gularly as they do in common hives, and showed no inclination to leave their habitation. But, to be brief, at the end of twenty days, I observed four young queens among the new progeny." To these experiments of Mr. Debraw, it was objected, that the queen-bee, beside the eggs which she deposits in the royal cells, might likewise have laid royal or female eggs in the common cells; and that the pieces of brood-comb so successfully employed in his experiments for the production of a queen, had always happened to contain one of these royal eggs, or rather one of the worms proceeding from them. But this objection was afterwards removed by many other accurate experiments, the results of which were uniformly the same; and the objectors to Mr. Debraw's discovery candidly admit, that, when the community stands in need of a queen, the working bees possess the power of raising a common subject to the throne; and that every worm of the hive is capable, under a certain course of management, of becoming the mother of a numerous progeny. This metamorphosis seems to be chiefly accomplished by a peculiar nourishment carefully administered to the worm by the working-bees, by which, and perhaps by other unknown means, the female organs, the germs of which previously existed in the embryo, are expanded, and all those differences in form and size, that so remarkably distinguish the queen from the working-bees, are produced. It is always a fortunate circumstance when discoveries, which at first seem calculated solely to gratify curiosity, are capable of being turned to the advantage of society. Mr. Debraw, accordingly, has not failed to point out the advantages that may be derived from his researches into the economy and nature of bees. By his discovery, we are taught an easy mode of multiplying, without end, swarms, or new colonies, of these useful insects. The practice of this new art, Mr. Schirach informs us, has already extended itself through Upper Lusatia, the Palatinate, Bohemia, Bavaria, Silesia, and Poland. In some of these countries, it has excited the attention, and acquired the patronage of government. The late empress of Russia, who never lost sight of a single article by which the industry, and, of course, the happiness of her subjects could be augmented, sent a proper person to Klein Bautzen, to be instructed in the general principles, and to learn all the minutia of this new and important art. For the Literary Magazine. OMAR AND FATIMA; OR, THE APOTHECARY OF ISPAHAN. A Persian Tale. (Continued from page 64.) WE have just seen the venerable faquir Ismael, who, when dressed in the Persian robes, appeared a beautiful youth of about eighteen, settled in the house of the sage Nadir. It will easily be conjectured that the day was too short to supply him with all the necessaries which his situation required, and that he was obliged to borrow many hours of the succeeding ones for his excursions among the shops. In these he was accompanied sometimes by the apothecary, his host, and sometimes by Tamira, as he wanted their judgments in his different purchases. Since the house in which he resided had been erected, it had never been so frequented. What with porters and tradesmen bringing articles, either purchased or for inspection, the shop was scarcely ever empty. Nadir, in whose bosom frugality was hereditary, and which poverty had nurtured into a habit, discerned, or imagined that he discerned, among the purchases of the youth, many which he could not deem of the first necessity, and others which in his best judgment he thought mere superfluities: he therefore one day, when a large cargo of the most beautiful porcelain arrived, under the auspices of Tamira, took the liberty to address him in the following words: "Son Ismael! (for, as you no longer appear in that holy character which you assumed when first we met, I shall address you by that title) it has been frequently stated by the sage of Zulpha, that the happiness (or, more correctly speaking, the distinction) of persons of elevated rank, seems to consist in those (its possessors) being surrounded by a variety of appendages, useless to the world, and perhaps burthensome to themselves. From the progress which you have made in collecting a number of articles which, though perhaps curious, are frivolous, and, although costly, effeminate, I should judge that you were a young man of a light mind; and from your fondness for toys, trinkets, and other fashionable superfluities, that your birth was more elevated than you have stated it to be. "With respect to the first of these positions, your conversation convinces me to the contrary; and regarding the latter, it strikes me, that perhaps your passion for show is intuitive, and may have arisen from your fondness for the professional productions of your father. But you must consider, that the inhabitants of this city are a grave people, and my profession of the gravest cast. I must, therefore, repress your desire for splendid trifles; and, to restrain this idle waste of money, remind you, that the mines of Golconda, however deep, may be exhausted. You now seem to have every thing you want." "No!" replied Ismael, "there are three articles more." "Three articles more! What are those?" "Three slaves," continued Is mael, "To these," added Nadir, "if they were useful, I should have no great objection. However, as you best know the stile of life to which you have been used, and the kind of attendance which you require, I shall in this trust to your discretion." These slaves, two male and one female, were consequently procured. Tamira, who had become the chief confidante of Ismael, was pleased to be eased of a considerable deal