to Second Edition 



these be base weeds barren of honey, and these slender 

 toils woven for foolish flies ! Now, thou hast rent my poor 

 web, and set free my legitimate prey, while thy blustering 

 outcries have alarmed the frivolous race on which I make 

 my living, so that now, on thy departure, I may mend my 

 broken nets in vain." But the bee answered — " Out upon 

 thee, mother of snares! Let this warn thee not to catch bees 

 any more ; and be thankful thou hast escaped my sting." 

 " Had I meant to catch bees," she replied, " I would have 

 spun my nets of stronger line, and spread them among 

 flowers. I trusted to the wisdom of bees for my safety, as 

 I did to the folly of flies for my subsistence." So the bee 

 flew away in great dudgeon ; and when the spider had 

 mended her web, the flies (who would never have found it 

 out for themselves) were aware of the danger, and left the 

 spider to starve. 



This fable is, of course, no more to be found in the 

 original Arabic than the " Cronica de los Sultanes de 

 Granada, por el Sabio Abou Kizeb " (father of lies), 

 p. 216. 



The Author, being very much in the position of an unfor- 

 tunate wit, who has made an elaborate joke which a prosaic 

 company, taking it (as the French say) "at the foot of the 

 letter," are inclined to consider a perversion of facts, will 

 now, with the best grace he can, relinquish his unsuccessful 

 attempt at pleasantry, in the hope of rescuing, at least, his 

 impeached veracity. 



Entertaining what he believes to be a very common 

 opinion, that the books of readable travel offered to the 

 public were usually more indebted to the embroidering 

 needle of fiction than the loom and shuttle of fact ; and 

 giving the British public credit for a general curiosity about 

 manufactures of all sorts, the Author conceived the idea of 



35 c 



