drink for forty, who at his Approach flock about him and fuck him dry, the Sight of which is not the meanest Amusement to be feen at a Bee Hive: The Palace for the King, is much more magnificent than any of the other Apartments, for he has feveral ftately Rooms for himself and others; for those of Royal Race, to whom a just Regard is fhew'd; and those who refufe the common Compliments, and a fuitable Distance, are corrected feverely, if not brought to condign Punishment. The chief Causes of their battling one Hive with another, is when the Honey is exhaufted; fooner than want they will prey upon their Neighbours, and this will frequently breed Wars, and a Challenge being fent by the injur'd Party, the Trumpeter, or Bee, who calls in all the Bees at Night, Summons 'em all together, when the King at their Head marches in Array till they come to the Place of Battle, when the Captains divide them into Squadrons and Battalions before the Onfet, which is perform'd with no lefs Vigour than Regularity; and it is obferveable, that, if a Man ftands quietly to fee the Encounter, he fhall run no Hazard of being ftung, except he offers to moleft either Party, and then the contrary Party is fure to give him fome Marks of their Difpleasure; but the common Way is, when the Owners of the Bees apprehend they are going out to Battle, they fet a Mefs of Milk, or honey'd Water near the Hive, and that will calm their great Souls to Peace, and prevent the Slaughter, otherwife, if they begin the Fight before they are difcover'd, the Way to part them is by cafting up Duft, or making a Smoke with Pitch, or other Combuftibles, which will scatter them immediately, for though they are noble-spirited Warriors, and can fight with Swords very very dextrously, yet they cannot endure Guns nor Dutch Stink Pots. There are feveral Sorts of Bees, both in Appearance and Value, for Inftance, there is a Kind of ruftical wild Bee, with a long Body, and hideous Appearance, very little fpeckled, of a dark Colour; this Bee is a Sort of a Banditti, and lives upon the Spoil of others, but when he is taken a Moroding by any Thing of a Party, he always suffers Death for his Crimes. The best of Bees are fuch as are short, and much painted, that they have a lively Look, and not very hairy there are a Sort of Bees in the Kingdom of Pontus, that are milk white, which makes Honey twice every Month; and others in the Kingdom of Thermodoon, that gathers their Honey all from Trees, and leave it in the Earth; but in the whole World, none are known to be fo gentle as thefe in England. It is obfervable, that when any Bee has loft his Sting, he never after does Good or Harm, except by turning Drone, he eats others Honey, and for that they foon dispatch him; their greatest Enemies are the Swallows, the Martins, and the Frogs, the former taking them flily, and the latter making a Prey of them in the Water; Bees when they come to dip themselves in the Pond or Brook; and it is faid, that a Frog, the Swallow, and the Martin cannot feel the Sting of a Bee as other Creatures; if Crab Fifh is placed near the Hive, the Bees are all Sick, and if it is not foon removed, it caufeth fuch a Mortification among them, that they either all die, or quit the Hive; yet, they have fo much Compaffion one to each other, that when any one is Sick, the Bees that are well, will bring him out of the Hive, and lay him carefully in the Sun, all the Time fupplying him with Water, and the moft refin'd Honey; K Honey; and when any one of them dies, they bear the Body up amongst several, and carry it, to a diftant Place from the Hive, where they mourn over it in some dismal Ditty, but for want of fome Interpreter more than Sir John Mandeville, we could never yet procure a Copy of the Bees Ceremony, but thus much it is averr'd by fome curious Travellers, that it has no fmall Refemblance with the dismal O-bone fung at a wild Irish Funeral. But at the Death of their King they mourn in a very extraordinary Manner, infomuch, that it generally proves the Deftruction of the Commonwealth, they not caring to come under Subjection to any other, pine away till they die, or become wild, and never after fettle with another Hive; yet, now and then an Ufurper shall start up, and pretend he has as much Right to govern as the lawful