Cupid, if storying Legends tell aright, Once fram'd a rich Elixir of Delight. A Chalice o'er love-kindled flames he fix'd, And in it Nectar and Ambrosia mix'd: With these the magic dews which Evening brings, 5 Brush'd from the Idalian star by faery wings: Each tender pledge of sacred Faith he join'd, Each gentler Pleasure of th' unspotted mind-- Day-dreams, whose tints with sportive brightness glow, And Hope, the blameless parasite of Woe. 10 The eyeless Chemist heard the process rise, The steamy Chalice bubbled up in sighs; Sweet sounds transpired, as when the enamour'd Dove Pours the soft murmuring of responsive Love. The finish'd work might Envy vainly blame, 15 And 'Kisses' was the precious Compound's name. With half the God his Cyprian Mother blest, And breath'd on Sara's lovelier lips the rest. 1793. FOOTNOTES: [46:2] First published in 1796: included in 1797 (_Supplement_), 1803, and 1844. Three MSS. are extant, (1) as included in a letter to George Coleridge, Aug. 5, 1793; (2) as written in pencil in a copy of Langhorne's _Collins_ in 1793; (3) _MS. E._ _Poems_, 1796 (Note 7, p. 181), and footnotes in 1797 and 1803, supply the original Latin: Effinxit quondam blandum meditata laborem Basia lascivâ Cypria Diva manu. Ambrosiae succos occultâ temperat arte, Fragransque infuso nectare tingit opus. Sufficit et partem mellis, quod subdolus olim Non impune favis surripuisset Amor. Decussos violae foliis admiscet odores Et spolia aestivis plurima rapta rosis. Addit et illecebras et mille et mille lepores, Et quot Acidalius gaudia Cestus habet. Ex his composuit Dea basia; et omnia libens Invenias nitidae sparsa per ora Cloës. Carm[ina] Quad[ragesimalia], vol. ii. LINENOTES: Title] Cupid turn'd Chymist Letter, 1793, Pencil. The Compound MS. E: Effusion xxvi. 1796: The Composition of a Kiss 1797: Kisses 1803, 1844, 1852. [1] storying] ancient Pencil. [3] Chalice] cauldron Letter, 1793. [8] gentler] gentle Pencil. [9] Gay Dreams whose tints with beamy brightness glow. Letter, 1793, MS. E. [9-10] { Hopes the blameless parasites of Woe And { Fond Bristol MS. And Dreams whose tints with beamy brightness glow. Pencil, Bristol MS. [11-12] With joy he view'd his chymic process rise, The steaming cauldron bubbled up in sighs. Letter, 1793. [11-12] the chymic process rise, The steaming chalice Pencil, MS. E. [11-12] the chymic process rise, The charming cauldron Bristol MS. [14] Murmuring] murmurs Letter, 1793. Cooes the soft murmurs Pencil. [15]