land, and those not of the best. One
was in the possession of a dealer in Amsterdam, and the other in Harlaem.
So anxious were the speculators to obtain them, that one person offered
the fee-simple of twelve acres of building-ground for the Harlaem tulip.
That of Amsterdam was bought for 4600 florins, a new carriage, two grey
horses, and a complete suit of harness. Hunting, an industrious author of
that day, who wrote a folio volume of one thousand pages upon the
tulipomania, has preserved the folio wing list of the various articles,
and their value, which were delivered for one single root of the rare
species called the _Viceroy_:

florins.
Two lasts of wheat 448
Four lasts of rye 558
Four fat oxen 480
Eight fat swine 240
Twelve fat sheep 120
Two hogsheads of wine 70
Four tuns of beer 32
Two tuns of butter 192
One thousand lbs. of cheese 120
A complete bed 100
A suit of clothes 80
A silver drinking-cup 60
------
2500

People who had been absent from Holland, and whose chance it was to return
when this folly was at its maximum, were sometimes led into awkward
dilemmas by their ignorance. There is an amusing instance of the kind
related in Blainville's _Travels_. A wealthy merchant, who prided himself
not a little on his rare tulips, received upon one occasion a very
valuable consignment of merchandise from the Levant. Intelligence of its
arrival was brought him by a sailor, who presented himself for that
purpose at the counting-house, among bales of goods of every description.
The merchant, to reward him for his news, munificently made him a present
of a fine red herring for his breakfast. The sailor had, it appears, a
great partiality for onions, and seeing a bulb very like an onion lying
upon the counter of this liberal trader, and thinking it, no doubt, very
much out of its place among silks and velvets, he slily seized an
opportunity and slipped it into his pocket, as a relish for his herring.
He got clear off with his prize, and proceeded to the quay to eat his
breakfast. Hardly was his back turned when the merchant missed his
valuable _Semper Augustus_, worth three thousand florins, or about 280l.
st