30 



" Let not this wasp outlive us both to sting." 



Titus Andronieiis, ii., 3. 



Again when Suffolk replies to the query — 



" Will the king 

 Digest this letter of the Cardinal's ?" 



he says — 



" There be more wasps that buzz about his nose, 

 Will make this sting the sooner." — Henry Ylll., iii., 2. 



Shakspere's knowledge of the wasp rapacity in raiding honey 

 is well shown in the metaphor used by Julia to express the detesta- 

 tion of her act in tearing Protheus letter — 



" Oh ! hateful hands, to tear such loving words : 

 Injurious wasps, to feed on such sweet honey, 

 And kill the bees that yield it with your stings ! " 



Ttvo Gentlemen of Verona, i., 2. 



It is more than strange that only twice does Shakespeare mention 

 the insect so universally known as the ant, [See addendum.] 



" We'll set thee to school to an ant, to teach thee there's no 

 labouring in the winter." — Lear, ii., 4. 



When the sweet music of the invisible Ariel comes to the ears of 

 the monster Caliban, even he, with murder in his heart, is con- 

 strained to soften, for he says — 



" The isle is full of noises, 

 Sounds and sweet airs : that give delight, and hurt not." 



Tempest, iii., 2. 



Who among us does not feel the better for our wanderings in the 

 paths of nature, with the brighter sun and sweeter atmosphere amid 

 the hum of Nature's workings ? 



It is curious that two quite mutually destructive views should 

 exist together, yet we find that Hamlet is made to express the com- 

 mon notion at that time — 



" If the sun breed maggots in a dead dog." — Hamlet, i., 2. 



while numerous other allusions point to " flesh-flies " as the origin 

 of the maggots, as when Trinculo is taken out of " the filthy 

 mantled pool " into which he had fallen in his drunken fit, says, 



" I have been in such a pickle since I saw you last, that I fear 

 me will never out of my bones ; I shall not fear fly-blowing." 



Tempest, v., 1. 



