interpreting old nursery poem

Question

'Twas General Janus, the first to arrive,

In snow-shoes and gaiters,

Escorted by skaters,

And looking quite blue with the cold of his drive,

See him come in, with his footman Aquarius,

Who presents his Ah-kishes,

That's to say, his best wishes,

A choice of fresh colds, and compliments various.

This is part of the nursery poem from Walter Crane's book. (https://archive.org/details/Crane1/page/n83/mode/2up)

I have two questions from this.

1. Does 'looking quite blue with the cold of his drive' mean, 'looking pale because he got a cold from the drive'?
2. Then does 'Ah-kishes' express the sound of coughing?

Answer 1

I'd take the first to mean looking pale because he was cold, as a result of walking in the snow.

I'd guess that Ah-kish is meant to be the sound of a sneeze, but it isn't the usual phrase (we say "Atishoo" for the sound of a sneeze, and don't really have a word for the sound of a cough, except "cough")