32 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 



late as the year 1679, believed that the worker- 

 bees gathered from the flowers not only the germs 

 of life, but the actual corporeal substance, of the 

 young bees. 



He pointed triumphantly to the little globular 

 lumps of many-coloured pollen which bees so 

 industriously fetch into the hives during the 

 breeding-season, and asserted that these were the 

 actual bodily matter from which the young bees 

 developed. He also maintained that every hive 

 was ruled over by a king, but here Rusden was 

 evidently trying to serve two masters. No doubt 

 he was a true " Abhorrer," and heartily detested 

 anything at variance with the doctrine of the 

 divine right of monarchs. He had faithfully copied 

 from Virgil as to the gathering of this generative 

 substance from the flowers ; but he felt that, as 

 the King's Bee- Master, it was incumbent on him 

 to put in a good word for the restored monarchy if 

 he could. There were still many in the realm who 

 were altogether opposed to the Restoration, and 

 probably more who were waverers between the 

 faiths. And Rusden, doubtless, saw that if he 

 could point to any parallel instance in Nature 

 where the system of monarchy was the divinely 

 ordained state, he would be furnishing his patron 

 with a magnificent argument in favour of his king- 

 ship, and one, moreover, which would especially 

 appeal to the ignorant and superstitious masses. 

 No doubt, however, in taking up this position, 



