_Superstitions respecting Bees._--It is a subject for painful
reflection, that beings of so great skill and useful industry should be
so liable to take affront, as is proved by the anecdotes related of bees
by L. L. L. Who would not grieve, that bees--who have been said to
partake of the Divine nature,
"Esse apibus partem divinæ mentis et haustus
Ætherios dixêre"--
should reduce themselves, by this susceptibility of offence at (in most
cases imaginary) neglect, to a level with the weakness and folly of
human creatures,--I say human creatures; for in the country I have known
feuds caused by omitting to bid to the funeral of a deceased neighbour,
or to send black gloves. It was to be hoped that these "offensiones
muliebres" (we may add "viriles" also) were peculiar to the human race;
but that, it is apparent, is not so. The custom of giving a piece of the
funeral cake is new to me; though it looks like want of feeling to be
greedy of cake in the hour of affliction, yet there is a sort of
retributive fitness in presenting to these busy people
"_Melle_ soporatam et medicatis frugibus offam."
It is a grateful acknowledgment of past favours conferred upon the
deceased head of the family, and a retainer for future services to the
survivors.
With regard to the custom of informing the bees of a death in the
family, and the penalty of omitting to do so, I can add to the proof of
it. I find among some memoranda I made more than five-and-twenty years
ago, the following note:
"In Buckinghamshire it is common, on the death of any one of the
family, for the nurse to go to all the bee-hives in the garden,
and tap gently three times, each time repeating three times these
words, 'Little brownie, little brownie, your master's dead;' when
the bees, beginning to _hum_, show their consent to remain. The
omission of this ceremony, it is believed, would occasion the loss
of the bees by flight, or otherwise."
To show that a similar custom and belief, though varying in some
particulars, are found upon the continent of Europe, I give the
following extract:
"In Lithuania, when the master or mistress of the house dies, it
is considered necessary to give notice of the fact to the bees,
horses, and cows, by rattling a bunch of keys; and it is believed,
that if this were omitted the bees and cattle would die."--See the
_Journal of Agriculture. Highland and Agricultural Society of
Scotland_, Oct. 1848, p. 538.
One word more of bees: "His head is full of bees" is a Scotch proverb,
said of a drunkard. (Ray's _Proverbs_, p. 198.) "He has a bee in his
head" is an English proverb. So, "He has a bee in his bonnet." What is
the meaning? As I was writing the last lines I said to a friend who was
lounging in his arm-chair by our fireside, "Why is a drunkard's head
said to be full of bees?" "I don't know," he answered, "unless it is on
account of their _humming_. You remember," he added,
"With a pudding on Sundays, with stout _humming_ liquor,
And remnants of Latin to welcome the vicar."
The half-hour bell rang before we had done talking of and repeating
parts of V. Bourne's "The Wish." Many a time has "NOTES AND QUERIES"
given subjects for talk in our family before and after dinner.