196 APID.^ — BEES. 



cause no bodie in the raeane while came nigh that solitarie 

 place ; at length when he was out of all hope of life, hee 

 was strangely delivered by the means of a great beare : 

 which coming thither about the same businesse that he di^, 

 and smelling the hony stirred with his striving, clambered 

 vp to the top of the tree, & thence began to let hiraselfe 

 downe backward into it. The man bethinking himself, and 

 knowing the worst was but death, which in that place he 

 was sure of, beclipt the beare fast with both his hands aboit 

 the loines, and withall made an outcry as lowd as he could. 

 The beare being thus sodainely affrighted, what with the 

 handling, & what with the noise, made vp againe withal 

 speed possible : the man held, & the beare pulled, vntil with 

 main force he had drawne Dun out of the mire: & then 

 being let go, away he trots more afeard than hurt, leaving 

 the smeered swaine in a joyful feare."^ 



By the Chinese writers, the composition of the characters 

 for the Bee, Ant, and Mosquito, respectively, denote the 

 awl insect, the righteous insect, and the lettered insect; 

 referring thereby to the sting of the first, the orderly march- 

 ing and subordination of the second, and the letter-like 

 markings on the wings of the last,^ 



In May, 1653, the remains of Childeric, King of the 

 Franks, who died a.d. 481, and was buried at Tournay, 

 were discovered; and among the medals, coins, and books, 

 which were found in his tomb, were also found above three 

 hundred figures of, as Chiflet says. Bees, all of gold. Some 

 of these figures were toads, crescents, lilies, spear-heads, and 

 such like, but Chiflet, after much labor and research, was 

 fully convinced they were Bees; and, more than that, de- 

 termines them to be the source whence the Fleur de lis in 

 the Arms of France were afterward derived. Montfaucon, 

 however, did not hesitate to say they were nothing more 

 than ornaments of the horse-furniture.^ 



Napoleon I. and II. are said to have had their imperial 

 robes embroidered with golden Bees, as claiming official 

 descent from Carolus Magnus, who is said to have worn 

 them on his coat of arms.* 



1 Fern. Monarchie, c. vi. 49. 



2 Williams' Chinese Empire, i. 275. 



3 Chiflet, 164-181 ; Montf. Monarch. Franc, i. 12; Gough's Sepul. 

 Mon., vol. i. p. Ixii. 



♦ Cf. N. ^ Q., vii. 478, 553; viii. 30. 



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