HONEY. 123 



What we read, therefore, of the bee collecting wax 

 and carrying it to the hive, is fabulous. The error 

 originated in the pollen with which bees are so fre- 

 quently laden, and which forms the bee bread of the 

 community, being mistaken for two little pellets of 

 wax, which the industrious insect was supposed to 

 have gathered. Shakspeare, as might be expected, 

 has adopted the universal, though incorrect, opinion 

 of his day. In the Une, therefore, 



" Our thighs are pack'd with wax" — 



we recognize one of those instances, where the 

 knowledge of the present time can be contrasted ad- 

 vantageously vdth. that of the past. 



The word "honey" is of frequent occurrence. 

 When, in the English camp at Agincourt, King 

 Henry the Fifth, after the just and profound re- 

 flection — 



" There is some soul of goodness in things evil. 

 Would men observingly distil it out ;"— 



illustrates his meaning still further, by the obsen-a- 

 tion — 



" Thus we may gather honey from the weed." 



Act IV. Sc. I. 



When Friar Lawrence is waiting in his cell, for the 

 arrival of Juliet, and is endeavouring to control the 



