HUMMING OF THE BEE. 117 



wasps, with whom they have, perhaps, in this pas- 

 sage, been confounded. Milton's notice is not per- 

 fectly accurate either ; for he throws the feeding of 

 the drones, and the forming of the cells, on the queen, 

 and not on the workers ; or, if he mean the working 

 bee, the term " husband" is inapplicable. 



" Swamiing, next appeared 



Tlie female bee, that feeds her husband droue 

 Deliciously, and builds her waxen cell 

 With honey stored." — Par. Lost, Book VII. 



The immortal author of " Paradise Lost " has in 

 another passage, without derogating from the gran- 

 deur or Ijeauty of his theme, sung 



"how the bee, 



Sits on the bloom, extracting liquid sweet." 



Perhaps nothing can convey a better idea of the 

 joyous feelings connected with the humming of the 

 bee, than the fact that it is mentioned by so many of 

 our British poets — introduced amid their finest pro- 

 ductions, and connected with the beauty and the 

 exuberance of summer. 



" Hark ! the bee winds her small, but mellow horn, 

 Blithe to salute the sunny smile of morn ;" 



is the description given by Rogers. 



" The sycamore, all musical with bees," 



is the harmonious line of Coleridge. It is introduced 

 as a simile in Hogg's " Pilgrims of the Sun :" — 



