The natural history, ancient and modern, of precious stones and gems, and of the precious metals

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IS8

f

1^

PRECIOUS STONES

PRECIOUS METALS.

Charles the Bold's Diamond.

The Sancy, 53 c.

FrotUiapiece.

THE NATURAL HISTORY

PRECIOUS STONES

AND OP THE

PRECIOUS METALS.

Bt C. W. king, M.A.,

FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE ; AUTHOR OF ' ANTIQUE GBMS/ ETC

'lOVI CVSTODI ET QENiO THESAVRORVM."

LONDON:

BELL & DALDY, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.

CAMBRIDGE : DEIGHTON, BELL, & CO.

1867.

/88> /, /^.

is

LONDON; PBINTBD BT WILLIAM CLOWBS AND SONS^ STAMFOHD 8TBEET.
AND CHASING CBOSB.

PEEFACE.

The high commendation lavished by all reviewers, both
scientific and literary, upon the First Edition of this Trea-
tise, and its rapid exhaustion by the reading public, have
attested in the most gratifying manner the success of my
attempt to present in a compendious form the archaeology,
combined with the present history, of the things that in all
ages have been accounted the truest representatives, or
rather the actual constituents, of value, the most sought-
after of all decorations for the person, the most multiplied
as well as most enduring vehicles of the creative art of
antiquity in all its phases, and therefore the most trust-
worthy (when they can be read) of all historical monu-
ments — ^things too that before the decay of Faith marking
these " latter days," were ever regarded as the chosen
dwelling-places of the astral influences, of those Virtues
from on high whose working in them secured the blessing
of heaven, the favour of man, for their fortunate possessors.
The novelty of the undertaking — its thus combining in one
the ancient, mediaeval, and modem views of the '* Science
of Precious Stones " — ^was perhaps its foremost recommend-
ation ; its execution, however (for once less satisfactory to
the author than to his readers), fell very short of my
wishes, and of the idea before my mind in the first sketch-
ing out of my plan.
(M.) a

VI PREFACE.

But now that a Second Edition is called for, the favonr-
aljle appreciation of my former labours, with all their
shortcomings, has, to my great satisfaction, encouraged the
publishers to concede a somewhat more liberal allowance
of space for the treatment of a subject that most literally

** -^stuat angusto conclusns limite "
of a single volume.

I have therefore once again gone with a will into the
mines of antiquity to dig out fresh ore — no fear of exhaust-
ing the endless veins; have again wandered lovingly
through the true Aladdin's Garden of Eastern literature,
plucking its fruits, which be all manner of precious stones
— no fear of thinning the teeming crop ; or, to descend to
prose, have carefully referred to my copious stock of notes
and collectanea, and selected much therefrom that struck
me as calculated to increase the interest and the utility of
numerous portions of the work before me. To do this pro-
perly many of the sections had to be remodelled and
entirely re- written : whilst other articles, altogether fresh,
were considered, from their connexion with history or with
art, of sufficient importance to claim admittance within my
now extended limits. I am under no apprehension of in-
curring the charge of " book-making ;" every true scholar,
every mineralogist, will perceive, by casting a glance into
the numerous fields I. have in the treatment of my subject
but slightly opened out, that the whole of my space might
have been profitably devoted to the consideration of a
single one of its articles, for example, the " Argentum," or
the " Adamas." It has also appeared to me a more natural
arrangement of my matter to class together with the Pre-
cious Metals those gems, including the Pearl, that more

PREFACE, vii

specially arrc^te to themselves the same title of honour,
and, with the monuments of antiquity which combine
them all, to let them occupy an entire volume. The other
mineral productions whose highest value lies in their sub-
servience to the inspirations of art, but whose estimation
as jewels is entirely dependent upon the caprice of fashion^
are now separated and passed in review under the generic
appellation of " Gems/* This distinction, it is true, is not
perfectly expressive of their character, but comes the
nearest to it of any the poverty of our language can supply.
The French, of all others the neatest and the most exact
for the definite expression of every idea, possesses in this
case also the required distinction of " Pierres Pr^cieuses "
and "Pierres Fines." But in English "Fine Stones,"
though some mineralogists have attempted to naturalize It
in this most desiderated sense, would convey a totally dif-
ferent idea to the majority of readers. And this division
suggests to me the prefatory remark, true to the letter,
novel as it will sound to many, that the student of antique
Glyptics brings to the discussion of the latter portion of
our subject an immense superiority over the actual trading
jeweller of the present age in the extent and multifarious-
ness of his experience. The latter, tied down by the
actual close restrictions of the mode, has only to deal
with the four or five species monopolising at present the
title of " Precious," and to make himself acquainted with
tibeir characteristics alone : the dactyliologist, on the other
hand, has perpetually to examine, and to discriminate
between, the varied productions of ancient India — produo-
tions held of old in almost equal estimation with the first
class, as in truth they well deserved from the recommenda-

a2

vui PBEFAGE.

tion of their beauty, and their facile subservience to the
most elegant of arts. He has constantly occasion to admire
that Proteus of the gem family — the Indian Garnet — in
all its changeful shapes of Almandine, Cinnamon-stone,
Guamaccino, and Pyrope: the transparent Calcedony in
its emerald, purple, sanguine, and sapphirine disguises ; the
splendid dyes of the Arabian Jasper ; and last, not least,
the Agate, in its normal variegation, or regularly stratified
and taking the name of the Onyx and Sardonyx. The
jeweller of to-day can discern no difference between the
vile German silex artificially stained with gaudy mere-
tricious hues, and the precious Indian export of ** the land
of Havilah ;" the student of antique art is enabled at once
to detect and to appreciate the distinction.

It is gratifying to me to find that the highest scientific
authority has sanctioned several of my attempts at identi-
fying the present representatives of antique names, so
strangely bandied about and misappropriated during the
long night of the Middle Ages (which formed one of
the chief features of my scheme); for example, in my
tracing the different species of Pliny's " Adamas " up to
the various forms of the native crystal ; my indicating the.
true nature of the ancient Amethystus, Callaina, Hyacin-
thus, the Jaspis with its subdivisions, the Lyncurium,
Lychnis, Murrhina, the Onyx of the Greeks, Sandaster,
Sphragides, &c. Of these attributions of mine the greater
part were original, and proposed for the first time in this
treatise ; one or two were suggested by the timid conjectures
of previous writers, but never before established upon a basis
of sound deductions. It is not therefore a matter of wonder
that a few out of their large number should have been dis-

PBEFACE. IX

puted; nevertheless, in all these cases, upon again accu-
rately verifying the grounds of my previous decisions, I
have not discovered any reason for reversing them.

These works of Nature, by their beauty and the won-
derful symmetiy of their primary forms, have from the
very dawn of science aroused the speculations of inquiring
minds, which discovered in them the special manifestation
of the creative energy of some higher power. The subtle
theories framed to account for such phenomena seem to me
too ingenious and too curious to be allowed to rest in the
oblivion to which they have been so long consigned, and
therefore, in completing the " Introduction," I have annexed
a summary of the most important amongst them, which
probably will not prove to the reader one of the least
interesting of my additions. These elaborate hypotheses
do not, certainly, carry conviction along with them when
they come to be reduced to their real principles ; never-
theless, modem science, with all its formidable array of
electrical, magnetical, and polarizing instruments, test-
tubes, and hydrometers, has hitherto failed to supply any
answer of much more intrinsic worth when stripped of its
pompous cloak of technical terms.

I have also added largely to the number of quotations,
and descriptions of relics illustrating the relations of this
subject to history and to art, and in so doing have gone
further into the details of both traditional and long-
celebrated jewels : points that give an interest and a value
of its own to this department of Mineralogy. Another ad-
dition required for the completeness of the modem side of
my undertaking is the view now inserted of the most
remarkable fluctuations in the selling-price of precious

X PBEFACE.

stones, from the earliest times of which any notices can be
arrived at down to the present day.

The notion of embellishing my pages with representations
of the materials treated of therein, as vivified by antique
genius, in the form of engraved gems, has been highly
approved of by persons of taste. In the present edition I
have inserted an almost entirely new and larger series, in
the execution of which Mr. E. B. Utting has in many in-
stances surpassed even his former excellent reproductions
of Glyptic work. They are also now so arranged as to
illustrate in some measure the subject of the articles which
they decorate.

These contributions towards the completeness of my
scheme — as large as untoward circumstances permit — these
advances towards my idea of a perfect work — an idea that
always recedes before me as fresh materials pour in from
all quarters, and new sources of knowledge continually
open forth — ^will, as I trust, render the present edition
more instructive and entertaining to the reader, as well as
more deserving of the praises bestowed upon its pre-
decessor.

C. W. KING.

Trimiy CcUege, March, 1867.

( ^i )

CONTENTS.

PAoa

MiNEBALOGT OF THE Ancients 1

Adamas: Diamond 39

Argentum: Silveb , 119

CiELATUBA : Antique Plate 139

Aubum: Gold .. 170

Caebunculus : EuBT AND Gabnet 225

Hyacinthus : Sapphibb : Pbecious CoBUNDUM 242

Mabgabita: Peabl 258

Smabagdus : Emebald 276

Jeweley OF the Ancients 306

Sacbed Jewels ,. .. 320

Ubim AND Thummim 326

Chemical Analysis OP Pbecious Stones 341

Weights OF labgest KNOWN Diamonds, &o 347

Foemeb AND pbesent PBicEs OP Pbecious Stones .. .. 350

Descbiption OF Woodcuts 354

Index 357

NATURAL HISTORY

OJf

PRECIOUS STONES AND THE PRECIOUS
METALS.

INTRODUCTION.

MINERALOGY OF TEE ANCIENTS.

Pliny has quoted by name numerous writers upon Mine-
ralogy, for the most part Greeks, from whom he drew in
great measure the materials for Books xxxvi. and xxxvii.
of his ' Natural History/ The principal amongst these, to
judge by the character of his quotations, and his incidental
notices of the authors themselves, were the following : —
SotacuSy cited as " the most ancient wiiter on the subject "
(xxxvi. 38): and who appears to have been a physician
at the Persian court, like Democedes or Ctesias, for he
stated in his work that he had seen the wondrous gem,
the Dracontia, " apud Eegem," " in the possession of the
King," who being designated by this sole title, could, in
accordance with Grecian usage, have been no other than
the King of Persia. Sotacus therefore must have flourished
before the Macedonian Conquest Theophraatas^ Aristotle's
successor, much of whose little treatise Pliny has incor-
porated into his Book xxxvi.* Sudines and Zenoihemia, his

* In the quotations fix)m Pliny throughout this work, the old-
established division of the chapters has been observed; although the
text followed is that of the last editor, Jan's. That scholar by the aid

(M) B

2 NATURAL HISTOET OF PBECI0U8 8T0NE8, &c,

main antliorities as regards the true Precious Stones : the
latter writer had evidently visited India, as may be deduced
from his account of the Sardonyx, its proper localities, and
the mode in ^ which it was employed by the natives.
Nicander ; perhaps meaning the physician, author of the
' Theriaca,' into whose poetical pharmacopoeia gems entered
largely by reason of their supposed inherent virtues. JDemo-
critvs, the philosopher of Abdera, who had devoted himself,
besides speculative philosophy, to the study of Natural
History in all its branches. Zoroastres, a Magian as his
name informs us, quoted by Pliny for his definitions of the
"Daphn8Ba" and "Exebenus" and subsequently by Mar-
bodus, concerning the virtues of CoraL That, however, he
did not confine himself to the elucidation of the mystical
properties of stones, appears from his notice of the Exe-
benus, " that it was used in the arts for burnishing gold."
Cdllistraiua, who treated of the Precious Stones exclusively.
Metrodorm ScepaivSf who seems to have been the celebrated
confidant and counsellor of King Mithridates, that great
amateur in gems. Zachalias of Babylon, who had dedicated
to the same monarch a treatise upon the mystic virtues ot
Stones : " describing their influence on the fortunes of man-
kind." He may have been a Jew, the name being Zachariah
Grecized; the Persian alphabet having but one character
for the L and the E. Archdaus, " who was King of Cappa-
docia," and therefore must be the father-in-law of Heroi
the Great, mentioned by Josephus. Bocchua, an African
by his name, and probably the Second, King of Getulia
and Mauritania, Antony's ally at the battle of Actium.
King Jvba IL of Numidia, son-in-law of Cleopatra, and

of the lately discovered Bamberg MS. (of the tenth century) has been
enabled to correct many of the innumerable corruptions and yet more
mischievous "emendations" which had previously rendered much of
tills part of the * Natural History * perfectly unintelligible.

INTRODUCTION, 3

confirmed in his dominions by Angastns ; completing the
trio of royal mineralogists, all contemporaries. The loss
of Juba's treatise, considering his geographical position
and his opportunities for obtaining exact information (the
succeeding articles will show how large a proportion of
the "coloured" stones the Eomans drew from the North
African provinces), is perhaps the greatest we have to
deplore in this sad catalogue of desido^ata. Latest of all
came Asambas,* apparently of Punic extraction, and Pliny's
contemporary, for he cites him as " qui de his nuperrime
scripsit, vivitque adhuc Asarubas" (xxxviL 11). His
African origin may be inferred not merely from his name
but also from his being quoted as to the existence of a
lake in Mauritania that produced Amber.

Of all this extensive literature (Pliny cites by name
thirty-six authors in all), nothing whatever is extant
beyond the meagre treatise of Theophrastus (composed
shortly before b.c. 300), and the elegant, but, in a scientific
point of view, almost valueless poem of the 'Pseudo-
Orpheus,' the date of which is quite conjectural. ITieo-
phrastus has treated chiefly of the mineral substances used
in the arts, their supposed origin, nature, and localities ;
briefly noticing, as secondary matters, the few Precious
Stones known to the Greeks of his age. This book of his
being the sole relic left to exhibit the state of mineralogical
knowledge amongst his coimtrymen, a summary of its con-
tents will not be out of place here.

Sections 1-5 treat of the origin of Stones, their diffe-
rences, and qualities; 6, 7, of Marbles; 8-16, of fusible
Minerals, Copper-mines, Pumice, and Coal (anthracite) ; 23,
24, of Gems used for signets: the Sard, Jasper, Sapphirus,
Emerald ; 26-29 contain the description of these Gems and

♦ "Our-God-is-Baal."

B 2

4 NATURAL HISTOBY OF PBECI0U8 8T0NE8, &o.

their varieties, also of the Carbuncle, Lyncurium, and
Amber ; 30-35, of the inferior Grems, also used for signets ;*
36-39, of Pearls, Coral, Grold and Silver ore.

The Second Part of the Treatise describes the Earths
used in the arts. Ochres of various colours, and other pig-
ments; 40-42, of the composition of Minerals in general:
as formed either of earth or sand, or lime, and of their
distinctive properties ; 43, 44, of Gem-engraving and the
substances used therein: the Armenian-stone (Emery);
45-47, of Touchstone, and the Assaying of Gold ; 48, 49,
of Earths in general. Glass, Copper-ore, Bitumen ; 50-55,
of Ochres and Azure; 66, 57, White-lead and Verdigris;
58-60, of Cinnabar and Quicksilver; 61-63, of Pigments,
and where found; 64-69, of Gypsum and Stucco-
work.

The treatises, however, of Sudines, Sotacus, and Zeno-
themis were, as Pliny's extracts show, confined to the
subject of the Precious Stones and Gems. Sotacus must
have been earlier than Alexander's period, for the reason
above adduced; the others may be supposed to have
flourished under the Ptolemies, when Alexandria had
become the grand entrep6t of the Indian trade. Some of
them appear to have visited the gem-producing regions
as jewellers and merchants (like Tavemier and Chard in
on the mission of Louis XIV.), for the quotations from
their works bear the stamp of practical precision.

* The Greeks termed a precious stone, in its natiye state, \i0os (iem.)
or ^ri<t>os; after it was engrayed, ff<t>payU, The Romans used "lapillus"
and '*gemma" in the same distinctiye senses. The latter word, properly
signifying " a bud/' was applied by that rustic people to the stone in a
ring because it projected from the gold in the same manner as the
bud out of the bark. Isidorus indeed fancifully derives ** gemma"
from "gummi" "because it is ludd like gum,'* and Salmasius more
learnedly but quite as absurdly from I/a/mi the iBolic form of li/io, ^' an
ornament. " '

INTRODUCTION, 6

Aristotle 8 * Lapidarius, de novo ex Graeco tradnctus, aj).
1473/ is a book I have never been able to get a sight of.
Nothing of the kind is to be found amongst his collected
Greek treatises, at present. But from the extracts given by
the older mineralogists like Camillo and De Boot, it would
appear to be no more than a mediaeval compilation, fathered
upon the great philosopher, and much of the same cha-
racter as the * Lapidarium ' of Marbodus, to be noticed
farther on. It is always quoted by Camillo under the title
of Aristotle's ' Liber Mineralium.' Its spurious nature is,
indeed, abundantly manifest from the quotations therefrom
made by the very writers who appeal to it as the supreme
authority. To give an example, Marbodus has in the notes
to his ' Prosa de XII. Lapidibus ' : — " Aristotle in his * Book
of Gems,' teaches that the Emerald, hung about the neck or
worn on the finger, protects against danger of the falling-
sickness. We therefore recommend unto noblemen that it
be hung about the necks of their children. It is also
approved in all the forms of divination, as well as in every
other undertaking, and if worn on the finger it augments
the dignity of the wearer both in presence and in speech."
And Camillo, after mentioning that within his own recol-
lection a mass of iron of notable bigness had fallen from
the sky in the province of Lombardy, cites Aristotle as
recording a similar phenomenon. But the decisive proof
of the spuriousness of the work is the feet of its never
being quoted by Pliny amongst the other mineralogical
treatises he makes use of. The foi^ery, however, goes back
to an early date, seeing that Marbodus refers to it as a
standard work in the eleventh century.

As for the At^ucot of the Paeudo-OrpTieus, Tyrwhit, the
last editor of the poem, considers it to be the production
of some Asiatic Greek, and written in the fourth century.

6 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c.

after the profession of Magic had been made a capital
offence by the law of Constantius in his ninth Consulship.
He even conjectures that the " god-like prophet " alluded
to {v, 74) may be the philosopher Maximus, Julian's in-
structor in divination, who was put to death under Valens
for alleged complicity in the plot of Hilarius and Patricius.
But this hypothesis appears to me to rest on no suffi-
cient grounds. Had he written so late as the reign of
Valens, the poet could not have spoken of sacrifices to the
gods as matters of public and regular occurrence ; and
certainly he would not have let slip the opportunity oi
inveighing against the Christians, the then triumphant
enemies of the ancient worship. As for his lamentations
over the ignorance of mankind, their hatred of virtue, and
the suspicion with which they regarded Magicians (points
upon which Tyrwhit builds his strongest arguments), all
these would equally apply to any previous period of the
Empire, throughout which others, before Maximus, had
commonly been put to death on the charge of magical
practices. Besides, the actual allusion to the decapita-
tion of the prophet was clearly intended to refer to the
fate of Orpheus himself, who had been named in the pre-
ceding line. For Orphma is only mentioned as the author
of the poem by Tzetzes, that is, not before the twelfth
century, in his Commentary upon Lycophron : whilst the
very few MSS. of it, still extant, prefix no author's name
at all. In fact another poem * On Ceremonies,' existing in
the same Collection, is there ascribed to Maximus him-
self; a circumstance which alone, as we may suspect,
induced Tyrwhit to place the KiOiko. also at the same
low date.

But if any competent scholar will take the trouble to
compare this poem with the * Argonautica,' which also

INTRODUCTION, 7

goes Tinder the name of Orpheus (but is generally attri-
buted to Onomacritus the Athenian, who flourished as early
as B.C. 516),* he will not, in my opinion, fail to perceive
that both are works by the same hand. The close resem-
blance in the versification, in the fondness for spondaic
endings, in the diction, in the reduplication of epithets ;
and as regards the spirit, the peculiar form, marking a
purely Grecian epoch, under which the tender passion
is pictured in both, clearly indicate their common origin.
Now to establish their common antiquity. The *Argo-
nautica,* being comparatively a mere sketch, must have
necessarily preceded the elaborate composition by ApoUo-
nius Ehodius upon the same theme. The story as told
by Orpheus differs from the latter in many important
particulars, besides being narrated with much more of
primitive simplicity : indeed it is hardly conceivable that
any one coming after ApoUonius should have attempted to
compete with an epic of such established reputation ; or
that, having such audacity, he should have deviated so
far from his prototype. But, on the grounds above stated,
if Onomacritus is the author of the ' Argonautica,* he must
also be considered the author of the * Lithica.' Indeed the
question of the high antiquity of the latter is set at rest,
if we accept the statement of the scholiast " Demetrius,
son of Moschus," that it gave Nicander the idea of his
* Theriaca.' Now as Nicander flourished at the court of
Attalas III., about b.c. 135, this circumstance presup-
poses a much earlier date in a work selected for his model
by a writer of no mean order.

There are many expressions in Pliny, where he is
laughing at the mystic powers attributed to gems by the
Magi of old times, which seem direct allusions to pas-

♦ He was banished by Hipparchus for interpolating the Oracles of
MasfBus with others of his own composition.

8 NATUBAL HISTORY OF PBECIOUS STONES, &c.

sages in this very poem: althougli lie nowhere cites
Orpheus by name. In addition to what has been said
above, as to the internal evidence to its antiquity sup-
plied by the composition itself, its poetry is certainly
of better quality than could have been produced by a
Greek of the Lower Empire, especially when treating on
religious topics. It is of a totally diflferent stamp from
that of the Sibylline Oracles, forgeries of that period.

Who the narrator is does not appear. The precepts are
given in the first place by a certain diviner, Theodamas,
to his unnamed host (who retails them in these verses),
and he then goes on to the end with the instructions
of the same nature imparted by Helenus to Philoc-
tetes. The * Tale of Troy ' and the events of the siege
being frequently referred to by Theodamas, the absurdity
of supposing the author to be Orpheus, becomes yet more
conspicuous ; that worthy having been the companion
of the Argonauts in the preceding generation. The text of
the MSS. being extremely corrupt, I have not scrupled
in my version to adopt the conjectures of Gesner and
Tyrwhit, wherever it was impossible otherwise to extract
a sense from the old readings.

Epijphanius, bishop of Salamis in Cyprus, composed
(about A.D. 400) a small tract * Upon the Twelve Stones of
the Kationale in Aaron's Breastplate ; * which St. Jerome
mentions as having been presented to him by " that holy
man " its author ; unable, clearly, to say anything more in
its praise. In this compilation, the worthy prelate appears,
occasionally, to be referring to some valuable sources then
accessible ; but most provokingly he either makes use of
them from memory, or else transcribes without under-
standing their meaning ; the latter the most probable ex-
planation. In his attempt to condense his originals, his
notices are become full of the most palpable blunders, and

INTRODUCTION. 9

of confusion between one species and another. His prin-
cipal object in writing was to point out the medicinal
virtues of the several stones. Nevertheless, a few thingH
of considerable interest to the mineralogist are to be
gleaned from amongst his undigested gatherings: such
as his definition of the three species of the Hyacinthus ;
and of those of the Jaspis ; with his allusion to the Adamas
as a cerulean stone, a proof that his ancient authority
upon that head had imderstood by the name the hlue
Corundum, our Sapphire.

The book 'On Kivers,' which goes under FlutarcliB
name, but by some has been attributed to the gi^mmarian
Parthenius, the preceptor of Virgil, notices particularly
the precious stones found in all the principal rivers of
Asia and Europe, or in the mountains by which they
flow. Unfortunately these notices also are of no scien-
tific value, having reference only to the medicinal or
magical properties of the gems indicated. To give a speci-
men of this catalogue of things marvellous : " In the
Pactolus is found, though rarely, a stone like the pumice,
which changes its colour four times a day. It is only to
be discovered by little girls as yet too young to know
anything, but if worn by nubile virgins it protects them
from all attacks upon their chastity." " The Sagaris pro-
duces the Autoglyphus (natural intaglio) representing the
figure of Cybele : this stone if found by one of her emas-
culated devotees, enables him to endure courageously all
supernatural manifestations. Here, too, is found the Aster,
which flames in the dark, hence called * Ballen,' the King,
by the Phrygians." But the climax of " travellers* tales "
is reached in his ' Thrasydeilus ' (Bold-coward), " found in
the Eurotas, in shape like a helmet, and so named because
as soon as it hears the trumpet sounded it leaps out upon
the bank ; but if the Athenians are mentioned it jumps

10 NATURAL HISTORY OF PBECIOUS STONES, <fec.

back forthwitli into the deepest part of the river. Many
of these stones, lie consecrated in the temple of Pallas of
the Brazen-House in Sparta." Or again. *' In the Maeander
is found a stone called ' Sophron' (the Sensible) by the
rule of contrary, for if you throw it into any one's lap he
goes mad instantaneously, and murders some of his family ;
but recovers his senses after having propitiated the Mother
of the Gods." The only thing that gives a value to this
compilation of extravagances out of that province wherein
" Graecia mendax" appears to have surpassed herself, is the
circumstance of the maker's quoting his voucher for each
statement; and thus attesting the large number of those
who had before him written upon the same subject. Many
of these writers are not to be met with in Pliny's list;
their names are therefore worth transcribing here; viz.,
Agatharchides* Archekms, Aristohulus, Dercyllus, Dorotheua the
Chaldaeanjf Heradiius of Sicyon, Nidaa of Mallos, TheophUus,
Thrasyllus of Mendes. The nature of Plutarch's quotations
from these writers would indicate that they had princi-
pally busied themselves with the reputed efficacy of gems
in medicine and in magic. It may be conjectured that
although Pliny names none amongst them, save Archelaus,
in the list of publications serving him in the compilation of
Book xxxvii, yet he both knew them and (as the cha-
i*acter of Plutarch's extracts leads us to suspect) contemp-
tuously classed them without further notice apaongst the
*' impudent Magi," samples of whose " infanda vanitas,"
" awful lying," he occasionally introduces for the purpose
of exposure. To the above names Suidas adds that of

* A writer whose loss is greatly to be deplored, to judge from the
value of his fragment upon the Egyptian gold-mines : a translation of
which I have given under that head.

t A fragment of his poem on astrology is usually annexed to
Manetho's.

INTRODUCTION. H

^8opu8 " reader to King MitLridates," who, to judge from
the citation "on the Pan-fish," followed in the same line
of the marvellous.

The * Poetical Description of the Inhabited World,' com-
posed by Dionysius, hence entitled " Periegetes," a native
of Charax, in Susiana, contains many important notices of
the different Eastern localities producing the several pre-
cious stones ; which will be found called into use, under
their respective heads, in the course of this * History.' The
epoch of the author is a matter of conjecture, but is usually
placed at B.C. 30. As, however, in one passage he alludes
to the " Persian conquests " of his patron, he must cer-
tainly have flourished long prior to this date, and probably
under one of the early and enterprising Seleucidad.

Of ancient Greek Mineralogy this is absolutely all that
remains. Of Eoman, besides Pliny's inestimable though
much too compressed compendium, somewhat more is
extant, although it is of but trifling importance. Solinua^
who seems, from certain incidental notices * in his descrip-
tions of places, to have belonged to the weakly Eevival of
literature in the age of Constantino, has in his *Poly-
histor' particularly discussed the article of the precious
stones furnished by the several regions he is passing in
review. His notices are often extremely useful, inasmuch
as he evidently aims at a more precise and technical de-
scription of the various kinds than that to be obtained from
his precursor, Pliny ; and indeed he displays in his defi-
nitions the knowledge of the practical jeweller. For
example, it is impossible to derive a clear notion of what
stones the Bomans understood by certain denominations
(notably the *' Hyacinthus " and the "Sardonyx") from
Pliny's vague description of them, but for the aid of the

* He is first quoted by Prisdaa, the grammariaB of Gaesarea, in the
fifth century.

12 NATTJEAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, <ke.

more systematic definition of the same things offered by
Solinus.

Lastly, many gems and minerals will be found ex-
plained in tbe 'Origines' (a brief Encyclopaedia) of
Isidorus, bishop of Seville in the seventh century. This
work has a certain value as containing quotations from
many authors now lost. Little, however, is to be gathered
from his extracts bearing upon our subject ; since he has
evidently, in this branch, contented himself with abridg-
ing Pliny's articles, and that, too often, without any very
clear comprehension of his ir^eaning. From Solinus, like-
wise, he has transcribed some passages verbatim : for in-
stance, the characters of the " Hyacinthus." He had, how-
ever, some third source at his command, whence he drew
his notices of the medicinal virtues of gems, which with
him is the most important point in the estimation ; and
this source was either Epiphanius's tract, or else the
original, laid under contribution to so little purpose by
that abbreviator. As he never names his authorities, it
remains a matter for conjecture who this oracle could have
been. From the nature of the case it must be inferred
that he had written in Latin ; and judging from a certain
similarity in parallel passages, he may have been the pre-
tended EvcLx, whose singular composition, belonging partly
to ancient, partly to mediaeval science, shall be the next
to come under our consideration.

Some four centuries after Isidorus we find Marhodus
(Marboeuf), bishop of Eennes, publishing, some time
between 1067 and 1081, his ' Lapidarium/ * styled in
the prooemium '* An Abridgment of the bulky volume
composed by Evax, King of Arabia, and sent as a present
to Tiberius Caesar." Nevertheless, whole passages in the

* Long attidbuted to Macer, a poet of the Augustan age, and first
printed as Book v. of his treatise * De Re Medica.'

INTBODUCTION. 13

poem are nothing more than pieces taken bodily out of the
' Origines/ as they stand at present, and put into rude
hexameters. Intermixed come occasionally what are un-
mistakable extracts from Orpheus, whom, by the way, he
quotes at length, under * Coral,' as " Metrodorus," refeiring
in the same passage to Zoroaster also. Now, Lessing is
of opinion that a treatise on stones ascribed to Evax was
really then current for genuine, and that there is no reason
to doubt the assertion of Marbodus that his own is merely
a condensation of the same. But Evax is never men-
tioned by Pliny; whence it may be concluded that the
book passing by his name was compiled and put forth
under that specious title late in the Decline, when these,
primarily Oriental, notions as to. the potency of gems had
become the general belief and had been adopted even by
the philosophers of the times.

Contemporary with the Breton Bishop of Eennes
flourished the Byzantine Michad PseUm, tutor to the
emperor Michael Parapinaces, and the most learned Greek
of the eleventh century. Amongst his numerous works
exists a brief tractate * On the Virtues of Stones,' describ-
ing the uses in medicine of the Diamond, HaBmatite, Ame-
thyst, Carbuncle, ^schates. Beryl, Galactites, Amber,
Jasper, Idseus-Dactylus, Crystal, Lychnites, Magnet, Onyx,
Caprinus, Sardonyx, Selenites, Emerald, Hyacinthus,
Chrysolithus, Chryselectrus, Chrysoprasus, Chalazias, To-
pazion.

His notices are not worth much as regards the natural
history of his subject, of which he evidently knew nothing,
and, as evidently, regarded as beneath the consideration of
a philosopher. Of his "deeper science" take the fol-
lowing characteristic specimens: — "the Idaeus-Dactylus
(Jove's-finger) is produced in the isle of Crete, and in shape
is like a msm's thumb, and of the colour of iron. This

14 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &e,

stone is the most discriminating of all stones, inasmucli
as it brings to maturity the embryos that proceed from
legitimate copulation, but destroys such as be unlawful
or incestuous." *' The Lychnites is a stone that gives the
faculty of seeing in the dark, if hung about a person's
neck. It also cures fluxions of the eyes, if tied in a linen
rag around the forehead."

The causes of these virtues, he says, had been investi-
gated in ancient times by Anaxagorcis, Empedocles, and
Democritus ; and more recently by Alexander of Aphrodisia
(in the third century), "a person very ready to explain
all the mysteries of Nature, of whatever sort."

About a century after Psellus shines forth Mohammed
Ben MatLsur, who may justly claim the honour of being the
first since Pliny (beyond whom he is far advanced in many
points) to compose a really scientific and systematic treatise
upon this branch of Mineralogy. This was his *Book of
Precious Stones,' dedicated to the Abasside Sultan of Persia,
Abu Naser Beharderchan.* In this work he treats of each
stone under three heads, viz., "Properties, Varieties, and
Places producing it." The knowledge of the true charac-
ters of the different species displayed in every one of his
articles is absolutely marvellous, considering the age in
which he wrote. He actually anticipates by many cen-
turies the founders in Europe of the modem science,
Haiiy, Moh, &c., in several of their supposed discoveries,
such as defining the different species of the Corundum
and Spinel, and in basing his distinctions upon the hard-
ness and specific gravity of the several kinds. Another
thing that gives the work a special interest is the evident
fact that the author drew from that fountain-head of the
science whence the early Greek mineralogists had obtained,

* Yon Hammer has published a translatioii into Genuan, in his
'Mines de TOrient,' vol. yi.

INTRODUCTION 16

thougli mucli less perfectly, all their information. In the
course of my dissertations many of these coincidences will
be pointed out, especially as connected with the true origin
of the ancient nomenclature of gems. A truly practical
naturalist, he totally ignores a part of the subject then
all important with mediaeyal Europe, and one that now
remains for us to pass under review.

Marbodus was, to all appearance, the author of the
metrical version into Norman-French of his ' Lapidarium,'
which is found written in a contemporary hand, in the
oldest MS. of the poem. The universal reception of the
chimerical science promulgated by him and by Psellus,
naturally led to the multiplication of treatises upon stones
considered merely as medicinal or magical agents, and thus
has occasioned the neglect and consequent loss of the in-
valuable memoirs of such acute and practical observers
as Sudines, Sotacus, and Zenothemis. To this, amongst
the Latins, was added another cause for such neglect:
Pliny's condensation of their separate publications had
brought about the complete obscuration of these his pre-
decessors ; whilst amongst the Greeks his contemporaries,
and those that followed. Natural History was no longer
studied except with reference to medicine or magic, sciences
at the time and long after very closely connected. * The
* Lapidarium' of Marbodus is the last work professing
to treat, however imperfectly, of the natural history, in
its proper sense, of the precious stones. The numerous

* Perhaps the most illustrious instance of medicine seeking aid from
gems was the last illness of Lorenzo dei Medici When his fatal disease,
a slow fever, had baflfled the skill of his regulai physician Pier Leoni
da Spoleto, another, then in the highest repute, Lazaro dal Ticino, was
called in, who placed his whole dependance on the powder of pearls, of
emeralds and of other precious stones. Folitiziano in all good faith
ascribes his failure in saving his patient's life to the mere fact of his
having come too late for his remedies to have a fair chance.

16 NATURAL HISTOBT OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c,

* Lapidaria ' extant in MS., some as old as the thirteenth
century, are of a totally different class, and bid farewell not
only to science but to common sense. They treat not so
much upon the naixLrdl potency of gems over the health or
fortunes of mankind, whether **in medicine potable" or
worn as jewels, as upon their supernatural powers in com-
manding the favour of God and man, or in bafi^ng the
influence of demons and the various evils due to their
malice and agency — plagues, murrains, tempests.

The main object, however, aimed at by the composers of
these directories is to define the peculiar virtues of the
"Sigils" engraved upon, and augmenting the innate potency
of the appropriate gems. Here a new class of ideas comes
into play, of which no traces are to be discovered either in
the ' Origines,' or the * Lapidarium * of Marbodus, although
faintly hinted at by Pliny when ridiculing the impudence
of the Magi for ascribing similar virtues to stones (the
Amethyst and Emerald) if engraved with certain devices.
Such novel notions are evidently due to the influence ot
the Crusades, and of the intercourse with Orientals result-
ing therefrom, upon the minds of the learned in Europe.
These notions were brought in upon the same tide of
Arabic science that diffused the taste for alchemy through-
out the West, and were by their nature intimately con-
nected with astrology, now once more cultivated, and with
a zeal before unknown even under the Lower Empire.

The strange misinterpretations of the most familiar
classical subjects, as represented on gems, betray so total
an ignorance of classical mythology as to evince that such
could never have been imagined by the literati of Europe,
amongst whom the study of the Latin authors had always
flourished more or less vigorously, and whose writings
often abound with correct allusions to profane history and
fable. It is therefore a necessary inference that these

ir,j.nuvUCTION, 17

luusconceptions were borrowed from the Arabians (of Spaio
for the most part) and similarly from the Jews of the
same comitry, in high repute then both as physicians and
as alchemists. Much, too, was learnt from the Afric€Ui and
Syiian doctors ; for example, we find the Rosicrusians pre-
tending that their founder, the mysterious "A. C," ac-
quired all his arcana at the Arabian College of Damascus.
In &ct many of the sigils described (of a nature never
met with in antique art) bear a striking resemblance
to the ** Myriogeneses," or symbolical figures representing
the astral influence of the thirty degrees in each Sign, of
which Scaliger has given a list, translated from the Arabic,
in his notes upon Manilius. These Myriogeneses are indeed
attributed by the astrologers to the ancient Egyptians,
but internal evidence betrays that such ascription is a
mere pretence, made in order to give the sanction of anti-
quity to the doctrines founded upon them. That this
conclusion of mine is not a bare assumption is manifest
from the very names of the writers 'On Sigils' as pub-
lished by Camillua Leonardi (Camillo di Leonardo). This
sage, who flourished at Pesaro at the close of the fifteenth
century as physician to Cesare Borgia, has in his 'Spe-
culum Lapidum'* (written in the year 1502), collected
all the treatises on the subject that came within his
reach. The names of their authors, we find, are all such

* Lud. Dolce in his * Trattato delle diverse sorti delle Gemme,' Venice,
1565, dedicated to Card. Campeggio, has with tlie most barefaced
audacity published a literal translation into Italian of the whole of
Gamilio's book, without once mentioning his name, nay, in tbe dedication
claiming the whole for his own composition, "questa mia fatica."
Dolce must have met with the * Speculum ' in MS., for I cannot dis-
cover it to have appeared in print before Petrus Arlensis published it
with his own *De Sympathia,' about fifty years later. But Dolce's
bringing out such a work and under such distinguished patronage prove:}
that the belief in sigils was oven then as flourishing as ever.
(M)

18 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c,

as figure in the library of the alchemist : Hermes Trk-
megistuSy as the author of the * Liber Quadripartitus ;*
Chael (Jael), "a most ancient doctor amongst the Children
of Israel, in the Wilderness ;" Bagid, in his ' Book of
Wings,' "a tractate indispensable to aU students of magic ;"
Solomon ; and Thetel, better known as ' Bahanus MauirtisJ*
This last was Abbot of Fulda in 822, and reputed the
most learned man of the Carlovingian era. As he had
made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land (which indeed was
the indispensable complement to the education of a philo-
sopher in those times) he may possibly have acquired there
his deep knowledge of the science of Sigils.*

To give an insight into the mode in which these
wizards interpreted the designs of ancient art, and of the
powers they attributed to the same on the strength ot
such interpretations, a few examples shall be adduced, pre-
mising with the explanatory introduction of Camillo*s own :
" All things in nature have a certain form, and are sub-
ject to certain influences. Stones therefore, being natural
productions, have a certain specific form, and are likewise
subject to the universal influence of the planets. Hence
if they be engraved by a skilful person under some par-
ticular influence, they receive a certain virtue as though
they had been endowed with life through that engraving.
But if the effect intended by the figure engraved be
the same as that produced by the natural property of the
stone, its virtue will be doubled and its efficacy aug-
mented.f For example, the property of the Sicilian Agate

* Similar catalogues of the virtues of sigils, "Pierres d'lscraeV are
common in MS. of the Middle Ages. I am informed that amongst
others the British Museum possesses two, full three centuries earlier
than Camillo's date, but containing pretty much the same matter.

t There were, however, doubters even at that credulous epoch, for he
observes : "Non parva nee inutilis difficultas inter celeberriroos doctorea

INTBODUCTION. 19

is to counteract the poison of the viper : you will there-
fore find engraved upon it the figure of a man holding a
viper, the virtue cf the stone being thus denoted by the
figure that it presents. But if the engraving should repre-
sent Ophiuchus, a constellation possessing the power of
resisting poisons, then by knowing the constellation you
will recognise the virtue of the stone : and furthermore
its efficacy will be doubled through the potency of the en-
graving upon it. And this rule holds good for all the
other gems." Eagiel lays down that " a Eam, or a bearded
man's head (Ammon), on Sapphire, defends from many
infirmities, from poison, and from oppression. A Hoopoe
with the herb dragon in front, upon Beryl, hath power
to summon the water-spirits, and to force them to speak.
It will also call up the dead of your acquaintance, and
oblige them to respond to your questions." Again Chael
has : " Man with long face and beard, his eyebrows raised,
sitting behind a plough, and holding up a fox and a
vulture, with four men lying upon his neck — such a gem,
if placed under your head when sleeping, makes you
dream of treasure and of the right manner to find out the
same." (The sigil thus curiously described is the favourite
Boman type, the " Quattuor Tempera," the Year attended
by the Four Seasons, his children.) " Man seated and a
woman standing before him with her hair hanging down
loose to her loins, the man looking upwards — this cut on
Camelian hath the virtue that whoever is touched there-
with shall be led to do the owner's will immediately"
(Hercules and lole). "Man with a wand in his hand,
seated upon an eagle (Jupiter), engraved on Hephsestite

existit de virtute lapidnm; cnm nonnnlH eonim dicant nullam yirtntem
inesse lapidibns ; qnod falsmn esse arbitiamur illosqne dimittamus cum
totaliter a yeritate discrepent.**

C 2

20 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &e.

or Crystal, must be set in a brass or copper ring. Who-
soever looketh upon the stone of a Sunday before sunrise
shall have victory over all his enemies. If he look upon
it of a Thursday, all men shall obey him willingly. But
he must be clothed in white, and abstain from eating
pigeons." Interpretations like the above of the most easily
intelligible types in classic mythology are the rule with
these doctors: and in truth the country that gave birth
to these fancies is indicated plainly enough by the fact
of Camilio's designating many gems by their Arabic
names, such as " Gagat romsBus," " Kaman," ** Zumech," and
" Ziazia." The sigils most cognate to the specific virtue
of each of the precious stones are thus stated upon the
highest of all authorities, that of Hermes Trismegistus him-
self in his ' Liber Quadripartitus ': — *' 1. Head with a long
beard and a little blood around the neck cut on Diamond,
confers victory and courage, and defends the body from
hurt. It also gives success in obtaining your petitions.

2. Virgin, or a Torch, on Crystal, preserves the sight.

3. Man making a speech, on Ruby, bestows honours and
riches. 4. Man playing on an instrument, on Sapphire,
exalts to dignity, and gives favour with all men. 6. Grey-
hound, on Beryl, avails for the obtaining of honour, wealth,
fame, and friendship. 6. Cock, or Three Maidens, on
Agate, renders the person acceptable unto all men, gives
power over the spirits of the air, and is of potency in
magic. 7. Lion, or Murilaga, on Garnet, gives riches and
honour, cheers the heart, and drives away sorrow. 8. Stag,
or Snake, on Onyx, gives the wearer courage, drives out
devils, but likewise commands and convokes them, and
binds noxious winds. 9. Man like a merchant carrying
wares to sell, or Man seated under a centurion, engraved
on Emerald, gives wealth and victory, and delivers from

INTRODUCTION. 21

^vil, 10. Bull, or Calfi on Loadstone : the wearer thereof
can safely go into all places without molestation, and is
protected against all spells and witchcraft 11. Horse, or
Wolf, on Jasper, keeps off fevers, and stanches the flowing
of blood. 12. Man raised on high, or crowned, on Topaz,
renders the wearer good, and beloved in the sight of all
men. 13. Armed man holding a sword, on Sard or Ame-
tbyst, makes the wearer get a good and perfect memory,
and to acquire wisdom. 14. Stag, or Goat, on Caloedony,
augments riches, if the gem be kept in thy money-box."

The Esculapius of Pesaro thus offers his treasury of
such invaluable recipes to his redoubtable patron, who,
by the bye, does not seem to have been as black as he is
painted by Protestant and Catholic alike, chiefly, it may
be suspected, on the score of his parentage. Had not his
father been a Pope and a politician, Cesare would probably
have passed for "virtuous as a gentleman ought to be,
virtuous enough " for an Italian prince of those days ; and
confessedly a more sagacioys and a better ruler for his
subjects than most of his contemporaries. Some new fea-
tures in his character are disclosed by his physician. •* My
book I entitle * The Mirror of Stones,' wherein their nature,
properties, engravings, and the knowledge of many secrets,
may be viewed as it were in a looking-glass. I, therefore,
who am attached, as bound both by duty and affection, to
your Highness, in whom rest all our hopes, who are both
father and prince of your country, to your Name do I
dedicate this work, inasmuch as you axQfond of stvdyy and
devote yourself not merely to arms and warfare, but also
with equal ardour to polite learning, so that when you
have a moment's leisure you may cast an eye and a thought
upon my pages. In the which should you find ought that
is incorrect, and stands not the test of yoiu: sound judg

22 NATURAL HISTORY OF PBECI0V8 STONES, i&o.

ment, you must impute it to the slightness of my ability,
and excuse the same, for

• Non omnia possumus omnes.'

But should you discover anything worth reading therein,
you must put it down to the account of those most
worthy doctors from whom I have compiled these matters ;
and on the score of their high authority and established
rank, give this my little book admittance amongst the
other, so to speak, innumerable volumes of your most mag^
tdficent library ; neither disdain to reckon it amongst their
number, in order that whenever you look upon it you may
become warmer in your affection for your own Camillo.
'Tis truly a small return, most gracious and magnanimous
Prince, for your favours towards me, but with ^''our accus-
tomed benignity you will consider, not the work itself,
but the intention of its author."

In the fifteenth century Georgius Agricola did at last do
something fresh for the Natural History of Minerals in his
♦ De Ortu et Causis Subterraneorum,' written before 1485 :
interspersing notices from his own experience with the
rest of his matter drawn from the ancients. In the fol-
lowing century, KerUmann and Gesner did something more
for the science in their little essays, * De Kerum Fos-
silium, Lapidum, Gemmarumque Figuris, &c.,' published
together in 1565. The insignificant attempts in the same
direction of Bacdus, and Gabelchovervs, though composed
somewhat later, breathe the very spirit of the ' Speculum
Lapidum,' except as regards the doctrine of Sigils, which
by this time the advance of education, or the decay of
faith, had almost exploded. The books of the two last-
named writers, therefore, are equally deficient in amuse-
ment and in instruction.

INTRODUCTION. 23

It was not before the opening of the next century that
a work on Mineralogy appeared which still retains any
practical value — and that too in a very high degree. In
the year 1609, Ansdm de Boot, latinized into " Anselmus
Boethms,'' a native of Bruges, and physician to the Emperor
Kudolf II., published his book (written in 1600)* *De
Gem mis et Lapidibus.' Of this a third edition came out
in 1647, enriched with many good notes and coneotions
by TolUus. To it are appended the Greek text of Theo-
phrastus with a commentary, and another shorter work,
' De Gemmis,* both by Johann de Lact of Antwerp : the
latter dedicated to Elizabeth, ''sexus sui prsestantissimad
gemmae," daughter of the unfortunate Frederic, king of
Bohemia, and grand- daughter to our James I. Whoever
desires to become acquainted with a work exhibiting in
every line the mode of thought of that age, in its extraor-
dinary mixture of credulity with the most extensive and
various learning, and great practical experience, will find
his trouble amply repaid by the perusal of this book,
written as it is in elegant and easy Latin by the confidant
and helper of the imperial alchemist and virtuoso. The
learned physician displays much critical knowledge in his
attempts to identify gems known to the ancients by names
transferred to others, quite different, in mediaeval times ;
and it has been a satisfaction to me to find his attribu-
tions for the most part coinciding with my own, made
independently ; my researches into that particular division
of my subject having been nearly completed before De
Boot's dissertation came to my knowledge. In his dis-
quisitions upon the innate properties of stones he draws
a distinction that curiously illustrates the struggle then
going on between traditional superstition and reason aided

* As he informs us, when noticing the selling price in Germany
of the Bezoar.

24r NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c.

by experiment. Whilst admitting, and to the fullest
extent, all their medicinal virtues * as set forth in the me-
diaeval Lapidaria, giving recipes for the extracting the
" Spirit of Emerald," for compounding the *' Ointment of
Lapis-lazuli," and exhibiting the *' Powder of Coral," &c.,
he denounces the belief in their magical potency for a
snare of the Devil, equally as superstitious as derogatory
to the idea of Divine Providence. To give a notion of his
philosophy on this head : " The effects of gems are generally
material, in few cases apiriiual, and then only when acting
through some means that must be held the efficient cause
rather than the gem itself. For example, if the Camel ian,
Jasper, or Haematite, be worn by a person that has suf-
fered from the discharge of blood, and is thereby rendered
weak both in mind and body, and the discharge be so
stopped, it is possible that by means of this retention of
its blood the heart may be so much invigorated, and
the temperament of the person so far restored, that the
individual may acquire courage in the place of cowardice,
which indeed is an immaterial quality, but nevertheless
dependent upon something material, namely the blood ; as
do every habit of the soul and act of the mind. But such
csffects as these, having a nearer cause, the abundance of
the blood, cannot be properly ascribed to the gem itself.
But that wisdom, eloquence, memory, and other virtues
and habits of mind, can be generated or strengthened by
the wearing of gems, as people have hitherto believed, is
a great absurdity. For these qualities do not depend upon
the humours and the spirits, as do cowardice, bashfulness,
and timidity, but upon a part of the rational soul, and
upon use productive of the habit"

* Newton likewise is said to have given credit in some degree to the
medicinal efficacy of precious stones upon the health of the weaier.
Boyle*s faith went much further : see his curious ' Essay ahout the Ori-
gine and Virtues of Gems/ 1672.

INTRODUCTION. 25

De Boot was a practical mineralogist as well as lapidary,
frequently citing specimens of rare stones from his own
collection ; and explaining improvements invented by him-
self in the mode of cutting precious stones. His notices
of their native places, the trade in them, the current
prices, the arts of working and of counterfeiting them, are
admirably given in brief yet comprehensive details, display-
ing a thorough acquaintance with this department. And
as regards these particulars, De Lach's essay, which was
confessedly composed as a supplement to his predecessor's
more extensive work, is deserving of the highest praise, and
has furnished me with abundance of curious information
whenever the jewelry of the Eenaissance came to be consi-
dered. Both treatises have been the source whence subse-
quent writers upon precious stones have drawn all that is
valuable in their pages ; and that too without acknowledging
their obligations: Dutens, for example, whose 'Pierres
Precieuses' (pub. 1777) is little better than an abridgment
of De Boot's chapters upon the same heads. Under the
heading " De Lapidibus ** in De Boot's volume, the geologist
will be amused with his clever woodcuts of fossil shells
and teeth, and the high value in the pharmacopoeia for.
which he gives them credit, apparently on the score of
their singularity of shape indicating their specific virtues,
according to the then received " Doctrine of Signatures."

My own plan followed in this work has been almost the
same as that marked out by De Boot so long ago : a better
one than which could not indeed be devised. It com-
bines the ancient and mediaeval with the modem views X>i
this part of Natural History — a thing never attempted by
more recent mineralogists, who have either treated upon
" Gems and Stones " in a purely scientific manner, or else
as matters of commerce, leaving untouched all their rela-
tions to archseology, to mediaeval philosophy, and to art.

26 NATURAL HISTOBT OF PRECIOUS STONES, dte.

My object has therefore been, as a primary consideration,
to establish a sound system of nomenclature for rendering
the antique into our own ; to define each species with pre
oision, employing so much (and no more) of modem science
as was necessary for the purpose ; to consider the whole
subject as thoroughly as my materials allowed in its bearings
upon History and Art (as intimately connected with which I
have introduced the two essays upon the Precious Metals) ;
and whilst doing this, to supply accurate guidance to
the purchaser, or admirer, in our own days, of these the
choicest of Nature's treasures.

STONES, THEIR ORIGIN.

The secret process whereby Precious Stones are pro-
duced in the laboratory of Nature early engaged the
attentipn of the philosophers of Greece, as doubtless similar
speculations had long before employed the subtile ingenuity
of their forerunners, the wise men of India and of Chaldea.
Of such investigations the most elaborate preserved to us
is. that of Plato in his 'Timaeus' (60 C), where, after de-
scribing the origin of metals, and of the Adamas (as quoted
under that head), he thus accounts for the composition and
for the various species of stones : — " With respect to the
different kinds of eai*th, one sort being filtered through
water in the aforesaid manner becomes a stony substance :
as the water originally mingled with it, in the case where it
is, the weaker of the two in the mixture, is transformed
in1;o the shape. of air. Now this air, on returning into its
natural place, mounts upwards, for no vacuum surrounded
it. Consequently it impels the air nearest to itself ; this
latter therefore, inasmuch as it is ponderous, being impelled,
and enveloping the mass of earthy matter, forcibly squeezes
and drives the same into those receptacles out of which the

INTBODUCTION. 27

newly generated air had evaporated : and the earth heing
compressed by the air is indissolnbly solidified by the water
into stone : that sort being the more beautifdl which is traiii-
parent and composed of equal and homogeneoos particles;
the coarser sort being that which is formed in the con-
trary manner."

Besides this attempt to solve the mystery on scientifio
principles, our philosopher advances a more pleasing and
poetical — ^perhaps an equally satisfeustory, certainly a more
intelligible, theory in his 'Phaedo ' (110 C), where, speak-
ing of the " True World " or that above us in the heavens,
he has, '' The story is, that in the first place this supernal
world presents exactly the same appearance, if viewed
from above, as those children's balls covered with twelve
different stripes ; for it is multicoloured and divided into
compartments of different hues, of which the pigments
we have here below, that is to say those used by painters,
are mere samples. But in that world* all the earth itself
is made up of such tints, and in great part also of others
still more brilliant and more refined than these ; for one
part is purple and wonderful for its beauty, another is
gold-coloured, another whiter than plaster or snow so very
white is it, and in the same measure that which is composed
of the other colours surpasses all those in our painters'
stock : and moreover, some portions are made of others

* Plato is eyidently working up here some tiaditioii he bad gathered
in his Eastern travels, of the Terrestrial Paradise seated on the Ner-
bndda, the Pison encompassing the land of flaWlah ^Mallya) prodoeing
fine gold and onyx. This province even thai sni^lied the Persiana
with that gem in abundance ; it was also, according to the national
tradition, exceeding rich in gold — a proof of which Colonel Stirling
justly discovers in the names of its towns, no less tiian fifteen of which
commence with *' Sone," gold, Plato's ** brilliant colours " of the earth
there, doubtless, allude to the strata of red and yellow ochres contain-
iog the gems. Ochres, in his times, constituted the sole stock of the
painter.

28 NA TUBAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c.

yet more diversified, and more lovely than any we have
ever seen. Moreover, even the hollow places also of this
earth we are speaking of, being filled up with water and
air, present the appearance of colouring, inasmuch as they
reflect the diversity of the colours of the other parts, so
that every single division of the land appears continuously
painted. And in a region of such a nature as this, the
trees, the flowers, and the fniits, come forth in a manner
to cori'espond with the beauty of the rest. And similarly
the rocks there, and the stones, have in the same pro-
portion a polish, and a lustre, and a colour far superior to
ours. And of those stones, the gems so much prized here,
the Sards, Jaspers, and Emeralds, and all such like things,
are the mere fmgments. For in that land there is nothing
but what is of their quality, nay even still finer than they ;
and the cause of it is that the stones there are pure and
not corroded nor corrupted as those with us, through decay
and through the action of salts, in consequence of the
conflux of the liquids hitherwards which produces dis-
figurement and diseases both in stones and in earth, and
its animals and plants. For that earth is adorned with
all these [precious stones] and besides them with gold and
with silver, and with all other matters of like nature:
for they are produced visibly, and are both numerous, and
abundant in quantity, and plentifully dispersed over the
soil ; so that to behold the same is a sight to render the
beholders happy."

But of all these theories by far the most precise and well-
defi.ned is that attributed to Aristotle, and received without
any question as his by the early revivers of this science.
I shall, therefore, translate it from Camillo's well-executed
summary of its views; for this famous treatise "On
Minerals" then evidently the test-book on the subject,
has never yet, in spite of long continued search after it,

INTBODVCTION, 29

come into my possession. " The efficient or generative
cause of stones has been variously assigned by different
writers. But passing over their conflicting theories let ns
come to the true cause, and maintain with the greatest of
philosophers, that the efficient virtue, or generative cause
of stones, is a certain mineral virtue that subsists not merely
in stones, but also in metals, and moreover in the sub-
stances that hold the middle place between these two
species. And forasmuch as we are without a proper name
for this virtue, this one, that is to say, *The Mineral
Virtue,' hath been attributed to it by inquirers; 'for
things that we are unable to express by their proper
names, we are obliged to define by a similitude, not that
the same facts are examples of the manner in which this
mineral virtue subsists in stones,' to use Aristotle's words.
For we give an example not because a thing is done in the
same way, but in order that those who are learning may
form an idea thereof; and thus, by taking the case of animal
seed, we can illustrate in what manner the mineral virtue,
which we assert is the efficient or generative cause of
stones, operates in stones. Thus, we say that the seed
of an animal is the superfluous nourishment descending
into the spermatic vessels, and issuing out of those vessels.
The efficient, or generative, virtue is infused in the seed
itseK, through means of which such spermatic matter is
rendered fecundative, according to the doctrine held in
natural history. The which virtue however doth not act
by the means of its essence, but by the means of its in-
herence; as we say, for example, an artist is implied in
the idea of an object uiade by art. So by a parity of
reasoning we maintain that in flt matter for the production
of a stone there subsists a formative or efficient virtue for
the producing a stone of this or that species, according to
the disposition or requirements of the matter, the place, and

30 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c,

the influence, where such matter is found ready for its
operation. The which virtue is indeed designated by some
* the Virtue of the Heavens.' And this is what Plato means
by saying that 'the virtues of the heavens are infused
in proportion to the worthiness of the subject matter/

"In Physics also it is granted that all fonnative or
efficient virtue has some proper instrument in some par-
ticular species, through the means of which it effects or
produces its own operation. For this reason we must
adopt the opinion of Aristotle put forth in his treatise
' On Minerals,' and maintain that * the peculiar efficient or
generative virtue of stones, existing in the material of
stones, which is termed mineral matter, is made up of two
things; or, as it were, instruments-, which instruments
are diversified according to the difference of the nature or
the species of the stones. Of which instruments, the one
is Keat digestive, extractive or desiccative of Moisture,
inducing form in the stone through the medium of the
coagulation of its earthy particles, to which it is subjected
by the unctuous moisture; and this heat is directed by
the formative or mineral virtue of the stones themselves,
which last is termed by Aristotle ' the Hot, Desiccative
Cause.' Nor is it doubtful that such heat, if it were not
regulated by some other condition, would be in excess
above the nature of the stone, and would reduce it to
ashes ; and, on the other hand, if the heat were lessened,
it would not digest the matter properly, and so not bring
the material of the stone to its best and perfect form, be-
cause it was insufficient to produce that effect. The second
instrument is Cold subsisting in the matter of the aqueous
moisture, which aqueous moisture is affected by the dryness
of its earth, and this is the ' Cold constrictive of moisture,'
which moisture by means of such constriction is forced
out, and does not remain in the matter except in such a

INTRODUCTION. 31

proportion as is necessary for the continuity of the same.
And this is termed by Aristotle the * Drying and Con-
gealing Virtne of the earth.' And this is the cause why
stones cannot in any way be melted by the desiccative heat
in the same manner as the metals are melted. For in
metals the moisture has not been completely squeezed out,
for which reason the matter of metals remains capable
of fusion. For which reasons we must maintain that Heat,
that digests and repels moisture, and Cold, that constringes
moisture after it is acted upon by the dryness of the earth,
are the peculiar instruments of the Efficient or Mineral
Virtue of stones. And this is the doctrine laid down by
Aristotle in his treatise ' On Minerals,' viz., that stones are
produced in two ways, either by congelation or by con-
glutination'; as already stated."

Aristotle's disciple Theophrastus has elaborated the same
theory into the following compact and intelligible form : —
'* Of things growing within the earth, some are of Water,
others of Earth. Of Water, are the metals, such as silver
and gold and the rest : of Earth, are stone, and all the
more precious kinds of stones, and also whatever other
peculiar varieties there be of earths properly so called ;
peculiar, that is to say, on account of their colour, their
polish, their density, or any other quality. The subject of
metals has been considered elsewhere; at present let vm
discuss the latter substances, stones and earths.

"All these therefore, we ought, speaking generally, to
consider as made up of a certain pure and homogeneous
matter, produced either by a flux or a filtration through
some medium, or else secreted in some different manner,
as has already been stated. For it is possible that some
are formed in the latter, some in the former way ; others
again by a different process : from the which causes in fa<it
they derive their smoothness, their density, their brilliancy,

32 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &e.

their transparency, and all sncli properties. And the more
pure and homogeneous each substance may be, in so much
higher a degree do the aforesaid qualities subsist in the
same. For as a general rule, according to the perfection
possessed by the agent employed in the composition, or the
condensation, of the subjecii-matter, so does the product
turn out of the same kind. Now condensation is in some
cases the result of heat, in others of cold ; for there is no
reason why certain kinds of stones should not be formed
by either of these causes, inasmuch as all the various kinds
of earths may be supposed to be produced by fire, if indeed
it be a fact that the condensation and the dissolution of
any substance are brought about by opposite means. Now
in stones many peculiar qualities subsist ; for in the earth,
their origin, lie the causes of most of their different distinc-
tions with respect to colour, tenacity, density, smoothness,
and similar properties : whilst in other respects differences
between them are not commonly to be observed.'*

By substituting in the above-quoted theories the terms
** Electric action " and " Affinity of particles " for " Efficient
Virtue " and " Condensation " we really measure all the
advances modern science has made in solving these mys-
teries of creative Nature.

Although the existence in gems of the manifold virtues
of which some samples have been above cited, was received
as an established truth, yet the speculators of the times
were not agreed as to their source and manner of infusion
into the substance. '* It is indisputable," says Camillo,
"that there are virtues in stones, but the origin whence
such a virtue is derived has not been determined. Some
lay it down that there are in stones special virtues, besides
their complexional, derived from the elements composing
them, and they support their assertions by the following
argument alone : that whatever is composed of anything

INTBODUCTION, 33

possesses the virtue of what composes it, just as a rivulet
has the taste of its fountain head. But it is a known fact
that stones are composed of the elements, therefore what-
ever there is in stones comes entirely from the elements
and not from any other virtue. Plato and his followers,
who hold the doctrine of Ideas, say that all composite
bodies, in whatever species, have their own Idea (or type)
that infuses virtue into them ; and in proportion as such
mixed or composite bodies possess a purer substance of
their own derived from the elements, in the same degree
does their Idea, when it is infused into them, produce a
more perfect result through the means of the same pure
matter. But inasmuch as the 'Precious Stones* are of
this nature, it follows that their Idea superinduces in them
a greater virtue than in the case of other composite bodies
that are less pure ; and thus they account for the special
virtues in stones by means of the Idea."

** But Hermes, and several other astronomers who have
studied matters celestial, assert that all virtues of things
below proceed from the planets and the constellations of
heaven. And according as the composite body is made
up out of purer or coarser elements, so do the stars and
the constellations infuse a greater or a lesser virtue into the
same. And since precious stones possess a purity of their
elements, and, so to speak, almost a celestial composition
or syncrasis (as is apparent in the Sapphire, the Balais,
and the rest), these stones have greater virtue than others
not composed of equally pure elements. Wherefore Hermes
saith concerning the virtue of stones: *We should hold it
for certain that the virtues of the things below all proceed
from the things above ; for the things above, by their sub-
stance, light, position, motion, and also figure, infuse all
those remarkable virtues that be in stones.' It is therefore
made out from the decisions of these philosophers, and

(M) D

34 NATUBAL HI8T0IIY OF FRECI0U8 STONES, Ae.

likewise of Ptolemy, that the virtues of stones come from
the planets, stars, and constellations, through the medium
of the pureness of their complexion. Other opinions might
be adduced, but since they rest on no foundation we may
as well pass them by, and accept at once the above-cited
explanation : seeing that no other theory is so consistent
with truth as that of Hermes and the other astronomers,
who lay it down as established that things below are
governed by the influence of things above.'*

*' ATbertus MagnvSy who was the chief and greatest of phi-
losophers, following the method of natural causes, pre-
tends that the virtue of stones proceeds from the species
and substantial form of the stone itself. For in every
composite body there be certain things that have for their
cause the properties of the elements, such as hardness,
weightiness, and Hie like ; and also there be certain things,
as for instance the virtues of the same, that have for cause
the species itself. To take an example, the Magnet possesses
hardness, and a ferruginous colour, and other similar pro-
perties, proceeding from the virtue of its ingredients or
elements ; but its power of attracting iron proceeds from
the species of the magnet itself; which same species indi-
cates the aggregate of the material and the form. This
is the opinion of the commentator on the First Book of
the Metaphysics, where he explains that species is not
form merely, but the entire aggregate of the matter and
the form which gives its individual being unto the same
matter. For the being (essence) of all things, according
to its own species, has its proper operation and goodness
according to the species in which it is formed and perfected
in its natural being."

