Laudator Temporis Acti

Erasmus, Letters 103 (to Fausto Andrelini, 1499; tr. R.A.B. Mynors and D.F.S. Thomson):

For, to touch on only one point among many, there are in England nymphs of divine appearance, both engaging and agreeable, whom you would certainly prefer to your Muses; and there is, besides, one custom which can never be commended too highly. When you arrive anywhere, you are received with kisses on all sides, and when you take your leave they speed you on your way with kisses. The kisses are renewed when you come back. When guests come to your house, their arrival is pledged with kisses; and when they leave, kisses are shared once again. If you should happen to meet, then kisses are given profusely. In a word, wherever you turn, the world is full of kisses. If you too, Fausto, once tasted the softness and fragrance of these same kisses, I swear you would yearn to live abroad in England; and not for ten years only, in the manner of Solon, but all your life long.

Nam vt e plurimis vnum quiddam attingam, sunt hic nymphae diuinis vultibus, blandae, faciles, et quas tu tuis camoenis facile anteponas. Est praeterea mos nunquam satis laudatus. Siue quo venias, omnium osculis excipieris; siue discedas aliquo, osculis dimitteris; redis, redduntur suauia; venitur ad te, propinantur suauia; disceditur abs te, diuiduntur basia; occurritur alicubi, basiatur affatim; denique quocunque te moueas, suauiorum plena sunt omnia. Quae si tu, Fauste, gustasses semel quam sint mollicula, quam fragrantia, profecto cuperes non decennium solum, vt Solon fecit, sed ad mortem vsque in Anglia peregrinari.