The Parliament of Bees

The Parliament of Bees is the best-known of the works of the Elizabethan and Jacobean dramatist John Day.

The poem was entered into the Stationers' Register on 23 March 1641 and printed later in the year by the bookseller William Lee.

Being an allegorical description of the actions of good and bad men in these our days.

The manuscript's title is "An old manuscript containing the Parliament of Bees, found in a hollow tree in a garden in Hibla, in a strange language, and now faithfully translated into easy English verse by John Day, Cantabridg".

This satirical allegory of affairs ends with a Royal Progress by Oberon, who distributes justice to all.