" But the form that gives the species to the matter is
more powerful than the other forms ; although frequently,
from the indisposition of the matter to receive it, this form

INTBODUCTIOK 35

shews itself but little, and produces little effect. Wherefore
Hermes * On Stones ' hath that ' stones of the same species
vary in power in consequence of the confusion of the
matter, and even of the place of their generation, by reason
of the directness or the obliquity of the rays that strike
together upon these places — and this to such a degree
that frequently no effect proper to the species is induced.'
Wherefore, considering the matter philosophically and upon
the authority of Albertus Magnus, let us declare that the
virtues of stones proceed from the species through the
means of the substantial form of the particidar stone when
generated in a place suitable, and of matter apportioned, be-
fitting the essence of the stone." As a specimen of the argu-
ments by which these notions were upheld, the following
extract will serve the purpose admirably : — " In the first
place experience militates against these objectors, inasmuch
as we see with our own eyes a virtue subsisting in stones.
Do we not see the Magnet attract iron; and the Lapis-
lazuli cure the carbimcle and similar diseases in many
people ? The man would not be of sound mind who should
deny such fsicts, since they are established with us as first
principles. Moreover I will use an argument against
objectors derived from the common proverb, *the report
that all people spread is not entirely empty.' Now, as
report both amongst some of the ancients and all of the
modems has ever declared that virtues do subsist in stones,
we must therefore believe doctors that virtues do subsist
in stones. The authority of Solomon also is of great weight
in this matter where he says, * Divers are the virtues of
stones: some give favour in the sight of lords; some
protect against fire ; others make people beloved ; others
give wisdom ; some render men invisible ; others repel
lightning ; same baffle poisons; some protect, and augment
treasures. Others cause that husbands should love their

D 2

36 NATURAL HI8T0BY OF PBECIOUS STONES, &e.

wives ; some appease storms at sea ; others heal sicknesses;
others preserve the head and the eyes.' And to sum up all,
whatever benefit can be thought of for mankind, the same
can be brought about through the virtue of stones. It must
however be understood that in stones there is sometimes a
single virtue, sometimes two, three, or several ; and these
virtues do not subsist in consequence of the beauty of the
stone, for some of the most efficacious stones are extremely
ugly and yet possess very great virtue; whereas others
are very beautiful and yet possess no virtue at all. On
which grounds it is held amongst the most famous doctors
as an indubitable and established truth, that virtues subsist
in stones, as they do in other things, but as to the manner
in which they subsist, there is a diversity of opinion. One
theory is that of the Pythagoreans, who hold that virtues
subsist in all things, and proceed from a soul; and maintain
that stones as well as all inferior things are endowed with
souls. They pretend also that souls can enter, and can
leave a different substance by means of the soul's opera-
tions, in the same manner as the human intellect extends
itseK to the objects of the understanding, and the imagina-
tion to the objects of the. imagination. Thus, with respect
to stones, they hold that the souls of the stones extend
themselves to man by means of the proximity of the par-
ticular stone ; and so impress their peculiar virtues upon
the substance of the man : and they explain that the virtue
in stones is operative through the means of the soul, in the
same way as fascination takes place from the glance of
the eye, through the means of the soul. They assert that
it is through the ^gM that the soul of a man or of another
animal enters into a man or another animal and affects
the action of that animal; which same fescination, or
"stroke" is believed to come not from the sight only,
inasmuch as the act of sight takes place by receiving im-

INTBODUCTION. 37

pressions, not by sending them out. Of the same opinion
Virgil seems to be in his Bucolics, where he has —

* Some evil-eye hath struck my tender lambs.*

Such a power of fascination exists not only in man, but in
brutes likewise, as Solinus avers, and Pliny also ; and as
I have experienced in my own case, that when our wolves
in Italy are the first to see a man, that man's voice becomes
hoarse, neither is he able to call out in any other voice,
although previously he had no defect in his vocal organs.
Nor does this happen by means of the sight only, but, as
above declared, from another cause, namely the soul of the
agent giving the stroke. And this opinion was accepted by
Democritus, who asserted that all things were full of gods;
and by Orpheus likewise, who said that gods were diffused
through all things, and that God was nothing else than that
which forms all things and is diffused in all things. In
this sense, therefore, they believed that souls are gods;
and they attributed virtue to things, through the ope-
ration of the soul." (Cam. Leonardi, ii. 2.)

The theory by which he explains the origin of the
" nature-paintings " in figured Agates, is so characteristic
of the philosophy of the times that it deserves quotation
here. "Albertus Magnus, Henry of Saxony, and many
other philosophers, cite instances, and prove that occa-
sionally there is so great a special power of the constella-
tions in producing or in giving shape to cei-tain things,
that these are produced not merely in their proper species
but also in others of a different kind : even things that
appear impossible, as is evident from the instances they
quote. But at the fact they themselves are not surprised,
inasmuch as they understand its cause ; for all wonder is
the offspring of ignorance. For they maintain that so

38 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c.

strong occasionally is the force of the influence of the
heavens from the aspect of the planets and constellations,
and from the positions of the same, that from human seed
are generated not merely human beings, but beasts and
members of beasts are frequently engendered out of the
same. And in the same way in which this happens in
the case of things animate, it may happen likewise in the.
case of stones, and other inanimate bodies. It would be
ridiculous to suppose, that is for reasonable people, that
Satyrs, Centaurs, and such like monsters, would be
engendered from a sexual intercourse between man and
beast, and yet we have often seen monsters of the sort
given birth to by women, whilst it is not to be believed
that similar animals were the fathers of them : but as we
have said, these and even greater prodigies are brought
about by that influence of the heavens."

ADAMA8, 39

ADAMAS: 'ABdfia^: Diamond.

By this name the earliest Grecian writers did not under-
stand a precious stone, but rather some metal jof invincible
hardness such as steel, when compared with the more
ancient instruments of bronze. Such must have been the
" adamantine chains" in which -ZEschylus pictures his Pro-
metheus bound, the legend about his iron finger-ring, me-
morial of his torture,* sufficiently attesting what had been
the material of those bonds. In process of time, as the
sphere of the arts widened, this epithet seems to have
been transferred to certain gems more refractory to the
engraver than the Sards and Agates generally worked
upon by him. Theophrastus does not include the Adamas
in his list of gems, and only once incidentally alludes to
it (19) as an incombustible substance; probably a stone,
since the passage treats of the various sorts of the Anthrax.
The first indisputable mention of the Adamas as the true
Diamond, containing its most striking characters, minute
size, and enoimous value, is met with in Manilius (iv.
926)—

'* Sic Adamas punctum lapidis, pietiosior auro.'*

And this poet flourished in the latter part of the Augustan
age. All this fully bears out Pliny's assertion that tlie

• **Post hunc conscquitur sollerti corde Prometheus
Exteuuata gerens veteris vestigia poensB,
Quam quondam silici restrictus membra catena
Persolyit pendens e verticibus prseruptis."

Catul., Nupt Pel. 298.

40 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, dc.

Adamas, " bearing the highest value not merely amongst
gems, but amongst all human possessions, was long known
to none but kings, and to but a very few of them" Indeed
it could not have been known at all in Europe before a
direct intercourse with the nations of Southern India had
been brought about by the establishment of a Macedonian
kingdom in Bactria. Certain it is that Theophrastus could
not by mere oversight have omitted it from his list of
gems, if known to his contemporaries, for the above-quoted
passage from Pliny clearly proves that the Diamond, as soon
as introduced to the knowledge of the ancients (for his
" regibus " necessarily signifies Greek princes), took the
same foremost place amongst precious stones that it has
ever since maintained.

Pliny thus gives the ancient notion as to the nature
of the Adamas (xxxvii. 15), " Ita appellatur auri nodus
(the geim of Gold), in metallis repertus perquam raro,
comes auro, nee nisi in auro nasci videbatur." Here he
evidently alludes to the passage in Plato's * Timseus ' (59,
B), describing the origin of metals by infiltration and con-
densation, the theory afterwards adopted by Theophrastus :
TOVTOiv Bk irdvTwv oa-a X^^ '7rpo<rct7ro/x,€V vSara, to /x,ci/ €k
\€7rTOTaT(i)V Kol . ofJLoXoTOLTwv TrvKvoTOTOv yiyvofievov jjLOi^oeLSks
ycvos, arrlXPovTL kol $avO(i )(pa>fjiaTi, kolv(i)$€V TLfjiaX<f>€aTaTov
XPVH^i ;(pvo-os rjOi^fJiei/os Svol Trerpafs ktrayr}. X.pva-ov Se o^os
Slol irvKvorqTa (TKXrjpOTarov ov kol ficXavOev, A8a/x.a9 iK\rj&rj.
('* Of all these elements, designated by us liquids in a state
of flux, that from the finest and most homogeneous particles
becoming the most condensed was solidified into a special
kind distinguished by its shining and yellow colour, that
most precious thing gold, after filtering through the pores of
the rock ; whilst the germ of the gold, excessively hardened
and dark-coloured by reason of its density, has been termed
the Adamas.'*) The epithet fitkavOev, " dyed a dark blue,"

AD AM AS. 41

sufficiently indicates that Plato understood nothing more
than our Sapphire by his Adamas, Theophrastus using the
same term to designate the colour of the Occidental Tur-
quois.*

The theory of the Oriental philosophers upon this sub-
ject is thus elegantly condensed in the tetrastich of Akbar*8
poet laureate, Sheikh Fizee, which formed the legend on
the obverse of the chief gold piece : —

" The sun from whom the seven seas obtain pearls,
The black stone from his rays obtains the jewel :
The mine from the correcting influence of his beams obtains gold ;
And the gold is ennobled by the impression of Shah Akbar."

It is interesting to confront the latest modem with this
the mostancient explanation of the method pursued by Nature
in producing the Diamond. Prof. Maskeleyne remarks :
" Of the numerous solutions of this problem one possesses
peculiar interest, viz., that considering Diamonds as deposits
on the cooling of fused metals (or other substances) sur-
charged with carbon.

" Graphite, boron, and silicon are formed on the cooling
of fused aluminium surcharged with these elements ; and
the same elements — in other respects so closely grouped
with carbon— separate in the adamantine form seen under
analogous circumstances. The latter are crystallized in-
deed in different systems from Diamond, but they possess
many of its characters in a remarkable degree."

* The Adamas of Theophrastus may have been the Emery-stone.
There is an analogy in the word Samir, of which the Babbinical legend
is told that with the blood of the worm so called, Moses engraved the
Stones of the Rationale ; whilst others render Samir by Adamas. Now
there can be no doubt that Samir and Smiris are forms of the same
(Persian) word. The regular Hebrew name for the Diamond is JaJudom,
derived from halam^ ** to smite/' and denoting its power to overcome
and cut all other gems. The name is therefore a mere epithet, equally
applicable to the Corundum.

42 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, Ac.

Some mineralogists have advanced the paradox that
the Adamas of the Romans also was not the Diamond, but
the Sapphire. A sufficient answer to this is, that such
large Sapphires as the ancients frequently engraved (the
signet of Constantius, for instance weighing 63 carats)
could not be termed " punctum lapidis :" and besides this^
the latter stone could not have been engraved by means
of its own fragments. The Sapphire, too, usually occurs
in masses of considerable relative size, especially the grey
sort, supposed, according to this theory, to represent the
Adamas, and these are mostly found rounded and pebble-
. shaped ; of a form, in short, to be described by anything
better than the term " punctum."

It is, however, impossible to mistake Pliny's true
meaning, especially if a little attention be paid to his
admirably chosen comparisons exemplifying the characters
of the gem. " The Indian appeared to have a certain affinity
to Crystal, being colourless and transparent, having six
angles, polished faces, and terminating like a pyramid in a
sharp point (laterum sexangulo laevoi-e turbinatus in mucro-
nem) ; or also pointed at the opposite extremities, as
though two whipping-tops* (turbines) were joined together
by their broadest ends." A wonderfully compact sum-
mary this of the distinctive features of the Diamond, for
the "six angles" can only belong to an octahedron, the
primary form of its crystallisation; the "two pyramids
joined together by their bases " expressing the case where
the octahedron is perfect ; and the "natural polish" mark-
ing those small Diamonds, perfectly crystallised, called
" Naifos " by the Indians, completes the picture. These
Indian stones, the largest known to the Komans, attained

* The ancient shape of this toy was a many-sided pyramid,
inverted.

ABAMA8. 43

the "size of a hazel-nut kernel" or about 3 carats' weight.*
This comparison was not selected at random ; it is more
fall of meaning than at first sight appears, and a£forda
the aptest possible illustration of the idea. Pliny's ** nux
avellana," the nocciuoh of the Italians (so called to distin-
guish it from the nux proper noce^ a walnut), is the kind
known in England as the Barcelona nut, the kernel of
which, as every one must remember, is of an obtusely
conical form, precisely that assumed by the Diamond in its
secondary shape, when the edges of its faces are converted
into flat planes. Nothing could be more appropriate than
this simile to convey to his reader's mind the exact appear-
ance of the antique Diamond, as worn by the enviable
possessor (the finishing touch to his magnificence), with
its base embedded in the massy gold of the ring. The
Lcisque, thin, flat, and oval, where all the angles have dis-
appeared, is evidently his Ethiopian, " the size of a gourd-
seed, and of a somewhat similar colour," — a pale yellow^
This, it is especially remarked, was the only kind known
to the earlier mineralogists consulted by Pliny, and was
said to be found near Meroe in Ethiopia: but Ethiopia
was a vague term for the remotest East, and the Egyptian
Meroe was confounded with Mount Meru in Hindostan.

* Why the Bomaos could obtain no larger stones is explained by M.
Ben Mansnr's noticing that in India, where the Diamond is greatly
sought after, its exportation was formerly prohibited. This embargo
probably only applied to stones above a certain weight, for we find, firom
Qex. ab Horto, that all stones obtained in the washings above 30 man-
gelis (37§ carats) were claimed by the sovereign, and the secretion of
each punished by the confiscation of all the offender's property. And
De Laet (1647) says that the old mines of Golconda (then stopped
working) nsed to be let on lease, with the reservation of all stones above
10 carats for the king ; and what is still more to the purpose, Tavemier
mentions that, prior to the discovery of the Coulourmine, in the middle
jf the sixteenth century, the largest Diamonds ever seen were at most
of from 10 to 12 carats' weight.

44 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c.

The Macedonian found in the gold-mines of Philippi was
also a Lasque (cucumis semini par). The Arabian resembled
the Indian in all respects, but was smaller. The Andro-
damas had a silvery lustre, like the Adamas, but was always
square, and resembled a die in shape. Here we have the
cubic crystal, the faces of which are never polished, but
covered by a semi- opaque striated varnish. Lastly, the
" Cenchros," described as like a millet-seed, denotes the
spherical, an abnormal form where the crystallisation
radiates from the centre, preventing all artificial polish,
and for that very reason designated Bort (Bastard, in
Provengal), from AhortiLs,*

Of the six kinds into which Pliny divides the Adamas
the four above described are doubtless all forms of the
tnie Diamond. The minute size is enough to demon-
strate this ; for how else could inconspicuous stones have
been so highly valued — stones, too, whose minuteness can
only be exemplified by the comparison to a gourd-seed or
a grain of millet ? But, besides these, two kinds remain,
rejected by Pliny himself as " degenerate, and possessing
nothing of the Adamas but the honour of the name."
These were, the " Cyprian, of a bluish tinge (vergens in
aerium colorem), most valuable as an amulet, and the
Siderites of a steely splendour, and exceeding all the
others in weight." Both these were Sapphires, as their
blue or grey colour and greater specific gravity prove,
coupled with the remark that both could be drilled by
means of another diamond, L e. a true one. It is a singular
coincidence that Epiphanius (a Cyprian bishop, by the

♦ Pliny's Chalazias, " of the form and colour of a hailstone, but as hard
as the Adamas, and which retained its coldness even in the midst of
fire," must have been the cubic form with the edges rounded off. No
other comparison could so exactly represent this modification of the
crystal — its irregular surface, and its icy colour, obscurely white.

ABAMAS, 45

bye) describes the Adamas as of a sky colour (dcpociS^).
This, according to him, formed the ** Declaration " or
TJrim and Thummim worn over the high priest's breast-
plate; "the change in the colour of which, when he came
out from the sanctuary, manifested the fiBiyour or anger of
Jehovah." Certai^ stones were used in jewelry a century
ago under the name of ** Diamonds of Baffa " (Paphos), but
the remembrance of what they really were is now en-
tirely lost in the trade ; some conjecturing them to have
been Jargoons,* others only quartz-crystal. Lessing, how-
ever, was inclined to consider them as something more
akin to the real stone than either of these. But I have at
last discovered that the "Paphian Diamonds" are yet
commonly used in the Levant for necklaces, and are no
more than the rock-crystal of Bafifo.

Pliny remarks that the Diamond is the companion of gold,
and seems only to be produced in gold itself He is here
correct, though perhaps it may be but by an accidental
coincidence; for all the Diamond-mines, the discovery
of which is recorded, have been brought to light in
pursuit of alluvial gold-washings. This was notably
the case with the oldest in the Serra do Frio, Brazil,
and the most productive in the world. Australian
"diggins" have already furnished a few, and will pro-
bably yield a vast supply when their gravel comes to be
turned over by people having eyes for other objects than
nuggets and gold-flakes.f The British Museum, amongst

• The Cingalese still call the Jargoons " Diamonds of Mataura,"
from the place 'where they most abound.

t In the Exhibition held at Paris (1856) two Diamonds were to be
seen, found in the Macquarie River. My anticipation in the text has
begun to be verified in the Exhibition of Native Productions, held at
Melbourne, May, 1865. The feature that excited the greatest interest
were the numerous specimens (small, it is true, but undeniable) of the
Diamond from various parts of the colony.

A writer

46 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c,

the native Diamonds, exhibits an octahedral Diamond
attached to alliiyial gold ; and, strange confirmation of the
ancient idea as their affinity, not only is the primary crystal
of that metal also the octahedron, but all its secondary
modifications exactly correspond with those of the Dia-
mond. Modem science has made no further advance towards
the solution of this problem beyond that propounded as
a certainty in the ancient 'Timaeus.' Prof. Maskeleyne
observes: "Gold seems in every diamond-country to be
either the associate or the not distant neighbour of the
Diamond. In the Diamond, splinters of ferruginous
quartz have been found. A high antiquity, and an origin
perhaps contemporaneous and not improbably connected
with the geological distribution of gold in quartz-veins
may be inferred from these facts." " In Brazil it has been
traced to its rock- home in the Itacolumite (a micaceous
quartzose schist often containing talcose minerals, and
intersected by quartz-veins) and also in a hornblende, also
continuous with the Itacolumite. But whether these are
the parent rocks — or whether, as they are probably meta-
morphic in nature — its origin comes from an earlier state
of the materials that have been transmuted by time and
the play of chemical and physical forces into Itacolumite
and hornblende slate, we are not in a position to declare."
The Eomans, taught by the Indians no doubt, valued this
gem entirely on account of its supernatural virtues. Pliny,

A writer in the * Times * (April 5, 1866) quotes a letter from a corre-
spondent at the Woolshed diggings, Ovens district, mentioning that he
had examined no less than 60 Diamonds found in that single locality.
They were all minute, varying from half-a-grain up to two grains. Some
were of a fine yellow water. The largest he had been able to procure
weighed two carats, and this he sent to the London Exhibition of 1862.
But from accounts that had reached him he had good reason to suspect
that specimens of much greater weight had previously been thrown
away by their ignorant finders.

ADAMA8, 47

and this time without his usual sneer at the Magi, says
that it baffles poison, keeps off insanity, and dispels vain
fears, and hence takes its title of Anachites.* The medi-
SBval Italians believed all this and much more : they en-
titled it " Pietra della Eeconciliazione,'* because it main-
tained concord between husband and wife. On this account
it was long held the appropriate stone for setting in the
espousal-ring. It was not recommended to them by its
beauty, for, with the rare exceptions of the ** Naifes," the
surface of the best is coated by a dull greenish varnish ;
so that, strange antithesis to our ideas where the Diamond
is the type of light and lustre, Isidorus speaks of the
Indian Diamond as being a little stone, and devoid of
beauty, " lapis pai*vus atque indecorus." Never attempt-
ing to polish, even in the same inartificial manner as their
other hard gems, much less to engrave upon it — for which
the minuteness of the specimens known to them unfitted
it — the Komans wore the crystals in their native form. A
magnificent example is afforded by the clasp of Charle-
magne's mantle, set with four large stones, the legacy
doubtless of his imperial predecessors.

Although Diamonds have played an important part
amongst the machinery of modern history, yet the only
one that makes any figure in ancient is Nerva's, which he

♦ He here seems to have Orpheus in view (190), " a stone full of
wondrous milk — whence the ancients have termed it the Anaktites
Adamas, because it bends the minds of the gods, so that they respect
their offerings and take pity upon mortals. They have likewise called
it LethsBan, because it prevents both mortals and immortals from
thinking of their sorrows and evils. Others bid us call it the Galac-
tites, for, if one rubs it, a liquor exEkJtly like milk exudes therefrom."
Pliny's QalactiteSt however, was a soft stone, brought from the Nile,
tasting like milk, and melting in the mouth. But, adds he, some gave
this name to an Emerald surrounded by three white lines. The former
must have been the pure carbonate of lime, the Berg-Milch of the
Germans.

48 NATURAL HISTOBY OF PRECIOUS ST02iES, ike,

afterwards gave to Trajan on appointing him his colleague,
and with which the latter some years later rewarded the
eminent services of Hadrian in the second Dacian War, as
Spartian records, thereby tacitly acknowledging him for his
successor in the Empire.

A few rings also have come down intact to our times,
which show what was the appearance of this of Nerva's,
or of the one set with the

*^ Adamas notissimus et Berenices
In digito factus pretiosior/'

that doubtless had flashed in St. Paurs eyes on the mo-
mentous audience before the Jewish queen and her too-
loving brother in their " great pomp," and which afterwards,
a souvenir of Titus, graced the finger of the imperious lady
in Juvenal's days. The Hertz Collection possessed a
well-formed octahedral Diamond, about a carat in weight,
set open in a Eoman ring of unquestionable authenticity.
The Waterton Dactyliotheca, in its almost unlimited extent,
comprising the rings of all nations and ages, furnishes a
3^et finer example of the Diamond in its original setting;
a ring of a singular fashion, apparently dating from the
Lower Empire, for the head is much thrown up, and has
the sides pierced into a pattern, the '* opus interrasile,"
so greatly in vogue during those times. It is set with
two diamonds of (judging by the eye) a carat each ; one a
perfect octahedron of considerable lustre, the other duller
and irregularly crystallised. Another such example might
be sought for in vain throughout the largest cabinets in
Europe.

The Komans in their estimation of this gem were
guided by the Indians, who have ever given it the first
rank amongst jewels; the Persians, however, in the thir-
teenth century, placed it fifth; after the Pearl, Kuby,

ADAMA8. 49

Emerald, and Chrysolite. Cellini ranks it in his Tahle
of Yalues after the Euby and the Emerald, and only at
the eighth of the price of the former. Garcias ab Horto
writes in 1565, " The Diamond is considered the king of
gems, on account of the hardness of its substance ; for if
we look to value and beauty, the Emerald holds the first
place, and the Euby (if clear) the next"

Pliny retails a "jewellers' story," as to the infrangi-
bility of the Diamond, which was only to be overcome by
first steeping it in goat's blood ; and thereanent indulges
in certain profound reflections upon the doctrine of Anti-
pathies: adding that such a discovery could never have
been guessed by mere mortal ingenuity, but must have
been the express revelation of Heaven. Ben Mansur also
gravely states that a Diamond laid upon an anvil, and
struck with a hammer, instead of breaking, is driven into
the anvil ; and that the only resource is to wrap it up in
lead, and then to hammer it, or else enclose it in wax or
turpentine ; expedients in reality resorted to, as one can
well suppose, but only in order to prevent the precious
splinters from flying about and being lost.

This infrangibility was naturally in people's minds
the concomitant idea with^ that of the hardness already
ascertained: this, and resistance to violence, being con-
sidered as inseparable; and besides, the experiment was
too costly to be ever tried. But in reality this gem being
composed of infinitely thin laminae deposited over each
other in a direction parallel to the fistces of the primitive
crystal, it can easily be split by a blow of a knife in the
direction of these laminsB. This property had been dis-
covered long ago, even in the sixteenth century, but then
passed for the mere chimera of a visionaiy, for De Boot
says that he knew a physician who '' boasted that he by

(M) E

50 NATURAL HI8T0BY OF PEECI0U8 STONES, &c,

a singular artifice ooiild stick a Diamond upon the point
of a needle ; and moreover, without the aid of any instru-
ment or material, other than those furnished by the human
body, divide it into fine scales like a piece of talc:" a
comparison which attests the truth of his boast. The
arcanum, however, like many other valuable medissval
recipes, died witii the discoverer, imtil Dr. Wollaston
again hit upon it, and made thereby some profitable specu-
lations by purchasing large Diamonds at a low price
which had been rejected by the jewellers on account of
their bad shape and fulness of flaws, and skilfully sub-
dividing them into smaller and perfect crystals. The
learned chemist's discovery had, however, been long anti-
cipated by the Indian lapidaries, like most other secrets
in this branch of science. Tavemier accounts for the
prevalence of " thin stones " (tables) at the Eaolconda
mine, by the fact that the Diamonds got flawed from the
miners breaking the rocks containing the veins of sand,
their matrix, by violent blows of iron crows — '*and when
they see that the flawed stone is of good size, they set to
work to diver ^ that is, to split it, at which they are much
more expert than ourselves." — (ii. 327.)

It will naturally be asked why the ancients should have
ever desired to reduce to fragments so rare a possession :
but Pliny supplies a sufficient motive: "When by good
luck they succeed in breaking the stone, it flies into such
small scales (crustae) that they are scarcely visible. These
are in request with gem-engravers, and are mounted in
iron tools,* there being no substance so hard that they

• An invention of the remotest antiquity, "The sin of Judah is
written with a pen of iron, amd with the point of a diamond ; it is
graven on the table of their hearts " (Jer. xvii. 1) — aptly rendered by
the Vulgate, " stylo ferreo in ungue adamantino." But tiie Adamoi of
the Babylonians and Egyptians must have been the Oonm/dmn,

Flavio

ADAMA8, 51

cannot hollow out with the greatest ease." We must,
however, suppose that they used for this purpose only the
Lasque and the Bort, stones of an ugly form, and too dnll
to serve as ornaments ; just as in our day these same kinds
are pounded up to make the diamond-dust for lapidaries.
The Eomans, however, did not employ the crushed stone
in the form of diamond-powder, but the sharp fragments
were mounted singly in an iron handle, and managed much
in the same manner as the graver in cutting a design on
steel; hence the great freedom of touch characterising
true antique work on gems, where the artist has evidently
cut away the material with an instrument obstructed by
no resistance. Natter, himself one of the most distinguished
gem-engravers of the last century, justly particularizes the
predominant use of the diamond-point in an intaglio as
the grand criterion that distinguishes the antique from the
modem. The ancient artist having sunk his design into
the gem to the depth required by the means of a blunt
drill charged with emery-powder, put in all the finishing
strokes, the features, the hair, the drapery, with his keen
diamond-point; the modem executes the same work in a
tamer, more mechanical manner, with the edge of a rapidly
revolving disk or the point of a drill, made cutting by a
coat of diamond-powder and oil, and turned like a lathe
by a fly-wheel, whence the name of the machine. Before
the introduction of the true Diamond into Greece, sharp
fragments of Corundum obtained from Naxos served the
same purpose : the name Adamas was then doubtless con-
fined to the blue and grey Sapphires found in Cyprus, or
to the opaquer crystals of Corundum discovered in the

Flavio Serletti, of Livomo, soon after the year 1700, is believed
to have been the first to revive (at Stosch's suggestion) the use of this
ancient Instrument, and by Its aid to have rivalled and counterfeited
the greatest masters of antiquity. (GivUaneUu)

£ 2

62 NATURAL HI8T0BY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c.

emery-mines. Such a stone reduced to sharp fragments
would serve to cut into and excise tlie Quartz gems,
Sards, Agates, Jaspers, then in request as signets, with
almost as much facility as the Diamond itself. In fact,
the amorphus Corundum, used from time immemorial by
the Indian lapidaries for cutting the hardest gems, was
known when introduced into the European atelier, some
ninety years ago, by the name of AdamarUine Spar. That
some such mineral must then have represented the Adamas
is a necessary consequence from the patent &ct that
works apparently executed entirely by the diamond-point
and others with but little assistance from the drill, belong
for the most part to the archaic period of Greek art, some
ages before the true Diamond could have found its way
thither from India. Similarly within the last few years
the diamond-powder itself has been superseded in Paris by
the Carbonado, a black substance of the same chemical
nature, but found in Brazil much more abundantly, the
masses attaining to 1000 carats in weight. This new agent,
besides being employed in powder, is fashioned with shell-
lac into a kind of graver (burin) of power to act most
eflficaciously upon the hardest gems.

We find in the ancients few indications as to the
particular locality of India that supplied them with the
Diamond; Pliny says merely, at random, "the gem-pro-
ducing rivers are the Acesines (Jenaub) and the Ganges."
Dionysius Periegetes enumerates the Diamond amongst
the numerous gems (the Beryl, Green Jasper, Topazius,
Amethyst) picked up in the river-beds by the natives of
India, as anciently understood, lying to the east of Mount
Paropamisus and Ariana. Ammian (xxii. 8, 30), writing
in the fourth century, mentions the region of the Agathyrsi,
situated beyond the Sea of Azov, as abounding in Dia-
monds: "apud quos adamantis est copia lapidis." He

ADAMA8. 53

may refer to the gold-washings in the Ural Mountains,
true seat in former ages of the fabulous Arimaspi. lliere
is actually a false Diamond found plentifully in Siberia,
the use of which is interdicted to the Bussian jewellers
under the heaviest penalties, as I have been informed by
a person of that profession, formerly practising at St.
Petersburg. It cannot be distinguished by the eye from
the true gem. The ' Periplus of the Bed Sea ' has merely,
" To Barace are brought various and numerous kinds of
lustrous gems, the Adamaa, the Hyacinthus, &c.," but no
mention of the actual situation of the mines. All that
the usually well-informed Ben Mansur knew of the Indian
Diamond mines was the fable that **in the Eastern part
of India there is a deep valley inhabited by serpents,*
where the Diamond is produced ; but some believe it te be
gotten in the mines of the Jacut (Buby)."

The earliest authentic account of them is te be found
in the little treatise * De Arom. et Simp. Historia,' written
in Portuguese by Garcias ab Horto, in 1565, in the form
of dialogues ; a Latin abridgment of which was published
by Clusius two years later, as a supplement to Monardes'
treatise on the same subject. This wiiter had been phy-
sician to the Viceroy at Goa, and had occasionally been
called in by the Nizam-moluco (ul-Mulk), ruler of the
Deccan, who had offered him 40,000 pardaosf a year to
reside permanently at his court. His account represents in
all probability pretty nearly the same state of things as

* This in its origin is the same story as that reported by Sotacus
concerning the Dracontia, found in the serpent's brain, colourless and
transparent (candore translncido), and admitting of no further polish
or improYement from art Sotacus had himself beheld this gem on the
hand of " the King ;" and being quoted " as a most ancient author,"
probably gives us here the first notice of the true Diamond.

t A coin current at Qoa, equal to half-a-crown English ; the same
as the early native rupee.

64 NATUBAL EI8T0BY OF PBEGIOUS STONES, (fee.

when the Eoman traders from Alexandria made their an-
nual voyages to Baroche upon that coast. " Diamonds are
found in only three or four places. In the province of
Bisnagar there are two or three rocks that produce them ;
which brings in immense gain to the king of that country,
as every stone above the weight of 30 mangelis (150
grains, the mangeli of Goa being 5 grains French according
to Ta vernier) belongs to the sovereign. There is another
rock in the Deccan, not far from the territory of the
Imadixa (Imad-shah), or Imad-moluco, but within the
lands of a certain native prince, which produces excellent
Diamonds, though of smaller size. These are the stones
known by the name of * Diamonds of the Old Eock,' and
are brought for sale to Lispor, a town of the Deccan, where
there is a noted fair held. The Guzerat merchants buy
them there, and bring them to us at this place (Goa),
They even carry them as far as Bisnagar, tempted by
the great profit. For these stones, naturally polished and
called * Naifes ' by the Indians, are infinitely preferred to
any others. There is another rock on the sea of Tanjan,
in the Malacca country, which yields Diamonds, also called
* Diamonds of the Old Bock,' of small size but fine quality.
One fault they have, they are very heavy, which makes
them more liked by the sellers than by the buyers."

The same careful investigator of Indian productions
notes Pliny's assertion about Diamonds being found in
Arabia as altogether unfounded. But there is little doubt
that the Sabaeans of South Arabia were a Hindoo race,
there settled for purposes of traffic, like the Banian mer-
chants, who nearly engrossed all the trade in precious
stones in Tavemier's age. These obtained gems of all kinds
from India itself, and, pursuing their business, passed over
incredible distances; and were to be found domiciled in
places where they were least to be looked for.

ADAMAS, 55

" It seems to me," says Garcias, ** quite a miracle how
these gems, which might be expected to be produced in
the deepest bowels of the earth, and in a space of many-
years, should on the contrary be generated almost on the
surface of the ground, and come to perfection in an in-
terval of two or three years. For in the mines, this year
for instance, at the depth of a cubit, you will dig and find
Diamonds : let two years pass, and mining in the same
place you will again find Diamonds. But it is agreed that
the largest * are only found under the bottom of the rock."
De Laet in 1647, after quoting the above with a few ex-
planatory remarks, adds : ** But in former years, as I have
been informed by some English merchants, the richest
mines were at Golconda, on the gulf of the Ganges, about
108 miles £rom Masilipatam. These used to be farmed out
for 300,000 pagodas per annum (150,000/.), with the reser-
vation of all stones above ten carats weight, for the royal
treasury. But these works were stopped by the king's
order in 1532, either through fear the stones should become
too common and cheap, or, as others say, because the Great
Mogulf had demanded an annual tribute from the king of
Golconda of three pounds by weight of the finest stones
found. The most likely reason, however, is, that the mines

* The largest Garcias had seen, himself, weighed 140 mangelis (175
car.) ; the next to this 120 mangelis (150 car.) ; but a credible person
had informed him that he had seen one at Bisnagar as large as a small
hen's egg. It is quite nnaccountable why De Boot should quote the
first mentioned as of 187i car., citing Monardes instead of Gkircias.
(A mistake readily fallen into, the treatises of both haying been pub-
lished together in the same volume.) It seems as if he had heard of the
Koh-i-noor ; it being scarcely probable that two stones should be co-
existent of that extraordinary weight — agreeing within one carat and
a half, even which discrepancy may be accounted for by the small varia-
tion, of -j^, between the Portuguese carat and the French. Garcias'
sprains are wheat, not troy grains.

t Baber had founded the Mogul Empire in the years 1526-8.

66 NATUBAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c,

were already worked out. An Englishman, William Methold,
says that he had visited these mines at the time that they
employed some 30,000 labourers, some in digging, some in
bailing out the water by hand, having no mechanical con-
trivances for that purpose. They simk shafts 10 or 12
fathoms deep, and carried out the earth, which was red,
mixed with white and yellow chalk, to a place levelled to
receive it : and when dried by the sun broke it small and
sifted it. Sometimes, though very rarely, they obtained
stones of from 120 to 200 carats; many of from 10 to 15
carats; but by far the largest number so excessively
minute, that from eight to twenty of them put together
would only weigh a single carat." The mine of Gani, or
Coulour, the most productive of all at the date of Taver-
nier's visit (1642), had been discovered about a century
before by accident. A poor man breaking up a bit of
waste ground to sow millet, picked up a " pointe naive"
weighing nearly 25 carats. Thinking it something extraor-
dinary he carried it to the town of Golconda, and showed
it to a jeweller, who immediately acted upon the intelli-
gence. This mine yielded abundance of stones from 10 to
40 carats weight, and often of much greater ; for example,
that of Mirginola's (ii. 339).

India now sends no Diamonds to the market ; but a few,
and of the best quality, still come from Borneo. Lowe
(Sarawak) states that some have been found at Sarawak ;
but the mines now worked are at Landak, Sangoar, and
Benjarmain, which produce stones of small size but of fine
water, and occasionally up to 12 and 13 carats in weight.

Africa is reckoned by Pliny amongst the diamond-
yielding countries ; and his assertion has been lately veri-
fied. In 1840 M. Hericart de Thury announced to the
Academic des Sciences that Diamonds had been found in
file Eiver Goumal, province of Constantine, mingled with

ADAMAS. bl

the gold-dust brought down by the stream. One specimen,
weighing 3 carats, was bought for the ^cole des Mines,
Paris; another of 5 grains for the Musee de THistoire
Naturelle ; the third by the Marquis de Dr6e.

Similarly modem research has confirmed Ammian's
notice of the abundance of Diamonds in the region of the
Agathyrsi. In the gold mine of Adolph, Siberia, between
1830 and 1833, were found upwards of fifty Diamonds,
octahedrons and dodecahedrons ; one of considerable size,
the rest from 1 to 3 grains in weight. This mine lies on
the bank of the Biserek, a brook flowing into the Kama
to the west of the Ural, in the government of Perm. The
alluvial deposit containing them is of the same nature as
that in the Brazilian workings, being a ferruginous clay
mixed with a bright red sand, together with quartz cry-
stals, iron-oxide, prases said calcedonies, and black dolomite.

The mines of the Sierra do Frio, Brazil, have ever since
their opening in the year 1727 supplied the world, and are
computed to have yielded in that space of time the incredible
quantity of over tvoo tons of this precious article. The Dutch,
who previously had the monopoly of the Indian trade,
endeavoured at first to discredit the Brazilian stones as
spurious, so that it became necessary to send them to India
and re-export them to Europe in order to give them a
character.* Such was the productiveness of the mines on
their first discovery, that in 1732, 1146 ounces of Diamonds
were shipped at Kio for Lisbon. In consequence of this
influx the price dropped at once down to a louis (18s.) the
carat. Great was the consternation amongst all possessors

♦ In July, 1863, the Bank of Lisbon sold to the amount of 1,800,000
francs of rough Diamonds out of the Collection brought back from
Brazil by John VI. in 1821. M. Bernard, of the Imperial Diamond-
cutting Establishment, Paris, bought four lots for 1,500,000 fr. (60,000Z.).
There yet remain to the Portuguese Crown rough Diamonds valued at
35,000,000 fir. (1,400,0002.).

68 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, Ac.

of old Diamonds ; but the panic was speedily stayed by the
Government making the working of the mines a royal
monopoly, and farming out their produce to a single mer-
chant so as to regulate the supply.

To maintain the value of the Indian stones the trade
(then chiefly Dutch) set to work to persuade the public
that the new comers into the market were a spurious
kind, in fact no true Diamonds at all. As late as 1750
Jeflfries gravely asserts the same thing, though it is hardly
possible he was not aware of its falsity. Amongst other
methods resorted to by those in the opposite interest to
establish the reputation of the thus vilifled Brazilian
species, Cairo mentions one repeated to him by an ancient
Venetian lapidary, able to remember so far back, which
was the cutting the new stones after Indian patterns, so as
to make them pass for old Golconda tables.

The yield of the Brazilian washings stood at a pretty
regular average of 30,000 carats (not quite 26 lbs. troy),
until 1,843, when the discovery of the Sincora mine in
Bahia multiplied it twenty-fold. But this increase that had
80 alarmed all possessors of diamonds only lasted two
years ; the mortality amongst the workers there, owing to
the malaria and the difficulty of getting provisions, speedily
putting a stop to the enterprise. In 1851 the yield had
declined to 150,000 carats, and still keeps falling off. The
Brazilian stones run very much smaller than those formerly
yielded by the Indian workings ; out of 10,000 found in
the Jaquinitonita, the oldest and richest in Brazil, 8000
are under one carat, and only two or three from 17 to 20
carats. Of the entire year's produce of all the mines put
together, it is seldom that a single one exceeds 30 carats.
The slave fortunate enough to find one of 17^ carats ob-
tains his freedom, a permission to work on his own account,
and a new suit of clothes. In the year 1851 unusual prizes

ADAMA8. 59

turned up in this lottery, in the shape of three stones of
120|, 107, 87i carats respectively. The largest indubitable
stone ever yielded by Brazil is the * Star of the South,*
weighing as found 254 carats. The diamond-producing
tract of country extends from Itambe, in the Minas Geraes,
to Sincora on the Eiver Faraguesa, Bahia, or between
20"^ 19' and 13° of south latitude. The washings are carried
on in the beds of the numerous rivulets supplying the
streams of the risers Doce, Arasasky, Jaquitonita, and San
Francesco. During the dry season which lasts from April
to October, these rivulets are diverted from their courses,
and the gravel — cascalhao — filling their beds, is dug out
down to the rock to a depth varying from 6 to 20 feet, and
stored up by the side of the washing-sheds, to be examined
during the rainy season. It is then washed in troughs,
about half-a-hundredweight being operated upon at one
time in each trough : a stream of water is turned in upon the
gravel, which is stirred until the water runs off perfectly
clear, when the fine gravel remaining is carefully searched
for the Diamonds. Until lately the Diamond had never
been traced to its matrix, but this has now been done, in
at least two instances in Brazil. The writer above quoted
says : " The first was in 1839, and the rock which contained
it was descaibed by M. P. Chasseau (*Bull. de I'Acad.
Boyale, Bruxelles,' viii. 331) as grea paammitey a sort of
sandy freestone, the locality being the Serro di Santantonio
di Grammagoa. The discoverers of the deposit took from
it many Diamonds, as the rock was soft ; but deeper, it
became harder, and consequently more difficult to work.
As many as 2000 persons from all parts came to the place ;
but they dug without order or plan, and, undermining the
rook, part of it fell down. They still draw a profit from
breaking the fragments, and extracting the Diamonds.
We cannot say how long this was continued. M. Chasseau's

60 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c,

paper was written in 1841, and the deposit in question, as
far as we can learn, is only again mentioned by M.
Semonosoff in the ' Annales des Mines,' 1842. But we know
that in 1855 Mr. T. Eedington, a native of Cornwall, was
employed by the Vice-President of the province of Minas
Geraes to trace the course and tributaries of the principal
river of the Diamond district, so as to find the rock from
whence the Diamond came. Amongst other localities he
visited San Joao, about twenty miles north of Diamantina,
and there he found a vein yielding Diamonds which had
for about eight years previously been wrought by the
natives. This he began to work, and though the number,
size, and qualities of the stones found have never been
made public, he was still engaged upon it only some few
months since, and probably is so at this moment. No
doubt these examples will stimulate others to attempt
similar discoveries."

COLOURED DIAMONDS.

The Diamond, true king of gems, not content with its
own inimitable purity, takes a pleasure, as it were, to
assume in turns the proper colours of its subject-classes,
and again to surpass each one in its own peculiar excel-
lence. The Blue Diamond combines the azure of the
Sapphire with its own adamantine lustre, and becomes
most lovely by the addition ; the Hose-coloured far eclipses
the Kuby, as does the Green the Emerald ; so greatly
does its native brilliancy enhance those agreeable colours.
When any of these three tints is decided, but especially
the green, it enormously augments the commercial value
of the stone. Not so, however, with the Milky tinge that
imitates the Opal ; and the Yellow, the commonest of all,
the pale Topaz. This latter, regarded as a great defect,

COLOURED DIAMONDS. 61

disfigures the majority of the stones, especially the larger,
hroTight from Brazil. Barest of all was the Black, until
the recent discovery of the Carbonado^ whence now may
be cut any number of this contradiction to the very idea of
the Diamond ; concentrated darkness in place of light.

The most charming piece of jewelry that I ever beheld,
was a spray composed with exquisite taste entirely out of
coloured Diamonds of all the tints that could be collected
in ten years' research by the artist-goldsmith (one of the
true Cellini breed), its ill-remunerated deviser.

The most complete collection of coloured Diamonds ever
formed was that of Virgil von Helmreicher's, a Tyrolese who
had spent much of his life in their pursuit in Brazil. After
his death they were secured for the Museum of Vienna.

This distinction of colour was noticed early. Ben
Mansur founds his minute system of classification upon
it, placing them in the following descending order of
value : — 1. The White, transparent. 2. The Pharaonic
(without explanation). 3. The Olive ; or white passing
into yeUow. 4. The Bed. 5. The Green. 6. The Blue.
7. The Fire-coloured. "The two first are the most
plentiful ; the others are rare : but the rarest of all are
those quite polished (naturally):" meaning by the last
the Naif 68 of the Hindoos.

ARTIFICIAL IMPROVEMENT OF TEE DIAMOND.

Large stones, besides flaws and specks of different
colours, sometimes inclose cavities filled up with a black
sediment that discolours their whole mass. How to get
rid of such impurities without excision and the necessary
destruction of the magnitude of the diamond is the prob-
lem that certain chemists profess to have solved. De Boot
positively asserts that his imperial master, Eudolf II., had

62 NATURAL HI8T0BY OF PBECI0U8 STONES, &c.

discovered a menstruum distilled from antimony (*'aqua
merourialis ex stibio distillata") by means of wlucb, with
the application of heat, he was enabled to clear diamonds
of the flaws, clouds, and colours which detract so greatly
from their value. De Boot declares that he had seen a
stone bought for 6000 ducats in the first instance, which
after having been thus '* emendated " was valued at double
that amoimt. " But," adds, he, " a secret like this must
be divulged to none." It therefore, like numerous other
important arcana of those tentative philosophers, has
perished with the discoverer. And now in our day comes
forward Barbot, who doubtless has never heard of Eudolf
n., and boasts of having attained to the same desidera-
tum, styling himself on his title-page "Inventeur du
precede de decoloration du Diamant brut." But yet he
has not advanced so far as the Imperial adept, for his
invention merely consists in removing by some chemical
means (a secret) the dull crust of the native crystal, thus
enabling its exact nature to be ascertained before cutting,
so that the purchase of the stone will no longer be a
complete lottery as to its result. In the very curious casQ
' Van Minden v, Pyke ' tried at Croydon, August 9, 1865,
to the utter bewilderment of both judge, counsel, and
jury, and which turned upon the identity of a particular
large Diamond, alleged to have been changed by the person
entrusted with its sale, it was stated in the evidence that it is
a common practice when a large stone is disfigured by a
yellow flaw, to roast the same in a crucible filled with
borax ; the operation changing the yellow into a bluish-black,
becoming rather an improvement than otherwise to the lustre
of the stone, if successfully performed.* But in this instance,
from want of skill in the mauagement of the fire, the

* Mawe gives full directions for the process (p. 33).

CHABLE8 THE BOLD'8 DIAMOND. 63

yellow flaw had been greatly extended (althoTigh black-
ened) and so had reduced the value of the stone by more
than hal£*

I had long suspected the yellow Diamond was nata-
i-ally susceptible of the same improvement from fire as
the orange Topaz. My opinion has been verified last
year by the experiment of M. Frenny who exhibited at a
meeting of the Academie des Sciences a yellow Diamond
weighing 4 grammes (15 car.) which by exposure to a
high temperature was turned to a fine rose colour. Un-
fortunately the original sin of yellow returns a few days
after the baptism of fire.

CHABLES THE BOLUS DIAMOND.

Comines relates that in the plundering of the Duke's
tent after the rout at Granson where he lost all his jewels,f
a common soldier found his " great Diamond which was
one of the largest in Christendom," tossed away the jewel
as a worthless bauble, but kept the box containing it (a
gold one may be well supposed). He had thrown the
Diamond imder a waggon, but on second thoughts he looked
for and picked it up again, and sold it to a priest for one
florin; the priest in his turn sold it for three francs to
the magistrates of his own canton. This explains how
it got into the hands of the Bernese Government, from
whom Fugger purchased it, together with the other re-
markable trophies of their victory now to be described.

J. J. Fugger, one of the celebrated Nuremburgh family,
had left a full and very curious written description illus-
trated with exact drawings (made by himself in the year

♦ No professional person can read the depositions of the several
witnesses without the full persuasion that the unsuccessful experi-
mentalist was not the defefndant,

t •* Toutes ses graudes hagues,"

64 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c.

1555) of tlie Ducal jewels, and some of the plate pur-
chased by his grandfather, Jacob Fugger, from the Bernese
Government. Lambeccius has published his MS. and ac-
curately engraved his drawings in his Bibliotheca CcBsarea
(ii. 516).

The Duke's big, deep, pointed Diamond, the talk of
all Christendom — " der grosz und dich spitzig Diamandt,
von dem in der gantzem Christenheit gesagt wurd" — is
shaped as a pyramid five-eighths of an inch square at the
base : having the apex cut into a four-rayed star in relief,
each ray corresponding with the centre of each face of the
pyramid ; a most singular and ingenious pattern, doubtless
eliciting some of the brilliancy of the stone, but totally
unconnected with any idea of the modem principles of
facet-cutting. This Diamond proves convincingly that
Bequem's invention went no farther than this, the cutting
of the stone into a definite form — some allusive device,
accompanied with the reduction of the sides of the native
" point " into perfect regularity and equality with each other.
It is set in the midst of three Balais-rubies, cut as de-
pressed, somewhat irregular, pyramids measuring seven-*
eighths by one-half an inch at the base ; and styled, from
their correspondence in size and weight, " The Three
Brothers." To indicate their natural perfection, Fugger
particularly notes down that they were set without a foil,
and therefore d jour. The four Pearls completing the out-
line of the Pendant are truly magnificent for their mag-
nitude although somewhat baroques in shape, being each
above half an inch in diameter, and certainly approach-
ing, if not equalling, half an ounce in weight. Comines,
too, makes mention of the Three Brothers, and of two
incomparable Balais besides, known by the quaint ap-
pellations the one as ** La Hotte " (pouch), the other as
** La BaUe (bale) de Flandres."

CHARLES THE BOLUS DIAMOSD. 65

Jacob Fugger bought this pendant together with the
Duke's " Cap of Itf^aintenance " of silk with Pearls stitched
all over it, having a hat-band of Sapphires and Balais,
and a plume-case set with Diamonds (points) of tolerable
size placed between alternate Pearls and Balais-Rubies,
•' for no more " (as he boasts) " than 47,000 florins." The
cap, in shape the counterpart of that antithesis to all
ideas of dignity, a jocke^^s cap, terminates in a single huge
Balais cut into an acute pyramid, and springing out of
an elegant socket resting upon cherub heads set under
the four angles of the base. It is remarkable that with
this exception all the Balais are fashioned into depressed
pyramids.

The pendant Fugger kept by him for many years in
the hope and expectation that the emperor Charles V.
(the unfortunate Duke's great grandson) would buy it for
himself as a family relic : the cap however he broke up,
and reset all the stones adorning it for Maximilian II.
At last his great-nephew (the writer of the memorandum)
sold the pendant to our Henry VIII. just before his death,
but adds that he was honestly paid the price agreed upon
(which proTokingly he has omitted) notwithstanding the
demise of the purchaser : a remark by the way that suffi-
ciently betra3''8 the trepidation he had been in as to such a
satis^tory contingency. Henry's successor and daughter
forthwith made a present of the jewel to her ungrateful
bridegroom, and Fugger naturally enough remarks upon
the singular coincidence, that this heir-loom should thus
have been restored gratuitously by fortune through the
hands of Mary to the actual representative in the fourth
descent of its original owner, after an estrangement of
seventy-six years.

To conclude this notice of these memorials of the mag-
nificence and of the misfortunes of Charles the Bold, I

(m) f

66 NATUEAL HI8T0BY OF PBECI0U8 STONES, &e.

cannot avoid observing that his spiteful Fate was not to be
appeased by his death, but followed him beyond the grave :
for she caused to be inscribed upon his monument in
Nancy cathedral this most horrific specimen of Dog-Latin
ever excogitated by monkish muse :

** Te piguit pacis, teduitque quietis in vita
Hie jaces, Carole ! jamque quiesoe tibi."

TEE SANCY.

The story, perpetually retailed, that the Diamond just
described, and the first specimen of the art invented by
Berquem, has come down to our times under the name of
the almost equally famous " Saucy Diamond," is a mere
fable resting upon a basis of mistakes and confusion.
Kobert de Berquem, a descendant of the Duke's jeweller,
and who would naturally have made the most of such a
tradition had it been current in his own times, tells us
distinctly the true origin of the " Sancy " in his ' MerveiUes
des Indes ' (published 1669), in these words : — " La Eoyne
d'Angleterre d'a present a celuy que diffunct M. de Sancy
apporta de son ambassade de Levant, qui est en forme
d'amande, taill6 a facettes des deux costees : parfaitement
blanc et net; et qui pese cinquante-quatre carats." Now
the measurement of the noted Burgundian stone, as given
in Fugger's fac-simile of it, namely, five-eighths of an inch
square at the base (or girdle) would, according to Barbot's
scale for estimating the weights of Diamonds by their
dimensions, produce a weight of only twenty-eigJU carats,
supposing the pattern to be a perfect brilliant. Although
a few more carats must be allowed in this case for an
extremely elevated apex in place of table, yet even this
addition will be far from adequate to bring up the sum

THE *'8ANCY** DIAMOND, 67

to the fifty-four carats of the Sancy. Corsi probably
supplies the true origin of many of the stories current
respecting this much-talked-of gem^ in mentioning a large
French Diamond as going by the name of the '* Cent-six "
(from its weight of 106 carats), which he adds became
corrupted in common parlance into " Le grand Sancy."
Corsi unfortunately has not taken the ti'ouble to give the
name or date of the owner: and no Diamond of that
precise weight (or anything that might be mistaken for
it) is to be found in the inventory of the Kegalia drawn
up in 1792 : in which the true Sancy figures under its
own name at fifty-three and fifteen-sixteenths carats.

Its almond foim, facetted all over (a pattern quite un-
known in De Sancy's times or indeed in any other, in
Europe), would, of itself, not require this express testi-
mony of E. de Berquem to declare that it was an Indian-
cut stone. In the very year when he was writing, Tavemier
was remarking, upon the spot, the fondness of the Gol-
conda lapidaries for covering the entire surface of the
Diamond under their hands with small facets in order to
diminish as little as possible the original weight of the
native crystal. The '* Koyne d*Angleterre " at the date
specified was probably the dowager-queen Henrietta Maria,
not the queen- consort Catharine of Braganza. The former
supposition would explain how the Sancy subsequently
appears in the possession of James II., from whom when
in exile it passed to Louis XIV. for the consideration of
625,000 fr. (25,000/.).

The Sancy was stolen together with the other regalia
from the Garde-Meuble, in the great robbery of Sep-
tember, 1792, and being more convertible than its com-
panion the Eegent, was never recovered. But Barbot
asserts positively that a Diamond exactly agreeing with
its description in all particulars was afterwards sold by

F 2

68 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, Ac.

an agent of the Bourbons (the elder branch) in the year
1838 to the Princess Paul Demidofif, for the sum of half a
million of roubles (75,000/.). This fact strongly confirms
the suspicions excited from the first as to the tme cause of
its abstraction in 1792. The price obtained for it on this
occasion must be grossly exaggerated by report, imless
indeed it is estimated in paper-roubles which would reduce
the amount nearly one -half. For calculating its value by
the established rule, 54 x 54 x 12 = 34,992/. ; a theo-
retical estimate never attained by the selling prices of very
large Diamonds, especially when only Indian-cut, as the
Sancy was. In the Inventory of the Crown Jewels it is
entered at one million fr. (40,000/.).

By a singular caprice of Fortune, this mythical gem has
recommenced its wanderings, and returns in our day to
its birthplace, the East. It has been purchased of the
Demidoff family (February, 1865), for the sum of 20,000/.,
by Messrs. Garrards on the commission of the Parsee
millionaire, Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy of Bombay.

To conclude with a few particulars of its history, and
of the gallant nobleman whose name this stone has done
more to immortalise than his own eminent services both
in camps and courts. That the Diamond of the French
regalia was not that of Charles the Bold, may be demon-
strated from its actual weight in another way, the converse of
that already adduced. The weight of the Sancy was 54
carats (or three gros of 72 grs. each = 216 grs.). Now Clusius,
than whom no person had better opportunities of getting
exact information, states that the largest Diamond ever
seen in Europe was the one purchased for 80,000 crowns
from Carlo Afietati of Antwerp, by Philip II., in the year
1559, designed as a bridal gift to his unfortunate second
wife, Elizabeth, the youngest daughter of Henri II. of
France. This stone weighed 47^ carats. But Philin had

THE ^'SANCY*' DIAMOND. 69

been in possession of the jewel of his ill-starred ancestor
for six years before this date. It is therefore a logical
deduction from Clusius's statement that the weight of the
Burgundian Diamond was far below that of Affetati's ;
and consequently that it did not so much as approach to
the 54 carats of the actual Sancy.

Now to attempt to discover the origin of this traditionary'
confusion between Charles the Bold's Diamond and the
Sancy. Nicolas Harlai, Seigneur de Sancy, was the early
friend and in after life treasurer to Henri IV. He changed
his religion at the same time with his master and acted
as his envoy at several courts, Queen Elizabeth's amongst
the rest. In the year 1589 he obtained a certain large
Diamond (not farther described) from Dom Antonio, the
pretendant to the Crown of Portugal, as security for a loan
of 100,000 livres, which was never discharged. Now the
tellers of the story take lipon themselves to assume a step
here, and make out this stone to be the ancient Burgimdian,
which, as we have seen, was then in the possession of
Dom Antonio's mortal enemy Philip II. : this change
of ownership therefore was not one very likely to have
taken place. Harlai being at Soleure, his king and friend
wishing in his turn to raise some money upon this valuable
pawn in order to hire a body of Swiss, the Diamond was
sent to him in the hands of a trusty servant of Harlai's.
But he, as the story goes, being beset by robbers upon
the road, had only just time to swallow the Diamond before
he was murdered and stripped by them. His master,
learning his fate, had the happy idea to count upon this
last expedient of the despair of his faithful envoy, and
therefore disinterred his corpse, opened it, and was not
disappointed in his expectation of recovering his treasure
out of this unsuspected hiding-place. But his enjoyment
of it was brief, for carrying out his first intention, he

70 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, Ac.

pledged it to the Jews of Metz for a certain considerable
amount, which being unable to repay he forfeited the
stone for ever ; as the well-informed author of his life in
the * Biographic Universelle ' has recorded. This Diamond,
therefore, even granting it to be Charles's and Philip's, at
this point entirely disappears from the scene : and there
only remains the one subsequently brought by Harlai
** from the Levant," that is from Constantinople, during his
embassy to the Grand Seigneur. That he was an amateur
in Diamonds is indicated by the fact of his purchasing
Dom Antonio's in those troublous times, as well as from
his love of display and magnificence. Sancy died in 1627 ;
and the next notice we find of his well-known Diamond is
foi*ty-two years later, as then belonging to the " Queen of
England."

KOE'I-NOOB.

To borrow the forcible language of Professor Maskeleyne,
"The history of this Diamond is one long romance from
then till now ; but it is well authenticated at every step,
as history seems never to have lost sight of this stone of
fate from the days when Ala-ud-deen took it from the
Kajahs of Malwa, five centuries and a half ago, to the
day when it became a crown jewel of England: while
tradition carries back its existence in the memory of India
to the half-mythic hero Bikramajeet,* Kajah of Usjein and
Malwa, 57 B.C. ; and a still wilder legend would fain recog-
nise in it a Diamond recorded as worn by Cama, Kajah
of Anga, who fell in the " great war," and first discovered
near Masulipatam, in the bed of the Godavery, 6000 years
ago."

* Better known as Vikramaditya, the expeller of the SaciB (Scythians*,
from India.

The Orloff, 193 c.

The Grand Mogul, 208 c.

Koh-i noor, Indian cnt, 186 c.

Upper surface. Under surface.

Koh-i-noor, recut, 1021 c.

The Regent, 136^ c.

i*age 70.

THE "KOH-I'NOOB" DIAMOND. 71

Our great mineralogist identifies this with the large
Diamond described by Baber, the founder of the Mogul
empire, in his Memoirs, the authenticity of which is
unquestionable: — "He mentions it as part of the spoil
taken by his son Humayun at Agra, after the battle of
Paniput, in which fell Ibrahim Lodi, and with him his ally
or tributary, the Rajah of Gwalior, Bikramajeet, custodian
of the fortress of Agra. It is reported by Baber to have
come into the Delhi treasury from the conquest of Malwa
by Ala-ud-deen in 1304."

"Baber gives its weight as about eight mishkals. In
another passage he estimates the mishkal at forty ratis,
which would make its weight 320 ratis." After men-
tioning the varying weight of the rati at different times
and places, he proceeds : " But the eight mishkals of
Baber afford a far more hopeful estimate of the weight
of this Diamond. This is a Persian weight, and seems
to be and to have been far less liable to variety of value
at different times or places. The Persian mishkal, or half-
dirhem, weighs 74-5 grains Troy, and eight of these equal
596 grains, or 187'58 carats. The Koh-i-noor in the Exhi-
bition of 1851 weighed 186 carats. This would require a
weight of 1*848 grain for the rati, — a number nearly
approximating to that given by the coins of Akbar."

Applying, then, the conclusion that the great Diamond
which was the spoil of Ala-ud-deen in 1304, and had pro-
bably been for ages the crown jewel of the independent
Rajahs of Malwa, passed to the Mogul conqueror of the
Patan sovereigns, and 'was so inherited by the Mogul
emperors, its subsequent history may be thus traced. " It
remained at Delhi until another, the fiercest and the last,
of the great inroads of the western Tartar peoples broke
over the hills of Affghanistan, and flooded the plains of
North- Western India.

72 NATURAL HI8T0BT OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c.

" The history of Thamas Kouli Khan, Nadir Shah, is
sufficiently near to the present times to fall almost within
the field of European contest in India. This conqueror
from the West gave back the prostrate empire of India
to his Tartar 'kinsman' on the throne of Delhi, and
exchanged turbans with him — so says tradition — ^in sign of
eternal sanity^ The proud Diamond of the Mogul was in
the cap of his vassal, and was saluted with the title of
' Koh-i-noor,' Mound of Light, by his suzerain. It went
back with all the fabulous wealth the Persian host bore
with them to Khorassan. From Nadir Shah it passed into
the hands of his powerless representative Shah Rokh ; but .
it was not one of the jewels afterwards extorted from him
by such frightful torture. The history of Ahmed Shah,
founder of the short-lived Dooranee empire, is that of
many another historic name. The realms conquered by
Nadir fell asunder at his death, and the Afifghan captain
of his horse and lord of his treasure secured for himself
the kingdoms surrounding his native passes, and erected
them into an empire which extended from Moultan to
Herat, from Peshawar to Candahar. From his Affghan
eyrie he descended to aid his old master's son in the
hour of his adversity, sealed an alliance with him, and
bore back the great Diamond, whose beauties * its blind
owner could no longer see,' and which became once more
an equivocal symbol of friendship between sovereigns, of
whom the recipient of the Diamond was the stronger.
From Ahmed Shah it descended with the throne to his
sons. The wild romance of Shah Soujah's life was in no
small degree linked with the gem. Long hidden in the
wall of a fortress that had been. Shah Zeman's prison, it
shone on the breast of Shah Soujah when the English
embassy visited Peshawar. Mahmoud reasserted with
success the claim of might to the empire of his brother.

TEE '' KOH'I'NOOR** DIAMOND. 73

and Shah Soujah became an exile. But his companion in
that exile was the Koh-i-noot; and hunted from Peshawar
to Cashmere, and decoyed from Cashmere to Lahore, Shah
Soujah became in semblance the guest, in reality the
prisoner, of Runjeet the Lion. He disgorged the pnz(i
for the sake of which the Lord of the Five Rivers had
inveigled him into his lair; and the ex-king of Cabul
and Dooranee prince escaped the gripe of his savage
tyrant only to enter upon adventures the story of which
might, for incident and hardship, challenge the pages of
romance. The Koh-i-noor had again been true to its tra-
dition. It had passed from the weak to the strong under
the semblance of righteousness. * At what do you esti-
mate its value ? ' said Runjeet to his victim. * At good
luck,' replied Shah Soujuh; * for it hath ever been the
property of him that hath conquered his enemies.' The
saccessors of Runjeet Singh inherited the Koh-i-noor ; and
when the Sikh power fell before the arms of England
which it had challenged, the talisman of Indian sway
passed from the treasury of Lahore to the jewel-chamber
of Windsor."

The Hindoos, however, have constantly enjoyed the
sweet consolation of revenge that Nemesis so often grants
to the worsted side, and trace out the curses and the
ultimate ruin inevitably brought by the genivs of this
&tefiil jewel upon its successive possessors ever since
it was first wrested from the line of Vikramaditya. And
in fact its malevolent influence, if we glance back over
its history since 1304, far exceeds that of the Necklace
of Eriphyle, or the Equus Scianus of Greek and Roman
tradition. First falls the vigorous Patan, then the
mighty Mogul empire, and, with vastly accelerated ruin,
the pK)wer of Nadir, of the Dooranee dynasty, and of the
Sikh. In fact, Runjeet was so convinced of the truth of

74 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c.

this belief, that, having satiated his covetousness in the
enjoyment of its possession during his lifetime, he vainly
sought to break through the ordinance of fate, and to
avert the concomitant destruction from his family by
bequeathing the stone to the shrine of Juggernaut for the
good of his soul and the preservation of his dynasty. But
his successors could not bring themselves to give up the
baleful treasure — each one, doubtless, acting on the maxim
" apres moi le deluge ;" but Destiny was too rapid in
her movements for them: the last Maharajah is now a
private " gentleman about town," and the Koh-i-noor was
presented by Lord Dalhousie, in the name of the East
India Company (since, in its turn, defunct in disgrace),
to Queen Victoria in 1860. The Brahmin sage who
studies the Book of Fate is probably not dispossessed
of his hereditary superstition touching the malign powers
of this stone when he thinks upon the so speedily following
Eussian war, that completely annihilated the prestige of
the British army, the legacy of Wellington's successes, and
upon the events of the JSepoy mutiny, three years later,
that caused the very existence of England as a nation to
hang for months upon the magnanimous forbearance of
one man: an ugly truth, however much we may affect
to ignore it.

The re-cutting of the Koh-i-noor (1862), though executed
with the utmost skill and perfection, as far as concerns
the art, was by its very nature a most ill-advised pro-
ceeding, for it has deprived the stone of all its historical
and mineralogical interest. As a specimen of a gigantic
Diamond whose native weight and form had been as little
as possible interfered with by art (for the grand object
with the Hindoo lapidary is the preservation of weight),
it stood without a rival, save the Orloff, in Europe. As it
is, in the place of the most ancient gem in the history of

THE "^KOH'LNOOE" DIAMOND, 75

the world, older even than the Tables of the Law, and
the Breast-plate of Aaron, supposing them still to exist, we
get a bad-shaped, because unavoidably too shallow, a
modem brilliant, a mere lady's bauble, of but second
water, for it has a greyish tinge, and besides this, inferior
in weight to several, being now reduced to 102^ carats.

