1 !»(•<> 



(;leanin(;s in bee culture. isoi 



46 THE BEES, B. 1. 



Each link, they trace in animation's rounds 



Dashes their poison VI chalice to the grotind. 



If, ill the Insect, Reason's twilight ray 565 



Sheds on the darkling mind a doubtful day. 



Plain is the steady light her Instincts yield. 



To point the road o'er life's unvaried field ; 



If few those Instincts, to the destin'd goal, 



With surer course, their straiten'd currents roIL 570 



Though soon the short-liv'd Bee submit to fate. 



And SEVEN fleet summers fill her v»tmost date, 



Still, if we count the strokes of Timer's light wiog^ 



As swift, or slow, the fresh ideas spring. 



And labour crouds the closely written page, 575 



Those few, fleet summers lengthen to an age ; 



572. Sei'cn fleet summers] " Neqitc enim plus septima ducitiir testas !" 



Virgil. 



^'ee ADDITIONAL NOTE XI. 



574. Js i~.v//, cr sloic\ " It is ceitain that the natural measure of time 

 " depciuls solely on the succession of our ideas. Were it possible for the mind 

 '' to be occui ied with a single idea for a day, a week, or a month, these por- 

 '' tions of time would appear to be nothing more than so many instants. Hence 

 '• a philosopher bficn lives as long in one day, as a clown or a savage does in a 

 •" wcfk or a month spent in mental inactivity, or want of thought." Smelue's 

 Philosophy of Natural History, Yo\ J. p '.IQ. 



A SAMPLK l'A(;iC TAKEN FKO.M ' • TU K BEES," FUBLISHEU IN ENGLAND A HUNDKEU 



YEAKS AGO. 



