THE ARISTOCRAT OF THE BULB GARDENS 97 



a wide and vague locality — have all been suggested 

 as the source from which we derived it. But 

 from wherever it came to us, it seems likely that 

 the original home of the bulb was Persia ; from 

 whence probably it spread to all the above 

 countries, if not before historic times, at least 

 very long ago. Tulips have long been known and 

 admired in Persia ; they were clearly as much a 

 commonplace of poetry in the time of Omar 

 Khayyam as the nightingale and the rose — 



the Tulip for her wonted sup 

 Of Heavenly Vintage lifts her chalice up — 



he writes, or we presume he writes, since the lines 

 with very little variation appear in all editions of 

 the Quatrains. 



The tulip is said in the East to be regarded 

 as a symbol of declared love. The writer of my 

 grandmother's Language of FloweYs is less agree- 

 able in his symbolism. " On account of the 

 elegance of its form," he says, "the beauty of its 

 colours, but its want of fragrance and other useful 

 qualities, this flower has been considered as an 

 appropriate symbol of a female who possesses no 

 other recommendation than personal charms." 

 Which is rather severe, and inclines one to suggest 



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