The operation of re-cutting (which is said to have cost •
8000Z.) was performed in London, under the care of Messrs.
Grarrards, the Queen's jewellers, a small engine of four-
horse power being erected for the purpose upon their
premises. It was conducted by the best hand sent over
from M. Coster's great atelier at Amsterdam, Voorsanger
(who gained afterwards the prize-medal awarded to his
art at the Paris Exhibition), assisted by another skilful
workman from the same place. The actual cutting occu-
pied no more than thirty-eight working days : and the
Star of the South, a much larger diamond, also cut by
Coster at home, only three months. Such is the advantage
gained by the use of steam-power: compare this expe-
ditiousness with the two years necessary for the cutting of
the Pitt by the old hand -process. In some parts of the
work, as when it was necessary to grind out a deep flaw,
the wheel made 3000 revolutions per minute.

Coster had famished several models of various patterns
proposed by him for the re-cutting of this awkwardly-
shaped stone, and unfortunately that of the regular brilliant
was decided upon by the persons to whom they \s ere sub-
mitted in this country. Such a pattern, in consequence
of the flattened and oval figure of the stone to be operated
upon, entailed the greatest possible amount of waste. There
can be no doubt that had the matter been left to Coster's
oWn judgment he would have preferred the drop form,
like that given to Mr. Dresden's brilliant, which, when

76 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, Ac,

compared with its native crystal in my plate, strikingly
exhibits the economy of the precious material thus
obtained. But in a historical relic like this, the sole
course that would have recommended itself to a person of
taste was the judicious one pursued some years before
by Messrs. Eundell and Bridge, in their re-cutting of the
Nassack, a gem by the way much resembling the Koh-i-
noor, both in its native and artificial figure. In this, by
following in the traces of the Hindoo lapidary, amending
his defects and accommodating the pattern to the exi-
gencies of the subject-matter, they transformed the rudely-
facetted, lustreless mass into a Diamond of perfect brilliancy,
at the sacrifice of no more than ten per cent, of its original
weight.

MOGUL.

Incomparably the largest authentic specimen of the
Diamond ever yet discovered (for the genuineness of the
monster "King of Portugars" is more than questionable)
was that known by the name of ** The Mogul." It was
found in the mine called by the Indians Gani, by the
Persians Coulour, about seven days' journey distant from
Golconda, towards the year 1650, when those mines were
farmed by the afterwards so notorious Vizier Mirgimola, or
to give his name according to the English style, Meer
Jomlah. Concerning this personage it is necessary to
begin with a few particulars of his history, as they have
an immediate bearing upon the question of the identity
of the Diamond now under our consideration. Mirgimola
was a Persian by birth, but by his merit had risen to the
dignity of vizier and general to the King of Golconda.
He accumulated enormous wealth, principally from farming

THE ** MOGUL " DIAMOND. 77

(under the names of others) the diamond mines of that
region, where he prosecuted the works with the utmobt
vigour, and amassed Diamonds " by the sackful." He like-
wise on his own account overran the Camatic, and despoiled
its most ancient temples of incalculable treasures. But liis
wealth roused at last the jealousy of his master, which
was inflamed to fury by the discovery of Mirgimola's
amour with the queen-dowager, and he openly threatened
to destroy him. But the vizier, apprised in time of his
master's intentions by one of his creatures at the court,
was able to escape with all his treasures to the camp of
Prince Aurungzeb, then governor of the neighbouring
provinces, who, acting upon his advice, by a secret expe
dition surprised and all but captured the king of Gol-
conda, and blockaded him for two months in his fortress,
until he was, through the intrigues of his brother and
sister, recalled by letters from Shah Jehan, just as he was
on the point of starving the garrison into a surrender.
Mirgimola, on his introduction to the Great Mogul, gained
his favour by magnificent presents, foremost amougst which
figured the unexampled Diamond in question.*

When the wily Persian, having thus so neatly " wrought
his great revenge " upon his former sovereign, in the most
literal sense made himself friends out of the mammon of
unrighteousness by sacrificing his unparagoned Diamond
to his new patron, Shah Jehan — its weight, says Tavemier,
was no less than 787^ carats. The stone however, as was
unavoidable in one of such magnitude, was full of flaws, to
get rid of which (as it would seem) the imperial jeweller,

♦ Mirgimola's history is minutely related by Bemier in his * Narration
des Evenements,' &C., from personal knowledge, he having gone to
Agra in 1655, and remained in India twelve years, during eight of
which he was Aurungzeb's own physician. He gives no particulars as
to the quality or size of the Diamond *' so much talked about,' as he
expresses it.

78 NATURAL HISTORY OF PREVIOUS 8T0NE8, &c.

Hortensio Borgliis, a Venetian,* cut it down entirely by
grinding (^giiser), and without saving any particles by
cleavage, to the comparatively insignificant weight of
240 carats. The figure he thus brought it to was "a
round rose of the shape of an egg cut in two," and very
high-crowned, to use the technical terms : '* Une rose
ronde, fort haute d'un cot^, .... de la meme forme que
si Ton avoit coup6 un oeuf par le milieu." He doubtless
fancied that he had been completely successful in effecting
his grand object, for the stone was now '* of fine water,
with only one crack on the lower edge and one little flaw
in its interior." But the Mogul (whether Shah Jehan or
Aurungzeb is not stated) was so vexed at this lamentable
waste of the precious substance and the yet more lament-
able diminution of the weight of the finished work, that
instead of paying the unlucky Venetian for his incredible
labour, he fined him 10,000 rupees, and '*naore too if he
had had it to lose," observes Tavemier. Doubtless Borghis
was at the time well content to be allowed to keep his
head upon his shoulders.f This Diamond was exhibited
to Ta vernier (Nov. 1, 1665) together with the other crown
jewels, in the presence of Aurungzeb himself, then the

* Evidently the jeweller mentioned, without naming him, by Bernier,
as having taken refuge at the Mogul's court after having cheated all
the princes of Europe with his dovhlets,

t Tavemier observes hereupon : — " Si cette pierre avoit 6i4 en Europe,
on I'auroit gouvem^e dun autre fa9on, car on en auroit tir6 de bons
morceaux, et elle seroit demeur^e plus pesante, au lieu qu'elle a die
toute egrisee." Meaning that pieces of respectable size would have
been cut off at the first shaping {hrutage) and turned to account, whilst
the Diamond itself^ if properly planned, would have retained more
of its original weight: whereas all this was wasted by its being
entirely ground down on the wheel, and not cleaved to shape beforehand.
He goes on to say that, had Borghis understood his business, he
would have got out of it some good bits for himself, without doing
any wrong to his employer, besides saving himself all the trouble of
grinding it down, — **tant de peine d'egriser."

TRE " MOGUL " DIAMOND, 79

reigning emperor. The whole business was conducted
with the utmost solemnity and precision : the stones were
brought in upon two lacquered trays covered with brocade,
Akalkan, the keeper of the jewels attending, they were
counted over thrice, and a list of them made out by three
scribe& " For," adds the old Frenchman, " the Indians do
all business with the utmost circumspection and patience,
and if they see any one in a hurry, or making a fuss
about anything, they either stare at him without saying a
word, or else laugh at him for a fool." (For the full
details of this interesting transaction the reader is re-
ferred to his 'Voyage,' ii. pp. 278, 372.)

Tavemier, after carefully examining the great Diamond
and weighing it with his own hands (as he expressly
states), which proves that at the time it was unset, has
given us what is evidently a very fiiithful drawing of it,
and which exactly corresponds with his own description
of its weight, foim, and pattern.

All the circumstances warrant the belief that this was
the grand Diamond that Nadir Shah acquired by the in-
genious device above related, just before the sack of Delhi
in 1739. It is supposed still to exist amongst the regalia
of the Persian crown, and to be there designated as the
Deryai Noor, " The Ocean of Light." But as no stone of
that unmistakable size and pattern is to be recognised
amongst the drawings of the Shah*s Diamonds brought
lately to this country, there is better reason to believe
that it disappeared, perhaps to turn up again at some
future day, in the plundering of Nadir's treasures, which
followed the assassination of that conqueror.

This "Mogul" is often confounded with the Koh-i-
Noor, and the same tales are repeated as to the discovery,
fortunes, and influence of either, without discrimination.
But Tavernier had no knowledge of the latter, for it is

80 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, Ac,

impossible to recognise a stone of so marked a character
in his subjoined description of the rest of Aurungzeb's
Diamonds.

The next largest to the " Mogul " was pear-shaped, " en
fort bonne forme, et de belle eau," weighing 62^ ratis =
54 J car. : the rati being taken at 3 J grs., or | carat. All the
other Diamonds were much inferior in weight even to this.

But Bemier mentions that Shah Jehan, the " best judge
of precious stones in India then living," still retained
possession (though deposed and in confinement) of a
large quantity of his own collecting, and on Aurungzeb's
manifesting a desire to obtain them (under the pretence ol
borrowing a few to grace his coronation — rather a cool
request under the circumstances), sent him word that the
hammers were kept in readiness to smash them to dust
upon the first attempt to deprive the rightful owner ot
them. It is more than probable that the Koh-i-Noor was
of the number : for Shah Jehan was still in possession ot
his life and treasures at the time of Tavemier's visit.

Indeed, the list of Aurungzeb's jewels must stiike every
intelligent reader as poor in the extreme for so mighty a
monarch, having for tributaries the kings of Golconda and
of Vizapour. But this poverty is ixjMy explained by the
permission granted to his father to retain his old favourites
as the solace of his captivity. Amongst these would ne-
cessarily be the Koh-i noor, both by reason of its value
and its fame. On Shah Jehan*s death, in the February
following Ta vernier's interview with his son, these jewels,
which filled a large basin, were surrendered by the de-
throned emperor's too-well-beloved daughter and com-
panion in captivity, Jehanira, to Aurungzeb, then firmly
established on the throne.

The question will naturally arise. How came Mirgimola's
especial present to Shah Jehan, and therefore the old man's

THE ** MOGUL'' DIAMOND. 81

own private property, to be found, before his demise, in
the possession of his nndutiful son ? A satisfactory answer
is supplied by a reference to the length of time required
for cutting large Diamonds by the old process. The
" Eegent," half the size of the " Mogul," required two
years for the operation, although facilitated by recourse
to cleavage : the " Mogul," therefore, which, besides being
of a more elaborate pattern, was entirely ground away
upon the wheel, cannot possibly be supposed to have occu-
pied less than double that space of time for its cutting.
Now Mirgimola took refuge at the Mogul's court in 1655,
and before the end of the next year Shah Jehan (then
upwards of seventy), having fallen dangerously ill, had
been virtually deposed, and, as it were, imprisoned by
his eldest son Dara, who thus sought to make sure of the
succession. Aurungzeb took up arms against Dara, defeated
him, and proclaimed himself emperor in August, 1658.
Thus, almost immediately upon the great stone's being put
into Borghis' hands, its rightful owner had lost all control
over it : in feict, had he been able or permitted to superin-
tend the operation, there can be no doubt his experience
and taste in such matters would have brought about a
widely different result.

There now remains to be considered a theory advanced
by Prof. Maskelyne, and supported by veiy elaborate and
ingenious calculations, but in which I, though most re-
luctant to differ from so high an authority, cannot possibly
acquiesce. Briefly stated it amounts to this, that the large
Diamond exhibited to Tavemier was not Mirgimola's (which
he never saw at all, it being still in the keeping of its
second owner), but the Koh-i-noor itself, and that he
applied to the latter the story he had heard about Borghis,
and his mode of treating the other. To get over the vast
discrepancy between the weights of the two, it is sug-

(M)

82 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, dc,

gested that Tavernier was in error as to the rati in which
that of the "Mogul" is estimated, and confounded the
'pearWati with the jeweUer^s-rati, thus nearly doubling the
sum of the 320 ratis, the Indian weight of the stone shown
him, and bringing it up to the 240 carats given by him,
instead of the actual 184 of the Koh-i-noor.* All this
assertion rests on the single fact that Baber states the
weight of the great Diamond captured by Humayun,
which all agrcQ to be the Koh-i-noor, at 8 miscals = 320
ratis: whilst the stone seen by Tavernier was precisely
of that weight, although by his estimating the rati at
seven-eighths of a carat, he brings up the sum to the
excess already specified. Against this solitary argument
a whole host of others are to be opposed. The stone
Tavernier so carefully examined with all the attention
its unique character and history would naturally excite
in him, was circular, rose-cut, very deep, of fine water, with
but one little crack externally, and one flaw internally,
and the work upon it that of an European lapidary;
whereas the Koh-i-noor was in outline an irregular ellipse,
facetted to no definite pattern, very flat, exhibited no more
water than a bit of rock-crystal, had several flaws, besides
a large deficiency or fracture at one end, and rude grooves
cut in the sides, whilst all the work upon it was of that
peculiar character which the least experienced eye would
detect at once as that of a Hindoo diamond-cutter, "j"

* 320 ratis, calculated according to the value fixed by Professor
Maskelyne, will give about 184 carats.

t A second theory has been started almost too ludicrous to inquire
mentioning, but that it has appeared in print, and been republished
as well founded. It makes Borghis cut up the big stone entrusted
to his skill into fferee,— the Mogul, the Koh-i-noor, and a third captured
amongst the jewels of the harem of some petty Rajah, whose turn came
to be devoured in 1832, and wliich Dr. Beke speaks of as ** supposed to
be cut from the Koh-i-noor," the supposition bearing upon its fece the
evident stamp of a bit of mess-room gossip.

TEE ^PITr' OB ''REGENT" DIAMOND. 83

Besides, it is almost beyond belief that a man whose busi-
ness was the dealing in Diamonds, and who had visited
India expressly for that purpose, should not have under-
stood the tnie relation of the rati to the carat, a weight
that he was every day using, and thus have cheated
himself to so exaggerated an extent in all his dealings
with the native merchants. And what, with me, settles the
matter, his estimate of the rati is almost the same as that
given a hundred years before him by the well-informed
Garcias ab Horto, who puts it at three grains of wheat,
and the Portuguese carat at four.*

THE *'PITT'' OB ''REGENTr

This stone, found at Puteal, 45 leagues from the city of
Golconda, was next to Mirgimola's the largest on record,
weighing in the rough 410 carats. It was bought by
Governor Pitt of Fort St. George, Madras, from the Parsee
merchant Jamchund, according to his own statement, for
the sum of 12,500Z., and not from "the honest factor,"
to whose agency Pope assigned its acquisition, to Pitt's
infinite annoyance. To cut it into a perfect brilliant, in
London, occupied two entire years at a cosi of 5000/.;
but which was nearly covered by the value of the frag-
ments separated in shaping it, which amounted to 3500Z.
This operation reduced its weight to 136-5 carats,

♦ The violent fluctuations in the weight of the rati, at different times,
are shown by the note in the ' Ayeen-Akbary,* p. 382, under ** Jewellers'
Weights :" — " His Majesty has fixed it at 2 biswehs, or 10 barleycorns
to the Ruttee." And under " Bankers' Weights :" — ** Formerly the
Bnttee contained 6 barleycorns." Now 32 barleycorns Cliterally, " ac-
cording to Cocker '*) equal 24 grains troy : so that the barleycorn = |f
grain troy. According to this, the ancient rati = 4§ grains ; and
Akbar's new one = 7| grains ; such bein^ far in excess above Ta vernier's
estiinate.

c 2

84 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, Ac.

but made it, for perfection of shape as well as for puriiy
of water, the first Diamond in the world; as it still
continues. After a long negotiation, the Regent Orleans
concluded the purchase of it for 136,000Z. : a price con-
sidered very much below its value ; for in the inventory
of the Regalia, it is entered at twelve millions of francs,
or 480,000Z.

Ufienbach, a German traveller who visited this country
in the year 1712, states in his most amusing account of
his sojourn in London (where with true Teutonic con-
scientiousness he made a point of seeing all the sights
from " Cupid's Garden " on the Thames to Woodward's
fossils) that he made many fruitless attempts to obtain a
view of this Diamond, then recently brought home by
Governor Pitt, and the fame of which had already been
spread all over Europe. But there was no obtaining an
interview with the far from enviable possessor, so fearful
was he of robbery (and not without cause in those
unpoliced days) that he never let be known beforehand
the day of his coming to town, nor slept twice consecu-
tively in the same house. During the next five years^
that is, until the Regent relieved him of its custody in
1717, Pitt must have felt his too-precious stone almost
as harrassing a possession as did its first finder : the
slave who, as the story goes, concealed it in a gash made
for its reception in the calf of his leg, until he had the
opportunity of escaping to Madras. There the poor wretch
fell in with an English skipper, who, by promising to
find a purchaser for the stone on condition of halving
the proceeds, lured him on board his ship, and there
disposed of his claims by pitching him overboard. The
rogue obtained from Jamchund no more for this won-
derful piece than the paltry sum of 1000/., which he
speedily ran through in debauchery, and when all was

THE ^PITT' OB ^REGENT" DIAMOND. 85

finished, hanged himself — a most appropriate finale to the
tale.

The robbery of the Garde Meuhle, already alluded to
(Sancy), was efi'ected under the most suspicious circum-
stances as regards the keepers : who were supposed to have
acted in the interest of the royal family. The Regalia,
including gold plate of almost incalculable value, had been
sealed up by the officers of the Commune of Paris, after
the massacres of the 10th of August. On the 17 th of the
following month, the seals were found broken, the locks
picked by means of false keys, and the cabinets empty.
The thieves were never discovered; but an anonymous
letter directed to the Commune gave the information where
to find the Regent, together with the noble Agate Chalice
of the Abbot Suger (which had been buried in the All^e
des Veuves in the Champs Elys^es), the latter stripped of
its precious gold-mounting. Both these objects were too
well known to be convertible into money without certain
detection ; hence this politeness, on the part of the thieves ;
but everything else had disappeared for ever. The fortunes
of Buonaparte may be said to have been founded upon this
Diamond : it was verily the Rock upon which his empire
was bidlt, for after the famous 18th Brumaire, by pledging
the Regent to the Dutch Government, he procured the
funds indispensable for the consolidation of his power.
After he became emperor, he wore the Diamond set in
the pommel of his state-sword : doubtless holding tJiat to be
a more significant and needful article of his imperial para-
phernalia than either crown or sceptre. One is tempted
to indulge, after old Pliny's fashion, in profound reflections
upon the direct influence of this remarkable gem in raising
to the helm of government of the two hostile nations ; in
one the Corsican adventurer, in the other his once equally
renowned adversary William Pitt, whose accession to the

86 NATURAL HISTOBY OF PBECIOUS STONES, &c,

premiership had never been but for the fortune based upon
the " lucky hit " of his great-grandfather.

TEE ''ORLOFF.''

The Orloff Diamond now set in the top of the imperial
sceptre of Eussia, is said by report to have originally
formed one of the eyes of the great Idol at Sheringham.
A French deserter having literally become enamoured ** de
ses beaux yeux," by a pretended conversion and a great
show of devotion got himself made one of the priests to
the temple, and, watching his opportunity, extracted his
patron's eye from the socket, and made off with it to
Madras.* It is to be supposed that the god whilst waiting
for fortime to send him a fellow- diamond to complete his
optics had made shift with one of glass in the meanwhile,
as only one diamond figures in the story. Its weight is
193 carats, and its pattern a rose extremely high-crowned,
in fact much resembling the shape of the " Mogul " in
Tavemier's drawing. That it is an Indian-cut stone.
Prof. Maskelyne, who lately examined it with care, assures
me there can be no doubt ; all the facets exhibit the blunt
edges and rounded surfaces that mark the style. Its water

* This bit of romance is given by Dutens, writing at the time. More
credit, however, seems due to the account which Pallas (Voyage II.)
says he had received from the son of the last vendor, an Armenian
named Shafrass. This man had purchased it from an Afghan
General, formerly in the service of Nadir Shah. Its original place
haed ben amongst the stones decorating that conqueror's throne ; and
upon the plundering of his treasury, after his assassination, this enor-
mous Diamond had fallen to the share of the Afghan. In outline it so
much resembles Tavemier's *' Mogul," that if we admit the possibility of
some error in his calculation of the weight of the latter, the Orloff
may claim to be that long-lost phoenix. Certain it is that Nadir Shah
brought it back amongst the spoils of Delhi, along with the Koh-i-
noor.

THE "ORLOFF*' AND •* NIZAM** DIAMONDS, 87

has a faint cast of yellow. The story goes on that the
successful Frenchman sold his prize to an English captain
for 2000Z., the captain resold it in London to a Jew for
12,000Z., and subsequently the stone got into the hands of
a Greek, who offered it for sale to Catharine II., but she
declined the purchase as beyond her means. Prince Orloff,
however, bought it and presented it to his imperial mistress
(1772), paying for it 9O,O00Z. in ready money, an annuity
of 4000Z. for the seller's lifetime, and a patent of nobility
into the bargain.

THE ''NIZAMr

This Diamond is somewhat almond-shaped, almost in
its native condition: although it seems to exhibit some
traces of an attempt to shape it into the mystic Toni,
probably with the intention of its being placed, as her
usual attribute, in the hand of Parvati, the goddess of
generation. In the cast from it which I have examined,
the ineffectual attempts of the Hindoo lapidary to work
the obdurate material to his fancy are extremely curious.
This stone was by some very ominous accident broken
asunder in the year of the great Indian revolt. Weight 340
carats.

RAJAH OF MATTAN'S.

This Diamond comes next to the original crystal of the
Eegent in magnitude, its weight being 387 carats, and is
reported to be of the finest water ; as far as can be judged
in its native state. It was found at Landak, Bqrneo,
in the year 1787. Lowe (* Sarawak,' p. 28) was informed
by a party professing to be a competent judge of stones,
that he had examined this renowned Diamond which is
actually in the possession of the present Bajah: it is

88 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, dkc

egg-shaped, with an impression (indentation) on one side.
But, adds the same informant, to strangers a mere bit of
crystal is shown in its stead, out of fear of exciting the
cupidity of his neighbours the Dutch at Pontiniak, who,
having already despoiled this unfortunate prince of his
lands, would certainly seize upon this last relic of his
prosperity were they assured of its genuineness. Such
being the state of the case, the true character of this long-
celebrated gem cannot be regarded as satisfactorily esta-
blished.

^TEE GRAND DUKE OF TUSCANY,'' OTHERWISE
CALLED ""THE AUSTRIAN YELLOW,""

This stone remains the largest cut Diamond in Europe,
after the Orloff, weighing 139 J carats. Tavemier, who
had seen it at Florence in the middle of the seventeenth
century, and who gives a very accurate drawing of it,
remarks what a pity it is that " its water has a tinge of
yellow." This tivhge^ I am informed on the highest autho-
rity is a very strong one indeed, almost destroying its
brilliancy. Its pattern is a double rose : that is, a sphe-
roidal stone fSacetted on both sides. There is a tradition
that it was bought for a trifle off a curiosity stall in
Florence, being considered as no more than a yellow
crystal. This must have been shortly before Tavemier's
visit (who says nothing of its history), for the well-in-
formed De Laet, writing but a few years before, had heard
nothing of the existence of Diamonds of this extra-
ordinary * weight. A fable retailed as frequently as the
other respecting the Sancy, but infinitely more prepos-
terous, makes out thk also to be the identical stone, Ber-
quem's masterpiece, lost by Charles either at Granson
or Nancy. How it has passed, changing its title thereby,
* Mentioning 70 carats as the highest limit known (p. 9).

DIAMOND-CUTTING, 89

from Tuscany into the keeping of the very acqumtive
Emperor of Austria is unknown to me : probably it
accompanied Peter Leopold in his translation from the
Grand Ducal to the imperial dignity.

DIAMOND-GUTTING.

The art of diamond-cutting seems to have had its birth
in Hindostan, and that at a very early period. This may
be inferred, though somewhat indirectly, from many cir-
cumstances. Garcias ab Horto, writing in I0G6, remarks
that the Hindoos set a very high value upon the Dia-
monds of the "Old Kock," particularly those finished by
the hand of Nature herself, called by them " Naifes ;" ** for,
say they, *as much as a virgin is to be preferred to a
woman already deflowered, so much is a Diamond per-
fected by Nature superior to one polished by human art.*
But the Portuguese hold the contrary opinion, and set
a much higher value upon the artificially-cut stones."
Again, the antiquity of the Indian method of diamond-
cutting may be gathered from the fact that when Taver-
nier visited the Kaolconda mine (16H5) he found a mul-
titude of diamond-cutters established there, and fully
employed. Each was furnished with a wheel of steel,
about the size of a dinner-plate. They operated on only
one stone at a time, but did their work rapidly, having
diamond-powder a discretion, K the rough stone were
clear, Ihey did nothing more than polish the natural faces
of the crystal, in order not to detract from the weight, but
if it contained flaws, or black or red specks, they covered
it. aU over uoith facets, so as to disguise them. So in-
variably was this their practice that Tavemier, as soon
as he saw an Indian Diamond facetted, was certain of its
being defective, and was put on his guard accordingly.

9J NATUBAL HISTORY OF FBECIOUS STONES, Ac

It is contrary to the Hindoo nature to suppose that
they had learnt this art from Europeans, who themselves
were only commencing to facet the Diamond (as will be
shown presently), and perhaps to make B,o%eB some twenty
years before. Besides, had the method been of recent
introduction at the mines, that very particular observer,
Tavemier, would certainly have noted it down. Again,
the Koh-i-noor, a gem known from "the times of the
gods," was in its original state cut after a very remark-
able pattern, being covered with a row of long narrow
facets, enclosing the base of an extremely depressed four-
sided pyramid. Now, even supposing this was done after
the stone had come into Baber*s possession, which indeed
seems indicated by his words that " after it was cut it
weighed eight miscals," yet even this latest date refers
to the year 1530-2, long before any such fancy-cutting
had been thought of in Europe.

To come now to the invention of the same art (or its in-
troduction from the East) in Europe, a subject perplexed
with the most conflicting statements, arising mainly from
the writers upon this point having successively copied
the conjectures of others, instead of taking the trouble
to consult original and contemporary authorities. These
conjectures will be noticed in what follows, and something
more satisfactory, it is hoped, because collected in the
opposite manner, will be offered in their stead.

In the first place, we may take as well founded the
" vetus et constans opinio " that the true method of cutting
the Diamond, meaning by this term the power of reducing
it into any desired pattern, was unknown in 'Europe be-
fore its invention by Louis de Berghem (or Berquem) of
Bruges, in the year 1475. Laborde, indeed, pretends to
discover mention of tailleurs de diamant, one of them, Her-
mann, being designated "a skilful workman," as esta-

DIAMOND-CUTTING. 91

blislied at Paris so early as 1407 ; and also of three
diamant slypers at Bruges, in 1465. But the very title of
the last professionals proves of itself that their practice ex-
tended no further than the polishing the natural faces of
the crystal, or the removing the greenish film that fre-
quently veils its purity ; operations to be effected with the
aid of emery alone, although by a very tedious process.*

Louis de Berghem first essayed his new-invented art
upon three large Diamonds entrusted to him by Charles
the Bold ; the first a deep-shaped stone (confounded by all
retailers of the story in later times with the famous Sancy) ;
the second flat and thin, a table in fact, which the Duke
presented to Sixtus IV.; the third, being very irregular
in outline, the artist cut into the figure of a heart and
triangle combined, which was set in a ring shaped as
two hands clasped (the symbol of good faith) and sent to
Louis XI.; an allusion, though in an acceptable form,
to his deficiency in that virtue. The improvement in
the beauty of the Diamond, thus treated, was so remark-
able that Charles rewarded the inventor (according to the
testimony of his descendant Robert de Berquem) with the
munificent donation of 3000 ducats.

The exact style of cutting Diamonds thus inaugurated
may still be seen in numerous jewels dating from the next
century. The only patterns known to Kentmann, writing
in 1562, are the Demant-punkt and the DemarUtafd. The
first, the Point (a name still in use), is a four-sided pyra-
mid, produced by simply polishing the faces of the native
octahedron, and making them exactly true and regular.
The other, the Table, required much more work ; the apex
of the crystal being ground down to a square, or oblong,

* Laborde's argument will be found stated at length, and more folly
answered, further on, in the section where we come to treat of the
actual operation.

02 NATUBAL HISTOBY OF PBEOI0U8 STONES, &c.

plane, the opposite extremity being likewise reduced to a
plane, but of much smaller area ; the sides were brought
to a right angle with each other; this proportion being
observed, that the width of two sides added together should
equal that of the upper plane surface, which gave the
pattern its name of the Tchle, But if the stone were a
Lasque (a flat, shallow parallelogram), then the lower
portion was dispensed with, and the Table consisted of
nothing more than the top and the upper sloping sides,
nothing being left below the setting edge, or girdle. These
proportions are taken from De Boot, who, writing some forty
years after Kentmann, observes that although the Foird
was the most frequently seen (as the view of any collec-
tion of Cinque-cento jewels will confirm) yet the Tcible was
considered of much higher value. This latter pattern was
indeed no novelty, it had long been a favourite with the
mediaeval lapidaries for cutting all the softer stones. Often
by slicing off the comers of the square they produced the
octagon, a form then highly in vogue on account of its
Pythagorean mystic virtue : and antique gems thus re-
shaped frequently occur in the signets of the times. The
pieces of rock-crystal mounted in the huge Papal credential
rings of the same period are cut as regular tables. The
harder stones, like the Sapphire, were, as in antiquity,
polished with more or less regularity into a double-convex
form, now termed cut en ccibochon (from cabo, a head),
known to the English trade by the homely but expressive
name of tallow-drop.

The seventeenth century introduced several novel pat-
terns into the atelier of the diamond-cutter. De Laet,
writing in 1647, thus notices the great advance the art
had made in his own times. *'The industry of these
diamond- workers has of late years made very great pro-
gress, so that they no longer require the aid of such

DIAMOND CUTTING, 93

elaborate machinery as is figured by De Boot. Besides,
they have discovered a mode of dividing the Diamond into
two or more parts; nay, more, with a boldness that is
nsually successful, of cleaving it, whenever necessity so
requires or the hope of profit tempts them; for by this
expedient they produce two and sometimes three Diamonds
out of one, and likewise extirpate any flaw that lies inside
and would spoil the beauty of the entire gem. The
cutting through the Diamond is performed by means of a
fine wire smeared with oil and Diamond-powder, which
is worked to and fro like a saw : an instrument most ele-
gantly adapted to its purpose. Of cleaving, the process is
somewhat more expeditious, but, at the same time, more
hazardous; although now-a-days they are so expert at
this art as very seldom to fail." But as regards the
patterns then in use, they were confined still (as fifty years
before) to the Point and the Table; which he describes,
giving their proportions in virtually the same terms as
those above quoted from De Boot. De Laet, however, adds
one remark of interest in the history of this art " The
Lasques, inasmuch as they have not sufficient thickness
(for the patterns just mentioned) are formed into imper-
fect shallow Tablea ; or else they are reduced into the out-
line of a rose, or a heart, or a triangle, or a shield, and
are diversified, but only on the surface, with several
triangles * or lozenges, which gives them remarkable effect,
and by this means the stones make a show of much
greater weight than they really possess. But in old times,
when these gems were rare importations into Europe, the
jewellers used to shape and polish them in pretty nearly
the same form in which they were found naturally, as one
may see in old-fashioned necklaces, in which you will find

♦ Triangular facets, called now skiil-facets. This is the first notice
of European facetting to be found anvwhere.

94 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &e,

ships, with their masts and yards, and similar devices,
done with extraordinary ingenuity; but now that Dia-
monds are so plentiful, the workers do not pay that
attention to economy, but shape the stone by cutting."

So far we have proceeded on sure ground : the origin
and the date of the other patterns is more a matter of
conjecture. The regular Bose, a hemisphere covered with
small facets, is supposed to have been invented at Paris
about the middle of that century under the auspices ot
Cardinal Mazarin, a great amateur of Diamonds. This
opinion was first started by Caire, but must be received
with all the caution necessitated by the national pen-
diant for claiming every elegant discovery in art for
France. It is much more probable that it was an Italian
improvement upon a very old Indian fashion. We have
seen Borghis, the Venetian, cutting Shah Jehan's monster
Diamond into a true Bose before the date of 1665. The
Orloff, undoubtedly an Indian-cut stone, is likewise a
regular, though exaggerated, Bose ; and, if there be any
truth in the tale as to its original destination, must have
been shaped before the era of the Mogul conquest of
Hindostan. The greater part of Aurungzeb*s Diamonds
are also described by Tavernier as rose-cut. Now, these
all came to him from his father, as he was no purchaser
himself of such trifles. For the understanding of the
patterns known in this century nothing can be more in-
structive than Ta vernier's plate (II. 374) of the twenty
largest diamonds brought from India by him, and sold to
Louis XIV. in 1668 (who ennobled him for his successful
execution of his commission). Some are cut like the ancient
deep Table, and aptly termed in French claux; others
are Tables wanting the under-plane ; one is cut precisely
after the fashion of the Koh-i-noor ; another, very deep,
has the outline of a hrillianl^ but is surrounded with little

DIAMOND-CUTTING. 95

facets, — a novel and elegant idea ; two are perfect hrUlo-
lettes ; the last, of SI^t carats, a deep Bose,

But to return to Europe. It is certain that Mazarin
ordered the twelve largest crown diamonds to be re-
cut after a new fashion^ which fashion Cairo plausibly
enough supposes to have been the covering them all over
with numerous little facets. Of this pattern the Sancy
is a good example ; so is the Austrian Yellow Diamond,
which last is known from Tavemier's drawing of it to
have been so cut prior to 1G60, but when or where cannot
be discovered. These twelve diamonds of the Crown went
afterwards by the name of Les Douze Mazarins, They have
all vanished: the last of the number is entered on the
Inventory of 1792 as Le dixieme Mazarin, weighing 16
carats and valued at 2000Z. It is described amongst the
hrUliants as being of " forme carree ' arrondie, de bonne
eau, vif et mal net, fort 6pais."

The last and crowning invention in the art was that of
the BriUiantj in the last years of the same century, which
is due to Vincenzio Peruzzi, of Venice, a city then the
chief seat of the business in Europe (Tav. ii. 343). This
person, by means of experiments upon coloured stones,
discovered what are now held the tnie principles of cutting
the Brilliant (^BriUiant recoupe), which is the ancient deep
Table, modified by receiving 32 facets above and 24 below
the girdle of the stone.*

The foregoing details are not of mere antiquarian curi-
osity : they possess a certain practical value in these
times, wh^n the jeweller's- work of the Eenaissance is
sought after with the same avidity as any other production
of that tasteful era. To meet the ever-growing demand,
regular manufactories of Mediaeval as well as Renaissance

» These technical terms will be explained further on, when the
Actual operation of cutting is described.

96 NATURAL HISTORY OF FREC10U8 8T0NE8, dte,

leweliy are fully employed at Paris and, more especially,
at Frankfort-sur-Maine. It is obvious that one certain
criterion for detecting such fabrications would be the
discovery in them of stones cut after a pattern not yet
invented at the period from which they claim their descent.
Ordinary forgers do not possess sufficient historical know-
ledge to put them on their guard against this test, and con-
sequently many elaborate, pretentious antiques are betrayed
at first sight by the appearance in them of cut Diamonds
that had no business there. But the workers of the Frank-
fort fabrique are grown wise by long practice, and keep (as
I am credibly informed) an agent in London, and doubtless
in other capitals, with standing orders to buy up at a
certain price all the old Tables and Koses that may come
into the market.

ENGRAVED DIAMONDS,

The capricious and misdirected ingenuity of the Cinque-
cento artists, ever seeking glory in the overcoming of diffi-
culties before held insuperable, speedily distinguished
itself by producing intagli upon the Diamond. If, indeed,
any credit is to be given to the express statement of Gar-
zoni (Piazza Universale^ p. 650), the very first efforts of
the newly- resuscitated Glyptic Art had essayed the con-
quest of the most invincible of gems ; for, according to his
account, Caradosso the Milanese, engraver to the Mint to
Julius II., had executed upon a Diamond the figure of a
Father of the church for that pontiff as early .as the year
1500. ,

Although many of the works celebrated under this name
may in reality have been done in the White Sapphire
or in the blanched oriental Topaz, yet Clusius, a most
competent judge, speaks to the fact that Clement Birago

ENGRAVED DIAMONDS. 97

had engraved upon a Diamond a portrait of Don Carlos,
intended for a betrothal present or gage d! amour to Anna,
daughter of the Emperor Maximilian II. This work was
actually seen by Clusius during his residence in Spain in
the year 1564. Birago bad also engraved on Diamond
the arms of Spain as a signet for the same ill-fated
prince.

The discovery of the method of executing such engrav-
ings is assigned by Paolo Morigia, in bis 'Nobilite di
MOano,' to Trezzo, the famous cameo-artist of that city,
and his first essay on this stone was the coat of arms of
the Emperor Charles V. : adding that Birago, a pupil of
Trezzo's, afterwards engraved on a Diamond the portrait
of Don Carlos, tbe Prince of Spain, -^lius Everhard
Vorstius, physician to Maurice of Nassau, and therefore
a contemporary and trustworthy authority, in his Preface
to 'Gorlsei Dactyliotheca ' (published first in 1601) repeats
Morigia's statement as to Trezzo's {Trecda^s) being the
first inventor, and having cut on a Diamond the arms of
Philip II. Gori (* Hist. Dactyl.,' 186) says that Jacobus
Thronus (who, judging from bis name, was a Hollander)
engraved " eximia arte " on a Diamond, the arms of Philip's
consort. Queen Mary of England. In the very miscel-
laneous collection belonging to a Mr. Peter (sold at
Christie's, June, 1859), Lot 206, is: "A gold ring, set
with a large square Diamond, engraved with the arms,
crown, and cypher, of Mary Queen of Scots." *

To come to more recent times : in Her Majesty's collec-
tion of gems is preserved the signet-ring of Charles 11.
when Prince of Wales, bearing for device the ostrich-

♦ Many sacrifices have been made to devotion, but certainly never
one so hriUiaid as tbe cutting of an entire Diamond into tbe figure of
the croMf the imique example of which is to be seen amongst tbe Hope
jewels.

(M) H

98 NATVRAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, Ac.

plumes between the letters C. P. very neatly cut upon
a laxge yellow Diamond, a table ^X i inch in dimen-
sions, quaintly fashioned into a heater-shaped seven-sided
shield. This very interesting historical relic I had the
opportunity of myself carefully examining in the summer
of 1861. Easpe quotes (p. 690) a Head of Posidonius
from the Bedford Cabinet, which he ascribes to the Cav.
Costanzi (who flourished at Kome in the beginning of the
last century); "who distinguished himself by many en-
gravings upon the Diamond (particularly a Leda, and a
Head of Antinous), almost all of which are now (1790)
in the Cabinet of the King of Portugal.*' Mariette also
cites a Head of Nero by the same master, done for the
Prior Vaini of Florence; and Easpe again, catalogues
another head of the same Cassar, also in Diamond, then in
the possession of the notorious Count Briihl.

B. Hertz, in his Catalogue of the Hope Precious Stones,
describes two engraved Diamonds: one the bust of the
Emperor Leopold I. on a large table Diamond, well exe-
cuted, and the intaglio highly polished within ; the other
the Head of a Philosopher, but a very inferior work com-
pared with the first. From Hertz's profession (of a Dia-
mond-merchant) his opinion may be relied on as to the
nature of the stones in question. A competent judge has
also assured me that the Mayer Collection includes another
portrait of Leopold on a true Diamond, a large table.
This probably is the very one Easpe mentions as seen by
himself in the year 1772 in the hands of a M. Israel,
of Cassel. The gems of the Prior Vaini added by Gian
Gastone, the last of the Medici, to the Cabinet of the
GuUeria, included several heads by Costanzi, who appears
to have wasted his time and real talent upon these truly
" diflficiles nugee," both in Diamond and in Euby. They,
together with all those elaborate specimens of old Italian

ENGRAVED DIAMONDS, 99

taste, the Cinque-cento rings, disappeared in the disas-
trous robbery of the QaUeria deUe Oemme in the summer of
1860.

Louis Siries, goldsmith to Louis XV., but domiciled
at Florence, is also reported to have done some intagli
in Diamond, an attempt to which he would naturally be
led by the guiding rule of his career in art, the deter-
mination to achieve impossibilities; so highly lauded by
his admirer and biographer Giulianelli.

To this list I have been enabled to make some inte-
resting additions, thanks to the politeness of Messrs. Hunt
and Koskell, who gave me the opportunity of minutely
examining three engraved Diamonds in their possession
(July 14, 1865). The first of these is a head of Nero, a
perfect likeness admirably executed, upon a comparatively
large scale, and the intaglio fully polished on the inside.
The stone is of a brownish tinge, and in shape an irregular
table, with the edges facetted. The circumstances of the
case make me inclined to suspect that this may be the
actual work of Costanzi's above described. The second
intaglio is in some respects more noteworthy, its date
being decided by its setting, a magnificent enamelled ring,
in the best style of the Eenaissance. On the reverse of the
stone (a table, of fine water), and therefore appearing
through it, are cut two hearts, conjoined with flames
arising from them ; a device betokening the ring to have
been the betrothal gift of some prince of that epoch. The
intaglio is beautifully done and brought to an exquisite
polish : its style is exactly what one would look for in work
from the inventor of the art, Trezzo. The ring may, there-
fore, without too much straining of probabilities, be con-
jectured to have conveyed the plighted troth of his royal
patron in some one of his repeated wooings.

The third, a regularly cut brilliant, and therefore pos- .

H 2

100 NATUBAL HI8T0BY OF PRECIOUS STONES, Ac.

terior in date to the opening of the last century, presents
npon its npper table a very minute head of Julia, daughter
of Titus, slightly scratched in, in an unfinished manner,
and without any internal polish. Its microscopic size and
general sketchiness agree so closely with those charac-
terizing the other tours de force, the signed works, of Louis
Siries, that I have little hesitation in assigning to that
over-refining Frenchman all the credit of this performance.

'* In tenui labor, at tenuis non gloria,"

was the belief of the skilful artists who expended such an
infinity of pains upon the pieces above noticed, and in their
day they had their reward in the unbounded admiration
of their contemporaries. I shall conclude my notice of the
subject, which I have endeavoured to make as complete
as possible, by introducing one work of the kind, upon
which the Scottish Horace has bestowed poetic immortality'
(Buchanan, Hendec, XI.): —

* Adamas in cordis eflBgiem Bculptus, annuloque insertus, qnem Maria
Scotonim Regina ad EHsabetham Anglorum Beginam misit anno

M.D. LXIV.'

" Non me materies facit superbum,
Quod ferro insuperabilis, quod igni,
Non candor macula carcns, nitoris
Non lux perspicui, nee ars magistri,
Qui formam dedit banc, datam loquaci
Circumvestiit eleganter auro :
Sed quod cor DominsB meas figura
Tam certe exprimo, pectore ut recluso
Cor si luminibus queat videri.
Cor non lumina certius viderent.
Sic constantia firma oordi utrique,
Sic candor macula carens, nitoris
Sic lux perspicui, nihil doli intus
Celans ; omnia denique aequa prteter
Unam duritiem. Dein secundus
Hie gradus mibi sortis est faventis,

NATURAL PROPERTIES OF THE DIAMOND, 101

Talem Heroida quod videre sperem,
Qoalem spes mihi nulla erat videndi,
Antiqua domina semel relicta.
O si fors mihi faxit, utriusque
Nectam ut corda adamantina catena,
Quam nee suspicio, cemulatiove,
Livorve, aut odium aut senecta, solvat I
Tarn beatior omnibus lapillis.
Tarn sim clarior omnibus lapillis,
Tam sim carior omnibus lapillis,
Quam sum durior omnibus Inpillis."

Ep. I. 59, 'De Adamante misso a Begina ScotisQ ad Beginam
AnglisB ' thus varies the conceit : —

" Hoc tibi qusB misit cor, nil quod posset, habebat,
Carius esse sibi, gratius esse tibi.
Quodsi forte tuum ipsa remiseris : ilia putabit
Carius esse tibi, quam fuit ante sibi."

Where this remarkable example of the cx^pwv aZmpa Siopa
now exists I have been unable to discover. It is not to
be found amongst the Koyal Gems.

NATURAL PROPERTIES.

The Diamond is highly electric, attracting light objects
when heated by friction ; and alone amongst gems has the
peculiarity of becoming phosphorescent in the dark, after
long exposure to the sun's rays.* The Komans attributed
magnetic powers to the Diamond in a far higher degree
than to the Loadstone ; so much so that they believed the
latter was totally deprived of all its eflfect in the presence of
the Diamond ; but this notion is quite ungrounded. Their
sole idea of magnetism was that of attractive force : seeing
therefore the stone possessed this for certain objects, the
step to ascribing to it a superiority in this, as in all other
respects, over the Loadstone, was easy to their lively

* Or steeping in hot water, says Boyle.

102 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &g,

imaginations, unfettered by experiment. This connection
of ideas is still perpetuated in the French word for Load-
stone, " Pierre d*Aimant," from the low Latin " petra de
Adamante," which in another form gives *' Diamant." The
Orientals, improving upon this notion, assigned to the
Diamond a discriminaiing magnetism consistent with its
own pre-eminent dignity; for Ben Mansnr states, "the
Diamond has an affinity for gold, small particles of which
fly towards it. It is also wonderfully sought after by ants,
which crowd over it as though they would swallow it up."
Though an antidote against all poisons when worn on
the finger, yet during the Middle Ages it was considered
the most deadly of all if swallowed. This is laid down as
an indubitable fe-ct by the eminent physician Camillo,
writing in 1 502. Thus Cellini tells how his life was pre-
served from the machinations of his enemy P. L. Famese
by the roguery of the apothecary, who, being employed to
pulverize a Diamond intended to season the artist's salad,
substituted a bit of " citrino" beryl, in its stead. It is
likewise enumerated amongst the poisons administered to
Sir T. Overbury when a prisoner in the Tower. Garcias
takes some pains to overthrow this long-established opinion,
by quoting instances of slaves in the mines swallowing
large Diamonds, for the sake of embezzling them, without
the least injury to their stomachs: and a woman (in a
case known to him) had administered doses of diamond-
dust for many days continuously to her husband labouring
under a dysentery (not as it seems for the sake of putting
him out of his misery but on homoeopathic principles)
without the slightest effects either good or bad.

DIAMOND- CUTTING.
Laborde (' Glossaire,' p. 250) labours hard to claim for
his countrymen the invention of Diamond-cutting, and at

INVENTION OF DIAMOND-CUTTING, 103

an earlier period than Berquem's. It is therefore worth
while to examine the strongest of the documentary evidences
he there adduces to support his assertion : —

" A.D. 1407. La Courarie, oii demeurent les ouvriers de
dyamans et d'autres pierres " (* Description de Paris,' par
Guillebert de Metz). Item. (Dans une vue generale des
plus habiles ouvriers de Paris) " plusieurs artificieux
ouvriers comme Herman qui polissent dyamans de diverses
formes."

1412. " Un anel d*un dyamant gros, de quatre losanges
en la face dudit dyamant, et de quatre demi-lozanges par
les costez dudit dyamant ; Tautre dyamant plus petit, plat,
de six costez ; Tautre dyamant un petit moindre, et est
en fagon d*un fleur de ' souviegne-vous-de-moy,' et est de
quatre pieces; et Vautre dyamant est un petit moindre
sur la rout " (Due de Bourgogne, 1 31).

1432. "A Jehan Pen tin, orfevre et marchant de joyaux,
demeurant k Bruges, pour un anel d'or esmaille et garny

d'un gros dyamant h, iea^on d'escusson vixx salus **

(Do. 1088).

"A Huart Duvivier, aussi marchant de joyaux, pour
nng aultre anel d'or gamy d'un dyamant a plusieurs
faces. . . . . xvi salus" (Do. 1091).

Now it will be observed in these extracts that not a
word is said of cutting Diamonds, but only of polishing*
them — a process perhaps known from the very earliest
times, and merely consisting, it may be presumed, in
freeing the native crystal from the gum-like coating that
in so many cases totally veils its transparency. This
could very well be done by means of emery-powder alone,

♦ The same idea is expressed in the Flemish name for the trade,
'•diamant-slypers," found in a cause tried a.d. 1465, about an
Amethyst sold at Bruges for a Balais.

104 NATUBAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c.

though a somewhat tedious operation. As for the " faces "
quoted by Laborde as meaning facets cut by art, it is
almost demonstrable from their arrangement specified that
they were no more than the natural faces of the crystal.
The term * taille,' be it observed, is not once used in the
original text. The stone *' in the fashion of a forget-me-
not" is actually described as formed out of four — that is,
four small Diamonds set in the shape of that flower ; and
the " escutcheon-shaped " may well have been only a native
flat stone. It may be confidently asserted that no mediaeval
ring, of a make earlier than 1470, can be produced, set
with a Diamond that appears to have been artificially cut
to any pattern, however simple.

As for the French origin of the art, some of his examples
are but ill-chosen for his case. The name Herman bespeaks
a Teutonic origin ; and another of the jewellers is men-
tioned as resident at Bruges. His three eayperts too, the
" diamant-slypers," are all Flemings.

Laborde makes several objections to the received account
of L. de Berquem*s discovery. First, that De Boot, himself
from Bruges, says nothing about it. But his silence in
this case proves nothing, inasmuch as he never has named
(it not entering into his plan) the authors of many other
inventions cited in the course of his treatise. Again,
" that the name Berquem rarely occurs in the registers of
the city of Bruges ; " but if it does occur at all, that suffices
to establish the existence of such a family there. Lastly,
he makes merry at the idea of Charles* losing at Granson,
in March, 1475, a Diamond which was cut by Berquem in

♦ Laborde, like most people now-a-days, appears to be utterly ignorant
that March, 1475 (o.s.) would be the last month of that year, which by
the old mode of reckoning time began on Lady-day, and therefore
answers to March, 1476, n.s.

INVENTION OF DIAMOND-CUTTING. 105

1476, the year after ; but this, intended for a knock-down
argument, is based upon a misquotation of his own, as
shall be pointed out a little farther on.

The story about Ij. de Berquem, and his accidentally
discovering, by rubbing two Diamonds together, that one
would bite upon the other (the true principle of diamond-
cutting), rests solely upon the authority of Eobert de
Berquem, calling himself his descendant, who, two cen-
turies after his epoch, in the year 1669, being established
in Paris in the same line, as goldsmith and jeweller, pub-
lished a treatise on precious stones, entitled *Les Mer-
veilles des Indes Orientales.' Let us see what he really
does say : — " Au meme temps Charles, dernier due de
Bourgogne, a qui on avait fait r^cit [of this discovery] lui
mit trois gros diamans entre les mains, a les tailler ad-
vantageusement, selon son addresse. II les tailla des
aussitot ; Tun espais, Tautre foible, et le troisi^me en
triangle : * et il reussit si bien que le due, ravy d'une
invention si surprenante, luy donna trois mille ducats de
recompense. Puis ce Prince, comme il les trouvoit tout a
fjsiit beaux et rares, fit present de celui qui etoit foible au
pape Sixte quatriesme : et de celuy en forme d'un triangle
et d*un coeur, reduit dans un anneau et tenu de deux
mains, symbole de foy, au roy Louis XL, duquel il recher-
choit alors la bonne intelligence. Et quant au troisieme,
qui etoit la pierre espaisse, il le garda pour soy, et le
porta toujours au doigt, en sorte que il Ty avoit encores
quand il fut tue devant Nancy, un an apres qu'il les eut
fait tailler : 69avoir, est en Tannee mil quatre cens soixante
dix-sept."

It will be remarked here that K. de Berquem makes
Charles lose the Diamond with his life at Nancy, not with

♦ The rough stones were, one deep, the second thin, the third
triangular.

106 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONESy d:c,

his baggage at Granson, two years before; and tlins the
anachronism which Laborde ridicules does not in reality
exist in the story. But after reading the accounts above
cited from Charles's contemporaries, Comines and J. J.
Fugger, it is clear that the Duke's "famous and fabled
Diamond" was only one, and that one was lost at Granson.*
Eobert, writing at that distance of time, and, like every-
body else then, knowing nothing of mediaeval fashions,
naturally enough makes Charles wear his splendid Diamond
in a ring, as everybody was doing in 1669, not in a pendent
jewel, an ornament so long obsolete ; and just as naturally
represents him as keeping to his death this last relic of
his fortunes. All these inaccuracies are such as creep
into family traditions, without invalidating the main facts
of the story. But if Louis did in truth cut the stone to
that novel and skilful pattern copied by Fugger, and
received that munificent reward for his invention, men-
tioned by Robert, it must have been before the disaster
of Granson, after which date the Duke had neither money
nor inclination for such articles of luxury. This trifling
anachronism of Robert de Berquem's seems to be the sole
foundation for a second legend, also retailed by writers
on precious stones usque ad nauseam, which converts his
Nancy Diamond into another than the Sancy. According
to this version, the Duke's corpse, stripped and frozen into
the mud of a ditch, was only recognised by his grand
Diamond (a very unlikely article, by the way, to have
escaped the notice of the spoilers) ; which jewel falling
into the hands of the Lucemese was sold by them for
3000 Rhenish florins to Wilhelm von Diesbach, and after

♦ Comines' words are " Son gros Diamant qui estoit nn des plus gros
de Chrestiente'." Adding that in the same rout " furent perdues totttes
les grandes bagues (jewels) du dit Due." Whence it follows that no
Diamond of any importance was left to him to lose at Nancy.

INVENTION OF DIAMOND-CUTTING, 107

passing through half-a-dozen more hands, doubling its price
at each change of ownership, came into the possession of
Pope Julius II. for the sum of 30,000 ducats, who placed
the same in his tiara. Others again make this the identical
Austrian Yellow Diamond, which the reader must be re-
minded is actually thrice the weight of the largest Diamond
known in the middle of the next century ! Besides Charles
had lost " toutes ses grandes bagues " at Granson. As to
the recognition of his corpse, naked and crushed ; that was
done, says Comines, by an Italian his page, and by his
Portuguese physician, Luppa, from their knowledge of
his person. The Duke did indeed wear a ring upon the
day of his death, though not on his finger, neither was it
a gem ring but his privy signet. Comines' own words
with their quaint conclusion ought to set this matter to
rest for ever : — " J*ay depuis veu un Signet^ a Milan, que
maintes fois avoye veu pendu a son pourpoinct, qui estoit
un anneau et y avoit un fusil * entaille en un camayieu
oil estoient ses armes ; lequel fat vendu pour deux ducats
an lieu de Milan. Celuy qui le lui osta lui fut mauvais
valet de chambre ! "

The capricious form recorded to have been given to the
third stone, the " triangle and heart " combined, has a
striking analogy with the ingenuity displayed in the
devising of the figuration of the first. As yet the inventor
had no idea of improving the lustre of the Diamond : his
object was to display his victory over the hitherto in-
vincible material.f

* "Fusil" or "Spindle," heraldic, in shape an elongated lozenge.
The • Gamayieu,' or Onyx may he supposed the German sort then in
£eishion, says Agricola, for engraving anns upon in Germany.

t It was not before the roge-pattern was invented that the brilliancy
of the Diamond was much augmented by the cutting. For that^ tlie old
jewellers depended upon the tinctura. The table-cut stone of De Boofs
times merely gained regularity of form and polish from the cutting.

108 NATXmAL HI8T0BY OF PRECIOUS 8T0NE8, &c

Barbot (' Taille du Diamant ') considers it an absurdity
to suppose that the action of one Diamond upon another
could have been discovered by accident, so much force
being actually required to make one bite on the other.
This is true for the effective operation, but the idea of
their possessing such power may very possibly have been
suggested by observing the eflfect of slight and casual fric-
tion. Like a true Gaul, Barbot solves the difficulty by making
Berquem go to Paris to study the art under Herman !

Laborde, to prove the antiquity of the art of diamond-
cutting, adduces the use of the diamond-point by the
ancients for engraving gems.* This is totally foreign to
the purpose: nothing could have been done in the way
of reducing the Diamond to any given shape until the
secret was discovered how to get the diamond-dust to
replace the emery, that agent only effective for the
softer gems; and this diamond-dust could only then be
obtained by rubbing one stone against the other ; there
was as yet no supply of small Diamonds good for pulveri-
sation alone. This then was the grand discovery of
L. de Berquem ; and until a genuine piece of mediasval
jewelry be produced, containing a Diamond actually cut
to a definite pattern, there is no reason why he should
be robbed of the honour he has so long enjoyed.

In the modem art the first principles are the same. The
stone, if of a very irregular formation, is brought towards
its required shape by cleavage. A nick being scratched
with a diamond-point along the direction of its laminae,
a smart blow with the knife severs the projection, which
can subsequently be itself cut into a shapely stone of ap-

♦ Whether the ancient "crusta adamantis" was a splinter of Corun-
dum (which is the most probable) or of the true Diamond, it was
always set in an iron handle for use ; a different thing altogether from
using the dust applied to the wheel in lieu of the emiris.

INVENTION OF DIAMONB-CVTTINO, 109

preciable dimensions and value.* Tlie next process is the
roTigh-sketching of the required form, appropriately termed
in French hnUage, and also Sgriser, " to sober ;" a jocular
term at first, now become technical; hence egrisee, the
French name for the diamond-dust. Two Diamonds of
nearly equal size are cemented each in a handle, and
rubbed one against the other until one facet of equal
extent is mutually ground out of the surface of each. The
powder as it falls is received in a box, and becomes the
essential agent in the next operation. This is the polishing,
performed upon a disk of soft iron about a foot in diameter,
made to revolve most rapidly (thirty times in a second)
in a horizontal plane, and having its surface covered with
the diamond-dust f mixed with the finest olive-oil. The
Diamond is embedded in soft solder in a socket at the end
of an iron arm, leaving but so much of its surface exposed
as is required to be acted upon. By placing weights on the
extremity J of this arm (that touching the wheel), it will be
seen that the necessary degree of pressure is obtained for
keeping the stone tight against the revolving disk below.
In this way two or three Diamonds are operated upon at
one time, the workman repeatedly examining each; and
when a facet is completed he extracts the stone, and
rebeds it in the solder so as to present another portion to
the action of the cutting surface. All this is done entirely
by the eye; for it is by constant practice that the secret
is learnt of cutting the numerous facets with such invariable

♦ Keceiving 6, 8, or 12 facets, according to their extent, they come
into the market as Antwerp rosea. The true rose has 24 facets, and is
knoWn as the Dutch.

f For the rougher part of this operation they now largely use the
Brazilian Carbonado, formerly called the Black Diamond, and the rarest
of the species, but of late years found in abundance and in large masses.

X In cutting the Koh-i-noor, tlie weights applied ranged from 1 lb. up
to 15 lbs., according to the velocity at which the wheel was driven.

110 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, dtc.

exactness. And this dexterity may be estimated from the
almost incredible fact that perfect Boses are cut so small,
that 1500 go to the carat ! In former times the wheel was
put in motion by a treadle, and each man worked at
home : at present the master supplies the steam-power, and
numerous wheels are set going in one large room. This
business is almost confined to the city of Amsterdam : it
is entirely carried on by Jews, and the number of them
engaged in it there is about ten thousand.

The rose, brought to a more or less convex form, has
the surface cut into twenty-four little facets, while the
baSe is polished and remains a plane. This, with the
tabhy were the only patterns known during the seventeenth
centuiy, and the first quarter of the next. Even in jewellers'-
work of the reign of Queen Anne they alone appear, as for
instance in certain jewels made by her order for the Duke of
Marlborough, as I have been informed on the best autho-
rity. It is the opinion of the same most competent judge
that the latest and most perfect of all — the brilliant pattern
— was introduced some time in the reign of George I.,
which agrees pretty nearly with the date Cairo assigns to
Peruzzi's invention. In this the Diamond is made to
assume the form of two cones united by their bases ; the
upper cone so much truncated as to present to the eye a
considerable plane surface ; the lower but slightly so, ter-
minating almost in a point. Thus the stone, being set
with the broader plane uppermost, possesses great relative
depth, which, strengthening its refractive power, aided also
by the numerous facets that cover the sides, both combined
mightily augment the brilliancy of the Diamond (whence
the name) by confining the rays of light inside it.*

♦ Jeffries as late aa 1750 deprecates the "newfangled mode of brilliant-
cutting," and oddly uses against its adoption in England the argumentum
ad misericordiam : saying, what indeed proved very true, it would vastly

INVENTION OF DIAMOND-CUTTING. HI

In the technical description of the hrilliant (" brilliant
recoup^ "), the upper surface is the table ; its sloping edge,
the heasil ; the junction of the upper .truncated pyramid
with the lower, or the broadest part, the girdle ; the lower
pointed portion the pavilion; the bottom plane, the collet
(*' culasse "). Between the table and the girdle are 32
^ets ; below the girdle 24. Facets are named from their
forms, star-facets^ touching the table ; the rest, the upper
and lower skill-facets ; or as the French term them, " den-
telles, losanges, feuillets." As a rule, small stones lose
38 or 40 per cent, of their weight, large ones 50 and even
more, in being reduced to this form ; but in the old perfect
Indian octahedrons the loss was much less, the crystal
naturally lending itself to the shape.

Tavemier gives (ii. 373) a very instructive drawing of a
monster rough stone weighing 157J carats, bought by him
at Amadaboo for a friend : and again of the same when
cut, at the same place one must infer. It is reduced to
an almond sbape, facetted on both sides, the exact figure
of the Sancy, and to the weight of only 94j carats, showing
the immense waste entailed by this pattern. According
to this rule, the unlucky Borghis was not so very culpable
in his diminishing the weight of the Mogul : in fact the
waste in the latter case was considerably less.

During the last century the chief seat of the business of
diamond-cutting for the world was London ; and even now
an old town-cut brilliant can immediately be distinguished
from those prepared by the modem Dutch (who sacrifice
beauty of form to preservation of weight), by the superior
accuracy and excellence of the work, and consequently it

diminish the value of &mi]y jewels if it became uniyersal. But fashion
has no bowels of compassion : so the old Boees were forthwith re-cut
into brilliants despite the dreadful sacrifice of weight, and Tables became
almost valueless.

112 NATURAL HISTORY OF PBECI0U8 STONES, dto,

commands a far higher price in the market ; for the lustre
of a brilliant depends in great measure upon the judicious
distribution and accurate finish of the facets composing its
sides.

De Boot, who, assisting his iijaperial master, worked
long and sedulously at this art, has left many curious
details of the process as carried on in his times. He gives
a figure of an ingenious contrivance invented by himself
for cutting several stones at once. It may be briefly de-
scribed as a horizontal, circular frame, perforated with
sixteen holes, which received as many handles, on whose
ends the diamonds were cemented.* These handles, by
weights applied at top, kept the stones in close contact
with the wheel revolving below horizontally, which was
a mere rim of pewter equal in circumference (three feet)
to the frame above, and provided with a border to keep
the diamond-dust and oil with which it was moistened
from falling off. As may be supposed, from want of motive
power (the machine being driven by the foot like a
turner's lathe), the operation was very slow : he mentions
that it was only necessary to unbed each stone once a week.
But it must be borne in mind no cutting of facets was as
yet attempted : the wheel had only to attack the large and
simple planes of tables and of pyramids. He knows no-
thing of the hrutage or preliminary shaping of the stone,
but states that this pewter wheel was employed for cutting
down the Diamond as well as for polishing it. The diamond-
powder was then obtained by breaking up inferior stones
with a large hammer : its value was ten thalers per scruple.
But in the next fifty years such rapid progress had the art
made that De Laet describes the hrutage, and the subse-

* The cement then used was made of turpentine, pounded brick,
and hard pitch. De Laet's recipe ia, very finely powdered brick-dust
and resin, the strongest cement invented.

INVENTION OF DIAMOND-CUTTING. 113

quent bedding in solder for the finishing operation in
nearly the same terms as I have already used. It was
only in cases where there was danger of flawing the stone,
that the lapidary entirely depended upon the slow, but
safer, operation of the ancient process. The wheel then
used was of the finest steel. De Boot notes that a perfect
table Diamond of one carat then sold for fifty ducats, and
he supplies a table constructed after a somewhat compli-
cated theory for ascertaining the value in proportion to the
weight ; but the result approximates pretty nearly to the
modem, viz., to square the number of carats, and multiply
the sum by the selling price of a stone of one carat. For
example, supposing the latter to be SI. (as it was for many
years before 1850), the value of one of 5 carats* would be
6 X 5 = 25, which multiplied by 8 gives 200Z. (Barbot states
the selling price of a perfect brilliant one carat weight in
Paris (1858) as 3t)0 to 320 fr., 12Z. to 14Z.) For about a
centuiy, the price with slight fluctuations remained as
laid down by Jeflfries in 1750, viz., at 41, for the rough
Diamond, 61, for the Kose, and SI, for the Brilliant. But
ever since 1850 there has been a gradual rise, estimated

♦ Few of my readers know the origin of the word r/irat. It comes
from Kcparlovt a kind of vetch, the seeds of which, running very uni-
form, furnished natural weights for estimating the value of small and
precious articles to the Orientals ; just as barley-grains afforded the
unit of weight and of measure to the Europeans. A carat weighs 4
g^rains French, or 3J Troy. Carat, moreover, is used in another sense in
speaking of the precious metals ; standing for an imaginary division
of the pound Troy into 24 parts; and the standard is expressed by
naming how many of those parts the pure metal forms, the remainder
being understood as the alloy. Thus the standard of the sovereign is
22, or two parts alloy ; of watch-cases. Hall-marked, 18, or six alloy,
». e. one quarter of the mass. The latter is the lowest standard per-
mitted by la^ in France, where certainly *' they order these matters
better " than with us.

