Exhausted with the march and fight,
And sickened with the dreary sight
Of the red carnage all around,
I sigh to taste one cooling breath
Blown from the icy hills and sea;
Then welcome as a bride’s to me
Would be the gentle kiss of Death.
MARY IN HEAVEN.
Ayr, gurgling, kissed his pebbled shore
O’erhung with wild woods thickening green.
BURNS.
QUEEN GUINEVERE.
A man had given all other bliss,
And all his worldly worth, for this,
To waste his whole heart on one kiss
Upon her perfect lips.
TENNYSON.
THE PARTING.
The trance gave way
To those caresses, when a hundred times
In that last kiss, which never was the last,
Farewell, like endless welcome, lived and died.
TENNYSON.
THE POET’S FOOD.
Nor seeks nor finds he mortal blisses,
But feeds on the aërial kisses
Of shapes that haunt Thought’s wildernesses.
SHELLEY.
SLEEP.
Sleep, the fresh dew of languid love, the rain
Whose drops quench kisses till they burn again.
SHELLEY.
THE KISS IN ENIGMA.
I am just two and two, I am warm, I am cold,
And the parent of numbers that cannot be told;
I am lawful, unlawful,—a duty, a fault;
I am often sold dear, good for nothing when bought;
An extraordinary boon, and a matter of course,
And yielded with pleasure—when taken by force.[33]
COWPER.
* * * * *
A lady gave a gift, which she had not,
And I received her gift, which I took not;
She gave it me willingly, and yet she would not;
And I received it, albeit I could not;
If she gives it me, I force not,
And if she takes it again, she cares not.
Construe what this is, and tell not;
For I am fast sworn, I may not.
WYATT.
* * * * *
A lady once did ask of me
This pretty thing in privity:
Good sir, quoth she, fain would I crave
One thing which you yourself not have;
Nor never had yet in times past,
Nor never shall while life doth last;
And if you seek to find it out,
You lose your labor out of doubt.
Yet, if you love me as you say,
Then give it me, for sure you may.
GASCOIGNE.
* * * * *
The instant I’m born, though my frame is quite weak,
Most wondrous to utter, I smartly can speak;
My parents are pleased, and greatly rejoice,
And seem quite enraptured to hear my sweet voice;
But short, ah! too short is the time that I stay,
For when I’ve done speaking I languish away;
Yet this to my parents but seldom gives pain,
For they with a touch can call life back again!
Now all ye fair girls, and ye cheerful young swains,
Come search for my name and take me for your pains.
* * * * *
What part of speech is a kiss?—A conjunction.
What is the shape of a kiss?—A-lip-tickle.
Why is a kiss like a sermon?—Because it requires, at least, two heads and
an application.
Why is a kiss like a rumor?—Because it goes from mouth to mouth.
When is a man like a spoon?—When he touches a lady’s lips without kissing
them.
When are kisses sweetest?—When _syrup_-titiously obtained.
Why are two young ladies kissing each other an emblem of
Christianity?—Because they are doing to each other as they would men
should do unto them.
PROVERBS AND PROVERBIAL PHRASES.
Kissing goes by favor.
If you can kiss the mistress, never kiss the maid.
Many kiss the child for the nurse’s sake.
She would rather kiss than spin.
Better kiss a knave than be troubled with him.
He that kisseth his wife in the market-place shall have enough to teach
him.
To kiss a man’s wife, or wipe his knife, is but a thankless office.
Kisses are the messengers of love.
Kiss and be friends.
None kitheth like the lithping lath (lass).
There’s something in a kiss that never comes amiss.
Stolen kisses are sweet.
Kissing is the prologue to sin.
Kissing is lip-service.
As easy as kiss your hand.
Kisses are the interrogation-points in the literature of love.
A sweetmeat which satisfies the hunger of the heart.
Cherries kiss as they grow.
GEMS OF THOUGHT.
A kiss from my mother made me a painter.
BENJAMIN WEST.
* * * * *
I came to feel how far above all fancy, pride, and fickle maidenhood, all
earthly pleasure, all imagined good, was the warm tremble of a devout
kiss.
KEATS.
* * * * *
It is delightful to kiss the eyelashes of the beloved—is it not? But
never so delightful as when fresh tears are on them.
