Charles C. Bombaugh

“ THE KISS—A DIALOGUE.
1. Among thy fancies, tell me this:
What is the thing we call a kiss?
2. I shall resolve ye what it is:
It is a creature born and bred
Between the lips, all cherry red;
By love and warm desires fed;
Chor. And makes more soft the bridal bed. [94]
It is an active flame that flies
First to the babies of the eyes,
And charms them there with lullabies;
Chor. And stills the bride too when she cries:
Then to the chin, the cheek, the ear,
It frisks, and flies,—now here, now there ”

“ Oh, fine courtier! How comely he bows him in his courtesy! how full he hits a woman between the lips when he kisses!
Every Man out of his Humor, iv. 1.
Hedon. You know I call madam Philautia my Honor; and she calls me her Ambition. Now, when I meet her in the presence anon, I will come to her, and say, Sweet Honor, I have hitherto contented my sense with the lilies of your hand, but now I will taste the roses of your lip; and, withal, kiss her: to which she cannot but blushingly answer, Nay, now you are too ambitious. And then do I reply: I cannot be too Ambitious of Honor, sweet lady. ”

“ There is, besides, a practice never to be sufficiently commended. If you go to any place, you are received with a kiss by all; if you depart on a journey, you are dismissed with a kiss; if you return, the kisses are exchanged. Do they come to visit you, a kiss is the first thing; do they leave you, you kiss them all around. Do they meet you anywhere, kisses in abundance. In short, wherever you turn, there is nothing but kisses. Ah, Faustus, if you had once tasted the tenderness, the fragrance of these kisses, you would wish to stay in England, not for ten years only, but for life. ”

“ Herr Hackländer, writing on the subject of osculation, says:
“There are three kisses by which the human race are blest: the first is that which the mother presses on the new-born infant’s head; the second, that which the newly-wedded bride bestows on your lips; the third, that with which love or friendship closes your eyes when your career is ended.”
After which rhetorical flourish he adds:
“But I, more blest than other mortals, have to boast of a fourth kiss of bliss, that of Father Radetzky!” ”

“ Her left hand is in your right; let there be an impression to that, not like the gripe of a vice, but a gentle clasp, full of electricity, thought, and respect. Do not be in a hurry. Her head lies carelessly on your shoulder; you are heart to heart. Look down into her half-closed eyes; gently, but 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 close; the heart opens; the soul rides the storms, troubles, and sorrows of life (don’t be in a hurry) ”

“ He knew his own betrothèd bride,
She who would rather die with him
Than live to gain the world beside! [348]
Her arms are round her lover now,
His livid cheek to hers she presses,
And dips, to bind his burning brow,
In the cool lake her loosened tresses.
...
One struggle, and his pain is past,
Her lover is no longer living!
One kiss the maiden gives, one last,
Long kiss, which she expires in giving! ”

“ If there is no love more in yonder heart, it is but a corpse unburied. Strew round it the flowers of youth. Wash it with tears of passion. Wrap it and envelop it with fond devotion. Break heart, and fling yourself on the bier, and kiss her cold lips, and press her hand! It falls back dead on the cold breast again. The beautiful lips have never a blush or a smile. ”

“ That reverend wag, Sydney Smith, says, “We are in favor of a certain amount of shyness when a kiss is proposed; but it should not be too long, and, when the fair one gives it, let it be administered with warmth and energy,—let there be soul in it. If she closes her eyes and sigh immediately after it, the effect is greater. She should be careful not to slobber a kiss, but give it as a humming-bird runs his bill into a honeysuckle, deep but delicate. There is much virtue in a kiss when well delivered. ”

“ 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. ”

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

“ Whirling through the ethereal way
The fiery-axled car of day,
And from the tempestuous sky
While the rapid coursers fly,
All the stormy clouds are driven
Which deformed the face of heaven
So thy golden smile, my fair,
Chases every amorous care;
Dries the torrents of mine eyes;
Calms my fond, tumultuous sighs. [180]
Oh! how emulous the strife
’Twixt my lips and eyes, sweet life!
Of thy charms are these possest,
Those are envious till they’re blest:
Think not, then, that in my love
I’ll be rivalled e’en by Jove,
When such jealous conflicts rise
’Twixt my very lips and eyes. KISS VIII.
Ah! ”

