The Fable of the Bees

493 Pages·1724·13.433 MB·English

by  Bernard Mandeville

T H E
F A B L E
O F T H E
B E E S :
O R,
Private Vices? Publick Benefits.
With an ESSAY on
Charity and Charity-Schools.
A N D
A Search into the Nature of Society.
The T hird E dition.
To which is added
A V I N D I C A T I O N of the B O O K
from the Afperllons contain’d in a Prefentment
of the Grand-Jury of Middle/ex, and
an abufive Letter to Lora C.
L O N D O N :
Printed for J. T onson, at Shake{pear's-Heady
over-againft Katharine-Street in the Strand.
M DCC XXIV.

T H E
P R E F A C E -
AW S and Government
are to the Political Bo­
dies of Civil Societies,
what the Vital Spirits
and Life it felf are to
the Natural Bodies of
Animated Creatures ,*
and as thole that ftudy the Anatomy of
Dead Carkalfes may lee, that the chief
Organs and niceft Springs more imme­
diately required to continue the Motion
of our Machine, are not hard Bones,
ftrong Mufcles and Nerves, nor the
fmooth white Skin that fo beautifully
A i covers
.
The Preface
and
covers them, but final! tjsifljjag, Bftms
little Pipes that are either rover Jpqk’d,
or elfe feem inconfiderable to Vulgar
Eyes j fo they that examine into the Na^
ture of Man, abftrad from Art and Educa­
tion, may obferve,that what renders him a
Sociable Animal, confifts not in his defire
of Company, good Nature, Pity, Affabi­
lity, and other Graces of a fair Outfide;
but that his vileft and mod hateful Qua­
lities are the moft neceffary Accom-
plifhments to fit him for the lafgeft, and,
according to the World, the happieft
and moft .flourifhing Societies.
The following . Fable, in which what
I have laid is fet forth at large, was prin­
ted above eight Years ago * in a Six Pen­
ny Pamphlet, cali’d, TheGrumblwg Hive;
or Knaves turn'cl H'oneji\. and , being
fboii after Pyrked/cry’d about the Streets
in a Half penny Sheet. : Since the firft
publifhipg of it I have met with feverai
that either wilfully pr ignorantly miftak-
ing the Defign, would have it,, that the
Scope
* This was wrote in 1714.
The Preface.
Scope of it was a Saty r "upon Virtue and
Morality, and the whole Wrote for the
Encouragement of Vice. This made
toe refblve, whenever it Ihould be re­
printed, fbme way or other to inform
the Reader of the real Intent this little
Poem was wrote with. I do not
dignify thejfe few loole Lines with the
Name of Poem, that I would have the
Reader expert any Poetry in them,
but barely becaule they are Rhime, and
I am in reality puzled what Name to
give them,* for they are neither He-
roick nor Paftoral, Satyr, Burldque nor
Heroi-comick$ to be a Tale they want
Probability, and the whole is rather too
long for a Fable. All I can fay of them
is, that they are a Story told in Do-
grel,' which without the leaft delign
of being Witty, I have endeavour’d to
do in as eafy and familiar a manner as
1 was able: The Reader (hall be wel­
come to call them what he pleafes.
‘’Twas faid of Mmtagne, that he was
pretty well vers’d in the Defeats of Man­
; A } kind,
.
7he Preface
kind, but unacquainted with the Ex­
cellencies of human Nature: If I fare
no worle, I {hall think my felf well
tiled.
What Country loever in the Univerfe
is to be underftood by the Bee-Hive re-
prelented here, it is evident from wh&t
is faid of the Laws and Conftittition of
it, the Glory, Wealth, Power and In-
duftry of its Inhabitants, that it muft be
a large, rich and warlike Nation that
is happily govern’d by a limited Mo­
narchy. The Satyr therefore to be
met with in the following Lines up6n .
the feveral Profeflions and Callings,
and almoft every Degree and Station .
of People, was not made to injure and
point to particular Perfbns, but only
to fhew the Vilenels of the Ingredients x
that all together compofe the whole-
fome Mixture of a well-order’d Society;
in order to extol the wonderful Power
of Political Wifdom, by the help of