LANDOR.
* * * * *
The fragrant infancy of opening flowers flowed to my senses in that
opening kiss.
SOUTHERN.
* * * * *
Kisses are like grains of gold or silver found upon the ground, of no
value themselves, but precious as showing that a mine is near.
GEORGE VILLIERS.
* * * * *
The first lesson which the infant is taught is to kiss; it is at once the
language of infancy and the currency of childhood. The little passionless
face as it rests upon its mother’s bosom is moulded into smiles by a
kiss, and thus by love’s fruit sweet echo is produced. Who shall tell the
mystery, the deep love and earnestness, the quiet joy, the proud hope, of
a mother’s kiss? and what brow or cheek of all that have gone forth into
the wide, wide world, but wears this heavenly jewel, as imperishable as
the glance of a diamond?
* * * * *
Like Dian’s kiss, unasked, unsought,
Love gives itself, but is not bought.
LONGFELLOW.
* * * * *
Pant on thy lip, and to thy heart be pressed;
Give all thou canst—and let me dream the rest.
POPE.
* * * * *
The gilliflower, the rose, is not so sweet
As sugared kisses be when lovers meet.
BURTON.
* * * * *
Kisses are like creation, because they are made out of nothing and are
very good.
SAM SLICK.
* * * * *
He hath at will
More quaint and subtle ways to kill;
A smile or kiss, as he will use the art,
Shall have the cunning skill to break a heart.
SHIRLEY.
* * * * *
You may conquer with the sword, but you are conquered by a kiss.
HEINSIUS.
* * * * *
Oliver Wendell Holmes says a kiss is “the twenty-seventh letter of the
alphabet,—the love-labial which it takes two to speak plainly.”
* * * * *
I put my lips to the panel of the door, as a kiss for my dear, and came
quietly down again, thinking that one of these days I would confess to
the visit.
DICKENS.
* * * * *
I picture you to myself as my hand glides over the paper. I think I see
you, as you look on these words, and envy them the gaze of those dark
eyes. Press your lips to the paper. Do you feel the kiss that I leave
there?
BULWER-LYTTON.
* * * * *
He, from his very birth, cut off from the social ties of blood,—no
mother’s kiss to reward the toils, or gladden the sports, of
childhood,—no father’s cheering word up the steep hill of man.
BULWER-LYTTON.
* * * * *
Many a man and woman has been incensed and worshiped, and has shown no
more feeling than is to be expected from idols. There is yonder statue in
St. Peter’s, of which the toe is worn away with kisses, and which sits,
and will sit eternally, prim and cold.
THACKERAY.
* * * * *
Now let me say good-night, and so say you:
If you will say so, you shall have a kiss.
SHAKSPEARE.
FOOTNOTES
[1] The ancients supposed that honey contained a tenth part of nectar,
and therefore the lips of Lydia were imbued with double the nectar
bestowed on honey.
[2] Ulysses had been sent by Agamemnon to the offended Achilles to induce
him to return, but was treated by the latter with disdain, hence the
importunity of Briseis.
[3] “Os parvum decensque labia corallini coloris ad morsum aptissima.”
[4] “Teneris labellis molles morsiunculæ.”
[5] The temple of Jupiter Ammon and the tomb of Battus, founder of the
city of Cyrene, were four hundred miles apart, the intervening space
being a waste of sand.
[6]
What more? All’s not enough: mix all t’express
My dear girl’s morning kisses’ sweetnesses.
You’d know her name? I’ll naught but kisses tell;
I doubt, I swear, you’d know her fain too well.
_Old MS. 16th. Century._
[7] Tennyson.
[8] The Duke of Clarence to Lady E. Beauchamp.
[9] Ruprecht may be called the Father Nicholas, who comes on Christmas
eve and plays all sorts of tricks.
[10] The pax is a piece of board having the image of Christ upon the
cross on it, which the people used to kiss after the service was ended,
that ceremony being considered the kiss of peace.
[11] The admirers of Robert Burns will remember the lines:
“——bent on winning borough towns,
Come shaking hands wi’ wabster loons,
And kissing barefit carlins.”
[12] An actual expression of a child.
[13] Francesca da Rimini.
