winds. But as bees are fallible as well as men, their public happiness began at last to be disturbed by a spirit of party and dissension; the origin of which was this. There was a certain daily tribute of honey paid to the king or master-bee, as he is called among men, which by law and custom immemorial was to be extracted from the sweetest flowers, and presented pure and fine to the royal bee. The king appointed certain officers to collect this tribute, whose business it was, not to force it from the people, but to receive it as a free-will offering. Although his right was unquestionable, and his power irresistible, yet he was better pleased that his subjects should give, than that he should exact, and thought love a better medium of government than power. His officers therefore were only to exhort them to a voluntary and generous payment of the royal dues, and in all other respects, to such a behaviour as becomes good subjects and honest citizens. Between these and the people there arose certain disputes about the purity and goodness of the honey set apart for the king's use. From hence it began to be debated what was the purest honey, and which the sweetest flowers. Concerning this matter there were many and warm disputes among the people; nor were the officers of the crown less divided. There differences did not stop here, nor were they long confined to the king's revenues; for a thousand idle scruples began to be raised about the honey that was to be made for common use. Every different opinion was supported by a sect and party of its own; and, such was the extravagant humour of the times, the more wild and fanciful any of these notions were, the more numerous usually were its abettors. Some were for having the honey made at all seasons, maintaining that so good a work should never be intermitted; others contended to have the work confined to certain seasons; insisting, that in foul weather, it was impossible to work, and that, as for the king's honey in particular, it ought only to be wrought on certain days set apart and consecrated to that particular purpose. There was not a flower in the field that had not a party in its favour, and that was not condemned and prohibited by the party of some other flower: so that, had they collected honey from none but such as no party had declared against,

they must have collected none at all. Each party took a name either from the flower it affected, or the ringleader it followed, and these names were contended for with all imaginable zeal and earnestness by numbers that knew nothing of their own party principles, and were kept warm only by the name. One of the king's principal officers set up a very powerful sect under the name of financers, so called, because they pretended to farm the king's revenues, and tax all petitions delivered to his majesty, as having the sole right of presenting them in themselves. Many were the impositions and usurpations of this sect, which for some time tyrannized over the rest, notwithstanding that the king, unwilling to inflict condign punishment on so great a part of his subjects who were misled by these financers, protested against their proceedings, and disallowed the authority by which they acted, in frequent manifestoes. But at length the better sort of bees becoming dissatisfied with their unwarranted usurpations, shook off their authority, and paid their tribute to the king through more honest and less oppressive officers. However, even these fell out among themselves, partly about the former differences that had embroiled the hive, and partly about new ones arising from ignorance, or zeal, or ambition. And, as on former occasions, what could not be determined by the tongue, was decided by the sting; so now again they began to fight for their several opinions. Great was the confusion, and miserable the slaughter that ensued upon these unhappy dissensions; the whole hive raged with fury and uproar; the king's revenues remained unpaid, and the public work was at a stand till the needless niceties about the manner of doing it should be settled.

Things being brought to this pass, an ancient bee, who had always distinguished himself, not only by his industry in the public work, and a punctual discharge of the king's dues, but also by the readiest obedience to the king's officers, and by a meek and gentle spirit in the midst of turbulent and contentious times, assembled all the citizens of the hive in the vacant space on the floor; and with that authority which his well-known wisdom and integrity had given him, leaning from a comb that hung over them, addressed them in the following manner :

'My dear fellow-subjects, it is not because our king wants either authority or power to reduce us to the obedience we owe him, and the peace and good agreement we owe ourselves, that he rather chooses to let reason and experience make us sensible of our interest, than to compel us to our duty by force; but because he desires to rule with clemency rather than rigour, and as a king among bees, not a tyrant over wasps. The frenzy and rebellion that have possessed us, might justify more severe methods in our king; but those he seems to defer as the last remedy. Let me in the mean time, with that honest zeal which I have always endeavoured to demonstrate in the service of the public, try if I can prevent the necessity of harsher means, by applying those of reason and sober advice. Let me earnestly entreat you to remember those happy times, when there were no differences among us; how pure was our honey, and how plentiful our stores! with what kind affection did we assist and encourage each other in the public work! how agreeably did the sense of our general interest sweeten all our toils! and how joyfully did we feast on the delicious stores provided for us by our mutual labours, and secured by our unanimous counsels! the only contention then was, who should set least by himself, and promote the public welfare with the greatest zeal and ability. Did any of you pine through want then, as you do at present? was your provision disagreeable or unwholesome to you? or, can any of you say that your king slighted his free-will offering as scanty or unclean? What moved you then to raise such idle scruples about that which was to be presented to him, seeing he never shewed the smallest disrelish to it? why do you contend about the manner of preparing that which you are to share among yourselves, since before your pernicious refinements, our honey was pure and perfect, our subsistence plentiful, and our enjoyment of it peaceable and fearless? Suspend your contentious spirits, cool your party zeal for a moment, and calmly reflect how absurd it must be to spend that time in disputing how your honey ought to be made, which should be actually employed in the making it? nay, what wild infatuation must such scrupulous disquisitions argue in you, who knew so well before how to provide all things neces

