Kiss given to a Poet

Margaret, daughter of James I. of Scotland and wife of Louis XI. (when only dauphin), kissed the mouth of Alain Chartier “for uttering so many fine things.” Chartier, however, was a decidedly ugly man, and, of course, was asleep at the time.

The tale is sometimes erroneously told of Ronsard the poet.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.