Dec. 23. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



499 



and at his return found that this advice had succeeded ill, 



for all his Bees were dead " — Fet. Cluniac, lib. i. 



cap. i. 



The other book to which I alluded is entitled — 



"The Feminin' Monakchi', ok the Histoei of 

 Bees: shewing 



Their admirable Natur' and Propertis ; 

 Their Generation and Colonis ; 

 Their Government, Loyalti, Art, Industri ; 

 Enimi's, Wars, Magnanimiti, &c. 



Together with the right Ordering of them from tim' to 

 tim', and the sweet profit arising ther'of. Written out of 

 Experienc', by Charls Butler, Magd . . . Oxford, printed 

 by William Turner for de Author, mdcxxxiv. pp. 182, 

 sm. 4to." * 



In it occur the following Legends : 



" A strange tale concerning the Knowledge and Devo- 

 tion of Bees : 



" A certain woman having some stalls of Bees which 

 yielded not unto her her desired profit, but did consume 

 and die of the murrain, made her moan to another woman 

 more simple than herself, who gave her counsell to get a 

 Consecrated Host and put it among them. According to 

 whose advice she went to the priest to receive the Host ; 

 which when she had done she kept it in her mouth, and 

 being come home again, she took it out and put it into 

 one of her hives ; whereupon the murrain ceased, and the 

 honey abounded. The woman therefore lifting up the 

 hive at the due time, to take out the honey, saw there 

 (most strange to be seen) a Chappel built by the Bees, 

 with an Altar in it, the walls adorned by marvellous skill 

 of architecture, with windows conveniently set in their 

 places; also a door and a steeple with bells. And the 

 Host being laid upon the Altar, the Bees making a sweet 

 noyse, flew round about it. Cum mulier qusedam sim- 

 plicis ingenii, nonnuUa Apum alvearia possideret . . . .," 

 &c. — Bozius De Signis EcclesicB, lib. xiv. c. iii. 



Another Legend, which our author gives on the 

 same authority, I subjoin in the original : 



" Quidam fures, ut argenteum vasculum in quo condita 

 erat Eucharistia, auferrent, et ilium secum rapuerunt: 

 Sacratissimum vero Christi Corpus sub alveari projece- 

 runt. Post aliquot dies dominus alvearis videt Apes 

 certis horis ssepius, demissis operis ad cibos convehendos, 

 totos esse in quodam mellifluo concentu edendo. Cumque 

 fortfe de media nocte exsurrexisset, conspicatur supra al- 

 veare illustrissimam lucem, suavisslmeque prajter omnem 

 modum modulantes Apes. Rei novitate inusitata, et 

 prorsus admiranda perculsus, Deique monitu intimo agi- 

 tatus, rem defert ad Episcopum. Is plurimis secum 

 assumptis, eo se conferens, aperto alveari, videt Vasculum 

 elegantissimum, effectum h candidissima cera prope al- 

 vearis fastigium, in quo reposita erat Eucharistia : circa 

 illud choros apum circumsonantes, et excubias agentes. 

 Acceptum igitur Episcopus Sacramentum, maximo cum 

 honore in templum reportavit : quo multi accedentes ab 

 innumeris sunt morbis curati." 



Both these Legends are given in Father Bridoul's 



* The third edition. The first was published at Oxford, 

 1609, 8vo. ; the second, London, 1623, 4to. It was after- 

 ward translated into Latin. This book is very unpleasant 

 to the eye, as the reverend author thought fit to adopt a 

 new style of orthography, similar to the phonetic system 

 recently attempted. This he developed in The English 

 Grammar, Oxford, 1633 and 1634, 4to. 



book : the first being quoted from Ceesarius, lib. ix. 

 cap. vili., and the second from Cantiprat, lib. u. 

 cap. xl. sec. 1. 



The fourth Legend in The School of the Eu- 

 charist is as follows : 



" A peasant swayed by a covetous mind, being com- 

 municated on Easter-Day, received the Host in his 

 mouth, and afterwards laid it among his Bees, believing 

 that all the Bees of the neighbourhood would come thither 

 to work their wax and honey. This covetous, impious 

 wretch was not wholly disappointed of his hopes ; for all 

 his neighbours' Bees came indeed to his hives, but not to 

 make honey, but to render there the honours due to the 

 Creator. The issue of their arrival was that they melo- 

 diously sang to Him songs of praise as they were able ; 

 after that they built a little Church with their wax from 

 the foundations to the roof, divided into three rooms, sus- 

 tained by pillars, with their bases and chapiters. They 

 had there also an Altar, upon which they had laid the 

 precious Body of our Lord, and flew round about it, con- 

 tinuing their musick. The peasant .... coming nigh 

 that hive where he had put the H. Sacrament, the Bees 

 issued out furiously by troops, and surrounding him on 

 all sides, revenged the irreverence done to their Creator, 

 and stung him so severely that they left him in a sad 

 case. This punishment made this miserable wretch come 

 to himself, who, acknowledging his error, went to find out 



the parish priest to confess his fault to him " &c. 



— Vincentius in Spec. Moral, lib. II. dist. xxi. p. 3. 



In the lives of the Saints we have many in- 

 stances of the recovery of man's lost power over 

 the elements and creatures. The following Le- 

 gend of St. Medard's Bees is quoted in the Femi- 

 nine Monarchic, at p. 138. : 



" When a thief by night had stolen St. Medard's Bees, 

 thej', in their master's quarrel, leaving their hive, set 

 upon the malefactor, and eagerly pursuing him which 

 way soever he ran, would not cease stinging of him until 

 they had made him (whether he would or no) to go back 

 again to their master's house ; and then, falling prostrate 

 at his feet, submissly to cry him mercy for the crime 

 committed. Which being done, so soon as the Saint 

 extended unto him the hand of benediction, the Bees, 

 like obedient servants, did forthwith stay from perse- 

 cuting him, and evidently j'ielded themselves to the 

 ancient possession and custody of their master." 



The following extracts are also from the Femi- 

 nine Monarchic : 



" Bees abhor as well poliarchy as anarchy, God having 

 showed in them unto man an express pattern of a perfect 

 monarchy, the most natural and absolute form of govern- 

 ment." — P. 6. 



" What things the Bee-master must avoid : 



" If thou wilt have the favour of thy Bees that they 

 sting thee not, thou must avoid such things as offend 

 them : thou must not be unchaste or uncleanly : for im- 

 puritie and sluttishness (themselves being most chaste 

 and neat) they utterly abhor . , . : in a word, thou must 

 be chaste, cleanly, sweete, sober, quiet, and familiar : so 

 will they love thee, and know thee from all other." — 

 P. 11. 



" And five are the sorts of Bees, with their integrall 

 parts. Among which, though there do not appear those 

 outward organa of scenting which other animals have ; nor 

 is seen in the head that inward principall part, which is 

 the fountain and seat of all senses, fantasie, and memorie ; 

 yet have they the senses themselves, both outward and 