(M) I

3 14 NATURAL BISTORT OF PRECIOUS STONES, d:c.

by Emanuel at ten per cent, each year, so that he puts down
the selling price for the year 1865 at 18Z. This only applies
to small stones ; specimens of unusual size, from the diffi-
culty of finding purchasers, necessarily have their value
calculated by other rules. In the suit * Van Minden v.
Pyke,' referred to above, it was stated in the evidence,
that Diamonds had risen 25 per cent, in value since the year
1861, and large stones in even a greater proportion. This
rise may be attributed to many causes, the diminution in
the value of gold, the extinction of the supply of Indian
Diamonds, and the constantly decreasing productiveness of
the Brazilian mines ; whilst on the other hand the demand
for them daily augments through the craving after this out-
ward and visible sign of opulence in the mushroom growth
of ' nouveaux riches ' that has sprung up within the above-
named space of time, both here and, with even more mar-
vellous rapidity of vegetation, in the salom of Paris.

The grand test with the jewellers of olden times for
distinguishing the real Diamond from the spurious, of
which so many were then current, as the White Sapphire,
the Citrine Beryl, and the Crystal cut into a pyramid, was
to ascertain whether it would " take the tincture." This
was a varnish made of ivory black and mastich applied
to the back of the stone, which, if a true Diamond, obtained
vast brilliancy from this background ; but if any other gem,
became dull and lustreless, shewing the black through its
substance. Some used the oil exuding from a roasted grain
of wheat darkened with ivory black, others backed the
stone with a bit of black silk. An ingenious, and often too
deceptive mode, of evading this test was to set the imitative
Diamond with a vacancy between its " culasse " and a black
back-ground, the air confined in this space preventing the
rays of light from being stopped too suddenly by the

TESTS FOB DIAMONDS, 115

ground. Other cheats substitnted as the backing a bit of
looking-glass. To set the Diamond transparent was never
thought of before our times. This varnish was necessarily
impaired by heat ; and therefore it was the practice to de-
posit, on going to bed,,one*s diamond ring in a glass of
cold water, in order to maintain its full brilliancy.

The "Novas Minas" White Topaz of Brazil, called
there " Slaves' Diamond," is now the only stone which has
any chance of being passed off for the Diamond. It is
in truth extremely hard, and very brilliant, but wants the
adamantine lustre and the iridescence.

It is a singular proof of the force of long-established
flEible to find the practical De Boot, though conjecturing,
from its analogy to amber in the property of attraction,
that the Diamond is "igneee et sulfurese naturas," yet
going on asserting that it is not only proof against fire, but
even improved by exposure to its action for several days.
Exactly a century later, Newton conjectured it to be com-
bustible, because its refractive power, which is to that of
water as 1*0396 to '785, so greatly exceeds that due to its
density.* Soon after this (1694) Averani burnt a Diamond
in the presence of Cosimo III. at Florence ; but even then
no one thought of performing the operation in the ordi-
nary way: it must needs be effected philosophically by
the solar rays concentrated through a burning-glass. At last
some one trying the experiment in a smith's forge found
the stone converted into charcoal at the melting point

♦ For the same reason Brewster supposed it to be nothing more than
a foBsil-gom ; and his theory is strongly supported by the existence in
such vast quantities of the carbonado or amorphous black Diamond,
which bears the same relation to the pure species as jet does to amber.
This theory has lately been worked out by Professor Goppert of
Breslau, in a treatise ' On the Vegetable Origin of the Diamond.'

116 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c,

of silver only. And in the year 1800 Clausel, Weller,
and Hachette, by adding one part of Diamond to sixty of
iron, obtained an ingot of excellent steel.

« TEE DIAMOND NEGKLAQEr

As it is truly said that " it is the last straw that breaks
the earners back," so was it the scandal of the famous
** Diamond Necklace " that gave the coup de graces though
with great injustice, to the prestige of royalty in France.
Briefly to give the main facts of this extraordinary plot :
the Cardinal de Bohan, a handsome, conceited, luxurious
prince of the Church, had been ambassador at Yienna, and
in that capacity had given great offence to both courts
by a letter, divulged by Madame Dubarry, containing some
satirical remarks, too true for forgiveness or excuse, upon
the hypocrisy of the model devotee Maria Teresa. He
was recalled, and lived under a cloud in Paris, where he
was Grand Almoner to the king. Perhaps he was in-
spired with a feeling warmer than loyalty by the charms of
Marie Antoinette : at all events to regain her favour was
the grand object of his life. About this time it happened
that Bohmer, the court jeweller, iad on sale a magnificent
necklace of brilliants, priced at sixteen hundred thousand
livres — 64,000Z., which he had offered to the queen, who
had declined the purchase as above her means at the time.
Meanwhile the Cardinal, in the pursuit of his one object,
had made acquaintance with a Madame de la Motte, a
confederate of the notorious quack Cagliostro, who pre-
tended to have great influence with the Queen, and pro-
mised to plead his cause with her. To prove to him the
reality of her professions, she procured him an interview,
one night in August, 1784, in the hosquet of Versailles,

" THE DIAMOND NECKLACEr 1 17

with Marie Antoinette herself — that is to say, with a
certain nymph D'Oliva, who, in figure and in gait, was
almost her Majesty's counterpart. La Motte, having thus
offectually won the confidence of the Cardinal, began to
represent to him the Queen's intense longing for the neck-
lace, and the favour he would gain with her by effecting
the purchase of it, not as a present, it must be borne in
mind, but merely to secure the same upon his own respon-
sibility with the jeweller. The Cardinal, therefore, duped
by this plausible story, concluded the purchase in Feb-
ruary, 1785; the conditions being that the amount was to
be paid in four half-yearly instalments of 400,000 livres
each. This agreement was supposed to be submitted to
the Queen, and was returned approved and signed by her :
a forgery by La Motto's husband. The necklace was now
entrusted to La Motte for conveyance to the Queen in the
manner best calculated to advance her admirer's interests; —
it was handed over to her husband, who lost no time
in betaking himself and the spoil to London, where he
broke up the necklace and converted the brilliants into
money. Why Madame did not follow him on the first
fair opportunity is a mystery to me inexplicable, unless,
indeed, her avarice induced her not to give up plucking
so fat a pigeon until the very last moment, and thus caused
her to overstay her time. The dSnouement did not arrive
before the end of the first half year, when Bohmer, after
a decent delay, ventured to remind the Queen of her
agreement, signed with her own hand. Then came a com-
plete ea^ose. ,The Cardinal was sent to the Bastille, in
pontificalibus, just as he was about to sing mass before
the court; but after a short imprisonment was released,
and sent in disgrace to reside at an abbey of his in Au-
vergne. Madame La Motte was sentenced to be whipped,

118 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &g.

branded on both shoulders, and to be imprisoned for life
in the Salpetri^re. She, however, escaped thence in man's
attire and managed to rejoin her husband in London,
where she died, in 1791, either of a bilious fever, or from
throwing herself out of the window in a fit of delirium.

Note. — For all the details connected with the present trade in Dia-
monds, both wholesale and retail, the reader desirous of complete and
accurate information can have no better authority than Barbot " ancien
joaillier," nnder "Diamant," in his "Traits Complet des Pierres Pr6-
cieuses/ Paris, 1858. But the historical portion of that article is full
of inaccuracies, as indeed is the rest of his treatise in that particular
department : but when it attempts the branch of the subject relating to
art and archaeology the book is infinitely more defective and swarms
with the most palpable blunders : its teaching is only valuable so long
as its author, ** the retired jeweller," keeps closely within the limits of
his vrMer. Much however — and that the best part — of his informa-
tion has been .borrowed without acknowledgment from Cairo's *La
Science des Pierres Pr^cieuses appliqude aux Arts,' Paris, 1833 : now
extremely scarce, and therefore liable to be pillaged with impunity.
The want, long felt, in our literature of a Handbook on the same prin-
ciple as Cairo's, has at last been well and amply suppUed by H.
Emanuel in his perfect Ujou of a volume, * Diamonds and Precious
Stones,' 1865.

ABOENTUM, 119

ARGENTUM: ""Afyyvpo^: Silver.

In the ancient world Silver was to the same extent the
peculiar production of Europe, that Gold was of Asia.
Herodotus makes no mention of any mines of silver in
the latter country, and even expressly notices that the
Scythians and MassagetsB, though abounding in gold, had
no silver at all. On the other hand, he speaks of Mount
Pangseus in Thrace as containing most productive mines
of both metals, and mentions a silver-mine adjacent to
the Lake Prasias on the confines of Macedonia that used
to bring in a talent of metal (60 lbs.) in weight per day
to Alexander I. (v. 17) : a proof this of the extraordinary
richness of the ore, considering the little skill of the
Greeks in reducing this metal, and the wasteful process
employed.

But the most extensive and richest mines of Silver
known to the ancient world were in Mount Laurium, or
rather the chain of hills occupying the southern extremity
of the Attic peninsula. Xenophon (De Vectigal. iv.)
describes these mines as having been worked from time
immemorial, as was testified by the heaps of rubbish and
slag, rivalling in height the natural hills. The earliest
coinage known to the world was the produce of these
mines, for the old Parian tradition is evidently (on the
testimony of the coins themselves) well founded which
makes Phidon King of -^gina (b.c. 869) the first that struck
coin, that is of silver^ for some Lydian prince had preceded

120 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, &c.

him in gold. Lucan (vi. 402) quotes a tradition pointing
to a not very distant locality, which assigns this invention
to It^neus, a Thessalian king —

" Itonens first, who in ThessaKa reigned.
To take a shape the heated ore constrained ;
First by fire's force the silver made to flow,
And vu'gin gold tamed by the coin-die's blow."

These mines at Laurinm were in their fullest activity
just before the Peloponnesian war. Xenophon mentions
that Nicias (the commander of the ill-starred expedition to
Syracuse) kept a thousand slaves there, always maintaining
the same number, whom he hired out to a Thracian,
Sosias, for one obol per man per day clear of taxes. This
net return would make 166|- drachmas daily (about 71.) : a
large sum, indicative of a gross result yielding coiTesponding
profits to the Thracian lessee, who had to feed these
miners, pay a royalty to the State, and supply all the
other expenses of the mining operations. Similarly Hip-
ponicus had six hundred slaves let out at one mina {Si, 58.)
per day, and Philemonides half that number. These
wealthy Athenians were too cautious to embark in mining
operations themselves : the actual farmers of the mines
were usually foreigners, as in the case named — Thracians,
who had studied the business in the ancient workings
of their own country. The State encouraged these opera-
tions as much as possible by allowing foreigners to embark
in them on an equal footing with the natives. These
lessees under the State paid their royalties in the form of
a poll-tax on every slave employed; an excellent plan
for preventing their cheating the revenue. Xenophon
could devise no better expedient for restoring the dilapi-
dated Athenian finances than that the State should purchase
slaves as a national concern (the South Sea Asiento antici-

ABGENTUM. 121

pated) and let them out to the contractors, as the safest and
most profitable of all investments of the public money.
There was no fear (as he assured them) of the mines being
exhausted : no miners had ever come to the end of the
veins, however deep they had sunk their shafts, and
the entire mountain-range was equally productive wherever
opened. Nevertheless, in Strabo's time, four hundred years
later, the mines were completely worked out. They had
become a thing of tradition by the middle of the second
century : Pausanias speaks of Laurium, " where the Athe-
nians had silver-mines formerly."

Diodorus, Strabo's contemporar}'', contrasts the poverty
of the Attic mines in his own times with the certain
wealth of the Spanish, saying that mining in the former
was a complete lottery (" enigma "), where many were not
merely disappointed, but lost aU they had in the first out-
lay ; whereas in the latter they make profits beyond their
hopes. The woods clothing the mountains having been
completely burnt off by an accidental fire (whence called
Pifrencea), the silver-ore near the surface was melted, and
flowed out in streams. This the Phoenician traders ob-
tained for a trifle from the ignorant natives ; and, their
ships being overladen therewith, they weighted the anchors
with silver in place of the lead originally put in them for
that purpose. At last the Iberians set to working the
mines themselves. They were of copper, silver, and gold.
From the copper-ore they obtained one-fourth pure metal.
*' Some of the silver-miners get in three days as much as
an EubcBic talent (65 lbs.) per man. For the whole ground
is full of shining silver-dust. At first the natives worked
the mines ; but after the Eoman conquest a multitude of
Italians occupied them. These buy vast numbers of slaves,
whom they employ in the works, opening new shafts,
sinking down, and driving levels after the course of the

122 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, &c.

veins, many stadia in extent. The further they go, the
more splendid veins do they find, full of silver and of gold.
The water flooding their workings they raise to the surfiswe
by means of the screw of Archimedes ; having a succes-
sion of these on different levels, until they bring it up to
the mouth of the shaft. The slaves are kept at work
both day and night, are cruelly treated, and die off veiy
fast. One singular thing is, that none of the mines are of
recent origin, having all been opened by the Cartha-
ginians when masters of the country. By the revenues
derived from these mines they were enabled to carry on
their long wars against the Libyans, Sicilians, and Eomans,
entirely by the aid of mercenaries. For of old times
the Phoenicians were famous for finding out gain, and the
Italians for leaving nothing to anybody else."

To return to Attica, Strabo has a curious note, that,
although the Laurium mines were actually worked out, yet
the improved state of metallurgy allowed a certain profit
to be extracted from remelting the old slag, which had
been very imperfectly freed from the metal : a sure proof
of the great facility with which it had been raised in
former times. This Attic Silver was contained in a lead-
ore : the latter metal the smelters could (or chose to) but
imperfectly separate, by the tedious process of oxidising
it by burning ; which accountjs equally for the leady appear-
ance of the old Greek coinage, and for Pliny's apparently
(to us) preposterous observation that hlxick marks can be
made with silver, as with lead, upon any white surface.

Of Silver-mining amongst the Romans a lucid notice is
given by Pliny (xxxiii. 31). Silver was found more or less
plentifully in every part of the empire ; but the Spanish
mines bore by far the first rank. These had been opened
by the Carthaginians, and were still as productive as
ever. That called Bsebalo had yielded to Hannibal, who

ABGENTUM. 123

"discovered it, 300 lbs. in weight per day. By Pliny's date
the galleries had been carried a mile and a half into the
hill; the Aquitanian labourers, working in spells (the
time regulated by the burning of a lamp, "lucemarum
mensura"), pumped out the water without intermission
by day and night in such quantity that it formed a river.
** The exhalations from the mines are feital to all animals,
but more particularly to dogs," which shows they were
troubled with the choke-damp. Some ore, called "Cru-
daria," was found immediately below the surface. The
earlier miners used to dig no farther after they came
upon alum (what mineral is here meant is not easy to
explain) ; but afterwards, haviug discovered that copper
lay beneath this, there was no limit to their search.

Poly bins (xxxiv. 9) describes the silver-mines near
New Cai*thage as of great extent, occupying a circle of
400 stadia (40 miles), and employing 40,000 miners, who
produced to the Koman treasury 25,000 drachmsB per day
(or 260tt l^s. Troy).* The ore was broken small, and
sifted into water ; the sediment again pounded, the opera-
tion being repeated five times ; the residuum was then
melted, and, " the lead being poured off,'* the Silver was
extracted pure. No silver-mines are mentioned by any
ancient writer as ever discovered in Italy: so the vast
amount of the metal required for the almost unlimited
coinage of the wealthy states of Magna Grecia (having
no gold currency) and of Sicily must have been obtained in
exchange for their exports of grain.

* In estimating the ancient weights it must be remembered that the
Greek Mina, or poimd, somewhat exceeded our pound avoirdupois
(14^ ounces tr(yy). On the other hand the Boman libra was, like that
still used there, of 12 ounces avoirdupois^ and, therefore, about one-
tenth lighter than our pound troy. This last, it may be remarked,
en passantj came by its name fix)m being the established weight in use
at the great fair of Troyes in medisBval times.

124 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, &c.

Had the Romans been aware of the mineral wealth of
Silesia, they would certainly have made more vigorous
efforts for the conquest of Germany ; but the rich silver-
mines of that province were first opened in the 10th cen-
tury. In Norway also the Kongsberg mine during the last
entury rivalled in productiveness any of the Mexican.

Silver was never met with Native (adds Pliny), or even
betraying its presence, like gold, by particles sparkling in
a stony matrix: it only occurred as a reddish or ash-
coloured earth. This could not be reduced unless it were
mixed either with lead or with the lead-ore, called Galena
(Sulphuret of Lead), usually obtained in the same mines.
(The chief produce of these Spanish mines at present is
silver-lead ore.) By the same operation, in the smelting,
part of this mineral was reduced to lead, whilst the silver
floated on the top, like oil on the surface of water. Pliny
(xxxiv. 47) notices the separation of the silver from the
^ead in the same melting at different temperatures — a
property, only recently again taken advantage of in the
extraction of silver from argentiferous lead-ore (Pattinson's
Process), but thus proved known to the profit of the old
Spanish miners. " Lead is either produced pure naturally
in an ore of its own, giving nothing else, or else united
with silver, and the two ores are smelted together. Of
this mixture that which first runs off in the furnace is
called * Stagnum ;' the next that comes off is Silver : the re-
siduum in the furnace is Galena, amounting to a third of
the charge of ore. This melted over again produces Lead,
with a loss of two parts in nine." (This residuum, there-
fore, must have been Litharge, or lead oxidised by the
great heat required to smelt the combined ores. As charcoal
was the only fuel then used, this oxide gained sufficient
carbon in the second melting to convert it into metallic
lead.)

ABGENTUM, 125

A very ancient traditionary process was evidently the
method of refining silver used in the Delhi mint, as follows :
" They dig a hole, and having sprinkled in it a small quan-
tity of the ashes of field cow-dimg, they fill it with the
ashes of Babool-wood, then they moisten it, and work it
up into the shape 6f a dish or coppel ; into this they put
the adulterated silver together with an equal quantity of
lead after the following manner : 1st. They put with the
silver the fourth part of the lead, and surrounding the
coppel with coals blow the fire until the metals are melted.
This operation they repeat as often as is necessary, but in
most instances four times are required. The proofs of the
metal being pure are the brightness thereof, and its be-
ginning to harden at the sides. When it is hardened in
the middle they sprinkle it with water, when if a flame
issues from it, it is arrived at the required degree of fine-
ness, and if they melt this mass again there will be lost
half a ruttee in every tohh (one part in 192). The coppel
becomes a kind of litharge which in the Hindostani lan-
guage they call kehrd"

The ancients, who classed minerals for the most part by
the eye, considered native Quicksilver, *' argerUum vivum,^* as
a rare variety of this metal, occurring in the same mines,
like a running issue, always liquid, proceeding from the
metallic veins, " vomica liquoris aeterni." They imagined
it to be something quite different from the " Hydrargyrum"
extracted from the Minium (Sulphuret of Mercury) by
sublimation. This Minium,* the Vermilion used in painting,
Theophrastus relates, was, eighty years before his time,
discovered by Callias, an Athenian, who, from the bril-
liant red of the ore, imagined it contained gold, and
making experiments upon it, failed in that expectation,

* Miniaria ffodina), the quicksilyer-mine, is the source of the Italian
" miniera," and of our " mine."

126 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, &c,

but obtained the pigment. This was in a silver-mine at
EphesTis. But when Pliny wrote, Minium was brought to
Bome only from Sisapon in Baetica (Almaden) : the mine
being the property of the State. The ore was not allowed
to be prepared on the spot, but brought in sealed packages
to Eome, where it was ground and washed ; and the price
fixed by law to 70 sesterces (17 J denarii) the pound
weight. As much* as 2000 lbs. were annually exported
from Spain. This kind was exclusively used as a pigment:
an inferior sort, the Secundarium, found in the same mines,
only assumed a vermilion colour after it had been roasted :
this was used for adulterating the native Minium, and also
for making Hydrargyrum (see Gilding). This was ex-
tracted in two ways; either by the wet process, by pounding
the Minium in a bronze mortar with a pestle of the same
metal ; or by svhlimaiion, being placed in an iron saucer
(concha) inside an earthen pot, having a top carefully luted
down: then a fire being made under the pot and blown
with bellows, the Quicksilver sweated in drops through
the pores of the earthen covering, and was wiped off and
collected.

The Stimmi or Stibium met with in the silver-mines,
** like a froth, and bright white," of two kinds, the male
and female — the former rougher and lighter and more
sandy in texture, the latter brighter and full of cracks —
was our Sulphuret and Oxide of Antimony, which, on the
same account, the Germans term Spiess-glass or Eod-glass.

* Pliny puts his readers upon their guard against an ingenious trick
of the painters (in fresco) of his times. The Minium being provided by
the employer, on account of its intrinsic value, the artist was perpetu-
ally washing his brushes, under pretence of cleaning them ; and, at the
end of his job, collected from the deposit in the water-pot a remune-
rative quantity of the heavy mineral. Vasan tells a similar story, how
P. Perugino played the same game with the Ultramarine supplied by
the suspicious Abbot.

ABGENTUM, 127

It was in great use as a desiccative for ulcere, and also
as a medicine for ihe eyes. This is the KoM, still as
necessary to an Oriental lady's toilette as in the days of
Jezebel who " painted her ejeB " (not " her face ") when she
essayed the power of her beauty upon her son's murderer.
The powder is applied upon a little bodkin drawn through
the closed eyelids, and besides strengthening the sight,
augments the apparent size of the eyes themselves, that
grand desideratum in the beau ideal of the East. On this
account icaAAt)SXc<^apov became the generic term for all
cosmetics for the face.

The oxide skimmed off the silver in the melting-pot,
known by the Greek name Helcysma, also entered into
the ancient pharmacopoeia as a caustic and desiccative.

The alloy in the Greek silver coinage generally ap-
pears to have been nothing more than the lead their
refiners had not sufficient skill to get rid of : nevertheless
the Athenian currency was distinguished above all the
rest for its purity. Hence Xenophon's notice (Vect. iii.)
as to the profit to be got upon the exportation of it to
foreign countries : adding, what seems unaccountable, that
the money of other States had no currency out of their
own limits.* A lasting proof of the vast supply of silver
flowing into the Athenian mint is the fact that it was
issued principally in pieces of the largest denomination
known in free Greece, the four-drachma piece. And this
was so from the very beginning of the coinage, as is evinced
by the extremely archaic type of most of these medals.
The other States, both of Hellas and her wealthy colonies

* Hence the simile of the philosopher quoted hy Diogenes Laertius,
how the Attic pieces, ill struck, misshapen, were preferred, on account
of their intrinsic goodness, to the elegant and round-coined mintage of
Alexandria; alluding to the coinage of the Ptolemies, the best exe-
cuted on the whole of any in the Greek series.

128 NA TUBAL HI8T0SY OF PBECI0U8 METALS, Ac,

in Italy, very rarely exceeded the dimensions of the
double-drachm. The silver of the Macedonian conquerors
of Asia, the Selencidae and the Ptolemies, is for the greatest
proportion of it on the same enlarged scale as that of the
Athenian: in fsu^t, Alexander even went so far as to
double its wkxfoZc, for a few eight-drachma pieces of his are
extant. It must be borne in mind that the coins of the
largest denominations are naturally the first to disappear
upon any recoinage, and therefore leave the fewest repre-
sentatives of their class behind them. Even these, for the age,
monster medals, were in the next generation surpassed by
the renowned * Syracusan Medallion,' a coin ever regarded,
both for its beauty as well as dimensions, as the greatest
triumph of the Grecian mint. Its weight of 668 grains
troy, shows it to have been issued as a ten-drachma piece :
and at the same time the panoply, together with the ex-
planatory legend AOAA, in the exergue, declares the object
for issuing a coin of this large intrinsic value ; as con-
stituting the tmits of the money-prize proposed together
with a suit of armour for the reward of the victor in the
chariot race.

The four-drachma piece, as the most important, is distin-
guished by the Hellenistic writers by the title of apyopvov
specially. This is the meaning of the word whenever it
is used by the Evangelists. A singular proof of this is
deducible from the miracle of St. Peter's capture of the
gurnet, which enabled him to pay the tribute for his
Master and himself. Tliis tax being half a shekel per
head, it is a necessary consequence that the apyopvov sup-
plied by the piscine banker was a shekel in value, that is,
a coin equivalent to four drachmas.

The Eomans adopted a Silver currency at a somewhat
late period of the Eepublic, not until 269 b.c. Their
standard was as high as the Greek during the Eepublic

ABGENTUM, 129

and throughout the reign of Augustus and his next successor.
The legal weight (according to Pliny) of the denarius was
74 to the pound, or 69 grs. Koman, about 63 Troy each.
But, notwithstanding the vast supplies flowing into the
treasury from Spain, the standard of the silver coin rapidly
fell.* Under Vespasian the alloy was one eighth, under the
Antonines one-fourth, under Severus about one-half; after
which time there seems to have been no fixed standard,
some denarii being worse, others apparently better than
the last mentioned. The weight also diminished fast.
Those of Augustus average 60 grs. ; of Vespasian and his
sons, 50 ; and this weight seems to have been the legal one
4own to Caracal la, who issued double denarii (on the
model, apparently, of the older didrachms), weighing
about 90 grs., his denarii being about 45. Gordian only
coined the large, the " pecunia majorina " of the edict of
Constantino, and even this module declines under Galli-
enus to 70 and 65, when the silver coinage ends, base
though his be. For after Spain had been lost to the
State, in consequence of the usurpation of the various pre-
tenders to the Empire in the time of Gallienus, the silver
currency altogether vanishes, and is replaced by BUlon^
denarii, in which the silver forms but one-fifth, or even
less, of the weight of the coin. These pieces, extremely
bright when fresh, in consequence of the silver being
forced upon the surface by the pressure of the stamp, be-

* Antony, notices Pliny, alloyed his denarii with iron ; to harden the
coin, it would seem, for the lightness 6f the iion would leave little
margin for profit upon the result. This strange tradition is quite true ;
the accurate Pinkertun istates that he had seen a legionary denarius of
the Triumvir fly to the magnet hke a bit of steel.

t Billon signifies the mixture of either gold or silver with more than
its own weight of alloy, so tliat the baser metal preponderates in the
mass. Some derive it from the Spanish vellon, some from bulla, otherd
from viUa, all equally wide of the mark.

180 NATURAL HI8T0BY OF PRECIOUS METALS, Ac.

come quite coppery after a little circulation.* Pinkerton
ascribes the evident scarcity of silver coin under the
Empire, even in its most flourishing times, to the drain ot
specie towards India for the purchase of precious stones
and silk, and compares it with the same beginning, to be
sensibly felt in his own times (1784), occasioned by the
purchase of tea. After an interval of fifty years Dio-
cletian, having reunited the dispersed members of the
Empire, re-established the silver currency upon its original
footing as regards fineness; and this continued, though
the weight of the denarii gradually lessened, until the fall
of the Western Empire.

Diocletian's restored silver denarii are ninety-six to the
Eoman pound, hence many of them bear the numerals xcvi
within a wreath on the reverse. They, being eight to
the Eoman ounce (of 433 grs. Troy), would equal 54 grs.

* Precisely the same effect and change are to be observed in the pre-
sent billon coins of the Germans, their zwanzigers, groschens, and
hellers. More lustrous than standard silver, when ** fire-new/' a few
days' currency reduces them to their copper nakedness. Numismatists,
unacquainted with metallurgy, go on talking of " bronze sausse *' and
of " copper washed with silver,'* a process of impracticable application
to such a coinage as this. These billon pieces, base as they were,
constituted the denarii of their times, and in fact were coined upon the
precise type of the larger denarius introduced by Garacalla. To proclaim
their current value to all disbelievers, the ^ **nota denarii" appears
on the reverse of many in the series. They constitute the denomi-
nation in which the prices are calculated in the Sestos Edict of
Diocletian, fixing the mcLximum throughout the Empire. It may be
that the enormous debasement of their standard was adopted as a
measure of policy, in order to prevent the exportation of the silver
currency. After the re-establishment of a pure silver coin, the billon
seems t/) have fallen below its intrinsic value, as was the case with that
of our Henry VIII., inasmuch as, though of varying alloys, the whole,
at the last, only went at the estimation of its lowest. For this reason
Constantino, in a rescript to Limenius, threatens with capital punish-
ment all refiners who should hereafter melt down (a conmion practice,
he says) the " pecunia majorina," to separate the silver it contained.

ABGENTUM, 131

Troy each. But his successors, though they did not again
debase the standard, rapidly curtailed the weight, so that
few of theirs exceed 30 grs. Again, double denarii were
coined, of which one thousand were equivalent to a pound
of gold : which gave them the name of mUliarenaes, The few
denarii struck by Justinian and the Italian Goths seem
intended for 20 grs. Koman, but only equal 15 Troy.
These light denarii were the parents of the Anglo-Saxon
silver penny (of the same weight), a coin that can now
boast, through its English line, an unbroken succession of
1300 years.

It remains to me an inexplicable mystery why the
Kepublic, whose sole circulating medium for fully 200
years was silver, should never have followed the example
of the Sicilians with whom she was in so long and inti-
mate an intercourse, and have perceived the convenience
of having coins of a larger denomination than the single
denarius. But so it was: even a double-denarius of the
Eepublic remains yet to be discovered. The Byzantine em-
perors, virtually an Asiatic race, from the very beginning
coined but little silver : after the 5th century their currency
(with exceptions not worth noticing) consisted entirely of
gold, issued largely also in small subdivisions, trientes or
thirds of the aureus,* and of copper, beginning with enor-
mous clumsy /oZZe8 (of which 210 and after Justinian 180
went to the solidus) ; expedients intended to remedy the
absence of the denarius and its half the victoriatus.

Forgery of the current coin seems to have been almost
coBBval with the very invention of striking money.
Very shortly after that epoch, Herodotus makes Poly-
crates, the tyrant of Samos, buy off his Lacedemonian
invaders in lead pieces plated with gold struck for

♦ Or soliduSy of 6 to the Eoman ounce, or 72 grs. Troy each at iirst.
Jt stood for many centuries at 60 grs. = 12 shillings.

K 2

132 NATUBAL EISTOBY OF PBECIOUS METAL8, Ae.

that purpose. These counterfeits are composed with
much ingenuity, a disk of lead, or more generally of
copper (technically called a lilank)^ was placed between
two corresponding plates of either precious metal, then
laid between the dies, when the blow of the hammer
consolidated them into one inseparable body. This fraud
would almost defy detection before the pieces were worn
by use : to test the coin therefore became with the Eomans
a regular profession, and the citizens were so grateful to
its institutor, Marius Gratidianus, that they erected a statue
to him in every street of Bome. Pliny observes, " this is
an art in which what is wroug alone is the thing to be
learnt : a forged denarius is the model, and, a surprising
anomaly, the students pay many good coins for a single
bad one " (meaning probably for one of some new or more in-
genius fabrique than usual). Trimalchio, with his proper
absurdity, declares there are two professions he especially
admires : that of the physician who can see what is going
on in a man's inside, and that of the money-tester who
can spy out the copper core through its gold envelope.

The chief luxury of the Eomans as connected with this
metal lay in the accumulation of plate, chased and em-
bossed by Grecian artists. These appear to have worked
during the two centuries ending with Pompey's times,
under whom flourished Teucer, the last of any note.
Pliny has given a full list of these artists and their prin-
cipal works.* They consisted either in complete vessels
wrought out and embossed by the hammer in the Eepouss^
style, or in small separate chasings in solid metal, intended
to be set in pieces of plate or similar articles : hence called
Emblemata. After Teucer this style of work suddenly
became extinct, its place as a branch of high art being,

"* For the history of this remarkable art see CsSaiura.

ABGENTUM. 133

there is good reason to suppose, taken by cameo-engi-aving,
which now occupied the same class of artists, the Caela-
tores, and supplied the same uses, as the emblemata before.
Thus it had come to pass that in Pliny's age the old chased
plate was valued as a curiosity alone, and fetched the
same extravagant prices, though the chasings had become
entirely obliterated by time and wear. After this the
luxurious vied with each other in the production of the
largest dishes in silver — the weight alone being the object
in view. This was the first form of extravagance in which
the newly-acquired treasures of the Eepublic were ex-
pended, it coming into fashion to have dishes that should
weigh one hundred pounds each; and of such, previous
to the First Civil War in Sulla's time, there were known
to have bsen a hundred and fifty or more in existence at
Home, possessions to which many a wealthy epicure owed
his proscription. But these were far exceeded in magni-
tude by others produced by the ostentation of the imperial
freedmen. Pliny quotes the instance of Drusillanus, a slave
of Claudius, and the treasurer of Hither Spain (the pro-
vince containing the mines), who had a dish made in a
forge built for the purpose, weighing 600 lbs., with eight
plates to match it, weighing together 250 lbs. Where-
upon Pliny sarcastically asks how many of his fellow-
slaves it took to carry in this dinner-service, or who were
the guests it was set before ?

Silver at the same time came into general use for the
decoration of the patrician's atrium in the fonn of ancestral
portraits, which were either busts in relief on circular
plaques (clipei), or else full length statues. These super-
seded the ancient wax-portraits actually modelled upon
the face of the originals after death, and preserving thus
for many generations authentic likenesses of the great
departed : a change of fashion against which Pliny bitterly

134 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, Ac.

inveiglis, both on account of the want of resemblance in
these metal reliefs (surdo figuranim discrimine) and of
their liability to destruction in consequence of their large
intrinsic value. It was the usual belief that the first sta-
tues in silver had been made in honour of Augustus upon
his deification ; but Pliny mentions such of Phamaces, first
king of Pontus, and of Mithridates, as being exhibited in
Pompe/s triumphal procession. The most colossal work
in the metal on record is the column of Theodosius,
weighing 7400 pounds, which stood in ifront of Santa
Sophia, until melted down by Justinian to make way for
a bronze equestrian statue of himself. Theodosius had a
precedent for his extravagance in the " palmated column,"
supporting a statue likewise in silver, of the total weight of
1600 pounds, erected by the Senate to Claudius Gothicus.

Besides these gigantic exhibitions of luxury, silver was,
under the Caesars, employed for other articles of con-
venience, and upon a scale never afterwards emulated.
Pliny talks of the ladies of his time disdaining bathing-
tubs unless made of this precious material. And a few years
later Statins, describing the magnificent baths newly erected
by a private man, Claudius Etruscus, boasts that no bronze
appeared in them : —

** Nil ibi plebeium, nusquam Temesea notabis
JEra, sed argento felix propellitur unda
Argentoque cadit, labrisque nitentibus instat
Delicias mirata suas, et abire recusat."

The best mirrors of old had been the manufacture of
Tarentum, made of tin with a mixture of copper: but
under Pompey, Pasiteles the chaser had cast them in fine
silver, which, by Pliny's time, had got down even into the
hands of the servant-girls. He notes as a recent discovery
that, if gilt on the back, they reflected objects more truly.

ABQENTUM. 136

And tills remark of his has suggested to me the suspicion
that the gold rings with broad highly polished oval faces,
never engraved, so frequently met with in Campanian
tombs, were intended for finger-mirrors, like those of the
Hindoo women at present, although the latter now are set
with a bit of looking-glass.

The Egyptians at some unknown time invented the art
of NieUatura, in long-after ages carried to such astonishing
perfection by the Florentines of the Quattro-cento school.
This may be deduced from Pliny's somewhat obscure state-
ment (xxxiii. 46) : " Egypt stains silver in order to see her
darling Anubis upon the plate; and paints the metal
instead of chasing it." The pigment was made by adding
one-third by weight of the finest copper, and as much of
sulphur, to some silver (in filings probably) : this mixture
was roasted in a pot with a luted cover until the cover
opened of itself. It seems to have preceded, and been a
substitute for, enamel, afterwards applied to the metal in
the way described below.

The Niello * of the Florentine goldsmiths, so justly cele-
brated, was a somewhat similar composition; Cellini's
recipe for it being to take one part silver, two copper,
three lead, melt them together, and pour into an earthen
pot half full of sulphur : the mass to be ground up when
cool, and used like enamel. To apply it the design was
first engraved in line upon a polished silver plate, precisely
after the manner of a copper-plate (which style of engraving
onginated in this) ; the powdered niello was then laid on
the face and fused upon it by the application of heat.
The superfluous mass being removed by polishing, the
lines in the silver came out filled with a dark violet : the
/leXav of the Byzantines, the nigeUum of the later Latins

* From *'Nigellam/' the Low Latin equiTalent of the technical
Byzantine name /icXav.

136 NATURAL HISTOUT OF PBECI0U8 METALS, &c

— whence the name given to the art The delicacy of the
best class of works in this style is beyond conception.
They have also the weighty recommendation of imperish-
ability; counteracted, alas! in too many cases by the
intrinsic value of the basis.

This art was applied by the Asiatic metallurgists to
the decoration of armour as early as Homer's days, for he
describes (II. xi 25) Agamemnon's breastplate as inlaid
with outlines, oT/aoi, ten /utcAavos Kvavoto, "of dark azure,"
twelve of gold, and twenty of tin. In the former material
were three dragons on each side, stretching themselves up
towards his neck. This was a present from Cinyras, King
of Cyprus, an island either belonging then to Egypt, or in
very intimate relations with that kingdom. The ailver
band of his shield was adorned with a triple-headed dragon
in the same composition. In Pliny's times (1. c), and
apparently earlier, it was applied to triumphal statues,*
for (54) he refutes the popular notion that statues in silver
were unknown before the Augustan age, quoting those of
Phamaces and Mithridates, already mentioned.

Small works of the Lower Empire often occur ornamented
with devices in a true niello, fused into an engraved out-
line; and even some copper plaques have come to my
knowledge with figures done in this composition ; but we
have no remains of any artistic value in this style before
it was taken up by the Florentine artist-goldsmiths. The
Byzantines applied niello to the decoration of jewels in
gold, in cases where it was not convenient to introduce the
cloisonnS enamels they loved so much as embellishments to
that precious metal; and of this class also examples are
yet extant.

But the latter mode of ornamentation had been long before

* In decoration of their annonr, it must be supposed, as upon
Agamemnon's.

ABGENTUM. 137

in use, for Heliodom?, writing in the fourtli century (-<Etli.
iii. 4), describes the zone worn by his heroine Chariclea
as ** a work in which the artificer had locked up the whole
of his skill, having never before wrought such a piece,
neither being able to do so a second time. It was made
like two serpents, their tails tied together behind the
wearer's back in a knot, whilst their necks, passing under-
neath her breasts, were entwined in a tortuous noose;
their heads, allowed to pass through this tie, hanging
downwards on either side as an addition to the fastening ;
you would have said that the serpents did not seem, but
actually did crawl : yet they were not terrific with a
menacing and cruel aspect, but relaxed by a gentle
torpor, as though lulled to sleep by love upon the maiden's
bosom. Their material was gold, but their colour violet ;
for the metal was daikened by art, in order that the deep
tinge united to the gold might set off the asperity and the
alternation of their scales."

As before observed, this was pre-eminently the art of
the Italians of the fifteenth century, or, in other words,
before it was driven out of the field by the revival of gem-
engraving, precisely as the Greek silver-chasing had been
superseded by the Camei fourteen centuries before. Maso
Finiguerra, who flourished at Florence circa 1460, has
always been regarded as the first in this department. Vasari
also bestows the highest praise on the nielli of Francesco
Francia (b. 1450), '* who often on a plate only two fingers
high by a little longer put in twenty figures equally well
drawn and beautifully finished." These, with his equally-
famed enamels and pieces of plate executed for his patrons
the Bentivogli, tyrants of Bologna, were lost or destroyed
upon the expulsion of that family. Cellini mentions that
when first commencing business, hearing old people talk
of the wonderful performances of FinigueiTa in this line,

138. NATUBAL EISTOBF OF PBECI0U8 METALS, &c.

he was seized with a desire to emnlate him, in which he
perfectly succeeded. As we have only his own word for
it — ^and his judgment upon his own merits is far from
impartial — ^the fact of his eminence in niellatura may
well be doubted. We have, indeed, abundance of small
silver trinkets of his age, rings, buckles, &c., but they
cannot claim to be considered works of art, but only
trade-articles of a manufacture. The art yet lingers in its
lowest form in Petersburgh, confined to the production oi
rude decorations upon the lids of snuff-boxes. There is
a little relic in niello preserved in the Waterton Dac-
tyliotheca, which yields to few in historical and in ro-
mantic interest. It is the wedding-ring of Cola di Eienzi,
"last of Eomans," bearing in the shield his well-known
device the star, repeated with a bar between, surrounded
by the names nicola and CATARmA (dei Basselli) hi^
wife, the letters relieved in the silver with a ground oi
niellatura.

CMLATUBA. 139

C^LATURA : ropevTCKrj : Chadngs : Antique Plate.

All decorative metal-work was originally executed with
the hammer alone : hence its designation crc^v/j^XaTov. So
made were the first statues seen in Greece, ascribed to the
mythical Daedalus, or to his pupil Learchus ; the several
parts being hammered out separately and then put together
by means of rivets, the expedient of soldering not being as
yet invented. Some of these architypes were seen by Pau-
sanias, still remaining in the second century of our era, for
instance, the Jupiter of Sparta, " the most ancient statue
in Greece." (*Laconica,' iii. 17.)

Long after the method of casting statues in moulds with
cores had superseded this primitive and tedious process,
the hammer continued the sole instrument for producing
works in the precious metals, whether statuettes or bas-
reliefs. Everything belonging to the Assyrian, the Etrus-
can, and the Greek goldsmith (as long as the period of fine
art lasted) is wrought by the hammer and the punch. The
substance is the thinnest possible plate of the metal ; the
small intrinsic value of the object, with the infinite
taste and toil bestowed upon its elaboration, convincingly
bespeak the times when gold and silver were extremely
rare, but skilled labour very abundant. Nothing known
to me so strikingly exhibits the marvellous might of Greek
genius, even when exerted in miniature, as do some remains
of this kind, foremost amongst which stands an Apollo's head
(Bale Collection), in three-quarters relief, whose divine

140 NATUSAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, &e.

perfection amply explains and almost justifies the Roman
mania for torentic masterpieces. This kind of work,
aptly termed by the French Reponss^, was done thus : the
plate being laid upon a yielding substratum (a kind of
soft cement made of pitch and brick-dust) was beaten with
blunt punches of various forms into a connected series of
hollows roughly making out the intended figure. When
the metal was taken up these indentations formed a rude
relief on its other side, out of which dextrous manipulation,
aided by the fijiishing touches of the graver, produced a
delicate result, and that speedily, under the hand of a
master in the craft. Figures in full relief like the graceful
vases, or the exquisite tiny Cupids, so frequently dependent
from the Grecian ear-rings, were beaten out in two halves
and then soldered together ; melted mastic being lastly run
into the interior of these fragile creations to strengthen
them against pressure. This art also was revived and re-
stored to its pristine glory by the Italians of the sixteenth
century ; they even went beyond the ancients and applied
it to steel in the shape of casques and bucklers of parade,
of which examples of almost incredible excellence are to
be seen at Florence, in the Galleria ; at Paris, notably the
helmet of Fran9ois I. ; and in our Tower Armoury, made
for one of the Gonzagas. The mode of thus working in
gold is minutely laid down by Cellini in his * Orifeceria ' ;
his early reputation was acquired by his medallions exe-
cuted in this manner. His Atlas in full relief, bearing up
the world in crystal, a commission from his early patron
Fran. Ginori, having been afterwards presented to Fran9ois
I. by the scholar L. Alamanni, was the first cause for
that tasteful monarch's summoning Cellini to his court.

The art survived down to the middle of the last century,
being extensively applied to the embossed watch-cases
greatly in fashion duriug the four preceding reigns, many

CJSLATUBA, 141

of wliicli are, indeed, perfect toreutic masterpieces. After-
wards, as an old Roman goldsmith informed me (who could
remember the last days of the business) an expeditious sub-
stitute was devised by taking from the model a hollow
matrix in " fusible-metal," into which the soft plate of gold
was beaten with a leaden punch, and then finished off with
the graver.

The Greeks called the art of working in relief, in what-
ever metal, ropevrucq, and ascribed the invention to Phidias.
Of this style in bronze the British Museum possesses the
two finest specimens extant ; the " Bronzes of Siris,"
forming the shoulder-plates of a cuirass (supposed that
of Pyrrhus), embossed with Heroes combating Amazons,
and the yet more admirable mirror-case, or discus, with
the "Marriage of Anchises and Venus," in the highest
possible relief. The particular branch, however, prac-
tising in silver, only came into high repute under the rich
and luxurious successors of Alexander.* The torentic
artists went by the name of " Crustarii," amongst the
Romans, from their small relievi being termed " crustsB,"
because used for incrustation of vessels. "Emblemata,"
however, was the more usual term for their productions,
from the mode of their application to the surfaces decorated,
being " let into " moulded frames soldered upon the ex-
terior of the plate, so that the emblema, merely secured
by claws, could be removed at pleasure ; a mode of spolia-

♦ This application of the art to convivial purposes was the true
cause of the decline and complete extinction of the manufacture of
painted vases, before this, articles of refined luxury and giving employ-
ment to the best painters of the times ; in fact holding the same place
amongst the early Greeks as the Sevres porcelain amongst ourselves.
No painted vases, even in Campania, were produced after the date
p.0. 200. Persius has noticed this revolution in taste, and its (

" Aurum vasa NmnsB Satumiaque impulit aera'
Yestalesque umas et Tuscum fictile mutai'*

142 NATUBAL HISTOBT OF PRECIOUS METALS, Ac.

tion in which that very nnscnipulous amateur, Verres, is
accused of having particularly delighted.

The head of the profession was Mentor : as a proof of
the reputation of his works, Pliny states that Crassus the
Orator (not the millionaire), paid one hundred sestertia
(1000/.), for a pair of bowls by him ; a piece of extrava-
gance, however, of which he declared himself too much
ashamed ever to have made use of them.* Mentor's four
pair of vases (his masterpieces the words would imply)
had perished long before Pliny's age in the conflagration
of the Temple of Ephesus, and in that of the CapitoL
Next to him in celebrity came Acragas, Boethus, and Mys,
all three natives of Ehodes. Their best pieces were then
yet preserved in three of the temples in that island : they
were bowls (scyphi), with chasings of Centaurs and Bac-
chanals. Of Mys the most admired work was his group
of Sileni and Cupias ; of Acragas, a hunting-scene. After
them came Calamis ; Antipater, " who seems to have really
planted his drowsy satyr upon the vase, rather than to
have chased his figure there ; " Stratonicus of Cyzicas ;
Tauriscus ; and several more of unrecorded fame. In the
last days of the profession, under Pompey, flourished
Pasiteles ; Hedystratides, renowned for his battle-pieces ;
Zopyrus, for his Areopagites and Trial of Orestes upon a
pair of scyphi valued at the enormoujs sum of 1200?.
(H. S. xii. I Jan's reading), and lastly, Pytheas, who closes
the list with a single emblema, weighing no more than
two ounces, the Kape of the Palladium, which fetched
10,000 denarii (400/.). The same artist was noted also
for very small cups embossed with kitchen-scenes (ma-

* The same amateur also possessed plate that had cost him 6000
nmmni (60/.) per pound Roman (about lOf oz. Troy). It is amusing
to find these connoisseurs of old never able to separate the- ideas of the
intrinsic and the artistic value of the silver.

CMLATUBA. 143

giriscia),* wrought so wondrously delicate that it was im-
possible to take casts from them for fear of bruising the relief.
After this, adds Pliny, the art died out all at once, so
that the old work came to be sought after for its antiquity
alone, even though its subjects were completely defaced by
wear. For this its sudden extinction when at the height
of its glory he assigns the reason (49), " At present
chiselled work (anaglypta) is all the rage, in which the
silver is cut away around the outlines of the design."
(Nunc anaglypta asperitatemque, excise circa linearum
picturas qu8erimus.)t In fact it was executed precisely in
the manner of a cameo in sardonyx, a species of decoration
for plate then rapidly coming into vogue. It must, how-
ever, be confessed, that for practical use, this carved orna-
mentation in flat relief was justly preferable to the more
effective but fragile repousse-work, so liable to be crushed,
so easy to be detached from the vase. The latter point
Cicero strikingly illustrates by drawing a ludicrous pic-
ture of Verres, at a dinner given him by a Sicilian noble-
man, Eupolemus, appropriating, before the eyes of the
astounded host and company, the emblemata from the
sole pair of vases thus enriched that were exposed to his
observation: and again how he served Pompeius Philo

♦ Bernard Palissy was not original in his idea of embellishing
vessels for the table with the figures of disgusting reptiles : these old
Greek chasers had anticipated him in the whim —

" Inserta phialsD Mentoris manu ducta
Lacerta vivit et timetur argentum." — Mart, in. 41.

The poisonous creature showed in relief at the bottom of the deep
bow], and took the drinker by surprise as he drained its contents.

t The same fashion descended to the earthenware on the tables of
tlie commonalty ; the so-called " Samian" embossed (primarily an Aretine
manufacture but later prodigiously multiplied in Spain, and in Gaul for
export to this country) preserves to us, in style, execution, and designs,
exact though ruder, representations of the contemporary anaglypta of
the wealthy.

144 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, &c.

the same trick with the only patella he, although believing
himself secure in his quality of " Civis Eomamis," had
ventured to produce (Verrin. iv. 22). Pliny notes that
Zenodorus (Nero's daring Colossus-maker) had copied a
pair of vases made by the ancient master Calamis, so
exactly that the difference between them was hardly to be
detected : a convincing proof that the old repouss6 work
had gone out of use, not from the want of artistic ability
to execute it, but solely in consequence of its unsuitableness
to the service of the table.

The Koman old-plate collectors were a class identical
with our own old-china collectors, respectable, wealthy,
elderly gentlemen, who unmercifully bored tbeir guests
with the pedigree of all the pieces adorning their side-boards.
Martial has an amusing epigram (viii. 6) upon some old
Mr. Euctus, who after prosing upon the history of his
several bowls, chalices^ and flagons, treats his friends " in
Priam's cups to Astyanax wine : " t. e, wine as young as
the vessels were ancient. The most extraordinary use to
which silver plate was ever put was that devised by Julius
CsBsar when sedile at the games given by him in honour
of his deceased father. Not merely was all the furnishing
of the arena formed out of silver ; but the only weapons
allowed to the combatants (condemned criminals) where-
with to encounter the wild beasts engaging them were
silver vessels : ** Feras ai'genteis vasis incessivere noxii."
Though Pliny does not add the fact, it may be concluded
that these precious missiles, were, the combat done, left
for the spectators to scramble for. After such battering as
the vases must have sustained from the poor wretches whose
sole chance of life lay in the vigorous discharge of them
against their sylvan foes, little value would have been left
to the pieces of plate beyond their intrinsic. Caesar evi-
dently borrowed the notion from the oft-seen festal fight

CMLATUEA. 146

between the Centaurs and Lapithae, where the vessels
snatched from the table supplied the combatants with
weapons. This preposterous piece of barbarity came into
such favour as to be adopted even in country towns. Well
does Pliny exclaim hereupon, ** Our age has done things
that posterity will deem mere fables."

Heliogabalus was the first to make his entire " batterie
de cuisine " out of silver : some of the pieces, adds Lam-
pridius, weighed one hundred pounds each, and were chased
with the most lascivious designs. His cousin and successor,
on the other hand, reduced the whole service of plate used
in the palace to the very moderate limits of two hundred
pounds ; and this too, notes the historian, entirely plain :
gold plate was totally excluded from his table.* The
Eomans carried their services of plate about with them
in their remotest expeditions. " To my own knowledge,"
says Pliny, " Pompeius Paulinus, though no more than the
son of a Koman knight of Aries (and afterwards disin-
herited), had with him 12,000 pounds weight of plate when
serving in the army campaigning against the most savage
of all races." Meaning the army of the Ehine, in which
the historian himself had held a command in the cavalry.

Eare, indeed, were the specimens of these torentic won-
ders of the Greek school, that had escaped time and the
melting-pot, until a fortunate discovery in 1830 enriched

♦ I cannot resist adding the same Emperor's regulation of the
equipment fiurnished by the state to the civil governor (prseses) of a
province. It consisted of twenty pounds weight of silver plate, six she-
mules, two he-mules, two horses, two suits of clothes for public wear, two
for indoor, one bathing-dress, one hundred gold pieces, one cook, one
muleteer, and, if they were not married, one concubine each, "because
they could not do without them." On giving up office they were
bound to return the she -mules, he-mules, horses, muleteers, and cooks,
but the other articles (the concubine included) they might keep for
their own in case they had behaved well; but if the contrary, they were
jbrced to refund tliem all tburfold.

('0 i

146 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, Ae.

the Paris Biblioth^que with some of its choicest produo-
tioiis. A Norman peasant, one Tronchin, in ploughing his
field at Bemay, struck upon a large tile, covering a hoard
of silver articles, weighing altogether 60 pounds Troy (25
kilo.). It was the treasure of Mercurius Cannetonensis, the
local divinity, as the dedicatory inscriptions upon several
of the pieces attest, hastily buried in some time of trouble
and never reclaimed. Of the vases, a pair of canthari
have emblemata in the purest Greek style, as early as
Alexander's epoch, representing subjects connected with
the Mysteries.* Two pairs more, of the same period,
bear Bacchic scenes and symbols ; some other minor pieces
are similarly decorated; but the most important are the
two " oenochosB," tall flagons ('* Cellini-shape " in modem
phrase) embossed with scenes from the Iliad, the design
of which refers them to the epoch of Pasiteles. The episodes
chosen by the artist are Achilles weeping over the slain
Patroclus ; its counterpart being the Ransoming of the body
of Hector: the other, Achilles dragging Hector behind
his car, with its companion scene, the Death of the hero.
With the vessels were found two spirited statuettes of the
god to whom they were dedicated, in the same metal, and
executed by the same process ; one of them being the
most important example preserved of statuary in silver.
The pieces of Eoman workmanship declare the more prac-
tical character of their epoch : consisting mostly of large
flat dishes having for sole ornament a chasing in the eentre.
But this chasing is jsolid and strong, being first cast and

* On each vase are two groups, one forming the pendant to the other;
an aged female seated and a man standing in conversation with her, or
vice vers& : between the pair is a monumental cippus supporting a lyre
and a mask. The latter group must liave an important meaning and one
popular at the time, for the same often occuis on gems, notably on the
fine Marlborough Sard No. 393, where, for want of better,itisexplaine<l
as " Sappho and Phaon : * more probably, a comic poet and Thalia.

CMLATUBA. 147

then tooled up according to the modem practice.* Of these
offerings the Iliac vases were the gift of Domitius Tutns,
together with several of the plainer dishes. The later pieces
bear truly Celtic names as their donors — Camulognata,
Coigi filia — Maxuminus, Caratini filius — Combaromanis,
Buolmui fil — Emticeus— Germanissa Viscari.

Of the enormous patinae recorded by Pliny, so diffi-
cult to conceal, so tempting to the spoiler, only a few
representatives survive, and those on a comparatively
insignificant scale. At their head stands the circular
dish of the Cabinet of France, long known as the
* Shield of Scipio,' and, according to tradition, dredged
up out of the Ehone by some fishermen in the year 1656.
It is 28 inches, ot three Egman feet in diameter, and
weighs 25 pounds Troy (10 kila) The bas-reliefs cover-
ing it, the " Eestoration of Briseis," being at first under-
stood as the story of Scipio and the bride of AUucius, gave
its popular name. The style of art indicates the third
century for its date.f Equally late are the disci of Madrid,
and that of Geneva, both with historical subjects; the
design on the latter commemorating the marriage of

♦ The chasings are fully described by Chabouillet, 'Tre'sor de
Bemay/ in his admirable " Catalogue des cW^s de la Bib. Imp."

t The tale of Troy supplied the staple for the decorations of plate,
down to the latest times of the Empire. A very remarkable exemplifi-
cation of this, is the Stroganow discus, 10^ inches over, filled with a
relievo, cast, of the dispute between Ajax and Ulysses, before Minerva,
for the arms of AchiUes displayed in the exergue, amongst which the
Roman calique replace the Homeric greaves. With this discus was
found another, 16§ inches over, chased with a horse feeding under a
tree, in a better style, within a border of fern-leaves, elucidating the
" filicati " of Trebellius quoted further on. In the same hoard were
two vessels, one elegantly gadrooned, of true Sassanian work, and latest
of all a dish with a Cufic inscription. The whole had made the spoils
of some Mongol chief, after a successful foray in Persia, for they
were found in the bank of the river Kama, province of Perm in the
year 1780. (Figured by Kohler, * Kl. Schrift.*)

t 2

148 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, Ac.

Valentinian II. The Emperor appears holding the orb
and the labarum and crowned by Victory, and surrounded
by his officers, with the inscription LAEGITAS VA-
LENTINIANI AVGVSTI. This piece is smaU, being
but 12 inches in diameter, and weighing 34J ounces.

Another discus (Naples) though the smallest of the
series, being no more than seven inches in diameter, yet
far exceeds the rest both in beauty of design and his-
torical interest. The subject is the Death of Cleopatra.
The last queen of Egypt appears sinking backwards life-
less from her chair into the arms of Charmion, who is
enveloped from head to foot in an ample robe of mourn-
ing; Iras, her other maid, stands opposite wringing her
hands in despair. The Genius of Death, depicted in the
guise of a Cupid with long dusky wings, his legs crossed,
his drooping head supported upon his hand, leans against
Cleopatra's knee, and by this chaiming allegory unmis-
takably points out the meaning of the composition. A
statue of Venus Victrix stands upon a cippus in front,
below which is an altar kindled. Underneath the queen's
seat is discovered the overturned basket of fruit, inside
which the asp had been smuggled into her place of con-
finement. I know nothing in ancient art more effective,
or better expressive of its story than the design of this
group. It was found at dvita in 1758.

But by far the most interesting of these wrecks of im-
perial splendour, both as regards the nature of the relievi
upon it and the circumstances of its exhumation, is the
** Corbridge Lanx" (preserved at Alnwick Castle), so called
from the place where it was discovered. It had been
buried together with an altar dedicated to Hercules by an
inscription in Greek hexameters, the sole example extant
of the use of that language in Britain. This differs in
shape from all the foregoing, being an oblong measuiing

CMLATUBA, 149

19J X 15 inches, and weighing in its present state 159
ounces.* The subject is the Pythia Herophile, en-
throned upon the orriphalos^ receiving the dictates of the
Delphic god, and attended by Themis, Pallas, and Diana,
the last goddess standing under the sacred chesnut-tree
(fagus). The exergue is occupied by their respective
attributes, — the hound, stag, blazing altar, and gryphon ;
and the -whole composition is inclosed within an elegant
floriated border. The spiral columns introduced into the
architectural part, prove the age of its workmanship
not prior to the times of Severus.

Pliny remarks it as a strange anomaly that although so
large a number of artists had gained celebrity by their
chasings in silver, there was not one on record famed
for similar work in gold. The reason may be the very
simple one that at the time when these great artists
flourished gold was as yet too scarce to be thus employed.
But of gold-plate chased in that later style noticed above
as coming into vogue in Pliny's own days, a vast, to us
incredible profusion, as will be described hereafter, graced
the sideboards of the Eomans under the Empire. A
faint idea may be formed of its costliness from the
sole remnant left, the " Patere de Eennes " now enriching
the Bibliotheque Imperiale. In form it is a shallow
bowl, ten inches in diameter, and weighing about 40
ounces Troy. In the centre is an emblema, a spirited
composition, the renowned Drinking-match between Her-
cules and Bacchus ; containing eight figures — the two gods,

* The original weight was considerably greater, for it rested upon a
shallow foot or basement, which was torn off and melted by the finder.
It is marked, according to the Roman (and present) custom, on the
bottom with the weight in dotted numerals, but tlieir system here,
as in other cases, has not yet been made out. I giye them, therefore,
as a problem for archaeologists.

II II III I W III! S XII

150 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, &e.

the attendant Fauns and a panther. It is sniTOTinde*!
by a frieze exhibiting in low relief the triumph of the
jolly god over his competitor ; into which enter twenty-
nine figures and five animals — elephants, pantliers, goats.
The broad exterior rim is adorned with equidistant gar-
lands, of acanthus and laurel alternately, in which are
set eighteen aurei ranging from Hadrian down to Geta in-
clusive ; that is, of all the princes of the surname Antonini.
This precious relic was found at Rennes (1777) in clearing
away the foundation of an old house. It had been de-
posited in a vault together with a hoard of coins dating
from Nero downwards ; and what is of special interest as
marking the date and perhaps the occasion of its conceal-
ment, a necklace made out of aurei of the usurper Pos-
tumus set in frames of pierced work.*

In this instance, the insertion of coins as ready-made
embellishments, to supply the place of chasings from
the hand of the actual modeller of the piece, betrays the
influence of the decrepitude that was fast creeping over
the arts in the age of Severus. In the works of a better
period the very accessaries boasted a fertility of inven-
tion coupled with a minuteness of execution, rivalling the
masterpieces of Cellini's school. Trebellius Pollio has a
passage well worth extracting in proof of this : — " We saw
not long since. Com. Macrianus belonging to the same
family [as Quintus one of the Thirty Tyrants] at a feast
given by him in the Temple of Hercules, having a patera
of electrum which displayed in its centre the head of
Alexander the Great, and in the circumference his com-
plete history; the drawing of the figures being com-
pressed and extremely minute. Out of this vessel he

* The " opus mterrasile," noticed by Pliny as a new invention then,
** in which the value of the piece is augmented by what the file has
wasted of it."

CMLATURA, 161

t

drank to the health of the chief priest, and then ordered

the same to be carried round the company for the gratifi-
(jation of all the admirers of the great hero."

The foregoing remarks npon the extreme rarity of
antique caelaturaa will surprise many archaeologists who
behold, nothing doubting, the numerous silver vases, all
supposed found at Pompeii or Camae, that have within
the past twenty years enriched so many cabinets both
national and private. The phenomenon may be accounted
for by the fact of the existence of a regular manufactory
for such relics at Castellamare, whence a continuous supply
pours into the Paris and London markets through various
artfully disguised channels. The imitation of the antique
in these forgeries is wonderfully correct, and for further
warranty they are coated with a thickness of oxide that it
would defy Old Time, backed by his twenty centuries, to
rival.

A specimen of early Bomanr codatura in the first style,
of extreme value in consequence of its date being exactly
ascertained, is afforded by the " Sword of Tiberius." This
relic of the German campaigns of his nephew is the short,
broad, heavy blade of the national gladius (the hilt luifor-
tunately wanting), encased in its sheath.. The upper part
of the latter is covered with a plaque in gilt bronze,
representing in repousse work in low relief the emperor
seated; almost a fac-simile of his figure in the "Agate of
the Ste. Chapello," his hand resting on a shield, inscribed
FELiciTAS TiBERi, and attended by Victory erect, and also
holding a shield with via avg. The casing of the point
of the sheath also has a relievo, in a very grand style, of
an Amazon standing brandishing her proper weapon, the
hijpennis. This last figure unmistakably personifies Ehaetia,
lately subdued by Tiberius, — Horace, in his Ode on that
occasion, having an allusion to the Amazonia securis^ as the

162 NATURAL EISTOBT OF PRECIOUS METALS, ie.

national arm of that country. The relievi, coupled with the
legends on the shields, tell the story of the piece. It was
a sword of honour, parazowiMm,* presented by the ImpercUor to
some soldier of distinguished merit. It was discovered a
few years back near Mayence, having doubtless been lost in
some one of the innumerable fights between the invaders
and the Germans that took place in the vicinity about the
same period. Farrer, that enthusiastic collector, bought
it of the finder at the incredible price of 800Z., and upon
the dispersal of his collection (June, 1866) it was secured
by Mr. Slade for the reasonable equivalent of 1 21 guineas.
He, with princely generosity, immediately enriched our
National Collection with this invaluable addition to its
historical treasures.^

Treb. Pollio has preserved a most interesting list of a
service of plate, thought a fit present from an emperor,
Gallienus, to an officer of the highest grade, Claudius,
Governor of Illyricum ; given with other things, including
a complete wardrobe of clothes, with the view of retaining
him in his allegiance. The emperor had been alarmed by
secret information that his powerful subordinate was dis-
gusted with his weak and luxurious government. " Misi
autem ad eum pateras gemmatas trilibres duas, scyphos
aureos gemmates trilibres duos, discum corymbiatum
argenteum librarum viginti, lanoem argenteam pampi-
natam librarum triginta, pateram argenteam hederaceam
librarum viginti et trium, boletar halieuticum argenteum
librarum viginti, urceos duos auro inclusos argenteos
librarum sex, et in vasis minoribus argenti libras viginti

♦ As Martial aptly informs us (xiv» 32) : —

'* Militiae decus hoc gratique erit omen honoris,
Anna tribunicium cingere digna latus."
t It was exhibited at a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries, June
21st, 1866, when Mr. Franks kindly gave me the opportunity of
minutely examining the chasings upon the sheath.

CMLATURA. 153

quinque,* calices JEgyptioa operisqiie diver si decern" (Clau-
dius, 17). In this list the first two items are in gold, set
with gems : the round discvs, chased with ivy-berries, is
of 20 lbs. ; the oblong lanx with vine-leaves, of 30 lbs. ;
the flat patera with ivy -leaves, of 23 lbs. ; the " mush-
room-dish," of 20 lbs., has a chasing of a fishing-scene, the
two flagons of 6 lbs. each, are embellished with emblemata
in gold : the " chrysendeta " of earlier times.

The regular allowance of plate to a tribune we find
detailed in a letter of Valerian's, containing a most curious
specification of all such perquisites, written upon his
raising the same Claudius to that rank : " Argenti in
opere annua pondo quinquaginta (meaning silver plate, not
coin) Philippeos nostri vultus annuos cl. et in strenis lvil,
et trientes clx., item in cauco et scypho, et zuma, pondo
XI." This latter item refers to the gold plate, following
immediately as it does upon the mention of gold coin.

In Eoman polite society a gold phiala was considered the
authorized form for a testimonial, just as a gold snufT-
box was, till lately, with ourselves. Martial thus elegantly
repays the donor of such a substantial mark of admiration
(viii. 51.) :—

** Whose work adorns the bowl ? Hath Myron's mind
Or skilful Mys the chasing rare designed ?
Hath Mentor's hand its precious mould embossed.
Or far-famed Polyclete enhanced the cost ?
No drossy clouds to dull its polish rise ;
The testing fire its standard pure defies.
The yellowest amber with less radiance flames.
The swelling stamp the whitest iyoiy shames.
Art with material vies : so Luna rounds
Her orb when she with fullest torch abounds.
Dressed in Jilolian fleece of silky gold.
So stands the goat as he in days of old.
Saviour of Phryxus : yet sure Helle fair
Had chosen this her lovely weight to bear,

* The term denotes the precious ornamental (/ZaM-toare of Alexandria.

