Imatges de pàgina
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The careful Insect 'midst his works I view,
Now from the flowers exhaust the fragrant dew;
With golden treasures load his little thighs,
And steer his distant journey through the skies.
Some, against hostile drones, the hive defend,
Others, with sweets the waxen cells distend;
Each in the toil his destined office bears,
And in the little bulk a mighty soul appears.

GAY.

The Bee is small among the fowles, yet doth its fruite

passe in sweetnesse.

ECCLESIASTICUS xi. 3. Translation, ed. 1603.

Xxxii

PRELUDE OF MOTTOES.

How doth the little busy Bee
Improve each shining hour!
And gather honey all the day
From every opening flower!

How skilfully she builds her cell!
How neat she spreads the wax !
And labours hard to store it well
With the sweet food she makes!

WATTS'S DIVINE SONGS.

Je pique mais j'attache.

MADAME DE SEVIGNÉ'S MOTTO.

So work the Honey Bees,

Creatures, that, by a rule in nature, teach
The art of order to a peopled kingdom.

They have a king, and officers of sorts:

Where some, like magistrates, correct at home;
Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad;
Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings,
Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds ;
Which pillage they with merry march bring home
To the tent royal of their emperor:
Who, busied in his majesty, surveys

The singing masons building roofs of gold;
The civil citizens kneading up the honey;
The poor mechanic porters crowding in
Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate;
The sad-eyed justice, with his surly hum
Delivering o'er to executors pale

The lazy yawning Drone.

SHAKSPEARE. Henry V. Act i. Scene 2.

Θεῖόν τι τὸ γένος τὸ τῶν Μελιττᾶν.

OLD GREEK Philosopher.

Sic vos non vobis mellificatis Apes.

MARO, AN OLD BEE-MASTER

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Xxxii

PRELUDE OF MOTTOES.

How doth the little busy Bee
Improve each shining hour!
And gather honey all the day
From every opening flower!
How skilfully she builds her cell!
How neat she spreads the wax!
And labours hard to store it well
With the sweet food she makes!

WATTS'S DIVINE SONGS.

Je pique mais j'attache.

MADAME DE SEVIGNÉ'S MOTTO.

So work the Honey Bees,

Creatures, that, by a rule in nature, teach
The art of order to a peopled kingdom.

They have a king, and officers of sorts:
Where some, like magistrates, correct at home;
Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad;
Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings,
Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds ;
Which pillage they with merry march bring home
To the tent royal of their emperor :
Who, busied in his majesty, surveys

The singing masons building roofs of gold;
The civil citizens kneading up the honey;
The poor mechanic porters crowding in
Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate;
The sad-eyed justice, with his surly hum
Delivering o'er to executors pale

The lazy yawning Drone.

SHAKSPEARE. Henry V. Act i. Scene 2.

Θεῖόν τι τὸ γένος τὸ τῶν Μελιττᾶν.

OLD GREEK PHILOSOPHER.

Sic vos non vobis mellificatis Apes.

MARO, AN OLD BEE-MASTER

PRELUDE OF MOTTOES.

xxxiii

Αἴολε, ἡμεροθαλλὲς ἔαρ φαίνουσα, Μέλισσα
Ξουθὰ, ἐφ ̓ ὡραιοις ἄνθεσι μαινομένα,
Χῶρον ἐφ ̓ ἡδύπνοον πωτωμένα ἔργα τίθεσσο,

Οφρα τέον πληρῇς κηροπαγὴ θάλαμον.

NICIAS THE PHYSICIAN.

Chou nimble yellow Bee, that bringst the softly blooming spring,
Thee the love of budding flowers is ever maddening.
Flitting o'er sweetly-breathing fields increase thy honied store
Until thy wax-compacted cells, at length can hold no more.

MERIVALE'S TRANSLATION.

'Tis seldom, when the Bee doth leave her comb

In the dead carrion.

*

When like the Bee, tolling from every flower

The virtuous sweets;

Our thighs packed with wax, our mouths with honey,
We bring it to the Hive; and, like the Bees,

Are murdered for our pains.

SHAKSPEARE. 2 Henry IV. Act iv. Scene 4.

It's all Buzz.

TONY LUMPKIN. She Stoops to Conquer.

Κατὰ γεωμετρικήν τινα μηχανῶνται πρόνοιαν.

ΔΙ' Α ΑΠΙΑΡΙΟΣ ΟΥ ΘΕΛΩ ΕΙΝΑΙ.

*Απιδος οὐ σέβομαι τελετὰς, οὐδ ̓ ὄργια Νείλου
Αγγλικὸς ὀρθοδοκῶν ̓́Αριον οὐκ ἄγαμαι·
Καὶ διὰ τοῦτ ̓ ἄρ ̓ ἔγωγ ̓ Απιάριος οὐ θέλω εἶναι
*Ος ναίω γαίας τηλύθεν ἐξ ̓Απίης.

PAPPU S.

Ανώνυμόν τι.

*

Μέλισσα, quasi à μέλειν, “busy bee.”—WATTS.

b

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