FLORA DOMESTICA. 



this trade is to be found in the first volume of Beckmann's 

 History of Inventions. 



Persons fond of flowers, however, particularly in Hol- 

 land, have paid very high prices for Tulips, as the cata- 

 logues of flowers show. In the year 1769 the dearest 

 kinds in England were the Don Quevedo and the Valen- 

 tinier : the former was sold at two guineas ; the 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 obliged to pay a considerable 

 sum before he could obtain his liberty."" 



In proportion as Tulips 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, 



