Page:The Kiss and its History.djvu/165

Rh When Abengalvon, in the old Pöema del Cid, meets Minaya Alvar Fanez, he advances smilingly towards him in order to kiss him, and he "greets" him on the shoulder, "for such was his wont":

The expression "to greet on the mouth" likewise occurs many times; but also the verb saludar ('to hail') is also used alone, as in the Roumanian sâruta, to express 'to kiss.'

Even in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the friendly kiss flourished in France. When Leo Rozmital, the Bohemian nobleman, paid his respects to Louis XI. at Meung-sur-Loire, the king led him to the queen, and both she and all the ladies of her court kissed him on the mouth.

We get further information in a letter from Annibale Caro dated 29th October, 1544. It is addressed to the Duke of Palma, and describes the visit of the French Queen Eléonore to the Emperor Charles V. in Brussels. "When we met," says he, "the ceremony of reception with kissing of the