74 
DELICACY. 
Tulips have had their worshippers in other 
parts of the world besides Turkey. It was 
from 1644 to 1647 that the tulipomania exer¬ 
cised its influence in Holland. In those years 
tulips fetched enormous prices and enriched 
many speculators. The most precious kind 
was that called semper augustus ; this they 
valued at 2,000 florins. They pretended that 
it was so rare, that there existed only two 
flowers of that species, one at Haarlem and 
the other at Amsterdam. A connoisseur, to 
procure one root, offered 4,600 florins, with 
a beautiful carriage, horses,- and equipments. 
Another gave twelve acres of land for a tulip 
root. We are also told of a person who had 
a very fine tulip; but, finding that there was 
a second root of the same nature at Haarlem, 
he repaired thither, and, having purchased it 
at a most extravagant cost, pounded it to 
pieces with his foot, exclaiming with exulta¬ 
tion, “Now my tulip is unique !” 
DELICACY. 
BLUE-BOTTLE CENTAURY. 
The beautiful blue of this flower, which is 
of the colour of an unclouded sky, has made 
it the emblem of a tender and delicate senti¬ 
ment, nourished by hope. According to an- 