164 NATURAL EI8T0RY QF PBECIOUS METALS, &o.

Gyniphiaii shears had spared these locks that shine,

^d Bacchus made him welcome to his vine.

Bestrides his hack Love graced with golden wings.

Pressed hy whose lip the flute of Pallas rings.

So joyed the dolphin, 'neath Arion*s weight,

To hear through hillows hushed his vocal freight.

Hansel the glorious cup with worthy wine.

No common meniars hand, hut Oestus I thine —

Flower of the feast— to pour the Setine fly I

The god *s athirst, the very goat seems dry.

Instantius Kufus I let me drink thy name,

'Twas from thy hand this nohle present came.

If Telephusa keeps her promise plight,

And comes with love to crown the festal night.

Thy first name shall prescribe my quaffing's length,

And for the amorous war pi^serve my strength ;

Her coming douhtful : then to pass the time,

Thy second seven times to each draught shall chime ;

But if she fails me, then dull care to kill.

To every letter I a bowl will filL**

The tasteful luxury of tlie Greeks, when enriched with
the spoils of Asia, appears to have revelled in the accu-
mulation of drinking- vases, doubtless, like their proto-
types in clay, of the most elegant and varied forms : for
we read not of any display at their banquets of the giant,
weighty, dishes, in the mere intrinsic value whereof the
Eomans who followed them (those John Bulls of the an-
cient world) loved to exhibit their extravagance. A re-
markable instance is mentioned by Varro of the amount
of gold plate in this particular form possessed by an
individual. A certain Ptolemaeus, a private man, gave a
dinner to Pompey, during his campaign in Judosa, at
which one thousand guests were entertained. Each guest
had a gold cup to himnelf, and these again were changed
for others at every course.

Athenaeus (v. 30) extracts from Callixenus the Rhodian's
* Description of Alexandria,' a very interesting list of the
gold plate possessed by a king who, from the circumstances

CMLATUMA. 155

of his position and inheritance, must have been the mosi
opulent of all the kings of Grecian descent, namely,
Ptolemy Philadelphus. Callixenus speaks as an eye-wit-
ness of the display, which formed one of the features in
the grand Dionysiac procession exhibited by that monarch.
" Next in order to these came those who carried the gold
plate ; consisting of four tall vases of the Laconian pattern,
ornamented with wreaths of vine-leaves. Then came some
others holding four metretse each [the metretes being
above eight gallons] : then two more of the Corinthian
fashion ; the latter had figures chased in full relief placed
above them upon their brims, and other figures in bas-
relief, very elaborately worked, upon their necks and
bellies ; each of them contained eight metretae, and they
were carried upon stands.

" Next, a vat, in which were ten basins ; next, two lavers,
each holding five metretse, two cothons of two metretse
each ; then twenty-two coolers, of which the largest held
thirty metretae, and the smallest, one. Next in the pro-
cession were borne four gold tripods of great size, and a
beaufet for gold-plate, likewise of gold, set with precious
stones, ten cubits in height, and having six stages, upon
which stood figures four palms long, very elaborately
wrought, to a very large number. Then two beaufets for
cups (icvXuccta), and two more of glass banded with gold.
Then two stands for vases in gold four cubits high, and
three others of smaller size ; ten buckets, an altar three
cubits high, chargers twenty-five. After these marched
one thoufcand six hundred boys, clad in white tunics,
crowned part with ivy, part Avith pine-bi*anches : of whom
one hundred and fifty carried golden pitchers, four hundred
bore the same made of silver, three hundred more carried
coolers, twenty of gold, the rest of silver. After these
came other boys carrying the vessels to contain the grape-

156 NATUBAL EISTOBY OF PBECIOUS METALS, <fec.

juice ; of which twenty were of gold, fifty of silver, and
three hundred of earthenware, the last painted over with
all sorts of colours. And when these pitchers and pots
had been filled, they contained sufficient conveniently to
furnish drink for all the assemblage in the Stadium." *

But the best picture of Grecian magnificence in this line
is set before us in the following extract from a contem-
porary writer, describing the banquet of a wealthy Mace-
donian noble ( Ath iv. 2) :

TBE WEDDING OF CABANUS.
(From a Letter of Hippolochus in Macedonia to Lyncens at Athens).

When Caranus kept his wedding-feast in Macedonia, the
guests invited were twenty in number. Immediately upon
their taking their places at table, silver bowls were given
to them as presents, one to each. Moreover, each before
entering the banqueting-room had been crowned with a
golden bandeau, worth five staters (guineas) apiece. And
after they had drank off their bowls there was set before
every man, upon a bronze dish of the Corinthian com-
position, a cake of the same extent as the dish itself, piled
with chicken, ducks, wood-pigeons, a goose, and other such
things in abundance : the guest receiving dish and all,
handed them over to his attendants standing behind him.
But for eating, a great variety of dishes were handed round.
After this came a second oblong dish, of silver, upon which
was a great cake covered with geese, and hares, and kids,

♦ The incredible amount of plate amassed by Alexander's successors
can be estimated from one single fact. L. Scipio, after his defeat of
Antiochus, brought into Rome 1400 pounds* weight of silver all chased,
and 1500 of gold. Much beyond this was the display of that captured
from Perseus, the wealthiest king of the age, the services of Antigonus
and Seleucus-pattern, and the works of Thericles, that noted master ;
though Plutarch has omitted to state the sum total of the weiglit.

CMLATUBA— WEDDING OF CABANW, 167

and several fancy loaves, and honse-pigeons, and ring-
doves, and partridges, and all other sorts of fowls in
abundance. "These dishes also" (to give Hippolochus*
own words) " we handed over to our servants ; and as we
had had enough of eating we washed our hands. Then
garlands were brought in for us in profusion, made out
of flowers of every kind, and each of them contained a
bandeau of gold equal in weight to the first wreath."
After this Hippolochus describes how Proteas, grandson
of Proteas son of Lamia the nurse of Alexander the Great,
was a very hard drinker fully equal to his grandfather
Proteas, Alexander's foster-brother ; and how he drank to
the health of every one present : and then he goes on with
his narration as follows : —

3. "And now that we were agreeably estranged from
sobriety, comes in a troop of female flute-players, singers,
and some Khodian dulcimer-girls, all naked as it seemed
to me, though some would have they had on (thin) tunics,
and after having given us a specimen of their skill, they
departed. Thereupon enter other girls each with a pair
of cruses of perfume tied together with a strip of gold,
the one gold, the other silver, holding a cotyle (nearly
half a pint) each, and presented them to every guest.
Next is served up wealth instead of a course, an oblong
dish of silver very thickly gilt, and large enough to receive
the bulk of a pig roasted whole and of very great size ;
which was laid upon its back displaying its belly crammed
with plenty of good things, for in the same were, baked
together with it, thrushes, and sows' paunches, and an
innumerable lot of ortolans, and the yolks taken out of
eggs, and oysters, and scallops : and they were set before
each guest and given to him dish and alL After this,
when we had drunk off our bowls, we received each of
us a boiled kid upon another dish of the same size as the

168 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, Ac.

last, but enriched with myrtle-branches in gold. Here-
upon Caranus, perceiving how much we were crowded,
ordered hampers and bread-baskets to be given us, platted
out of strips of ivory ; whereat we were so delighted that
we shouted in honour of the bridegroom, because what
he had bestowed upon us was thus safely stored. Then
came fresh garlands, and a double cruse of perfume, in
gold and silver, of the same weight as the preceding. And
silence being made, there enter the performers at the
festival Chytra at Athens. After these came in buflfoons
and performers of feats of strength, and some female
jugglers that throw somersets amongst swords set upright
in the ground, and blow fire out of their mouths, being
completely naked.

" 4. When all these performers had gone off, hot and
stronger drink succeeds; our wines being the Thasian,
Mendsean, and Lesbian sorts, and gold cups of very large
size being set before us. And after this bout a glass dish
about two cubits in width, lying in a silver case, covered
with baked fish of all sorts piled up, was given to all of
us, together with a silver bread-basket full of Cappadocian
cakes. Some of these we ate there and then, the rest we
handed over to our attendants. Then we washed our
hands and put on our wreaths, and were again presented
with gold bandeaux of double the weight of those before,
together with another double cruse of perfume. Then
silence being proclaimed. Pro teas leaped off his couch,
and having filled a gold cup with Thasian wine and
added thereto a few drops of water, he tossed it off
exclaiming : —

* Who drinks the most Trill be the merriest.'

Thereupon said Caranus, ' Since you have drunk it off the
first, accept the cup for a keepsake : and all the rest that

CMLATVRA— WEDDING OF CABANU8. 159

do the same shall get the same prize.' No sooner said
than * up got nine in all/ snatching at the cup, and trying
the one to be befotehand with the other. But one of
our fellow guests, poor fellow ! not being able to drink it
off, sat down again and began to weep because he had
lost his cup : Caranus, however, makes him a present of
the cup, empty. Hereupon came in a choir of one hundred
persons singing in measure the nuptial hymn; and after
them, female dancers attired some in the guise of sea-
nymphs, others of wood-nymphs.

" 5. As the drinking went on, and the time began to
grow dusk, they open up the hall, in which the part
suri'ounding us had been cut off entirely from the rest by
hangings of white linen, and these having been drawn up,
lights made their appearance by means of some concealed
contrivance, as the enclosures btirst asunder ; Cupids, and
Dianas, and Pans, and Mercuries, and many such like
figures, holding silver lamps to illuminate the scene.
AVhilst we were admiring this piece of ingenuity, wild
boars, truly Erymanthian in magnitude, laid upon square
chargers ornamented with threads of gold, and spitted
upon silver spears, were presented to each man. And the
wonder was, how we who were by this time overcome
by, and drowsy with drink, at the mere sight of the
bringing in of these dishes, of a sudden became sober,
and, as the saying is, got on our legs again. Our boys
were therefore engaged in piling them into the fortunate
hampers, until the trumpet gave the established signal
for the last course, for this, as you know, is the custom
with the Macedonians at their great banquets. There-
upon Caranus, opening this bout, bade the attendants go
briskly around with small-sized cups. We sipped therefore
at our leisure, taking it as it were for an antidote to our
previous immoderate potations. In the mean time there

160 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, Ae.

had come in the buffoon Mandryenis, the grandson, as they
say, of the famous Strato of Attica, and made us almost
split our sides with laughter, and afteVwards he performed
a dance with his wife for partner who was above eighty
years old. At last came in the dessert, and we were
presented with sweetmeats in baskets woven out of ivory,
and the various kinds of cheesecakes, the Cretan, your own
national Samian, friend Lynceus, and the Attic, together
with the dishes containing the pastry. After this, we arose
and took our leave, being fully sobered, of a certainty, by
our anxiety on account of the treasures we had received.
So whilst you staying at Athens think yourself happy in
listening to the lectures of Theophrastus, feeding upon
wild salads, and broth, and those fine twists of yours, and
being a spectator of the Lenaea, and Chytra festivals, we
on the other hand, who were at the feast of Caranus,
having been regaled with riches instead of with meats,
are now all seeking to invest them, some of us in houses,
some in land, some in buying slaves."

MEDIEVAL PLATE.

As soon as the social life of the Middle Ages had settled
down into sufficient security for any class, besides the
ecclesiastic, to enjoy opulence, and to venture upon the
indulging in luxury, the nobles almost vied with their
predecessors of the Lower Empire in the amount and
elaborateness of the silver and even gold plate under which
their sideboards groaned. This display of wealth did
not begin to exhibit itself, as the rule binding upon
all laying claim to fashion, much before the beginning
of the 14th century, for Dante introduces old Cacciaguida,
by three generations only his senior, contrasting the simple
frugality of his own times with the extravagance in archi-

CMLATURA— MEDIEVAL PLATE, 161

tecture, dress, and mode of living of tlie poet's. But to
look at the matter dispassionately, this very mode of in-
vesting surplus revenue, as soon as such a thing began to
be, was the only one the times allowed besides that of
burying it in the ground. To let out one's money at
interest was a sin only fit for the Jews, to employ it in
commerce was beneath the dignity of a noble, but to expend
it in plate brought with it the gratification of vanity in
prosperous times, and secured a bank to fall back upon
in the day of trouble. Hence, until other modes of in-
vestment arose, equally secure, easy, and more profitable,
every one who did not hoard the actual coin like a miser,
converted his superfluous income into plate : and this con-
tinued the rule in England late into the 17th centuiy.*

It was, however, in the times first spoken of that
luxury in this article ran wild with all the grotesque ex-
travagance of the age. What the strange genius of the
Gothic designer tied by no rules could devise, with all the
fantastic creations his great practical skill could effect in
piling conceit upon conceit, now blazed forth in its full
glory. A good idea will be obtained of the chefs-d'oeuvres
of this art-manufacture from the descriptions of a few
pieces taken almost at random from the Inventory of the
plate of Louis due d'Anjou, drawn up between the years
1360 and 1368. It comprises 717 items, and the list then
is incomplete, '* several leaves being torn out," says Labordo,
who has published it. Of such domestic plate only a few,
and those the most inconsiderable pieces, have come down to
our times. The general destruction of the class is due
to two causes. First came the complete change of taste
two centuries later, consequent upon the Eevival, which
consigned to the melting-pot, without pity, as heretic

* In the earliest London lotteries the prizes were given in silver
plate.

( M ) TJ

162 NATUBAL HISTORY OF PBECIOUS METALS, &c.

against H BeUo^ everything bearing the stamp of Gothic
art, in order to remodel it into the semi-classic style then
so zealously cultivated in all decorative matters. Next
succeeded the 17 th century, that epoch of civil wars devas-
tating the whole extent of Europe : the bitterest poverty,
oppressing each land in its turn, sent every ounce of plato
that was not consecrated (and wherever the Calvinists
got the upper hand that too sharing the general fate)*
to the mint, to reappear in the rude coinage of the
times f for the pay of troops, and to make the war support
itself. It is needless to multiply examples: every one
acquainted with numismatics knows how all the corpo-
ration and college plate of England was converted into
the unshapely coins and yet ruder siege-pieces of the
latter years of Charles I.'s reign. It was thus that the
domestic plate entirely disappeared, the few examples
left being the small articles either overlooked at the
moment, or previously gone out of sight. Of that conse-
crated to religious uses, a tolerable sprinkling has been
preserved: some was defended by the sanctity of the places
containing it ; some was in many cases rescued from plun-
deiing zealots by the precautions of its guardians, and
restored to its wonted place in quieter times, and thus sur-
vived until its safety — though devotion, its former keeper,

* One of their captains in the Thirty Years* War struck thalers out
of all the church-plate he could lay hands upon, marking their pro-
venance with a certain grim humour by the motto, instead of legend,
" Gotte's Freund und Pfaffen's Feind."

t What incalculable destraction of art, as well as of historic interest,
was represented by the two hundred pounds' weight of gold obtained
by Cellini from the jewels of St. Peter's, which he melted down by
command of Clement VII., when blockaded in Castel Santangelo by
the Spaniards, in 1528 1 The hardly-bested pontiff was reduced to this
expedient to save the precious stones belonging to these ornaments,
which he sewed up in his own clothes and those of his confidant
Cardinal Cornaro.

CMLATUEA— MEDIEVAL PLATE. 163

be extinct — is secured by its newly-created archsBological
value. Such pieces, however, being made for certain
definite uses, generally to contain relics, are modelled
after one pattern, that of a chapel, a coffret, or a bust,
and exhibit little of the licentious ingenuity which de-
signed the subtleties in silver that encountered the
astonished guests at the tables of the dukes of Anjou, of
their rivals of Burgundy, and, in a greater or less degree,
of the wealthy merchants of Flanders and of England.
The following items will fully bear out these observa-
tions ; they are extracted from the accumulation of plate,
mostly decorative, mentioned above.

*' Ko. 76. A wheelbarrow resting upon a foot carved with
vine-leaves, which rests upon iv little lions ; the s^id foot
is pointed before and behind, and at one of the ends is a
man who has the handles in his girdle, and trundles the
said barrow ; and he has on a fur hood, and the point of
his hood comes over his forehead : before him is a woman
who with her right hand holds the barrow, and in her
left holds a Danish axe, and wears an old woman's hood,
the which hood is after the fashion of Picardy ; and on
the said barrow is a cask tied with several straps, and the
ends of the said cask are enamelled in green and blue
with several little beasts ; and the bottom of the barrow
and the resting-place of the goblet are of the same enamel,
without any difference : and in one of the ends of the said
barrel is a tap like that of a fountain ; and the said rest
for the aforesaid goblet is made with battlements, and iv
leaves higher than the battlements ; the which rest is fixed
within the belly of the said cask, and does not take off.
And the goblet which rests upon the said seat is of the
same enamel above mentioned, and the bottom and the
lid of the same enamel, and a little knosp in gold on top of
the cover in the same enamel; and the foot, man, and

K 2

104 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, dx.

woman, weigh iv marcs i ounce ; and the barrow, the cask,
and its rest, weigh iv m. v oz. ; and the goblet and its cover
weigh iii m. ii oz. The whole xii m. i oz (or 97 oz. Troy).

" No. 78. A Lady, who has half of her body a woman's,
the other half a wild beast's, with her two feet upon
a terrace, enamelled blue, with little trees, stags, and
hounds, and mouldings underneath : from the girdle of
the said lady comes out a bull's head, the horns whereof
she holds in her hands ; and on the said head is a cup ; *
and at the ears of the said head, at the sides of the
lady, and at the ends of her girdle, hang by little chains
escutcheons of the Archbishop of Eouen and of Marigny.
And the said lady is wrapped in a little mantle, split at the
sides, and has a long hood upon her head, enamelled
the same, both mantle and hood; and behind the said
lady, on the back of the aforesaid beast, is the rest for a
goblet, made with flutings ; and the said goblet is of crystal,
and is mounted on a foot of silver enamelled, with flutings
and mouldings ; and round the crystal are iv Bats. The
cover is of crystal, bordered with silver, with flutings and
mouldings, and the knosp of vine-leaves, and the boss
(of the stem) of the same is three-sided, enamelled in
blue and green. The lady, the foot, the goblet and cover,
weigh V m. vii oz. xii d. (47 oz. 12 dwts.).

" 79. A Cock, forming an ewer, whereof the body and
tail are of pearls ; the neck, wings, and head, of silver,
enamelled yellow, green, and blue ; and upon his back is
a fox, which is going to seize him by the crest ; and his
feet are upon a base, enamelled with children, who are
playing at divers games ; and he weighs altogether iv m.
iii oz. (35 oz.).

"81. A great languier (tongue-tree) of silver gilt,
which has several branches, at the end whereof are xv

* The head forms the cup.

CJSLATUBA— MEDIEVAL PLATE. 166

serpent's tongues, and between the tongues, at the end of
other branches, be stones of divers colours ; also there be
dispersed about the said tree several stones hanging from
little chains of silver and gold ; and in the middle of the
said tree is a great white cameo, and around this are iv
other stones, to wit, ii garnets and ii green stones ; and
in the stem of the tree is a boss* engraved with leaves
raised, and about the said boss be vi little enamels in blue,
with a fleur-de-lys in gold; and inside the said stem,
within, is a square basin, having underneath a square
boss with iv enamels of birds in blue ; the foot is a square
entablature with iv enamels set therein, in which be ii.
serpents folded, and ii birds: towards the bottom it is
moulded and fluted, and rests upon iv lion's paws. Weight
of the whole v m. iii oz. (43 oz.).

" 89. A Fountain, of which the foot rests on iv gilt paws,
and imdemeath is a terrace in green, a little crossed
(hatched), of which the enamel is green, and the fishes
violet and yellow. And in the middle of the same terrace
is a tree from whence issues a serpent winged, and in the
top of the head of the same is a pipe, and a tap out of
which the water issues. And at one of the ends of the
said terrace is a little tree, whereon sits one ape clad in a
coat and surcoat, very wide, and hath a hood upon his
head whereof the fur is violet, bedropped with drops of
white, and the top of azure with white and red drops,
with a pearl on the end; and the said ape holds in his
left hand a fishing-basket, and in his right a fishing-line,
wherewith he hath caught a barbel. And at the other
end of the same terrace is another ape dressed and hooded
the same as the first. And he holds in his right hand
the tall pipe of the fountain, and drinks at it. And the

* This pommd is the boss which usually sunounds the middle of the
stem of a mediseval cup.

166 NATURAL HI8T0BT OF PBECI0U8 METALS, ^

basin above of the said fountain is enamelled in green with
rabbits and dogs. And the said basin is supported on
three branches, the leaves whereof be enamelled in green,
bine, and yellow. And upon the said basin rests a goblet,
enamelled on the outside with green and blue, with
spaniels and children chasing butterflies ; and the enamel
is on the inside of the goblet as well as out. The cover
outside is also enamelled, with children chasing butter-
flies, and has a knosp enamelled in azure, and weighs in
all viii m. ii oz. (66 oz).

" Xo. 165. A great Flagon, gilt and enamelled, on the
belly whereof are ix enamels ; and that in the middle is
lai^e, in the shape of a rose, and in it there is a lady
sitting on a chair, who has in her lap a basin, whereiii
are florins, and at each side of her are women to whom she
is giving the florins ; and under the feet of the said lady
is written Ltberaliias : and in the other enamels are the
seven deadly sins ; and the eighth enamel portrays VatM
Gloria: and also there are viii half-circles, wherein be
divers beasts. The sides are interspersed with several
round enamels and wild beasts; and on the flat of the
said flagon is a large enamel, round and blue, in which is
an ancient lady sitting in a great chair, and under her feet
is written Theologia, and all round are viii enamels, in which
are the vii cardinal virtues, and to each one its name close
to itself. The said flagon is upon a foot, high, carved,
bell-shaped, set with iv enamels, wherein be men playing
on divers instruments. The neck of the said flagon is
in the fashion of a tower with vi pillars, and between
every two are blue enamels ; and the cover is tall, after
the fashion of a steeple, with blue enamels, and from the
top is fastened a chain, which goes to the straps by the
hinge, and the straps are green, set over with large blue
enamels, and between every two enamels are two others

C^LATUBA— MEDIEVAL PLATE. 167

made like a J reversed, and they fasten the said straps to
two little serpents, which have been blue. Weight xxx m.
vi oz. (246 oz. Troy)." *

The gold plate consists of sixty-seven pieces, generally
of more simple make; hanaps and goblets, dishes, cruets,
spoons ; including, however, some curious items, as

*' 258. An Ewer of gold, whereof the foot is small and
round, carved with Saracenic letters, and above this is a
little boss round and plain : the mouth of the said ewer
is wide, and the bottom pointed, and around its belly
runs a lily carved with Saracenic letters. And at the cup
are iii pipes, two above and one below ; and the cover is
carved and worked after the same fashion as the belly of
the said ewer ; and on the border of the cover are ix
large pearls ; and upon the knosp a large sapphire between
two very big pearls and two sapphires. Weighs in all
iv m. ii oz. (34 oz. Troy).

" 203. A great Hanap of gold, tripod-fashion, which
iii serpents uphold ; and the said hanap and its cover
are enamelled with serpents of their proper colours,
entwined with our coat of arms; and on the cover is a
large sapphire mounted in the knosp. Weighs in all x m.
ii oz. (82 oz. Troy).

*' 210. An Ewer in crystal, mounted in gold, and on the
cover is a little dove holding a pearl in her beak, and
below are vi others, larger, weighing, gold and crystal,
iii m. vi oz. (30 oz. Troy).

" 256. A Goblet of gold, resting on a little round foot
carved with Saracenic letters, and between the goblet
and the foot is a round boss quite solid, and above this a
lily, which embraces all the goblet, of which every leaf
is carved with Saracenic letters, and at the bottom is an

* The total weight of the silyer plate is summed up at 8036 m. or
5357 lb. 4 oz. Troy.

168 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, &e.

enamel of clear red, in which are iii lilies and iii Sara-
cenic knots ; and the field of the said enamel is chequered
with the same colour, and the cover is of the same pattern.
And between the boss and each lily are ii big pearls, ' a
moulinet,' and the number of the pearls is xx ; and upon
the knosp is a large sapphire, set between two othei
sapphires and two very big pearls ; and inside the cover
is a small enamel with the same device as that on the
bottom of the goblet. Weighs in all iv m. iv oz. xii d.
(36 oz. 12 d. Troy).

" 268. A Saltcellar of a pearl-shell, made in the shape
of a heart, and resting upon a little wheelbarrow of gold ;
and there is a woman who pushes at the wheel and holds
the axles with her two hands; also a man wheeling the
barrow; and around the barrow several rubies of Alex-
andria, pearls, and other stones ; and on the cover of
the said salt is a knosp on which is a sapphire. Weighs in
all i m. vii oz. vi d. (15 oz. 6 d. Troy).

" 269. A very large chalice of gold, the foot of which is
round and flat, adorned with mouldings, and on the flat
of the foot is an enamel in bright red, on which is Our
Lord on the Cross, Our Lady, and St. John; and in the
middle of the stem is one round boss carved with leaves ;
and the cup of the said chalice quite solid, and weighs
vii m. ii oz. xii d. (58 oz. 12 d. Troy). The|?aten also is
quite plain, save that in the middle of it is an enamel
in bright red of Our Lord in a cloud, sitting upon his
throne, and showing his wounds; and the paten weighs
ii m. iv oz. (20 oz. Troy).*'

The prince makes a note that Henri, his goldsmith,
had then by him 248 m. of gold for the making of the
great Nef which he had in hand. Including this, the
weight of the gold plate amounted to 1303 m., or 868 lb.
8 oz. Troy.

OJELATUBA-MEDIJEVAL FLATK 169

As the most fitting conclusion to this list of things thaf
have passed away for ever may he added a description of
the sole relic (that can be identified) now in existence of the
incredible wealth of ancient Mexico in such articles of
ostentation. It is a gold goblet, with the sides rudely
repousse with the representation of a human head : on one
side, in full face ; on the other, in profile ; on the third,
the back. This cup seems to be of pure gold; it was
brought from Mexico, and purchased at Cadiz by Edward,
Earl of Oxford. It is stated to have belonged to Mon-
tezuma. There can be little doubt that the work is ancient
Mexican. Height, 4J in. ; diameter of lip, 3 J in. ; weight,
6 oz. 12 d. (Earl Amherst).

170 NATUBAL HISTOBY OF PRECIOUS METALS, de.

AUEUM: Xpvah^: Chid.

Pliny (xxxiii. 19) launches out into a set of reflections
in Ms own quaint style, astonished as to what possible
motives could have induced all mankind to make Gold,
wherever known, the first and chiefest representative of
value. It was and is indeed a strange coincidence in tHe
notions of races, however remote from or unconnected with
one another, that must early have puzzled every observer,
and which still remains a problem admitting of no satis-
factory solution. ** It was not so accepted," pursues the
old naturalist, ** on account of its utility, in which point
it yields immeasurably to iron; nor for its heaviness or
ductility, in both which lead surpasses it [which however
is farf rom true] ; nor yet for its colour, for yeUow is not
particularly admired in other things. The only reason,
therefore, must have been its indestructibility, for gold is
the only substance known that resists the fire, and is no
more than improved by repeated fusion."

But this explanation, however satisfactory to the refined
philosopher, is evidently much too transcendental to have
influenced the primsBval savage mind to which the metal
hath ever been to the full as precious, though existing
only in the shape of a personal decoration, as to the
civilized intelligence which sees therein concentrated
power, pleasure, and the veneration of his fellow mortals.

In spite of Pliny's dictum, the universal love must in
the first instance have been won by its colour, a colour
certainly the most gorgeous of all : and the reason is mam-

AXmVM, 171

fested in its name, derived from Our and Or^ words denoting
in many ancient languages the light of day ; the earliest
synonym for ]ife and all that is to be desired. Some of
the ancients had perceived this, though Pliny dismisses
their explanation somewhat contemptuously with " mani-
festo errore eorum qui colorem dderum in auro placuisse
arbitrantur." The golden nugget, glittering amongst the
pebbles of the stream, caught the eye of primitive man,
who saw in it the image of the sun, the oldest object of
worship, and of whom gold has ever since continued the
symbol. Nay more, the Sun-god gave his own name Elector^
with the Greeks, to native-gold as well as to Amber (elec-
irum), and, in return, the Indian Sone, * gold,' is the parent
of the Teutonic ' Sonne.' Besides its beauty, its ductility
was another recommendation; the savage, though unac-
quainted with metallurgy, readily beat the pure ore into
circlets to adorn his limbs: for this and copper are the
only metals capable of being utilised by man in the first
stage of civilization.

The rarity of Gold is far from accounting, as some would
have it, for its universal estimation. Amongst the primi-
tive Celts of the Bronze Age, or the Mexicans when dis-
covered by Cortez, iron must have been infinitely more
novel and more rare, yet did it not on that account di-
minish in the least degree the ancient veneration for gold.
And modern times are not wanting in similar analogies ;
platinum in the last century did not supplant gold either
in the mint or in the jeweller's shop, though superior in
those three great constituents of value— weight, ductility,
and indestructibility, — besides being then of an equal
intrinsic worth ; neither in our own days did aluminum,
though so highly recommended by its novel beauty of
colour, perfect purity, and, at the first, extreme costliness.
Earity alone does not constitute value; amongst the

172 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, &c.

precious stones, for example, there exist varieties (the
Cymophane, the Blue Topaz, the Ked Tourmaline, for
example,) pleasing also to the eye, vastly more difficult
to be obtained in perfection than the Diamond, and
nevertheless they are sold for the merest trifle as mine-
ralogical specimens. The golden flood poured into Europe
during the last sixteen years from California and Australia
bas not lowered the value of gold ; and similarly, despite
the tons of diamonds (things indestructible) imported since
the discovery of the Brazilian mines a century ago, that
gem yet maintains its original price and estimation.

From the earliest times of which we have any record,
Gold was abundant amongst the nations of Asia Minor, as
the constant allusions to it in Homer's poems sufficiently
attest. He however does not in any place mention, even
incidentally, as might have been expected, the sources
whence it was then obtained. The flrst hint as to these
is obtained from Sophocles, who talks of purchasing the
dedrum of Sardis and the gold of India (*Antig.* 1038),
thus indicating the regions whence the supply was chiefly
drawn. But Herodotus soon afterwards furnishes copious
details concerning the gold-mines known in his times, some
febulous enough, others, resting upon his own knowledge,
of the highest value for authenticity.

To begin with the latter.

The little island of Siphuus was in the preceding gene-
ration the most flourishing of all the Greek insular states
by reason of its mines of gold and silver. The people
were advised by the oracle to dedicate the tithe of each
year's produce to Apollo, and consequently buQt a treasury
at Delphi as well furnished, says Herodotus (iii. 57)) as
those of the greatest republics of Greece. Pausanias (x,
11), after repeating the above account, supplies a singular
reason for the failure of the mines. The Siphuians had.

AUBUM. 173

out of greediness, ceased to pay the promised tithe, *' and
so the sea broke in and drowned their workings." There
is one point of value in this tradition ; it proves that the
Siphuians extracted the ore from cuttings, peihaps, from
galleries in the quartz rock, and not from gravel- washings;
so that the auriferous strata must still exist in a greater or
less degree on the shores of that almost unknown island.

The gold-mines in Thasos opened by the Phoenicians,
who first colonised that island, made '* a whole hill turned
upside down in the search," between .^nyra and Cinyra,
opposite to Samothrace. The Thasians were then working
also mines in Scapte-Hyle, on the mainland of Thrace :
these produced 80 talents yearly,* those in the island
itself rather less (vi. 46). A learned traveller who visited
the former locality not long ago was greatly struck with
the enormous extent to which these ancient workings had
been carried, still manifested by the vast heaps of earth
and stones thrown up out of the " diggings." Whenever
it was possible the ancients extracted all metals by open
cuttings, as the vestiges of the Eoman iron-mines in the
forest of Dean still abundantly manifest.

But infinitely more productive (as is always the case)
than these Thasian Minealfwere the gold-washings (in modem
phrase Placers) iii the bed of the Pactolus, whose torrent
carried down, it was believed, the gold-dust from Mount
Tmolus. Some notion may be formed of the immense

* These 80 talents = 4860 lbs. Troy nearly, or 240,0002., putting the
Troy pound at 501. For the sake of convenience in calculation, I
put the talent throughout at 60 lbs. Troy by weight, although the
coins indicate it was nearer the same avoirdupois. The later talent
(Alexandrian), known to the Bomans, is often used indiscriminately
with ** centenarium " or the hundredweight. This accounts for Varro's
(quoted by Pliny) estimating the silver talent at 6000 denarii (240Z.)
in Roman currency. I therefore give its value, roughly, at 200Z.

t Xenophon (* Hellen.* iv. 8, 37) mentions also gold-mines of the
Abydenes, near Oremaste.

174 NATUBAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, At.

weight of gold collected by the Lydian washers (who
appear speedily to have exhausted the deposit, as the
productiveness of the Factolian sands is not afterwards
alluded to by geographers), from the list of the Donaria
consecrated by Alyattes and Croesus at various temples
in Asia and Greece, all of which Herodotus had himself
examined. This gold is properly termed by Sophocles
Electrumt being very pale (similar to the Califomian) from
the large native alloy of silver it contains. As it is a
very difficult operation in metallurgy to separate this
silver, the earliest coinage, ascribed with justice to the
Lydians, and the oldest jewelry, as the Egyptian and
Etruscan, is made in this pale gold. In fact, it continued
to be used in the currency of the Greek cities of Asia
Minor (Cyzicus, <fec.) down to the times of Alexander :
perhaps it was found to wear better in circulation through
the existence of the native alloy; and the saving of the
expense in refining it was of importance to the mint.
But it was from ignorance of the necessary process that
the currency of the Gauls and Britons was struck in the
gold just as it comes from the washings, which in these
regions is of very strong alloy, containing a good deal of
copper as well as silver.

Herodotus (iii. 16) states it as a well known fact that
there was an abundance of Gold found in the North of
Europe, but had been quite unable to ascertain anything
as to the mode in which it was procured, treating as quite
unworthy of credit the tale of the Arimaspi, the one-eyed
race, stealing it from the custody of the Gryphons. By
North of Europe the North-east is intended, for his Ari-
maspi are placed to the east of the Araxes beyond the
Issedones. Neighbouring upon the latter are his Mas-
sagetaB (i. 201), who have gold and copper in abundance,
but neither silver nor iron. From these geographical data

AURUM, 175

it is pretty evident that these Scythian (or Cossack) tribes
prosecuted with considerable activity the trade of washing
for gold-dust the sands of the Uralian streams, still so pro-
ductive in the same way. The Tartar tumuli covering the
regions to the north of the Black Sea testily to the truth
of these assertions by the immense quantity of gold orna-
ments, belonging to widely separated historical periods,
which have long rewarded the Cossack and Bussian trea-
sure-seekers. In some the corpses of mediaeval Khans have
been discovered wrapped up in a complete winding-sheet
of gold, in others numerous rude figures of purely Tar-
tarian origin ; others, again, contain works showing some
influence of Grecian taste.

The same historian quotes, on Carthaginian authority
(iv. 195), a tale of an island, Cyraunis, off the Libyan
coast, where there was a lake out of which girls drew
up the gold-dust out of the mud by means of bunches of
feathers smeared with -tar and tied to long poles. This
story he seems to doubt. He likewise describes, on the
same authority, how their traders bartered merchandise
against gold in a certain locality on the African Coast
beyond the Pillars of Hercules, probably near Senegal ; or
indeed they might have coasted along as fieur as the Guinea
Coast. No further mention is to be found of gold from
Africa ; and, still more extraordinary, he does not allude
to the very extensive workings carried on in his days in
Egypt. The first may be explained easily: the Cartha-
ginians kept all their gold at home, they had no metallic
currency (until a much later period, and then only issued
for their colonies), but used leather bank-notes, and their
exports were entirely manufactures, which in all their com-
merce they bartered against the precious metals.

As for India, whence the Persian kings derived a large
amount of Gold as tribute (equalling 21,600 pounds' Troy

176 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, <fec.

annually) he had obtained no real information. The
Persians told a story of the northernmost Indians, next to
the Bactrians, who went out into the sandy Desert on
camels to steal the gold-dust that was scraped up by enor-
mous ants "somewhat bigger than foxes."* But this
metal was then, as now, procured from Thibet by caravans,
for India itself had then no gold-mines, as the Greeks un-
der Alexander found to their inexpressible disappointment.
India drained the Eoman Empire of gold in return for its
gems, spices, and silk, as it, with China, does Europe at
the present day of its silver. The Periplus of the Eed
Sea gives an exact notion of the Eoman trade with that
country ; the Indian exports were then precisely the same
as they were a century ago, or before the cotton manu-
facture was naturalized in Europe. The Eomans paid for
all this in ready money, having no commodities except
amber, coral, copper, and lead, to exchange for these
Indian productions.!

Yet, from whatever source derived, the quantity of gold
accumulated by the princes of Asia Minor was absolutely
incredible. The gold-washings of the Pactolus alone had
furnished the gifts sent by Croesus to Delphi ; seen by

* Of which extraordinary insects the King of Persia kept some alive
as curiosities ! But Herodotus does not here speak as an eye-witness.

t " There not being a year in which India does not drain the empire
of above lialf a million sterling (HS. DL), and sends in return merchan-
dise sold amongst us at a hundred times the prime cost." — Pliny, vi. 26,
xxxiv. 48. Compare this complaint with the following extract : —
" Where the Money Goes. — In the year 1863 the bullion, gold and
silver, imported into India exceeded the export of bullion from India by
a value of 19,398,315Z.— namely gold 6,848,1592. and silver 12.550,156/.
In 1864 the import exceeded the export by 21,629,7512.— namely, gold
8,893,3342., and silver 12,736,4172. The total thus absorbed in India
from the year 1800, has exceeded 256.000,0002. "^he bullion, gold and
silver, coined in India, amounted to 9,382,1322. in 1863, and 11,479,6852.
in 1864^ and the total from the year 1800 has exceeded 231,000,0002." —
The * Times,' June, 1865.

AUBUM. 177

Herodotus himself, and of which he has recorded the
weight (i. 50). There were 117 oblong ingots {'^fiLirXtvOia),
each 18 inches long by 9 wide and 3 thick. Of these four
were of refined gold, weighing each H talent (90 lbs.);
all the others of " pale gold," t. e, electrum, and weighing
each 2 talents (120 lbs.) ; a distinction ]iroving clearly the
difficulty then experienced in separating the native alloy
from the metal. Besides these he sent a lion (the national
emblem) weighing 10 talents (600 lbs.), which still existed,
though it had lost 3^ talents of its original weight in a
conflagration of the Temple ; a basin weighing 8 J talents
and 12 lbs. over. Also a female figure (his cook) 4J feet
high, weight not specified; besides many other objects
in gold, sent thither, to the oracle of Amphiaraus, and
to Thebes. His offerings at Branchidae were reported to
have been the counterpart of those sent to Delphi ; an
arrangement quite in the spirit of those times. So large
a weight of metal given away at once appears at first
fabulous, but it is probable that Croesus was the first
Lydian king to explore these virgin gold-washings, and
that every ounce collected went into his treasury. The
one circumstance may be inferred from the fact that his
father Alyattes, though equally anxious to testify his grati-
tude to the Delphic god, had sent nothing in gold, but merely
a large vase in silver, and a stand for it in iron, valuable
solely as a novel specimen of workmanship. That the
gold-dust was carried into the royal treasury in its native
btate appears from the amusing anecdote of his allowing
the Athenian Alcmaeon, as a reward for his kindness to
his envoys, to carry off from a heap as much as he could
stow about his person (vi. 126).*

* By this restriction the king, doubtless, «q)ected to get off at tlie
cost of a belt-full of his new staters, with a weighty wreath, torques,
and bracelets to match ; but the wily Athenian was not the man tc

178 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, <fc&

The Lydians, adds the historian, were the first of men
recorded to have coined money of gold and of silver. Ho
does not mention under which of their kings, but numis-
matists agree in naming ' staters of Croesus,' and with some
foundation, those oblong lumps of electrum weighing a
Dane, but of evidently anterior make, stamped with the
fore-part of a lion and a bull regardanty the design purely
Assyrian, and declaring its origin.

Before the reign of Gyges the Pythian Apollo possessed
neither gold nor silver, says Pliny (xxxiv. 10), quoting
Phaneas of Eresus. Yet Herodotus (i. 14) makes Midas to
have set him the example, by dedicating his own royal
throne, which was still to be seen when he wrote, and
a work to be admired. But Gyges, it is true, far surpassed
him, his being the greater part of the offerings in silver
then existing at Delphi ; and in gold he had presented,
besides other articles, six craters, weighing in all 30 talents
(1800 lbs.). After him came Croesus, whose munificence
has just been detailed. Of the Greeks, the first to offer
the precious metals was Gelo, at the time of the invasion
of Xerxes, who gave a Victory and a tripod in gold. After
him his brother Hiero made a donation exactly similar.

This account of the quantity of gold then amassed in a

profit so slightly by the golden opportunity. Having, therefore, put ou
the largest and longest tunic, with the highest and widest boots he
could find, he entered the treasure-chamber ; and, falling upon a heap
of gold-dust, first of all filled therewith all the space between his boots
and his legs, then the lap of his dress, next powdered well with the
finer particles his hair worn long and curled after the Archaic fashion ;
and lastly, for want of another receptacle, stuffed his cheeks to bursting
¥rith so much more of the precious flakes. In this condition he waddled
out, sciirce able to drag his legs after him, and " looking like anything
rather than a human being," to the infinite amusement of Croesus, who
was so tickled with the joke, though at his own expense, that he
rewarded his ingenuity with the gift of as much more gold as he car-
ried about him. This was the origin of the opulence of the familv
AlcmaionidfB.

AimUM. 179

single treasury is corroborated by what the historian
relates of Pythius, a Lydian, in the next generation to
Croesus, after the country had become subject to the Per-
sians. This person, though only a private man, offered
Xerxes (besides silver to an incredible amount) four mil-
lions, less seven thousand, of gold darics, each of which
weighs one of our guineas (vii. 20). He had, some years
before, presented his father, Darius, with the plane-tree and
vine of solid gold.

The annual amount of tribute paid into the treasury of
Darius was 14,560 Euboeic talents ; out of which Herodotus
remarks (iii. 95) that the gold-dust weighed 360 talents.
The latter was paid in by the Indians, and equalled the
entire assessment of all the other tributaries.* That this
*' 360 talents " signifies the weight appears from its reduc-
tion (in the ratio of 13 to 1) to Euboeic silver talents, in
which denomination it came to 4680. The whole was
melted down and run into pots of clay, which were then
removed, and a round ingot (like a Chinese tael) remained
until required. Besides this store of ingots, an enormous
coinage of darics in fine gold had been issued in the same
reign, as the tale of Pythius shows, and continued to the
epoch of the Macedonian conquest

The Persians, in the reign of Justinian, had gold-mines
at Pharangion in Persarmenia (Procop. Bell. Pers. i. 15).
This was probably the source of the gold-dust so plentiful
in Colchis in the earliest age of Grecian enterprise; for
Pliny has a notice (xxxiii. 15) of " Saulaces king of Colchis,
who, having got possession of a soil still virgin, extracted

♦ The Indian tribute was paid entirely in gold; and Herodotus
evidently means that it equalled the weight of the same metal paid in
by all the other subject-nations collectively ; some of whom, like the
Lydians and Golchians, must have contributed laige amounts of that
metal.

?: 2

180 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, Ae.

an immensity of gold and silver in the region of the Saani,
and in other parts of his kingdom famous for the golden
fleece'^ To the present day the Chinese miners in Aus-
tralia employ sheepskins to collect the gold-dust in their
washings.

An interesting account of the Persian treasury is pre-
served by AtheneBUS (xii. 514), copied from the biography
of Alexander by Chares of Mitylene : " Close to the king's
bed there was overhead a chamber in which were always
kept 6000 talents (300,000 lbs. in weight) of coined gold :
this was called the king's pillow. At his feet was another
chamber, somewhat smaller, wherein were always kept 3000
talents of silver coin : this was called the king's footstool.
In the bedchamber there was a vine in gold (the gift of
Pythius ?) set with gems, spreading above the couch. This
vine, according to Amyntas, had bunches of grapes made
out of the most precious gems." For the sake of comparing
the revenues of the two greatest empires the world has
ever seen, take this glance at the Koman treasury when at
its fullest, as Pliny observes (xxxiii. 17). This chanced to
be precisely at the moment when Caesar upon his first entry
into the metropolis appropriated its contents without cere-
mony, drawing out in gold ingots 16,000 pounds weight, in
silver ingots 30,000, and in coined silver 300,000.

The captured treasures of Mithridates, the spoils of Asia,
raised (says Plutarch) the Eoman revenue from fifty mil-
lions of denarii (2,000,000Z.) up to eighty-three at one
stroke. Besides this accession of annual revenue, the
amount of 20,000 talents in specie and plate was brought
by the same conquest into the treasury.

Polybius describes the Median palace at Ecbatana (x. 27)
as having all its timber-work, though of cedar and cypress-
wood, the beams, the ceilings, and the pillars, entirely
plated over with scales of gold and of silver ; the tiles being

AUBUM. 181

all of the latter metal. Of these the greatest part had been
scraped off at the time of the Macedonian invasion, and
under Selencus and Antigonus; yet still the temple of
Aene retained its gold-plated columns and silver tiles;
and a few ingots of gold and several of silver were piled
up within it. All these " scrapings " were got together for
the Eoyal mint, and fell little short of 4000 talents.

Agatharchides of Cnidos has left a most valuable descrip-
tion of the manner in which the mines in Egypt were
worked, and the metal refined, in his own times (the
reign of Ptol. Philometor, B.C. 181); but these operations
had been carried on in the same district for many centuries
before the establishment of the Greek power fDiod. Sic. iii.
13).

" In the furthest part of Egypt, on the confines of Arabia
and Ethiopia, there is a place containing many mines of
gold, which is procured by numerous workmen with vast
hardship and expense. The soil being naturally black,
and containing many veins and strata of marble, extremely
white, and thus distinguished from the circumjacent
materials, the superintendents set over the mining-works
prosecute the search with a multitude of labourers. For
the kings of Egypt collect those condemned for crimes,
captives taken in war, persons ruined by false accusations,
and therefore sentenced to imprisonment, sometimes alone,
sometimes with all their families, and condemn them to
the mines, thereby at once inflicting punishment upon the
sentenced, and extracting large profits out of their labours.
Now these convicts, in great numbers, all in fetters, are
kept at the works, not merely all day, but throughout the
night also, getting no intermission of labour, and carefully
guarded against escaping. For guards are set over them
of foreign soldiers, and speaking a different language, so
that it is impossible for the prisoners to corrupt any of

182 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, Ac.

their keepers hj speech, or by motives of humanity. The
ground containing the gold they first heat with long-con-
tinued fire, and so render full of fissures, before they apply
manual labour to it ; but the rock that is soft and capable
of yielding to moderate exertion is cut down with the
tools stonecutters use by myriads of these poor wretches.
The entire operation is directed by the engineer, who looks
out for the proper stone, and marks it off for the labourers.
Of those appointed to this miserable task, such as are of the
strongest make break down the marble-like rock with iron
pickaxes, applying no art to their labour, but mere brute
strength, and thus cut galleries, running not in a straight
line, but guided by the direction of the white veins. These
men, in consequence of the crooked course of the galleries,
work in darkness, and carry therefore lamps ingeniously
fastened upon their foreheads; and frequently changing
their posture, according to the arrangement of the veins,
they break down and bring to the floor the fragments of
the cut rock, doing this under the lash and cruelty of an
overseer. Meanwhile the boys, creeping into the passages,
throw up, with much toil, the broken mineral as it falls
little by little, and carry it up into the open air at the
mine's mouth. Here those above thirty years old receive
from them a fixed measure of the broken ore, and pound
it in stone mortars with iron pestles, until they reduce it
to the size of a vetch. From these the granulated ore is
taken by the women and the older men, who have many
hand-mills set in a row, and, standing two or three together
at the handle, they grind the measure given to them as ^ue
as flour.

" Last of all, the skilled workmen receive the ore ground
fine, and complete the operation. They have a board
placed somewhat sloping, on which they throw a small
quantity of the dust, and pouring water over it they rub

AUBUM. 183

it. Then the earthy particles are dissolved by the water,
and run ofif, owing to the slope of the board ; but those
containing the gold remain upon it in consequence of their
weight. Kepeating this frequently, first of all they rub
the dust gently with their hands, afterwards they press it
with coarse sponges lightly, taking up in this way the
loose and earthy part, until the gold-dust is left behind un-
mixed. Finally, other workmen, taking from them the
collected dust, according to weight and measure, place it
in earthen crucibles, mixing, in a certain proportion, lead-
ore and lumps of salt, to which they add a little tin and
barley-bran. Then they fit on the cover of the crucibl6(|r
luting it down carefully with clay, and bake it in a furnace
five days and nights continuously. Then taking it out,
and leaving it to cool, they find nothing of the other
materials left in the crucible, but get the gold quite pure,
although slightly diminished in weight. The discovery of
these mines dates very far back ; probably they were found
out by the ancient kings " (meaning the Pharaohs).

It may here be remarked that this method of refining
the dust was a very perfect operation, as nothing can
exceed the purity of the gold issued by the Ptolemies,
under whom this writer flourished. Yet it is certain that
the native Egyptian metal contained a large alloy of silver,
for the jewelry of the independent d}Tiasty is invariably
of electrum, or little better. Sir G. Wilkinson has observed
that wherever the rocks in any part of Egypt show veins
of quartz they exhibit traces of former exploration by the
ancients in search of gold, the quartz lying about in
fragments, broken very small in order to discover the
traces of the precious filaments.

The Gauls, on the first invasion of their country by the
Romans, possessed enormous quantities of gold made up
into torques and armlets. These were not the spoils of

184 NATVllAL HISTORY OF PHECIOW METALS, dkc,

more civilised countries, for they appeared thus decorated
on their first invasions of Italy and Greece — Virgirs Gauls
scaling the Capitol, " lactea colla, auro innectuntiir."
Caesar's conquest of that country so flooded Eome with
gold, that, according to Suetonius, the pound weight was
exchanged for only 3000 sesterces, or 750 denarii, or 1 : 8,
(the modem proportion being 1:16); but it must be remem-
bered the Gallic native gold is of a somewhat low standard,
holding copper as well as silver. It is evident that no
attempt was made to refine it: the gold was converted
into torques or coin exactly as it came from the vxtskinga.
#Diodorus Siculus, a contemporary of Julius Caesar s, leaves
no doubt upon the first point. His words (v. 27) are, " In
Gaul silver is not found at all, but gold in plenty,* which
nature supplies to the inhabitants without either mining
or any trouble. For the course of their rivers, being full
of sinuosities, and dashing against the banks of the adjacent
hills, breaks oif vast mounds of earth, and fills their
streams with gold-dust. This the people engaged in the
trade collect, and grind and pound the clods containing the
gold. Then removing what is earthy, by means of re-

* Tlie abundance of gold in the form of nuggets and flakes anciently
procured by washings in regions now unproductive may be thus ac-
counted for. All veins of gold lying in their original quartz matrix are
richest at the top, and diminish in value as they run deeper until their
entire extinction. The surface rock, readily disintegrated by the wea-
ther, suffers the rich lumps contained therein to fall amongst the debrid
and to be carried away by the rains, and thus we find pure masses of
metal near strata now containing only threads and specks of gold, the
former being the sole relics of the rich superincumbent stratum. And
this disintegration of the rock proceeds with infinitely greater rapidity
than could have been supposed. An old Califomiun gold-seeker, who had
made a large fortune by gold- washing and lost it all again in much less
time by an attempt to decuple the same by steam quartz-crushing,
informed me that the broken quartz, after a few weeks' exposure to the
weather, falls to pieces almost like so much quick-lime, and thus
greatly facilitates the next operation of stamping it.

AURUM, 185

pented washings, they commit the residue to the furnace
for smelting. In this way they amass an immensity of gold,
and use it up for ornaments, not merely for the women,
but the men. For round their wrists and arms they wear
bracelets, round their necks thick circles of solid gold, and
finger-rings of marvellous size, .and even golden breast-
plates. There is a peculiar and extraordinary custom prer
vailing amongst the Gauls in the interior with regard to
the temples of their gods. In these sacred grounds and in
the shrines there lies thrown upon the ground gold in
abundance, dedicated to the deities, which, out of super-
stition, none of the natives dares to touch, although the
Celts are naturally extremely covetous."

When the Consul Cespio took Tolosa, the capital of the
Tectosages (b.c. 112), he seized upon the treasure de-
posited in the temple of Minerva there, amounting to the
enormous sum of 15,000 talents (about 3,000,000Z.) A large
portion of this was the spoils of the Greek shrines, the
offerings of the returning troops of the second Brennus,*
some two centuries before. This sacrilege brought so
much evil upon Csepio that "aurum Tolosanum" passed
into a proverb for all ill gotten gains attended with a
curse.

The tradition of the riches of these GaJlic temples has
been of late singularly confirmed. A peasant (1832),
digging for treasure in a ruined Druidical circle near
Vieuxbourg, S. Quentin, was for once lucky enough to hit
upon what he was seeking after in the shape of a hoard
of tores. They were ten in number, with one bracelet,

* Rather «* Belgius." Brennus is the mere title king (Brennan, Welsh).
They had slain in battle, B.C. 279, the King of Macedonia, the usurper
Ptolemy Ceraunus, had thoroughly ravaged that country, and therefore
may be supposed to have loaded themselves with the accumulated trea-
sures of the great Philip.

186 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, &e.

some very elegantly ornamented and of great weight, the
heaviest being 49 oz., the rest from 30 oz. upwards. The
total value (merely by weight) was about 1000?. Un-
happily, not meeting with a purchaser in their form of
relics of primal Gallic art, the entire lot was ruthlessly
consigned soon after to the crucible. They will be found
accurately figured in the ' Archseologia * for 1838.

The Gkiuls wherever they went seem to have possessed
an instinctive faculty for discovering gold. Those settled
in Upper Italy were as rich in the metal as their brethren
beyond the Alps. When the consul Com. Nasica triumphed
over the Boii (b.c. 159) there were carried in the proces-
sion "upon the Gallic waggons" no fewer than 1470 tores
and 250 pounds by weight of gold, besides silver vessels
weighing 2340 pounds " made (in the national taste) with
some degree of skill " (non infabre suo more facta) ; a
singular notice on the part of the old annalist trans-
scribed by Livy. But as their fertile plains had formerly
been possessed by the Etruscans, those unrivalled gold-
smiths of the ancient world, it may well be that the art
yet lingered there under the savage conquerors, and this
would explain the so frequent appearance of Graeco- Asiatic
patterns in Celtic ornamentation. It is evident the Celts
imitated to the best of their ability the coinage of the
Greeks : the same rule may be supposed to apply to their
other works in metal.

Gallia Comata contributed crowns of gold to the weight
of 9000 pounds, to the display of treasure at the triumph
of Claudius over the Britons, whereas Hispania Citerior,
the actual seat of the mines supplied no more than 7000
pounds* weight. Manilius was therefore justified in giving
Gallia the epithet of Dives in the reign of Augustus.

This supply of gold lasted for many centuries. Pro-
copius (* Bell. Goth.' iii. 33) records that the Frankish king

AUBUM. 187

Theodebert struck gold coin from the metal furnished by
the mines of the country : an assumption of the imperial
prerogative extremely galling to the pride of Justinian;
Procopius remarking that even the Great King (of Persia)
refrained, out of deference to the Romans! from issuing
a gold currency with his own image upon it.*

The sands of the Rhine below Basel are still washed
every summer for gold-dust by the peasantry of the grand-
duchy of Baden, as are also those of the Aar below Bruhl.
The return is but trifling at present, five francs' worth
(which represents little more than one pennyweight of
the metal) being the utmost obtained by each washer from
a day's labour. Gold also exists in the quartz matrix in
Switzerland. I have seen a small specimen extremely
rich in fine filaments of the pure metal.

Astonishingly productive of gold was the soil around
Aquileia, but it seems to have been quite exhausted before
Pliny's times. These workings, Polybius says, were dis-
covered in his own age. The gold was first met with at
a depth of no more than two feet, and did not extend
deeper than fifteen. The grains were as large as a bean,
or a lupine; and so pure as only to lose one-eighth in
the melting. Another kind required more smelting, but
yielded amazing returns. At first the natives allowed
Italians to work with them, but in two months after the
discovery the price of gold throughout all Italy fell by

♦ It strongly displays the persistence of national usages in the East
that, as under the SassanidsB, so in modem times the currency of Persia
should be exclusively of silver. Chardin notices this as the case in his
time (1670-80;, when the largest denomination minted was the Ahassi,
a piece corresponding both in size and value with the principal coin of
the ancient monarchy. The extremely rare aurei of Varanes and
Chosroes must have been coined for the same purpose as the gold ducats
struck by the Shah on his accession and on New Year's-day, as medals
for distribution, not for ciurent money.

188 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, <fcc.

one third : . whereupon the Taurisci expelled all foreigners
from the ** diggings," and monopolized them for themselves.

The gold ornaments, and coins struck in ruder imitation
of the Gallic (themselves caricatures of Philip's staters),
found so frequently in England and (as regards the per-
sonal ornaments more plentifully) in Ireland, were partly
imported from Gaul into these holy regions, the centre-
point of the Druidical system,* and partly obtained from
the stream- works of which traces exist in Cornwall, Devon-
shire (South Molton), the Carnarvon mines (recently re-
opened with some success, Vigra, &c.), the Lead Hills in
Lanarkshire, the Wicklow districts, &c. Some of these
localities were worked during the Middle Ages, and have
ever since yielded mineralogical specimens of the ore to
the explorer. The only metal exported from Britain in
the time of Diodorus was tin, but gold, as well as silver,
" pretium victoiieB," is enumerated amongst its productions
half a century later by Tacitus (* Agricola,' 12).

Greece Proper possessed no gold whatever as long
as it was independent — the currency was exclusively of
silver. The little gold the natives required for orna-
mental purposes they procured from Sardis. A tale is
related by Theopompus (*Ath.' vi. 232 j, that the Lacedae-
monians, requiring merely the small amount wanted for
gilding the face of a bronze statue, sent all over Greece
iA vain in search of it, and at last in despair consulted the
Delphic Oracle, which advised them to apply to Croesus.
On account of this primitive poverty " this temple of
Delphi was adorned with donaria in bronze— not statues,
but caldrons and tripods made of bronze."

Li the next generation Hiero, wishing to make a

* " Britain cultivates magic enthusiastically, and with so many rites
and ceremonies that one would think she had taught it to the Persians.'*
^Comparing the Druids to the Magi.) Plin. xxx. 4.

AURUM. 189

Victory and a tripod of fine gold for an offering there,
after vain seareli at home sent agents into Greece, who
came to Corinth, and discovered at last that Architeles, a
Corinthian, had accumulated a considerable amount by
purchasing gold coin little by little through a long space
of time. This person sold them the amount required, and
then gave into the bargain a handful of gold pieces.
In return for this liberality Hiero sent him back a ship-
load of com and many other presents.

It is therefore to be concluded that at this time the
Thasian mines were still in the hands of the Phoenicians,*
who transmitted all their produce to Tyre. When, however,
Philip had made himself master of tbe mines in Thrace,
at Crenides and Scapte-Hyle, places under Mount Pan-
gaeus, which had belonged to the Thasians when Herodotus
visited that island, he changed the name to Philippi, and
prosecuted the works with great vigour and proportionate
success, as appears from the extensive coinage of gold,
which he was the first of the Greeks to put into circula-
tion. These mines brought him in 1000 talents, or 60,000
pounds' weight of gold every year. They continued to be
worked down to the end of the Macedonian kingdom. In
the beginning of the reign of Perseus, Polybius notices
that Abrobatis, a Thracian king, had got possession of
them, but the Eomans speedily expelled him. The first
act of the latter on their conquest of Macedonia was to
stop the works, only allowing the copper and the iron-
mining to be prosecuted as before (Liv. xlv. 29). Inas-
much as this act is classed amongst their other benefactions
to the vanquished, such as the grant of freedom, the re-
duction of the taxes to one-half — it' would seem that the

* Pliny (vii. 56) records the ancient tradition that Cadmus, a Phoeni-
cian, first discovered gold-mines, and the art of smelting the ore, on
Mount PangsBus, the locality in question.

190 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, <fec,

later kings had carried on their mining operations by
means of forced labour. Whatever the source, the wealth
accumulated by the Macedonian princes was enormous.
The treasure of the last of the line confiscated for the
Roman Republic by Paulus ^milius amounted to "ter
millies," or above three millions sterling, which accession
of wealth enabled the State to dispense thenceforth witli
taxing its citizens (Plin. xxxiii. 17) : and it must be re-
membered the monarchy had, long ere this, been shorn of
its foreign dependencies, reduced to its original limits,
and drained by the long ruinous wars carried on by Philip,
the father of Perseus, and by the latter also, chiefly by
means of mercenaries.

To return to Philip ; the metal for his coinage, besides the
produce of the Thracian mines, doubtless represents much of
those treasures of Delphi seen by Herodotus, but melted
down by the tyrants Philomelus and his brothers to
defray the expenses of the ten years' war they waged
against the Amphictyons, whose general Philip was.

Diodorus (xvi. 56) states that Phayllus, the last of the
three brother-chiefs, coined into money the 120 ingots
presented by Croesus, each ingot weighing two talents
(120 lbs.), as well as 360 bowls of two minae (2 lbs.) each :
also the woman and the lion in gold, weighing together
thirty talents. All this gold amounted in value to 4000
talents of silver (800,000Z.), the whole of which went to
pay his mercenary troops. The donaria in silver which the
three " tyrants " melted down amounted to 60,000 talents.
When all was spent they set to work to dig up the floor
of the temple in search of hidden treasure, but were made
to desist by an earthquake. The sums thus sacrilegi-
ously obtained equalled the whole of the Persian treasure
afterwards captured by Alexander. By a more wanton
sacrilege one gave his wife Eriphyle's necklace (the

AURVM. 191

masterpiece of Vulcan, and the wedding- gift of Venus to
Harmonia), dedicated by Alcmaeon ; the other Helen's, the
offering of Menelaus. The ladies drew lots for the choice :
the proud and sulky one got the first, the beautiful and
loose one Helen's (*Ath.' vi. 231). From the tithe of the
spoils taken at Plateae the confederate Greeks had made
a gold tripod, supported on the triple-heads of a bronze
serpent. Pausanias observes, *'A11 the bronze part of the
trophy was safe in my time, but the gold had fared other-
wise with the Phocian leaders."

After Philip's restoration of the Temple the ancient
votive pieces of plate continued to be replaced by fresh
offerings of the same kind, and on the same magnificent
scale. Upon the taking of Veii, Kome not possessing a
sufficient quantity of gold to discharge the vow made by
Camillus, the matrons spontaneously contributed all their
jewelry, amounting to the weight of eight talents (about
500 pounds), out of which a single crater was fabricated,
and found its way, after various mischances, to its destina-
tion. And when Sulla, hard pressed for money during the
siege of Athens, obliged the Amphictyons to surrender all
the Delphic treasures to his agent Caphis, one of the " old
royal donaria " was a silver vase so immense that no single
vehicle could be found strong enough to carry it, where-
fore they were forced to chop it to pieces, and so forward
it.* Sulla had, indeed, promised restitution of the value
of the borrowed treasures both to Apollo and the Olympian
Jove, similarly laid under contribution by him, and after
his victory actually assigned for the purpose half the ter-
ritorial revenue of the State of Thebes : but, from what

* These monster bowls, serving to hold the diluted wine for the
enormous multitudes congregated at the great festivals, were the favour-
ite form taken by national oblations ; combining the utmost beauty with
the highest intrinsic value. Paulus uEmilius, even in Rome's frugal
days, made and dedicated to the Capitoline Jove one in gold, set with
precious stones, weighing 10 talents (600 lbs.).

102 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, dte.

Pausanias says, his honest intentaons were far from being
carried out after his departure.

As there exist no coins of these Delphic tyrants (or rather
patriots), or even of the State, in gold (and of that enor-
mous amount of the metal some, if minted, would certainly
have escaped the recoinage of the victors), it follows neces-
sarily that they put the treasure into circulation in the
form of small ingots, o^cXoi, that, as tradition tells, primi-
tive style of Hellenic currency, or like the earliest money
of the Hindoos, bits of silver shaped like our dominoes,
and having a punch-mark on one side only. We may be
sure that Philip brought in a heavy bill of expenses to
his employers, and that the bulk of the captured treasure
found its way into his coffers.

His gold coinage must have been upon an enormous
scale, considering the shortness of the period over which its
issue extended, for even now his staters are as plentiful as
those of his son, who had all the millions of the Persian
darics to supply his mints. Similarly the gold pieces of
Lysimachus, the next master of Thrace, are equally abun-
dant, and testify to the continued productiveness of those
mines. A recent visitor to that district informs me that
the neighbourhood of Philippi is covered with huge mounds
of refuse thrown up from the workings, which appeared
to him much too recent to date from the times of the
Macedonians :* yet there cannot be found any record of the
mines having been reopened by the Byzantines.

Of Athens the few genuine gold pieces known are evi-
dently copied, as regards their fabrique, from those of
Philip, and in all probability were issued when the city
was in the hands of Archelaus, the lieutenant of Mithri-
dates. Aristophanes, indeed (Ran. 719), draws a contemp-

* As late as Valens, the Thradan gold-miners^ driven to desperation
by the weight of the imposts, joined Fridigem and his invading Goths.
(Am. xxxi. 60

AURVM, 193

tuous comparison between the old-fashioned silver currency
and " the new-fangled gold coin," the latter being, the
scholiast tells us, the produce of the statues of Victor}^ in
the Acropolis melted down for that purpose the year
before (b.o. 407) : evidently a desperate expedient of the
hard-pushed finance minister. But this issue, unpopular
on many accounts (the poet notes among the rest its base-
ness), has totally vanished, leaving not one specimen
behind, sharing the fate of that other contemporaneous
expedient, the issue of a copper coinage, of whose summary
repudiation by the State the same poet's fruitseller so
ludicrously complains (Eccles. 817). There are also two
or three small gold coins of a very archaic type ascribed
to Thebes, but their paucity added to uncertain origin is
such that their existence does not affect the question.

