DECLARATION OF LOVE. 
TULIP. 
Then conies the tulip race, where beauty plays 
Her idle freaks; from family diffused 
To family, as flies the father dust, 
The varied colours run ; and while they break 
On the charmed eye, the exulting florist marks, 
With secret pride, the wonders of his hand. 
THOMSON. 
On the banks of the Bosphorus the tulip 
is the emblem of inconstancy; hut it is also 
the syinbol of the most violent love. The 
wild tulip is found in the fields of Byzantium, 
with its crimson petals and golden heart. 
The petals are compared to fire, and the yel¬ 
low heart to brimstone; and when presented 
by an admiring swain to his mistress, it is 
supposed to declare, that such is the effect of 
the fair one’s beauty, that if he sees her only 
for a moment, his face will be as fire, and his 
heart will be reduced to a coal. 
The tulip was called tulipan, or turban , 
from the similarity of its corolla to the su¬ 
perb head-dress of the barbarous Turks, who 
almost worshipped its elegant stem and the 
beautiful vase-like flower which surmounts it. 
They never ceased to admire the gorgeous 
hues of gold and silver, of purple, lilac, and 
violet, of deep crimson and delicate rose 
colour, with every possible variety of tint, 
which are harmoniously blended together and 
