stubborn Saxons, Domitian gave him a "cold kiss,"
and left him standing in the crowd unnoticed.
The cold kiss has long since passed away, but
the complaint remains, and one would have
liked Agricola better if lie had never made it.
In process of time the Roman emperors, not
content with having their hands kissed by men
kneeling, demanded to be treated like the gods,
and to be kissed on the feet; later, to have even
the ground kissed before them. Diocletian was
the first to command this manner of salutation,
and his successors were not slow to follow his
example. Christianity, too, did not disdain to
borrow of heathendom—even such things as
opposed to its inner spirit and intention.
Thus it seemed to the popes a fine thing to
to require the baser laity to kiss their feet; and in
710, Pope Constantine the First, on entering
Constantinople, caused the Emperor Justinian
to kiss his foot. Valentine the First made the
custome permanent; and, ever since 827, the
laity has crouched and crawled up the steps
of St. Peter's chair to kiss the toes of the
great fetish enshrined thereon. But, as the pope
wears a slipper with an embroidered cross upon
the upper leathers, by a pleasant fiction saving
to pride, men assume that they kiss the sacred
symbol and not the human toe: thus adding
self-deception to degradation, and committing
one unmanliness the more. Protestants are not
required to go through this ceremony. Enough
for us if we bend slightly on entering the
presence, as one would to any other reigning power;
and even the stiffer necked of the Catholic princes
get off with an adequate genuflexion. But the
late King of Spain Kissed the pope's foot,
notwithstanding his blue blood.

Kissing the pastoral ring has the same meaning.
The bishops, as well as the popes, had
their feet kissed in early times. This was afterwards
commuted for the hand—kneeling. Now,
however, only the symbol, the ring—not kneeling
but slightly bending the knee. This is found
to be the lowest to which modern pride can fall.

Kissing the sovereign's hands at court
presentations is also only a compromise,
beginning from the same foundations. Even
Charlemagne and his sons required this
degrading service from their courtiers, and had
their feet kiessd and knelt to, like so many popes
or gods. With us the ceremony has evaporated
into a bow or a name; in Prussia it is of exceeding
rare occurrence to kiss hands at court at all;
while in Spain, the kisses are as exactly ruled
as the depth of the visiting-card in China, or the
manner of giving oneself "happy despatch"
in Japan. When the Czar dies, his corpse is
affectionately kissed; and the same custom is
observed with the Jews. When a Jew is living,
his nearest relative kisses him to receive his last
breath; he is kissed when dead, as a farewell;
and again, when carried to the grave; even
though seven or eight days may have passed
Thus we read:

"When Jacob had made an end of commanding
his sons, he gathered up his feet  into the bed, and
yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people

"And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept
over him, and kissed him."

Kissing, which means in the Hebrew simply
adoration, or "touching with the mouth," was
always one of the essential parts of heathen
religion, without which was no possibility of
either piety or virtue, and people were branded
as atheists who neglected to kiss their hands, or
the statues of the gods, when they entered a
temple. Indeed, the feet and knees of the gods
were quite worn away by the constant, touch of
worshipping lips: as is the case now with certain
saints and shrines abroad. This custom stood
the brave Demosthenes in good stead; for, when
he was the prisoner of Antipater and was taken
by the soldiers into the temple, he raised his
hand to his mouth, as if in worship. The
soldiers thought it was an act of adoration; but it
was an act of despair instead. He did not mean
to salute the gods, but to take the poison which
he had long ago prepared for such an emergency.
And did not the people of Cos, when they found
Psyche sleeping among the butterflies and roses,
treat her as Venus " by kissing her right hand?"
So at least says Apuleius, that most original
and delightful of story-tellers. Even at this
present day the Mahometans kiss the ground in
the direction of Mecca.

The early Christians had their religious kiss,
like all the rest. As the initiated into the
Eleusinian mysteries kissed each other in token of
brotherhood and equal knowledge, so did the
first disciples in their Agapes, or Love Feasts.
But, in 397, the Council of Carthage thought
fit to forbid all religious kissing between the
sexes, notwithstanding Saint Peter's exhortation,
"Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity."
It also forbad all lying on couches at mixed
meals; and finally broke up the agapes
altogether, as of a somewhat too dangerous
tendency for ordinary humanity. Several later
sects have, at various times, sought to bring
back the institution of the kiss of peace; but
though very pleasant to the feelings, and doubtless
exceedingly edifying to the young, it
has generally been found necessary to prohibit
the use and continuance of the same, and
to go back to less godly forms of salutation. It
still lingers both in the Greek and Romish
Churches. In Russia, and wherever the Greek
Church prevails, all persons kiss each other on
Easter day; that being their great festival and
day of rejoicing; as Christmas is with us, and
the Jour de l'An with the French. "Christ
is risen," they say, as they kiss each other on
the cheek—great hairy moujiks, flat-faced
peasant women, slim nobles, and high-bred ladies
indiscriminately. Formerly the women kissed
each other at table immediately after the
prefatial glass of brandy or vodki had been served;
but that pretty custom has now gone out. Just
before the celebration of the Communion, too,
in the Romish Church, some kissing is done.
The officiating priest kisses the altar, then
embraces the deacon, saying, " Pax tibi, frater, et
ecclesiæ sanctæ Dei " (Peace to thee, brother,
and to the Holy Church of God). The deacon