might be whereas not one of six never so carefully fed that are desperately poor can be preserved and if they doe live and escape the robbers and not forsake their Hives which most of them wil doe finding their numbers small yet will they not swarme if they live out the Summer so that the charges besides the trouble will double the profit When you have occasion to feed if you have not reserved Combs on purpose when you took your Bees spread Hony upon a dry combe and put it under the Hive in the evening but remember to take it away in the morning if any be left or shut them up until they have eaten all least the robbing Bees finde it and not contented therewith carry away also that little they have in the combes I would have feeding begun where it is necessary before an absolute want least they bee so poor and weak that they cannot come down if any happen so to be then turne up the mouth of the Hive in the heat of the Sun or near a Fire and drop a little liquid hony among them I have recovered swarmes shut in by long cold weather where not a Bee hath been able to stirre and continuing it after with a little hony put under the Hive until the charge of the weather they have done very wel that year Bees wil sometimes suck the sweetness of rotten Pears sometimes full ripe Grapes but yet a very few among a great many with us In Sicilia there be Grapes of which they make Muskatell which are therefore called the Bee-grape because the Bees greedily feed upon them as also Flies Mr. Butler counsels that you cut asunder such Stocks as you intend to preserve almost even with the Bees if they have not wrought within a handful of the stoole and then to set them down making them a new door that thus they may be warmer in the winter This is a course both wastful and useless for I never had any stock if it were supplied with meat that miscarried although the Bees had not wrought half way down And to prevent it in ordinary years sit your Hives according to the greatness or smalness of your swarms This way if otherwise profitable cannot be performed without destruction of your Hives and the loss and trouble of your Bees and the Stock wil be so small that except you adde another and raise it the swarme wil be worth nothing To prevent the cold daub up the skirts round and let the entrance be very small A watering place near your Bee-garden is very necessary they cannot subsist without it But near pure Chrystal Springs Green mossie Fountaines still your Bee-hives place And streams that glide along the verdant grasse Without it some say they can neither make their Combes nor yet their Hony but the use is not so generall but when they feed on Bee-bread which is hot and dry they cannot bee without it and they love not to goe farre for it Into your running or standing water many prescribe to cast in stones somewhat elevated above the water Into the Poole whether it stand or flow Great stones a crosse and Willow branches throw As Bridges for the Bees to stand upon And spread their wings against the Summers Sun But peeces of Wood or Boards entred into the water and set shelving or leaning towards the North are much better the stones being too cold in the spring but if you can bare the banks of the North-side of your Pond of all bushes and grasse shelving towards the water where they may drink under the Wind and in the heat of the Sun and suck it out of the earth above the water which they rather desire than to suck the pure water it self But if you have neither Pond nor River within twenty rodds of your Bee-garden set water in wooden troughs in your Garden and have light thin moveable boards or corks within your troughs that may rise and fall with the water let them have small clefts or many little holes bored through them that the Bees may stand on the boards and drink keep Hens and Chickens especially Ducklings from these troughs for they will destroy your Bees Mr. Butler enumerating the several actions of Bees in warme dayes in Winter among others saith they drink but he was deceived for although sometimes in Ianuary they gather a little Bee-bread yet until they plentifully feed of it they drink not for while they feed on Nectar which is hot and moyster than Bee-bread they need it not but the other being more hot and dry makes them exceeding thirsty Bees will be very much about sinkes and where greasie water is thrown nay they rather delight to drink out of Sawpits and holes where the water is thick and troubled than out of Ponds though nearer them and when they water out of Ponds they delight as I said to extract the water from the moystned earth near the Ponds or Rivers brinkes than to suck or drink of the purer water it self which yet some will Mr. Remnant supposeth that they suck out of sinkes or old diâ—ches and places that incline to Salt-peter for want of salt water wherewith saith he they season their Hony which I beleeve not but rather that they may be more vigorous and lusty and therefore salt is prescribed to be laid under weak Stocks hee saith it is in the defect of Salt water but where they are near the Salt they use it And he further saith they season their Hony with salt water and in the want of it with brackish water thus extracted therefore he commends the setting of salt water or brine near them but they neither use salt water about their Hony nor yet fresh as Columella but for the reason before mentioned In Summer they wil drink securely upon the Duck-sheard and other thick weedes in the middle of Ponds the best time to remove Bees if you are to carry them farre is in the end of Ianuary although if you be necessitated you may do it well enough presently after Miâ—â—aelmas A little before you take them from their standing lift up a little the skirts of the Hive and put three or four Tile-sheards under the Verges that the Hives standing somewhat above the board all the Bees may ascend otherwise some wil be left on the bottome of the stoole which will be lost then spread a sheet upon the ground before it and nimbly take it off and set it upon the middle of the sheet and gathering it up round tye it close above the crown with a noose tye it also about the middle with a Pack-thred then put a Cool staffe through the noose bee sure it bee well tyed it must hang perpendicular not swaying one way or other Let it bee carried between two to the place whither you intend it when you come there set it down but open it not presently for the Bees will bee somewhat disturbed with the motion and ready to flye forth
combs and to the wasting of one fifth or sixth part if it be made of clean hony not ceasing in the mean space to take off the scum as clean as you can One hours boyling may suffice but if the Mead bee of clean hony it may as well bee done in half the time Instead of twice slacking the fire you may twice cool the boyling Must with cold Must reserved or else bee sure that it do boyl all the while onely at one side and not all over After all this put in the Spices viz. to a dozen gallons of the skimmed Must Ginger one ounce Cynamon half an ounce Cloves and Mace ana two drams Pepper and Grains ana one dram all gross beaten the one half of each being sowed in a bag the other loose and so let it boyl a quarter of an hour more The end of boyling is throughly to incorporate the boorn and the hony and to purge out the dross which being once done any longer boyling is unprofitable as diminishing more the quantity than increasing the strength and goodness of the Hydromel As soon as it is boyled enough take it from the fire and set it a cooling the next day when it is setled pour it through a hair sieve or linnen bag into the tub reserving still the Lees for the Bees and there let it stand covered three or four dayes till it work and let it work two daies Then draw it through the tapwaze and run it into a barrel scalded with Bay-leaves making the Spice-bag fast at the tap If there remain much grounds you may purifie them by boyling and skimming as before but this will never bee so good as the first and therefore you may put it by it self or with some remainder of the best into a small vessel to spend first before it be soure If the Mead bee not much you may run it the next day and let it work in the