Philip's new gold coinage, the first that had appeared
in Europe, obtained at once the most extensive circulation,
owing to its purity and the vast convenience in trade of a
representative of value Tmiversally received as perfect in
standard and in weight. On these accounts it was distin-
guished by the title of the Staier, It is curious to find how
even barbarous nations possessing gold, like the Gauls and
some of the lUyrian chiefs, set about imitating these per-
fect works of the medallic art in rude pieces of their own.
Philip's gold was issued almost entirely in the form of
didrachms (133 grs. troy), evidently for the purpose of
replacing the old Daiie, which was of that weight. But
his successors, the Ptolemies, the wealthiest princes of
antiquity, having the richest commerce of the world
superadded to their own productive gold mines, have i)Qr-
petuated the memory of their opulence by the extensive
mintage of the ambitious octodrachm, the quadmple of tho
stater, averaging 430 grs.

After, however, the wealth of Persia and the tributes ol
(m')

194 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METAL8, <te.

the East had been made their own by the Macedonians,
the old Tbracian mines fell into neglect. They had been
worked so long that it is probable they were nearly
exhausted before Thrace fell under the power of the
Homans, who fifty years earlier had taken from the Cartha-
ginians the mines in the south of Spain, by far the most
productive known to the ancient world. Of these, the
mode of working them, and the reduction of the ore, Pliny
has left the most exact details (xxxiii. 21), so interesting
to the metallurgist as to deserve to be translated in full.

** Gold is procured in our quarter of the globe (we need
not trouble ourselves about the Indian that is stolen from
the ants, or the Scythian from the gryphons) in three
different ways. As gold-dust from river-beds, for instance
from the Tagus in Spain, the Po in Italy, the Hebrus in
Thrace, the Pactolus in Asia, the Ganges in India ; and
no other sort is so pure, inasmuch as it has been thoroughly
cleansed by the transit and the friction. In the second
way, as dug up out of deep shafts in mines, or as gathered
out of the fragments of undermined hills. Both methods
must be described. Those who ' prospect^' for gold, first of
all take a * Segutilum,' so the examination is called. This
is a trough in which the sand is washed, and from what
settles at the bottom a conjecture is formed. Occasionally
by rare good luck the metal is found immediately on the
surface, as lately in Dalmatia in Nero's reign, which pro-
duced as much as fifty pounds' weight per day. When it is
thus found in the very turf they call it * Talutatium : ' and
also if the earth below be impregnated with gold. The
dry and barren hills of Spain, on which nothing at all
grows, are forced by this internal tieasure to be produc-
tive. That which is extracted out of the shafts is called
* Canalicium' or else * Canaliense :' it is incorporated with
lumps of a white stone, but not in the same way as it

AUBUM, 195

sparkles in the Lapis-lazuli, the Thebaic-stone, and in
other gems, but in filaments embracing the particles of
the quartz. These ' channels' of the veins run irregularly
along the sides of the shafts, hence the name ' Canaliense.'
The ground is kept up by wooden props. The ore got
out is pounded, washed, roasted, then ground to dust.
This powder the miners call ' Apitascudis/ the silver that
is separated from it in the furnace they term its * sweating/
The dross cast off by the fire, in all metals, has the name
of Scoria. In gold-smelting this dross is again ground
fine and melted. The crucibles are made out of * Tas-
conium,' that is to say, of a white earth like pipe-clay, for
no other would stand the fire, the blast, and the burning
metal.

"The third method surpasses the fabled exploits of the
giants. By driving adits to a vast distance they under-
mine the hills by the light of lamps. These lamps serve
also to measure their spells of labour, and for many a
month they do not see the light of day. This method
they call * Arrugia.' The ground over head often cracks,
gives way, and buries the miners, so that it would seem
a less dangerous task to seek the purple dye and the pearl
from the bowels of the deep : so much more dangerous
have we ourselves made the earth ! They leave arches at
narrow intervals to support the superincumbent mass* In
both methods of mining they come upon a flinty rock : this
they break through by means of fire and vinegar ; but more
frequently, as that makes the mine too stifling by the smoke
and heat, they cut .through it with iron crows weighing a
hundredweight and a half each, and carry off the fragments
of rock upon their shoulders, by night and by day through
the dark, and hand them over to those stationed next ;
the furthest of all see the daylight. If the hard rogk seems
too extensive, the miner follows its side and works round

2

196 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METAL8, Ac

it; and yet mining in this hard rock is considered tlie
easier of the two, for there is an earth made up of a kind
of clay mixed with gravel (which they call * gangadias'*)
that is almost impenetrable. This they attack with wedges
of iron, and mallets of the same metal, and think nothing
is so hard — ^were it not that the thirst for gold is of all
things the very hardest When the works are finished
they cut through from below the supports of the arches.
The coming fall gives warning, but that warning is only
intelligible to the look-out stationed upon the top of the
hill itself. He, by shouting, by waving his hand, gives
the signal to call out the miners, and at the same time
flies down himself. The hill, crushed, falls in with a crash
that cannot be conceived by human imagination, emitting
a blast of wind of incredible violence. The successful
miners view triumphantly the ruins of nature. Never-
theless the gold is not yet got, nor were they certain it
existed there all the time they were excavating : a sufiGi-
cient motive for all their risk and expense was the hope
for what they desired.

" Now comes another task equal in difficulty, and of
even greater expense. They conduct streams, in order to
wash this wreck, along the mountain-ridges (an extra work),
often from a distance of a hundred miles. This canal they
call 'Corrugus,' probably a name derived from conrivcUio.
Here also there are a thousand labours to be encountered.
The inclination of the level must be steep, so that the water
may be more truly said to rush than flow ; and therefore they
conduct it from the highest parts. The intervening valleys
and ravines are bridged over by a watercourse in masonry;
in other places impassable rocks are excavated, and forced
to yield a support for hollowed trunks of trees conveying
the water. The workman, as he cuts, is suspended by a

* GanguCt in French, is still used for the matrix of any mineraL

AUBUM. 197

ropo, 80 that to the distant view he presents the appearance
not even of a wild beast, but merely of a bird on the wing.
For the most part the engineer, too, is suspended similarly
as he takes the levels and marks out the line for the canal ;
and where there is not even place for a man's foot to
stand, rivers are led along by man*s ingenuity. It spoils
the washing if the stream bring any mud with it (that is,
a sort of earth which they call * Urium'), for which reason
they conduct the water over rocks and pebbles, and avoid
the * Urium.' At the ends of the fall upon the slope of
the hills they excavate reservoirs 200 feet square, and 10
deep. In these, five outlets, usually 3 feet square, are
left : so that when the pond is filled, and the sluices are
raised, the torrent rushes out with such force as to carry
rocks away with it. Even now more work awaits them on
the plain : trenches are cut for the stream to flow through,
called * Agogae ;' these are floored in steps with * Ulex,' a
plant like rosemary, but prickly, and fitted to retain the
gold. The sides of these trenches are protected by planks,
and the canals are carried on props over any chasms. So
the rubbish, as it flows along, runs into the sea, and the
fragments of the mountain are dissolved ; and in this way
Spain has extended her land far into the ocean by the
earth washed down. The rubbish, drawn up with immense
toil by the former method (sinking shafts), in order not
to choke up the pits, is washed in this latter manner. The
gold obtained by this process of ' Arrugia' does not require
smelting, but is found native. In* this way lumps are
got (as also in the pits) above ten pounds in weight,
which some call * Palaga,' others * Palacama :* that which
is small is called ' Balux.' The ulex itself is dried, then
burnt, and the ashes washed, with a turf of grass laid
Tinder, so that the gold' may deposit itself thereon.

''In this manner, according to some writers, 20,000

198 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, dm.

pounds weight of gold is annually obtained in Lusitania,
Gallicia, and Asturia; Asturia supplying the largest pro-
portion. In no other part of the world has the same
productiveness lasted during so many centuries.*

** We have already mentioned that gold-mining in Italy
is prohibited by an old-standing decree of the Senate,
else no country would have been more productive in this
as it is in other riches. An ordinance of the Censors is
extant, prohibiting the contractors from keeping above
5000 labourers employed in the gold-mines of Victumulas,
in the tenitory of Veroelli." This territory is now the
Vallanzasca, where five mines have been worked, some
with very large returns, from different periods in the last
century. Although picked specimens from the Aquavite
workings yield at the rate of 50 i oz. to the ton, yet the
regular average of the richest of the five, the Feschiera,
does not exceed the rate of three. These mines have
just been taken and consolidated by an Anglo -Italian
Company, which holds out to its shareholders the most
flattering prospect (or, at any rate, prospectus) of enor-
mous proceeds from the improved system of working
proposed to be introduced.

Mining was prohibited as injurious to agriculture (which
the Senate, and later the good Emperors, endeavoured to
promote in Italy by all the means in their power), because
it absorbed the labour that otherwise would have been
employed upon the land. This prohibition extended to

* This Spanish gold was not of a very high standard, for Pliny
observes that all native gold contains silver, sometimes to tlie extent of
one-eighth the weight, sometimes one-tenth. But there was in CJal-
laBcia one mine, the Albucratense, that produced the best of all, having
but one-thirtieth alloy. This last is certainly an unusual purity, for
now the Califomian has often more than one-twelfth of silver, being
usually 20 carats fine ; and even the finest Australian (Bendigo) never
less than one-twenty-fourth.

AUBUM. 199

all minqs alike. Even the previously and still very pro-
ductive copper-mines in Tuscany were not worked when
Pliny wrote,* nor even the yet more tempting gold fields
around Aquileia.

After the introduction of gold as the most important
currency, by Philip, the art of refining it was brought to
extraordinary perfection. This was maintained for an
astonishing length of time, considering the difficulty of
the operation, and the strong temptation to. needy princes
to tamper with the standard. An aureus of Vespasian,
when assayed, was found to contain only j^-^ of alloy ;
others about ^^^ : a native mixture which the most careful
modem process could hardly eliminate. Even the wretched
Byzantine emperors long resisted the temptation of de-
basing their aurei, and were satisfied at first with but a
slight depreciation of their fineness. The bezants of the
Comneni, in the eleventh century, are still of 22 carats,
that is, hold one-twelfth alloy, the proportion allowed in
the English sovereign, now the highest standard issued
in Europe.

But after their recovery of Constantinople from the
Frauks (1261), the Palseologi debased the coinage to a
degree never attempted, either before or since. Michael,
the restorer of the Greek Empire, had previously, whilst
reigning at Nicsea, minted bezants of only 16 carats, or
two-thirds, fine gold ; but his son Andronicus was so beg-
gared, says Pachymer (vi. 8), by the enormous subsidies

* He mentions as a well-known fact (without his fieiYonrite qualifica-
tion of "ut fertur" or "tradunt") a discovery that will puzzle our
cliemists. Caligula had succeeded in extracting gold out oi auripig'
m&ntum (sulphuret of arsenic), hut in such small proportion that the
experiment was a losing one, although the mineral cost no more than
tour denarii the pound weight. The idea of acting on the transmuta-
tion of the baser metals as yet had not entered into any phiiosophet^s
head.

200 NATUBAL EISTOBY OF PRECIOUS METALS, &c.

he had to pay to the Latins (his Genoese allies), that he
reduced even this miserable quality to 10, and ultimately
to 8 carats fine, so that the alloy actually equalled twice
the weight of the gold : hence his bezants have now the
appearance of mere brass gilt.

The Venetians, amongst the first in medisBval Europe to
coin gold (their famous zecchiru) commencing in the year
1280), though they copied exactly the type of the contem-
porary bezantr-the Saint presenting the gonfanon of sove-
reignty to the kneeling Doge — ^j^et restored its standard to
the utmost purity. So did the Florentines in their equally
famous fiorino d'oro, issued a few years earlier (1252),
taking its title from the fleur-de-lys, lafiorenza, rebus of
Ihe city's name, on the reverse; the type of the obverse
being their patron the Baptist ; the coin, " la lega suggel-
lata dal Battista." The great Italian cities were to the last
honourably jealous about the purity of their gold coinage.
Dante finds Maestro Adamo plunged very low in the realms
of torment for having forged florins containing merely
3 carats of alloy (the present French standard nearly),
at the instigation of the Counts of Romena, who thus made
a profit of 12^ per cent, by the falsification. (Inf. xxx.)

" Ei m' indussero a batter i fiorini
Che avevan tre carati di mondiglia."

The honour of inaugurating the revived coinage of gold
in Europe was very nearly falling to the share of England.
Only five years after Florence, Henry III., evidently not
influenced by her example, in his 41st year (a.d. 1257)
issued his gold penny, of the weight of two sterlings
(45 grs.), and to pass for twenty. The type, the king
seated on a wide throne, holding the sceptre and orb, is
unmistakeably an adaptation of the figure of the Saviour
on the contemporary bezants of Nicaea. For elegance of

AVBUM, 201

design, and even for neatness of workmanship, this beau-
tiful piece stands pre-eminently at the head of the coins of
the Middle Ages. It far surpasses, in both respects, the
boasted Florentine novelty, although that, as report tells,
was the invention of the great artist Giotto. But the
English mintage of gold was no more than an experiment,
unsuccessful it would seem, all the pieces having been
called in, leaving but three survivors to declare its merit.

Our present standard, though now the highest used in
Europe (on which account the Italian goldsmiths eagerly
buy up our sovereigns to melt for their filigree-work, often
at a higher rate than the course of exchange), dates
strangely enough from the first attempt of Henry VIII*
to tamper with the gold coinage ; and this not before his
36th year, when he ventured to add 2 carats of alloy to
the standard, ever before pure— a great national boast.
Even Ma audacity advanced no further than the addition
of 2 carats more in his last year, that time of bankruptcy.
This last standard of 20 carats was used for the first mint-
age of his son ; but in his second he restored the fins
for his sovereigns and angels, retaining that of 22 for
all his other pieces— a rule never subsequently altered.
The sovereign (or 30-shilling piece) continued of fine gold
until its extinction under James I., as did the angel down
to its last appearance in the reign of his tasteful and un-
happy successor.

No European nation can at present boast of a coinage
in fine gold, though down to the close of the last century
such was largely minted in the Venetian and Papal
zecchins, and the Dutch and Austrian ducats. The credit
of maintaining to the last this ancient glory of the mint
rests, most fittingly, with Florence, and with its late worthy
and much-to-be- pitied Grand Duke Leopoldo, whose rmpone
(20-dollar piece), a magnificent coin, equalling in beauty

202 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METAL8, Ae.

of execution its intrinsic purity, was issued, though
sparingly, within my own recollection. No piece of equal
importance with this has ever been minted as a carreni
coin since the date of the Ptolemaic octodrachms. For
the new-stamped " Kingdom of Italy," the French standard
of one-tenth alloy (for both metals) has been adopted ; and
the same appears to be now uniformly employed in all the
mints of the Continent, and likewise of America.

The refining and assaying of gold form the natural
sequence to this notice of the " standard of purity." We
have already learnt from Agatharchides' details how the
old Egyptians refined the gold they obtained by quartz^
crushing. This process, however, would only separate the
baser metals, not the sUver of the native alloy. How the
Greeks and Eomans subsequently contrived to obtain it
so absolutely pure, still remains a problem. Unfortunately
our grand authority Pliny fails us here, giving only a few
incidental and scattered hints. Speaking of misy (crude
arsenic), he alludes to its use in this process : " hoc admis-
cent qui aumm purgant." Arsenic still enters into the
composition of gold-solder to make it more fusible. In
another place he notes that gold was refined by melting
it along with lead, observing also elsewhere that alum
serves the same purpose equally with lead. Again (xxiii.
22), he mentions the common employment of quicksilver
for the same object, as the most eflfectual process of all,
the pounded ore being immersed in the fluid, and shaken
for a long time in an earthen pot, by which means " the
gold was forced to vomit up all its impurities." To sepa-
rate the quicksilver, the amalgam was put in a leather
bag, when by pressure the former oozed through the pores
of the leather, leaving the gold behind pare. And, in fact,
this amalgamation would not take up the silver. Eefining
is now eifected by quartation, an operation getting its name

AUIiDM. 203

from the addition of sufficient silver to the mass to con-
stitute three-quarters of the weight. The mixed metal
being immersed in nitric acid, the silver is attacked and
dissolved into powder, the gold remaining intact in the
form of a spongy mass. Mentioning its extreme infu-
sibility, Pliny adds that the best material for melting
gold (which resisted the hottest charcoal-fire) was palece,
or straw that has been thieshed-^a strange fact, if correct,
which he again adduces in his notice of the best materials
for smelting the various metals (xxxiii. 30).

The process used for refining gold in the mint of Delhi
in the middle of the sixteenth century, was as simple as
the ancient Egyptian, and yet perfectly adequate to its
purpose, as the purity of the magnificent coins thence issued
convincingly declares. It is thus detailed in the * Ayeen
Akbary :' — ** The adulterated gold (*. e., the collected
pieces of different qualities) is made into plates of six or
seven mashahs weight by the plate-maker. These he carries
to the assay-master, who measures them in a mould made
of copper ; then he makes a stamp upon them. . . . When
the above-mentioned plates have been stamped, the owner
of the gold for the weight of every hundred gold mohurs
must furnish four seers of saltpetre, and the like quantity
of new brick-dust, which are to be used in the following
manner : — The plates, after having been washed with water,
are stratified with the above mixture, and the whole is
covered with field cow-dung, which in the Hindostany lan-
guage is called ouplah. Then they set fire to it, and let it
burn gently till the cow-dung is reduced to ashes, when
they leave it to cool ; then these ashes, being removed from
the sides (of the plates), are presei-ved. In Persian this is
called khak khelass, and in Hindostany aolony; and, by a
process which will be hereafter related, they recover silver
fiom it.

204 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, dx.

" The plates then remain upon the ashes that are under-
neath them, and twice again are covered with cow-dung in
the manner before directed, and these ashes also are pre-
served. When, after this manner, three fires have been
applied, they call it aeetihy. After that, the plates are again
washed in clean water and stratified with the aforesaid
mixture ; which operation must be repeated till six strati-
fications and eighteen fires have been applied.

" Then the assay-master breaks one of the plates, and if
there comes out a flat, dead sound, it is a sign of its being
sufficiently pure ; otherwise it must again be stratified with
the mixture, and undergo three more fires. Then from
each of the plates is taken one maaluih, of which aggregate
a plate is made and tried on the touch-stone. If it is not
sufficiently pure, it is stratified once or twice more ; but
the desired effect is generally obtained by four stratifi-
cations."

The chemist will perceive that this simple tbough
tedious operation produced exactly the same result as the
modem process of quartation ; it reduced all the silver
alloy into a nitrate of silver, which was easily recovered
by the process termed ** kookerat ;'* whilst all the baser
metals were expelled and converted into their oxides.

The assaying of gold was called ohrussa or ohryza, the
etymology of which has been much disputed : although, in
all likelihood, it is a Spanish or Punic word, like all the
rest connected with gold-mining, and already quoted. In
our own language an analogy presents itself in the same
department ; our mining terms come from the Germans
brought over to instruct our people in such operations ;
hence such technical words as " sumf," ** brattice," " shaft,'*
*' blende," ''nickel," "cobalt," &c.

Ohryza, from the " test," came to imply the standard
itself; thus in the Byzantine Code (see Leo's *Basilio-e,'

AUJtTJM. 206

passim) oppvtja. is employed to designate the legal gold
currency of the times, much in the same way as the word
"sterling" at present.

This test or assay consisted merely in making the gold,
whose quality was to be ascertained, red-hot in 'the fire,
when, if the colour remained unchanged, its freedom from
all alloy was established. For with the least admixture of
copper, its colour was thus destroyed : our sovereign, though
of such high quality, treated thus, becoming coated with a
reddish-brown oxide of the baser met-al. Some suppose
this red-heating gave the name to the test : a derivation
perhaps supported by Pliny's expressions; "Auri expe-
rimentum ignis est ut simili colore ruheat ignescatque,
et ipsum ohrussam vocant : primum autem bonitatis argu-
mentum quam difficillime accendi." The last word, like
"ignescere," signifies melting; for, fusing at so high a
temperature as fine gold requires, a lambent flame plays
upon the surface of the liquified metal. To this test
Martial alludes, where, praising the fine quality of his
golden jphiala, he says (viii. 61),

•'necodit
Exploratores lurida massa focos."

For this reason, " gold tried in the fire " is synonymous
with ** pure ;" and the Byzantines called their aurei (even
after they had lost all claim to the title) xnrifyirvpoL, " supe-
rior to the fire;" out of which word the Latins made
the unrecognisable "perperi" their common name for the
bezants. This same primitive test was preserved in Akbar's
mint : " The skilful can discover from the colour with
what the superficial part is alloyed, and by the file and
punch is learnt the quality of the inside. They also try
it by heating it in the fire, when, upon throwing it into
water, blackness denotes lead ; redness, copper ; a whitish-

206 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, Ac.

cinder coloar, tin ; and, according as it is more or less
white, the greater or less is the proportion of silver."

From this assay the gold coins* of the Lower Empire,
after Constantine's reform of the currency, for many ages
downwards, are marked in the exergue COM.OB, to
indicate that their standard is the dyryza, or fine gold,
which was indeed the truth for six centuries lower down
than Constantino. The letters COM have not been satis-
factorily explained : the final OB, however, admits of
no doubt as to its purport, although a recent numismatic
writer prefers construing them as the Greek numerals for
72, the actual number of the aurei that went to the pound
Koman. But the use of Chreek numerals in legends entirely
Latin seems to me contrary to all analogy.

Our "Hall-Mark," so called because impressed at the
Goldsmiths' Hall, is the stamp authenticating the fineness
of the metal sold. It consists of four punch marks, struck
upon some inconspicuous part of the article, containing
respectively the initials of the maker, the head, of the
reigning sovereign, the number of the carats fine, and a
letter of the alphabet. The last is a relic of a clumsy
and truly mediaeval mode of declaring the date : twenty
letters from A downwards complete a cycle of as many
years, which ended, the same letters but of a diflferent
type, recommence a fresh cycle. By referring to the list
of these letters (obtainable at the Hall) the date of any
piece of plate can be ascertained as far back as the year
1696. But the custom dates from unknown antiquity.
Until the present century no gold was allowed to be
Hall-marked if of lower standard than 22 carats; then
that of 18 (or one quarter alloy) was permitted, as being
a quality best adapted for watch-cases, chains, and jewelry
designed for rough wear. But some few years ago a Bill,
inspired by the Birmingham interest, was smuggled

AUBUM. 207

through Parliament, the collective wisdom of the three
kingdoms not being sufficiently practical to espy its true
object, that of legalising the grossest fraud. By this Bill
it was allowed to Hall-mark gold of 15, of 12, and (it
sounds incredible) as base as 9 carats ! mere aurichalcum
or hiUon. This concession, wheedled out of ignorance by
roguery, has fully answered the ends of its promoters ;
articles in this vile alloy, strongly gilt, are sold under
the time-honoured prestige of the Hall-mark. Few pur-
chasers are aware of the change in the law : the carats
are marked, it is true, but the minute numerals are un-
observed, or purposely obscured.

Our standard for silver (both coin and plate) from the Nor-
man times down, has been very high, only 18 pennyweights
alloy to the pound Troy, or less than one-thirteenth.
Under William III. this standard was, for a few years,
raised to quite fine for plate alone, probably with the view
of preventing the melting down the coin for that purpose.
Plate of this quality is stamped with a figure of Britannia
in one of the punch-marks. But to the disgrace of our times,
the Bill above mentioned also legalised a similar imposi-
tion upon the buyer (the exact extent however has escaped
my memory) in the quality of silver plate, disguised by
the proviso " for exportation."

The Romans had many alloya of gold, but all desig
nated by distinct appellations, their " aurum " always
standing for the refined metal. Thus gold containing
as much as one-fifth of silver took the name of Electrum,
Some was found native in the Spanish gold- washings, some
was an artificial alloy. It was in request for drinking-
vessels, partly because it was more lustrous by lamplight
than the unalloyed metal, partly because the native kind
was supposed to betray the presence of poison in the
draught it contained by a changing colour and a crackling

208 NATURAL UISTOEJ OF PBEC10U8 METALS, Se.

aoise.* The Pyropus was made by adding 6 scruples of
gold (or one quarter) to the ounce of copper: the mass
was beaten out into a leaf, apparently to be used for
foiling gems ; and seems to have been what is elsewhere
described as AuricJudcum so employed. This alloy would
produce a very red foil, which by the graduated applica-
tion of heat can be made to take various and singular
colours.

Pliny notices the great ductility of gold,f allowing a
single ounce to be beaten out into 750 leaves, each 4 digits
(3 inches) square, and even thinner. The stoutest sort
was called the Prsenestine, in consequence of having been
employed for gilding the noted statue of Fortuna in that
city: the second quality, the Quaestorian. It was also drawn
into wire and woven into cloth entirely by itself. In a
robe of such texture had Pliny himself beheld the Empress
Agrippina, enthroned by the side of Claudius, at the show
of the great Naval Fight which celebrated the opening of
the emissary of the Fucine Lake. Some notion of the weight
borne by the person distinguished by such a robe of honour
may be deduced from what Fauno (* Ant. di Eoma ') tells
of the vestments found (1544) in the sarcophagus of
Maria, the betrothed bride of the Emperor Honorius (a
child but six years old at the time of her decease) : these
robes of silk and gold thread yielded when melted down 40
pounds weight of the finest gold. ITie amount of the
precious metal wasted by the Komans of the Decline

* Chinese porcelain, when first introduced into Europe by the
Portuguese in the sixteenth century, was chiefly valued, says Vossina^
for its supposed possession of the same quality, flying to pieces on the
reception of a poisoned drauo^ht.

t Gold, by long hammering cold, assumes the hardness of ir(mt and
has been proved the best of all materials for watch-wheels. Tiie
golden dciiiaceSy the badge of the Persian satrap, may therefore have
been designed for service, not f jr mere distinction.

AUBUM. 209

for decorative purposes is curiously illustrated by a remark
of Vopiscus. " Aurelian intended to prohibit the em-
ployment of gold in covering ceilings, or timics, or leather,
or silver; asserting that there was in reality more gold
than silver ' in rerum natura,' but that gold was annihi-
lated by its various uses in the form of leaf gold, of wire,
and in a liquid state (liquatio), whereas silver was left
to its proper purpose. He also gave permission that
whoever pleased might have both dinner services and
drinking vessels made of gold" (c. 47). The last was a
wise expedient for fostering the accumulation of treasure
in a shape not liable to any deterioration by wear, and that
secured a fund within the houses of the wealthy of every
class available in cases of emergency: constituting, as it
were, a household bank.

Pliny gives recipes for the solder used by the goldsmiths
of his time (xxxiii. 29). The chief ingredient was Chry-
soooUa, or native verdigris (chrysocolla). Theophrastus
also speaks of the Chrysocolla being used as a solder, but
gives no further particulars as to the mode in which it
was applied.

The Koman gilder stuck the leaf-gold upon marble by
means of the white of egg ; for wood he had a size,
" Leucophorum," made of Sinope earth, Sil, and Melinum
(also earths, red and white), mixed together and suffered
to ferment for twelve days. This was applied as a glue,
and therefore dissolved in boiling water.

In gilding copper, quicksilver was made use of, as at
present ; the surface having been rubbed with it, the leaf-
gold was laid on, and the quicksilver then driven off by
the application of heat. If the leaf was single, or too thin,
the gilding looked pale, for which reason the workman,
with a view to that mode of cheating, substituted for it the
white of egg (the process now used by book-binders), which

(m) V

210 NATUHAL history of PBECI0U8 METALS, <fec.

doubtless stood the air very satisfactorily for a certain
time, at all events sufficiently long to secure his payment.
Pliny complains that mercury was then only nsed in
gilding silver: for bronze-work, "which by law ought
to be gilt by means of argerUum vivum, or at least of
hydrargyrum" a cheap and fraudulent substitute had been
universally adopted, the particulars of which, however,
are to me unintelligible. The bronze was made red-hot,
then plunged in a pickle of salt, vinegar, and alum ; it
was now polished with sand, when its lustre proved if it
were sufficiently purified. In this case it was slightly
heated, and thus " tamed down " so as to receive the
gold-leaf, which was fixed on it by means of a mixture of
pumice, alum, and quicksilver. Perhaps the object was
to economize the quicksilver, evidently an expensive article
at that time (xxxiii. 20).

To understand the reason for these complaints, it must
be borne in mind, as already stated under Argentum,
that Pliny distinguishes the Argentum Vivum, the native
quicksilver, found liquid and pure in the mines of other
metals, from the Hydrargyrum, extracted by sublimation
from the IMinium, its sulphuret: although the metal is
precisely the same in both cases. The greater rarity of
Mercury in its native form * must have given rise to Htjs
notion as to its superior quality. The Romans obtained
it from the Spanish silver-mines: and still Almaden is
one of the two chief sources, Idria in Camiola being the
other.

Statues made entirely of gold seem to have been pecu-
liarly an Oriental invention. Herodotus, and after him
Diodorus, have left accounts of idols of the kind, formerly
standing in Babylon, and of a weight evidently largely
exaggerated by tradition : for the iconoclastic Persiam had

* " Et alias Argentum vivum non largum inventum est."

AUBUM, 211

melted them down for the greater part, even before the
most ancient of historians visited that old capital. Never-
theless, he actually saw in a shrine, at the base of the
Temple of Belus, the seated figure of the god, which,
with his table, throne, and footstool, the Chaldeans in-
formed him, weighed 800 talents (48,000 lbs.). Another
statue, carried off by Xerxes, had been that of a man
(aa/Spias), 12 cubits high, and solid. This must have been
the statue of the royal founder of the Temple ; its solidity,
however, may well be put down to the account of the
Grecian traveller's guide. These gigantic figures, as the
authentic account of the construction of similar works —
the cherubim lining the Jewish sanctuary — informs us,
were carved out of cedar-wood, and then overlaid with
gold in plates necessarily slight, to admit of being moulded
over the carving underneath.

But the celebrated idol of Anaitis (Venus), made out
of solid gold, "long before bronze had come into fashion
for such uses," remained in her temple at Anaitica, on the
Euphrates, until the shrine was despoiled by Antony's
soldiers upon his Parthian expedition. Augustus, chancing
to dine with an old soldier of Antony's at Bologna, inquired
if it were true, as commonly reported, that the first man
who laid hands on the goddess was immediately struck
dead ; and received for answer that his entertainer was
the very soldier in question; that Augustus himself was
then dining off a leg of the idol (converted into a dish, it
would seem), and that his whole fortune consisted in that
very piece of plunder.

Of the Greeks, however, the colossal chryselephantine
statues, in which art vied with material, required but a
comparatively small weight of the precious metal ; in fact,
Pausanias (i. 40) notices an instance where the entire

V 2

212 NATUBAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METAL8, ife.

trunk was made up of clay and gypsum. Chryselephan-
tine decoration was, however, applied hy the Greeks of
more opulent times to the woodwork of their temples with
a lavi«hne88 utterly beyond all modem conoeption. The
great doors of the Psdlas of Syracuse were of ivoiy, all
their bosses and nails being of gold. Their crowning
glory was the " Gorgonis os pulcherrimum vinctum angni-
bus," which that ** terrible amateur" Verres tore off and
carried away, as Cicero tells us (Ver. iv. 56).

The first of the Greeks to have a statue in gold was the
arrogant sophist Gorgias, who dedicated at Delphi a solid
one of himself. But this, considering the rarity of the
metal in Greece* at that period — the 70th Olympiad —
was doubtless no more than a diminutive statuette. The
kings of the East, however, continued to emulate their
Babylonian predecessors ; for Plutarch mentions, as carried
in the triumphal procession of Lucullus, a solid figure of
Mithridates in gold, six feet high. Taking the weight of
a living man of this stature at 150 pounds, the relative
specific gravity of gold in the same bulk would give a
weight of 3000 pounds to the figure, equal in value to
135,000Z. : a large sum, in truth, yet not beyond the flight
of the vanity of an Asiatic conqueror of the wealthiest
regions of the ancient world. Works of the same character
and of the same enormous value continued to be made for
the embellishment of temples under the Eoman Empire.
Thus we find Priscilla, the wife of Abascantius (and he
merely an " agens in rebus," answering to our " King's

* Long after this date, when Philip though the richest prince in
that country, first became possessed of a gold cup, he valued it so highly
as to keep it always under his pillow at night : a sufficient proof of the
scarcity of such objects there before the conquest of Persia. The rare
Greek rclievi in gold that have come down to us are beaten out in
plates of the utmost tenuity, as we have seen already (c-elatura).

AUBUM. 213

messenger "), directing by her testament her heirs to dedi-
cate in the Capitol a portrait of Domitian, which should
weigh 100 pounds of gold : —

** Da Capitolinis SBtemiim sedibus aiirum
Quo niteat sacri centeno pondere vultus
CsBsarifl, et proprise signet cultricis amorem."

Stat. Syl V. i. 190.

This must have been a votive clypeus, embossed with
the imperial bust in high relief, like the "very magni-
ficent " one Antoninus subsequently put up in honour of
Hadrian. If a subordinate could offer pieces of this cost-
liness, some notion may be formed of the surpassing mag-
nitude of those coming from the superstition or vanity
of noble and imperial votaries. These donations to the
temples augmented rather than declined in amount down
to the very eve of the downfall of this time-honoured
worship. Aurelian consecrated in one single temple (doubt-
less that of his patron, the Sun) no less than 15,000
pounds' weight of gold ; besides large quantities, not speci-
fied, in the other shrines of Eome. This liberality of his
is highly commended in an eulogium upon him, beyond
all suspicion of flattery, for it was pronounced, upon the
first intelligence of his death, by the Princeps Senatus.
The nature of these truly precious memorials may be
gathered from many incidental notices in the historians of
the Lower Empire. To Claudius Gothicus, besides the
column and statue in silver already mentioned, the Senate
erected a Colossus in gold ten feet high, still standing
when Treb. Pollio wrote. To his successor Aurelian they
decreed, upon the news of his murder, a statue in gold, to
be placed in the Capitol; besides three in silver, for the
Senate-house, the Temple of the Sun, and Trajan's Forum.
Vopiscus notes (* Tacitus,' ix.) that the one in gold was never
made, but the three in silver were. It may be concluded

214 NATURAL HISTOST OF PBECI0U3 METALS, &e.

that theso figures were all of life size ; for, Lad they ex-
ceeded it, that careful historian would have mentioned the
circumstance.

The anecdote concerning Antony's veteran above cited,
recalls the fact that, at a late period of the Empire, the
vanity of the rich loved to exhibit itself in gold plate for
the table, made on the same enormous scale as that of
the later times of the Bepublic had been in silver. As an
example, in the fifth century Aetius presented a J^mis-
sorium " of the weight of 600 pounds of gold, enriched
with precious stones, of exquisite workmanship, to Toiis-
mund, king of the Goths. By the promise of this same
missorium, Sisemund, an aspirant to the Spanish throne,
in 631 purchased the alliance of King Dagobert, and
redeemed the pledge by the inadequate payment of 200,000
aurei, a sum expended by the Frankish monarch in
founding the Abbey of St. Denys. The King of the Bur-
gundians, Gontron, tells the assembled Galilean bishops,
showing them at the same time a large gold basin, that,
having captured the plate of the Eoman prefect. Mum-
mulus, he had only retained for himself one dish, weigh-
ing 150 pounds, together with this basin, and had ordered
fifteen others of the same size accompanying it, to be
melted down, having himself no use for them.

Another mode in which a great amount of gold was used
up by the later Eomans was in imitation of the Persian
fashion, the wearing of )(pva'67ra(rra, robes entirely covered
with disks of the metal adorned with stamped-up patterns.
Of these embossed decorations, or rosettes, many are still
preserved. The substance of the plate being usually of the
thickness of cartridge-paper, the entire weight going to
the ornamentation of a single robe must have been very
considerable. In the imperial mantle, as figured upon the
bezants, each disk appears in the centre of a square

AUBVM. 215

compartment formed by pearls, the whole being stitched
upon stout purple silk. In the tomb of some Gothic chief^
lately discovered at HalLstadt in Styria, lay the remains
of such a vesture in the shape of innumerable disks, the
size of a silver penny, each perforated, which, when
sewed together, must have formed a complete coat of gold.
Under the Lower Empire, and notably in the reign of
Constantius II., the Eoman mints issued an incredible
quantity of gold in medallions of large superficial extent
(some being two inches in diameter), but of compara-
tively small thickness. The execution of their types is
very careful, though the drawing betrays the influence of
the Decline, and their reverses commemorate the triumphs
(real or imaginary) of the emperor. These pieces were
mounted in filagree frames, and worn like our " orders " by
the military. There is reason to believe that these orna-
ments were the " stellatursB," in the name of which the
tribunes (colonels) used to exact heavy fees from their
men : an abuse capitally punished by the great reformer
Sev. Alexander. (Lamprid. 14).

Gold was esteemed a powerful amulet: infants were
therefore touched with it in order to baflfle the influence
of witchcraft; wounds also, with the view of promoting
their healing. Of this notion traces yet remain in the
sacred custom with old nurses of putting a piece of the
metal in the hand of the new-bom babe " for the sake of
luck;" and also of rubbing sties on the eyelids with a
wedding-ring. Nevertheless, if it were held over fowls
or sheep, it prevented them from breeding, Tintil the gold
was rinsed in water and the animals sprinkled therewith.
Boasted in an earthen-pot together with salt and vitriol,
and a second time with salt and schistos (alum), the gold
communicated, though itself unchanged, a specific virtue

216 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, de.

to the powder that rendered it a sovereign remedy for
malignant ulcers, and for the piles.

ANCIENT BRITISH COINAGE.

It has ever been a question with numismatists whether
the Britons possessed a national coinage at the time of
Caesar's invasion. The French writers, headed by Mionnet,
ever seeking for a sly blow at '*perfide Albion," boldly
claim every pennyweight of Celtic coinage turned up in
our soil as an importation from some Gallic mint — ^preten-
sions which are met with patriotic indignation by the anti-
quaries of this side of the Channel. By a strange coinci-
dence both parties quote the passage in which Ceesar
mentions the money of the Britons : the one to prove that
they hady the other that they had not, a coined money at
the time when he was writing.

This singular discrepancy in their deductions arises
from the simple fact of neither side having observed that
Caesar, in his description of Britain, divides the inha- •
bitants into two classes — colonists and aborigines. The
former, whom he describes first, were the BelgoB who had
passed over from Gaul at different times and with various
objects, and had occupied the whole of the coast, retaining
however the names of the states from which they had
emigrated (v. 12). How far this occupation had been
pushed appears from the incidental remark, that " within
the memory of people then living, Divitiacus, king of the
Suessones (Belgee), had been lord of all Britain " (ii. 4).
Those settled in the province of Cantium, and by far the
most civilized of the inhabitants, 'are noticed as differing
very slightly from the Gauls on the mainland in their
manners and customs. Now we know that the Gauls had

ANCIENT BRITISH COINAGE, 217

possessed, for perhaps two centuries before this date, an
immense gold coinage of their own. As the colonists re-
tained their ancient culture, such as it was, it follows almost
necessarily that they kept up the practice of striking coins.
They would imitate the types of their national coinage,
but more rudely until, by the successive copying of copies,
they degenerated into those barbarous designs so far re-
moved from the prototype of all (the Philippus) as to
become altogether enigmatical. That these colonists had
a coinage of their own is almost involved in the fact of
the declared identity of their civilization with that of their
parent states.

In the second place, Caesar proceeds to describe the
aborigines, the "nati in insula," according to their own
tradition ; the natural offspring of the land. These, from
his picture of them, were complete wild men of the woods,
driven far into the interior by the Belgic invaders. As
might well be expected, such savages had no coinage at
all; of the precious metals they knew nothing; their poor
representatives of value were carried about them in the
shape of personal ornaments. Caesar's actual words upon
this point are (as the acute Pinkerton has well seen)
those to be found in the editio princeps of his Commen-
taries (Eoma, 1469) — a passage later so preposterously dis-
figured by the emendations of over-learned editors, in
order to adapt it to their own preconceived ideas. It
stands thus : — " Utuntur tamen sere ut nummo aureo, aut
annulis ferreis ad certum pondus examinatis pro nummo."
Now had these native Britons, like the Gauls, possessed
a regular coinage, Caesar would not certainly have thought
such an ordinary usage a thing worthy to be enumerated
amongst the pectdiaritiea of this newly-discovered race, espe-
cially as the rest of his list consists of manners and customs
the most diverse imaginable from those of the rest of the

218 NATURAL HI8T0BY OF PBECIOUS METALS, Ac.

world. It is therefore evident that he was stmck with
this their strange substitute for a circulating medium, and
deemed it especially worthy of mention.

The estimation of the constituents of this currency
coincide with the relative value of the two metals amongst
the aborigines — the copper taking the place of gold, the
iron of silver ; for CsBsar has just before stated that all
the copper they used was imported, whereas' iron they
had, though only in small quantities, upon the sea-coast
(doubtless alluding to the old Sussex mines). Metal in
thick wire, bent up into rings of a fixed weight, was
perhaps the very earliest form of currency in the world.
The ancient Egyptians knew no other, and to this day
it is universal (for copper and gold) with the tribes on
the Guinea coast.* Such a form is recommended by its
portability on the fingers, or of several linked together
into a chain, besides the convenient shape of the piece
of metal for conversion into other uses.

The above view is corroborated by the fiact that no
British coins exist that can be attributed to the natives
beyond the limits of Belgic influence. None are ever
discovered in the region occupied by the Silures, that
powerful tribe which maintained its independence the
latest of all, nor in the country of the Ordovices, though
actually abounding in gold ; neither anywhere to the north
of the Solway, though so long the seat of an independent
British kingdom.

A few years after Cffisar's landing, Cunobelinus, a king
of the Iceni, the Belgae of the east coast, having acquired
some little tincture of Koman education, gave up the old

* Large quantities of brass are annually exported from Binningham to
Africa, cast into the shape of wide penannular rings called maniZZos,
exact counterparts of the smaller Celtic tores, and often passing cunent
for such with undiscriminating antiquaries.

BOMAN STANDARD OF CUBBENCY, 219

Greco-barbarian type of the coinage, and endeavoxired to
imitate tbat of his patron Augustus, both in design and in
make, precisely as his countrymen upon the Continent were,
a little earlier, rudely copying the consular denarii. It may
be supposed that the chiefs of the other maritime tribes
followed his example, and issued the numerous caricatures
of the Roman mintage found in other parts of England,
pieces in base silver and copper, struck in the Eoman
style, flat, not like the Greek, dished upon one side. That
such a coinage was actually carried on here, until the
real subjugation of the island in Nero's reign, is esta-
blished by a passage in Gildas (§ 7), recording that after
some great rebellion of the natives (apparently the one under
Boadicea), the Romans changed the name "Britannia"
into " Insula Romana ; " and ordained that all the metals
it possessed should be stamped with Caesar's image: "et
quidquid haberi potuisset aeris argent! vel auri imagine
Csesaris notaretur."

THE ROMAN STANDARD OF CURRENCY.

Pliny expresses his surprise that the Republic should
have exacted the tribute from all the subject nations in
silver^ instead of in gold as was the rule in his times. He
did not pay attention to the fact that under the Republic
the standard of currency was silver, and that all payments
were estimated in that medium. There had indeed been
a coinage of gold, commencing about 200 B.C., but to a
very limited extent, and apparently not so much intended
for commercial as for religious purposes, for distribution
in prizes, or for offerings to certain deities under specified
conditions. These coins were extremely minute, weighing
one scruple, Roman (18 gr. Troy), and current for 20 ses-
tertii, the value XX being marked on the obverse. Doubles

220 NATUBAL HISTOBY OF PBEC10U8 METAL8, Ac

and Triples of these are also extant, but the whole series
ranks amongst the rarest of the rare. In fact, the re-
publican gold currency was almost as restricted in extent
as that of Athens. But in the last half-century of the
Eepublic it was considerably augmented, Julius Caesar,
and the heads of the opposite party (more particularly in
the Civil Wars following his death), coining pretty largely
gold didrachms of the weight of the gold Philippus, then
the universal currency of the civilised world. But under
the Empire the whole monetary system was changed: gold
became the standard, a matter of necessity in a condition
of wealth (as it had been before under the Persian Empire) ;
silver was only issued to the amount required for necessary
small change, and by some of the first CsBsars hardly at
all, e. gr., in the reigns between Tiberius and Vespasian.
Of some of these emperors, as Claudius and Nero, more
gold pieces than silver are actually now extant. Under
the latter the issue of gold and bronze, beautiful pieces in
point of execution, was enormous,* yet his denarii are
most carelessly made and rare ; of Claudius one may
venture to say no genuine silver exists ; all now seen in
cabinets being plated pieces, and due to ancient forgers,
or if in solid silver to their modem brethren.

Gold therefore being now the standard, the taxes were
all estimated in that metal, every captt being assessed at
so many aurei. Of this regulation certain tyrants took
advantage, like Heliogabalus, who, coining axirei of ten or
more in weight, even up to 100 (bilibres), exacted the
same number of aurei as before from the payer, whilst he
decupled or centupled the actual amount. Sev. Alex-
ander, acting conversely upon the same principle, retained

* In fact, so largely did it exceed the collective bronze coinage of all
his predecessors, that Martial uses " Neroniana massa *' as synonymous
with the money-changers' stock of small coin, or " coppers."

ROMAN STANDARD OF CURRENCY. 221

the nominal amount of the assessment, whilst he reduced
the real burthen upon the taxpayer by striking first
halves,* and afterwards thirds of the aureus; and in-
tending, if possible, to issue quarters (a thing found
impracticable), thus making the caput, who had in the
previous reign paid in one aureus the value of ten, by
this singular expedient for lowering the tax, now pay but
one-thirtieth of that amount. To obviate similar injustice
it was afterwards specified in the ordinances that the
payment was to be made in aurei of so many to the ounce,f
of which, when Julian was Csesar in Gaul,J Ammian
mentions incidentally six went to the ounce, the regular
weight of the aureus after Constantine's regulation, and
of the succeeding Bezant, down to the end of the Empire.
Yet long after Julian's time the publicani had revived the
old method of extorting more than their due from the
oppressed provincials, for Majorian in an edict reprobates
their exacting payment in the gold of the Antonines,
thereby raising the tax nearly 50 per cent., for this coinage
was to that of the Lower Empire as 110 to 72, and orders
that no aureus, if of full weight, should be refused in pay-
ment of the tribute, *' except the base Gallic one," i.e. the
autonomous Celtic.

That from the beginning of the Imperial regime the
taxes had been paid in gold, and no longer in silver,
appears from the anecdote told by Suetonius of Caligula,
that, wishing to view the tangible income of the state, he

• First coined by him, according to Lampridius; before this the
aureus had no subdivisions. It is evident, therefore, how by augment-
ing the weight of the piece, the emperor was enabled to raise the assess-
ment of each caput in whatever proportion he chose.

t There are bronze weights extant of the reign of Arcadius and
Honorius, inscribed EXAGIVM SOLID!, t. e, the legal weight of the gold
coin as it was to be received by the tax-gatherer.

^ By his good management he reduced the caput from 25 to 7 solidi.

222 NATURAL HISTORY OF PBECI0U8 METALS, die.

caused all the trOmta of the year to be poured on the
floor in one room, and, Btripping himself naked, ^wallowed
" super immensos aureorum acervos," and literally bathed
in gold ; a froak befitting an imperial lunatic, and a fiuicy
full of a certain insane magnificence. From this time, too,
we find all the legal fines estimated in anrei, at first
simply named as such ; but when pieces of different weight
came to be in circulation together, the assessments are
made in ounces or pounds of gold. The ancient method of
reckoning by Sestertia was retained by the historians, who
affected the antiquated mode of expression, and perhaps
to a cei'tain extent in ordinary life, for it happened to be
convenient enough, a Sestertium (1000 nummi) being
exactly ten aurei. In fact, this old way of reckoning had
now a more tangible representative existing in the cur-
rency than before, for the Sestertius (or Nummus), the
unit, was issued in abundance by the CaBsars following
Tiberius, being what numismatists call the First Brass,
whereas, under the Republic, it may be said to have been
only a money of account, the few sestertii coined in silver
being rare to an excess. Even this custom expired in the
interval between Suetonius and the writers of the Augustan
History (who flourished under Diocletian and Constan-
tine),* for, in their reckonings of sums, the " Antoniniani "
and " Philippeii," are counted by tale, and the silver by
weight. But theorists unacquainted with this fact attempt
by long and intricate calculations to give the value of the
Sestertium, " HS," in the terms of the silvor standard, long

* Lampridius, who compiled his biographies for the information of
Oonstantlne, furnishes a striking instance of how completely, by the
beginning of the fourth century, the former calculation by sestertia had
become forgotten and out of use. Mentioning that Heliogabalus (24)
never spent less on a dinner than "centum sestertiis*' (lOOOZ.), he
explains this sum as equal to 30 lbs. weight of silver, whereas the true
value is 800 lbs.

ROMAN STANDARD OF CUBBENd. 223

before become obsolete. The sole true metbod for esti-
mating the actual amount of sums stated by tbe historians
of the Empire, is to compare the weight of the aureus
with that (intrinsic) of the modem gold, and it will be
found that for the times of the Caesars, and even down to
Severus, the former was equivalent to our sovereign. And
by a more singular coincidence it will be discovered, on
investigating the prices of the necessaries of life at the
same period, that the value of money was by no means
higher then than in our own times.

The wealth of the later Eomans, visible and tangible
be it remembered, far exceeded the nominal wealth of our
Eothschilds, existing merely in paper and in credit. M.
Crassus, observes Pliny, had engrossed for all succeeding
times the title of " the Eich," and yet the historian had
known several surpassing him in that particular, espe-
cially three at one and the same time, the freedmen and
ministers of Claudius — Callistus, Pallas, and Narcissus.
And yet this Crassus possessed landed property alone
to the value of two millions sterling (bis millies), and
was used to give for his definition of a rich man one that
could afford to maintain a legion out of his yearly income.
The amount he intended is easily calculated. The pay of
the private was a denarius per day, making 14Z. 10«. per
year. Now, putting a legion at its full complement of
6000 men (which in his times it never attained), so as
to cover the excess of the pay of the officers, the ready
money required for the pay alone is 87,000Z. ; to which
must be added the cost of feeding them, which also was
supplied by the state. A view of their general wealth
may be gained from the will of one CI. Csecilius Isidorus,
made B.C. 8, and quoted by Pliny (xxxiii. 52). Though
the testator complains oi immense losses sustained in the
recent civil war, he was yet able to leave 4116 slaves, 3600

224 NATUBAL HI8T0B7 OF PRECIOUS METAL8, dke

yoke of oxen, 257,000 head of small cattle, and in ready
money sexcenties, or 600,000Z., and to fix the expense of his
funeral at 11,000Z. The succeeding times doubtless afforded
many similar examples, for only a few years after the dis-
astrous reign of Gallienus, a time of national bankruptcy,
we find the Emperor Tacitus (a.d. 279), who had made his
money by trade, chiefly as a timber-merchant, possessing
landed property valued at two millions eight hundred thou-
sand pounds, and which, like the equally unlucky Louis
Philippe, of our memory, he made over to the state.
With his ready money he kept on foot the entiie
standing army during the six months his reign lasted.*

'*' As a necessary consequenoe of this abundance of money, liying was
as dear in ancient Borne as in modem London. To give a few examples
from three different centuries. Sulla, in the days of his obecnrity,
rented one floor of a house, unfurnished, at 3000 nummi (302.) a-year :
a freedman, his Mend, the one above at 2000. Martial gives us to
understand that a genteel house (not a palace) sold for ducenta H. S.
^20002.) ; that the cheapest of dinners could not be got under 8 nummi
(20d.), and that " literary men " were forced to live in garrets :

" Scalis atque habito tribas sed altis."

Great complaint was made to Sev. Alexander that the price of meat
had risen to 8 minuti (28.) the pound ; he by wise regulations caused it
to fall to one quarter of that sum. The tariff of Diocksian*s edict, above
quoted, is compared by Waddington to present Parisian prices.

CARBUNCULUS. 225

CAEBUNCULUS : "AvOpa^i Rvhy, and Garnet.

The modem name for this stone, Ruby, Bvbino, is merely
an epithet expressive of its distinctive colour, as being the
Bed variety of the Hyacinthns. For, one of the inexplicable
chemical enigmas of Nature, the Ruby and the Sapphire,
though differing so greatly in appearance, are chemically
the same substance, pure Alumina. For the same reason
Marbodus calls this division of the Hyacinthus " Granaticus,"
from its resemblance in tint to the crimson juice of the
pomegranate.

The Ruby was the first *Av^pa^ of Theophrastus (18), a
name signifying a live coal, because *' it was blood red in
colour (ipvOpos) ; but if held up against the sun, assumed
the appearance of a burning piece of charcoal." He terms
it " very valuable, insomuch that a small ring-stone used to
sell for 40 gold staters (40 guineas)," a statement which
could hardly apply, in his age of high civilization and ex-
tended commerce, to our Garnet or Carbuncle, a common
stone, and produced abundantly in many parts of Europe.
The true Ruby must likewise be included amongst the
numerous species of the Carbunculus described by Pliny
(xxxvii. 25), though, as De Laet has justly observed (i. 2),
there can be no doubt that he classed under that generic
name every kind of red, transparent, fiery stone: the
Pyrope, the Almandine, and the Red Jacinth, equally with
our Ruby. One of the qualities, however, which Pliny
assigns to his Carbunculi, that of not being affected by the

(M) Q

226 NATURAL HI8T0BY OF PBECI0U8 STONES, ike.

fire, whence they were called "Acausti," applies exdn-
mvelj to the Kuby. For whilst the Garnet easily fdses
into a dark globule of oxide of iron (and in some Swedish
mines constitutes, in its coarsest form, an appreciable pro-
portion of the ore smelted), Henckel relates an experiment
in which a Enby was sufficiently softened by means of a
powerful burning-glass to receive the impression &om a
Jasper intaglio, without the slightest detriment to its
original colour or hardness on its cooling.

The same conclusion may be deduced from the brief
notice in Theophrastus, who particularises, amongst the
" polygonal " ones found in the neighbourhood of Miletus,
some having " six " angles. Now the numerous angles of
the common Garnet, a rhombic dodecahedron, form its
most distinguishing feature ; whilst the Spinel Euby is a
perfect octahedron, and therefore presents but six angles :
and the exactness of its singular form would naturally fix
the attention of the early mineralogist. Pliny gives the
first place to the Carbunculi Amethystizontes, " in which
the extreme blaze goes out in the purple of the Amethyst."
These may have been our Almandines, as well as our purple
Spinels, for the difference between the two is hardly to be
appreciated by the eye alone.

But the true Euby and its two inferior varieties can
with greater certainty be referred to that class of the
Carbunculi described separately by Pliny as the Lychnis.
His Lychnis belonged to the same family of fiery stones
as the Carbimculus, was of pre-eminent beauty, and derived
its name from its property either of lighting up lamps,
or of lighting up itself by lamplight (a lucemarum a,c-
censu). The former explanation of his meaning is sup-
ported by Orpheus, saying of his Lychnis (At^wca, 270),
"from off the altars, thou, like the Crystal, dost send
forth a flame without the aid of fire ;" but Solinus, as we

CABBUNCULU8. 227

shall see immediately, understood it in the latter more
prosaic sense. Perhaps, after all, Pliny's expression meant
no more than lamp-like blaze, for Dionysius has to that
effect —

, , . Xvxvls vvphs <p\oy\ vdfAvav d/Aolrj.

It was produced in Orthosia, as well as all over Caria
and the neighbouring regions; but that most esteemed
came from India :* ** which last some have termed a Car-
buncle of milder tint." The second in rank was the Ionia, so
called from its resemblance to the flower of the same name
(the Greek "lov, or Ked Cyclamen). ** And between these
last I And a difference noticed, one kind having a purple
lustre, the other a red (cocco, Jcermes). Warmed in the
sunshine, or by friction with the fingers, they attract
straws and scraps of paper."f The description of the same
stone given by Solinus is, according to his custom, much
more definite than the above, and more that of the prac-
tical gem-dealer. He calls the species " Lychnites," be-
cause these stones shine most by lamp-light ; *' it is both of
a transparent purple and of a light red, and attracts bits
of thread, straws, &c., when rubbed, or heated in the sun.
It is very difficult to engrave, and tJien pulls away the wax
as though by the bite of a living creature, * velut quodam

* The Greeks carefully distrnguish the first class amongst the^Av^po^
species by the epithet of ** Indian." Thus the Golden Vine, beneath
which the King of Persia used to sit in state, had bunches t>f grapes hi'
Emeralds, in '* Indian Carbuncles," and in all kinds of other gems ex-;
ceeding in value (Ath. xii. 539). There can be no dispute, however.,
that little, if any, distinction was then made between the fine Siriam
Garnets, the Spinel, and the Buby.

t The Carthaginian Carbunculus (zxxvii. 30), though of less value
than the Lychnis, was said also to exhibit this electric property; another
argument that the "Avdpa^ of Theophrastus, " brought from Carthage,"
was a true Ruby. The native Gaxnet cannot be rendered electric by any
amount of friction, but can when faceted,

4 2

228 NATURAL EI8T0BY OF PBECI0U8 STONES. &e.

animal is morsu.'" Now all these qualities can be found
combined in no other stone but the Kuby. The best still
come from India (Siam and Ceylon), though inferior ones
are sometimes found in Bohemia (of which more anon).
The true Euby bums with the redness of the alchermes
dye; the Balais is of the same tint, only diluted into a
faint rose, or a lilac ; the Spinel, of pure red, or of crim-
son tinged with blue, or with brown counterfeiting the
orange of the Jacinth.* In hardness they are only sur-
passed by the Diamond and the Sapphire; in fact, none
but Oriental artists have attempted to engrave upon them
in modern times. But the character noted by both these
ancient mineralogists, which decides the question beyond
all cavil, is their remarkable electricity. I have ascer-
tained by actual experiment (and seem to have been the
first to make the discovery) that both tlie Spinel and the
Balais (native) possess this property in the highest degree ;
to the same extent indeed as the Sapphire or Brazilian
Topaz. That early author Erasmus Stella (1517) inter-
prets Lychnites by Almandine ; but the latter, a mere species
of the Garnet, is non-electric before it has received a
" vitreous polish" from art, a fact which entirely excludes it
from the descriptions of Pliny and Solinus. Hauy, how-
ever, points out one infallible test for distinguishing the
Kuby from the Garnet in all their respective varieties.
The latter, however pure and lustrous, if held so as to
reflect the light directly, appears black and opaque, the
former similarly examined retains its transparency and
true colour.

It is curious that the name Spinel should be merely an
equivalent of Carbunculus, being a diminutive of ^Trtvos,

* Some Spinels are bright cherry, which again tinged with yellow
gives a j»alo cinnamon ; a rare vaiicty is a deep violet ; and lastly, a
white Spinel comes from Brazil mixed with Diamonds.

CABBUNCULUS. 229

GWLvOrjp, a spark. Theophrastus (13) describes by this
name a mineral found at Binae, in the copper-mines, which
broken to pieces and piled np in the sun ignites spon-
taneously, the more readily if sprinkled with water; but
this must, from the last peculiarity, have been Iron
Pyrites.

" Balais" is foolishly explained by De Boot as a corrup-
tion of Palatium, as being the " abode" or matrix of the
true Euby, according to the doctrine of his day, that every
Precious Stone was produced in a matrix consisting of an
inferior variety of the same subject-matter. But De Laet
comes nearer the mark in quoting Marco Polo's notice of a
mountain, BaUaheia, in India, supplying this stone and
giving it the appellation. The old French designation
** Eubin de Balais," further confirms this. Ballen, ** king,"
was the Phrygian name for a certain fiery stone : perhaps
this, after all, is the true etymology of the word. And to
conclude, Chardin gives the true source as Balachani, " the
stone of Balachan" (Pegu), the Persian name for the Euby,

Another argument, perhaps of some weight, as founded
on old tradition, in support of the identity of the Balais
with one kind of the Lychnis, is that Camillo ascribes
the same supernatural virtues in averting hail and tempests
to the Balais, which Orpheus has given to his Lychnis.

The only Eubies fit for the jeweller's purpose are
brought from Siam, whose king assumes the style of '* Lord
of Eubies," and does his best to preserve the title by
making the mines a royal monopoly, and strictly pro-»
hibiting the exportation of all the fine specimens that
come to light. This is the true cause of the extreme rarity
of large Eubies in Europe. But ill-coloured, flawed stones
abound in every quarter of the globe; in America, oc-
curring in large, opaque crystals ; in Ceylon, in small
rounded masses in company with Sapphires in the river

230 NATURAL EI8T0BT OF PBECIOUS 8TONJBS3y Ac.

gravel ; in Australia, where tlie diggers meet with them
by the thousand in the gold-wajshings, and giving them
the name of Garnets, take no farther heed of them. Yet
this last region will probably soon rival Pegu when the
placers come to be examined by experienced eyes, for it is
said on good authority that a few Bubies of very £ur
quality have already found their way from Australia into
the London market.

It is a certain, though utterly inexplicable faot, that all
precious stones produced in Europe, fall infinitely short
both in tint and in lustre of their congeners matured by
the sun of the tropics, although chemistry can detect no
difference in the constituents of the two classes. Never
theless Tavemier, a jeweller of the widest experience,
talks of Eubies discovered in his time in Bohemia, that
could not be distinguished from those of Pegu, and tells
thereanent the following remarkable anecdote, which I
transcribe as best given in his own words: — "Je me
souviens qu'estant un jour a Prague avec le Vice-Boy de
Hongrie k qui j'^tois, comme il lavoit aveo le General
Wallenstein, Due de Friedland, pour se mettre ^ table, il
vit k la main de ce General un Bubi dont il loua la bonte.
Mais il Tadmira bien plus quand Wallenstein lui dit que la
mine de ces pierres estoit en Boheme ; et de fait au depart
du Vice-Boy il lui fit present d'environ une centaine de
ces cailloux dans une corbeille. Quand nous fumes de
retour en Hongrie, le Vice-Boy les fesoit rompre ; et de
tous ces caillous il n'y en eut que deux dans chacun
desquels on trouva un Bubi : Tun assez grand^ qui pouvoit
peser pres de cinq carats, et I'autre d*un carat ou environ."

It would be in vain to look in any modem mineralogist
for so accurate and instructive a description of the natural
characters of the Spinel, and its variations, as that left us by
Ben Mansur. " The Laal has four sorts : the red, the yellow.

CAMBVNCULUS. 231

the violet, the green like the Emerald. The same stone
has often the one half red, the other green. The red
species has again eight subdivisions, of which the first is
the GescMunegi; the seventh, Edrisi, is called the gem of
Enoch. The Geschdunegi is especially agreeable, being
pleasantly coloured and brilliant. The fourth, the Lahmi
or flesh-coloured, is of a dark red. The gradations of the
Laal are numerous, and persons experienced in precious
stones are well apprised that between the Spinel, the
Garnet, and the coloured Crystal (common Amethyst?)
there is often no difference in the colour. The distinction
between them consists in the greater hardness of the
Spinel, which cannot be rubbed down upon the anvil.
The coloured Crystal again, if held up against the sun,
appears white. The Laal hath its epithet of Bedaschan,
not because it is dug up in that place, so much as from its
being sold there. In the times of the caliphate of the
Abbasides a hill at Chatlan was burst open by an earth-
quake, and therein they found the so-called Laal-Bedaschan
contained within a white stone as its matrix. It takes a
polish with great difficulty, and for a long time they were
unable to polish it at all, until at last they effected it by
means of the gold marcasite called Ebrendsche. They find
in the matrix smaller Spinels sticking all around a bigger
one, like the seeds in a pomegranate. The miners call the
matrix Maal They found in the mine first the red, and
afterwards the yellow Laal. The stone belongs to the
species of the Jacut (i.e. the red Corundum)."

The.Eomans experienced the same difficulty that exists
now in distinguishing the various kinds of their Carbun-
culus from each other in consequence of the practice of
jewellers to back them with vaiious foils so as to improve
their colour : " tanta est in illis occasio artis, subditis per
quae translucere cogantur." A delusion this, especially to

232 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, As.

be observed in works of the Eenaissance, where headn iu
relief, set in rings, often appear like the finest Babies ; but
are in fact only Garnets backed by a ruby foil.* It was
also believed in Pliny's time that the dull-coloured Car-
bunculi could be made lustrous by maceration in vinegar
for the space of fourteen days ; and that the effect lasted
for the same number of months. These gems were also
imitated so exactly in paste, that the false could only bo
distinguished from th^ true by touching them witb the
emery-stone (cote) : the artificial substance being softer
and brittle, inferior in weight, and sometimes showing
silvery air-bubbles in the interior. And this is true to the
letter, for in no other colour, except the Emerald, have
the ancients been so successful as with the Kuby, in the
making of their pastes : for example, an antique paste
lately came under my notice bearing a splendid intaglio of
Medusa's Head, which could with the utmost difficulty be
detected to be not an actual Carbuncle, even showing all
the flaws within its substance to which the real stone is so
liable. These flaws in the imitative gem are produced
designedly, by suddenly cooling the paste upon its with-
drawal from the furnace. I

True Kubies, and of good colour, uncut but with their

* Infinitely more ingenious as well as deceptive is the device the
Parisian trade lias recently hit upon for imparting to pale, valueless
Rubies the richest colour they ought to possess, and that, too, without
the use of foil. The inside of the setting is filled with ruby enamel,
which deeply tinges the entire stone enclosed therein ; the Ruby is set
a jour, and thus lulls all suspicion of trickery to rest.

t The monster Ruby of Charles the Bold, set in the middle of a
golden rose for a pendant (perhaps a Lancastrian badge, and a bribe
from the suppliant Margaret of Anjou), captured by the Bernese after
his rout at Granson, turned out, when purchased by Jacob Fugger, to
be false. It was of a somewhat irregular heart-shape, one inch iu the
widest, and no doubt had come down to the Duke's times from the
Roman. (Figured by Lambeccius, Bib. Caes. i. 516.)

