UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 207 



she caused no alarm ; and if, on seeing them less 

 diligent than usual, or ill or languid, she poured 

 a little wine at the outside of the hives, they 

 always expressed their thanks in the same 

 manner. 



Franklin's new apiary, you see, has been of 

 great benefit to me, for it led to a long conversa- 

 tion with my good aunt, who told me all those 

 circumstances and many others in her usual clear 

 way j and when we came home, she put into my 

 hands a little book called Dialogues on Entomo- 

 logy, in which she says I shall find much useful 

 information about bees and other insects. 



. At breakfast this morning my uncle re- 

 ceived a letter from a brother of Colonel Travers, 

 who you know is at Madras. It was written while 

 he also was at breakfast, and Mr.T. mentions that 

 there were then on the table eatables of different 

 kinds, which had come from the four quarters of 

 the globe. 



This set us to consider from whence all the 

 articles that were on our own table had been col- 

 lected. Every one named something. The tea 

 from China, the coffee from Arabia, West Indian 

 sugar, Narbonne honey, the salt from Cheshire, 

 and our home-made bread, butter, and cream. 

 Then there were Coalbrook-dale cups and 

 saucers, an urn from Birmingham, tea-pots and 

 spoons of Mexican silver, a butter-vessel of 