[14] Mr. Longfellow translates the passage thus:
“Alone we were and without any fear.
Full many a time our eyes together drew
That reading, and drove the color from our faces;
But one point only was it that o’ercame us,
Whenas we read of the much-longed-for smile
Being by such a noble lover kissed,
This one, who ne’er from me shall be divided,
Kissed me upon the mouth all palpitating.”
_Inferno_, v.
[15] Burns.
[16] Neck.
[17] “But I think my heart was e’en sairer when I saw that hellicat
trooper, Tam Halliday, kissing Jenny Dennison afore my face. I wonder
women can hae the impudence to do sic things; but they are a’ for the
redcoats.”—SCOTT: _Old Mortality_.
[18] “The Merry Pranks of Robin Goodfellow,” from which this stanza is
taken, though attributed to Ben Jonson, is not found among his works.
[19] Shakspeare, it will be observed, represents Hermione as a _colored_
statue. Paulina will not allow it to be touched, because the paint is not
yet dry.
[20] A kiss appears to have been an established incident in ancient
English marriage ceremonies.
[21] That by the impression of my kiss forever remaining on thy hand,
thou mightst think on those lips through which a thousand sighs will be
breathed for thee.
[22] A kiss was anciently in England the established fee of a lady’s
partner. The custom is still prevalent among some of the country-people.
[23] Thus Bassanio, in “The Merchant of Venice,” when he kisses Portia:
“Fair lady, by your leave,
I come by note to _give_ and to _receive_.”
[24] Queen Mab.
[25] Probable allusion to the kissing comfits mentioned by Falstaff,
“Merry Wives,” v. 5.
[26] The poet here, no doubt, copied from the mode of his own time, since
kissing a lady in a public assembly was not then thought indecorous. In
King Henry VIII., Act i., scene v., Lord Sands is represented as kissing
Anne Boleyn, next whom he sat at supper.
[27] The handkerchief.
[28] In the serious treatment of this idea the following lines from
Whittier’s “Angels of Buena Vista” are among the most beautiful:
“Whispered low the dying soldier, pressed her hand and faintly smiled:
Was that pitying face his mother’s? did she watch beside her child?
All his stranger words with meaning her woman’s heart supplied;
With her kiss upon his forehead, ‘Mother,’ murmured he, and died.”
[29] The readers of Byron’s “Don Juan” will remember the wish
“That womanhood had but one rosy mouth,
To kiss them all at once, from North to South.”
[30] This epigram, though taken from the French, may be traced back to
the Latin Anthology:
“Kisses my Phillis takes, but ne’er bestows:
Taking’s all one with giving, Phillis knows.”
[31] There is a similar point in a Greek epigram of Strato:
“While thus a few kisses I steal,
Dear Chloris, you bravely complain;
If resentment you really do feel.
Pray give me my kisses again.”
[32] Mrs. Thomson, in her “Life of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough,” says:
“The proud Duke of Somerset married twice. His second duchess once tapped
him familiarly on the shoulder with her fan; he turned round, and, with
an indignant countenance, said, ‘My first duchess was a Percy, and she
never took such a liberty.’”
[33] This riddle was originally published in the “Gentleman’s Magazine.”
A correspondent furnished the following answer:
“A riddle by Cowper
Made me swear like a trooper;
But my anger, alas! was in vain;
For, remembering the bliss
Of beauty’s soft kiss,
I now long for such riddles again.”
INDEX.
THE KISS IN HISTORY.
_Diversities in the Bible_, 10.
_Freaks and Phases of Local Custom_, 56.
Arabian Salutation, 78.
Blarney Stone, 68.
Custom of Kissing Hands, 61.
Dangerous Game, 89.
Detective Utility, 92.
French Cheapening and Degeneracy, 74.
Husking-Frolics, 83.
Kiss for a Vote, 73.
Kiss-me-quick, 83.
Kiss of Peace, 56.
Kissing Dances, 74.
Kissing Hands in Austria, 76.
Kissing in China, 80.
Kissing the Pope’s Toe, 70.
Latter-day Kiss of Peace, 91.
National Differences, 92.
New-Year’s Day in New Amsterdam, 81.
New York Drummer’s Predicament, 88.
Old Roman Code, 79.