CABBUNCULUS. 233

natural surface rudely polished, occur both inserted, into
pieces of antique jewelry, and set in rings dating from the
earliest times. In the Hertz Collection was a necklace
formed out of native Rubies and Emeralds of fine colour
and as large as horse-beans, drilled through and elegantly
linked together with strong twisted gold-wire, in a similar
manner (though much more substantially) to the Sapphire
necklace from Rutupiae noticed under " Hyacinthus." Such
a mode of employing these very hard gems was long main-
tained. De Laet, writing in 1647, states that Rubies were
then very generally set unpolished both in rings and in
ladies' ornaments ; for, " unlike the Diamond that hath no
beauty save when shaped and polished, the Ruby charms
without any aid from art." He remembered when it was
still the custom (and an ancient one) for the gentleman to
present the lady on their betrothal with two rings, the one
set with a Diamond, the other with a Ruby table-cut. This
gift went by the French name " Mariage."

The Ruby, though of the same chemical composition as
the Sapphire, slightly yields to it in hardness ; the Spinel,
again, into which a small proportion of magnesia enters, is
still softer ; nevertheless, antique works in either are even
more uncommon than on the Sapphire itself. As in
modem, so in ancient times, the Ruby was far the rarer of
the two, and therefore to violate its beauty by an engraving
was regarded as the extreme of imperial extravagance. In
fact, the experienced Lessing (A. Br. Ixxix.), and later the
Count de Clarac (' Cat. des Artistes Gr. et Rom.'), altogether
deny the existence of any really antique intagli in these
harder gems ; but the instances to be adduced under
"Smaragdus" and ** Hyacinthus " sufficiently prove that
this rule, although generally true, yet admits of some,
though rare, exceptions. Here is the place to remark that
engravings on any of the " Precious Stones" are always to

234 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, As.

be received with the greatest suspicion; modem artisiB,
working for wealthy patrons, having found it their interest
to employ such materials as could recommend themselves
to their purse-proud employers by the mere value of the
substance (one thing which, at least, they could appre-
ciate), as well as by the art displayed upon it, which, in
their eyes, would be frequently but a minor consideration.
The ancient artists, on the contrary, chose only sach stones
as were best suited for the execution of their work, and
for rendering the most perfect impression of it when re-
quired for its proper use ; always, for both these reasons,
preferring the Sard, in which engravings by the eminent
masters of antiquity will be found executed in a larger pro-
portion than in all the other gems put together. Entirely
devoted to the one object, that of striving after artistic
perfection, they altogether disregarded the paltry glory of
overcoming difficulties by the fruitless expenditure of their
invaluable time (a point in which many amongst the
modems, notably Louis Siries and Costanzi, placed their
chief claim to reputation) ; neither did they ever dream of
seeking for renown rather by the preciousness of the medium
than by the excellence of the performance.

Nevertheless, a few works in Euby of apparently indis-
putable antiquity have been observed by me amongst the
thousands of other gems examined. First, on account of
the quality — a large oval slightly convex stone, of the
true "pigeon's blood"* tint, and weighing apparently
about 3 carats — is one in the Devonshire Parure (No. 17
in the Bandeau), engraved with a Venus Victrix — a but
poor intaglio in the latest Koman manner. A full-length
figure of Osiris in half-relief, seems a production of the

* The teat of a perfect Ruby is its exact agreement in colour with
the fresh blood of a pigeon dropped upon the same sheet of paper on
which it lies.

CABBUNCULU8. 235

Egyptian Revival tinder Hadrian. In Spinel, may be cited
a most spirited Gorgon's Head (Praun) and a head of Perti-
nax, now in my possession.* In Balais, the finest head of
a Bacchante in existence, seen in front face, and crowned
with ivy, the expression of the countenance full of a wild
inspiration, and the treatment of the flesh and of the
flowing hair beyond all praise: a masterpiece belonging
to the best days of Roman Glyptic art. For, at the side
is perceptible in neat, but almost microscopic, letters the
name EAAHN, previously known as occurring upon an
exquisite bust of Antinous represented as Harpocrates
(Orleans). This gem has been pronounced antique by the
best judges in Paris, and was bequeathed as a precious
souvenir by the late possessor, L. Fould, to Baron Roger
(I'aine). The earliest indubitable example of the gem-
engraving of the middle ages as yet discovered by mo
is the Spinel of the Marlborough cabinet. It is a fine-
coloured stone, three-eighths of an inch square ; the intaglio
a head in front-face wearing a crown with three fleur-de-
lys, deeply cut and carefully finished. It much resembles
that of our Henry YI. upon his great seal. The ring
enriched with it is of his date, and highly ornamented,
with the legend on the beasil, " Tel il nest:'* "There is
none like him." It is supposed with some reason to have
been the betrothal-ring of Margaret of Anjou.

Some very noble works in Ruby have also been left us by
Italians of the early Renaissance : for instance, an intaglio,
a head of Thetis capped with a crab's shell, deserves
especial mention from the similarity of its style to the

* Other Intagli in Spinel might be quoted ; in foot, they are far fix)m
being of the first rarity (particularly in the Sassanian class), but the
stone is usually mistaken for the Almandine, or the Jacinth fthe
brownish red).

236 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, As.

best Greek— the stone large, irregular, and of a pale roee^
colour, formerly in the Hertz ; ♦ and as a work in relief
a head of Serapis in front face, executed in the grandest
manner upon a large stone of immense value, by &r the
first amongst the engraved of the Hope Cabinet of Precious
Stones.

Amongst her Majesty's Camei is preserved at once the
most interesting work in Euby and the earliest authentic
portrait executed since the EevivaL It is the head of
Louis XII., upon a fine stone of considerable size, being
half an inch in diameter. The drawing is correct, though
with much of the stiffness of the Quattro-cento style about
it ; all the details are carefully touched in, and the relief is
flat. Historic interest and artistic merit combine to render
it an invaluable monument of the first age of the revived
art. As Vasari extols Domenico dei Camei so highly for
his intaglio portrait of Ludovico il More upon a Balais
the size of a Giulio (a shilling), it is very probable that
the Gallic eubverter of the last of the Sforza line may
have commanded the same engraver to perpetuate his own
features also in this precious stone. We actually find
Da Vinci transferring without scruple his services to the
victor upon the expulsion of the Duke, his former muni-
ficent patron. This Euby is set in a massy gold ring
of the fashion of the period; bearing on the inside his
name "Loys XII." with the date of his demise, 1515.
On these grounds it may with reason be supposed a
memento-ring sent on the death of the French king to
his youthful brother-in-law, Henry VIII. The Oi:leans
Cabinet also possessed a very remarkable Euby engraved
with the intaglio head of Henri IV., with the date

* Now Baron Rothschild's.

CARBUNCULUS. 237

1598 : which can only be attributed to his own engraver,
Coldor^.

It must be remarked here that the Euby never attains
to the same dimensions as the renowned giants of the
Diamond family. The largest seen by Garcias in India
did not exceed 24 carats; and for this a prince in the
Deccan had paid six manus (156 pounds' weight) of gold.
But Eudolf II. possessed one as big as a small hen's egg,
bequeathed to him by his sister, the queen-dowager of
France. Although De Boot seems uncertain as to its real
nature,* yet it had been purchased originally for 66,000
ducats. x\t present, the King of Ava actually is owner
of one of the same incredible magnitude, said also to
be perfect in all respects ; which he wears for a pendant
in his ear, a somewhat inconvenient piece of magnificence.
The finest crown-jewel of Persia, (says Chardin, who
examined the stone carefully in 1606) was a Ruby as
big as a hen's egg cut in half, and that of the finest and
deepest colour he had ever seen. On its upper part the
name " Chaic Sophy " had been cut by its former master,
perfectly regardless of the detriment thus occasioned to
its beauty.

The names Carhunculus and Lychnis gave rise to many
wonderful stories, suggested by their primary meaning
to the fancy of the credulous Greeks. Thus MUbxl relates
(H. A. viii.) how a certain widow, Heraclea by name, had
tended a young stork which, having fallen out of the
nest before it was fully fledged, had broken its leg, and
how the grateful bird, on returning from the annual migra-
tion of its kind, dropped into her lap, as she sat at her
door, a precious stone, whicJi, on her awaking at night,
she found to her astonishment had lighted up her chamber

* All the great historic Bubies now extant are pronounced Spinels
by modem mineralogists.

238 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, dx.

like a blazing torcli.* A similar description is that retail
by Lucian in his account of the statue of the Syrian Groddi
(Astarte). '* llie goddess wears on her head a gem call
Lychnis (lamp-stone), a name derived from its natoi
for from it a great and shining light is diffused in t
night-time, so that the whole temple is thereby light
up as though by many lamps burning. By day the lust
is more feeble, nevertheless it still presents a very fie
appearance."! Alardus, a Dutchman, writing in the ye
1639, caps this legend with the following wonderf
account of a similar gem: '* Amongst other stones of tJ
most precious quality, and therefore beyond all price ai
not to be valued at any equivalent of human riches, tl
gift of that most noble lady Hildegarde, formerly wi
of Theodoric Count of Holland, which she had cause
to be set in a gold tablet of truly inestimable vali
dedicated by her to St, Adelbert, patron of the town
I^mund ; amongst these gems I say was a Ghrysolampi
commonly called an Osculan, which in the night-time i

* Tho Lychnites is spoken of by Philostratus (Vit. ApolL ii. 14) i
placed by the stork in the fabric of her nest for an amulet against se
pents. This explains why JSlian's stork should have selected tl
"Apdpa^ for the foe to its nurse. The luminous property is thus in
proved upon by Psellus (De Lapid. xii.) : " The Lychnites is a stoi
that gives the power of seeing in the dark (vu/cTcUairos) if hung rorai
the neck. It also cures fluxions of the eyes, if tied in a linen cloth upc
the forehead." Martial's "Lychnis cerites*' is explained by whj
Plutarch (De Fluv.) has : " In the Hydaspes is found the stoi
called Lychnis, resembling oil in colour, and highly polished. It
discovered when the moon is waxing, to the sound of flfes, and it is woi
by people of exalted rank."

t Epiphanius, under " Carbuncle." *' When worn it is impossible i
conceal it ; for notwithstanding whatsoever clothes it may be covere
over witli, its lustre shows itself outside its envelope, whence it is calle
the Carbimcle." And almost in the same words, M. Ben Mansuj
" The Bidschade (Garnet) is a clear stone of a pure water, that oft€
loses not its lustre even when imder the clothes."

CABBUNCULU8. 239

lighted up the entire chapel on all sides that it served
instead of lamps for the reading of the Hours late at night,
and would have served the same purpose to the present
day, had not the hope of gain caused it to be stolen by a
runaway Benedictine monk, the most greedy creature that
ever went on two legs. Afterwards, however, from the
fear of being convicted of sacrilege by having so notable a
gem in his possession, he threw it away into the sea near
Egmund. Some traces of this stone still remain in the
upper border of the before-mentioned tablet."* Creuzer,
in his 'Description of the Tomb of St. Elizabeth at
Marburg,' states that the same belief was to the last firmly
held by the common folks as to the nocturnal luminousness
of the huge "Karfunkel" set above the statuette of the
Saviour upon the principle fa9ade of this magnificent
Chdsse, in silver-gilt, made in the year 1249. This stone, on
examination by him before 1808 (most of the gems were
stolen after the removal of the Ch^se to Cassel), proved
to be no more than a common yellow Crystal or German
Topaz, possessing, it is needless to add, no phosphorescent
quality whatever, save to the eye of Faith, that by the same
intense straining was of old enabled to discern the mystic
light of Tabor. Such a property belongs, in reality, to no
other precious stone than the Diamond, and that only
retains it for a few minutes after having been excited by
exposure to the sunshine, and then immediately carried
into a dark room. This singular phenomenon must often
have attracted the notice of Orientals on entering their
gloomy chambers after long exposure to their blazing sun,

* Two centuries before Alardus, Sir John Mandeville, speaking as
an eye-witness, reports : " This Emperour (of Cathaye) hathe in his
chambre, in on of the pyleres of gold, a Rubye and a ChaxboDcle of half
a fote loDg, that in the nyghte semethe so grete, clartee, and shynynge^
that it is als light as day."

240 NATUBAL HI8T0BF OF PBECI0U3 STONES, Se.

and thus have afforded ample foundation to the marvelloiui
legends built upon this isolated fact hy their fertile
imaginations. If the Diamond possessed this virtue, a
fortiori, reasoned they, it must also characterize tlie Bubj
— a stone held by them then, as now, in so much higher
estimation.* Gesner, her contemporary, relates that our
Catherine of Arragon used to wear a ring set with, a stone
luminous at night, which he conjectures was a Buby.
Fraught with historic associations to the minds of English-
men beyond all other gems is the huge Spinel set in front
of the great Crown of England, having been a present to
the Black Prince fix)m Pedro the Cruel, upon the victory
of Najera in 1367, and afterwards worn upon his helmet
by Henry V. at the battle of Agincourt. It is an irregular
oval, pierced through the middle, after the usual Indian
fashion ; and having this perforation filled up with a small
stone of the same kind to conceal it

ToUius quotes Wolfgang Gabelchover for a property of the
Euby more wondrous still. " It is worthy of notice that the
true Oriental Ruby presages to the wearer by the frequent
change and darkening of its colour that some inevitable
loss or misfortune is not far off: and in proportion to the
greatness of the coming evil so doth it assume a greater or
a less degree of darkness and opacity — a thing which I
had heard repeatedly from people of the highest eminence,
and have, alas ! experienced in my own person. For, on
December 5, 1600, as I was travelling from Stutgard to
Calwam in company with my beloved wife Catharine
Adelmann, of pious memory, I observed most distinctly
during the journey that a very fine Euby, her gift, which I
wore set in a ring upon my finger had lost, once or twice,

* Ben Mansur puts the " Jacut " (after the Pearl) at the head of the
precious stones, and of this species he makes the rose-coloured (Ruby)
the first.

CABBUNCULUS.

241

almost all its splendid colour, and had put on dullness in
the place of brilliancy, and darkness in the place of light :
the which blackness and opacity lasted not for one or two
days only, but several; so that being beyond measure
disgusted thereat, I took the ring off my finger and locked
it up in my trunk. Whereupon I repeatedly warned my
wife that some grievous mishap was impending over either
her or myself, as I foreboded from the change of colour in
my Ruby. N or was I wrong in my anticipation, inasmuch
as within a few days she was taken with a fatal sickness
that never left her till her death. And truly after her
decease its former brilliant colour again returned sponta-
neously to my Ruby."

(M)

242 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, Ac.

HYACINTHUS: 'TaKLvOo^;: ^Sapphire: PreeUm%
Corundum.

Of no ancient appellation has the proper attribution been
80 much and so variously disputed as of this. The earlier
writers, such as De Boot, and De Laet, put it down without
any hesitation as the finer sort of the common Amethyst ;
Millin and K. O. Miiller regard it as the lighter-coloured
variety of the same ; the latter pretending that the name
"Amethystus" only applied to the dark-purple kind.
Bruckmann is uncertain whether it meant a pale Amethyst
or a Garnet tinged with violet — the Almandine. Leasing,
on the other hand, defines it as a reddish- brown fiery stone,
the present dark Jacinth. All these explanations are based
upon the exclusive consideration of the passage of Pliny's
(xxxvii. 40) containing a brief and vague description of
the Hyacinthus ; for, curiously enough, it is not included
in Theophrastus' list of ring-stones : perhaps in his age it
had scarcely found its way into Greece from the remotest
parts of India. Pliny's words are : " The Hyacinthus
differs greatly from the Amethystus, although descending
from a neighbouring colour (ab vicino tamen colore
descendens). The difference consists in this, that the
violet splendour of the Amethystus is diluted in this stone,
and, so far from filling the eye, does not even reach it,
fading away more speedily than the flower of the same
name." But what this flower was is fully as much a
matter of dispute amongst the botanists, as is the nature of

HTACINTHUS. 243

the gem with the mineralogists. Pliny (xxi. 97) describes
it as a bulbous plant, growing most abundantly in Gaul,
and used by the natives for making the dye " hysginum,"
usually translated, blue. Its juice had the singular
property of checking the development of puberty in boys,
and therefore was valuable in preserving their youthful
bloom for the slave-market.* It was also an antidote
against serpent-bites, another proof it was some powerful
narcotic. Sprengel defines it to be the common gladiolus,
an explanation overthrown by Pliny's distinction : " Post
hanc gladiolus comitatm hyacinthis." Many others agree
with La Chaux in considering it to be the tiger lily, with
whom sides Milton, who has

** Like to the sanguine flower inscribed with woe."

A few make it to be the lark-spur, a purple flower, hence
termed delphinium Ajacis, because inscribed with the
name of that hapless hero. My own opinion, amidst this
diversity, rather inclines to the blue fleur-de-lys, the
blossom of which lasts but a day, and thus answers to one
of Pliny's characters of the disputed flower. This is
supported by Ovid's elegant description of its first springing
from the blood of the youthful Hyacinthus :

** Flos oritur formamque capit quam lilia si non
Purpureus color hie argenteus esset in illis :
Non satis hoc Phoebo est, is enim fuit auctor honoris
Ipse sues gemitus foliis inscribit et AI, AI,
Flos habet inscriptum, funestaque litera dueta est."

The Eoman " lilium " was equally wide in its acceptation
as the Italian **giglio;" that the latter includes the iris,

* "Hyacinthus in Gallia maxime provenit, hoc ibi fuco hysginum
tingunt. Radix est bulbacea, mangonicis venaliciis pulchre nota, quia e
vinodulci illitapubertatemcoercet, et non patitur erumpere : torminibus
et araneariun morsibus resistit, urinam impellit, contra serpentes et
scorpiones, morbumque regium semen ejus cum abrotono datur."

R 2

244 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS 8T0NE8, Ac

tho ancient badge of Florence still attests, at first argent^
but subsequently turned into guka :

" Per division fatto vermiglio."
Orris-root (the Tuscan plant), too, is known to cause para-
lysis if largely taken, a point offering another analogy to the
specific use of the ancient Hyacinthus.* Visconti actually
figures a statue of Hyacinthus holding in his hand a fleur-
de-lys for an identifying symbol. This flower, too, -exhibits
on the petals ApoUa's cry of grief, " AI, AI," mentioned as
its prime characteristic by the poet, and also by Pliny.f
Pausanias, however, makes a distinction between the flower
of Ajax and that of the Amyclaean boy : " The people of
Salamis say that the flower of Ajax first showed itself in
their couutry after his death. It is white with a pink tinge,
and, both in blossom and leaves, is smaller than the lily.
The same letters are seen upon it as upon the hyacinthus "
(I. 35). Again he has : " Their garlands are woven out of
the flower that the people there (Corinth) call the ' cosmo-
sandalon,* which is, in my opinion, the hyacinthus, both
for size and for colour. Besides, there are upon it the
letters expressing lamentation " (II. 35). The first of these
was evidently our common Turk's-cap. But it is also
quite as evident that the ancients gave the name of
Hyacinthus to several totally distinct fiowers, provided
only their petals exhibited the necessary notes of woe. J

* Similarly Hippolytus informs us the Eleusinian hecrophants
emasculated themselves by the external application of hemlock.

t " Hyacinthum comitatur fabula duplex, luctum prseferens ejus quern
Apollo dilexcrat, aut ex Ajacis cruore editi ; ita discurrentibus vcnis ut
Grsecarum literarura figura A I, A I, legatur" (?6. 38).

X The Orleans gem would indeed set the question at rest were its
antiquity certain, but unhappily the composition savours strongly of the
Cinque-cento taste. It represents the boy enveloped in the petals of an
indubitable gladiolus-blossom just emerging from the earth, on which
tliegod is engraving the dissyllable of woe with the arrow of Cupid, wlio
stands mournfully by in the act of breaking his now useless bow-string.

HYACINTHUS. 245

But to return to the precious stone. Pliny must have
believed that it derived its name from its resemblance in
colour to the flower ; but there was as little foundation for
this as for most other ancient etymologies in this depart-
ment. The Indian name for the stone, of which the
Arabic Jacut preserves the sound, was readily assimilated
by the poetical Greeks to that of Apollo's favourite
Hyacinthus, more properly written "Hyacis"— the more
especially as there is some reason for believing that the
gem, at least in later times, was accounted sacred to the sun.

The identity of names between Apollo's darling and the
precious stone, gave origin to the epigram (ix. 751) :

*A <r<ppay\s vdKiyOos *Air6W<ov 5* ia-rlv iv ivr^
Koi Ad<pyri' Trortpov ficiWov 6 ArfToidas :

•' Hyacinth the gem ; Apollo graved thereon
And Daphne : which charms most Latona's son ? "

But that the Hyacinthus of the ancients is the Sapphire of
the moderns will be perfectly evident to every mineralogist
who will carefully peruse the minute description of the
same gem given bySolinus: '* Amongst these things (in
Ethiopia) of which we have treated, is found also the
Hyacinthus of a shining cerulean colour ; a stone of price if
it be found without blemish, for it is extremely liable to
defects. For generally it is either diluted with violet, or
clouded with dark shades, or else it melts away into a
watery hue through too great paleness. The best colour of
the stone is an equable one, neither dulled by too deep a
dye, nor too clear with overmuch transparency, but which
draws a sweetly-coloured tinge (florem) from the double
mixture of lustre and violet (purpura). This is the stone
that feels the influence of the air, and sympathises with
the heavens, not shining equally whether the sky be
cloudy or bright. Besides, when put in the mouth, it is

246 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STON^ ice

colder than other stones. For engraviDg upon, indeed, it
is by no means adapted, inasmuch as it defies all grinding
(attritum respnat) : it is not, however, entirely invincible,
since it is engraved upon and cut into shape (scribitor et
figuratiir) by means of the diamond." In the preceding
passage Solinus has noticed the production of cinnamon in
the same district, which, as the native country of that
spice, must have lain very fiar south in the Indian Ocean.
" -Ethiopia " and ** India " are frequently used indiscrimi-
nately by the writers of the Decline; Heliodorus, for
instance, talks of the gymnosophists, bamboos, and ame-
thysts of the former country — things all peculiar to the
latter.

Three characters in the above passage apply to our
Sapphire, and to no other gem; the lustrous sky-blue
colour, its liability to be clouded with shades of indigo or
with watery blue, and its pre-eminent hardness — ^the last
quality, indeed, being possessed by it in the next degree to
the Diamond. Pliny's accoimt of the Hyacinthus, already
quoted, agrees in the main with the above, though his
description of the gem is far from being so explicit as that
of Solinus, who was evidently a connoisseur in precious
stones, and throughout the whole of his compilation has
successfully laboured to rectify and elucidate the somewhat
Joose and confused language of the great naturalist. Solinus,
to judge from his style and certain historical allusions to be
discovered in his text,* flourished two centuries after
Pliny, when the active commercial intercourse with India,
established in the reign of Trajan, had made the Eomans

* For example, he speaks of a temple of Hercules still venerated,
standing in the Fonim Boarium, protected by his club (the original':
from the entrance of all flies, which proves him anterior to Theodosias,
and of the full of the Pai-thian empire, which equally makes him later
than Sev. Alexander.

HYACINTHUS. 247

much better acquainted with the more peculiarly Indian
gems. For then, as in our day, real Sapphires came from
Ceylon exclusively ; those so often quoted as to be found
at Expailly in France being, according to Barbot, nothing
more than blue crj^stals of Quartz. The ancient Indians
obtained their Hyacinth i out of the beds of torrents, just
as the Cingalese do their Sapphires to this day, for the
gem never occurs, in the matrix, but in rolled pieces
mingled with the gravel. This peculiarity of their origin
is elegantly alluded to by Naumachius (v. 58), where,
speaking of the *' purple Hyacinth and the green Jasper,
in which the foolish glory," he adds, " they are but stones
upon the pebbly beach of the sea, and cast in numbers at
random upon the banks of torrents."

•* Dote not on gold ; nor round thy neck so fiiir
The purple hyacinth or green jasper wear :
For gold and silver are but dust and earth.
And gems themselves can boast no real worth :
Stones are they scattered o'er the pebbly coast,
Or on the torrent s bank at random toss*d."

Some of the varieties of Pliny's Adamas were indubitably
grey or pale Sapphires, to judge from his description of
their distinctive characters. The steel-colour and great
weight which he assigns to the Siderites prove this to
demonstration ; for no other terms could so exactly express
the tint of the unpolished paler Sapphire, or its unparal-
leled density ; for its specific gravity is actually one degree
greater than that of the Diamond. The '*aereus color"
also of his Adamas Cyprius is the sky-blue of our finest
Sapphire, its hue being the exact shade of the ** air " or
pure heaven in the climate of Eome : —

" Aeris ecce color tunc cum sine nubibus aer.'* — Ovro, A. A. iii. 174.

** The colour of the air is seen on high
When not a cloud obscures the tranquil sky."

248 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, Ac

Again, Epipbanius twice repeats the epithet dcpociS^ ap-
plied to tlie ** Adamas," worn, accordiDg to his versioii, by
the Higb-rriest ovfn- tbe Rationale, and itself constitnting
the Si^Xdxris, or Urim and Tbummim, tbe " Manifestation
of Gods Will," signified by tbe changes of its colour: "And
between tbese (two little shields) bung tbe 'Declaration,*
that is, the aforesaid Adamas, resembling tbe sky in colour.
.... And thrice a year, as already said, the Future was
foresbewn unto the people by means of tbe Breastplate.
For if they were found in sin, and not walking in tbe
Commandments which God gave unto them, tbe colour of
the stone, they say, was changed, and it became black : and
from this they knew that the Lord was about to send death
upon them. But when He was about to give them up to
the sword, then it became like unto blood, as He says in
Jeremias, * Send out his people and let them go forth ; as
many as are for death, unto death ; as many as are for tbe
sword, unto the sword; as many as are for the famine,
unto the famine ; and as many as are for captivity, unto
captivity.' " And bo it remembered that Epipbanius -was a
Cyprian bishop. Pliny also states of this species that,
besides having this blue tinge, it could be perforated by
means of another diamond, i.e. of the true Indian sort, to
which alone the Sapphire yields in hardness. Tbe modem
name Sapphire is a mere epithet expressive of its colour :
the ancient Sapphirus or Lapis-lazuli furnishing tbe paint
ultramarine, »aj?p///rmMs came to signify "azure," exactly
as " Nilaa," the present Indian name of our Sapphire, does.*

* III Pliny's list of green gems stands actually a " Nilion found in
India, of a tint dull and so faint as to disappear on a dose examination ;
somewhat resembling a smoky Peridot, or sometimes of a yellowish
Ciist." A bad Sapphire doubtless : where the pale blue goes off into a
dirty green; a coumion defect. Or it may have been the Sappare^
composed of silica and alumina in nearly equal proportions, in colour a
russian blue, fading off into grey or green, which Barbot says is still

HYACINT3US. 249

We find the blue species of the Precious Corundum
already, at the close of the fifteenth century, designated
** Sapphirinus " simply by Camillo, in his * Speculum
Lapidum,' to distinguish it from the red and yellow varie-
ties of the same class, the Euby and Oriental Topaz.

The Hyacinthus of the Eomans is invariably blue * and
lustrous ; even Isidorus, in the sixth century, contenting
himself with an abridgment of the already quoted passage
of Solinus. Thus we find Martianus Capella speaking of
the " flucticolor profunditas Hyacinthi," the dark violet of
the Mediterranean before a storm —

" us 5' 5t€ irop<pvp'p ir€\ayos ixiya Kt^fiari Koxb^" — II. xiv. 116 —

or the billows shining, as Catullus hath it, " purpurea a
luce." So Heliodorus (JEth. ii. 30) extols the Hyacinthi
in the necklace of Queen Persine, " as imitating the colour
of the shallow sea, under a steep rock, quivering gently,
and tinging with violet the bottom." From this com-
parison appears also the appropriateness of the favourite
epithet vaKLvOivai as applied to the flowing hair of southern
beauty, the black of which exactly represents the violet
reflex of the raven's plumage. In the panegyric upon an
imperial bride, found by Mai in a MS. of Symmachus and of
the same date (fifth century), the rhetorician describes the
"Hyacinthi tetra luce vibrantes, quum luminibus Claris

sent into the market from India, cut and polished, for a variety of the
Sapphire. Besides the difference in its blue, it is much softer than tho
Corundum.

* A question settled, if further proof be wanted, by Josephus in iiis
interpretation of the mystic meaning of the colours in the Veils of the
Temple (Antiq. 156) " the veils being woven out of four (colours) allude
unto tlie nature of tlie elements : for the fine linen indicates the earth
because tlie flax springetli out of the same ; the 'purple, the sea because
it is dyed red with the blood of the shell fish ; the hyacinth signifies the
air^ whilst the red will be an emblem of the fire."

250 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS ST0XE8, ifec.

mixtaB comuntur emicare nigredines." The " gloomy lustre "
and " mingled blackness," or deep violet, aptly illustrate
the preceding remarks.

Epiphanius, however (a.d. 400), notices some other im-
portant varieties of this gem.* He divides the Hyacinthus
into five sorts, because the deeper in colour the greater the
value of the gem, inasmuch as the Hyacinthus, like dyed
wool, displayed various shades of purple. The first quality
was called Thalassites, or Marine (i.e. deep blue, according
to the analogy of Venetus and idtramarine) ; the second, the
Eose-coloured ; the third, Nativus ; the fourth, Chanissus ;
the fifth, the Pale. All came from the interior of Scythia,
and possessed the property of not merely being uninjured
by fire, but even of extinguishing it when thrown in, and,
moreover, of rendering incombustible the linen in -which
they might be wrapped. In this list the third name, " Na-
tivus," discloses a curious fact, for De Laet quotes Zosimus
Panopolitanus to the effect that " Natef " is the Arabic for
</>otvtK07raoT€AAos, " a cake of vermilion paint." It is there-
fore evident that Epiphanius had derived his information
about this stone from some Oriental source, which accounts
for his more accurate acquaintance with its varieties, like
the Ruby, differing indeed in colour, but identically the
same in chemical constitution. Still more strange is it to
find Marbodus, in the eleventh century, venturing here
to leave his usual guide, Isidorus, and, following the
example of Epiphanius, but with still greater accuracy, to
make the three divisions above alluded to, the blue, the
red, and the yellow ; and with an exactness of arrange-

* He ventures a conjecture that the "Ligure" of the LXX. must be
the Hyacinthus, because in their list of precious stones Tin the Rationale';
they have made no mention of the latter, though both a beautiful and a
valuable gem.

HTACINTIJUS. 251

ment most surprising at that early period, referring them
all to the same species — the actual modern classification.

Epiphanius could only have drawn his information upon
this head at second-hand, from some Persian source, like
that preserved to us in its full integrity by the accurate
Ben Mansur. "The Jacut has six divisions ; the Eed, the
Yellow, the Black, the White, the Green or peacock-
coloured, the Blue or smoke-coloured. The first, or the
Red, is subdivided into the Eose-coloured, the Purple, the
Yellowish-red like, the Carthamus-flower (our safflower
dye, the French Ponceau), the Flesh-coloured, the Porphyrj'-
coloured, and the Pomegranate-coloured.

" The second species, the Yellow, has three subdivisions,
the Apricot, the Orange, and the Straw-coloured.

"The third and fifth species (the Black and the Green),
and the second and fourth (the Yellow and the White), are
one and the same.

" The sixth, the Blue (our Swpphire) has four subdivisions,
the Light Blue, the Lapis-lazuli Blue, and the Indigo Blue, of
which every one again has peculiar shades and gradations.

*' But others divide the Jacut into only four species, the
Eed, the Yellow, the Dark, and the White, uniting the Pea-
cock-coloured and the Blue under the Dark.

" The Jacut cuts all kinds of stones except the Camelian
and the Diamond, and is itself only cut by the latter. The
lustre of the Jacut belongs to no other stone except the
Laal (Spinel) from Dedaschan ; it is also harder (heavier ?)
than all other stones, and is cold in the mouth. The Eed
Jacut becomes white in the fire, but being taken out there-
from, it again recovers its proper colour. When engraved
upon* it is called Memmtr ; but when in its native state
Adschenri.

* Eather, I suspect, • when cut and polished.'

252 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, Ae.

** The stones tliat resemble the Eed Jacut are six, viz., the
Laal, the Bidschade, the Benefsch, the Kerkend, the Kerkin,
the Kuzer (probably diflferent species of the Garnet). Of
these the Kerkend is dark-red ; the Kerkin black-red, but
transparent in the sun. The Kuzer has all the colours of
the different sorts of the Jacut.

" The distinction between the Jacut and the stones re-
sembling it lies in this, that it scratches all the others, is
heavier, and resists the fire. Thus the White Jacut is
heavier than the Crystal, which it often exactly resembles
to the eye.

" Mines of the Jacut, — On the island Saharan, 62 parasangs
in diameter, and lying 40 parasangs behind the island of
Ceylon, there is a high mountain where Jacuts of all the
colours are dug up. In a.h. 669 (a.d. 1270), to the east of
the village Tara, in the third clime,, in the same longitude
as the Canaries, and half-a-day*8 journey distant from
Cairo, there was discovered a mine of Jacuts ; although
many maintain that except in Mount Saharan there exists
no other mine of the Jacut."

On account of its extreme hardness, the ancients for the
most part employed the Sapphire as a mere ornamental
stone for setting in their jewelry, unengraved and un-
shaped ; contenting themselves with giving a tolei*able
polish to the native irregular surface of the pebble. Sap-
phires appear thus in the barbaric imitations of later Im-
perial pomp that have come down to our times : in the
Lombard crown of King Agilulpli ; in the Iron Crown of
Monza, the gift of Queen Theodelinda ; in that of Hungary
made by the order of Michael Ducas, as a present for Geisa,
in 1072 ; and above all, in the magnificent crowns of the
Gothic king Eeceswinthus, of his queen, of Sonnica, and
the other nobles lately discovered at Fuente de Guerrazar,

JACUT. 253

near Toledo. Claudian enumerates amongst the treasures
of the Emperor Theodosius left in Stilicho's charge —

" viridesque smaragdo
Loricas, galeasque renidentes hyacinthis."

Amongst the Rutupine antiquities preserved in the
library of Trinity College, Cambridge, is a portion of a
necklace of small rough Sapphires, drilled at each end, and
linked together with gold wire, the exact ornament referred
to by the poet Kaumachius.

Previous to the Imperial epoch, engravings in Sapphire
are of the rarest possible occurrence. A small Etruscan
scarabeus, however, on an inferior variety, has recently come
under my notice, and also a magnificent head of Jupiter
inscribed IIY, executed in the purest Greek style. This
latter had been accidentally discovered ornamenting the
pommel of a Turkish dagger, the intaglio turned down-
wards, and the back of the stone rudely facetted by the
Oriental lapidary into whose hands this precious monument
had fallen, an additional proof of its genuine antiquity.
This stone was one inch in diameter (Rosanna, Mexico).
Even superior to this as a work of art, and belonging to
the same school, is the Medusa's Head in nearly full face,
one of the chief glories of the Marlborough Collection ;
displaying most exquisite finish combined with the utmost
vigour, and which would render precious even an ordi-
nary material, but are greatly enhanced here by the fine
quality of the Sapphire, cserulean and clear. Another of
larger size (f X i inch) in the same collection, a stone
of much deeper azure, though streaked with lighter
shades, bears the head of Caracalla, as good a work in
point of art as his times could produce, but in which the
peculiar execution bears testimony to the difficulties of
the task, the hair being made out by a series of drill-holes

254 NATURAL HI8T0BT OF PRECIOUS 8T0NE8, dtc.

set close together to express the short curly locks of the
irascible tyrant. A singular vitreous polish has been given
to the interior of the intaglio, the infallible characteristic
of all really antique work in gems of exceptional hardness.
One of the most singular intugli on Sapphire I saw in the
hands of Mr. Boocke (in 1860). It represented an actor
closely wrapped up in his pallium^ seated and bending for-
ward with the comic pedum in his hand, over a huge mask
set upon the thymde^ or cylindrical Bacchic altar in front
of him, as if addressing it ; another mask was hung on the
back of his chair, and a second actor stood behind imitating
his gesture : upon a large pale stone. Amongst the Tov^nley
gems may be seen a spherical Sapphire, perfect in colour, and
of considerable size, engraved simply with the Christian
monogram, doubtless the signet of some Byzantine pa-
triarch. But the most famous of all is the signet of Con-
stantius II. (now in the Kinuccini Collection), on a perfect
stone * weighing fifty-three carats. The Emperor is re-
presented as spearing a monstrous wild boar, designated
upon* the stone as HI^IAC (from his sword-like tusks), be-
fore a reclining female figure personifying "CsBsarea of
Cappadocia," the scene of the exploit. The inscription
CONSTANTIVS AVG in the field manifests that this
costly stone had been engraved for the actual signet of the
imperial Nimrod. There was lately on sale in London a
unique work in relief in the same material, the well-known
design of Hebe feeding the Eagle ; the stone, heartshaped
and of fine colour, l^xliinch in dimensions. The exe-
cution, apparently belonging to the times of Hadrian,
possesses considerable merit, though producing but little
effect, from the clouded surface of the gem upon which
such admirable skill and patience have been thrown away, a
circumstance of itself attesting the date of its execution.

* This gem has been long known : Ducange first published it.

EYACINTHUS. 255

The stone has a hole drilled through its longer axis, evi-
dently done in India, that it might be worn as a bead,
before it was purchased by the Roman lapidary, to be en-
graved as a cameo.

Of the rare Gothic attempts at gem-engraving, by far
the most noteworthy is the supposed head of Matthew
Paris, on Sapphire, surrounded with his well-known motto.
(Waterton.)

Of modern works of the kind, the finest ever done is the
portrait of Pope Paul III., ascribed, no doubt with justice,
to the far-famed II Greco (Pulsky Gems). It is a beautiful
Sapphire, three-quarters of an inch square, a truly in-
estimable gem, both for its fine quality and the spirit
and life of the engraving, and was certainly the signet
of the Pontiff himself. Inferior to this in point of art,
but possessing great historical interest, was the bust of
Henri IV. (seen by me in 1859), by Colder^, his engraver,
with his initials, C. D. F., on a largo octagonal stone of
pale colour.* A number of pale Sapphires are to be met
with, engraved with heads or figures, usually but poorly
done, in the style of the Cinque-cento. The reason is ex-
plained by De Laet (i. 7) : — *' The sort which is pale, or
watery, is painted on the back with indigo, so as to imitate
the sky-blue and superior kind, although this artifice is
forbidden to jewellers to employ unless there be something
engraved upon the stone, in order that its quality may be
distinguished."

The pale Sapphire can be rendered entirely colourless
by exposure for some hours to a regulated heat, and thereby
acquires great brilliancy, so as often to be passed off fcr

* Coldord was fond of perpetuating his great master's image upon
stones of price ; besides the Ruby of the Orleans Cabinet, already noticed,
the Frencli possesses two upon emerald, one of which is like the
Sapphire above quoted, of an octagonal figure.

256 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, Aj.

the real Diamond. But there is one infallible distinction
between this uncolonred gem, and also between the White
Topaz, and the true Diamond, that neither possesses the
iridescence always displayed by the latter when catching
the light at a certain angle.*

De Boot states (iL 32) that he had seen an Oriental
Amethyst (t.e., a purple Sapphire) treated in this way,
valued by the Imperial jeweller at 200 thalers, in conse-
quence of its possessing the true water of the Diamond,
and which could not be distinguished from a real Diamond
of the same size and shape which had cost 18,000 gold
pieces. The engravings on Diamond really done by Birago,
Jacopo da Trezzo, and other artists of the Eenaissance,
were often imitated by others, their contemporaries, either
upon this material or the White Topaz.

In this class of gems the subject-matter, the Precious
Corundum,-)- is extremely capricious in the colours it
assumes, from the various natural influences that may have
unequally affected the crj^stal during its formation : some-
times the same piece will be blue and red at opposite ends,
each portion quite distinct ; sometimes the colours run into
each other, producing a lilac in their junction ; at other
times the two combine, yet separate when viewed at dif-
ferent angles, so that the same piece is in one light blue, in
another lilac ; or again, the deepest indigo and perfect
whiteness are found in the same crj^stal, and so on. A
curious variety occurs when the mass is made up of con-
centric layers, like the coats of an onion ; such a gem,
when polished, is opalescent, and if skilfully cut, with
proper attention to Ihe arrangement of the layers, will pre-

* The Cinque-cento jewellers, however, had the art of cutting the
pyramidal crystals, often eot by tiiem in their " tower " rings instead of
the diamond, so as to obtain to a C(irtain degree this rainbow-play of
colours.

t From " Koorun " the Hin*loo name for Emery.

EYACINTUUS. 267

sent a beautiful star, with delicate silky rays regularly
divergent from one centre. This was in all probability
Pliny's Asteria. (Asteria.)

The remarkable coldness of the Sapphire to the touch,
due to its great density, gave rise to the notion reccirded
by Epiphanius of its power to extinguish fire, or natural
antagonism to heat. This was improved upon by mediseval
credulity into the doctrine that ** the Sapphire worn in a
ring or in any other manner is able to quench concu-
piscence, and for that reason is proper to be worn by the
priesthood, and by all persons vowed to perpetual chastity."
(Vossius, ' De Phys. Christ.' vi. 7.) And furthermore, "the
Sapphire is said to grow dull if worn by an adulterer or
lascivious person."* In this belief originated its adoption
to adorn the episcopal ring of ofiBce from the commence-
ment of the Middle Ages down to the present time : the
ring of the Abbot of FoUeville (Braybrooke Coll.), the
oldest ecclesiastical jewel extant, is set with a large native
Sapphire.

* The Malthusian virtue of the species went much further than this,
oven to obviate the results of the infraction of its influence : "Aristoteles
ponit quod prsegnantes ad abortum prseparent." (^ Spec. Lap.' p. IIS.^I

(m)

258 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, Sse.

MAEGAEITA: and later, MAEGARITUM :
Mapyaplrrj^i Pearl,

This word is merely tlie Greek form of the Sanscrit
Maracatay or the Persian Merwerid, and approaches yet
more nearly to the original in MopaySos, nsed by Menander
(Ath. iii. 94). Theophrastus, however, writes Mapyapirrj^
(36) in his brief notice : " To the number of gems held in
estimation belongs that called the Margarites : transparent
by its nature ; and they make out of it the necklaces of great
price. It is found within a shell-fish resembling the pinnoy
only smaller. In size it is as large as the eye of a tolerably
big fish." It seems to have been known from the earliest
imes to the Asiatic Greeks in consequence of their inter-
course with the Persians, ever the greatest admirers of the
Pearl. Homer (II. xiv. 183) describes Juno's ear-rings as
rpCyXrjva :* this epithet " triple-eyed *' can hardly apply to
anything but the Pearl, especially as no precious stones
are ever alluded to by this poet. A triplet of pear-shaped
pearls forms a distinctive attribute of the antique heads of
this goddess. Three pearls strung one above another, and
increasing downwards in size, composed the ear-pendant
most admired by the Persian queens, as their portraits on
the gems manifest.

Athenaeus (iii. 93) gives an admirable account (modem

* Glain is still Welsh for beady the name was imported with the
article of coloured glass by the Phoenician traders who paid in this manu-
facture and in salt for the tin of the Britons,

MABGAEITA. 259

research can offer no better) of tlie natural history of the
pearl-oyster, extracted from the Periplus of India by
Androsthenes : " Of the Strombi, and the PorcellansB, and
the other shell-fish there are numerous varieties, and very
different from those with us. There is also a great
abundance of the Murex and other oysters : but there is
one peculiar kind which the natives call Berbeti, from out
of which comes the gem Margarites. This latter is highly
valued throughout Asia, and is sold amongst the Persians
and the regions inland for its weight in gold coin (wpos
■XpvcTLov).* The appearance of the shell is similar to the
•Pecten, it is not however striated, but has the outside
smooth and furry. Neither has it two ears like the Pecten,
but only one. The gem grows within the flesh of the
oyster, just as the measles (tubercles) in pork. One kind
is extremely yellow, j* so as not readily to be distinguished
when placed by the side of gold ; another is like silver ; a
third perfectly white resembling a fish's eye."

Chares of Mytilene, in the 8th Book of his History of
Alexander, says : " It is caught in the Indian Sea, and also
off the coasts of Armenia, Persia, Susiana, and Babylonia,
and resembles the Oyster; but is both bulky and long,
containing meat both large and white, and of very agreeable
odour. From which they extract the white bones and call
them MargaritsB, and make out of them necklaces, and
bands for the arms and ankles ; on which both Persians
and Modes and all the Asiatics set a much higher value
than upon those made of gold."

But the fullest details, as to both fish and fishery, are to

♦ Some high multiple must have dropped out here : it is incredible
that a thing so greatly prized should only have been estimated at weight
for weight in gold.

t This is the sort most valued by the Chinese at present; from its
coming first in the list given by the old Greek traveller it would appear
to have held the same rank in the estimation of the Indi&ns of his day.

s 2

260 NATURAL HISTOBT OF PBECIOUS STONES, de.

bo found in the Description of Farthia by Isidorns of
Characo : " In the Persian Sea is a certain island* where
great plenty of the pearl-oyster is to be found. Wherefore
rafts of reeds (bamboos) are stationed all around the
island, from off which the divers, jumping into the sea to
the depth of 20 fathoms, bring up two shells at a time.
They assert that when there are continuous thnnderstoims
and falls of rain (the Monsoon), the Pinna then breeds
more freely, and the pearl becomes most plentiful and of
good size. In winter the shell-fish are wont to retire into
their holes in the deep, but in summer they swim about
with their valves gaping wide open by night, but keep'
them closed by day. All that grow close to rocks or
stones put forth roots, and abiding there fixedly breed the
Pearl. They (the Pearls) are bom alive, and are nourished
through the part attached to the flesh. The latter is
firmly fixed to the mouth of the shell, and is furnished
with claws and catches food. This part is exactly like the
little crab called the Pinnophylax. From this the fleshy
part extends as far as the middle of the shell like a root,
along which the Pearls are bred, and grow through the
solid part of the shell, and increase in size as long as they
remain attached thereto. But when the fish recedes along
the length of its projection, and gently cuts off and severs
the pearl from the shell, though it envelopes the pearl it
no longer nourishes it, only renders it more polished, more
transparent, and purer. The pinna of the deep water
produces the most lustrous, and clear, and largest pearl ;
that which swims near the surface is spoilt by the rays of
the sun, and gives those of bad colour and smaller size.
Those that fish for Pearls run a danger when they thrust
their hands straight into the gaping shell, for then it shuts

* The Bahrein Islands in the Persian Gulf.

MARGABITA, 261

to, and often snaps off their fingers : and some are thus
killed immediately. But all who put in the hand trans-
versely, easily pull away the shells from the rocks."

These same authorities Pliny seems to have followed in
his account (ix. 53) of the formation of the Pearl : merely
adding that the impregnation was produced by the dews of
heaven falling into the open shells at the breeding time ;
an essential point evidently omitted by Athenaeus from his
abstract of the passage in Isidorus. The quality of the
Pearl varied according to that of the dew imbibed, being
lustrous if that was pure ; dull, if it were foul. Cloudy
weather spoilt the colour, lightning stopped the growth,
but thunder made the shell-fish miscarry altogether, and
eject hollow husks called physemata (bubbles). He adds
that Taprobane (Ceylon) was then, as until lately, the seat
of the most productive fishery. Pliny remarks the forma-
tion of Pearls out of numerous concentric layers (multiplici
constant cute), and hence properly concludes them to be
mere callosities formed in the body of the fish. In fact
the pearl is only a concretion of the matter lining the
shell that accumulates upon some foreign body accidentally
introduced into the shell (usually a grain of sand), for the
' purpose of preventing the irritation its roughness would
otherwise occasion to the tender inmate.*

Those of hemispherical form were called Tympania
(tambourines): the shells to which some were firmly
attached were preserved in this condition to serve the
Koman fair ones for perfume-holders. There was a story
that the shoals of pearl-oysters had a king distinguished

♦ The Chinese, in their national love of monstrosities, have turned to
good acbount this resource of the moUusk, and by introducing minature
idols of stone or brass within the shell of the living fish withdraw them
after a certain lapse of time, and find them so completely coated as to
resemble true pearls of the most grote&que configuration.

262 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, iftc

by his age and size, exactly as bees have a queen, wonder-
fully expert in keeping his subjects out of harm's way;
but if the divers once succeeded in capturing him, the rest
straying about blindly fell an easy prey. Though defended
by a body-guard of sharks, and dwelling amongst the rocks
of the abyss, they cannot, says Pliny, in his pithy way, be
preserved from ladies* ears.

The shells when caught were thrown into vessels filled
with salt, and left there until all the fish was consumed,
leaving the Pearls, " its kernels," at the bottom.*

The Red Sea Pearls were the most transparent; the
Indian, though superior in magnitude to all the others, had
something of the opaque lustre of talc. Those of the best
quality were distinguished by the title " Exaluminatae," t. e.,
clear as a globule of alimi. Others, though very inferior
to the two sorts just named, were fished up in the
Mediterranean, in the Bosphorus where they were found in
the mya-shell (pearl-mussel), and off the Acaruanian coast
in the pinna (scallop); these last were mis-shapen and
opaque like marble. Those obtained off Cape Actium
were better, though always small-sized; as were also those
procured off the Mauritanian coast. It had been ascer-
tained that they were natives also of the British waters,
though there was proof positive (constat) of their being
only small-sized and bad-coloured, for Julius Caesar " had
wished it to be known," by the inscription placed upon it
these words imply, " that the breastplate dedicated by him
to Venus Genetrix was made out of British Pearls."

Pearls are still procured in large quantities from Scot-
land, and are much used in London-made jewelry, being,
when recent, hardly distinguishable from the Oriental.
They are, however, liable to the great defect of turning

♦ The best accotmt of the modem mode of carrying on the fishery
will be found in Percival's * Ceylon.*

MARGARITA, 263

black by wear, and therefore were of incomparably lower
value than the latter. But of late two causes have given
an enormous development to the Scottish fishery: the
first being the failure of the Indian ; the second, its
largely producing the rose-tinted kind, now infinitely
the most esteemed in Parisian high life — a change of
taste effected recently '* mulierum sane senatus-consulto."
These Scottish Pearls attain to a considerable size : one
weighing 30 grains and of fine quality was found at
the confluence of the Almond and Tay in the summer
of 1865. De Boot notices their existence in Scotland
in his own times; and also in Silesia and Bohemia,
but adds they were all very insignificant. Of these the
finest were found in the last-named kingdom near the
village Horasdovitz, and these could hardly be known
from the Oriental. But out of 500 shells opened by
himself he got no more than ten good Pearls, all the rest
being either black or yellow.

It may here be observed that the faculty of generating
this precious concretion is not confined to a single species
of shell-fifih, large rose-tinted specimens of the greatest
beauty being sometimes discovered in the West-Indian
Conch.

The present commercial importance of the Scottish fishery
demands a fuller notice, and the following details will
doubtless prove of interest to many of my readers.

In spite of the unfavourable judgment of Pliny's, upon
the character of the British Pearls, Marbodus, we may
suppose, upon the authority of some Koman original,
speaks of the British Pearls as equalling the Persian
and the Indian species. Amongst the motives impel-
ling Caesar to attempt the conquest of Britain was the
fame of its pearl-fisheries ; for Suetonius records that when
he was planning that enterprise he carefully compared the

;l

2G4 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS 8T0NE8, &c.

British Pearls with the Oriental, frequently weighing thei
against each other with his own hands. This £skct gives i
a curious glimpse into the nature of the Gallic trade wit
this island, and the unlooked-for extent into which it ha
penetrated the remotest North. For Csssar's only kno^
ledge of the natural products of Britain must have com
from those Gallic traders to whose commerce with ou
aborigines he in several places makes allusion.

And it must be remembered that except in the Ire
Cumberland, and in the Conway, North Wales, the pearl
mussel, at least the productive sort, is not met with else
where in Britain than in the remoter parts of Scotland.

The singular revival of this antique glory of our islanc
demands some brief notice of its particulars. Pliny'i
remark implies that the fishing contiuued to be prosecutec
in his times ; the inordinate love of the Eomans for the
jewel would necessarily stimulate them to keep open everj
known source of the supply even though its prodnctioni
were not of the highest quality. Whether Marbodus, ii
the passage just quoted, is speaking for himself, or in the
words of another, is an open question. Neither has anj
mention of British Pearls in medisBval times occurred ii
my reading.

The fishery must, however, have been early re-opened,
for it is stated that, between the years 1761 and 1764,
Pearls found in the Tay and Isla were sent to London tc
the amount of 1 0,000Z. But afterwards the production sc
far declined, that in 1860 all the Pearls that could be boughi
in those localities were no more in value than 40Z., and
there was only one professional pearl-fisher in all Scotland
In that year Mr. Moritz linger, a gem-dealer of Edinburgh,
stimulated by the fast-increasing scarcity of the Oriental
species, travelled all over the pearl-producing district, and
published his intention of purchasing all that could be

MABGABITA. " 265

found, at a regular tariff. So marvellous an effect had this
prospect of sure remuneration for their labours upon the
practical genius of the natives that for the year 1864 (aided
by the unprecedented drought which gave the fishers
access to the deeper beds of their rivers) no less a sum than
12,000?. was paid to the finders, which represents an infinitely
multiplied return upon the Pearls when brought into the
market. The highest value of any one specimen as yet
obtained is 60L For the produce of the Doon fishery alone
Mr. Unger paid above 150/. for each of the summer months
of 1863, exclusive of what was privately sold in the neigh-
bourhood. The finest have been found in the Tay, the
Teith, the Doon, and the Garry. With the exception of
four streams, all the rest of the pearl-producing are outlets
of lochs. The lochs are supposed to be the nurseries and
grand depositories of the mussel : a theory confirmed by
the fact that in draining part of Loch Vennachar in 1860-1,
for the purpose of constructing the Glasgow waterworks,
immense quantities of the shells, and containing very fine
pearls, were obtained by the workmen. (* lUust. News,' Sept.
17, 1864.) The finest Pearls are always found in the shells
whose magnitude, wrinkles, and time-worn appearance
bespeak their advanced age. This fact supp6rts the theory
of certain naturalists, already noticed, that the formation of
the pearl is due to a provision of Nature for preventing
injury to the tender flesh from the casual entrance of
some hard body into the shell by coating it with layers
of the same material that lines it, popularly known as
mother-o'-pearl. In fact, many pearls when cut in two
are seen to be formed upon a grain of sand for a nucleus.
Some peculiar element in the water must, however, be
essential to their generation, for though every brook and
canal in England swarms with the identical mya, the
pearl-bearing are, as it were, conspicuously restricted to

266 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, Ac

the few localities above specified. And that it was the
latter that yielded the treasures which tempted Caasar
to cross the Channel is certain, for the pearls of our seas^
found in the common oyster, are opaque and worthless.

Pearls in the ancient world held the highest rank
amongst precious stones, and for an obvious reason — their
beauty is entirely due to Nature, being susceptible of no
improvement from art. On the contrary, in the more
valuable, and which are also the hardest, kind of gems, the
exact converse holds good, their innate beauties were but
poorly elicited by the imperfect polish the Indian or the
Eoman lapidary was competent to give them. Hence the
Persians, even down to the times of Ben Mansur, assigned
to the Pearl the first place in the list ; the Bomans indeed
followed the Indian rule of valuation, and placed it second
after the Diamond, but this merely on the score of the
talismanic virtues of the latter, not its . beauty. It is on
record also that the prices paid by the Eomans for Peai-ls
of exceptional magnitude far exceeded those given for any
other kind of precious stone.

In all the portraits of the Sassanian kings the eye is
immediately caught by the huge Pearl hanging down from
the right ear, and which the artist, to judge from the care
bestowed upon its exact representation, has evidently con-
sidered one of the most essential points in his image of
his sovereign. His solicitude brings to our recollection
the romantic tale so well related by that most entertaining
of old chroniclers, Proeopius (*Bell. Pers.' i. 4), concerning
that Pearl of unrivalled magnitude obtained at the urgent
entreaty of King Perozes by the daring diver from the
custody of the enamoured shark, but with the sacrifice of
his own life. And how vividly does he set before us the
final catastrophe when disappeared for ever from the world
this unparagoned miracle of Nature — ^when the Great King,

MABGABITA. 267

resplendent in all his jewels, at the head of his mail-clad
chivalry, rashly charged the flying hordes of the Ephthalite
Huns, and in the very act of falling into the vast pitfall
(engulfing him, his sons, and his bravest nobles), into
which he had been lured by their feigned retreat, tore
from his right-ear this glory of his reign, and cast it, be-
fore himself, into the abyss, there to be eternally lost
amidst the hideous chaos of crushed man and horse — com-
forted in death with the assurance of thus cheating the foe
of the most precious trophy of their victory. Nor could
the Huns, though stimulated to the search by the enormous
offers of his Byzantine rival in pomp, the Emperor Anas-
tasius, who promised five hundred weight of gold pieces
to the finder, ever succeed in recovering from the pit of
death the so highly-coveted jewel. And four centuries
later the Byzantine historians lament more bitterly over
the single matchless Pearl which fell into the hands of the
Turks when Eomanus Diogenes was taken prisoner by
Alp Arslan, than for the loss of all the Asiatic provinces
of the Empire, the immediate consequence of the same
disaster.

As no two Pearls were ever found exactly alike, this
circumstance gave origin to the name *' Unio " (unique).
But in Low Latin, *' Margarita(um) " and ** Perla" became
a generic name, "Unio" being restricted to the fine,
spherical specimens. Although the latter were then, as
ever, the most prized, yet the pear-shaped were also ad-
mired. These were termed " Eleuchi." Ladies wore
them fastened to their finger-rings ; or two or three in a
cluster in their ears, in which capacity they got the name
of " crotalia *' (rattles), from the musical sound they pro-
duced in clashing together. Even the poorer* classes

♦ The ancient paste-makers, despite their wonderful skill, must have
deemed the Orient of the Pearl beyond the reach of their art, for they

268 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, dx.

BtroYo after sucli a distinction, holding that the Pead
served for gentleman-usher to a woman in the streets
(lictorem fceminae). Similarly in our day the grand am-
bition of every Tuscan zitdla, however poor, is to get ** per
£eis et nefas " a necklace of many rows of Pearls, no matter
how irregular or discoloured ; such a possession, in most
cases, sufficing for her dowry. The Muncipalitj ot
Florence (nothing can more strongly exemplify the na-
tional taste) long gloried in the ownership of a magni-
ficent single row of Pearls. This, after the restoration in
1849, was borrowed by the Grand Duchess, who having
once got it was in no hurry to restore the prize, to the
infinite consternation of that talkative community. It is
devoutly to be hoped the unlucky princess has carried the
spoil oflf with her, as a solace in exile, whilst her xm-
crowned spouse amuses himself by acting the

'• yacuis sedilis Ulubris."

The greatest magnitude of all the class is attained by
the Pearls extremely distorted in shape, aptly named by
the French *' Perles baroques." These malformations were
ingeniously utilised by the fanciful taste of the Cinque-
cento jeweller, and, by the addition of the requisite mem-
bers in gold enamelled, converted into sea-monsters to
ser\'e for pendants to the neck-chain. The Devonshire
Cabinet possesses an enormous Pearl of the finest lustre,
but singularly mis-shapen, skilfully converted into the body
of a very graceful mermaid : a jewel valued at 2000Z. A

have never counterfeited it, although the temptation to the experiment
was stronger in this case than in any other. The method was not
discovered before 1680, when one Jacquin, a rosary-maker of Paris,
observing the pearly lustre of the scales of the small river-fish the
bleak, conceived the bright idea of filling therewith hollow glass
spherules prepared with a glutinous fluid. The manufacture has
thriven ever since, the export from Paris now reaching 40,000i. yearly.

MARGARITA. 269

second very remarkable specimen of these allusive adapta-
tions of the freaks of Kature, now belonging to Col. Guthrie,
is thus described : " Cinque-cento Pendant in the form of a
Syren ; the head, neck, and arms of white enamel ; the body
of a very fine and large Pearl baroque, ending in scrolls
and a fish's tail ; beautifully enamelled and set with rubies.
She is represented arranging her hair, with a comb in
her right hand ; her left originally held a mirror. This
splendid gem was brought from India : it is of fine Italian
work of the sixteenth century. On the back is inscribed
' Fallit aspectus carUusque SyrencB,* and * D. LVD. K.' It is
suspended by three chains from an enamelled cartouche
ornament ; length 4 J- inches." The inscription gives this
jewel a historical value, for it can only be interpreted as
" Donum Ludovici regis" the twelfth of the name, as the
style of art demonstrates, — the work of some famous onijice,
perhaps Leonardo da Milano (mentioned with praise by
Camillo) — a trophy of his conquest of Lombardy pre-
sented by the king to some confederate prince. Its dis-
covery in India may be explained by the fact of the large
assortment of jewelry together with other French ohjets de
luxe carried out thither by Tavemier and similar specula-
tors in the next century : a work like this, then gone
totally out of fashion in France, would be veiry likely to
become included in a consignment of precious trinkets to
the court of the Grand Mogul. Most fantastic of all is the
Londesborough Unicom, modelled out of two gigantic
baroqueSj mounted by figures of France and Victory in
sisterly embrace; its style proving it the decoration of
Fran9ois I. or his son. In the list of our Henry III.'s
jewels occurs " Una Perla ad modum camahuti," seemingly
a baroque presenting some resemblance to a head in relief.
The Komans of the Decline distinguished the perfectly
spherical Unio from the Perle baroque, always terming the

270 NATUBAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, Aj.

latter ** Margaritum." The Persians make twelve classes
of the Pearl according to its shape, as round, egg-shaped,
lenticular, grapenshaped, cradle-like, &c. ; and as many
according to the colour. The generic name is "Mer-
warid ; " when bored it takes the name of " Lulu."

It was the Asiatic conquests of Pompey, says Pliny
(xxxvii. 6), that first turned the taste of the Bomans to-
wards Pearls and precious stones. In his triumphal pro-
cession were carried thirty-three crowns made out of
Pearls, a temple of the Muses supporting a sun-dial, and a
portrait (bust) of the victor himself formed out of the
same precious units. This last piece of extravagance excites
beyond all reasonable measure the wrath of the old philo-
sopher, who devotes several lines, chary as he generally is
of space, to the objurgation of such luxury, and interprets
the ostentatious exhibition of Pompey's head on this occa-
sion into a presage of the Divine anger, foreshowing that
soon afterwards the same head severed from the body
should be held up for a public spectacle. In such a pre-
cedent, adds he, Caligula must find an excuse for his wear-
ing slippers made out of Pearls, or even Nero, who had
wrought out of them sceptres for the actors in his theatre,
and couches for his amours.

From this it appears that from their first introduction
into Eoman fashionable life Pearls had been used as
materials for art. Not that they engraved in relief or in-
taglio upon so small and precious a body ; the compositions
above described must have been made up out of Pearls strung
upon fine silver-wire or white horse-hair and thus fastened,
in a kind of mosaic, upon a model of the shape required,
just as the " Lamb " of the Golden Fleece, or our orna-
ments in seed-pearl are at present constructed.

Pliny mentions (58) having seen LoUia Paulina, widow
of Caligula, completely covered over with strings of alter-

MARGARITA. 271

nate Pearls and Emeralds to the value of 400,000?. of our
money ; plunder gotten by her grandfather, LoUius, from
all the princes of the East. As he remarks that she made
this grand appearance upon no very grand occasion, but at
a private marriage-dinner, we may infer he wishes his
readers to understand that this display exhibited but a
small portion of the contents of this lady's jewel-box.

The largest Pearl known to Pliny weighed half a Eoman
ounce and one scruple over (234| grs. Troy). This
magnitude has never been equalled in modern times,
except in the case of the baroques. The finest in the
French Eegalia, as quoted by Barbot, did not exceed
108 grs. or 27x6 carats. De Boot names one belonging to
Eudolf II. weighing 120 grs. " 30 carats that cost as many
thousands of gold-pieces." Philip II. possessed another, **as
big as the biggest pigeon's egg " (says Gar. de la Vega, who
saw it at Seville in 1579), of 134 grs. and valued by the
jewellers at 14,400 ducats, but pronounced beyond all
valuation by the engraver Trezzo. It was pear-shaped, in
which form Pearls attain to greater magnitude than in the
spherical. It came from the Panama fishery (carried on
by the Mexicans long before the Spanish conquest) and
was celebrated under the name of *' La Pelegrina."* But
by far the largest (perfect) specimen on record, as ever
seen in Europe, was that of 480 grs. also pear-shaped,
brought from India in 1620 by Er. Gougibus of Calais,
and sold by him to Philip IV; The merchant when asked
by the king how he could have been bold enough to risk
all his fortune in a single little article, replied "Because
he knew there was a king of Spain to buy it of him." It

* A negro-boy found the shell, which was so small they were about
to throw it back into sea without opening it. The slave was rewarded
with the gift of his liberty, his master with the post of Alcalde ol
Panama. The pearl was presented to Philip by Don Diego de Temes.

272 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, Ac

now, according to Barbot, belongs to the Hussian princefls
YusoppoufF. The only jewel ever purchased by Aurungzeb
(who affected a pious contempt for all such pomps and
vanities) was a perfect, ix)und Pearl weighing 36^- raits op
127 J grs. as Tavemier makes it. He also gives a drawing
of "the largest and most perfect Pearl ever yet found,"
bought by the Shah in 1635 from an Arab coming from
the CatifiEt fishery. The price paid was 32,000 tomauns,
which he calculates at 1,400,000 livi-es or 56,000/. The
weight was 192 rcUis = 672 grs., and the shape an almost
perfect heart. And to conclude this list of prodigies, the
same traveller awards the palm for perfection and beauty
(though not magnitude) to that possessed at the time by
Aceph Ben Ali, prince of Nolennac, Arabia. Its weight
was only 12 ^V carats, 48 J grs., so that many others jBu-
surpassed it in that particular. But such was the fame of
its perfection that 140,000 livres were offered for it, and in
vain, by Aurungzeb. Tavemier had the opportunity of
examining this paragon at a feast at Mocha where it was
exhibited to the company by the much-envied owner.

