Under this arrangement, the aggregate quantity of honey continued to increase far beyond the consumption, until the wealthy bees had no inducement to augment their stores. But how were the destitute to obtain a portion of those stores, sinee the saturated would not part with any unless in exchange for the produce of their labour, and of which produce they had now too great an abundance? It so happened, that with the distempered state of body arising from repletion and indolence, new and fanciful desires were engendered, and of which the destitute were called upon to furnish the means of gratification. Not content with the clothing nature had provided them, the affluent desired peculiar garments and ornaments, for which it became necessary to explore the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms.*

The destitute bees, seeing no prospect of obtaining support but by their exertions to satisfy the factitious desires of the wealthy, and having parted with the right to their portions of the Hills, set out

"If it can be imagined that there ever was a time when the inhabitants of any country were in a state of equality, without distinction of rank or peculiarity of possessions, it is reasonable to believe that every man was then loved in proportion as he could contribute by his strength or his skill to the supply of natural wants; there was then little room for peevish dislike, or capricious favour; the affection admitted into the heart was rather esteem than tenderness; and kindness was only purchased by benefits. But when by force or policy, by wisdom or by fortune, property and superiority were introduced and established, so that many were condemned to labour for the support of a few; then they whose possessions swelled above their wants, naturally laid out their superfluities upon pleasure; and those who could not gain friendship by necessary offices, endeavoured to promote their interests by luxurious gratifications, and to create needs which they might be courted to supply."-Dr. Johnson: Rambler, No. 104.

in pursuit of the various articles in request. Some were compelled in distant climes to descend into mines, to the irreparable injury of their health: or if the bees in foreign countries were disposed to procure the minerals, they demanded honey in exchange. This gave rise to exportation, and increased the toil of the destitute at home; while others contracted diseases and lost their lives in the fabrication of whimsical and useless articles.

The unequal division of the honey did not long continue without exciting discontent, and leading to a complicated state of things, widely differing from the harmony and orderly movements in the hives under Nature's system. Many disputes arose for the possession of the honey: those whose stores were abundant, were in continual alarm from the fear of plunder. Hence it became necessary to set apart a certain number, whose sole business it was to adjust differences, and to award punishment to delinquents: these were called Judicatores, and were distinguished by large bushy caps placed upon their heads, and depending over the shoulders and the breasts; the caps were covered with a profusion of the fertilizing dust. Their appearance was somewhat grotesque; and certain bees, who had travelled through the air upon a voyage of discovery from the South Sea Islands, are said to have mistaken them for insects of a different species.*

But there was one of the Judicatores who possessed more power than the others, and to whom it

"Sometimes a bee is so discoloured with this powder as to look like a different insect, becoming white, yellow, or orange, according to the flowers in which it has been busy. Reaumur was urged to visit the hives of a gentleman who on this account, thought his bees were different from the common kind." -Kirby and Spence, vol. i. p. 181.

belonged to decide upon cases of extraordinary difficulty and doubt: he resided at the extremity of a cell of remarkable depth, the windings and turnings of which were so intricate, that those who entered and penetrated far, found it extremely difficult to get out. There were a number of sharp-sighted bees who also dwelt in this cell, and were continually glancing with an envious eye at the seat occupied by the chief, hoping one day to possess it: but at the period to which we are referring, the grand Judicator had outlived the baffled expectations of thousands, to the great joy of the bees in general; who, notwithstanding many mal-practices in his capacious cell, and which they attributed to the subordinates, entertained a high opinion of his personal qualities and the rectitude of his motives. They remarked, that after-ages would venerate his decisions, which would become precedents for their future guidance. And such might have been the result, if the progress of knowledge had not within a short period of his resignation closed for ever the cell of perplexity and despair.*

When two bees entered this cell with a vessel of honey in order that it should be awarded to one or to the other, they found themselves involved in a

