TULIP. 373 



kinds in England were the Don Quevedo and the Valen- 

 tinier : the former was sold at two guineas ; tlie latter at 

 two and a half. 



" This," says Beckmann, " may be called the lesser Tuli- 

 pomania, which has given occasion to some laughable cir- 

 cumstances. When John Balthasar Schuppe was in Hol- 

 land, a merchant gave a herring to a sailor who had 

 brought him some goods. The sailor seeing some valuable 

 Tulip-roots lying about, which he considered as of little 

 consequence, thinking them to be onions, took some of 

 them unperceived, and ate them with his herring. Through 

 this mistake the sailor's breakfast cost the merchant a 

 much greater sum than if he had treated the Prince of 

 Orange." 



" Another laughable anecdote is told of an English- 

 man, who, being in a Dutchman's garden, pulled a couple 

 of Tulips, on which he wished to make some botanical ob- 

 servations, and put them into his pocket; but he was 

 apprehended as a thief, and obhged to pay a considerable 

 sum before he could obtain his liberty." 



In proportion as Tuhps blow later in the year, their 

 stems are longer, and consequently the more they require 

 support: their bending to the wind, and their resemblance 

 to the turbans from which they are named, are alluded to 

 by Mr. Moore in the following lines : 



" What triumph crowds the rich Divan to-day 

 With turban'd heads, of every hue and race, 

 Bowing before that veiled and awful face. 

 Like tulip-beds, of different shape and dyes. 

 Bending beneath th' invisible west wind's sighs !" 



Lalla Rookh. 



A Turkish poet, in an ode translated by Sir W. Jones, 

 compares " Roses and Tulips to the cheeks of beautiful 

 maids, in whose ears the pearls hang like drops of dew." 



