[50] The principal works in which an account of this Tulipomania is to be found are,--Eerste Tzamenspraak tuschen Waermondt en Gaargoed nopens deopkomst en ondergang van Flora. Amsterdam, 1643, 12mo.--Meterani Novi, or New History of the Netherlands, part fourth. Amsterdam, 1640, folio, p. 518, from which Marquard, De Jure Mercatorum, p. 181, has taken his information.--Naauwkeurige beschryving der Aardgewassen, door Abraham Munting. Leyden en Utrecht, 1696, folio, p. 907.--De Koophandel van Amsterdam, door Le Long, ii. p. 307.--Le Negoce d’Amsterdam, par J. P. Ricard. A Rouen, 1723, 4to, p. 11.--Breslauer Samlung von Natur- und Kunst-Geschichten, 1721, May, p. 521.--Francisci Schaubühne, vol. ii. p. 639.--Tenzel, Monatliche Unterredungen, 1690, November, p. 1039.--Année Littéraire, 1773, xv. p. 16.--Martini Zeiler Miscellanea, p. 29.--Christ. Funcii Orbis Politicus, p. 879. [51] A perit is a small weight less than a grain.--TRANS. [52] [How well the author’s remarks apply to the recent mania in railway scrip!] [53] In the year 1769, the dearest kinds in England were _Don Quevedo_ and _Valentinier_; the former cost 2_l._ 2_s._ and the latter 2_l._ 12_s._ 6_d._ See Weston’s Botanicus Universalis, part 2. In the German catalogues none of the prices are so high. The name _Semper Augustus_ is not once to be found in new catalogues. [They still remain flowers of considerable value among florists; for, according to Mr. Hogg, a moderate collection of choice bulbs cannot now be purchased for a sum much less than 1000_l._, at the usual prices.--See Chambers’ Journal, March 15, 1845.] [54] Blainville’s Travels. [55] Introd. in Hist. Lit. iii. 3, p. 92. [56] That he might relax and refresh his mind, worn out by study, he amused himself with the cultivation of his garden and of flowers, and particularly of tulips, the roots of which he was at great pains to procure from all parts of the world, by means of Dodonæus, Clusius, and Boisotus, men singularly well-skilled in horticulture, and by others of his friends. Here, at a distance from civil tumult, with a cheerful countenance and placid eye, he sauntered through his plants and flowers, contemplating sometimes one declining, sometimes another springing up, and forgetting all his cares amidst the pleasure which these objects afforded him. See the Life of Lipsius, prefixed to the edition of his works printed at Antwerp in 1637. This is confirmed by what Lipsius says himself in his book De Constantia, ii. 2, 3, in praise of gardening.