Maybe this was not quite in accordance with the true state of things in
general, and of Isaac Boxtel's feelings in particular. It is certainly
astonishing what rich comfort great minds, in the midst of momentous
catastrophes, will derive from the consolations of philosophy.

But alas! What was the agony of the unfortunate Boxtel on seeing the
windows of the new story set out with bulbs and seedlings of tulips for
the border, and tulips in pots; in short, with everything pertaining to
the pursuits of a tulip-monomaniac!

There were bundles of labels, cupboards, and drawers with compartments,
and wire guards for the cupboards, to allow free access to the air
whilst keeping out slugs, mice, dormice, and rats, all of them very
curious fanciers of tulips at two thousand francs a bulb.

Boxtel was quite amazed when he saw all this apparatus, but he was not
as yet aware of the full extent of his misfortune. Van Baerle was known
to be fond of everything that pleases the eye. He studied Nature in all
her aspects for the benefit of his paintings, which were as minutely
finished as those of Gerard Dow, his master, and of Mieris, his
friend. Was it not possible, that, having to paint the interior of a
tulip-grower's, he had collected in his new studio all the accessories
of decoration?

Yet, although thus consoling himself with illusory suppositions, Boxtel
was not able to resist the burning curiosity which was devouring him.
In the evening, therefore, he placed a ladder against the partition
wall between their gardens, and, looking into that of his neighbour Van
Baerle, he convinced himself that the soil of a large square bed, which
had formerly been occupied by different plants, was removed, and the
ground disposed in beds of loam mixed with river mud (a combination
which is particularly favourable to the tulip), and the whole surrounded
by a border of turf to keep the soil in its place. Besides this,
sufficient shade to temper the noonday heat; aspect south-southwest;
water in abundant supply, and at hand; in short, every requirement to
insure not only success but also progress. There could not be a doubt
that Van Baerle had become a tulip-grower.

Boxtel at once pictured to himself this learned man, with a capital
of four hundred thousand and a yearly income of ten thousand guilders,
devoting all his intellectual and financial resources to the cultivation
of the tulip. He foresaw his neighbour's success, and he felt such