THE SWAR.W 



select her loN'er: three or four hundred 

 foolish, elunisw useless, noisv creatures, 

 who are pretentious, gluttonous, dirty, 

 coarse. totall\- and scandalousl\- idle, in- 

 satiable, and enormous. 



But after tlte queen"s iinpreg'nation, 

 when tlowers begin to close sooner, and 

 open later, the spirit one morning will cold- 

 ly decree the simultaneous and general 

 massacre of every male. It reg'ulates the 

 workers' labours, ^\ith due regard to their 

 age : it allots their task to the nurses who 

 tend tlie n^nphs and the lan\ie, the ladies 

 of honour who wait on the queen and 

 never allow her out of their sight : the 

 house-bees who air, refresh, or heat the 

 bi\"e b\' fanning tiieir vcings, and h.isten 

 the evaporation of the honey that miy be 

 [:] 



