TULIP. 



the curious. It is found in garden paths and meadows. In 

 truth we have no positive knowledge of the Tremella. It is 

 a secret of Nature which is as Httle to be understood as the 

 " everybody says so " of the unlettered mind. 



TULIP {Tulipa ^j'/z'r^/rzV). — DECLARATION OF LOVE. 



On the banks of the Bosphorus, the Tulip represents 

 Inconstancy ; but it also is the emblem of the most violent 

 love. Those which grow naturally in the fields of Byzantium, 

 with petals of fiery red and centres black as though burnt, 

 say to a captive beauty, that one loves her, and, if she will 

 show herself to him for a moment, her appearance will make 

 his countenance as of fire, and his heart like coal. Thus a 

 young man fresh ox green from the hands of nature, yields an 

 homage without disguise ; but when fashioned by the world, 

 as the tulip is manipulated by the hands of the gardener, 

 he becomes more amiable, more lovely, but he has ceased 

 to love. 



The Tulip is so called from its shape resembling that of 

 the turban. Its emblematic power, if it does not sufficiently 

 express a declaration of love, may well speak of that mania 

 which exceeded the madness of the most ardent lover in 

 times past ; for under its influence men did the most insane 

 things. Poets have written in raptures of it. Hear 

 Thomson, 



'• Then comes the Tulip race, where beauty plays 

 Her idle freaks. From family diffused 

 To family, as flies the father dust, 

 20 1 