barrel Being tunned it will in time bee covered with a mother which if by jogging the vessel or by other means it bee broken the Mead will turn sowre But so will it make excellent vinegar and the sooner if it bee set in the Sun which the longer you keep the better it will bee Metheglin is the more generous or stronger Hydromel for it beareth an egg the breadth of a groat or sixpence and is usually made of finer hony with a less proportion of water namely four measures for one receiying also in the composition as well certain sweet and wholesome herbs as also a larger quantity of Spices namely to every half barrel or sixteen gallons of the skimmed Must Eglantine Marjerom Rosemary Time Winter-savoury ana half an ounce and Ginger two ounces Cynamon one ounce Cloves and Mace ana half an ounce Pepper Graines ana two drams the one half of each being bagged the other boyled loose So that whereas the ordinary Mead will searce last half a year good Metheglin the longer it is kept the more delicate and wholesome it will bee and withall the clearer and brighter One excellent receit I will here recite and it is that which our renowned Queen of happy memory did so well like that she would every year have a vessel of it First Gather a bushel of Sweet-briar leaves and a bushel of Time half a bushel of Rosemary and a peck of Bay-leaves See the al these being well washed in a furnace of fair water let them boyl the space of half an hour or better and then poure out all the water and herbs into a fat and let it stand till it bee but milk-warm than strain the water from the herbs and take to every six gallons of water one gallon of the finest hony and put it into the boorn and labour it together half an hour then let it stand two dayes stirring it well twice or thrice each day Then take the liquor and boyl it a new and when it doth see the skim it as long as there remaineth any dross When it is clear put it into the fat as before and there let it bee cooled You must then have in readiness a tub of new Ale or Beer which as soon as you have emptied suddenly whelâ— it upside down and set it up again and presently put in the Metheglin and let it stand three dayes a working and then tun it up in barrels tying at every tap hole by a Pack-thred a little bag of Cloves and Mace to the value of an an ounce It must stand half a year before it bee drunk If you marvel that so great a quantity of water is required it is partly because of the goodness of the hony which being pure and fine goeth further than ordinary and partly that it may have the longer time in boyling before iâ— come to its strength and therefore some will have eight parts of water to one of hony but then they boil it so much the longer The third part at least being wasted CHAP. XXVII Of diverâ— kinds of Wild-Beeâ— THere is one kind not half so bigge as a Hony-Bee with a bright shining green head and fore-part she hath longer horns than a Hive-bee she hath four wings her neather part is of a light shining Carnation on the out-side the belly of a greenish shining glistring colour almost as bright as the shining of a Glo-worm with a very large long sting not forked or somewhat like to a sting I could not force it to enter it into my hand whether it wil sting I know not that which is equivalent to the skin is as it were continued without ringles this Bee is very strong gathers as the Hive-Bee sandaracha and breeds in holes of old posts divers near one another we may call her the glistring Bee There is another sort of Wild-Bee which is very laborious she is not so great as a Hive-Bee by a third part but in shape and making altogether like her the mouth opens side-ways wherewith she holds very fast like pinchers her hinder leggs are of a tawny colour the ringles of her hinder part gray the rest of a blewish black her fore-part is partly black and partly gray she useth to abide if my memory deceive me not in Brick-walls in holes in the morter between the Bricks many neat one another we may call her the Mortar-Bee There is another sort not half so great as the former but grayer she diggs or mines perpendicularly into stiffe clay ground in High-ways or Foot-path sides the earth that she works out lyes round about her hole like the casting of a Worme but much siner after she hath entred three inches right down she makes traverse holes one under another sometimes two sometimes three in breadth as several cels or chambers where she breeds her young which are not Worms at first but have a perfect shape of a Bee herein concurring with the Queen-bee and though she be laborious and gathers much Bee-bread yet could I never finde any thing provided before-hand or laid up
termes which it seems he forged in the shop of his invention But whatsoever the Ancients have related concerning diverse kindes and some Neotericks to appear as knowing as any in former ages have described wee in these parts of the world acknowledge because we know but one sort of Domestick hony gathering Bee Some indeed live in woods as wild others in hives as more familiar and milde but these interchangeably shift their habitations And I question not but the wilder because more remote from the company of men by familiarity will prove as gentle as any Aristotle commends a little round Bee in the first place and in the next that which is somewhat long and in shape not colour like a wasp But as I said wee have in these parts of Europe but one sort of domestick Bee And yet Pliny Varro Columella and in a word all receive this distribution of Bees from him And which is more hee confounds the Drone into two sorts a Thief and a Drone which Scalliger reconcileth well thus that by the Theef is to bee understood that which others call a Drone Varro citing Menocrates tells us of three kindes of Bees one black a second red a third party-coloured which hee commends for the best In all the Islands of the Moluccas their hony is made of certain Flies lesse than Ants. It is a report not confirmed by any but supposing it true the Bees not Flies were small like unto the American Bees and the Ants great such as are in some parts of the Indies greater than our Flies Moreover there is some difference in the bigness of Bees but it is accidental for they that are loaded especially with water or honey seem greater and longer than those that are empty The Nymphs also when they come first abroad are not grown to the full bigness which afterwards they have and the old ones do wither and become little again Likewise in these three Ages their colours also do vary for in their middle age they are brown whereas before they are more pale and at the last they grow grey of whitish again but these are differences of Bees in the same hive and not of one hive from another since these divers sorts are in every Hive The report is That all Bees were at first of an Iron colour but for feeding of Iupiter had this reward bestowed on them to bee changed into a golden colour But not to insist upon Fables In some Countries there bee white Bees Aristotle saith in Pontus Many such are in America not because they are thinner or of a more transparent substance or feed more sinely as some rather they are a fainter and feebler kinde of Bees for white is a penurious colour and where moysture is scant so blew Violets and other flowers if they bee starved turn pale and white Some assign this as a cause of colours the excrementitious moysture which as it passeth through a courser or more fine and delicate strainer so are the colours brighter or darker Others Bees are not therefore brown or black because their thin substance is easily dried and that which is burnt and moist as a coal becomes black Nor are Bees of one colour more than Wasps because they feed of fewer sorts of food than Wasps For colours are disposed unto all things by the great Creator of which no more certain reason can bee given then why some men are Negroes others are not Now Negroes are not black by reason of their seed this is confuted by Aristotle nor yet by the heat of the clymate for this is confuted by experience in that Countries as hot produce of a different colour who can certainly shew why about the Magellanique-Sâ—raits they are so white about the Cape de Buon