Paraguayan Compulsion, 87.
Pompeian Tokens, 77.
Question of Taste, 90.
Royal Feet-Washing and Kissing, 58.
Taking Toll at the Bridge, 84.
Templar Interdiction, 77.
Under the Mistletoe, 63.
Wedding Ceremony in Turkey, 79.
_Kiss Imprimis_, 9.
_Memorable Kisses_, 41.
_Significance among the Hebrews_, 9.
_Traces in English History_, 33.
THE KISS IN POETRY.
Anacreontic, 100.
Blooming Nelly, 101.
Bonnie Peggy Alison, 103.
Cock and Fox, 99.
Consecration, 115.
Dinna kiss afore Folk, 104.
Dinner and a Kiss, 112.
Don Juan and Haidee, 104.
First Kiss of Love, 105.
Five Twices, 126.
Give me Kisses, 111.
Glove, The, 95.
Hint, A, 113.
How it happened, 118.
In Ambush, 119.
Ines sent a Kiss to me, 97.
Julia’s Kiss, 107.
Kiss, A, 126.
Kiss at the Door, 125.
Kiss, The, 95.
Kiss, The, 108.
Kiss, The, A Dialogue, 93.
Kisses, 110.
Kisses To-Day, 114.
Landlady’s Daughter, 101.
Long Branch Episode, 120.
Nursery Rhymes, 128.
Parting Kiss, The, 96.
Platonic Kisses, 116.
Rhapsodies, 130.
Siren’s Song, 94.
Sonnet upon a Stolen Kiss, 93.
Teacher and Pupil, 106.
Thine at Last, 106.
Three Kisses, 121.
Throwing Kisses, 114.
To a Child embracing his Mother, 109.
To a Lady on her translation of Voiture’s Kiss, 108.
To Charis, 96.
To my Love, 112.
Too Old for Kisses, 123.
Under the Rose, 115.
Wandering Knight’s Song, 98.
Wedding Song, 124.
Yielding to Temptation, 97.
_Basia of Johannes Secundus_, 170.
_Excerpts from the Poets_, 132.
_Extracts from the Old Ballads_, 153.
_Humors of Verse_, 158.
Ancient Spanish Lyric, 168.
Auld Wifie, 160.
Ballad of the Oysterman, 167.
Beware of Paint, 164.
Broken Pitcher, 168.
Caprice, 161.
Carlo and Sally, 161.
Dance about the May-pole, 159.
Delia’s Handkerchief, 162.
Dumbarton’s Drums, 163.
Kissing no Sin, 160.
Kissing the Rod, 162.
King Keder, 161.
Mock Heroics, 158.
Noses, 164.
On refusing Angeline a Kiss, 158.
Publican’s Daughter, 162.
Robin Goodfellow, 163.
Shadows, The, 165.
Smack in School, 166.
Souter and his Sow, 160.
THE KISS IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE.
_Selections from Shakspeare_, 191.
Alfieri, 221.
Beaumont and Fletcher, 212.
Ben Jonson, 209.
Browning, Mrs., 223.
Bulwer-Lytton, 221.
Dryden, 219.
Ford, 217.
Goethe, 221.
Goldsmith, 219.
Heywood, 218.
Knowles, 220.
Lansdowne, 219.
Lilly, 214.
Longfellow, 221.
Marlowe, 215.
Marston, 215.
Massinger, 216.
Mitford, 223.
Otway, 219.
Procter, 223.
Schiller, 220.
Shirley, 218
Talfourd, 222.
Tennyson, 224.
THE KISS IN FICTION.
_Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Novels_, 225.
Selections from Richardson, Mrs. Behn, Jane Porter, Thackeray,
Dickens, Victor Hugo, Reade, Mühlbach, W. Scott, Hawthorne,
Kingsley, Zchokke, Brontë, Disraeli, Bulwer-Lytton, Warren, and
others, 225.
THE KISS IN HUMOROUS STORY AND ANECDOTE.
All-embracing Inclusion, 295.
Amorous Western Youth, 281.
Awakening, The, 291.
Baffled Courtier, 286.
Clergyman’s Joke, A, 288.
Early Discrimination, 285.
Father Tom and the Pope, 273.
First Kiss, The, 293.
