138 WASPS NOT STORERS-UP OF HONEY. 



" Let not this wasp outlive us both to sting." 



Titus Andronicus, Act II. Sc. III. 



Those characteristics are again referred to, when 

 Suffolk, in "HenryVIII."isreplying to the question — 



" will the king 



Digest this letter of the Cardinal's? 



Suffolk.— There, be more wasps that buz about his nose, 

 Will make this sting the sooner." — Act III. Sc. II. 



I have already mentioned, that the wasps do not, 

 like the bees, collect and store up honey : there is 

 nothing, however, of which they are more fond ; and 

 they scruple not to arrest it by force from the in- 

 dustrious inhabitants of the hive. In this attempt, 

 they " let no compunctious visitings o' nature shake 

 their fell purpose ;" and not unfrequently put to 

 death the victims of their rapacity. This fact has 

 not escaped the eye of Shakspeare. His knowledge 

 of it furnishes a metaphor employed, in the " Two 

 Gentlemen of Verona," by Julia, to express her con- 

 trition for having torn the letter of " the love- 

 wounded Protheus :" — 



" Oh ! hateful hands, to tear such loving words ; 

 Injurious wasps, to feed on such sweet honey, 

 And kill the bees that yield it with your stings ! " 



Act I. Sc. II. 



An allusion to the fondness of the wasps for honey 

 is, in the " Winter's Tale," put with ludicrous effect 

 into the mouth of Autolycus. The " rogue," so let 



