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 
x The true protestant Religion.  Sol, full Forty Years had shone  
(Tho oft eclipsed) the Western 
y 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 Sulphurous 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 soared far from the Bees Metropolis;  
And Sol, at length o'ermastered, quickly fell  
Into a Dire Eclipse, 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 destroyed their Combs, their Hives; and all  
Seemed but an interlude t'a greater Fall:  

Till Heaven (no longer Patient was, to see  
Hell ride atilt) inspired 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 towards Tiber crept;  
Astrea returned, 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 choose 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 Heaven did send,  
Crowned let him be great Albion 's Head,  
Its 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 ravenous Wolves, and Beasts of Prey;  
But in the very int'rim they were took,  
And justly Hanged on a Triangle-Hook.   
Ad scelerum Poenas ultrix venit ira tonantis  
Hoc graviore Manu, quo graviore Pede.   

The EPITHYMIUM.  
BY this Fable, all our disaffected Jackdaws, 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 Thiefs, Whoremongers, and Idolaters, to act their obscene Villainies in; and bring in those who would 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 Antichrist, 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 enrich and enable Foreign Princes to come and Cut their Throats, than to enjoy heavens 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 preserved them from Popery, Slavery, and Arbitrary Power. That KING and PRINCE, whose Sword has so lately restored to us with Peace, all our ancient Liberties, Properties, and the Protestant Religion. That KING whose heaven-born Immortal SOUL, displayed for his Banner, the sweet and precious Oracles of the Eternal GOD. That KING and HERO, who has exposed 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 employed in that hellish Service, were Cashiered and Paid off at Tyburn. Therefore I advise 'em all to beware, left they are Noosed, [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.