sary for the public weal? For shame, cease your airy speculations, fit only for the idle and brain-sick, and betake yourselves to the solid practice of that knowledge which you had at first, and which will always be sufficient for you, if you do not puzzle it away with vain refinements. To what end are your disputes, if they are to last for ever? do you not perceive that the summer is far advanced, that the winter approaches apace, and that we are utterly unprovided of that which is absolutely necessary, while you are busied in trifling debates about certain useless niceties, that spring from the intemperance and luxury of your own imaginations? Why will you dispute about the most convenient seasons for making honey, when you will not make it at any? Why will you strive about the flowers out of which it is to be gathered, when you will not gather it at all? A wasp, such is the malignity of its nature, extracts poison out of all kinds of herbs and flowers, as well the wholesome as the baneful. So, on the contrary, a bee, let the flowers be what they will among which it plies, draws wholesome and odoriferous honey. Let me therefore beseech each of you to gather from such flowers as lie nearest, in order to make the quickest returns; or from such as furnish the greatest abundance of sweet juices, that our supply may be the more plentiful; or from whatever flowers he is best pleased with, provided he do not fail in bringing in every day the quantity required. Let me advise you all to lay by those party names by which you have distinguished yourselves, and embroiled this kingdom, and to value yourselves, not upon the name or credit of a sect, but upon the privileges of our excellent constitution. Let me also advise you, who are appointed public inspectors of the work, to receive all good and wholesome honey that is brought you, and to stow it immediately, without inquiring what hour of the day it was gathered, or from what vegetables extracted. Our king, thanks to his unlimited bounty, has given us a free grant of all the gardens and fields, and proclaimed the various flowers that bloom at the several seasons, or enamel the whole face of the earth, to be clean and fit for the use of bees. Let not one part of us pretend to live upon the labour of the more industrious,

'My dear fellow-subjects, it is not because our king wants either authority or power to reduce us to the obedience we owe him, and the peace and good agreement we owe ourselves, that he rather chooses to let reason and experience make us sensible of our interest, than to compel us to our duty by force; but because he desires to rule with clemency rather than rigour, and as a king among bees, not a tyrant over wasps. The frenzy and rebellion that have possessed us, might justify more severe methods in our king; but those he seems to defer as the last remedy. Let me in the mean time, with that honest zeal which I have always endeavoured to demonstrate in the service of the public, try if I can prevent the necessity of harsher means, by applying those of reason and sober advice. Let me earnestly entrçat you to remember those happy times, when there were no differences among us; how pure was our honey, and how plentiful our stores! with what kind affection did we assist and encourage each other in the public work! how agreeably did the sense of our general interest sweeten all our toils! and how joyfully did we feast on the delicious stores provided for us by our mutual labours, and secured by our unanimous counsels! the only contention then was, who should set least by himself, and promote the public welfare with the greatest zeal and ability. Did any of you pine through want then, as you do at present? was your provision disagreeable or unwholesome to you? or, can any of you say that your king slighted his free-will offering as scanty or unclean? What moved you then to raise such idle scruples about that which was to be presented to him, seeing he never shewed the smallest disrelish to it? why do you contend about the manner of preparing that which you are to share among yourselves, since before your pernicious refinements, our honey was pure and perfect, our subsistence plentiful, and our enjoyment of it peaceable and fearless? Suspend your contentious spirits, cool your party zeal for a moment, and calmly reflect how absurd it must be to spend that time in disputing how your honey ought to be made, which should be actually employed in the making it? nay, what wild infatuation must such scrupulous disquisitions argue in you, who knew so well before how to provide all things neces