Speranza when as in the East-Indian Isle â—â—ilan and the Coast of Malabar they are black both in the same parallel Nor of the soyl as some have supposed for neither haply will other races in that soyl prove black nor that race in other soyles grow to bee better complexioned but rather upon the curse of Noab upon Cham or the posterity of Chus But of this can wee bee no more assured of than the former for Chus inhabited a part of Mesopotamia watred by Gyon a river of Paradise and one of the branches of Euphrates Some leaving the hot impressions in the aire attribute it to the driness of the earth as though the Libyan Desarts were not more dry and yet the people no Negroes than many parts of Africa where they are all blacks Some ascend above the Moon to call some heavenly constellation and influence into this Consistory of nature and there will I leave them yea I will send them further to him that hath reserved many secrets of nature to himself and hath willed us to content our selves with things revealed As for secret things both in heaven and earth they belong to the Lord our God whose holy Name be blessed for ever for that hee hath revealed to us things most necessary both for soul and body in the things of this life and that which is to come CHAP. V. Bees nature and properties BEES are neither absolutely wilde nor altogether tame creatures but of a middle nature between both Some Bees are not as some conceit ignorant or negligent in gathering honey and framing their combs but yet serviceable in meaner imployments as fetching water watching and warding but all are naturally skilfull in all their proper labours and interchangeably perform them Their sting is more often the cause of their ruine than instrumental for their relief for loosing it which they alwayes do when they sting they unavoydably lose their lives but with the fear of it they often chase away timorous persons from their Hives Some fancy that the cause of their humming noyse while they flye iâ— least they should bee deprehended for theeves whereas the robbing Bee or theef boldly discovers his purpose as soon as hee comes near the hive which hee intends to assault with a loud threatning noyse proclaiming their destruction if they shall resist and not willingly permit their goods to bee plundered endeavouring by fear to betray the courage that self-preservation should arm them with That some Bees stay at home to receive the labours of those that go to work as Aristotle delivers is but a fable hee saith the Bees returning from their labour shake themselves and three or four attend and follow and ease them of their burden That they carry in a windy season little stones to poise themselves is a false relation yet in a storm they will help themselves by flying under the Lee-side of an hedge or encompassing a high and hilly place if there bee any and so as it were by making a board as Sea-men speak take the advantage of the wind But if it bee a plain Champaign Country where evasions avail nothing then if the wind blow strong against them they flye
males as most worthy do master the females And this Sesostrâ—tus King of Egypt who conquered a great part of the world did thus express according to Hâ—rodâ—tus If hee overcame any people without contention or battel hee made them bear the badge of a woman engraven in their weapons but if they did fight it out couragiously the cognizance of a man Yet in these and a few others the females have the preheminence And by the Grammarians leave the Feminine gender is here more worthy than the Masculine So in all the kindes of Hawks the female doth command the male as being the stronger and the better armed And the female of the Bear and the Pâ—nthar are more bold and couragious stronger and of greater spirits The female Ounce likewise though less than the male yet is more cruel Ridiculous is the conceit of Democritus to catch the Drones Wet saith hee the covers of the Hive with water and in the morning you shall finde the Drones busie sucking thereof for feeding of the best honey they are alwayes thirsty Nay because they feed of the best honey and not Sandaracha which is hotter they are not thirsty for the Bees all Winter long while they live thereof drink not at all Timely ridding of the Drones by the Bees is a good signe that they are like to bee forward the next year because the stocks that have cast often do beat long with their Drones although there bee twice so many as bee needful for the Bees that are left therefore to save the honey which these would devour it is not amiss to prevent them and about a fortnight after their last swarm to diminish their numbers which you may do safely in the heat of the day killing them with your fingers And the bruising of them with your fingers before the Hives mouth will sometimes cause the females to take the worke out of your hand and fall upon them themselves Some use Drone-pots made of Oziers the twigs being set so close that the Drones although they go forth yet cannot easily return in again But the catching this way doth much trouble the Bees may sometimes keep out the Queen And therefore I like not of them CHAP. X. Of the Generation of Bees IT hath been an ancient tradition that Bees have a twofold production as many other creatures by generation and putresaction About this latter way Virgil Cardan Aldrovandus and many others have been copious but whether there bee any solidity in this particular I am somewhat dubious because it was never authentically proved to bee performed by any But they tell us that the best sort is procreated of a corrupted Lion And therefore say it is no wonder that being so small creatures they fear not any â—ay prevail over the greatest with a Lion like courage assaulting them A second sort is bred of a Bull and therefore they are called the daughters of Bulls because they are bred of their carkasses A third sort of a Cow A fourth sort of a Calf but tell us not wherein these kindes differ for they forgot waking what they dreamed of sleeping Would I spend words to no purpose I might easily for the general evince the invalidity of this opinion for in Brasile Peru and most of the new world where are many sorts of Bees and some in colour and magnitude not differing from ours there were no such creatures whereof if they were lost they might bee again recovered before they were transported by the Spaniards But more absurd is that opinion of others that of the ashes of Bees bedewed with sweet wine and exposed to the Sun in a warm place there will bee a present resurrection of the former burnt Bees Perplexed and various are the opinions of the Learned concerning the generation of Bees The first workings of nature are as dark as midnight and with their subtlety do not less be-fool and deceive the strongest understanding than the bodily eye Some not comprehending their conception and generation have fondly delivered that they carried the spermatical matter of their original into their hives gathered out of flowers and after hatch them either from the white honey suckle or the reed or Calamus or from the Olive because in yeers abounding with Olives there are plenty of swarms Not considering that the first brood is hatched before any of these flowers blâ—ssome and that some of these flowers are not at all in the Northern Regions where is the greatest plenty of Bees And for the Olive Pliny denies that they taste of it and therefore saith it is better away and yet hee was sometime of a contrary opinion Cardan denies that they lay eggs but are bred of honey This Scaliger well opposeth because saith hee There can bee no generation of honey for then it should bee the seed of the Bee but this is false neither of honey corrupted for it corrupts not but preserves from putrefaction Scaliger questioning whether Bees did copulate or not saith that of the dew in leaves of plants worms are produced and therefore dew opportunely gathered and foâ—erted with a genital heat of the Bee may be animated into a worm But the first and chiefest breeding of Bees is in end of February when they scarce stir forth at all or not untill the dew be exhaled And howsoever untill May dews are known to have little efficacy or excellency besides you may