After several parallels between great men，which appeared to me altogether groundless and chimerical，I was surprised to hear one say，that he valued the Black Prince more than the Duke of Venoms.How the Duke of Vendosme should become a rival of Black Prince，I couldn’t conceive;and was more startled when I heard a second affirm，with great vehemence，that if the Emperor of Germany was not going off，he should like him better than either of them.He added，that though the season was so changeable，the Duke of Marlborough was in blooming beauty.I was wondering to myself from whence they had received this odd intelligence：especially when I heard them mention the names of several other great generals，as the Prince of Hess and the King of Sweden，who，they said，were both running away.To which they added，what I entirely agreedwith them in，that the Crown of France was very weak，but that the Marshal Villars still kept his colors.At last，one of them told the company，if they would go along with him，he would show them a chimney-sweeper and a painted lady in the same bed，which he was sure would very much please them.The shower which had driven them as well as myself into the house，was now over;and as they were passing by me into the garden，I asked them to let me be one of their company.
The gentleman of the house told me，if I delighted in flowers，it would be worth my while;for that he believed he could show me such a blow of tulips as was not to be matched in the whole country.
I accepted the offer，and immediately found that they had been talking in terms of gardening，and that the kings and generals they had mentioned were only so many tulips，to which the gardeners，according to their usual custom，had given such high titles and appellations of honor.
I was very much pleased and astonished at the glorious show of these gay vegetables，that arose in great profusion on all the banks about us.Sometimes I considered every leaf as an elaborate piece of tissue，in which the threads and fibers were woven together into different configurations，which gave a different coloring to the light as it glanced on the several parts of the surface.Sometimes I considered the whole bed of tulips，according to the notion of the greatest mathematician and philosopher that ever lived，as a multitude of optic instruments，designed for the separating light into all those various colors of which it is composed.