The Literature of Kissing: Gleaned From History, Poetry, Fiction, And Anecdote
9781465681096
213 pages
Library of Alexandria
Overview
From the time of the first kisses recorded in the book of Genesis,—the kiss with which Jacob imposed upon the credulity of his blind old father and defrauded his brother of the blessing intended for him, and that of Jacob the lover when he met Rachel at the well,—to the present hour, the custom of kissing has been so universally honored in the observance that one would naturally expect to find in any well-regulated library a formal treatise upon its manifold phases and expressions. Yet, with the exception of a few insignificant monographs of the seventeenth century, the curious inquirer would find upon the shelves nothing specially devoted to a custom with which all of human kind, from the elect of the children of men to the dwellers in partibus infidelium, are familiar. To borrow a waggish saying, the knowledge of the art has been principally transmitted from mouth to mouth. Herrenschmidius published his “Osculogia” in 1630; Muller, “De Osculo Sancto,” in 1674; and Kempius, “De Osculis,” in 1680. Boberg wrote upon the fashion of kissing among the Hebrews, and Pfanner upon the kisses of the primitive Christians,—both in Latin. But works of this character are inaccessible to general readers. Those modern classics, the “Basia” of Secundus, and the “Baisers” of Dorat and of Bonnefons, are readily attainable, both in the original and in the form of translations and paraphrases. Beyond this extremely limited range the literature of kissing is scattered as widely as its practice. For the earlier presentment of a custom favored in all ages, we must recur to the Bible. There only may we raise “the barred visor of antiquity” for full and conclusive revelation; and there shall we find that the kiss, in all the varied forms of which it is susceptible, was recognized among ancient kindred, and lovers, and friends, as an expression of affection or sympathy, as a symbol of joy or sorrow, as a token of welcome or farewell, as a mark of reverence, or reconciliation, or gratitude, or humility. There, likewise, shall we find the kiss of hypocrisy, as noted in the case of Absalom on the eve of his conspiracy; the sensual kiss, as referred to in the Proverbs; and the spiritual kiss, of the Song of Solomon. In the annals of the later periods of human passions and activities the records of the custom are more widely diffused. Since the woman “which was a sinner” washed the feet of the Master, with tears, wiped them with her hair, and kissed them so humbly and with such affectionate tenderness, millions of good Christians have done the same in their hearts. Since the Emperor Justinian kissed the foot of the sovereign pontiff Constantine, millions of the faithful in the mother church have bowed their necks to kiss the embroidered cross on the slipper of the Pope. Since “the sweet, soft murmur of a kiss of love” was first heard in the groves and gardens of Judea, “a great multitude, which no man could number,” have had recourse to the same token as seal to the indenture of their own loves, have found in the same attraction another eloquence than that of words, and in the retrospections of after-days have lingered lovingly upon the memories of the same rainbow radiance, the same celestial beam that from their own life smiled the clouds away.