“ 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. ”

“ What joy! to kiss those eyes that wanton rove,
Then catch the glances of returning love;
Or clinging to the cheek of crimson glow,
The bosom, shoulder, or the neck of snow;
What pleasure! tender passion to assuage,
And see the traces of our amorous rage
On the soft neck or blooming cheek exprest,
On the white shoulder, or still whiter breast!
’Twixt yielding lips, in every thrilling kiss,
To dart the trembling tongue,—what matchless bliss!
Inhaling sweet each other’s mingling breath,
While Love lies gasping in the arms of Death! ”

“ The priest’s nightly dreams, we are told, were dreadful. Writhing on his bed, “his delirious fancy represented [245] Esmeralda in all the attitudes that could make blood boil in one’s veins. He saw her as when he had stabbed the captain, her white throat spotted with the blood of Phœbus, when the archdeacon had impressed on her shoulders that kiss which, though half dying then, she had felt scorch her.” One night he became so inflamed with his uncontrollable passion that he sought relief by a visit to the gipsy’s cell, to which he had access. ”

“ Oh, those provoking lips, pursed up ready, like the peak of Teneriffe, to catch the first kiss of love, that rosy light from heaven! Oh, that circling dimple, couched in her cheek like laughing wile! And oh! that moment when she said, ‘Well, if Cousin Pierce won’t kiss me, I’ll kiss him!’ She stooped down,—my sight grew dim,—my heart beat fast, as though I had swallowed a dose of prussic acid; her lips touched mine; the world slid away, as it does when we soar in a balloon ”

“ I kiss the queen, my mistress, and shall I not kiss you, who are only a duchess?” and without more ado he, despite the resistance of the proud little Portuguese princess, kissed her thrice on the mouth before he released her with an exultant laugh. The doughty cardinal was apparently of one mind with Sheldon, who thought that “to kiss ladies’ hands after their lips, as some do, is like little boys who, after they eat the apple, fall to the paring.” ”

“ Still with your ringlets, and kiss time away;
By love’s religion, I must here confess it,
The most I love when I the least express it!
Herrick.
Love in her sunny eyes does basking play;
Love walks the pleasant mazes of her hair;
Love does on both her lips forever stay,
And sows and reaps a thousand kisses there.
Cowley.
Her kisses faster, though unknown before,
Than blossoms fall on parting spring, she strewed;
Than blossoms sweeter, and in number more. ”

“ In another poem addressed to Lesbia (Carm. 7) , Catullus says:
“You ask how many kisses of yours, Lesbia, maybe enough for me; and more. As the numerous sands that lie on the spicy shores of Cyrene, between the oracle of sultry Jove and the sacred tomb of old Battus; [5] or as the many stars that in the silence of night behold men’s furtive amours; to kiss you with so many kisses is enough and more for madly fond Catullus; such a multitude as [27] prying gossips can neither count, nor bewitch with their evil tongues.” ”

“ Then come the kisses of connubial and parental love, and, finally,
“Life’s autumnal blossoms fall,
And earth’s brown clinging lips impress
The long cold kiss that waits us all.”
The observance of the custom, therefore, throughout life, and in all the relations of life, presents a broad field for the inspirations of the poet and the “situations” of the novelist; while in history, tradition, legend, and story it furnishes an endless number of charming and picturesque episodes. ”

“ A young lady of Cincinnati, who had just returned from completing her education in Boston, wanted to kiss her lover, but her mother objected. The daughter drew up her queenly form to its full height, and exclaimed, “Mother, terrible, tragical, and sublimely retributive will be the course pursued by me, if you refuse to allow him to place his alabaster lips to mine, and enrapture my immortal soul by imprinting angelic sensations of divine bliss upon the indispensable members of my human physiognomy, and then kindly allowing me to take a withdrawal from his beneficent presence.” ”

“ But let Miss Byron tell the story:
“‘There seems,’ said he, ‘to be a mixture of generous concern and kind curiosity in one of the loveliest and most intelligent faces in the world.’”
“‘Thus,’ resumed he, snatching my hand and ardently pressing it with his lips, ‘do I honor to myself for the honor done me. How poor is man, that he cannot express his gratitude to the object of his vows for obligations confessed, but by owing to her new obligations!’” [What a formal pedant of a lover!] ”

