There is a saying in Jutland that runs thus: “Maren, may I kiss you?--Guess. You won’t then, I suppose?--Guess once more? You will?--But how could you guess it then?” This tallies capitally with the following German saying: “_Zwinge mich, so thu’ ich keine Sünde,” sagte das Mädchen_ (“Constrain me, so that I shall not commit sin,” said the maiden). Naturally in this case, there can be no question of any _crimen osculationis_, for, as the jurists have it, _volenti non fit injuria_. Let us finally examine all these kisses from an ethical standpoint. We have all of us, you know, learnt from our earliest childhood that-- He who kisses maidens hath A very naughty habit; W. F. H. and popular belief adds, by way of warning, that it causes sores on the mouth. Ah, yes, that is certainly very true, but what becomes of our childish lore in the main when we attain to somewhat riper age? Now, only listen to the ballad about what happened in the case of the young Serb, in spite of all he had learnt: Here, so people told us, Dwells a youth industrious, Who from ancient volumes Late and early studies. As for books they tell us: Don’t vault on the saddle, Buckle not thy sword on, Drink no wine that fuddles, Never kiss a maiden. But the young man harkens Not to what they tell him: Keenest sword he seizes, Hottest wine he drinketh, Fairest maids he kisses. W. F. H. When so learned a man as our Serb succumbs to the tempting kiss, what is to be said then about all the rest who are less instructed? And let us remember ere we sit in judgment on any one--and it ought to be regarded as peculiarly extenuating circumstances--that a woman’s mouth is a direct incentive to kissing, that it is formed, as you know, for that purpose, asserts an old troubadour, and created to kiss and smile:-- And when I gazed upon her red mouth sweet, To match whose charms not Jove himself were meet, That mouth for laughter and for kisses framed, I fell thereof so amorous straightway That I lacked power to do aught or to say. W. F. H. The roguish mouth with the white teeth and the moist red, delicately-shaped lips say to every man who is not made of marble, “Kiss me, kiss me”: Her fresh mouth’s playing Seems ever saying To kiss I am fain Again, again. W. F. H. How human is Byron’s wish that all women had but one mouth so that he might kiss them all at the same time: That womankind had but one rosy mouth, To kiss them all at once from north to south. Runeberg has uttered a similar wish, and with a minute account of his reasons: