Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 January 1876 — Kissing Hands. [ARTICLE]

Kissing Hands.

In Morocco the number “ five” Is never mentioned in the Sultan's presence, because five is the number of the fingers of the hand; and the hand, as the wislder of scepter, sword and pen should be, is the symbol of authority all the world over. This gives a meaning to the custom of saluting a ruler’s hand by way of homage, and no courtly ceremony can boast a greater antiquity than that of kissing hands. . Priam, supplicating Achilles to restore the body of Hector, calls himself the most miserable of men in being forced to kneel before the murderer of his children and kiss the hand yet reeking with their blood. Roman soldiers kissed the hands of their Generals; Consuls, Tribunes and Dictators permitted a favored few to pay them the same mark of respect. Under the Emperors kissing the imperial hand was held an essential duty on the part of couriers of high rank; and, taking a leaf out of the pagan’s book, as was too much their habit, the Bishops of the early Christian church gav€ their hands to the lips of inferior ministers. The wearers of the triple crown were content with being honored in the same fashion, until one of the Leos, not caring to exhibit a mutilated hand, substituted his foot, and, no one daring to protest against the innovation, his successors were careful not to resort to the less abject ceremony. It may be doubted if any Pope would have persuaded Cardinal John of Lorraine to kiss his toe. When the Duchess of Savoy proffered her fair fingers to that lip-loving churchman he declined the favor with disdain, declaring that he was accustomed to make free with the lips of the greatest Queen in the world, and was not going to do less by a dirty little Duchess; then, seizing the astonished lady by the waist, the bold Cardinal, spite of struggles and perturbations, kissed her thrice upon the mouth. With equal disregard for etiquette, but with more simplicity, did the country dames, to whom Charles 11. presented his hand, put up their lips for the King to kiss, a breach of custom the merry monarch readily forgave ; forgave, we may be sure, with more sincerity than James I. forgave Sir Henry Yelverton for speaking disrespectfully of his countrymen, when, in token es pardon, he allowed the indiscreet orator to kiss his royal hand thrice before he left the presence. Kissers at court are, we believe, forbidden to appear with their hands • gloved. It was not always so, for in a letter dated 1625 We read: “ This day my Lord Coke, with his gloves on, touched and kissed the King’s hand, but whether to be confirmed a councilor or cashiered I cannot yet learn. ” From kissing hands at court came kissing hands in courting, a practice the learned Seldon considered as foolish as to eat the paring of an apple when one might taste the fruit itself; and from kissing hands (for love came kissing /hands for politeness 1 sake, and the use of the phrase, “ I kiss your hand,” as a salutation upon leave-taking without a thought of suiting the action to the word. A story is told of an old laird, who, being presented to George the Fourth at a levee, in his ignorance and anxiety to get through the business, ignored the hand extended to him, and, with a hasty bow, edged toward the doorwith all speed. Brought up with Lord Erroll’s whispered reminder: “Kiss hands! kiss hands!” the startled old gentleman, facing about, kissed both his hands at the King, as if wafting a cordial recognition to a friend at a distance. All unconsciously the laird was acting according to ancient rule, for only the greater subjects of the later Caesars were permitted to press their lips upon imperial fingers. Interior folks kissed their own hands, as they were won} to do upon entering the temples of ; a custom Pliny set down among those which were followed for no known reason but their antiquity.— AU the Year Round.