Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1896-04-30

| ASsiFec III Sue uEsb kt18 oi IOve.
And in Don Juan he cells rs hos
The hero and Haidee Walking a
twilight on the shore sit3 yatchinl
tha waves and stars, look intc eacl
others eyes and see their dartin,
light and beholding this, their lip
draw near and cling into a kiss,
long, long kiss, kiss Of youth ant
love and beauty, all concentratin,
like rays into one focus, kindlet
from above"
Everyone has read rennyson'l
"Locksley HalP' and everyone re
members how the lovers spirits
rushed together at the touching ol
the lips But in "Fatima" h
strikes descriptive master chord
when he says
oh, love. oh, fire, once she drew
ltH OHe lOflR kiss my WnOle SOUL through
My lips, as sunlight drinketh dew.
Keats. the youthful and melan-
choly genius, who 'ensphered him.
self in 20 perfect years, in his poem
entitled Isabella dilates thusly
on this most tender subject
His erstwhile timid lips grew bold,
And poised with hers in a dewy THYME.
Burns, that wild deryish of song,
strikes q purer note than usual, i,
when he sings
Humid seals of soft affections.
n denderest pledge of future bliss,
Dearest tie OF young connections,
Loves hrst snow-drop, virgin kiss.
And his peer, Ireland's "sweet.
est lyrist of her saddest wrong"
Thomas Moore, has not forgotten
to touch many a delicious strain in
this regard. :.
ln Aurora Leigh Mrs. Brown
ing makes the autobiographical he
roine go into the following rapture:
Which Of our two large explosive hearts so
That i know not. There were words that
broke in utterance, melted In fire,
Embrace that was convulsion, then n kiss
As long and deep as estate night.
Nor has the forest-like Shake
speare neglected to allude to this
absorbing topic. Venns apostro-
phises her love for Adonis in this
manner
I'll smother thee with kisses,
And And yet cloy thy lips with loathed safety,
But rather famish them amid their plenty.
Making them red and pale with fresh variety
Ten kisses short as one, one long as twenty.
And one could 60 on noting ad
infnitum. No bard the shallop of
whose fancy has touched the Isle of
Cytheria has failed to taste the lips
of the Paphian girl and he has
detailed his exnenspo OF the 1u-
tdrv WIN uo'fhe same and although
in his wiser days, he may consider
his youthful rhodomontades rather
silly, he can never entirely forget
how his heart thrilled when he
wrote them.
But it is not only the first kiss
of love that has found prominent
place in literature. 1t, indeed, is
the kiss whose enthralling raptures
have been sung in all ages and in
all climes. Literature. in general
however, from its very dawn
abounds in reference to the kiss
signifying at different times differ
ent meanings. 1t is reprobated b,
Socrates, the philoe spher; Cato
the censor Ambrose. the saint
| English literature seems to aboun'
more fully in allusions to the ten
der theme than that of any othe
country. Nevertheless, the swee
practice has been borrowed fror
other lands. According to Scandi
Wan tradition, it was brought int
the country by Rowena, the beat
tiful daughter of Hengist, the Sa,
on. At a banquet given by th
British monarch to his allies, tf
Princess, after pressing the brin
ming beaker to her lips, saluted Il
} astonished and delighted Vortiger
, with ga little kiss" after the maj
3 ner of her own people. In Il
r reign of Edward Nv, the guest W
supposed to salute in this fashio
/ not only the host, but all the mer
t bers of the hosts family. An o
: volume of "Notes and Queries
Q contains this entry on the subjec
: "When Wolsey's biogrspher visit
Q a French nobleman at his chatea
/. the mistress of the mansion. ents
ing the room with her accompan