visibly see the eggs when they are first injected into the cells they are eggs and not a dew Scaliger though hee propounded the former opinion yet held not to it for whereas Aristotle delivers it as an opinion of some that the Bees bred by copulation and that the Drones were males and the honey Bees females this saith hee is false although without reason or experience for the Bees indeed are females but the Kings are the males And Muffet also acknowledgeth no males but the Kings I beleeve saith Muffet they propagate by copulation and the greater are males namely in his sense the Queens and the less females but whether they tread as Cocks hee professeth that he knew not Toxites supposeth that Bees copulate and that the Bees are the Males and the Kings Females And that the Kings do at certain seasons cast forth worms in multitudes as flies their flyeblotes and that the Drones sit upon them and hatch them after the manner of Serpents Another saith the matter in which they blow or breed is something that they gather of the flowers or plants and bring home and put into the holes or cells of the combes which they mix finely with a little water and then blow in it a thing less then or as little as a flye-blote But this cannot bee for wee finde nothing in the cells wherein the seed is injected but the seed it self And again the Bees seed is much bigger than a flye-blote And as to others so to Aristotle the generation of Bees seemed
it is best to set it up in the heat of the day that if any suddenly flye forth they may not bee chilled with the cold but after a little flying about they may return to it again but if the weather bee close and still then set it up in the evening and stop it up close leaving breathing holes untill a faire day and then open the door CHAP. XVII Of Bees breathing AFter a long condescension to the capacities of the Vulgar to whom almost peculiarly this large practical Discourse appertains I will now endeavour to set an edge upon if not to satisfie the appetites of the more Judicious though not with a banquet of Rarities yet with a dish or two of Sweet-meats according to promise as soon as I can provide them There is a necessity of refrigeration from without by aire or water Now the grand inquity is How Insects in particular Bees are refrigerated The Philosophers before Aristotle held that all creatures breathed as Democritus Diogenes Anâ—xagâ—ras Pliny professeth that hee accords not with Aristotle in this particular that Fishes breathed not because they did hear and smell I will speak one word to this although out of my sphere and but a word lest I conjure up learned Scalagers ghost to oppose mee That Fishes breath is evident to sense I have seen them often come up to the top of the water and a little elevating their heads above draw it in with the water and with many bubbles return it again some at the Gills but the greater part at the mouth And that they cannot live without aire thus In great Frosts they cannot long continue though they have water except the Ice bee broken and then they will presently come to the hole for aire so that sometimes you may take them out with your hands And if it be some dayes delayed they will turn up their bellies in the holes as quite spent yet by the benefit of the aire many of them recover but if it bee altogether neglected in a great Frost most Pond-fish will dye Rondeleâ—ius holds That not onely Fishes but Insects also breath although without lungs in particular Bees because of the sound and murmure that they make and because they smell Cardan affirms That all living creatures breath either openly or secretly manifestly such as have lungs more hiddenly which have gills and that is must obscure by palpitation and therefore whereas Aristotle denies such creatures that have no lungs to breathe hee understands thereby a perfect breathing and therefore saith The sound of Bees is caused by the aire which they receive and draw in why not the same instrument that draws it in return it But this opinion although Aristotle's Scaliger labours to undermine but to little purpose Hee supposeth it to bee caused by the shaking of their wings This both Aristotle and Hâ—lychius before him propounded but did not conclude of Mr. Muffet saith It is a secret not to bee determined of The L. Verulam supposeth the humming sound of Bees which is an un qual buzzing to bee from the motion of their wings because it is not heard but when they stir I deny not but the sound â—s more shrill and audible thereby but not onely caused therewith First because in a Hivâ— full of Pees where they lye crowded up thick together in the Winter between the combs without room to dilate their wings not at all to shake them you shall have a sudden smart sound in an instant from the place touched descending to the bottome from all the Bees as it were complaining Secondly by the incouragement of the Queen Bee when two swarms are united and so mingled together that either of them being encompassed with their whole troop and having no room to stir and shake their wings being each of them in the center of their regiment but as they are in the conflict moved with the whole body yet may they bee heard audibly sometimes a rod from the Hive a great while together without intermission each encouraging her army to stand to her and for her Thirdly If their sound were caused by the agitation of their wings only it could not bee various and changed but onely smaller or greater but both Aristotle and Scaliger acknowledge that they change their voyce and if they did not yet is it so evident to sense that but coming among them by their different voyces it may bee known whether they mourn or rejoyce work or sight Fourthly If their sound were caused by the agitation of their wings then according to the largeness of their wings should bee the greatness of their sound but this is not so the Queen Bees wings are no bigger than a common Bees but her sound is more than ten times lowder and greater I might adde that Crickets sing and their voyces are heard very far and yet have no wings to shake nay they move not their bodies when they sing as I have often observed and as soon as they stir they give over singing In a word as to a Musitian that playes on a Flute or such like Wind-instrument there is required skilfulness in the outward touch of his instrument and also wind to bee inspired without which hee cannot possibly strike the ear or please the sense with any melodious noise so do I conceive in some respects the humming noise of the Bees is caused both by the outward motion of their wings and also by an inward motion that I say not inspiration Aristotle was very wavering what to determine concerning their sound sometimes hee saith they make a noise sometimes hee grants they have a voice and hee hath no sooner granted it but would fain bite it in again if hee could as overthrowing this position that they breathe not Hear what hee saith they change their voyce when they swarm they have a proper and peculiar voyce but whether they have a voyce or not is not yet throughly understood in regard of the difficulty Thus is this grand Philosopher unresolved it is a difficulty hee cannot tell what to determine but hee hath taken up another opinion and although hee bee somewhat convinced of the vanity of it yet hee is loath to retract hee will rather set his wit upon the Tenâ—ers and seign some new distinction sometimes they make a sound sometimes they have a voyce Small and blood-less creatures are externally cooled by the ambientaire or water neither is it necessary that the air should penetrate them because of the weakness of their natural heat but the coldest creatures need refrigeration for they have a heart as the Snail which is visible to all men upon dissection and much more hot creatures as Bees are which have also a heart although it bee not easily discerned by prejudicate eyes Winged creatures when they move themselves by the attrition of the aire sliding into their belly make a noise And again Insects have no voyce but make a sound onely by