of labour. Nor was the apothecary, however he might have objected at first, in the end dissatisfied, as they were directed to be equally observant of him as of their master. It seemed as if good fortune followed the footsteps of Ismael; for since he had been an inmate the business of Nadir had exceedingly increased. The appearance of this young Golcondian became every day more splendid; his taste appeared every day more refined; and his person, which was a perfect model of male beauty, became every day more fascinating. Under the auspices of Nadir, he took a delight in visiting all the places of public resort in Ispahan. His curiosity extended still further; for he became tinctured with the ideas of the company to which his host introduced him, and consequently an antiquarian and connoisseur. Arduous in every thing, in the first of these characters he explored all the vestiges of the magnificence of the ancient sophys, at least from Darius downward; and in the second, collected such a number of specimens of the arts and literature, that the honest apothecary, at every excursion, trembled as much for the tomans of his guest as he did for the safety of the edifice that was to contain their product. He therefore frequently exclaimed, "If this young man is not the possessor of one of his native mines, it is easy to foresee the end of all this magnificence, erudition. and virtu. However, he restrained himself, till black Absalom, the jeweller, one day brought home a sabre, the hilt of which was set with diamonds, and the belt ornamented with the same brilliant materials. There was no bearing this extravagant splendour; all the frugal ideas of this sober son of Esculapius recurred to his mind. He looked around at the still meagre, though improved, appearance of his own shelves, and exclaimed, "This brilliant article alone would furnish a house and shop superb as those of the sage Job Ben Abram, who has the supreme happiness to administer potions and lotions to our sovereign lord the sublime and immortal sophy!" Taking this sabre for the text, he had just prepared a lecture upon extravagance and profusion, when the gay, but good-natured, Ismael, for whose service it was intended, came to receive the benefit of it. Presuming this well studied discourse would have a wonderful effect, he began, "One of the greatest and most contaminating vices that can inhabit the human mind, son Ismael, is vanity. I aver and will maintain this proposition against Hassen, at the head of all the disciples of Zoroaster, against Ki, and all the followers of Confucius, and also the universities of Ispahan and Delhi, if they were disposed to controvert it. Upon this point I fix myself; and repeat, that vanity is" At this instant, to the relief of Ismael and our mortification, a eunuch, whose complexion was as black as his habit, entered the shop, and said, "Sage Nadir! whose philosophy and medical skill, I have this day heard from a lady destined to have the happiness of becoming your patient, are not only the admiration of Ispahan but of the world, the daughter of the omrah Mirza now languishes on the couch of sickness, and earnestly demands your assistance in preference to a host of physicians sent for by her father.” The apothecary, in his astonishment at this young lady's understanding, forgot his lecture upon vanity; while Ismael availed him self of this opportunity to retire to his own chamber. "What," said Nadir, " is the disorder of the daughter of Mirza?' "Impatience!" returned the eu nuch. "This, though a complaint common enough to young ladies, is, I fear, beyond the reach of my medi. cal skill. How has she been treated by the physicians ?" "You should rather ask," replied the eunuch," how they have been treated by her. I am sure they have hitherto been the patients. She has refused every medicine that they have administered." "Then I do not wonder that she is ill," replied Nadir. "She remained totally silent for some time, and would not answer their enquiries. Her father, whose darling child and only daughter she is, indulges her in every thing, and forces every one to comply with her perverse humours: so that, in the end, she has had all those venerable persons turned out of doors." "Monstrous obstinacy! strange perversion of the human mind!” exclaimed Nadir. "And what is more extraordinary," continued the eunuch," she now declares that no one shall prescribe to her but yourself. How, immured as she has till lately been, she could even hear of your name, has been-" "Hear of my name !” cried the apothecary, interupting him, "there is nothing so very singular in that! my name, Mr. eunuch, is pretty well known!" "I believe that she is mad," said the eunuch. "I should be of the same opinion, returned Nadir, " had not her sending for me in preference to any of my learned brethren been so decisive a proof of her mental sanity: therefore, Tamira, help me to my black silk caftan and bolster turban ; I will wait on her immediately." The palace of the omrah Mirza was near the imperial seat of Ispahan, and consequently at no great distance from the residence of Nadir. However, the apothecary's impatience was almost equal to that of his patient before he arrived at the gate, as the old eunuch marched with a slow and stately pace, and seemed to devote much time to deliberation, consideration, and conversation. In the course of this walk, he had made his companion acquainted not only with the immense riches of his lord, the valour of his son, and his absence with the army, but also with the beauty of Zulima, his daughter, her former affability and good humour, and the total change that had lately taken place in her temper and