head of the notables and of the Horticultural Committee shone
Mynheer van Systens, dressed in his richest habiliments.

The worthy man had done his best to imitate his favourite flower in the
sombre and stern elegance of his garments; and we are bound to record,
to his honour, that he had perfectly succeeded in his object.

Dark crimson velvet, dark purple silk, and jet-black cloth, with linen
of dazzling whiteness, composed the festive dress of the President, who
marched at the head of his Committee carrying an enormous nosegay, like
that which a hundred and twenty-one years later, Monsieur de Robespierre
displayed at the festival of "The Supreme Being."

There was, however, a little difference between the two; very different
from the French tribune, whose heart was so full of hatred and ambitious
vindictiveness, was the honest President, who carried in his bosom a
heart as innocent as the flowers which he held in his hand.

Behind the Committee, who were as gay as a meadow, and as fragrant as
a garden in spring, marched the learned societies of the town, the
magistrates, the military, the nobles and the boors.

The people, even among the respected republicans of the Seven Provinces,
had no place assigned to them in the procession; they merely lined the
streets.

This is the place for the multitude, which with true philosophic spirit,
waits until the triumphal pageants have passed, to know what to say of
them, and sometimes also to know what to do.

This time, however, there was no question either of the triumph of
Pompey or of Caesar; neither of the defeat of Mithridates, nor of the
conquest of Gaul. The procession was as placid as the passing of a flock
of lambs, and as inoffensive as a flight of birds sweeping through the
air.

Haarlem had no other triumphers, except its gardeners. Worshipping
flowers, Haarlem idolised the florist.

In the centre of this pacific and fragrant cortege the black tulip
was seen, carried on a litter, which was covered with white velvet and
fringed with gold.

The handles of the litter were supported by four men, who were from time
to time relieved by fresh relays,--even as the bearers of Mother Cybele
used to take turn and turn about at Rome in the ancient days, when she
was brought from Etruria to the Eternal City, amid the blare of trumpets
and the worship of a whole nation.

This public exhibition of the tulip was an act of adoration rendered
by an entire nation, unletter