the hand tâ—ey go on together with their friends after them towards the Church-porch where hee is met by sâ—me with pots and cups in their hands full of Mead the Russe proper wine whereof the Bridegroom taketh first a Chaâ—k or little cup full in his hand and drinketh to the Bâ—â—de who opening her hood or vail below putteth the cup to her mouth underneath it for being seen of the Bridegroom pledgeth him again The Romans in the Nuptial supper gave the new married couple the juyce of Poppy tempered with milk and hony The Ancients did use hony in all their Sweet-meats as wee do Sugar indeed they knew not what Sugar was The Romans used hony in their first service at their feasts as also in their second And indeed formerly no kindes of meat but were with the use of hony made more acceptable Pithagoras usually fed on hony and Hony-combes because they were prepared without mans labour and were a kinde of heavenly food To this day the Iews give Infants a taste of butter and hony before they suck Among the Illirians was first of all the use of Mead which in Aristotles time the Greeks were scarce acquainted with CHAP. XXIII Of Tree-bony THere was anciently and is still Tree-hony as well as Beehony And this Tree-hony is of two sorts either a plentifull hony-dew which might bee gathered or else sweet saps or juices drawn out or concocted from several sorts of trees and fruits to the consistence taste and likeness of hony Of the first sort it is reported that near the Cospian sea there are plenty of trees with leaves like Oaks yeelding much hony but it must bee gathered before the rising of the Sun for the rayes thereof quickly consume and waste it In Arabia Nabaâ—bea they gather hony plentifully of the Trees which they call Wild hony of which mixt with water they use to drink There is a Tree called Occhus in the vallies of Hireania that distilleth hony in the mornings In Lidia there is plenty of hony gathered of the Trees of which the inhabitants make loaves or lumps of such hardness that without many blows they cannot bee broken The inhabitants of Mount Libanus spread hides under the trees and then shake and beat them and after gather up the hony which they reserve in earthen pots The Maguey is a Tree of wonders it yeelds Hony Water Wine Oyl Vinegar Syrrup Thred Needles and a thousand other things It is a tree which the Indians esteem much in new Spain and have commonly in their dwellings some one of them for the maintenance of life It grows in the fields and hath great and large leaves at the ends whereof is a strong and sharp point which serves to fasten little pins or to sow as a needle And they draw out of this leaf as it were a kinde of thred which they use This liquor being sodden turns like Wine which grows to Vinegar suffering it to sowre and boyling it more it becomes as hony and boyling it half it serves as Syrâ—up Below by the root of the Magueis Tree the Indians make a hole whereat they take out twice a day a certain kinde of liquor which they seethe in a great kettle untill the third part bee consumed and then it waxeth thick it is as sweet as any hony It is not so sweet as the hony saith another of Beeâ— but it is better to be eaten with bread In and about the City of Themistiâ—an besides the hony of Bees is hony of the Canes of Maiz which Canes yeeld very much hony and as sweet as the juyce of the Sugar-cane In Sancta Cruse and the Country about it which is in the Province of Tucuman grow sweet Canes of which they make very good hony The fruit of the Palm-trees growing about Iericho being â—rodden and pressed out yeeld great quantity of hony There grow trees in Palestina with broad and round leaves of a milky-colour and a hony taste very brittle by nature which they eat rubbing them in their hands This a certain Bishop called Archulphus who had visited the Holy-land supposeth to be the wild-hony that Iohn Baptist lived of in the wilderness But others say It was a mountain-hony made by wilde Bees bitter and unpleasant to the pallat Theophilact wilde hony was made by wilde Bees in trees and rocks They get the Palm-wine after this sort in Congâ— they bore a hole near the top of the tree whence flows a liquor which they receive into pots fastened underneath at first it is in taste and colour like milk it quickly â—oureth In Cranganâ—â— they make hony of it after this manner within three dayes for after of its own nature it proves vinegar they boyl it in Caldrons or Kettles untill two parts bee wasted and then it is very sweet hony Of this hony mixed with water and purged twenty dayes together they make an excellent sweet wine I might speak of the Indian Palm or Coco-tree which likewise yeelds hony but I will adde no more CHAP. XXIV Of Wax WAx is either natural or artificial the natural Wax is the gross part of the combs containing the hony and Bee-bread sometimes the Seminaries for generation And this is either Virgin-wax or of a courser foâ—t the Virgin-wax is that which is made by a swarm or a stock new driven not that only which is made by the younger Bees as Hellerius for they work altogether This is called by some Propolis as Aldrovand observes out of Actuaries And Scribâ—nius Largus It might bee expected that I should speak somewhat of Propolis Commosis Mity and Pissocera used anciently in Physick and supposed to bee made by the Bees But I can finde no agreement among Philosophers nor yet Physitians what they are and am certain that they are not what Aristotle Pliny and others determine them to be and therefore I will leave the discussion to others Only in a word Mity saith Aristotle is the black dross of wax of a sharp smell I suppose he means the feces of the wax when it is melted and strained Propolis seems saith Scaliger a translative sirname of Mity Caza translates it Commosis but Pliny make a difference between Commosis and Propolis wherefore Scaliger was of opinion that Commosis and Mity were different things Scribonius takes Virgin-wax as before for Propolis Silvaticus â—â—kes it for the dreggs of the combes but amiss saith Mouffet and yet he would have it to be Hive drosâ— but whether of a Swarme or a Stock he declares not between which is a great difference Andreas Bellunensis the filth or dross of the sides of the Hive I subscribe to Sylvaâ—icus Propolis is as much as suburbe dross with which the Bees fasten the skirts of the Hive to the board it is not saith Mouffet now to be found Waxe is thus made by the Bees they creeping upon the Flowers with their sangs and
colour but eaten alone attenuates rather than refresheth for it provoketh urine and purgeth too much Hony warmes and cleares Wounds and Ulcers attenuates and discusseth excrescencies in any part of the body It is very effectual to produce hair in baldness for Quotidian Agues especially oyle of hony distilled Distilled water of hony makes a smooth skin provokes urine diminisheth heat in Feavers easeth the obstructions of the bowels quencheth thirst The salt of hony of all Corrosives is least painful and most energetical and therefore in the flesh of the yard by Chymicks and expert Chyrurgians especially commended The Epicures who chiefly studied health and pleasure did eat continually Ambrosia which consisted of a tenth part of honie as Tzetzes reports concluding that the daily use thereof would prevent griefs and keep them free from Diseases Hony infused warme by it self wonderfully helps exulcerated ears especially if they cast forth ill favours as also their singings and inflammations Hony Butter and Oyle of Roses of each a like quantity warme helps the paine of the ears he also commends Hony and infants dung brayed together in the dulness of the sight and for white spots in the eyes The rheume or droppings of the eyes in men or horses are hereby helped I have cured a Horse stone blinde with Hony and Salt and a little crock of a pot mixed in less than three daies it hath eaten off a tough filme and the Horse never complained after Hony wherein Bees are drowned or Ashes of the heads of Bees with hony clear the eyes Aâ—tick hony with the first dung of a young infant and the milk of the Nurse mingled together and annoynt the eyes that are dull upon what occasion soever but first binde the party for such is the violence of the Medicine that he cannot otherwise patiently endure it and the benefit is so forcible that in the third day it wil make a clear