120 PRODUCTS OF ITS LABOURS. 



it the liquid honey which is collected by the tongue 

 flows, after passing through the mouth and oesopha- 

 gus. It is a membranous receptacle, capable of con- 

 siderable distension, and exhibiting a different aspect, 

 according to the quantity it contains of that saccharine 

 fluid, which is there converted into honey. 



Next to " the bag o' the bee," I may naturally 

 notice the products derived from the labours of the 

 same insect. These are principally wax and honey ; 

 both of which are mentioned by Shakspeare. The 

 former is brought forward as being the material em- 

 ployed for the sealing, not of letters only, but of 

 bonds and other legal instruments. Thus Cade, 

 after having declared that he will " make it felony to 

 drink small beer," and announced his intentions rela- 

 tive to other legislative enactments of a correspond- 

 ing character, proceeds in a strain admirably illustra- 

 tive of the man : — 



" Is not this a lamentable thing, that the skin of an innocent lamb 

 should be made of parchment, and that parchment being scribbled 

 o'er, should undo a man. Some say the bee stings ; but I say 'tis 

 the bee's wax : for I did but seal once to a thing, and I was never my 

 ovni man since." — Second Part Henry VI., Act IV. Sc. II. 



When Edgar has overcome the steward of Goneril, 

 he takes from his pockets the letters confided to his 

 charge ; and as he breaks the seal, he justifies to 

 himself the act he is committing : — 