“ A beautiful girl stepped into a shop to buy a pair of mittens. “How much are they?” said she. “Why,” said the gallant but impudent clerk, lost in gazing upon the sparkling eyes and ruby lips, “you shall have them for a kiss.” “Very well,” said the lady, pocketing the mittens, while her eyes spoke daggers; “and, as I see you give credit here, charge it on your books, and let me know when you collect it.” And she very hastily tripped out.
A lady residing in Lansingburg hailed a passing car, with her little son, to see him safely on the horse-car for a trip to Troy. ”

“ I have sometimes seen an over-delicate foreigner turn away with a shudder of loathing under such circumstances, and get the epithet of ‘the savage!’ applied to him by the offended beauty for his sensitive squeamishness. However, one soon gets used to this in Paraguay, where you are, perforce of custom, obliged to kiss every lady you are introduced to, and one-half you meet are really tempting enough to render you regardless of the consequences, and you would sip the dew of the proffered lip in the face of a tobacco-factory,—even in the double-distilled honeydew of Old Virginia. ”

“ I asked. “I’m not doing anything.”
“Well, but I thought you were going to take toll,” replied the widow.
“Toll!” I rejoined. “What’s that?”
“Well, I declare!” cried the widow, her clear laugh ringing out above the music of the bells, “you pretend you don’t know what toll is!”
“Indeed I don’t, then,” I said, laughing; “explain, if you please.”
“You never heard, then,” said the widow, most provokingly,—“you never heard that when we are on a sleigh-ride the gentlemen always,—that is, sometimes,—when they cross a bridge, claim a kiss, and call it toll. But I never pay it.” ”

“ If he to kiss thee ask, his kisses fly;
Poison of asps between his lips doth lie.
Anacreon. ARTIFICE.
Amarillis. Here, take thy Amoret; embrace, and kiss!
Perigot. What means my love?
Amarillis. To do as lovers should,
That are to be enjoyed, not to be wooed.
There’s ne’er a shepherdess in all the plain
Can kiss thee with more art; there’s none can feign
More wanton tricks.
Fletcher: Faithful Shepherdess. THE SORROWFUL SIDE. MARGARET.
The admirers of Goethe’s immortal tragedy “Faust” will remember the passage in which poor Margaret says to her lover:
Kiss me?—canst no longer do it? ”

“ To a young and beautiful girl; fresh, lovely, bewitching, and not nineteen. Dark eyes, long eyelashes, ripe and ruddy lips that to look at is to long to kiss, beautiful clustering hair that one’s fingers itch to play with, such a waist as might make a man clasp the air involuntarily thinking of twining his arm about it, little feet that tread so lightly they hardly seem to walk upon the ground,—to marry all this, sir, this,—hey, hey!’”
“Upon his knees Nicholas gave him this pledge, and promised again that he should rest in the spot he had pointed out. ”

“ People will kiss, though not one in a hundred knows how to extract bliss from lovely lips, any more than they know how to make diamonds from charcoal; yet it is easy [323] enough, at least for us. First know whom you are going to kiss; don’t make a mistake, although a mistake may be good. Don’t jump up like a trout for a fly and smack a woman on the neck, or the ear, or the corner of her forehead, or on the end of her nose. The gentleman should be a little the taller; he should have a clean face, a kind eye, and a mouth full of expression. Don’t kiss everybody ”

“ Thou knowest that we were forbidden to receive those devout women who at the beginning were associated as sisters of our Order, because, saith the forty-sixth chapter, the Ancient Enemy hath by female society withdrawn many from the right path to paradise. Nay, in the last capital, being, as it were, the cope-stone which our blessed founder placed on the pure and undefiled doctrine which he had enjoined, we are prohibited from offering even to our sisters and our mothers the kiss of affection—ut omnium mulierum fugiantur oscula. ”

“ He will kiss me on the mouth
Then; and lead me as a lover
Through the crowds that praise his deeds.
Mrs. Browning.
Love feareth death! I was no child—I was betrothed that day;
I wore a troth-kiss on my lips I could not give away.
Mrs. Browning.
Kiss, baby, kiss! mothers’ lips shine by kisses;
Choke the warm breath that else would fall in blessings; [143]
Black manhood comes, when turbulent guilty blisses
Tend thee the kiss that poisons ’mid caressings. ”