disposition. "This kind of change, this fluctuation in the female mind," said Nadir, " can only be clearly explained by recurring to two principles, which we will take this opportunity to examine; and firstbut though I like your attention, you need not stop!" "We are," said the eunuch, "at the private door of the palace of Mirza." "What a pity," cried the apothecary, as he entered a marble vestibule," that I could not have explained to you the causes which combine to produce those fluctuations of temper, those changes of disposition, sometimes observable in the female system!" "The father of Zulima, to whom I must introduce you," said the eunuch," will probably be more edified." "This, my lord," he continued, when he ushered the sage into an apartment splendid as the habitations of the faithful in the seventh paradise," is the venerable and learned Nadir, whom the beautiful Zulima now desires to see." "I am happy," said Mirza, "to behold a man, whom the result of this morning's enquiry informs me is another instance, added to many, that fortune is frequently at variance with talents and virtue. wish, sage Nadir, that your worldly were equal to your mental posses VOL. VIII. NO. XLVIII. sions. Perform the cure which I expect from you; rescue my darling, the thread of my existence, my Zulima, from distraction; and be it my care to make those through your future life run more parallel." "Of what, oh noble Mirza !" said Nadir, "does the lovely Zulima complain?" "Of every thing and every person to her slaves she is intolerable; to the prudent Tangra, who was her nurse, who has been to her a mother, she is haughty and intemperate; nay, she scarcely spares me: she has tired all the faculty." "The faculty," cried Nadir, "should never be tired! Let me see my lovely patient, and I will exert my utmost skill to justify the good opinion she already entertains of me." Zulima, who was indeed beauty itself personified, was reclined upon a sofa of crimson satin, highly ornamented, but the reflection from which scarcely overcame the paleness of her countenance. The redundance of her tresses, which wandered unrestrained over her neck and bosom, and the disorder of her dress, betrayed evident symptoms of her disordered mind. The arrival of the sage was, with the utmost caution, announced to her; yet she started. "Is Nadir come?" she cried, with precipitation: "I once thought that he would never have arrived. I have since altered that opinion, and think that he has flown on the wings of a butterfly- -Alla protect me! this is not Nadir!" "Certainly it is," said the nurse. "Would the eunuch Tamas have deceived you?" "I say, and repeat it, this is not Nadir!" cried Zulima. "How should you know," said Tangra, "having never seen him before?" "I had forgotten that circumstance," added Zulima. "I aver," cried the sage, adIvancing," that I am Nadir the apothecary, the only son of Nadir the doctor; that there is no other of my name and profession in Ispahan; and further, that if any person has assumed them, let him be old or young, he is a counterfeit, and means to impose on the loveliest of her sex." "I am now convinced," said Zulima, recovering herself; " you are perfectly right, most learned Nadir! and I intreat your pardon.” "She seems more collected since you have arrived,” said Tangra. "No doubt!" returned Nadir. "I think, from the few observations that I have already made, that I can answer for her cure." "Let all, except Nadir, leave the room," said Zulima, whose penetrating eyes had for some time been fixed upon the sage. "All!" cried Tangra; "you will surely suffer me to attend you." "By no means!" returned Zulima, whose keen and animated glances seemed now again to indicate intellectual commotion. "You must suffer her to have her way!" said Nadir. "I will! I will!" exclaimed the young lady. "No one shall controul me!" "No one will attempt it, most lovely and interesting Zulima! you waved your hand, and your attendants have all retired. Alla protect us! What do I see? the daughter of Mirza in tears!" "What do you see? Oh, Nadir! you see before you a vile hypocrite!" "A vile hypocrite!" repeated Nadir. "What strange turns there are in this disorder!" "An abominable wretch !" "Wretch!" said the apothecary, fixing her, eyes upon her while she continued," who has deceived her father, set at defiance the injunctions of her religion and the laws of her country, and dared to suffer a passion for a youth of the name of Nadir to take possession of her heart!" "Is that all?" said the apothecary. All!" returned the lady. "Yes?" he continued ; "because though not so very a youth as you "The mild benevolence of your aspect "The fit seems to have passed over," said Nadir. "Inclines me to make you my confidant: therefore, most venerable Nadir! listen to me." "Venerable!" said the sage to himself; "1 am afraid it will be difficult to effect this cure." "Well, listen to me." "I could for ever listen to you, most lovely Zulima !" "Come sit by me now be all attention," she continued, holding up her finger. "The care of the matron whom you just now saw, Tangra, my nurse (for I still call her by that fond epithet), could only be equalled by the indulgence of my father and the love of my brother. I never knew my mother. Within the walls of this Haram, every object that could form the taste, improve the mind, or amuse and gratify the senses, was collected. I had no wish to wander beyond the bounds of its extensive gardens, until my father presented to me a Grecian slave of the name of Lesbia. "Touched with her condition, I freely conversed with her, and found her genius as great as had been her misfortunes. The education she had received bespoke her |