"He that buys and sells a house, must have a house full of writings; there be so many circumstances, so many words, such tautological repetitions of all particulars (to avoid cavillation they say); but we find by our woful experience, that to subtle wits it is a cause of much more contention and variance: and scarce any conveyance so accurately penned of one, which another will not find a crack in, or cavil at, if any word be misplaced, any little error, all is disannulled. That which is law to-day, is none to-morrow; that which is sound in one man's opinion, is most faulty to another; that in conclusion, here is nothing amongst us but contention and confusion, we bandy one against another."-Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy.

labyrinth long before they could reach the grand Judicator; but at every turning there was stationed one of the sharp-sighted bees, who very courteously conducted them round the corner, at the same time taking some of the honey out of the vessel as a recompense for his kind assistance; and even the grand Judicator, after his doubts were resolved, did not scruple to refresh himself with a portion of the honey, so that by the time the vessel was adjudged to one of the contending parties, he beheld with dismay that it was nearly empty; and too late they discovered, that if they had divided the honey without entering the cell of contention, each would have had a larger share than the successful suitor.

It was not unusual for the wealthy bee to be attacked and robbed by one who was destitute, and who stung him to death in order to avoid detection: the assailant, however, seldom escaped eventually, and when brought to trial was condemned to die. Thus the community was deprived of the aid of two individuals, who under the ancient policy might have proved friendly and industrious companions.

.

The longer the new system continued, the more complicated and confused became the proceedings of the hive, and numberless were the laws that were enacted to correct the growing evils. The necessity for these laws, however, could be traced almost exclusively to the unequal division of the honey.

*

"On punit à la Chine le Mandarin dans le département duquel il s'est commis quelque grand crime. C'est à sa propre négligence ou sa propre injustice qu'un mauvais gouvernement devroit s'en prendre du grand nombre de malfaiteurs qui se trouvent dans un état. La multiplicité des criminels annonce une administration tyrannique et peu soigneuse. La rigueur des impôts; les vexations, les duretés des riches et des grands font pulluler des malheureux que souvent la misère réduit au

The laws were framed by the saturated bees, who, for the purpose of giving a colour of justice to the principle upon which legislation was regulated, permitted the impoverished to nominate those among the wealthy whom they preferred as lawgivers: nevertheless, their choice was greatly influenced by the affluent, who gave to them small portions of the honey to vote in obedience to their wishes. But with the destitute, so strong was the temptation to satisfy the calls of hunger by any means within their reach, that other restraints were deemed necessary besides these legal enactments.

From a remote antiquity had been handed down a volume, written by divine inspiration; and truly such were the beauty and sublimity of the composition, that it bore the impress of its sacred origin.

désespoir, et qui se livrent au crime comme au moyen le plus prompt pour s'en tirer. Si l'opulence est la mère des vices, l'indigence est la mère des crimes. Lorsqu'un etat est mal gouverné, que les richesses et l'aisance sont trop inegalement reparties, de manière que des millions d'hommes manquent du necessaire, tandis qu'un petit nombre de citoyens regorgent de superflu, on y voit communément beaucoup de malfaiteurs, et les châtimens ne diminueront point le nombre des criminels. Si un gouvernement punit les malheureux, il laisse en repos les vices qui conduisent l'etat à sa ruine; il élève des gibets pour les pauvres, tandis que c'est lui qui, en faisant les misérables, fait des voleurs, des assassins, des malfaiteurs de toute espèce; punit le crime, tandis qu'il invite sans cesse à commettre le crime.-Systeme Social, vol. iii. p. 47.

"He could discern cities, like so many hives of bees, wherein every bee had a sting, and they did nought else but sting one another, some domineering like hornets, bigger than the rest, some like filching wasps, others as drones. Over their heads were hovering a confused company of perturbations, hope, fear, anger, avarice, ignorance, &c., and a multitude of diseases hanging, which they still pulled on their pates. Their towns and provinces mere factions, rich against poor, poor against rich, nobles against artificers, they again stnobles, and so the rest."-Burton's Anatomy.