Page:The black tulip (IA 10892334.2209.emory.edu).pdf/56

 where he possessed every element of what alone was happiness to him.

He studied plants and insects, collected and classified the Flora of all the Dutch islands, arranged the whole entomology of the province, on which he wrote a treatise, with plates drawn by his own hands; and at last, being at a loss what to do with his time, and especially with his money, which went on accumulating at a most alarming rate, he took it into his head to select for himself, from all the follies of his country and of his age, one of the most elegant and expensive,—he became a tulip-fancier.

It was the time when the Dutch and the Portuguese, rivalling each other in this branch of horticulture, had begun to idolise and almost worship that flower, which originally had come from the East.

Soon people from Dort to Mons began to talk of Mynheer Van Baerle’s tulips; and his beds, pits, drying-rooms, and drawers of bulbs were visited, as the galleries and libraries of Alexandria were by illustrious Roman travellers.

Van Baerle began by expending his yearly revenue in laying the groundwork of his collection, after which he broke in upon his new guilders to bring it to perfection. His exertions, indeed, were crowned with a most magnificent result: he produced three new tulips, which he called the “Jane,” after his mother; the “Van Baerle,” after his father; and the “Cornelius,” after his godfather; the other names have escaped us, but the fanciers will be sure to find them in the catalogues of the times.

In the beginning of the year 1672, Cornelius De Witte came to Dort for three months, to live at his old family mansion; for not only was he born in that city, but his family had been resident there for centuries.