64 THE BOUQUET. 



The pale, white Lily fading upon its stem, is a fit symbol of hope- 

 less love, and images the departed beauty and present desolation of 

 the heart, — yet the Lily is inadequate to the task of revelation, and 

 yellow Twolips, with their sad, sallow petals, can alone convey the 

 full expression of an unmated sentiment. There is something in the 

 *' sere and yellow leaf" of the Tidipa sylvestris, that tells of decay 

 and approaching death, and hence it is that yellow Twolips form a 

 universal emblem of hopeless love. 



About the middle of the seventeenth century, a "Tulip mania" 

 prevailed in Europe, some of the details of which seem quite incre- 

 dible. On the first introduction of Tulips into Europe from Persia, 

 via the Levant, they became special favorites with gardeners, and 

 in Holland, a mania for possessing rare kinds seized all classes of 

 people. This mania war based not upon a taste for the flowers, but 

 upon gambling speculations, such as prevailed to some extent in this 

 country a few years ago with morus muUicaidis. Semper Augustus 

 was the name given to the finest variety, and $2,000, a new carriage, 

 a pair of horses and harness, were given for a single bulb of this 

 kind ; and it is said that during the height of this mania, engage- 

 ments to the amount of $25,000 were made for a single root of a 

 particular sort. It is related that one man, possessing a yearly 

 income of $50,000 was reduced to beggary in the space of four 

 months, by purchasing these flowers ! The city of Harlaem alone 

 derived a revenue of fifty millions of dollars in the space of three 

 years, from this floral gambling. During these operations, the cul- 

 tivation of Tulips became an absorbing thought with florists, and 

 the species were greatly multiplied. Count Pappenheim boasted at 

 one time that his garden contained five thousand varieties. 



A great fondness for Tulips still prevails in Holland. Upwards of 

 three thousand dollars were lately paid by a florist of Amsterdam, 

 for the bulb of a new species called " The Citadel of Antwerp." 



In all ages of the world, a Twolip mania has prevailed, under 

 the influence of which men have made the most costly sacrifices of 



