class="center">III. "Ubi tot Simois correpta sub undis
Scuta virum galeasque et fortia corpora volvit."—Virg. Æn. I. 104.

"Contendit cum Homero (Il. μ. 22. seq.). Potest sane oratio nimis ornata videri ex Æneæ persona; sed innumeris locis poetæ cum epici, tum tragici, ac lyrici, sibi indulgent in ornatu, etiam ubi alios loquentes inducunt."—HEYNE.

This stricture, very seasonable in a commentary on Statius or Lucan, is wholly inapplicable to Virgil; a poet remarkable, above all others, for his abstinence from gaudy ornament, and singularly careful to adapt the sentiment to the character and circumstances of the speaker. The words in the text, or some similar words, were indispensable to give full expression to the idea of Æneas; very imperfectly understood either by the annotators, or, with the exception of Caro, by the translators: Happy those who died on the plains of Troy, in the sight of their sires? Oh! that I, too, had perished there by the hand of Tydides, or been swept away along with so many of my friends by the Simois!

JAMES HENRY.

34. Westland Row, Dublin.

FOLK LORE.

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,

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

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,

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.

F. W. T.

Oliver, in his account of Cherry-Burton (History of Beverley, p. 499.), speaks thus on the superstitious practice of informing bees, and putting them in mourning on the occasion of a death in the family:

"The inhabitants entertain a superstitious belief, that when the head of a family dies, it is necessary to clothe the bees in mourning on the funeral day to ensure the future prosperity of the hive."

He then refers to an instance, and says:

"A scarf of black crape was formally applied to each bee-hive; and an offering of pounded funeral biscuit, soaked in wine, was placed at its entrance."

In a note, he accounts for the ceremony's origin by a quotation from Porph. De Ant. Nymp., p. 261., in which honey is spoken of as being "anciently a symbol of death." For other notices of superstitions in reference to bees, see Hone's Mysteries, pp. 220. 222. 283.

R. W. ELLIOT.

I was lately informed by a native of Monmouthshire, that the belief relative to bees is entertained in that and some of the adjacent counties even by educated persons. My informant gravely assured me that though the bees are aware of the approaching event, from the acuteness of their organs of smell, they require to be duly and timely communicated with on the subject, to induce them to remain with the survivors; but if this be neglected, they will desert their hives, and disappear. The propriety or necessity of offering them any refreshment was not stated.

YUNAF.

The custom mentioned by L. L. L. still prevails in the Weald of Surrey and Sussex; probably through all the southern counties; but certainly in the Isle of Wight, where the writer only the other day, on noticing an empty apiary in the grounds of a villa, was told that the country people attributed its desertion to the bees not having had this formal notice of their master's death.

The same superstition is practised in some parts of France, when a mistress of the house dies; the formula being much like our English one, i.e. to tap thrice on the hive, repeating these words, "Petits abeilles, votre maîtresse est morte."

A. D.

Bees invited to Funerals.—North Side of Churchyards.

—At Bradfield, a primitive village on the edge of the moors, in the parish of Ecclesfield, I was informed by a person of much intelligence, that a custom has obtained in the district from time immemorial—"for hundreds of years" was the expression used—of inviting bees to funerals; and that an instance could be produced of the superstition having been practised even within the last year. What is done is this. When a death occurs, a person is appointed to call the neighbours to the funeral, who delivers the invitations in one form of words: "You are invited to the