THE KISS.
TWICE bath Queen Victoria been kissed by a French Monarch— namely, by Louis Philippe, and now by Napoleon the Third. The latter is the more surprising event ; for Louis Philippe was at once in a bumbler position, and, to say it plainly, was more of an old humbug ; so that the freedom might pass off with the less wonder- ment. He was the father of a family, some of whom were older than the young Queen, and he touched her cheek with his lips professedly in a spirit of paternity, as Jove kissed his favourite daughter the fair Queen—" Oscula libavit natal." The Emperor is not yet exactly a family man ; he has not yet escaped the ad- venturous age ; and his rise has been at once more rapid, more recent, and more extreme. How wild would it have been some few years ago, if he had said to some of his companions, perhaps in the neighbourhood of Kensington, that "on the 18th of Au- gust in the year of grace 1855, I will take Queen Victoria in my brotherly embrace and will kiss her upon both cheeks." Yet vaunts as wild have been uttered, and have been fulfilled—as witness these presents. Strange, that for so trifling an act as a kiss so much fuss should be made ! We even speak of it in a fastidious style, though it is as public as the sun himself. We touch upon it under protest and as it were with a "By your leave." We may in fact deal with it most easily when it is least worthy to be dealt with. Montaigne notices the anomaly in part : "we speak boldly," he says, "of killing, wounding, and betraying ; while on this point we dare only whisper." Yet he forgot that we may discuss the kiss itself, if it be of a base kind. The kiss of Judas is proverbial; that which the conspirators gave to Julius Cresar might be debated in Parliament, for it is part of a murderous conspiracy, and shares the privilege of murder by being open to the discussion. of gen-
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