AN IDYL OF THE HONEY-BEE. 89 



they issued forth from their hives led by their kings 

 and fought in the air, strewing the ground with the 

 dead and dying : 



" Hard hailstones lie not thicker on the plain, 

 Nor shaken oaks such show'rs of acorns rain." 



It is quite certain he had never been bee-hunting. 

 If he had we should have had a fifth Georgic. Yet 

 he seems to have known that bees sometimes escaped 

 to the woods : 



"Nor bees are lodged in hives alone, but found 

 In chambers of their own beneath the ground : 

 Their vaulted roofs are hung in pumices, 

 And in the rotten trunks of hollow trees." 



Wild honey is as near like tame as wild bees are 

 like their brothers in the hive. The only difference 

 is that wild honey is flavored with your adventure, 

 which makes it a little more delectable than the do- 

 mestic article. 



