KISSES.

KISS I.

WHEN young Ascanius, by the Queen of Love,
Was borne to sweet Cythera's lofty grove,
His languid limbs upon a couch she laid,
A fragrant couch! of new-blown vi'lets made;
The blissful bow'r with shadowing roses crown'd
And balmy-breathing airs diffus'd around.

Mean time the Goddess on Ascanius throws
A balmy slumber, and a sweet repose;
Lull'd in her lap to rest, the Queen of Love
Conveyed him to the high Idalian grove :
There on a flow'ry bed her charge she laid,
And, breathing round him, rose the fragrant shade.

PITT.

Mox veteres animo revocavit Adonidis igneis,
Notus et irrepsit ima per ossa calor.

O, quot es voluit circundare colla nepotis !
O, quoties dixit, "Talis Adonis erat !"

Sed placidum pueri metuens turbare quietem,
Fixit vicinis basia mille rosis.

Ecce calent illæ cupidæque per ora Diones
Aura, susurranti flamine, lenta subit.

Quotque rosas tetigit, tot basia nata repentè
Gaudia reddebant multiplicata Deæ.

["Talis Adonis erat!" &c.] Adonis was the son of Cynaras, king of Cyprus, by his own daughter Myrrha; he was a youth of exquisite beauty, tenderly beloved by Venus. it is said he was slain, in hunting, by a wild boar: which fable has given rise to one of the most beautiful compositions extant, well known to every classical reader; I mean Bion's first Idyllium, wherein Venus laments, with sweetest language, the death of her lover, who was changed into an anemone, as Ovid tells us.

[Ecce calent illæ, &.] This metamorphosis reminds me of one something like it, in Shakespeare:

Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:

It fell upon a little western flow'r,

. Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound.

And maidens call it love in idleness.

SHAK. MIDS. NIGHT'S DREAM.

The sleeping Youth in silence she admir'd; And, with remembrance of Adonis fir'd, Strong and more strong her wonted flames return'd, Thrill'd in each vein, and in her bosom burn'd. How oft she wish'd, as she survey'd his charms, Around his neck to throw her eager arms! Oft would she say admiring ev'ry grace, "Such was Adonis! such his lovely face!" But fearing lest this fond excess of joy Might break the slumber of the beauteous boy, On ev'ry rose-bud that around him blow'd A thousand nectar'd Kisses she bestow'd: And strait each op'ning bud, which late was white, Blush'd a warm crimson to the astonish'd sight: Still in Dione's breast soft wishes rise, Soft wishes! vented with soft whisper'd sighs! Thus, by her lips unnumber'd roses press'd, Kisses, unfolding in sweet bloom, confess'd; And, flush'd with rapture at each new-born kiss, She felt her swelling soul o'erwhelmed in bliss.

I would not insinuate, by this quotation, that Shakespeare was indebted to Secundus for his thought; as it may be reasonably contended, whetlier the English poet was scholar sufficient to be acquainted with the Latin bard. That same luxuriance of fancy, which both equally possessed, might certainly inspire each other with similar ideas.

At Cythera, natans niveïs per nubila cygnis,
Ingentis terræ cœpit obire globum.
Triptolemique modo, fœcundis oscula glebis
Sparsit, et ignotos ter dedit ore sonos.

Inde seges felix nata est mortalibus agris :
Inde medela meis unica nata malis.

Salvete, æternùm, miseræ moderamina flammæ,
Humida de gelidis basia nata rosis.

En ego sum, vestri quo vate canentur honores,
Nota Medusai dum juga montis erunt;

[Triptolemique modo &c.]

Triptolemus, according to

Hyginus, was the son of Eleusius; or, according to Pausanias, son of Celeus of Eleusis, a town of Athens. He was bred up from his infancy by Ceres, who fed him with milk in the day, and covered him with fire at night: she taught him agriculture, and sent him over the world in a chariot loaded with corn, to teach mankind that science; when he first instructed Greece. Thus Ovid briefly mentions him:

Iste quidem mortalis erit: sed primus arabit,
Et seret, et cultâ præmia tollet humo.

OVID. FAST. LIB. IV.

'Tis true, the youth shall be a mortal born,

Nor shall his hands instructive labour scorn;
He first shall plough, first sow the grateful soil,
And reap the blessings that await such toil.

[Nota Medusæi dum juga, &c.] Parnassus, the Muses' hill, was said to have two summits, in the cleft between

Now round this orb, soft-floating on the air, The beauteous Goddess speeds her radiant car : As in gay pomp the harness'd cygnets fly, Their snow-white pinions glitter thro' the sky; And, like Triptolemus, whose bounteous hand Strew'd golden plenty o'er the fertile land, Fair Cytherea, as she flew along,

O'er the vast lap of nature Kisses flung:

Bleas'd from on high she view'd th' enchanted ground,

And from her lips thrice fell a magic sound:

He gave to mortals corn on ev'ry plain; But She those sweets which mitigate my pain.

Hail, then, ye Kisses! that can best assuage The pangs of love, and soften all its rage! Ye balmy Kisses! that from roses sprung; Roses! on which the lips of Venus hung.

which if any one slept, he presently became a poet. Persius applies the epithet biceps to this mountain :

Nec fonte labra prolui Caballino :

Nec in bicipiti somniasse Parnasso

Memini, ut repentè sic poeta prodirem.

PERS. PROLOG. AD SATYR.

These lips ne'er drank the Hippocrenian stream,
Nor have I e'er indulg'd gay fancy's dream
Within Parnassian cleft, that sudden song

Should flow unbidden from my trembling tongue.