76 BRECK'S BOOK OF FLOWERS. 



and rarity of the flowers induced florists to give such extrava- 

 gant prices. But this Tulip trade was a mere gambling com- 

 merce, and the Tulips themselves were only nominally its 

 objects, many bargains being daily made, and the roots neither 

 given nor received. In Holland and Belgium the passion for 

 Tulips among the florists became an absolute madness. Many 

 thousand francs have often been given for a single root, and 

 the amount of this article of commerce, in 1637, rose to some 

 millions of francs. At the period of this effervescence, proper- 

 ties of considerable value were given for a single flower, and a 

 memorable monument of this outrageous folly is still exhibited 

 at Lille, in the Tulip Brewery, which, it is said, though valued 

 at 30,000 francs, ($6000,) was given by its proprietor for a 

 single root. At last the Tulip mania became so overpower- 

 ing that the government of Holland, convinced of the evil 

 effects which might result from it, were obliged to interfere, 

 and to pass laws of great severity against such transactions, 

 limiting the extent of the amount for any one bulb to 200 

 francs. To this day, a few of the choice and rare varieties 

 are priced at that sum in the Dutch catalogues. During this 

 Tulip fever, a merchant in Holland gave a herring to a sailor 

 who had brought him some goods. The sailor, seeing some 

 valuable Tulip roots- lying about, which he considered 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 greater sum 

 than if he had treated the Prince of Orange. 



Another laughable anecdote is told of an Englishman, who, 

 being in a Dutchman's garden, pulled a couple of Tulips, on 

 which he wished to make some botanical observations, and put 

 them in his pocket ; but he was apprehended as a thief, and 

 obliged to pay a considerable sum before he could obtain his 

 liberty. A bed of two hundred and fifty Tulips, of the finest 

 varieties, at the present time, cannot be obtained without a con- 

 siderable outlay ; and there are few, who have the means or 

 the fancy, who are willing to be at the expense. 



