[1] H. F. Cary’s translation.

[2] From osculum we get the words osculogy, the science of kissing, and osculogical, that which pertains to kissing; but the Greek derivations philematology and philematological are perhaps preferable.

[3]

[4] Translated from the Danish Version.

[5] A Danish poet, philologist, and collector of proverbs (1631-1702).

[6] This and most of the following Servian ballads were translated by Prof. Nyrop into Danish from the German version of O. P. Ritto.

[7] From “Various Verses,” 1893.

[8]

[9] Translated by Edward, Earl of Derby.

[10] William Morris’ Translation.

[11] William Morris’ Translation.

[12] William Morris’ Translation.

[13] William Morris’ Translation.

[14] Retranslated from the Danish of the Text.

[15] We have here a striking example of how legends arise. John, the Father of the Church, got the epithet “golden-mouth” on account of his great eloquence; but the people sought another more concrete explanation, if I may use the term, of that name, the metaphorical use of which they failed to comprehend.

[16]

[17] Which may be freely translated:

[18]

[19]

[20] My dear Arlequin, a handsome lad like you, when a lady offers him anything, ought to kiss the hand when he receives it.

[21] Omitted in the last edition.

[22] Omitted in the last edition.

[23] Si ab sponso rebus sponsÆ donatis, interveniente osculo, ante nuptias hunc vel illam mori contigerit, dimidiam partem rerum donatarum ad superstitem pertinere prÆcipimus, dimidiam ad defuncti vel defunctÆ heredes cuiuslibet gradus sint et quocunque iure successerint, ut donatio stare pro parte media et solvi pro parte media videatur: osculo vero non interveniente, sive sponsus sive sponsa obierit, totam infirmari donationem et donatori sponso sive heredibus eius restitui.

[24] Retranslated from the Danish Text.

[25]

[26]

[27] Retranslated from the Danish of the Text.

[28] Retranslated from the Danish Version in the Text.

[29] Retranslated from the Danish Version in the Text.

[30] Retranslated from the Danish Version in the Text.

[31] Naturally, I am not concerned here with the various explanations given by the poets as to the origin of the kiss. Gressner, in an idyll of Daphnis and Chloe, has told us how both the lovers observed the sport of the doves in the grove and then tried to imitate it by pressing their mouths together as the doves do their beaks.

[32] Besides the passive or receptive element of the kiss, which is essentially the object of my investigation, there is also, as we have previously noticed, an active element which must not be overlooked, viz., the contact and muscular sensation at the pressure. During the erotic transport, which excites the desire for something further of a brutal and violent nature, the body trembles with powerful muscular tension, and a pressure or bite of the mouth is one of the forms by which the passion of love finds expression. It is difficult, in these pages, to go further into this aspect of the kiss, which is regarded by certain philosophers as the main one, which it really is in respect to certain kisses under certain circumstances; but there are other kisses which are equally so originally, and in which the passive element seems to me the most essential. The origin of the love-kiss ought scarcely to be sought in any single source, whether in the sense of touch or in that of taste and smell combined. Unquestionably both these elements co-operate in its production, but under constantly varying conditions, just as the active or the passive element predominates, the kiss accompanies and interprets according to the erotic phase. In what follows I shall confine myself exclusively to the receptive element in the kiss.

[33] Retranslated from the Danish Version in the Text.