c,yo pPant l^ore, Tsege^/, and "bijric/. 



Bakawali, says " the Tulip immersed itself in blood because of the 

 jealousy it entertained of her charming lips ! " When bidding adieu 

 to the fairy, Taj-ul-muluk says : ' I quit this garden carrying in my 

 heart, like the Tulip, the wound of unhappy love — I go, my head 



covered with dust, my heart bleeding, my breast fevered.' " The 



Tulip is supposed to have been brought from Persia to the Levant, 

 and it was introduced into Western Europe about the middle of 

 the sixteenth century by Busbeck, ambassador from the Emperor 

 of Germany to the Sublime Porte, who to his astonishment found 

 Tulips on the road between Adrianople and Constantinople 

 blooming in the middle of winter. In Europe, they soon became 



universal favourites, and were imported into England in 1577. In 



Holland, about the middle of the seventeenth century, a perfecfl 

 mania for possessing rare sorts seized all classes of persons. 

 From 1634 to 1637 inclusive all classes in all the great cities of 

 Holland became infedted with the Tulipomania. A single root of 

 a particular species, called the Viceroy, was exchanged, in the true 

 Dutch taste, for the following articles: — 2 lasts of Wheat, 4 of Rye, 

 4 fat oxen, 3 fat swine, 12 fat sheep, 2 hogsheads of wine, 4 tuns of 

 beer, 2 tons of butter, 1000 pounds of cheese, a complete bed, a suit 

 of clothes, and a silver beaker — value of the whole, 2500 florins. 

 These Tulips afterwards were sold according to the weight of the 

 roots. Four hundred perits (something less than a grain) of 

 Admiral Lief ken, cost 4400 florins ; 446 ditto of Admiral Van der Eyk, 

 1620 florins ; 106 perits Schilder cost 1615 florins ; 200 ditto Semper 

 Attgustns, 5500 florins ; 410 ditto Viceroy, 3000 florins, &c. The 

 species Semper Augustus has been often sold for 2000 florins ; and it 

 once happened that there were only two roots of it to be had, the 

 one at Amsterdam, and the other at Haarlem. For a root of this 

 species one agreed to give 4600 florins, together with a new carriage, 

 two grey horses, and a complete harness. Another agreed to give 

 for a root twelve acres of land ; for those who had not ready money 

 promised their moveable and immoveable goods, houses and lands, 

 houses and lands, cattle and clothes. The trade was followed not 

 only by mercantile people, but also by all classes of society. At 

 first, everyone won and no one lost. Some of the poorest people 

 gained, in a few months, houses, coaches and horses, and figured 

 away like the first chara(5ters in the land. In every town some 

 tavern was selecfled which served as an exchange, where high and 

 low traded in flowers, and confirmed their bargains with the most 

 sumptuous entertainments. They formed laws for themselves, and 

 had their notaries and clerks. During the time of the Tulipomania, a 

 speculator often offered and paid large sums for a root which he never 

 received, nor ever wished to receive. Another sold roots which 

 he never possessed or delivered. Often did a nobleman purchase 

 of a chimney-sweep Tulips to the amount of 2000 florins, and sell 

 them at the same time to a farmer, and neither the nobleman, 

 chimney-sweep, nor farmer had roots in their possession, or wished 



