Tulip. 
20Q 
nients to the amount of £"5,000 were entered into for a third 
root of a very peculiar species ! 
To such an extent did this mania at length extend, that 
one person, who had possessed an income of more than .£3,000 
per annum, was reduced to poverty in a few months through 
speculating in these flowers. A connoisseur in these valuables, 
possessing a very magnificent specimen, heard that there ex¬ 
isted one of a similar kind at Haarlem. He journeyed to that 
city, purchased the rival blossom at an enormous outlay, and 
as soon as it became his, crushed it to pulp with his foot, 
crying out in ecstacy, “ Now my tulip is unique !” 
Some still more ludicrous stories are related in connection 
with this singular mental epidemic ; for instance, one tale runs 
that whilst the mania was at its height, a sailor, going into a 
merchant’s counting-house, saw a bulb which he mistook for 
an onion; he popped it into his pocket, and took it off to aid 
him in relishing a red herring which he had got for dinner. 
The merchant, missing the bulb, which was that of a high- 
priced tulip, suspected the sailor, rushed after him, and caught 
him—just finishing his meal off the ill-flavoured onion ! The 
poor sailor, who for once had dined like a prince, expiated his 
mistake by a six months’ imprisonment. 
Another unfortunate offender was a gentleman who called 
on a florist, and being shown into the conservatory, beguiled 
his leisure by pealing the several coats off a bulb that he found 
there, and by then cutting the remainder into shreds. Ere 
long in comes the proprietor, and to his dismay sees the frag¬ 
ments of the root, which proved to be that of a Van Eyck, 
then deemed one of the most precious of all tulip varieties ! 
In vain the unintentional criminal expostulated ; the enraged 
owner dragged him before a magistrate, who fined him 4,000 
florins for his freak, and sent him to prison until he procured 
securities for the amount. 
To such an extent did this floral gambling spread that, it 
is stated, the city of Haarlem derived ten millions sterling 
from it during the three years that it existed. Of course the 
invariable panic came at last. Government was appealed to 
to impede its course, but in vain. Down came the aerial for¬ 
tunes with a crash, ruining hundreds of innocent people, and 
shaking the national credit to its very foundations. This 
14 
