















64 LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS, 
plooming, in the middle of winter, intermin- 
gled with the hyacinth and the narcissus, and 
could not sufficiently admire their beauty. The 
name given to it by Europeans is supposed to 
originate in a corruption of the Persian word 
dulbend, the muslin head-covering adopted by 
the Mahometan nations, which we have trans- 
formed into turban. In a Persian of rank this 
article of dress is not unlike the swelling form 
of the Tulip. Moore, in his “ Veiled Prophet,” 
alludes to this resemblance : 
What triumph crowds the rich Divan to-day 
With turban’d heads of every hue and race, 
Bowing before that veil’d and awful face, 
Like tulip-beds of different shape and dyes, 
Bending beneath th’ invisible west wind’s sighs! 
On their first introduction into Europe, Tulips 
became especial favourites of the cultivators of 
flowers. From Vienna they soon spread into 
Italy, and were sent in 1600 to England. Ele- 
ven years later they were first seen in France, 
in the garden of the learned Pierese, at Aix, in 
Provence. In Holland, about the middle of 
the seventeenth century, a real mania for pos- 
sessing rare sorts seized all classes of persons. 






























