156 The Honey-Makers 



this public Manner protest against, preferring to it Fumi- 

 gation ; whereby with safety we may become Possessors of 

 their Treasure." 



Thomson has given us the following pathetic appeal 

 against the destruction of bees by sulphur : — 



" Ah ! see where robb'd and murdei'd in that pit 

 Lies the still heaving hive ! at evening snatch'd, 

 Beneath the cloud of guilt concealing night, 

 And fix'd o'er sulphur. . . 

 Sudden the dark oppressive steam ascends. 

 And us'd to milder scents, the tender race 

 By thousands tumble from their honey'd dome, 

 Convuls'd and agonising in the dust." 



Butler wants a law made as unalterable as that of the 

 Medes and Persians : — 



" That they which feloniously break open these true 

 labourers' houses, shall, like other house-breakers be 

 deemed and judged as guilty of burglary, and so have no 

 benefit or favour by the muses, that thus violate the 

 Muses' sacred favorites." 



Shakespeare, in " Henry IV.," refers to the killing of the 

 bees when the king awakens, finds his crown gone, and 

 inveighs against the prince thus, — 



"For this the foolish over-careful fathers 

 Have broke their sleeps with thoughts. 

 Their brains with care, their bones with industry. 

 For this they have engrossed and pil'd up 

 The canker'd heaps of strange-achieved gold ; 

 For this they have been thoughtful to invest 

 Their sons with arts, and martial exercises : 

 When, like the bee, culling from every flower 

 The virtuous sweets, 



Our thighs pack'd with wax, our mouths with honey. 

 We bring it to the hive ; and, like the bees, 

 Are murder'd for our pains." 