King; when there ufually enfues a Civil War. The Ufurper will not claim the Crown till he has firft made a Divifion in the Hive, and got himself a Party, and then one Party or other are totally kill'd before the other will submit, or if the lawful King kills the other in Battle, and the Rebels call for Quarters, they find no Mercy, but are all put to Death for High-Treafon. There is nothing troubles them more than Re verberations of the Air or Echoes, which will make them quit the Hive, and wander about without regard to either their Labour or Food; and 'tis obferved that they feldom or never thrive where there is an Eccho nigh; Mifts and Fogs alfo trouble them, that they can neither work in the Hive, nor ftir out till the Mifts are diffipated by the Sun, and then there is a perfect Joy in all their Coun tenances. Their moft mortal Enemies is the Spider, who will fometimes make a Web over the Mouth of the Hive, and when that happens, it is an unavoidable Destruction both to the King and Common-wealth; of this Examples frequently happen, infomuch that those who take firft to the keeping of Bees generally loofe a Hive or two by this Means, which might be faved, did they go every Morning to fearch for Spiders about the Mouth of the Hive; they likewife often receive Damage from a Sort of a Fly or Moth, that flies about a Candle, which if it once gets into the Mouth of the Hive, leaves fuch a dufty Matter behind it, as is not a little offenfive to the Bees, and what breeds other Moths of the fame Sort, efpecially if the Sun fhine upon the Mouth or Entrance; other offenfive Infects are prevented by certain bitter Ingredients, which the Bees place about the Mouth of the Hive, as was faid before; but of the Spider and Moth, thefe Ingredients have but little Effect, their greatest Sicknefs ufually proceeds from their eating Honey to Excefs, which brings the Flux upon them that they die, except they have Recourfe to a certain Herb, which Inftinct generally guides them to; fome have endeavoured to cure them by Oyl and other Things, *but no Phyfician was ever found fo good to Bees as Nature, Oyl itfelf being only touch'd upon their Heads, the Sun no fooner fhines upon them afterwards but they die of a malignant Distemper; the Methods which are taken to keep them from taking flight when they fwarm, is ringing a Bell, or beating on a brafs Candlestick, which mufical Sound fo delights them, that they have not Power to move far from the Sound, they therefore immediately fwarm upon fome Tree or Place very near, and by this Means the Owners generally K 2 keep keep them from one Year to another; feveral Hives of Bees have been kept from flying away, only by the clapping of Hands when no mufical Inftrument has been ready; and in Wales, where a Fiddle is Part of the Curate's Copyhold, it is his Privilege to demand a Groat for a Hive of Bees fwarming, being obliged at the fame Time to give them a Tune if defired. When they have finished their Work, brought forth their Young, and fill'd the Hive with Plenty of Honey, they often take a Day's Diverfion, when there are fome fet apart to fing, and others to dance, but this being mentioned in the former Part of this Treatife, in the Relation fuppos'd to be wrote by Sir John Mandeville, we fhall take no farther Notice of their Diverfions, only the Sight which Sir John faw was fuppos'd to be a Coronation, by the extraordinary Performances, though I once heard a very ingenious Virtuofo fay he has look'd at the Bees with a Microscope, at a Time, when they gave themfelves a little Liberty, and he could plainly discover fome were playing at RunningBafe, and others at Trap Ball, whilft a third Sort at Thread-my-Needle-Nan, with the fame Life and Vigour as they do at a Country Fair, to digeft Bottle Ale and Cheesecakes. They generally make their Exit in about feven Years, if they live till eight, they are very grey and ball'd-pated, though fome affirm in Italy they live till ten; and they tell ye there, that if they keep dead Bees in the Houfe all the Winter, and when the Summer comes again, do but lay them in the Sun, they will come to Life again, and live feven Years more, provided they lay in the Sun a whole Day, when it is very hot, and covered over with Fig Afhes; but though feveral have tried the |