Alexandria gazette & advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1822-1824, 1822-08-01

pose not TO treat tteIu GudsUuisS0tyt r-e
i might expatiate on the exquisite fiexl-
bility of those muscles, which by the
incaiculable modulations they accom-
plish, supply different languages to all
the nations of the earth, and hardly ev-
er fatigue the speaker, though they so
often prove wearisome to the auditor.
Nor shall dwell upon the opposite i'm
pressions which their exercise is calcu-.
lated to excite. from the ruby mouth of
Carinna ':warbling immortal verse
and Tuscan air." to the lean-lipped
Zantippe deafening her hen-pecked
mate, or the gruff voice of the turnkey
who wakes you out of a sound sleep to
tell you it is seven O'Clock, and you
must get up Immediately, to be hanged:
But shall proceed at once to external
beauty, although it must be admitted,
before enter into the mouth Of my
subject, that there is no fixed standard
of perfection for this feature, either in
form or color.-Poor Mungo Park, af-
ter having turned many African wo-
men sick, and frightened others into
fits, by his unnatural whiteness, was
once assured by kind-hearted woody
headed gentleman, that though he
could not look upon him without an IN
voluntary disgust, he only felt the more
compassion for his misfortune; and up
on another occasion he overheard ju-
ry of matrons debating whether te-
male could be found in any country to
kiss such emaciated and frightful lips.
How Noah's grandchildren, the Afri-
cans descendants of Ham, came to be
black, has never yet been satisfactorily
explained, and it were therefore vain to
inquire into the origin of their enor-
nous lips, which do not seem better a
dapted to hot climate than our own
but there is good reason to believe that
the ancient Egyptians were as ponde-
rously provided in this respect as their
own bull.god, for the Sphinx has avery
Nubian mouth, and the Memnon's head
SO far from giving us the idea of a mu-
sical king who could compete with Pan
or Apollo, rather temps us to exclaim
in the language of Dryden
"Thou sing with him, thou bocby never pipe
Was so prolan'd to touch that blubber'd lip
Belzoni may grub fer ever in the ruins
of Thebes before he will find the repre-
sentation of single Egyptian half SO
well made as himself; for a moro an
gular and awkward set of two legged
animals seem never to have existed.
They must have worshipped monkies
on account of their resemblance to their
own human form divine; and we can.
not attribute their appearance to the
unskilfulness of the artist rather than
the deformity of the subject, for the
drawings of animals are always accu>
rate, and sometimes extremely grace.
full.
Kissing is very ancient and lauda-
BILE practice, whether as mark OF res
pect or affection. The Roman EN-
perors saluted their principal officers
by kiss; and the same mode of con
graduation was customary upon every
promotion or fortunate event. Among
the same people, men were allowed to
kiss their female relations on the mouth
that they might know whether they
smelt of wine Or not: as it seems those
Wanted DANES and damsels were apt
to make too free with the juice of the
grape, Notwithstanding prohibition to
the contrary. The refinement of man
ners among these classic females was
probably pretty much upon par with
that depicted in the Beggar's Opera,
where Macheath exclaims, after sau-
ting Jenny Diver" One may know
by your kiss that your gin is excellent"
The aucients used not only to kiss their
diving relations, from strange notion
that they should inhale the departing
soul but repeated the salutation when
dead, by way of valediction and, tinal-
ly, when they were laid upon the tune
raj pile. There is no accounting for
tastes: but for my own part, would
rather salute the living; and | even
carry my singularisy so far as to pre-
fer the soft lips of a female to that mu-
tual presentation of briseled cheeks to
which one is subject by the customs OF
France A series of essays has been
written ON the rational recreation
of kissing, by John Everard, better
known as Johannes Secundus, the au-
thor of the Basia, which has the dis
grace Of being more licentious than his
prototypes, Prepertius and Catullus
This gentleman held the same situation