66 HISTORY OF THE TULIP. 



stars which look down upon them for number ; galleries, amphi- 

 theatres, and pagodas, are erected, and covered with lights, that 

 form garlands of emeralds, sapphires, rubies, and diamonds, en- 

 twined with lights that present to the imagination the sparkling of 

 every jewel which nature has produced or art polished : showers of 

 rose-water refresh the air, and the very tapers shed the most exqui- 

 site odours ; the banks' are covered with carpets, whose colours are 

 as vivid as the clouds which surround the setting sun ; pyramids of 

 cooling fruit meet the eye at every turn, while innumerable birds of 

 song, whose golden cages are suspended by strings of pearls, seem 

 to mistake the scene for the arrival of Phoebus, and being awoke by 

 the delights of the feast, mix their warbling with the melodious 

 sound of instruments which seem touched by invisible musicians. 

 In the centre of the seraglio, a splendid pavilion shades the Sultan, 

 who carelessly reposes on the skins of the most costly and curious 

 animals, with all the nobles of his court in their richest robes and 

 shawls, seated at his feet to behold the winding dances of the lovely 

 women of his court, in all the luxurious display of their light and 

 sparkling attire, who sometimes encircle, and at others glide around 

 the vases of Tulips, whose beauty they celebrate in song and action. 

 During these festivals, Cupid often urges his votaries to dare the 

 bowstring of the Sultan, by making a sighing Selim present a 

 Tulip to a languishing Fatima. 



The Tulip was sent, in the year 1554, by Auger Gislen Busbec, 

 from Constantinople to Vienna, with the remark that the Turks 

 charged a high price for them. Conrad Gesner says, that he saw 

 the Tulip plant in the year 1559, in the garden of John Henry 

 Hawart, at Augsburg. The Tulip was first introduced into England 

 in the reign of Elizabeth. 



It is stated in Martin's edition of Miller, that a merchant of 

 Antwerp had a cargo of Tulip-roots as early as 1562, and taking 

 them for a sort of onion, ordered some to be roasted under the em- 

 bers, and ate them with oil and vinegar, like common onions; the 

 remainder he set in the kitchen garden, amongst the cabbages, where 

 most of them perished, except a few that George Rye, a merchant of 

 Mechlin, took under his care, which produced a variety of beautiful 

 flowers. 



It is also related, that a sailor, having taken some goods to 



