n, and to glory, kissed the knees of the Grand Pensionary,
for whom he entertained the deepest veneration, and retired to his house
at Dort, rich in his well-earned repose, his twenty-eight years, an iron
constitution and keen perceptions, and his capital of more than four
hundred thousands of florins and income of ten thousand, convinced that
a man is always endowed by Heaven with too much for his own happiness,
and just enough to make him miserable.

Consequently, and to indulge his own idea of happiness, Cornelius began
to be interested in the study of 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 worship that flower, and
to make more of a cult of it than ever naturalists dared to make of the
human race for fear of arousing the jealousy of God.

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 Witt 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.

Cornelius, at that period, as William of Orange said, began to enjoy the
most perfect unpopularity. To his fellow citizens, the good burghers of
Dort, however, he did not appear in the lig