114 A TOUR ROUND MY GARDEN, 



droll. Oh ! la, la, la, — no more laughing — ^it makes one unwell 

 to laugh in such a manner." 



M. Dulaurier, who was more calm, explained to Arnold that 

 about fifty years ago the amateurs of tulips had only tulips 

 with a yellow ground, streaked with red and brown; that 

 every tulip with a white ground was then rejected from all 

 coUeotions. At this period, as all imaginable follies had been 

 exhausted for tulips with a yellow ground, the amateurs 

 took it into their heads to begin again with an entirely new 

 series of tulips with a white ground. After long debates 

 among the revolutionists and the partisans of the ancient 

 tuhps, the white grounds prevailed, and the yellow groimds 

 were expelled -with disgrace from flower-beds, and publicly 

 treated in books and pamphlets as disgusting flowers. Such as 

 persisted in letting them bloom in their gardens, acquired the 

 names oifiewrichons and curiolets. As regards tulips of a single 

 colour, they have never been admitted by the above-mentioned 

 amateurs — either the partisans of the yellow grounds, or those 

 of the white grounds ; and as for your two tulips with the white 

 ground, they are' absurd, the petals being pointed. 



Then a conversation was commenced between M. Dulaurier 

 and M. Eeault. " How singular," said the latter, " was the 

 taste of our fathers ! here is bizarre noir, which our ancestors 

 considered cheap at ten crowns, and which I would not have 

 at any price, even in my poultry-yard, among my hens." 



" But," said M. Dulaurier, " is not this the tulipe de Maes- 

 tricht, which made such a noise in 1811 and 1812?" 



" Yes, it is quite pitiable! Say no more about it." 



At length the visit terminated, to the great joy of the un- 

 fortunate Arnold, who was able, when once alone, to give 

 himself up to his grief and his anger. 



From that day everything went on from bad to worse. 

 Neighbour Durut kept a wound constantly open in his heart, 

 memorem iram. In the space of four months, he brought five 

 actions against Arnold. Under pretence that the party-wall 

 required repairs, he had it pulled down and rebuilt at their 

 joint expense. In the midst of the fine season, he sent the brick- 

 layers into Arnold's garden, which they demolished. Arnold 

 made a basin to receive rain water. M. Durut found out that 

 the "Customs of Paris," article 217, does not permit sewers 



