192 NOTES BY THE WAY. 



did we would catch him tripping), but to butter-cups, 

 which are called by rural folk in Britain " cuckoo- 

 buds." 



In England the daffodil blooms in February and 

 March ; the swallow comes in April usually ; hence 

 the truth of Shakespeare's lines : 



"Daffodils, 



That come before the swallow dares, and take 

 The winds of March with beauty." 



The only flaw I notice in Shakespeare's natural 

 history is in his treatment of the honey-bee, but this 

 was a flaw in the knowledge of the times as well. 

 The history of this insect was not rightly read till 

 long after Shakespeare wrote. He pictures a colony 

 of bees as a kingdom, with 



" A king and officers of sorts," 



(see " Henry V."), whereas a colony of bees is an 

 absolute democracy ; the rulers and governors and 

 " officers of sorts " are the workers, the masses, the 

 common people. A strict regard to fact also would 

 spoil those fairy tapers in " Midsummer Night's 

 Dream," 



"The honey-bags steal from the humble-bees, 

 And, for night-tapers, crop their waxen thighs, 

 And light them at the fiery glow-worm's eyes," 



since it is not wax that bees bear upon their thighs, 

 but pollen, the dust of the flowers, with which bee? 

 make their bread. Wax is made from honey. 