Jean Paul’s Schoolboy Experience, 292.
Kissing the Feet, 294.
Kiss in the Dark, 296.
Let me Kiss him for his Mother, 290.
Love in a Street-Car, 282.
Student of Upsala, 276.
Sudden Attachment, 284.
Taking Toll, 283.
Thankful Spirit, A, 287.
Tunnel Stories, 278.
_Budget of Facetiæ_, 299.
_Prenticeana_, 318.
MISCELLANEOUS ASPECTS AND RELATIONS.
_Qualitative Analysis_, 321.
Composition of a Kiss, 324.
Philosophy of Kissing, 322.
Science of Kissing, 322.
Sound of a Kiss, 324.
_The Dangerous Side_, 326.
Legal View, 326.
Medical View, 331.
_The Sorrowful Side_, 339.
After the Ball, 341.
After the Wedding, 342.
Barbara, 351.
Chevy-Chase, 345.
Consumption, 351.
Death of an Infant, 350.
Death of a Friend’s Child, 351.
Dying Injunction, 347.
Earl March’s Daughter, 346.
Enoch Arden, 349.
Evangeline, 350.
Exiles, The, 348.
Faithful unto Death, 347.
Highland Mary, 351.
I want to find my Papa, 352.
Jephthah’s Daughter, 349.
King of France’s Daughter, 346.
Last Observance, 348.
Margaret, 339.
Œnone, 349.
Old Love, The, 345.
Orate hic pro me, 348.
Over the Starry Way, 350.
Penalty of Harshness, 353.
Quarrel and Reconciliation, 350.
Virginia, 353.
Welcome Home, 341.
_The Treacherous Side_, 333
Algerine Revenge, 335.
All for Show, 336.
Artifice, 339.
Conspiracy against Edward II., 338.
Cupid’s Wiles, 339.
Descent from the Tree, 337.
Fabulla, 336.
False Lady, 337.
Gay Deceiver, 338.
Judas Kiss, 334.
Kiss Fuliginous, 336.
Lady Bothwell’s Lament, 338.
Lures of the Enchantress, 339.
Madame de Staël’s Hypocrisy, 333.
Perjury, 338.
Wife’s Infidelity, 334.
Woman, 337.
_The Kiss in Enigma_, 373.
_The Kiss in Epigram_, 356.
Ancient Maiden’s Lament, 358.
Bianca’s Dream, 360.
Casuistry, 356.
Declining a Kiss, 359.
Difference, The, 356.
Difference, The, 362.
Disappointment, The, 359.
Earliest Recollection, 359.
Foolish Robin, 357.
Forgiveness, 363.
Honey-Moon, The, 361.
Inventor of Kissing, 363.
Lady Stung by a Bee, 364.
Modesty, 356.
Moustaches, 358.
No Doubt of It, 361.
Non-Computation, 360.
Painted Lady in Olden Time, 364.
Printer’s Kisses, 357.
Reason Why, 362.
Rebus, A, 361.
Rights of Men, 363.
Sealing an Oath, 358.
Source of Life and Death, 364.
Stakes, The, 358.
Stolen Kisses, 362.
Tulips and Roses, 357.
_The Kiss in Metaphor_, 365.
Autumn, 366.
Crimson Sunset, 367.
Evening Wind, 366.
From Anacreon, 369.
From Philaster, 371.
From Plato, 370.
From The Dying Soldier, 371.
From The Lover’s Creed, 370.
From The Psalms, 368.
From The Traitor, 371.
Gentlest of My Friends, 371.
Growing Corn, 368.
Light from the Tomb, 367.
Light-house, The, 368.
Love’s Philosophy, 369.
Mary in Heaven, 372.
Moon-beam, The, 367.
Morning Song, 365.
Nature’s Ministrations, 370.
Paraphrase, 368.
Parting, The, 372.
Poet’s Food, 372.
Queen Guinevere, 372.
Released Captive, 371.
Sleep, 372.
Spring, 365.
Spring Flowers, 365.
Spring Song, 366.
Sunrise on the Hills, 365.
Time and Tide, 367.
To Celia, 369.
Violets, The, 366.
_The Kiss in Proverbs_, 375.
_Gems of Thought_, 376.
[Illustration]