sight Nothing is better for infants that breed Teeth or in the Ulcers of the mouth than butter and hony Galen prescribes only the gums to be rub'd with it for it conduceth wonderfully to the generation conservation and whiteness of teeth for difficulty of breathing and to cause spitting hony alone or mixed is very availeable Hony boyled with Bees or new Cheese stayeth a looseness helps the Bloudy-flux and Chollick But before hony be used it is necessary to clarifie it Thus take of hony and fountaine water of each two pound continually scum it as it ariseth to the consumption of the water afterwards clarifie it with the whites of twelve eggs Hony nourisheth not only because it is a kinde of nourishment but also because mixed with other things it is a cause that they are more easily carried through the body and he counsels old men to use it much if they would have a care of their health and live long without Diseases and he asserts it by the examples of Antiochus the Phisitian and Telephus the Grammarian who were old men and did eate Attick hony and bread and Galen testifieth the same with often eating hony boyled seldome raw and yet Galen forbids long or too much boyling because it will make it bitter Celsus reckons up boyled hony among such things as stop a Lask the reason is because the acrimony by boyling is taken away which is wont to move the belly and to diminish the vertue of the food The bodies of Bees taken newly from the Hives and powdered and drunk with Diuretick wine powerfully cures the Dropsie and breaks the Stone opens the fountaines of urine and heals and helps the stoppages in the bladder Bees drowned in hony and so killed stay vomitings and are profitable for deafness Bees powdered cure the Wind-collick mollifie hard ulcers in the lips and also the Bloudy-flux Hony mixed with powdered Bees and so taken is helpful for the crudities of the stomack it is also good for the stomach Pound Bees dead and dry in the combes mingle them with hony and annoynt bald places of the head and the hairs wil spring afresh The ashes of Bees ground with oyle make hair white Take twelve or fourteen Bees powdered in any thing every morning and it helps such whose retentive faculty is weak so that they cannot hold their water Oxymel is made of water vinegar and hony now water is mingled with it that by long boyling that may be resolved or loosened which the windiness raiseth up and that it may be more readily skimmed In a word that the working of the Medicine by the mixing of water might be weaker and more easily dispersed into the body and hony is added to resist the â—legme One ounce of hony and vinegar mixed together ariseth a certain third faculty which was in neither of them before which is most powerful and certaine to attenuate cut resolve thick and tough excrements which have been bred a long time in the Stomack and Liver and those that settle on the joynts and cause lasting Agues It is made thus take of vinegar one part two parts hony and twice as much water as hony first let the hony and water be boyled and when they have been well skimmed put in the vinegar and boyle them still continually skimming them let them boyle till there be an unity of qualities and the vinegar be not raw or crude it is given from one ounce to three Galen saith if you will make it the stronger adde as much vinegar as hony it drives out thick and gross humours and is profitable for the Sciatica Falling-sickness and the Gout good also to gargarize with in a Squinancy Water distilled of hony four times by a Limbick so that the hony were first boyled makes beautiful hair kills Lice and Nits the hair wet there with doth not only become yellow but softer and increaseth likewise especially if it bee done in the Sun it heals swollen or bloud-shotten eyes and helps the hurt corners of the eyes it is excellent for burnt places most of all for such as are soft and tender so that no scar will be left It must be distilled in a Glass Still but first mixe with it pure and well washed Sand and make a soft fire The first water is cast away the second is preserved which hath a golden colour and red at the last the red purgeth out corruption in putrid wounds if they be washed with it and a linnen cloth moystened in it be laid upon them and when it hath purged them it produceth flesh Hony when it is distilling is wont to swell and flow over when it grows hot this is prevented when the distillation is performed by a woodden Sieve made with hair being placed within the cover so that it toucheth the hony Reubeus distilleth it otherwise and adds other cautions he saith the water is with difficulty drawne out of the hony because it readily as the fire grows hot
some circumstances it is not formall obedience Now though a man may hand over head as they say make some hasty and tumultuous doings patch up a great deale of mud together to make a wall not caring for a square to make it perpendicular as the Humble Bees rudely compose their combes hand over head without any great care or art yet if a man would build a Temple or stately Pallace he must doe it perpendicular it must be evenly and orderly built according to an exact line both within and without also and thus geometrically and regularly build the Bees as it were by square and plummet or else one part will over-top another and all tumble downe It is so in this cause whatsoever is not squared by the rule of Gods word what ever materiality it may have it hath little or no formality of obedience XXXIX How many small things annoy the greatest even a mouse troubles an Elephant a Gnat a Lion a very flea may disquiet a Giant What weapon can be nearer to nothing then the sting of a Bee yet what a painefull wound hath it given that scarce visible point how it invenomes and rankles and swels up the flesh the tendernesse of the part addes much to the griefe And if I be thus vexed with the touch of an angry flie Lord how shall I be able to endure the sting of a tormenting conscience as that part is both most active and most sensible so that wound which it receives from it selfe is most intolerably grievous There were more ease in a nest of Hornets then under this one torture O God howsoever I speed abroad give me peace at home and what ever my flesh suffers keepe my soule free Thus pained wherein doe I find ease but in laying honey to the part affected that medicine only abates the anguish How neare hath nature placed the remedie to the offence whensoever my heart is stung with the remorse of sin only thy sweete and precious merits O blessed Saviour can mitigate and heale the wound they have vertue to cure me give me grace to apply them that soveraigne receite shall make my paine happie I shall thus applaud my griefe it is good for me that I was thus afflicted XL. Bees as many other creatures have wit enough to find out remedies for the cure of their maladies to preserve them strong and vigorous and to recover themselves being weake they if they be neare the Sea delightfully gather of flowers that grow on the salt marshes as Thrift Hogs scurvy-grasse c. and where they are remote from it they water in stâ—kes and saw pits and extract a nitrous saltnesse with their water But man only being wounded by sin hath not by the light of nature any wit to seeke for remedie yea only man is carelesse of his eternall salvation Every one is wise enough to doe evill but to doe well they have no understanding and no marvaile for as the clearest eye beholdeth not the brightest object except the Sun-beames doe come betweene to enlighten it so the sharpest wits are not able to conceive the heavenly mysteries of our redemption regeneration and eternall salvation without the bright beames of Gods Spirit shining into them to enlighten them XLI Those hives are in best case where the Bees make most noise but those Common-wealths are in best state where least noiso and tumult is XLII As a man may eate too much honey so pleasure it selfe growes loathsome and distastfull by immoderate use Nempe voluptatem commendat rarior usus moderation is the mother of duration It is like the steddy burning of a tapeâ— or the fire upon the Altar which never went out whereas headstrong violence like a squib or flash of