The Parliament of BEES. A FABLE.

By the Author of the Fables of Young AESOP, lately Published.

[woodcut illustrating episodes in the fable]

The FABLE.

AFter that
The true protestant Religion.
Sol, full Forty Years had shone
(Tho oft ecclips'd) the Western
Great Britain.
Bees among,
O'erclouded 'twas by the Vulturian Shade,
Making the lovely Rose
Church & State.
and Thistle Fade:
Nor was there wanting gloomy Fogs t'appear,
With Sulph'rous Brimstone, round the Hemisphere:
Themis,
Themis, her Office is instructing Man­kind to do what is just and right. As­trea is the Princess of Justice who des­cended from Heaven to the Earth, & being of­fended at the Wick­edness of mankind, ascended up again. Nemesis is a God­dess, that rewards Virtue & punisheth Vice.
with Astrea, and Nemesis,
Soon soar'd far from the Bees Metropolis;
And Sol, at length o'ermaster'd, quickly fell
Into a Dire Ecclipse, more dark than Hell.
Nor yet were wanting strong
The Ro­mish Clergy, with their Fop­pish trum­peries, & damnable principles
Tyberian Winds,
To usher Locusts in, t'infect the minds
Of each Industrious Bee. — In short, their Sight
So dim was grown, no glimpse they had of Light;
Locusts destroy'd their Combs, their Hives; and all
Seem'd but an interlude t'a greater Fall:
Till Heav'n (no longer Patient was, to see
Hell ride a-tilt) inspir'd a Royal
His most Sacred Majesty, King William, the third, then P. of Orange.
BEE
T'repel those Clouds, and let the Sun shine free.
So soon his Soul the Offer did accept,
So soon the Romish Wolves to'ards Tyber crept;
Astrea return'd, and both her Sisters came
T'enlighten Sol with a far brighter Flame.
At which the Bees a Parliament do call,
And to this Vote they soon Consented all;
Viz. We Bees, in Parliament agree
To chuse ourselves a King,
To make such Laws, as Liberty
And, Comfort may us bring.
And since our Hives from Beasts are freed
By Him, who Heav'n did send,
Crown'd let him be great Albion's Head,
It's Rights for to Defend.
Which done some Whaspish, Bastard-Bees Contrive
Their lawful King and Sovereign to Slay,
Because he did Secure each Subject's Hive
From all the rav'nous Wolves, and Beasts of Prey;
But in the very int'rim they were took,
And justly Hang'd on a Triangle-Hook.
Ad scelerum Poenas ultrix venit ira tonantis
Hoc graviore Manu, quo graviore Pede.

The EPITHYMIƲM.

BY this Fable, all our disaffected Jack-Daws, mean those Bastard Englishmen, who are One Third Jackish, but the other Two Romish and Hellish; (I know not what-ish, nor them­selves neither) who would Slay the Lord's Anoint­ed, and make his House a Den for Thieves, Whore­mongers, and Idolaters, to act their obscene Villanies in; and bring in those who wou'd be Iron-moulds in their Charters, destroy their Liberties, and corrupt the True Protestant Religion, turning it from Christia­nism to worse than Paganism; and compelling those to burn for CHRIST, who will not turn to An­ti-Christ, his unholy Holiness the Pope; [See the Fables of Young Aesop, p. 43.] and Worship a Stock, a Stone, or dead Dog, instead of the True and Living GOD. Those Maggots, who had rather have the Bramble, a sharp Prince, to be as a Thorn in their Sides, to Vex them Cruelly, by Oppressing and Impoveri­shing his Subjects with Impositions, to inrich and ina­ble Foreign Princes to come and Cut their Throats, than to enjoy Heav'n's blessed OLIVE-TREE, under whose sweet Nature and Clemency, they might live Merrily and Richly. By this, I say, all those may learn their Duties to that KING, whose Praise, had I the Tongues of Men and Angels, I could not sufficiently set forth! That KING, whose Sword has preserv'd them from Po­pery, Slavery, and Arbitrary Power. That KING and PRINCE, whose Sword has so lately restor'd to us with Peace, all our ancient Liberties, Proper­ties, and the Protestant Religion. That KING whose Heav'n-born Immortal SOUL, display'd for his Banner, the sweet and precious Oracles of the Eternal GOD. That KING and HEROE, who has expos'd his Royal immatchless Person to the dangers of Cannon-balls more than Seven Summers, to establish the true Church, which before was a Hive for the Locusts of Rome to Swarm in.

And by the whaspish Bees in the Fable, we may understand those murmuring, caballing, & assassinating Regicides, the Jacks, [to their Praise be it spoken Englishmen!] whose Brethren, lately imploy'd in that hellish Service, were Cashier'd and Paid off at Tyburn. Therefore I advise 'um all to beware, left they are Nooz'd, [not as Sir Edm-Bury Godfrey was, with his own Neck­cloath] but fairly and deservedly in a Hempen-String also.

London, Printed and Sold by Benj. Harris, at the Corner of Grace-Church-Street, next Corn-Hill. 1697.

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Text Creation Partnership. Searching, reading, printing, or downloading EEBO-TCP texts is reserved for the authorized users of these project partner institutions. Permission must be granted for subsequent distribution, in print or electronically, of this EEBO-TCP Phase II text, in whole or in part.