely says “Thank you” for it, she says to chide him:
_Mon cher Arlequin, un beau garçon comme vous, quand une dame lui
présente quelque chose, doit baiser la main en la reçevant_.[20]
Arlequin takes hold of the fairy’s hand and kisses it; but she corrects
him again, and says: “He does not understand me once, but I like his
mistake. It is your own hand, you know, that you should kiss.”[21]
This usage still prevails amongst old peasants in Jutland, and is termed
receiving something with “kissed hand,” or “kiss hand.” The expression
_Kusshand_ is also employed in German, and is explained thus: “Gruss,
wobei man die eigne Hand küsst und dann nach der zu grüssenden Person
hin bewegt oder sie reicht.” The same sort of greeting is found both in
England and France. Voltaire tells us that children in certain countries
are taught to kiss their right hand when anybody gives them something
good. Even at the present day, in certain places on the Alps, peasants
express their thanks by kissing their hand before taking what is given
to them.
VI
THE KISS OF FRIENDSHIP
Par amistiet l’en baisat en la buche.
_Chanson de Roland._
For friendship pressed a kiss upon his mouth.
W. F. H.