lightning dazels the eyes for a moment but is instantly extinct XLIII It is not good to provoke Waspes and Hornets but it is much worse to provoke Devils Some rude people will dare the Devill and challenge and bid the wicked fiend to come if he dare and to doe his worst c. Silly wretches the Devill laughs at them to see how foole-hardy they are against him that hath them in his clutches already XLIV Bees out of their unwearied and restlesse nature are incessantly active for their future preservation and therefore when they cannot worke Harvest being warme but drie and not affording many flowers they will steale and plunder And for that purpose send forth sundry Emissaries which search and examine every hive in their walke At first these espialls make faint essayes but finding little opposition or contradiction they then yet doubtfull enter and finding the accesse easie fetch presently a new supplie and still recruite their forces so that after a little while it will be difficult if not impossible to withstand them whereas a guard before the doore a stout resistance or peremptory repulse at the first would have not only weakened but frustrated all their designes Wouldst thou get the mastery over thy sin whatsoever it be give it altogether peremptory denialls suffer it not to delight thee in the least tickling conceite and pleasing speculation It will be easie to abstaine from it when the deniall is resolute and peremptory barre up the doores give ust no audience get as much strength to resist as the lust hatl power to attempt If we cannot put out a sparke how shall we put out a flame if we get not the Mastry over the first motion to sinne much lesse shall we be able to overcome when it is brought to maturity in action Sin is like the water give it the least way and we cannot stay it run it will in despight of us And a streame riâ—eth by little and little one showre increasing it and another making it somewhat bigger so sin riseth by degrees XLV Bees when they are pleased and contented make an uniforme and delightfull harmonie but being illegally acting as in robbery or discontented in the losse or absence of their Leader they are distracted as it were in their flights nay frights and uncertaine motions and displeasing and harsh in their buzzing â—lanâ—ors for as when the string of an instrument is out of tune then the Musick doth jaâ—re so when discontents predominate all is in a confused mâ—dley atapie and disorder Discontents produce not greater mischiefe in the hive of the Bees or of the Common wealth then evill concupiscence doth in the soule of a man it maâ—res all his good actions to mingle water with wine it makes the wine the worse to mingle drosse with silver it makes the silver the more impure so evill concupiscence being in the soule of a man doth staine disorder and blemish his good actions in that he performes them either with vaine-glory or selfe-respect XLVI Princes promise any thing to discover a treason but they never trust the Traitors and if happily they favour them for a time the hatred which followes after is more violent and irrecoverable for
resemblance of a Common-wealth whether civill or sacred then in an hive the Bees are painfull and honest compatriots labouring to bring waxe and honey to the maintenance of the publique state the Waspes are unprofitable and harmfull hang-bies which live upon the spoyle of others labour whether as common Barrettours or strong theeves or bold Parasites they doe nothing but rob their neighbours It is an happie sight when these feele the dint of justice and are cut off from doing further mischiefe but to see well affected and beneficiall subjects undoe themselves with duells whether of law or sword to see good Christians of the same profession shedding each others blood upon quarrels of religion is no other then a sad and hatefull spectacle and so much the more by how much we have more meanes of reason and grace to compose our differences and correct our offensive contentiousnesse Oh God who art at once the Lord of Hostes and Prince of peace give us warre with spirituall wickednesses and peace with our brethren XVIII Creatures have their instincts there is a naturall instinct in every creature to that feeds it Bees goe naturally to the flowers by an instinct so the spirituall soule that hath the lise of Christ runnes to whatsoever may feede and maintaine that life All the creatures as soone as they are borne runne they know whither to goe to suck because that is ordained by nature for their preservation so there is an instinct in the soule to carry it to that that feedes and maintaines it XIX Let a swarme be hived never so orderly and the hive before-hand rub'd and prepared carefully let it be covered and shadowed from the Sunne and in a word in the best manner accommodated yet if the Queene-Bee be wanting there is nothing but discontent confusion and hurly-burly and after a hopelesse search a finall departure Whereas a meane habitation with her presence will give full content and satisfaction Had we a Magazine of comforts were we possest of heaven it selfe with all it's glory without Christ yet heaven without him would not be heaven It is better therefore to be in any place with Christ then to be in heaven it selfe without him all delicacies without Christ are but as a funerall banquet when the Master of the feast is away there is nothing but solemnesse what is all without Christ I say the joyes of heaven are not the joyes of heaven without Christ he is the very heaven of heaven XX. Bees by a naturall sagacity can foretell a storme yet sometimes are they overtaken with unseasonable and rainie weather but then doe they hie themselves a pace homeward getting under the Lee side of a hedge and at last secure themselves in their hives but as soone as the tempest is over and the Sunne breakes out they are abroad againe forgetting their former danger Many men in their outward crosses and afflictions while the storme and tempest of Gods wrath beates sore upon them run to God as their rock and enquire early after him but when once a hot gleame of former health and prosperitie shines upon them againe they hie as fast out of Gods blessing into the warme Sunne as they say from sorrow to sin to delight in sensuality from seeking God to security in their old wayes XXI He that goes about to cure the wound of his conscience for sinne with sensuall delight doth as one that is stung with a Waspe and rubbes with a nettle the smarting place XXII As Bees when they are once up in a swarme are ready to light upon every bough so rebels being risen up by the commotion of ambitious leaders are apt to follow every Sheba It is unsafe for any State that the multitude should know the way to an insurrection the least tract in this kinde is easily made a path XXIII As Ionathans honey was sweet in the mouth but bitter in the soule for behold his honey was turned into gall And if the eyes of his body were enlightened the light of Gods countenance was clouded by the act So is it with every sin for though stollen waters be sweete yet he knoweth not that the dead are there XXIV It is observable in the old Law that God hated the very resemblance of the sinne of pride he would have no honey mingled in their offerings Ye shall burne no leaven nor any honey in any offering of the Lord made by fire Indeed Leaven is sowre but what is there in honey that should offend why no honey because honey when it is mingled with meale or flower maketh it to rise and swell Therefore the people of Israel must mingle no honey in their offerings this was to let us see how God hateth the resemblance of the sinne of pride XXV Some Bee-Masters will be over-diligent to kill the Drones because sometimes when they are supernumerary they will not only pester but prejudice the hive and at other times deceive the expectation of so large a tribute as they looke for from them and yet in the meane time are negligent or not sufficiently carefull to prevent the devouring Waspes or robbing Bees which in a few dayes will consume more then the Drones in a whole Summer Bee-Masters ought to be carefull about the former but most of all of these because of that ruine and desolation that is quickly