And in her milky arms she caught me;
“How can you thus your pupil chide?
You know ’twas in the dark you taught me!”
During the late rebellion, so much kissing had to be done on the part of the soldiers in bidding adieu to their female friends that an ingenious officer reduced the operation to three motions. First motion: Bend the right knee, straighten the left, bring the head on a line with the piece; at the same time extend the arms and clasp the cheeks of the piece firmly in both hands. Second motion: Bend the body slightly forward, pucker the mouth slightly, and apply the lips smartly to the muzzle mouldings. Third motion: Break off promptly in both legs to escape the jarring or injury should the piece recoil.
There is the pleasing punishment of a kiss. In an anonymous poem, a lover tells what he would do to his sweetheart if she offended him; he would whip her with a feather, give her a cross of pearl, and smother her with roses.
And if she dared her lips to pout,
Like many pert young misses,
I’d wind my arm her waist about
And punish her with kisses.
One of the sweetest poems on the subject of a kiss is after Catullus, the Roman poet: