much less surprise we learn, that a district, in South Africa, derives its name, Anteniqua, "a man loaded with honey," from a similar cause. This district is so beautiful, that some travellers call it an earthly paradise "One cannot proceed a step here," says Vaillant, "without seeing a thousand swarms of bees. The flowers, on which they feed, spring up in myriads; the mixed odours which exhale from them yield a delightful gratification. Their colours, their variety, and the pure and cool air, which one breathes, all engage your attention, and suspend your course. Nature has made these enchanting regions like a fairy land 1."

V.

The uses of honey are various and important. The Susans were accustomed to comb their purple wool with it, to preserve its beauty and freshness. The Spartans and Assyrians used it, for preserving the dead from putrefaction3. Hence Democritus formed the wish, that he might be buried in honey. The body of Alexander was embalmed in that liquid.

Then it was placed

in a coffin of gold, which was inclosed in a sarcophagus, which some suppose to be one of those, preserved in the Egyptian gallery of the British Museum.

The Greeks had a drink called Hydromel; which consisted of water and honey, boiled together, in which was infused a little old wine. Among the ancient Britons 5 mead was the principal, if not the sole, drink of luxury.

In the court of Hoel Dha1, the mead-maker took precedence of the physician. In Ireland they have a drink made of mulberries and honey, which they call Morat.

Honey was frequently used upon ancient altars: and in the ceremony of the Inferiæ, it was poured upon the tombs of virgins. Iphigenia, in Euripides, promises to pour upon the funeral flame of Orestes,

"The flower-drawn nectar of the mountain bee."

In the Persians of Eschylus, too, Atopa prepares to pour, as libations over the tomb of his father,

Hence honey was considered as an emblem of death: notwithstanding which, it was supposed to be the principal food in the golden age of the poets. It was used, too, in the burnt-offerings of the Persians; but it was expressly forbidden by the Levitical law.

In medicine, honey is esteemed a purgative and aperient; while it promotes expectoration, and dissolves glutinous juices. The wax is employed externally in unguents; internally in diarrhoeas and dysenteries, mixed with oily substances; and, when dried and pulverized, bees were formerly believed to cure the alopecia. Honey was once so much esteemed, that Horace frequently mixed it with his Falernian wine 3, and declared, that of all medicines for

VOL. II.

1 Laws of Hoel Dha, b. i. c. 22, &c. Levit. ch. ii. v. 2.

3 Lib. ii. sat. ii, 15.

I

2

the stomach, that and wine were the best. Epaminondas seldom took any thing but bread and honey1. The Bedas of Ceylon season their meat with it. Many of the disciples of Pythagoras lived almost entirely upon it; also the modern Tartars; and Augustus, one day inquiring of an old man, who had attained the age of an hundred, how he had been able to arrive at such an advanced age, with so vigorous a body and so sound a mind, the veteran replied, that it was "by oil without and honey within." The same is reported of Democritus 3. The Romans considered bees, in general, as favourable omens. If, however, a swarm lighted on a temple, it was esteemed an omen of some great misfortune. This is alluded to by Juvenal 5; and Livy records an instance, in which they were supposed to predict calamity.

The peasants of Wales, and indeed of most countries, are extremely cautious of offending their bees; believing, if they do so, that some ill fortune will attend them. Some even go so far, as to imagine, that bees possess a portion of the Divine mind; a belief so ancient,

1 Philostratus gives a curious account of a tame lion, which refused all food but bread and honey. It afforded a good subject for ridicule to those, who derided the doctrine of the metempsychosis. Vid. in Vit. Apoll. v. c. 42.

• Athenæus, lib. ii. c. 7.

3 Aristotle mentions a honey, gathered from the leaves of the box-trees, near Trapezond, which had the property of curing the epilepsy; and Niel of St. Fiorentino discovered honey to be an excellent remedy for a burn. There is a curious disputation between an old and a young man, relative to the virtue of this concoction, in the Treasurie of Auncient and Modern Times, collected from Pedro Mexico: and Ant. du Verdier, Lord of Vaupriaux, &c. booke iii c. 15. p. 274.

* Plut. in Vit. Dion. Val. Flac. lib. i. c. 6. Virg. lib. xii. 64.

that even Virgil alludes to it'. Others, however, extend their superstition only to the length of granting to them a sacredness of character; as they do to the wren and the redbreast. Even monarchs have respected them. Thus bees were wrought in the coronation robes of Charlemagne. Pope Urban VIII. too, chose three bees for his armorial bearings: to which circumstance Cassimir,-next to Piastus and Kosciusko, the pride and glory of his country,-has an elegant allusion.—

AD APES BARBERINAS.

Cives Hymetti, gratus Atticæ lepos,
Virgineæ volucres,

Flavæque Veris filiæ:

Gratum fluentis turba prædatrix thymi;
Nectaris artifices,

Bonæque ruris hospitæ:

Laboriosis quod juvat volatibus

Crure tenus viridem

Perambulare patriam,

Si Barberino delicata principe

Secula melle fluunt;

Parata vobis secula?

VI.

Varro gravely asserts, that bees have their origin from the putrefied carcasses of oxen; and M. Lemery that honey,

1 "Esse in apibus partem divinæ mentis."

Georg. iv. 220.

2 In some parts of Suffolk the peasants believe when any member of their family dies, unless the bees are put into mourning, by putting a piece of black cloth, cotton, or silk, on the top of the hives, the bees will either die, or fly away. In Lithuania, when the master or mistress die, one of the first duties performed is that of giving notice to the bees, by rattling keys of the house, at the doors of their hives. Unless this is done, the Lithuanians imagine the cattle will die; the bees perish; and the trees wither.

by virtue of its vegetable qualities, contains a portion of iron. The last observation is assuredly true. Virgil says, that bees live seven years; and that they have many enemies besides man; but he is incorrect, when he asserts, that. the insects, tinea, eat them; for they eat only the wax. He is equally incorrect in asserting, on Grecian authority, that the swallow has the same propensity. There is, however, a bird in Abyssinia, called the Moroc, which destroys them with the utmost wantonness; killing them, even after they have satisfied their hunger, and leaving them on the ground. White gives a curious account of a bee-eater in his history of Selborne; and Clavigero informs us, that in Chaco, in South America, there is an animal, which sits upon the arms of trees to watch birds, and is fond of honey; hence the Spaniards call it "the honey-cat."

There is also an animal, inhabiting part of Africa, near the Cape, which though endued with a body, which emits a nauseous effluvia, subsists principally on honey. It is called the Ratel. The honey-guide cuckoo directs him to the nest of the bee; which, being frequently in a part of the tree, which it cannot reach, the Ratel signifies his rage, by biting its roots and trunk; which, being observed by the Hottentots, they know, in consequence, that the tree contains a bee's nest. The hide of this animal is so tough, that the sting of a bee cannot penetrate it.

Several persons have rendered themselves remarkable

1 The presence of iron has been discovered by Dr. Clark in the petals of red roses. Mons. Geoffray long since inquired, whether there was any part of a plant destitute of iron. It has not yet been accurately determined, whether the iron, found in the analysis of plants, is produced by the vegetation itself; or from the particles of iron, taken up with their aliment.