occasioned by them As a Shepheard should watch his lambes from flies but most of all from Wolves and Foxes Sure he is but a sorrie Shepheard to kill the maggots in his sheepe and let the former worry at pleasure And surely saith one he is a sorry Magistrate that stocketh and whippeth and hangeth poore snakes when they offend though that is to be done too but letteth the greater theeves doe what they lâ—st and dareth not or careth not to meddle with them Like Saul who when commanded to destroy all the Amalekites both man and beast slew indeed the Rascality of both but spared the greatest of the men and fattest of the cattell and slew them not XXVI Mothes are supposed to be offensive to the Bees sure I am if the Bees be few they will breed their blots in their combes and quite spoyle them and thereby force those few to desert the hive for remedy whereof it is prescribed by some to smoke the combes and so to expell and chase them away Which practice mystically informes Magistrates that if they would be rid of those Mothes and Gnats that swarme about the Courts of Justice and will be offering to buzze at their eares false reports of their brethren they should cashiere and smoke them away Magistrates should doe well therefore to begin reformation at home and if any of them have a servant that heareth not well deservedly to put him away out of hand and to get an honester in his Roome XXVII Bees though chilled and dead with cold or drowned in water if in a convenient season they be laid neare the fire or in
a hot Sun-shine will revive after a while and recover as if they had never miscarried For there is some hidden though undiscerned life and by the ayde of that little remainder of vivifying power which was more strong originally and is not yet totally extinct now further called forth and wrought upon by adventitious heate there is a new quickning and life So by the awaking of the North wind and coming of the South I meane the blessed Spirits breathing upon a regenerate heart stiâ—led dangerously with some pestilent lust by stirring up and refreshing the retired and radicall power of grace that immortall seed of God never to be lost will sweetly and graciously bring it againe to it's former spirituall comfortable temper and constitution The Lords chosen may fall from their outward prerogatives and from the fruits but that divine nature still abideth in them and it is only with their grace as it is with the mind in distempers of Melanchollie and Phrensie with the Sunne in Ecclipses with the tree when leaves and fruit faile it with the naturall life when it moveth not nor yet breatheth sensibly which in diseases of the Mother is often discerned XXVIII The ancients prescribed as for other causes so for this also to stop up the hives every third day that the Bees might when they were set at libertie with greater earnestnesse and delightfull diligence ply their labours And we find by experience when they have been a while shut up and imprisoned by unseasonable weather they follow their worke more eagerly on the first opportunitie as a streame stopt for a little while will breake out with greater violence after they will now lose no time but be at their labours both more early and late then when they were not kept in Nay in such weather when had they not been restrained before they would have laine still asleepe in the bed of ease in their hives Sometimes the Lord may for a time retire the light of his countenance and sense of his graces from his children for triall quickning and exercise of spirituall graces that they may put forth themselves with more power improvement and illustriousnesse the cold comfort of a disertion in this case being unto them as water cast upon the Smithes forge to make some of them especially to burne inwardly as it were in the meane time with new intention and heate to breaâ—â— out and flame more gloriously there are many gracious dispositions and indowments in the Christians heart which would never see the light at least with such eminency were it not for this darknesse the brightnesse of lampes languish in the light but they burne cleare in the darke the splendor and beauty of the Saints would never appeare were there no night XXIX Bees troubled a while at the hive will be very angry and by and by very numerous and so unresistible for their fury and their numbers increase together perhaps but a few at first assault you but being much opposed they call out many partakers and in a little time a few will prove a multitude as rivers grow greater and greater the further they are off from their springs the more they enlarge their channels untill they emptie themselves into the Ocean Stormes we know arise out of little gusts The first risings of sin are to be look't unto because there is most danger in them and we have least care over them corruption till it be over-powred by grace swelleth bigger and bigger so that like rust it will by little and little eate out all the grace of the soule There is no staying when we are once downe the hill untill we come to the bottome When the heart begins once to be kindled it is easie to smoother the smoke of passion which otherwise will fume up into the head and gather into so thick a cloud as we shall lose the sight of our selves and what is best to be done Câ—ush therefore the first insurrections before they come to breake into open rebellions little risings neglected cover the soule before we are aware stifle them in their birth stop the beginning and so soone as they begin to rise let us begin to examine who raised them and whither they are about to carry us XXX The Bee never stings but payes the price of it with her life By this God instructs us that we should not wrong our neighbours for we our selves shall if not first yet woâ—st suffer and they perhaps receive little or no prejudice but we shall be as sure as the Bees to dye for it And yet the sonne of Syrach praiseth that creature saying The Bee is small among fowles and her fruit hath the beginning of sweetnesse But this gives her no security to escape death if she stingâ— the must pâ—rish And if her many excellencies will not exempt or free her from destruction if she doth ill much lesse shall we We are most savage beasts we first wrong our neighbours who never injuried us Nay we are farre worse in this respect then Bees For if you suffer them to live in their hives and by molesting and vexing of them put them not upon a necessitie of defence they will never hurt never injure never sting but goe their wayes and follow their businesse But thou who art a reasonable man dignified with so much honour and glâ—â—y imitates the beasts and that towards those that are of the same ranke with thee wrongest hurtest devourest thy brother what saith Paul Why doe ye not rather take wrong why doe you not suffer your selves to be defrauded nay you doe wrong and defraud and that your brethren You see then you wrong your selves when you wrong others and that you receive a courtesie when you are injuried XXXI Bees will not continue in a stinking or impure hive and therefore they that delight in them prepaâ—e the stooles where they set them with perfumes sweet smelling â—oughs and fragrant flowers and other delightfull things whereon the Bees when they goe forth of the hive may light least ill favours should force them to forsake their stations And thus deales the holy Spirit our soule is the hive accommodated and fuâ—nished with sweet spirituall gifts and graces but if there be bitternesse and anger and wrath he will forsake such hives And therefore the blessed and wise husbandman namely St. Paul doth endeavour to trimme and prepare our hives our soules and that without knife or any other iron instrument And calls us a spirituall Bee-fold which yet he first purgeth with prayers with labours and all other things necessary hereunto XXXII Bees with their swift and nimble wings fly from flower to flower and draw out the latent native sweetnesse with a harmlesse unprejudiciall robbery that therewith at length they may provide and afford sweet honey for the sonnes of men So the Ministers of the Gospell are sollicitously carefull with the light wings of meditation to light on the pleasant and