Seu labris querulis titubantem sugere linguam,
Et miscere duas juncta per ora animas,
Inque peregrinum diffundere corpus utranque;
Languet in extremo cùm moribundus amor.

Me breve, me longum capiet, laxumque, tenaxque,
Seu mihi das, seu do, lux, tibi basiolum.

Qualia sed

sumes, nunquam mihi talia redde:

Diversis variam ludat uterque modis.

At quem deficiet varianda figura priorem,
Legem submissis andiut hanc oculis.

"Ut, quot utrinque priùs data sint, tot basia solus “Dulcia victori det, totidemque modis.”

[Et miscere duas, &c.] Lernutius thus imitates this pas sage of Secundus in his book of Kisses.

Dum sensim oppresso blanda inter suavia sensu,
Immittam exanimatam illius ori animam ;
Mox lingua avidula fugitivam et dente secutus,
Miscebo binas juncta per ora animas.

While show'rs of kisses o'er each sense prevail,
My vagrant soul I'll through her mouth exhale:
But poignant love-bites, and the nimble tongue,
Shall the dear wanderer recal ere long;

Then our twin souls in rapture wild we'll blend,
As lips with lips sweet-kissing shall contend.

[Legem submissis, &c.] This kissing-match reminds me of one something similar to it in Guarini's Pastor Fido, where the Megarensian nymphs agree to try among each other who can kiss best:

While soul with soul in ecstacy unites,

Intranc'd, impassion'd with the fond delights!
From thee receiv'd, or giv'n to thee, my Love!
Alike to me those kisses grateful prove;

The kiss that's rapid, or prolong'd with art,
The fierce, the gentle, equal joys impart.
But mark ;-be all my kisses, beauteous Maid!
With diff'rent kisses from thy lips repaid;
Then varying raptures shall from either flow,
As varying kisses either shall bestow :

And let the first, who with an unchang'd kiss
Shall cease to thus diversify the bliss,
Observe, with looks in meek submission dress'd,
That law by which this forfeiture's express'd:
"As many kisses as each lover gave,
"As each might in return again receive,
"So many kisses, from the vanquish'd side,
"The victor claims, so many ways applied."

Bacianne, e si contenda

Trà noi di baci, e quella, che d' ogni altra,
Baciatrice più scaltra

Gli saprà dar più saporiti e cari,

N' havrà per sua vittoria

Questa bella ghirlanda.

GUARIN. Pastor Fido. Atto 11. Scen. 1.

Let's kiss, and wage a kissing war:
Then she, who with superior art

The sweetest, fondest kisses can impart,
We'll deem the conqueror;

And to her brow with one consent decree

This beauteous wreath, the meed of victory.

BASIUM XI.

"BASIA lauta nimis quidam me jungere dicunt, "Qualia rugosi non didicere patres.

Ergo, ego cùm cupidis stringo tua colla lacertis, "Lux mea basiolis immoriorque tuis ;

"Anxius exquiram quid de me quisque loquatur?

66

Ipse quis, aut ubi sim, vix meminisse vacat."

Audiit, et risit formosa Neæra, meumque
Hinc collum niveâ cinxit et inde manu;

["Ipse quis," &c.] Virgil makes Dido express the wanderings of her mind much in the same strain, though they proceeded from a very opposite cause: her's arose from despair, our poet's from rapture:

Quid loquor? aut ubi sum? quæ mentem insania mutat?
VIRG. ENEID. IV.

What do I say?—where am I?-whence is wrought
This change that tortures my distracted thought?

[Hinc collum niveâ, &c.] Thus, too, Venus caressed her husband Vulcan, who was somewhat uncomplying, when she entreated him to forge the armour for Æneas:

KISS XI.

"SOME think my kisses too luxurious told: "Kisses! they say, not known to sires of old. "But, while entranc'd on thy soft neck I lie, "And o'er thy lips in tender transport die, "Shall I then ask, dear Life! perplex'd in vain, "Why rigid Cynics censure thus my strain? "Ah, no! thy blandishments so rapt'rous prove, "That every ravish'd sense is lost in love; "Blest with those blandishments, divine I seem, "And all Elysium paints the blissful dream.” Neæra heard; then, smiling, instant threw Around my neck her arm of fairest hue;

Dixerat, niveis hinc atque hinc Diva lacertis
Cunctantem amplexu molli fovet.

VIRG. ENEID. VIII.

She spoke, and wantonly the queen of charms

Circles the ling'ring god with snow-white arms.

From this, and the preceding note, as well indeed as from many others, it is pretty clear that Secundus had well studied Virgil; every page of his works might furnish instances of his having borrowed expressions from that author.

Basiolumque dedit; quo non lascivius unquam Inseruit Marti Cypria blanda suo:

"Et quid, (ait,) metuis turbæ decreta severæ? Caussa meo tantùm competit ista foro."

[Basiolumque dedit ; &c.] This was certainly one of those kisses, mentioned by Horace,

Quæ Venus

Quintâ parte sui nectaris imbuit.

HOR. LIB. I. OD. 13.

Which the fair Cyprian pow'r

Bathes in a fifth of all her nectar'd store.

M. Dorat's kiss on this subject is so beautiful, that I cannot
deny it a place here; he calls it, la Couronne de Fleurs :
Renversé doucement dans les bras de Thaïs,
Le front ceint d'un léger núage,
Je lui disois; lorsque tu me souris,
Peut-être sur ma tête il s'élève un orage.
Que pense-t-on de mes ecrits?

Je dois aimer mes vers, puisqu'ils sont ton ouvrage.
Occuperai-je les cent voix

De la vagabonde Déesse ?

A ses faveurs pour obtenir des droits,
Suffit-il, ô Thaïs, de sentir la tendresse ?

Thaïs alors sur de récens gazons
Cueille de fleurs, en tresse une couronne.
Tiens, c'est ainsi que je répons;

Voilà le prix de tes chansons,

Et c'est ma main qui te le donne :

Renonce, me dit-elle, à l'orgueil des lauriers;
Laisse ces froids honneurs qui'ici tu te proposes;
Il faut des couronnes de roses

A qui peignit L'Amour, et chanta les baisers.

DORAT. BAISER XI.