Plaiting

Definition and stakes

Charles C. Bombaugh,  The literature of kissing (1876)

“ The maids I kiss:
They shriek, “Who’s this?”
I answer nought but ho, ho, ho! [18] NOSES.
How very odd that poets should suppose
There is no poetry about a nose,
When plain as is man’s nose upon his face,
A nose-less 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? “BEWARE OF PAINT.”
A lover sat down with his love by his side,
With a countenance joyous, and beaming with pride.
”
Source: Gutenberg

Will Rossiter,  The Art of Kissing: Curiously, Historically…

“ Don’t make a noise over it as if you were firing off shooting crackers, or pounce upon it like a hungry hawk upon an innocent dove, but gently fold the damsel in your arms without smashing her standing collar or spoiling her curls, and by a sweet pressure upon her mouth, revel in the blissfulness of your situation without smacking your lips on it as you would over a glass of beer. It might be well at the conclusion of the operation to ask the young woman if it was satisfactory, for we are never satisfied that a lady understands a kiss unless we have it from her own mouth. ”
Source: Gutenberg

Portrait of William Shakespeare William Shakespeare,  Venus and Adonis

“ Each leaning on their elbows and their hips: 44
Now doth she stroke his cheek, now doth he frown,
And ’gins to chide, but soon she stops his lips,
And kissing speaks, with lustful language broken,
“If thou wilt chide, thy lips shall never open.” 48
He burns with bashful shame, she with her tears
Doth quench the maiden burning of his cheeks;
Then with her windy sighs and golden hairs
To fan and blow them dry again she seeks. 52
He saith she is immodest, blames her miss;
What follows more, she murders with a kiss.
”
Source: Gutenberg

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