Note 157 — Chapter VI · CLASSIFICATION OF THE CORRESPONDENCIES AND PARALLELISMS OF SHAKESPEARE WITH EMBLEM WRITERS. (continued 3)

At a time even later than Shakespeare’s the idea of a king-bee prevailed; Waller, the poet of the Commonwealth, adopted it, as in the lines to Zelinda,—

“Should you no honey vow to taste

But what the master-bees have placed

In compass of their cells, how small

A portion to your share will fall.”

In Le Moine’s Devises Heroiqves et Morales (4to, Paris, 1649, p. 8) we read, “Du courage & du conseil au Roy des abeilles,”—and the creature is spoken of as a male.