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66 LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
bling the city of Haerlem is said to have derived 
not less than ten millions sterling in the space 
of three years ! 
It is related that, during the prevalence of 
this mania, a sailor, having brought some goods 
to a merchant who cultivated Tulips on specu- 
lation, had a herring given to him for his break- 
fast, with which he walked away. As he passed 
through the garden, he saw some roots lying 
there, and, mistaking them for onions, he picked 
them up and ate them with his herring. At 
this moment the merchant, coming forward and 
discovering what had happened, exclaimed in 
despair, “ Inconsiderate man, thou hast ruined 
me with thy breakfast! I could have regaled 
a. king with it.” 
If we may believe recent accounts, this fond- 
ness for Tulips stili prevails in Holland to such a 
degree that a sum equal to £640 was lately paid 
by Mr. Vanderninck, a florist of Amsterdam, for- 
merly a captain in the Dutch navy, for the bulb of 
a new species called “The Citadel of Antwerp.” 
From the extraordinary favour thus shewn 
to the Tulip, the species were soon multiplied 
to such a degree, that in 1740, the Baden-Dur- 
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