Introduction

Born in Rotterdam in 1670, Bernard de Mandeville (he dropped the “de” in later life) studied philosophy at Leyden and then turned to medicine, which he practiced for some years. Travels took him to England. He liked that country, stayed, learned the language, married, and made his reputation there. Although his books were extremely successful and his fame considerable, little is known about the details of his life, but he seems to have had some connections with the nobility and to have been good company. He died in 1733.

Mandeville is best known for one work. The Fable of the Bees. The book began as a poem called “The Grumbling Hive: or, Knaves Turned Honest,” which was first peddled in the streets in 1705 as a little pamphlet. The poem tells of a prosperous beehive, with a government neither tyrannical nor democratic, with developed sciences, industries, armies, and arts.

Some of the bees were openly crooked – the forgers, pimps, thieves, and quacks – but there were cheats secretly at work in every trade, calling, and profession.