“A long, long kiss, a kiss of youth and love.” “For a kiss’s strength I think it must be measured by its length.”—BYRON. “A kiss now that will hang upon my lip As sweet as morning dew upon a rose, And full as long.”—THOMAS MIDDLETON. Perhaps the longest kiss on record is that which Siegfried gives Brünnhilde in the drama of _Siegfried_. But this is not an ordinary kiss, for the hero has to wake with it the Valkyrie from the twenty years’ sleep into which old Wotan had plunged her for disobeying his orders. Thanks to Wagner’s art, the thrill of this Love-kiss, magically transmuted into tones, is felt by a thousand spectators simultaneously with the lover. Love-kisses are innumerable. Thus sings the Italian poet, Cecco Angiolieri, in the thirteenth century— “Because the stars are fewer in heaven’s span Than all those kisses wherewith I kept time All in an instant (I who now have none!) Upon her mouth (I and no other man!) So sweetly on the twentieth day of June On the New Year twelve hundred ninety-one.” ROSSETTI’S TRANSL. Novelists and poets have exhausted their ingenuity in finding adjectives descriptive of Love-kisses and others. An anonymous essayist has compiled the following list:— “Kisses are forced, unwilling, cold, comfortless, frigid, and frozen, chaste, timid, rosy, balmy, humid, dewy, trembling, soft, gentle, tender, tempting, fragrant, sacred, hallowed, divine, soothing, joyful, affectionate, delicious, rapturous, deep-drawn, impressive, quick, and nervous, warm, burning, impassioned, inebriating, ardent, flaming, and akin to fire, ravishing, lingering, long. One also hears of parting, tear-dewed, savoury, loathsome, poisonous, treacherous, false, rude, stolen, and great fat, noisy kisses.” HOW TO KISS Kissing comes by instinct, and yet it is an art which few understand properly. A lover should not hold his bride by the ears in kissing her, as appears to have been customary at Scotch weddings of the last century. A more graceful way, and quite effective in preventing the bride from “getting away,” is to put your right arm round her neck, your fingers under her chin, raise the chin, and then gently but firmly press your lips on hers. After a few repetitions she will find out it doesn’t hurt, and become as gentle as a lamb. The word adoration is derived from kissing. It means literally to apply to the mouth. Therefore girls should beware of philologists who may ask them with seemingly harmless intent, “May I adore you?”