350 The Honey- Makers 



Not the minstrel, in the moment 



Fancy lightens in his e'e, 

 Kens the pleasure, feels the rapture, 



That thy presence gives to me." 



Very naturally the superstitious belief in bees as augurs 

 extended far and wide, and it has persisted even to modern 

 times. When at a Polish election of kings a swarm of bees 

 settled upon the banner of Woiwoden Wisniowicky this 

 turned the election in his favor. 



On the other hand, the sudden settling of bees upon the 

 weapons of Duke Leopold III. of Austria, on the day 

 before the batUe of Sempach, was considered an evil omen. 



In Woodward and Burnett's " Heraldry " we read the 

 following interesting account of the origin of the well-known 

 " bees of Napoleon." 



" Bees are often used in armory as an emblem of industry 

 and perseverance as well as in allusion to the name of the 

 bearer. 



"The Emperor Napoleon replaced the proscribed fleur- 

 de-lis by golden bees, which he used as decorations for his 

 coronation robes, and also employed in the heraldic 

 augmentations hereafter to be described. 



"The origin of the assumption of the bees by Napoleon 

 as an imperial badge is curious. In the year 1653, there 

 was discovered at Tournay a tomb supposed to be that of 

 Childeric (died 4S0), father of Clovis. 



*' Among the precious articles enclosed therein, or found 

 in proximity to it, were about three hundred small objects of 

 gold and fine stones, which somewhat resembled in shape 

 an insect, to which the name of ' bees ' was given. These 

 and the other contents of the tomb were presented by the 

 Archbishop of Mentz to Louis XIV., and were long pre- 

 served in the Bibliotheque Royale at Paris. These so- 

 called bees were stolen in 1832, and only two remain at the 

 present day. 



