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. THACKERAY. * * * * * Now let me say good-night, and so say you: If you will say so, you shall have a kiss. SHAKSPEARE. FOOTNOTES [1] The ancients supposed that honey contained a tenth part of nectar, and therefore the lips of Lydia were imbued with double the nectar bestowed on honey. [2] Ulysses had been sent by Agamemnon to the offended Achilles to induce him to return, but was treated by the latter with disdain, hence the importunity of Briseis. [3] “Os parvum decensque labia corallini coloris ad morsum aptissima.” [4] “Teneris labellis molles morsiunculæ.” [5] The temple of Jupiter Ammon and the tomb of Battus, founder of the city of Cyrene, were four hundred miles apart, the intervening space being a waste of sand. [6] What more? All’s not enough: mix all t’express My dear girl’s morning kisses’ sweetnesses. You’d know her name? I’ll naught but kisses tell; I doubt, I swear, you’d know her fain too well. _Old MS. 16th. Century._ [7] Tennyson. [8] The Duke of Clarence to Lady E. Beauchamp. [9] Ruprecht may be called the Father Nicholas, who comes on Christmas eve and plays all sorts of tricks. [10] The pax is a piece of board having the image of Christ upon the cross on it, which the people used to kiss after the service was ended, that ceremony being considered the kiss of peace. [11] The admirers of Robert Burns will remember the lines: “——bent on winning borough towns, Come shaking hands wi’ wabster loons, And kissing barefit carlins.” [12] An actual expression of a child. [13] Francesca da Rimini. [14] Mr. Longfellow translates the passage thus: “Alone we were and without any fear. Full many a time our eyes together drew That reading, and drove the color from our faces; But one point only was it that o’ercame us, Whenas we read of the much-longed-for smile Being by such a noble lover kissed, This one, who ne’er from me shall be divided, Kissed me upon the mouth all palpitating.” _Inferno_, v. [15] Burns. [16] Neck. [17] “But I think my heart was e’en sairer when I saw that hellicat trooper, Tam Halliday, kissing Jenny Dennison afore my face. I wonder women can hae the impudence to do sic things; but they are a’ for the redcoats.”—SCOTT: _Old Mortality_. [18] “The Merry Pranks of Robin Goodfellow,” from which this stanza is taken, though attributed to Ben Jonson, is not found among his works.