which lo beautiful a Machine is rais’d
from the moft contemptible Branches.
For
The Preface.
For the main Defign of the Fable, (as it
‘ is briefly explain’d in the Moral) is to
fhew the Impoflibility o f enjoying all
the moft elegant Comforts of Life that
are to be met with in an induftrious,
wealthy and powerful Nation, and at
the fame time be blefs’d with all the
Virtue and Innocence that can be
wifh’d for in a Golden Age $ from thence
to expofe the Unreafbnablenefs and
Folly of thofe, that deflrous of being
an opulent and flourifhing People, and
wonderfully greedy after all the Benefits
they can receive as fuch, are yet al­
ways murmuring at and exclaiming a-
gainft thofe Vices and Inconveniencies,
that from the Beginning of the World
to this prefent Day, have been infepa-
rable from all Kingdoms and States that
ever were fam’d for Strength, Riches,
and Politenefs, at the fame time.
T o do this, I firfl: flightly touch up­
on fome of the Faults and Corruptions
the feveral Profcflions and Callings are
generally charged with. After that I
A 4 fhew
Ihe Preface.
fhew that thofe very Vices of every
particular Perfon by skilful Manage­
ment were made fubfervient to the
Grandeur and worldly Happinefs of die
whole. Laftly, by fetting forth what
of necefHty muft be the confequence of
general Honefty and Virtue and Nati­
onal Temperance, Innocence and Con­
tent, I demonftrate that if Mankind
could be cured of the Failings they are
Naturally guilty of, they would ceafe to
be capable of being rais’d into fuch
vaft, potent and polite Societies, as they
have been under the feveral great Com­
mon-wealths and Monarchies that have
flourifh’d fince the Creation.
If you ask me why I have done all
this, cut born? and what Good thefe
Notions will produce? truly,befides the
Reader’s Diverfion, I believe none at
all; but if I was ask’d what Naturally
ought to be expected from ’em, I wou’d
anfwer, That in the firft Place the
People, who continually find Fault with
others, by reading them, would be
taught
.
7he Preface
taught to look at home, and examin­
ing their own Confciences, be made* a-
fham’d o f always railing at what they
are more or lefs guilty of themfelves ,-
and that in the next, thole who are lo
fond of the Eale and Comforts, and
reap all the Benefits that are the
Confluence of a great and flourifhing
Nation, would learn more patiently to
fiibmk to thole Inconveniences, which
no Government upon Earth can reme­
dy, when they fhould fee the Impoffi-
bility of enjoying any. great fhare of the
firft, without partaking likewife of the
latter.
This I lay ought naturally to be ex­
pected from the publifhing of thefe
Notions, if People were to be made
better by any thing that could be laid
to them; but Mankind having for fo
many Ages remain’d ftill the fame,
notwithftanding the many inftru&ive
and elaborate Writings, by which their
Amendment has been endeavour’d, I
am not (o vain as to hope for bet­
. ter
.
The Preface
ter Succeis from (o inconfiderable a
Trifle.
Having allow’d the (mall Advantage
this little Whim is likely to produce^
I think my (elf oblig’d to (hew, that it
cannot be prejudicial to any; for what
is publilhed, if it does no good, ought
at lead to do no harm; In order to this
I have made (ome Explanatory Notes,
to which the Reader will find himfelf
refer’d in thole Paflages' that (eem to
be mod liable to Exceptions.
The Cenforious that never (aw the
Grumbling Hive, will tell me, that
whatever I may talk of the Fable, it
not taking up a Tenth part of the
Book, was only contriv’d to introduce
the Remarks $ that indead of clearing
up the doubtful or obfcure Places, I
have only pitch’d upon fuch as I had
a Mind to expatiate upon; and that far
from driving to extenuate the Errors
committed before, I have made Bad
worle, and (hewn my (elf a more bare-
fac’d Champion for Vice, in the ram­