Honey newly taken out of the comb has a peculiar delicacy of flavor, which will in vain be sought for, after it has been for any length of time expressed or clarified. This will help to explain the energy of expression adopted by the Psalmist, when speaking of the divine laws: 'More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and the droppings of honey-combs,' Ps. xix. 10.

A fine lesson on the necessity of moderation is taught by Solomon, Prov. xxv. 16: 'Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith and vomit it.' Upon this passage, Harris has cited the following observations of Dr. Knox: Man, indeed, may be called a bee in a figurative style. In search of sweets, he roams in various regions, and ransacks every inviting flower. Whatever displays a beautiful appearance solicits his notice, and conciliates his favor, if not his affection. He is often deceived by the vivid color and attractive form, which instead of supplying honey, produce the rankest poison; but he perseveres in his researches, and if he is often disappointed, he is also often successful. The misfortune is, that when he has found honey, he enters upon the feast with an appetite so voracious that he usually destroys his own delight by excess and satiety,

THE ANT.

THE ant has been famous, from all antiquity, for its social and industrious habits, and for its spirit of subordination. It is as a pattern of parsimony to the profuse; and of unremitting diligence to the sluggard, Prov. vi. 6.

In Prov. xxx. 25, the ant is spoken of as one of the four diminutive things upon earth, which are exceeding wise: The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their neat in the summer;' an expression usually understood of their laying up stores of provision in summer against approaching winter; an opinion generally entertained by the ancients, though modern naturalists question the fact. Till the manners of exotic ants are more accurately explored, however, it would be rash to affirm that no ants have magazines of

provisions; for, although, during the cold of our winters in this country, they remain, for the most part, in a state of torpidity, and have no need of food, yet in warmer regions, during the rainy seasons, when they are probably confined to their nests, a store of provision may be necessary for them. Even in northern climates, against wet seasons, they may provide in this way for their sustenance and that of their young brood, which, as Mr. Smeatham observes, are very voracious, and cannot bear to be long deprived of their food; else why do ants carry worms, living insects, and many other such things into their nests?

Solomon's lesson to the sluggard has generally been adduced as a strong confirmation of the ancient opinion; it can, however, only relate to the species of a warm climate, the habits of which are probably different from those of a cold one; so that his words, as commonly interpreted, may be perfectly correct and consistent with nature, and yet be not at all applicable to the species of ant indigenous to Europe. But if Solomon's remarks are properly considered, it will be found that this interpretation has been fathered upon them, rather than fairly deduced from them. He does not affirm that the ant, which he proposes to his sluggard as an example, laid up in her magazine stores of grain; but that with considerable prudence and foresight, she makes use of the proper season to collect a supply of provision sufficient for her purposes. There is not a word in them implying that she stores up grain or other provision. She prepares her bread, and gathers her food, namely, such food as is suited to her, in summer and harvest-that is, when it is most plentiful; and thus shows her wisdom and prudence by using the advantages offered to her. The words, thus interpreted, which they may be without any violence, will apply to the species among us as well as to those that are not indigenous.

In several parts of the east there is a species of this insect which is ex.remely destructive to almost every kind of property, and which may perhaps help to illustrate Matt. vi. 18, 19, although the insect there spoken of, is belonging to another genus. We quote the following from Forbes' Oriental Memoirs."

"The termites, or white ants of Bombay, are so numerous and destructive at Anjengo, that it is difficult to guard against their depredations: in a few hours they will demolish a large chest of books, papers, silk, or clothes, perforating them with a thousand holes. We dare not leave a box on the floor without placing it on glass bottles, which, if kept free from dust, they cannot ascend. But this is trifling when compared with the serious mischief they sometimes occasion, by penetrating the beams of a house, or destroying the timbers in a ship. These destructive animals advance by myriads to their work, under an arched incrustation of fine sand, tempered with a moisture from their body, which renders the covert way as hard as burnt clay, and effectually conceals them while at their insidious employment.

'I could mention many curious instances of depredation by the

termites: one happened to myself. I left Anjengo in the rainy season, to pass a few weeks with the chief, at his country house at Eddova, in a rural and sheltered situation: on my departure I locked up a room, containing books, drawings, and a few valuables: as I took the key with me the servant could not enter to clean the furniture: the walls of the room were white-washed, adorned with prints and drawings, in English frames and glasses; returning home in the evening, and taking a cursory view of my cottage by candlelight, I found every thing apparently in the same order as I left it; but on a nearer inspection the next morning, I observed a nuinber of advanced works, in various directions, towards my pictures; the glasses appeared to be uncommonly dull, and the frames covered with dust on attempting to wipe it off, I was astonished to find the glasses fixed to the wall, not suspended in frames as I left them, but completely surrounded by an incrustation cemented by the white-ants, who had actually eaten up the deal frames and back boards, and the greater part of the paper, and left the glasses upheld by the incrustations, or covered way, which they had formed durng their depredation. From the flat Dutch bottles, on which the drawers and boxes were placed, not having been wiped during my absence, the ants had ascended the bottles by means of the dust, eaten through the bottom of a chest, and made some progress in perforating the books and linen. The chief's lady, with whom I had been staying at Eddova, on returning to her apartments in the fort, found, from the same cause, a large chest, in which she had deposited shawls, muslins, and other articles, collected preparatory to her leaving India, entirely destroyod by these voracious insects.'