44 Gleanings in Old Garden Literature. 



The approximation to Holland through 

 the House of Orange, culminating in the 

 great political changes of I688, 1 affected 

 every department of horticulture, and intro- 

 duced the Dutch school, as it is still to be 

 seen in a few old-fashioned places, where a 

 corner is kept as a specimen of former ways 

 of thought, as bygone as a monastic ruin 

 among new buildings. 



This dynastic agency enriched our gar- 

 dens and conservatories with many rare 

 and beautiful species of flowers and bulbs, 

 and perhaps assisted in inoculating the 

 English collectors with the tulip-mania. 



Yet, while that bulb was carried to un- 

 precedented perfection in the Low Countries, 

 it had been a familiar object in English 

 gardens since the time of Elizabeth at 

 least; but when Bacon wrote, the culti- 

 vators of it either here or abroad had not 

 succeeded in procuring that wide variety of 



1 Dr. Walter Harris, physician to William III., 

 when he was Prince of Orange, printed, in 1699, an 

 account of His Britannic Majesty's palace and gardens 

 at Loo, with a plan of the grounds. It is a quarto 

 tract of considerable rarity. 