Ben Mansur reverses Pliny's estimation, and puts the
Pearls of Serendib (Ceylon) before those of Arabia (Bahrein),
these being the only two species known to him. Hie former
fishery (the Condatchy banks) when first taken into its
own hands by the British Government (1797) produced
144,000^., and the year following 194,000Z. Thencefoi-th it
fell off, in consequence of the over-fishing of the beds.
However it again revived, and during some years of this
century was farmed out at 120,000Z. annually to different
speculators. At present it is totally closed in the hopes
that by giving the banks a respite, their exhausted popu-
lation may be recruited.

When the Panama fishery first came into the hands
of the Spaniards it was incredibly productive, upwards of

MABGABTTA. 273

697 pounds' weight of pearls being imported from it into
Seville alone, in the year 1587. These ancient prizes
were not forgotten in this country in the bubble year 1825
when joint-stock companies for every possible and im-
possible object were all the rage. One English company
undertook the prosecution on a grand scale of the fishery
on the Columbian coast; another that of the Pacific off
Panama, on the opposite side. Both enterprises met with
about equal success, and came to an end in the following
year, having first sent home for the benefit of the share-
holders sundry very promising reports and a few remarkably
fine — shells.

Everybody knows the story told by Pliny about
Cleopatra who, in order to outdo Antony's extravagance in
that line, wagered that she would spend a sum equivalent
to one hundred thousand pounds of our money (centies
'H. S.) upon a single dinner. When her lover ridiculed
the banquet, upon its appearance, as far from coming up
to her boast, she replied that it was merely an adjunct to
the grand dish, and as she waa wearing in her ears the
two finest Pearls in the world, "heir-looms of Eastern
kings," she threw one of them into a cup of the strongest
vinegar standing before her, and upon its dissolving imme-
diately therein, she drank it off. The fellow to it was
about to share its fate, had not L. Plancus, the appointed
umpire in the matter, snatched it from the queen's hand,
and wasted no time in pronouncing that Antony had com-
pletely lost his wager. That same Pearl, upon Augustus'
conquest .of Egypt, was sawn in two to make a pair of
pendants for the ears of the Venus of the Pantheon ; the
goddess, as Pliny aptly remarks, being very well satisfied
with one half of Cleopatra's dinner.

It is unfortunate for this good story that no acid the
human stomach can endure is capable of dissolving a

(m) t

274 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS 8TONE8, Ae.

Pearl even after long maceration in it Barbot has found,
by actual experiment, that one layer was reduced to a jelly,
whilst the next beneath was completely unaffected. No
doubt the wily Egyptian swallowed her Pearl safe and
sound, and in some more agreeable potation than vinegar,
secure of its ultimate recovery uninjured: and invented
the story of its complete and instantaneous dissolution,
which be it remembered rested entirely upon her own
testimony, in order to gain her wager.

The same experiment, however, adds Pliny, was known
to have been tried somewhat earlier by Clodius son of
-^sopus, a celebrated actor, who having discovered that
dissolved Pearls possessed the most delicious flavour,
did not selfishly confine his knowledge to himself, but
provided each of his guests with the same precious potion.
Pearls, in powder, were formerly considered an infiedlible
specific in stomach-complaints : the effects must have been
due entirely to the patient's imagination, the substance
acting merely as a weak anti-acid, neither more nor less
beneficial than the powder of any other shell.

The then rarity oiMother-o'-feaxl gave it great value in the
estimation of mediaeval times, where it ranked next to the
actual Margarita. Small plaques of it, set side by side with
the true precious stones, embellish some of the Hispano-
Gothic crowns, and also the chasings of the Marburg shrine.
This usage of the substance explains the " Tres cokille " in
the list of the jewels collected by Henry III. for his
projected shrine at Westminster. During the same peiiod
the actual round pearl was often forged by filing bits of
the nacroas shell into the proper shape and polishing the
spherule thus produced as Theophilus has noticed. A
more ingenious counterfeit of the same nature used to adorn
the ears and necks of our grandmothers in the shape of
the Coque de Perle, produced by cutting out into an oval

MABGABITA,

275

shape the globose whorls of the brilliant shell of the Indian
nautilus. These hemispheres were used singly with a
backing, or sometimes neatly cemented together gave a
complete round Pearl, of a circumference far exceeding
any of the genuine treasures of the shell. They possess
the true lustre and tone of the original, but are fragile in
the extreme.

Cleopatra's Pearl seems, like the equally celebrated
Charles the Bold's Diamond, to have had many pretendants
to the honour of representing it in after ages. Treb.
Pollio, to exemplify the wealth of Calpumia, noblest of
patrician dames, and wife of Titus, one of the " Thirty
Tyrants," mentions her possession of the two Pearls of
Cleopatra, as well as of a silver dish, a hundred pounds in
weight, chased with all the history of her own family, the
Pisos.

t2

276 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, iie.

SMARAGDUS: tfidparyB<y: : EmeraM.

It has been frequently asserted bj writers on G^ms, as
Dutens (p. 36), K. O. MuUer (ArcbaeoL § 313, 2), that the
ancients were not acquainted with the true Emerald (the
combination of Glucina, Alumina, Silica), which they pre-
tend was unknown in Europe before the discovery of Pern,
from whence in the present day the market is exclusively
supplied. In spite of the lai^e numbers of Emeralds
occurring in Indian jewelry, both in their native form and
rudely cut into pear-drops and "tables," Tavemier de-
clares his firm conviction that this gem was never produced
in the East, neither on the mainland, nor in the islands ;
for that having made the strictest inquiry in all his
journeys, no one was able to point out to him any place in
Asia where they are found, and hence he arrives at the
conclusion that all Emeralds brought from the East Indies
must have been imported thither from Peru by the way of
the Philippine Isles. In support of the same opinion Dutens
asserts that in all the old Treasuries, like that of Loretto,
St. Denys, &c., every kind of precious stone is to be found
except the Emerald amongst the presents made to these
ancient repositories by princes and other pious persons,
previous to the discovery of the New World : a conclusive
argument (if well-founded) that the Emerald was not

SMABAGDV8. 277

known to them before. And to give greater weight to this
opinion, he says it was supported hy the authority of the
experienced mineralogist, M. d'Augny.*

But the careful consideration of the facts about to be
stated will inevitably lead us to a very different conclusion,
for they demonstrate that the Romans at least were plen-
tifully supplied with the true Emerald, and even possessed
the Green Bviby^ Pliny's Smaragdus Scythicus, a much
harder, and much rarer stone. In fact the same mountains
that supplied them with the Indian Bery]s (Canjarjum, in
Coimbatore) yielded at the same time an equal abundance
of the cognate species, the deeper-tinted Emerald.

In spite of Dutens' confident denial of their existence,
we actually do find numbers of these stones, often of great
size and beauty, adorning mediaeval pieces of goldsmith's
work (to say nothing of antique jewelry), made centuries
before the discovery of America — a fact in itself sufficient
to prove the previous existence of the gem in Europe, from
whatever other region it might have been derived. Large
Emeralds, besides Eubies and Sapphires, adorn the Iron
Crown of Lombardy, presented to the Cathedral of Monza
by Queen Theodelinda (upon her marriage, a.d. 689), at
the end of the sixth century, and which has never been
tampered with subsequently.f They equally appeared in
the crown of her husband King Agilulph, also of the same
date, though that had been remodelled into its last and
more tasteful shape by the famous Milanese goldsmith
Antellotto Braccioforte in the fourteenth century, J but yet

♦ Dutens tries to show that the Smaragdus was our Peridot.

t This far-famed Crown is a plain circlet of gold, lined with an iron
" Nail of the True Cross," beaten out thin.

X Employed by the Chapter at Monza to repair their plate and jewels,
much damaged in their transport from Avignon, where they had been
deposited.

278 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, Ac,

long before the discovery of the Peruvian mines. They
may still be inspected as set in company with almosi
every other precious stone in the crown of the queen oi
the Spanish Goth Eeceswinthus, lately found near Toledo
(now in the H6tel de Cluny), a work of the following cen-
tury (625) to the Lombard jewels just adduced. They
appear in the Cross of the German Emperor Liotharius,
made in 823 (Sacristy at Aix-la-Chapelle), and in the
Crown of Hungary, made at Constantinople in 1072 by
the order of Michael Ducas. And, to conclude, a fine stone
was to be seen in the tiara of Julius II., who died in 1513,
thirty-two years before the conquest of Peru. This stone,
engraved with the Pope's name, was long preserved
amongst the jewels of the Louvre, but (according to
Barbot) was presented by Napoleon to Pius VIL* And
De Boot writing in 1600 remarks incidentally that " within
these fifty years, since the Peruvianf have been imported,
the Oriental have greatly fallen in value : from half that
of the Diamond to the quarter of the price.*' And no
wonder : so vast was the importation of the hoards of the
plundered Caciques and Incas that Joseph d'Acosta men-
tions that the ship which brought him home from New
Granada in the year 1587 had on board two chests of
Emeralds, each weighing a hundred pounds. Cellini also,
speaking of the antique gems he used to buy of the Lom
bard diggers in the gardens and vineyards circumjacent

* Its shape was hemispherical, and magnitude considerable, being
•055 mm. (about 2 inches) in diameter. The pope's name was cut on
the middle.

t These when first brought over were looked upon with much sus-
picion by jewellers. Garcias ab Horto (1565) has : " Sed et Smaragdi
qua) ex Peru Novi Orbis provincia advehuntur, adulterationis suspioione
non carent." An overwhelming refutation this of Tavemier s conjecture
tn) uugroundedly accepted as an established fact by Dutens.

8MABAGDVS. 279

during his residence in Kome (from 1524 to 1627), in which
line he boasts of having carried on a very lucrative* com-
merce with the Cardinals and other wealthy patrons of
art, mentions the having thus obtained an Emerald as
large as a bean, exquisitely engraved with a dolphin's
head. This stone was of such fine quality that, when re-
cut, " it was sold again for as many hundreds of scudi as it
had cost me tens." It must be borne in mind that Cellini
was by profession a connoisseur in precious stones, and,
above all, that a performance so excellent as he describes
it, must have been antique, the art of gem-engraving
having only been revived in Italy a few years before his
own birth in ISOO."]* And to wind up this list with a moral
proof derived from Pliny's description of his best Smarag-
dus : " After the Diamond and the Pearl, the first place is
given to the Smaragdus for many reasons. No other colour
is so pleasing to the sight : for grass and green foliage we
view indeed with pleasure, but Emeralds with so much the
greater delight, inasmuch as nothing in creation compared
with them equals the intensity of their green. Besides,
they are the only gems that fill the eye with their view,
yet do not fatigue it ; nay, more, when the sight is wearied
by any over -exertion, it is relieved by looking upon an
Emerald. Indeed gem-*ngravers find no other means of
resting the eye so agreeable ; so effectually by its soft
green lustre doth it refresh the wearied si^ht." After
reading this just panegyric, or the poetical comparison in
Heliodorus : ** gems green as a meadow in the spring, but

♦ "Often making a thousand per cent, profit, thonghl had paid the
finders well.'*

t Most conclusive evidence (were it forthcoming) would be the ring
set with *• Optimo Smaragdo," which Pope Adrian sent by John of
Salisbury to Henry II. as the instrument of his investiture with the
dominion of Ireland ; and which, as such, was preserved in the royal
lirchives. Hence comes the ** Emerald Isle."

280 NATURAL HISTOBY OF PRECIOUS STONES, dke.

iiluminatod with a certain oily lustre ;" or tlie rhetorician's
(appended to Mai*s Symmachus) description of them in the
jewels of the Imperial bride, as '*4)laying with a quivering
green" (so distinctive a character of the true stone) ; can
any one longer doubt that the Eomans were acquainted
with the true Emerald, or suppose that they could have
applied such terms of praise to the dull Plasma or opaque
Malachite, which so many archaeologists have contended
were alone understood by the name Smaragdus ?

It cannot, however, be denied that the SftopaySos of the
earlier Greeks signified any kind of green stone that was
brighter and more transparent than their Jaspis (our
Plasma). In no other way is it possible to understand
Theophrastus (23) : *' Of stones used for signets, some for

the sake of their beauty the Smaragdus possesses

also some peculiar properties, for it assimilates the colour
of the water into which it is thrown to its own colour — the
stone of middling quality tinging a smaller quantity ; the
best sort all the water; whilst the worst only colours
the liquid directly over and opposite to itself." (Meaning
that it will give a greenish cast to the water by the
reflection of its own colour, not by staining the liquid as
most readers absurdly understand the passage. But this
test is not now to be confirmed by experiment.)* " It is
also good for the eyes : on which account people wear
ring-stones made of it, for the sake of looking at them.
But it is rare and small in size, unless we choose to believe
the stories about the Egyptian kings ; for some assert that

* I more than suspect that this strange story, as repugnant to com-
mon sense as to experience, depends upon a corrupt reading of toat^r
instead of air. Pliny, who has paraphrased in different places in his
own description of the Smaragdus tlie corresponding passages of
Theophrastus, had evidently read nothing in his copy about water, for
he has "prseterea longinquo amplificautur visu, inficientes circa se
repercussum aera."

8MABAGDUS. 281

one was brought to them, amongst other presents from the
king of Babylon, four cubits in length by three wide ; and
that there are now standing dedicated in the temple of
Jupiter four obelisks made out of Emerald, forty cubite
long, and four cubits wide on one side and three on the
other. But these accounts rest merely npon the testimony
of their own writers. Of the sort caUed by many the
Bactrian ( al, Tanos) that at Tyre is the largest, inasmuch
as there is a column of tolerable size in the temple of
Hercules there : unless indeed it be the spurious Emerald,
for there is such a kind found.* This last exists in locali-
ties easily accessible and well known — in Cyprus in the
copper-mines there, and in the island lying over against
Chalcedon. In the latter place they obtain the more
peculiar (choicer) specimens — for this species of gem is
mined after like other metals — and it runs in veins in
Cyprus quite by itself, and that too in great abundance.
Few pieces, however, are met with of sufficient size for a
signet-stone, most of them being too small, for which
reason they use it in the soldering of gold, for it solders
quite as well as the Chrysocolla (Silicious Malachite) ; and
some even suspect both to be of the same nature, as they
are certainly both exactly alike in colour. Chrysocolla,
however, is found plentifully both in gold-mines, and still
more so in copper-mines, as in those at Stobee. But the
Emerald, on the contrary, is rare, as we have already
observed ; and it appears to be generated from the Jasper,f
for it is said that once there was found in Cyprus a stone

♦ Compare this with the discoyery at Tivoli mentioned under Amazon-
stone.

t This explains the meaning of the comparison (Apoc. xxi. 11) of
the gem illuminating the New Jerusalem " to a most precious stone/*
«$ \ld(t> Mo-irtSt Kpv<rra\\i(opri : *' i, e. one combining the Jasper's green
with the Crystal's lustre — an exact description of a true Emerald.

282 NATURAL BISTORT OF PRECIOUS STONES, Ae.

of wliich the one half was Emerald, the other half Jasper,*
as heing not completely transformed as yet by the action
of the fluid. There is a peculiar method of working up
this stone so as to give it lustre, for in the native state it '
has no brilliancy."

It is plain from the above that his Cyprian gem was
merely the transparent Chrysocolla, still called the
" Copper Emerald ;" the remark that it could be used in
soldering gold decides the question. But that kind
qualified as *'rare and small in size" was as indubitably
the genuine one, for the Egyptian mine of the true
Emerald had been worked ages before his times.

Pliny (xxxvii. 16) gives a long list of the various species
of the Smaragdus, to the number of twelve, and of the
localities furnishing each kind. The greatest part ot
these, the description of which he quotes from earlier
writers, are evidently nothing more than calcedonies tinged
green, or else carbonates of copper of different shades : a
distinction must be made where he speaks from his own
observation. First in the list he places the Scythian, " the
best of all on account of its depth of colour and freedom
from flaws (nullis major austeritas aut minus vitii), and as
superior to other Emeralds as the Emerald itself to other
gems." Their extreme hardness prevented their being
engraved. All these characters, but especially the last,
indicate this gem as the Green Ruby, a very rare variety
of the Precious Corundum, and which indeed ought rather

* Doubtless a crystal of transparent Chrysocolla springing firom a
piece of green Malachite. Here we have the germ of the once popular
name of "Boot of Emerald,*' and "Radice di Smeraldo," for the
Plasma : the latter being supposed to be the matrix, of cognate but
baser nature, whence sprung the refined, purer, precious Emerald. This
doctrine as to their generation held good for all the rest as I have
noticed in the case of the Balais.

8MABAGDU8, 283

to be called a Green Sapphire. A specimen of large size,
belonging to the (original) Hope Collection, once seen by
me, exactly coincided with Pliny's description, its character
being the darkest green, aptly designated by the term
** austeritas," but far from pleasing ; and its freedom from
flaws, as contrasted with a true Emerald of the same mag-
nitude, was particularly striking. For no precious stone
is more liable to defects than the latter; "an Emerald
without a flaw" is a proverb for an imattainable perfection,
even the smallest Peruvian Emerald when cut will show
one or more flaws within its substance : indeed their total
absence is in itself enough to excite suspicion that the gem
is merely a glass imitation ; for no other precious stone can
be more exactly counterfeited, nay, surpassed by a paste.

It must not, however, be forgotten that the old jewellers,
like De Boot (ii. 62), describe their '' Oriental'* Emerald
("brought from the East Indies, but where found, not
known")* as both far harder and far deeper in colour, and of
a clearer substance than the Peruvian ; moreover, as always
small in size, rarely equalling a hazel-nut.f The Ural and
Altai mountains have of late years furnished true Emeralds
of the finest quality ; the Scythian of Pliny may perhaps
have been derived from that very source, brought down by
the barbarian goldseekers in those regions (the Arimaspi)

♦ Grarcias ab Horto says of the Indian stone : ** It is more rare and
valuable than the Diamond, and its native place is hardly known ; inas-
much as no fragments of it are left, but even these, on account of their
rarity, are carried off by the merchants." Ohardin, however, notices that
in his time (1680) Emeralds were regularly brought from Golconda, on
the Coromandel coast. In the tariff of Sev. Alexander the Smaragdus
is classed with the Adamas amongst the Indian exports ; paying a duty
of 12J per cent.

t The practical De Laet declares that the Oriental sort is as hard as
the Sapphire ; proof positive what stone then passed by the name ; next
in hardness were the Brazilian (the Tourmeline) : and the softest of all
were the Peruvian.

284 NATURAL HISTOBT OF PBECI0V3 STONES, <fec.

to the Greek colonies lying around the Black Sea, or to
the Persians on the Caspian. The epithet " Scythian" is
generally used by Martial to designate the most preoious
sort.

'' Indos Sardonychaa, Smaragdos Scyihtu'*

And again in a very remarkable passage describing the
plunder of a palace of the Dacian Decebalus, he alludes to
his gold-plate (a most unlooked-for article to be found in
the possession of a barbarian prince), inlaid with such
stones which he must have procured through his Tartar
allies (xii. 15).

** Quidquid Parrhasia nitebat aula
Donatum est oculis deisque nostris.
Miratur Scythicas virentis aiiri
Flammas Jupiter ; et stupet superb!
Regis delicias gravesque luxus ;
Haec sunt pocula quae decent Tonantem."

Next in value, as well as in the locality of their origin,
were the Bactrian, found, it was said, in the crevices of
the rocks during the prevalence of the Etesian winds :
" for then especially did they sparkle in the ground when
those winds had swept away the sands." These, however,
were much smaller than the Scythian sort. Dionysius
Periegetes describes the Indians as gathering both " ver-
dant Beryls" and grass-green Jaspers out of the gravel of
their torrents; apparently including Emeralds under the
former designation, for nowhere does he mention the
" Smaragdus."

The Egyptian held the third rank. Pliny notices
nothing more of them than their extreme hardness, equal
tx) that of the Scythian : these were extracted from the
rocks round about Coptos, in the Thebaid. They are not
to be confounded with the Ethiopian, found, according to
Juba, twenty-five days* journey (which would make 600

8MABAGDU8, 285

miles according to caravan computation) from Coptos,
which were admired for their brilliant green, though not
usually clear, nor of the same tint throughout : " acriter
virides, sed non facile puri aut concolores."

The two mines last mentioned, the Coptic and the
Ethiopian, doubtless furnished their chief supply of the
true Emerald to the Eomans, as they did even to the
Egyptian Caliphs. Extensive traces of these workings are
still to be discovered under Mount Zubara (*' the Mountain
of Emeralds "), first pointed out by M. Caillaud. His
report stimulated Mohammed Ali to reopen the shafts : he
had fifty miners employed there when Belzoni visited that
region in quest of the ancient Berenice, but their researches
had been totally unsuccessful. Belzoni considered that the
veins had been quite worked out by the ancients, the vast
extent of whose explorations was still attested by the
mounds of rubbish covering the ground about the village
Sakyat, the former Senskis, as existing inscriptions prove.
Heliodorus also (^Eth. ii. 32) speaks of the Emerald mines
as lying in the debatable ground between Egypt and
Ethiopia : his introduction of the subject into his romance
shows that they were still of importance in the 4th cen-
tury.* From these Sakyat workings Sir G. Wilkinson

* Mohammed Ben Mansur, in the thirteenth centnry, descrihes the
Emerald mines as situated on the borders of the land of the Negroes^
and yet belonging to the kingdom of Egypt, ** where they are dug
up out of Talc, and also in red earth." The eoapy-green kind was
found also in the Hedjaz, and therefore was called the Arabian. De
Laet thinks the same region continued to supply Emeralds as late as
the 17th century : **a very experienced jeweller having assured me
that they were then brought secretly to Cairo for sale by the * Ethio-
pians,* and that he himself had bought some from a countryman
outside the town (who thereupon immediately vanished), a proof that
they could not have been brought from India." They may, however,
have been obtained from plxmdering the mummies. Chardin affords
a curious testimony to the old belief by his mention that the Persians

286 NATUBAL EI8T0BT OF PBECI0U8 BT0NE8, Ae.

brought away several specimens of the gem in its quartz
matrix, now exhibited in the mineralogical department of
the British Museum. They are indeed of a bad, pale colour,
and very foul, yet inoontestably true Emeralds. However, it
was not likely that a casual visitor could obtain anything
but the refuse of the ancient miners ; and a scientific explora-
tion of the locality might produce stones equal in quality to
those Emeralds of Imperial times, hereafter to be noticed.

" All the other eight species," says Pliny, ** are found in
copper-mines." We may therefore, on that ground aJone,
set them down for Prases, IMalachites, perhaps the Green
Turquois, &<?., without the trouble of farther investigation.
The best amongst these was the Cyprian, " the excellence
of which lies in their colour, which was neither transparent
nor diluted, but oily and liquid ; and in whatever way it
be viewed, resembles the clearest sea-water, so as to be
equally transparent and lustrous : that is to say, sending
out its colour, and admitting the eye " (" pariterque ut
traluceat et niteat : hoc est ut colorem expellat, aciem reci-
piat"). There are certain Prases occasionally met with
amongst antique gems, which, from the extraordinary
richness and brightness of their green, can with difficulty
be distinguished by the eye alone from Peruvian Emeralds.
There can be little doubt these are the gems Pliny here
describes. " It is said that the tomb of Hermias, a prince
of that island, which stood on the coast near the tunny-
fishery, was surmounted by a marble lion, the eyes of
which were made of these Emeralds [a proof of their large
size and little value], and shot forth such lustre upon the sea
as to scare away the fish ; nor could the cause for a long

called the first class Emeralds Zmeroiul Misrai or Zvani, ** Emerald of
Egypt "• or " Syene," the second class " the old Emerald," the third
(Peravian) " the new." But he. adds, though the first were certainly
fine and lustrous, yet he had seen American quite equal to them.
Their asserted superior hardness he was unable to test.

SMARAGBUS, 287

time be discovered, until the gems in the eyes were
changed." Curiously enough a marble lion was recently
brought to the British Museum from Cnidos, the pupils of
whose eyes were deeply hollowed out, as if for the reception
of some gem of an appropriate colour. Democritus seems
to have had in view the Turquois when he ** classed in this
family (as Pliny guardedly expresses it) the Hermiaean*
and the Persian kinds : the former, globose and fatty (ex
tumescentes pinguiter) ; the Persian not indeed transparent,
but of an agreeable equal colour, filling the sight, though
not suffering it to penetrate them, like the eyes of cats and
panthers, for they, too, shine, but are not transparent.
These same Persian stones look dull in the sunshine, but
grow bright in the shade, and show themselves from a
greater distance than the other sorts." Their great defect,
and one common to all the latter class, was their exhibiting
a tinge of the colour of gall or of fresh oil (acris olei). In
the sunshine they were bright and pure, but not green.
Again he remarks (what can only apply to the Turquois)
a peculiar defect in this class, that their green hue fades
away with time, and that they are injured by exposure to
the sun (which latter agent speedily blanches the Turquois,
even that " de la vieille roche "). As for his Median kind,
there can be no doubt it was nothing but Malachite, for
" these stones exhibit a very deep degree of green, and
sometimes of the Lapis-lazuli colour. They are of a wavy
pattern, and contain images of different objects, as, for
instance, of poppies or birds, whelps, feathers, hairs, and
such like things. Such as are not perfectly green are im-
proved by steeping in wine and oil."t This species

* Ezechiel makes Syria occupy the fairs of Tyre with ** Emerald,
purple, and broidered-work, agate and coral." Can he have in view
the Turquois still worked for at the foot of Mount Sinai?

t The very remark Ben Mansur makes concerning the Malachite,
doubtless a traditionary process for its improvement in tint.

288 NATURAL HISTOSY OF PBECIOUS STONES, de.

exceeded all others in magnitade. Jnba stated that stones
like the Median were found plentifully in Mount Taygetos
in Laconia, and also in Sicily.

The supply of the Smaragdi from Chaloedon (mentioned
by Theophrastus) had ceased in Pliny's times in oonse-
quenoe of the failure of the copper-mines there ; the locality,
however, was still known by the name Mens Smaragdites :
•' but," adds he, " they were always of little value, and
very smalL They were brittle, and of a changeable colour,
like the green feathers in the tails of peaoocks, or on
pigeons' necks, shining more or less according to the angle
at which they were held ; yet at the same time full of veius
and of scales." All which shows, as before explained, they
were only crystals of transparent Chrysocolla.* Compare
the manner in which Ben Mansur divides the Emerald
into seven classes, according to the colour : 1. The grass-
green, of a beautiful clear colour like the little worm often
seen in the grass. 2. The Basil-green. 3. The Leaf-green.
4. The Verdigris-green. 6. The Euphorbium-green. 6.
The Myrtle-green. 7. The Soap-green. (This last seems
to be the bad, pale, opaque quality resembling frozen
oil.)

But, when Pliny is speaking for himself, the case is very
different ; the Smaragdus of Nero's age must be restricted
to the true Emerald, perhaps including the Green Ruby.
His remark, that " such Emeralds as have a plain sur&ce
reflect objects like a mirror," is singularly correct, and
attests his accurate acquaintance with the peculiar pro-
perties of the gem. For a large flat Emerald, if held so as
to reflect the light, will assume the exact appearance of

♦ Corsi's explanation that this was our Amazon-stone, founded upon
the specified opalescence of the former, its " pigeonVneck reflexions "
is controyerted hy the also remarked property of fusihility, a proof
of its being merely a form of copper-oxide.

8MABAGDU8. 289

being silvered at the back : its green disappears when its
plane is brought to a certain angle with the incident ray ;
and it will seem exactly like a fragment of looking-glass in
the same position. This singular change is not observable
in any other coloured stone. Similarly Ben Mansur lays
down that the distinction between the Emerald and the
other stones resembling it, viz., the Jasper, the Green
Laal (Spinel), and the Mina (Green Glass), lies in the
polish. And again, "the first-class stone, SaUcdi, the clear,
polished, reflects whatever is held before it like polished
steel."*

The huge Smaragdi mentioned (imder reservation) by
Theophrastus, as standing in the Egyptian and Syrian
temples, were made, it is possible, of pieces of Green
Jasper, or of the Oriental Amazon-stone (Mithrax), art-
fully cemented together, or perhaps of glass. But the
dimensions of such obelisks and columns must ne'^wrtheless
have been wonderfully magnified by the reporters. Apion,
in the reign of Tiberius, had mentioned a Colossus of
Serapis as then standing in the Labyrinth, and nine cubits
high, made out of Smaragdus. The Alexandrians were
ever famous for their glass-manufacture, so that such
figures, although their size has doubtless been enormously
exaggerated, may actually have been executed in some
vitreous composition, represented to the credulous visitor
as the real Emerald. Such, in truth, was the case with
the famous Sacro Catino of the Cathedral of Genoa (a patera
1 4 inches wide by 5 deep), traditionally believed to have been
used by Christ at the institution of the Lord's Suppei ,
According to Erasmus Stella (1517), the Genoese had a

♦ The lustre of the Emerald even in the palest specimens is indeed
so peculiar as completely to prevent its ever being mistaken for any
other stone of the same tint Some old mineralogists have aptly
compared it to the sheen of the surface of olive-oil ; for example
Marhoilus : " Smaragdus virens nimium dut lumen oleaginum."
(m) U

290 NATURAL HISTOBT OF PBECI0U8 8T0NE8, Ae,

plausible story acconnting to the sceptical few for the pre-
sence of a yessel of such in6stimable cost upon the humble
table where the Passover wag celebrated. It figured at the
time among the banqueting-plate of King Herod, and had
been forwarded to Jerusalem, whither it was his intention
to come from Galilee to keep the Feast: but the King
having, by Divine intei'position, altered his mind, his
dinner-service was unceremoniously borrowed for their
Master's use by the Disciples. Gesner relates that a mo-
nastery near Lyons still (in 1565) boasted of an opposition
Emerald dish, according to them the only authentic one,
but much smaller and far less famed than the relic at
Genoa. This celebrated dish had been assigned to the
Kepublic at the capture of Csesarea in 1101, as an equiva-
lent for a large sum of money due from the Crusaders. The
State pawned it in 1319 for 1200 marcs of gold (38,400Z.),
and redeemed it again^ a satisfactory evidence of their belief
in the reality of the material as well as in its sanctity. It
was a large patera of a transparent rich green substance,
believed through all those ages to be a single Emerald of
incalculable value, but which the investigating incredulity
of the French, when masters of the city, in 1800, at length
tested, and found to be merely glass.* Similarly the noted
Emerald, weighing 29 pounds, of the Abbey Eichenau,
near Costanz, the gift of Charlemagne, turned out, says
Raspe, when critically examined in the last century, a
counterfeit of the same kind. Such also was, without doubt,
the renowned " Table of Solomon," found by the Arab
invaders in the Gothic treasury at Toledo, which Elmacin

* Agricola mentions, besides these two, one "more than eight inches
long" in the chapel of St. Wenceslaus, at Prague, and a fourth some-
what larger at Magdeburg, set in the gold tower containing the Host,
traditionally believed to be the handle of Otho I/s knife, being
perforated as if for such a purpose. .

8MABAGDU8. 291

describes as a table of considerable size, one single piece
of solid Emerald, encircled with three rows of fine pearls,
supported upon 365 feet of gems and massy gold, and esti-
mated at the price of 500,000 aurei.*

It may, however, be stated here that the antique glass
Emeralds possess colour, lustre, and hardness in a degree
far superior to the modem pastes. One found at Kome,
which had been re-cut and set in a gold ring, eclipsed in
beauty almost every stone of the kind ever seen by me : in
fact, it is a usual practice there amongst the gem dealers,
on obtaining a fine green paste, to get it cut and faceted
for a ring-stone, and as such to obtain an emerald's price
for it from the unwary dilettante. The Cingalese anxiously
seek after the thick bottoms of our wine-bottles, out of
which they cut very fine Emeralds, which they dispose
of, much to their own profit, to the "steamboat gentle-
mans," exactly as Garcias ab Horto, physician to the Vice-
roy of Goa, describes the Hindoos at Balagate and Bisnagar
as doing for the benefit of the Portuguese, three centuries
ago. The Brighton Emeralds, so largely purchased by
visitors, are of similar origin : the broken bottles thrown
purposely into the sea by the lapidaries of the place are,
through the attrition of the shingle, speedily converted
into the form of natural pebbles, and return a lucrative
harvest to these ingenious artists, who truly "sow the
sands," but not in vain.

♦ This had formed part of Alaric's Boman spoils, subsequently
distributed between the capitals of the newly-formed Gothic kingdoms
of Aquitaine and Spain. Procopius (B. G. i. p. 343) says that the
Franks eagerly pressed the siege of Narbonne in the belief that the
city contained the royal treasures carried off by Alaric from the sack
of Rome, amongst which were the vessels of Solomon made out of
Emeralds. They had been deposited, with the other spoils of the
Sanctuary of Jerusalem, by Vespasian in his newly built Temple of
Concord*

U2

292 NATUSAL EISTOBY OF PSECI0U8 8T0NE8, die.

Kero, who was extremely sliortiBiglited* (" Neroni ocnH
bebetes, nisi cum ad prope admota conniveret," Pliny xL
54), used to view tbe combats of gladiators in the arena
through an Emerald (smtoigdo spectabat). This stone
must have been hollowed out at the back, and thus have
acted as a concave lens in assisting his sight to distinguish
clearly what was going on so fietr below the imperial seat
But this virtue at the time was certainly ascribed to the
material, not to the form of the stone, for the looking upon
an Emerald was by the ancients considered extremely bene-
ficial to the sight — a notion that prevailed as early as tho
times of Theophrastus, who states that people wore
Emeralds set in their rings for this very purpose.f Had
it not been for this confusion of ideas, the invention of
spectacles, at least for myopes, would have been anticipated
by more than a thousand years. Some commentators (to
begin with Marbodus) have ignorantly supposed that Nero
employed a flat " table " Emerald as a mirror to reflect the
distant combat : such writers could never themselves have
suffered from shortsightedness, or they would have been
well aware that to an eye so formed the reflection of a dis-
tant scene would be but obscurity doubly obscured. But
had the Emerald been employed on these occasions merely
as a mirror, Pliny would have used the expression " in
smaragdo,"J not " smaragdo " simply, which last can only

* Any one that has examined the portraits of this emperor on a gem
or a well-preserved medal will at once discover from the extraordinaiy
size and fulness of his eyes how very short-sighted he must have been.
Curiously enough, myopism is still in Italy almost a distinctive pecu-
liarity of aristocratic birth.

+ Pliny adds that gem-engravers were accustomed to refresh their
wearied eyes, after tlie excessive straining required in their work,
by gazing for some minutes upon an Emerald kept at hand for
that use.

t Jan however gives "in smaragdo" as the true reading, and this
indeed Marbodus must have found in his own copy of Pliny, for he

SMABAGDU8. 293

signify " by the aid of an Emerald." The supposition of
the concave lens is supported by the puzzling remark of
Pliny a few lines before, " they are usually concave, so as
to concentrate the sight " (ut visum colligant). And So-
li nus actually describes his smaragdi (xx.) as both convex
and concave in form ; and the test of their goodness : " if
they be transparent, if when globose they colour neigh-
bouring objects by the reflection of their lustre, or when
concave image back the faces of those looking into
them."*

Epiphanius informs us that, even down to his times (the
close of the fourth century), the name Neronian was given
to a kind of Emerald particularly austere and green in
tint, transparent, and lustrous. This epithet arose from a
discovery attributed either to Nero or Domitian, of a recipe
for improving the colour of the gem, by macerating it in
oil left standing in a copper vessel until it had imbibed
sufficient verdigris to turn it green. By others, this

makes Nero use his Emerald as a mirror. In fact Barbof completely
overthrows my explanation in the text by stating that the Emerald,
though cut ever so thin, will not allow distant objects to be seen
through it ; which, if a fact, settles the reading of itself. That a gem
set in a ring can serve for a mirror appears from an anecdote related
by Camerarius of his patron Maximilian 11. On a visit of that Emperor
to Batisbon the city had presented him with a gold cup filled with
ducats. Whilst all were engrossed in looking out of the windows of
the reception-room at a grand show exhibited in the street below, in
honour of the occasion, the Emperor detected " by the reflexion in the
stone of a ring upon his finger" one of the courtiers profiting by it to
slip unobserved to the cup, still standing on the table, and help himself
to a handful of its contents.

"* One would conclude from these expressions that the Bomans
hollowed out the back of the Emerald in order to give it lustre, as we
know was their frequent practice with the Carbuncle and the Guar-
naccino. A very fine Prase, which may have passed for the snpenor
gem, thus treated, has come under my notice : the intaglio is Enropa
borne off on the Bull (Ehodes).

294 NATURAL HISTOBY OF PRECIOUS 8T0NE8, dte.

method of tinging the stone was attributed to an ancient
painter or gem-engraver, the namesake of the Emperor.*

This tradition deserves more attention than it has
obtained. An opinion has been recently advanced that
the New Granada Emerald, the finest of the species, owes
the depth of its green to a saturation with animal matter
derived from the organic remains lliat fill the limestone-
rock, its actual matrix. Minerals tinged by an admixture
of chrome do not lose their colour when heated, which the
Emerald does, a fsuct indicating a different source for its
green than that generally received. To the support of thip
theory comes the belief of the old Peruvians, mentioned by
Gar. de la Vega, that the Emerald ripened in its matrix as
the fruit does upon its tree; being first colourless, and
then gradually turning green, assuming its colour first at
its comer that faxses the rising sun.

The Hindoos of every age have greatly admired the
Emerald, especially when formed into a pear-drop, pierced
at the small end and worn as a pendant in the ear. They
also employ it much in bracelets ; and many a glorious
gem of this species, as well as of the Sapphire, have they
remorselessly sacrificed to the fashion by drilling « hole
through its centre for the purpose of stringing it as a bead.
One of the finest ever found was to be seen thus maltreated
upon the arm of Kimjeet Singh ; and the largest and bluest
Sapphire that has come under my own notice had been

♦ By the later Greeks and Latins " Prasinus ** is used to distinguish
the true Emerald; the old term Smaragdus, from the number of
different species it had been applied to, having evidently been abandoned
as too indefinite. Prasinus must not however be confounded with
Prasius, always a common stone. That livery of the circus, ever the
most popular of the four both with CsBsar and canaille, from Nero — in
Juvenal's time, who hears the acclamations, "eventum viridis quo
coUigo panni " — down to Justinian, was appropriately given to the gem
of gems.

SMABAGDU8. 295

similarly disfigured. Such gems, in order to be utilized in
European jewelry, must be cut in two, the only means of
getting rid of the unsightly perforation : and thus one gem
of unparalleled magnitude is necessarily reduced into a pair
of mere ordinary dimensions. Such has been the Indian
custom from time immemorial, as appears from tJie descrip-
tion of Queen Persine's necklaces, thus poetically described
by Heliodorus (^Eth. ii. 30) : " So saying, from a little
pouch he wore under his arm-pit, he took out and showed
me an astonishing lot of precious stones; for amongst
them were Pearls as big as a small walnut, perfectly
round, and of the most dazzling whiteness ; Emeralds
likewise and Sapphires ; the former green like a meadow
in the spring, but illuminated with a certain oily lustre ;
whilst the latter mimicked the colour of the shallow sea as
it lies under the shadow of a precipitous rock, when it is
slightly ruffled by the breeze, and casts a violet tinge upon
the bottom." Tavemier notices that in his day every
Hindoo who could afford it, wore in his ears a Euby or an
Emerald strung between two Pearls. So composed appears
the triple ear-drop seen in the portraits of the Sassanian
queens, and which may supply another explanation of the
disputed meaning of the rpiykrp/a, with which Homer, as
we have seen, adorns the ears of Juno.

Pliny, with his accustomed happy brevity, thus con-
denses the long rambling legend narrated by Herodotus
concerning the most renowned gem of all history : — " The
estimation of precious stones had grown into so mighty
a passion that Poly crates the Samian, tyrant of the isles
and coasts of Asia Minor, was persuaded that in the volun-
tary loss of a single gem would lie a sufficient atonement
for his own prosperity, which even he, the prosperous one
himself, owned was too great to last ; and that, if he wished
to balance accounts with the fickleness of Fortune, he

296 NATURAL HI8T0BY OF PRECIOUS STONES, die.

oonld amply buy off her spite by snffering this single grief,
being fatigued with uninterrapted happiness. Putting out
thei-cfore to sea, he threw in his signet-ring ; but a fish of
remarkably size, bom for the royal table, snapped it up for
food, in order to give the omen, and restored it to the
owner in his kitchen, from the hand of that Fortune who
was plotting his destruction." Amasis, the wise Egyptian
king, who had counselled this mode of atonement, on hear-
ing of this last proof of the pertinacity of Polycrates' good
luck, solemnly renounced his alliance, being persuaded
that he would have most sigoally to pay for all in the
end : as the event soon proved, for having fcJlen into the
hands of Oroetes the Persian, he was impaled.

There can be little doubt this tale of *' the Fish and the
Bing " is true ; indeed, it is too incredible for a fiction.
Fish, especially the mackerel, greedily swallow any glit-
tering object dropped into the sea (a bit of tin being the
best bait for the latter) ; and within my own recollection,
one when opened was found to contain a wedding-ring.

That this stone was the true Emerald is evident from
the enormous value attached to it. With the Greeks it
long continued the established medium for the signet of
the prince. This may be deduced from Pliny's words
(xxxvii. 4) : — *' It is clear that in the times of Ismenias
even the Emerald used to be engraved. This opinion is
confirmed by an order of Alexander the Great, forbidding
any other artist, except Pyrgoteles, doubtless the most
eminent in the profession, to engrave his portrait upon
this gem," And again we may draw the same conclusion
from an anecdote Plutarch tells of Lucullus (cap. iii.) to
illustrate his disinterestedness. Being sent by Sulla on a
mission to King Ptolemy Lathyrus, he not merely refused
all the splendid presents offered him, amounting in value
to eighty talents (16,000?.), but even received of his table

SMABAGDUS. 297

allowance no more than was absolutely necessary for his
maintenance ; and when the King attended him down to
his ship, as he was about to return to Eome, and pressed
upon his acceptance a very precious Emerald, set in gold
(for a ring), he declined this also until Ptolemy made him
observe it was engraved with his own portrait, whereupon,
fearing his refusal should be considered a mark of personal
ill-will (his mission having been unsuccessful), he at last
accepted the ring as a keepsake.

This notice of royal Emeralds may be aptly concluded
with an unparalleled specimen of Oriental caprice and
extravagance. It is a finger-ring cut out of a solid piece
of Emerald of remarkably pure quality ; with two Emerald
drops, and two collets set with rose Diamonds, and Kuby
borders in Oriental mountings; formerly belonging to
Jehanghir, son of Akbar, Emperor of Delhi, whose name
is engraved on the ring. Diameter, li x It ^- This
ring was presented by Shah Soojah to the East India
Company, and was purchased by the late Lord Auckland,
when Governor-General of India. Now in the possession
of the Hon. Miss Eden.

In Pliny's age, such was the estimation in which the
Emerald was held on account of its beauty and costliness,
that, " by the common consent of mankind, the stone was
spared, being not allowed to be engraved." He quotes, indeed,
from «ome early Greek author (xxxvii. 3) a story to illus-
trate the (professional) vanity of the musician Ismenias, in
Alexander's reign, who, having heard of a Smaragdus en-
graved with an Amymone, on sale in Cyprus, at the price
of six gold pieces, sent for it ; and when his agent, having
by chaffering reduced the price to four, brbught back the
ring and the surplus, pretended to take offence at the in-
sult offered the gem's dignity by this beating down of
the price. But the locality, the age, and the comparatively

298 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS 8T0NE8, Se.

trifling cost of the stone, all go to prove tbat nothing more
than a Prase is here understood by the term Smaragdus.
Pliny's first statement, indeed, is fiilly borne out by those
rings that have come down to ns intact from Boman times,
which invariably present their Emeralds miengraved and,
for the most part, in their native prismatic form, with bat
a slight polish given to the snr&ce ; of such, the Devon-
shire Collection contains no less than three ; indeed they
are of pretty frequent occurrence. But true Emeralds,
with really antique intagli upon them, are amongst the
rarest of tJie rare, and appear scarcely one of them refer-
able to an earlier date than the luxurious age of Hadrian,
although one of the most remarkable of the Mertens gems
was an Etruscan Scarabeus, its subject a charioteer in a
triga seen in front &ce, formed out of a poor but unmia-
takeable Emerald of tolerable magnitude. In &c1^ the
best examples, both for quality of stone and the style ot
art, examined by myself, presented, one, this Emperor's
head ; the other, that of his consort Sabina ; a third, the
heads of both facing each other. It is curious so large a
proportion of the works in so rare a material should belong
to this prince's reign. Perhaps his love for Egyptian
ideas, and long sojourn in that country, may have stimu-
lated the workings of the Zubara mines, the main source
of the supply. The transient revival of the Egyptian
religion, due to his patronage, has also produced a miracle
of the glyptic art, embodying one of its ideas : an intaglio
head of the Solar Lion, the Alexandrian Cneph, giving in
its impression a lion's head standing out in full relief, with
gaping jaws full of life and fury ; the stone, moreover, of
the finest colour, purity, and lustre, and in itself of con-
siderable intrinsic value (Fould, the late). The Devon-
shire Parure also exhibits (Bandeau, No. 11) a large and
beautiful Emerald cut into a Gorgon's head in high relief.

SMABAGDU8. 299

which has every mark of being an antique work of the
same period : in fact, it is hardly possible to conceive a
modem hand venturing to convert into a medium for art
an ornamental stone so costly as this unusually large and
pure example. The baser specimens from the Zubara
mines — cloudy, full of flaws, almost opaque, aptly com-
pared by Ben Mansur to green soap — were in high favour
for amulets. Pliny quotes the impudent pretence of the
Magi, " made in contempt and ridicule of mankind," that
Emeralds engraved with figures of eagles or beetles pos-
sessed mighty virtues in conciliating the favour of princes,
and in averting tempests. One of the most singular of
these amulets (formerly amongst the Praun Gems) dis-
played a head of Jupiter within a coiled serpent resting
upon a crocodile, surrounded by emblems of the planets ;
and bearing much analogy to those Alexandrian medals of
Antoninus Pius, the devices on which are supposed to in-
dicate the commencement of a Sothiac Period.* The same
Cabinet also possessed a Gnostic legend of several lines
upon a similar material.

Wonderful specimens of the skill and ingenuity of the
Mexican lapidary were the famous Five Emeralds, the wed-
ding present of Cortez to his bride in 1629. "The first
was in<the form of a rose, the second in that of a horn, the
third like a fish with eyes of gold, the fourth was like a
little bell with a fine Pearl for the tongue, and on the rim
was the inscription in Spanish, * Blessed is he who created
thee,' The fifth, which was the most valuable, was a
small cup with a foot of gold, and with four little chains of
the same metal attached to a large Pearl as a button. The
edge of the cup was of gold, on which was engraved the
Latin sentence — ' inter natos mulierum non surrexit major.' "

♦ That is, the opening of the " Great Year," and the epoch of the
regeneration of all things.

300 NATURAL HISTOBY OF PBECIOUS 8T0NE8, ite.

(Gomara, Chron. a 184.) For one of these gems some
Genoese merchants at Seville had offered Cortez 40,000
ducats. The qneen of Charles V. had previously intimated
her desire of acquiring some of these precious curiosities :
and the disappointment she experienced, through the pre-
ference shown by the adventurer for his bride, made her
his enemy for life, the effects of which she did not fail to
make him experience on subsequent occasions.* Another
monster Emerald was that accompanying the third letter
of Cortez to the Emperor, in May, 1525; it was of fine
quality, four-sided, and tapering to a point like a pyramid,
as large as the palm of the hand at the base.

The largest Peruvian Emerald obtained at the Conquest
was the one that fell into Pizarro's hands on his first
entrance into the province of Coaque, the region of the
** Esmeraldas." A large number of those made prize of
on the same occasion were smashed by the soldiers with
hammers, the test of the true Emerald being its infrangi-
bility according to their chaplain, Keginaldo de Fedianza.
The Emeralds not supporting this test were considered
mere pastes, and reckoned valueless ; and consequently were
collected without difficulty for himself by the astute and
more knowing friar.

Pedro d'Aragona, an early Viceroy of Peru, dedicated
to Our Lady of Loretto a mass of quartz studded with
numerous crystals of the finest-coloured Emeralds, some
an inch in diameter ('027 m.) So says Cairo, who had
examined it.

Garcilasso de la Vega relates that the chief deity wor-
shipped in the city of Manta (Peru) was an Emerald nearly

* The whole set was lost in his shipwreck upon the disastrous
expedition against Algiers in 1541, ** which made the misfortune fiall
more heavily upon Cortez than on any one else besides the emperor."

8MABA0DUS, 301

as large as an ostrich-egg. The priests zealously inculcated
upon her worshippers the belief that the most acceptable
offerings to this goddess, Esmeralda, were her own chil-
dren in the shape of minor Emeralds : whereof they them-
selves took good care. Upon the conquest, these children
fell a prize to Alvarado and to Vega, the historian's patron ;
who in this case also, like the followers of Cortez with
their Mexican spoils, destroyed many splendid Emeralds
by subjecting them to the test of the hammer, as Garcilasso
records. But the Great Mother disappeared for ever;
neither could any of her devotees be brought, either by
threats or promises, to disclose her hiding-place.

These wondrous Peruvian mines have long since ceased to
be productive; of late years the chief supply has been
drawn from the Muzo mine, near Santa F^ de Bogota, in New
Granada. These workings used to be let by the Republic
for a term, at the rate of 8000Z. per year ; but at the last
auction there were no bidders for the lease. But a person
of great experience assures me that the true cause of the
failure in the production of all precious stones, including
riamonds, in South America, is not so much the exhaustion
of the mines as the diversion of capital and labour to the
more profitable gold-fields.

The generic name Smaragdus is undoubtedly the Greek
form of the Persian " Samarrud," or " Zmeroud," it being
the invariable rule that all the productions of the East
retained amongst the ancients their Oriental names, more
or less modified (in order to give them a Greek significance)
according to the greater or less degree of harshness in their
original forms. In this way we have "Margarita" from
" Merwerid," " Hyacinthus " from ** Jacut," and « Sardius "
from " Sered," and, more curiously, " Almas " appearing
as " Adamas," with the implied idea of invincibility, ao-

302 NATUBAL HISTOBY OF PBECIOW STONES, &c.

cording to the same law that converted "Alfas" into
"Elephas," "the big stag," and **Septagen" into " Psiir
tacus," ** the big jay." *

Emeralds were employed in preference to all other gems
by the Persians for adorning those jewelled goblets which
owed their origin to their luxurious pomp. Even Theo-
phrastus (36) describes them (including perhaps the Tur-
quois) as the gems used for the At^o/coAXi^Ta, and collected
by horsemen in the deserts ; which Pliny, going a little
more into details, informs us were the Bactrian sort.
Such a mode of ornamentation was long kept up in Persia.
Ben Mansur says, " Several bits of Emerald united together
upon one surface, by means of mvna^ are called Astar."
This form of extravagance flourished amongst the Eomans :
Pliny indignantly exclaims, '* We weave cups out of Eme-
ralds," t. e., the stones were connected together into a con-
tinuous whole by means of a gold skeleton frame, like the
Byzantine imitations of the same in translucent enamel;
and Martial talks of a single cup robbing many a finger
of its wonted decoration (xiv. 109) : —

** Gemmatum Scythicis ut luceat ignibus aurum
Adspice, quot digitos exuit iste calix !"

Hence the tradition, mentioned by Procopius, that Solo-
mon's sacred vessels were of this character, which in its
turn gave birth to the legend of the Sacro Catino.

What was the true nature of such " Prasini " vases may be
guessed from Dumersan's description of one descending
from Koman times and preserved in the Treasury of Saint
Denys : " Une autre gondole (aut scaphium) de crysolite,
tr^s exquise, couleur de verd de mer, le pied et la bordure

♦ Long ago Chardin aptly observed:—'* It is natural that, the East
being the mine or source of the precious stones, their names likewise
should have come from thence.

SMABAGDUS. 303

garnis d*or et enrichis de sapliirs, gr^nats, prismes d*esm^.
raudes, et de soixante et dix perles orientales. Cette piece
est grandement estim^e par ceux qui se connoissent en
pierres. Elle fut jadis engag^e par le roy Louis le Gros
(1108-1137) et desengag^e de son consentement par TAbb^
Suger, qui en paya 60 marcs d*argent, grande somme pour
ces temps-la. Elle a estee faite ou du moins gamie par
Sainct Eloy, comme le mesme Suger asseure au livre de
ses gestes : — * Quod vas (dit il, parlant de cette gondole) tam
pro pretiosa lapidis qualitate, quam integra sui quantitate,
mirificum, inclusorio Sancti Eligii opere constat esse or-
natum; quod omnium artificum judicio pretiosissimum
aestimatur.' "

The existence of this gondole, as well as the Vienna
patera (murrhina), if really in stone, explains what Pliny
means by his Chrysoprasus, " more near gold in tint than
the Topazius," sufficiently large to permit cymbia, boat-
shaped vessels, to be cut out of it. Again, I have seen
vases, by no means minute, brought from China carved in
a green translucent material, of the exact shade of the
Peridot, the true nature of which is still a question amongst
mineralogists, some supposing it to be a variety of Fel-
spar, others the true Chrysoprase.

Treatises were extant in Pliny's time (75), showing how
false Emeralds might be made by staining rock-crystal, as
well as other gems — a fraud which he terms the most
lucrative in the world. This was probably done by plung-
ing the heated crystal into verdigris dissolved in turpen-
tine, according to the modern plan to be described under
Bubace, The crystal becomes full of minute cracks, into
which the colouring fluid insinuates itself, and tinges the
entire substance. The great art is so to regulate the ope-
ration that these cracks do not become too conspicuous
upon the siuface. Upon this point Seneca has the follow-

304 NATURAL HI8T0BY OF FBECI0U8 8T0NE8, dbe

ing curious passage (Ep. 90, 33) : — ^** The same Democritiui
discovered the method of softening ivoiy; and how a
pebble by means of hoUing can be transformed into an
Emerald, by which same process (coctura) artificial gems
continue to be stained at present." This looks like an
allusion to the staining of crystal, " calculus " being usually
applied to a white quartz pebble, such as Pliny notices as
ingredients in glass-making.

De Boot (II. 53) runs up a long list of the virtues of the
Emerald, as then firmly believed in by everybody, himself
included — Worn in a ring it was a sure preservative against
epilepsy (as Marbodus also teaches upon the authority of
Aristotle), cured dysentery, and preserved the chastity
of the wearer, or else betrayed and punished its violation
by immediately flying into pieces.* The imperial physi-
cian gives a recipe for preparing the **Tinctura Smaragdi"
— a most efficacious medicine in dysentery, epilepsy, and
malignant fevers : " Pound the Emerald in an iron mortar,
sift the powder through muslin, then cover it with spiritus
urince (sal volatile) : the spirit must be distilled oflF, leaving
the powder of a grey colour, but which will communi-
cate that of the emerald to spirits of wine."

The value of this stone in the middle ages was enormous.
Fran. Maria, prince of Urbino, paid 113 gold pieces for an
Oriental Emerald weighing no more than two carats.
Cellini puts it at 400 gold scudi the carat, or at four times

* *' Agricola, si pendens cutem tangat illius qui actum venereum
excrcet disrumpi existimat. Id si in quovis actu legitime vel illegitimo
contingat, necesse est vel motum vel halitum seminalem in Smaragdum
agere, nisi metaphysica facultas illi insideat aliqua, quae nulla ratione
investigari possit." Ruaius adds "Jam vero apud oranes constat lapidem
liunc rerum venerearum impatientem esse. Ut etiam Albertus ille
Magnus asseveraro non dubitarit regi HungarisB cum uxore rem lia-
benti Smaragdum quam in annulo portabat in tres divulsam fuisso
partes."

SMABAGDUS. 305

his estimation of the Diamond. Linschotanus, in his * Iter
IndijB Orientalis,' makes it worth one-seventh more than
the latter stone. But fifty years later De Boot considers
that, owing to the vast influx of the Peruvian kind, its
then value could only fairly be reckoned as one fourth of
that of the Diamond, thus exactly reversing Cellini's rule.
But now again Cellini's valuation has suddenly been re-
established through the total cessation of the supply from
America, and a perfect Emerald commands the highest
price of all precious stones in the London market. De
Laet cites from the notes of '*a very eminent jeweller" of
the preceding century that in 1640 the Emerald (the
oriental) was in as much esteem amongst the nobility as
the Diamond itself; also that the largest that had ever
come to the knowledge of the writer was of 25 carats
weight; adding that this particidar stone was in 1570
valued at 20,000 crowns ; which was merely one-third of
what it would have fetched at the first-named date.

The Tourmaline, notwithstanding the general opinion as
to its very recent introduction into Europe, had been long
known in De Laet's times. He describes it as the Brazilian
Emerald, of a dark-green shade as if stained with soot, and
disagreeable to the eye. The crystals were cylindrical,
(prismatical?) with three equal sides, sometimes striated
as if done artificially. A mine of it had then lately been
discovered at Santo Spirito, the ownership of which the
Jesuits were claiming. In the previous generation these
stones had been cut and worn like the precious Emerald,
never, however, being priced higher than Garnets ; but by
that time they had gone entirely out of feshion.

(m)

306 NATURAL HISTOBY OF PBECIOUS 8T0NE8, Ac.

JEWELRY OF THE ANCIENTS.

Of the most ancient goldsmith's- work on record, that master-
piece of the Olympian jeweller, the necklace wedding-gift
of Venus to Harmonia, the mystic Nonnns has left penned
the following elaborate description {Dionya, v. 173) : —

** With cunning hand the god a nocklaoe wrought
And to a serpent's form his labour brought :
In full relief, embossed in living gold.
Her double head an amphisbsena rolled,
And spurting venom from each twofold jaw
Seemed either way her tortuous folds, to draw.
Whilst head with head aye striving to conjoin
She writhes in many a coil her body's starry twine ;
Thus like the twofold neck, encircling round,
Its wavy back the artful collar wound.
Ilorrent with scales was seen each separate snake
Down to the navel ; thence but one they make ;
For at the hinge, so cared the smith divine.
In one huge ring is tied the weighty spine.
So glancing sideways with each quivering head
She seems to vomit out her hisses dread.
But where each mouth begins and where each ends
Modelled in gold erect an eagle stands ;
As cleaving the wide heaven himself he draws
From out the compass of the dragon-jaws :
On pinions foury conspicuous on high.
With wings quadruple doth he mount the sky ;
On one a Jasper gleams with orange bright.
On one a Moonstone of a matchless white —
The gem that wanes whene'er the horned queer
With wasting orb above the heavens is seen.

JEWELBY OF THE ANCIENTS. 307

But waxes still whene'er the Moon renewed
Pours from her horn the liquid silvery flood —
Whilst the pale goddess from the Sun, her sire,
Draws in like milk the self-begotten fire —
Casts from the third the dawn-like Pearl its rays
Whose charm the Red Sea's boiling surge allays ;
Whilst on the fourth, of round and bossy form..
An Indian Agate pours its lustre warm.
But where the viper-heads together bend
Full wide their jaws the gaping mouths extend,
As though with ravening fangs they eager strove,
Caught in the midst, to seize the bird of Jove.
From either head, set 'neath each threat'ning brow.
Their lamp-like flame fifiroe-buming Rubies throw. —
• Mimicked in various stones there ocean spreads
O'er which its hue the sea-green Emerald sheds.
Which joined to a Crystal in one common home
Pictures the darkening brine, the wave-tossed, bubbly, foam.
Wrought on its face disport in golden sheen
The sea-bom flocks that rove the depths marine ;
Where many a plougher of the watery way.
The bounding dolphin cuts the topmost spray.
And in the midst where his companions sail
With life-like frolic curves his lashing tail.
There too of birds the parti-coloured choir
With flapping wings in semblance strike the ear.
Such was the gift whose curious art outvied
Its gold and gems in all their priceless pride.
That Cythereia, the young bride to deck.
Midst the glad rites clasped round her virgin neck."

This picture is not a mere figment of the poet's fancy,
but a paraphrase of some account, then extant, of a cele-
brated relic that was preserved far down into historic
times. As the fatal bribe of Eriphyle it had been dedicated
at Delphi by the avenger, AlcmsBon ; and we have already
seen how its fame and beauty saved it from the melting-pot
to which the necessity of the Phbcian chiefe consigned all
the other donaria of previous ages. From the possession of
the tyrant's wife it doubtless passed undamaged into the
conqueror's hands, and was, as the nature of the case

X 2

308 NATURAL HISTOBT OF PBECIOUS 8TONE8, Ac

demands, restored to its original shrine. The authenticity
of the details in Nonnns appear from several considerations.
Firstly, from his minuteness in this particular point, whilst
he passes over all the other components of the bridal
trousseau in the most vague and cursory terms. Secondly,
from the very confosedness of his account, for he is
evidently putting into verse a technical and detailed de-
scription the terms of which he was himself fsir from com-
prehending. Again, the entire character of the jewel,
minutely correct if regarded as an archaic work, is totally
diverse from that of the decorative art of the Lower Empire,
and such as no poet of those times could possibly have
devised by his unassisted imagination. Its whole design
is Assyrian, for by extracting the sense of the flowery and
intricate verses above cited, we discover its form to have
been a torques, shaped like a double-headed serpent (pre-
cisely that seen on the neck of Darius in the Pompeian
mosaic): the centre-ornament was an eagle having four
wings, adjuncts unknown to Greek art, but typical of
Assyrian — it was the Babylonian lynx, the Hebrew Cherub
— each wing set with a different gem ; a Jasper, a Moonstone,
an Indian Agate, a Pearl : having also a pendant composed
of an Emerald and a Crystal surrounded by a framework of
fishes and birds : the eyes of the serpents were of Lychnis^
t. e. Spinels. The choice of these gems attests again the
antiquity of the work ; the Agate and Jasper ranking with
the Pearl and the Kuby. A poet of the fourth century
would have thought scorn of those then so vulgar gems,
and would, like one of our day, have substituted for them
the Diamond and the Opal, especially in the reputed
handiwork of a god.

All the magnificent works in which the artist-goldsmiths
of Asia, Greece, and Kome displayed theii* wondrous taste
and skill, have utterly perished. Of their magnificence

mSPANO-GOTHIC CROWNS. 309

we can form but an inadequate idea from the descriptions
of history, but of their excellence in point of art the per-
sonal decorations, though of small intrinsic value, yielded
to modem research by the Greek and Etruscan tombs suffice
to give us an example. The solo relic that has escaped
the barbarian despoiler of the lavish splendour of Imperial
Kome is the Patere de Rennes, already described.

There exist, however, three monuments which exhibit
the Boman art, though in its most degraded state, and as
practised by foreign, semi-barbarian craftsmen ; and these,
both for their rarity and their historical interest, are well
deserving of a particular description. They therefore shall
be taken in chronological order.

fflSPANO-OOTHIC CROWNS.

In the year 1858 some labourers employed in bringing
under cultivation the site of a deserted cemetery at Fuente
di Guerrazzar, two leagues from Toledo, came upon a
buried treasure consisting of eight crowns and coronets in
gold adorned with gems, the intrinsic value of which is
calculated at 2000Z. The whole treasure-trove quickly
found its way to Paris, where it was without any needless
delay (or reference to ignorant Trustees) secured by the
proper authorities for the Mus^e de Cluny, of which it
now forms the most interesting feature, being ingeniously
displayed to public inspection within a glass case, accessible
on every side.

Of these the most important is the crown of King Eeces-
winthus (a.d. 653), a broad circle of fine gold, eight inches
in diameter, set with thirty uncommonly large Pearls,
alternating with as many fine Sapphires. This band is
edged with a border above and below, filled with a running
pattern of Greek crosses of red pastes chisonnSes in gold.

31 NA TUBAL HISTORY OF PBECI0U8 STONES, &c.

From twenty-four little chains hang these letters of gold
encrusted with pastes like the borders,

+ BECESVINTHVS BEX OFFEBET.

From the letters again are suspended twenty-four penda-
logues in gold, and five Pearls, which support twenty-four
pear-shaped Sapphires, forming a fringe all round the
circumference. Lowest of all comes a very magnificent
Latin cross of truly elegant design, four inches long, set
with eight enormous Pearls * and six equally splendid
Sapphires, and having three pendants from the arms and
foot cut out of square pastes. In this cross the gems are set
a jour ; the back of their collets being filled in with a rose-
ornament in filigree. The settings themselves are ex-
quisite, the claws holding the stones being fleur-de-lys.
This cross is the finest example in existence of ancient
goldsmith's work.

The second crown, supposed to have been his queen's,
is set with Emeralds, Sapphires, Opals, large Pearls (fifty-
four in number), and has a fringe like the first, but of
crystals f and pastes. It has a pendent cross also set with
Sapphires, but which is quite plain in form and of small
intrinsic value.

The others are much simpler, and embellished with but
few and inferior stones; they were the coronets of con-
temporary counts and barons. Three of these coronets
present a novelty in make ; an open grating with gems set
at each intersection of the bars; from each hangs a flat

* The Pearls are as big as ordinary cherries, the Sapphires of the
best colour, those in the middle row as large as pigeons* eggs, all
cahochons, the centre one very protuberant.

t I strongly suspect from their shape that some of these ** crystals "
are in reality rough diamonds : that stone could hardly have been
omitted from this assemblage of all that was most precious amongst
the spoils of Home.

JEWELRY OF THE ANCIENTS, 311

cross jpattee jewelled, one of them bearing Sonnica's votive
inscription. The remaining three are much lighter, and
axe simply ornamented with arcades in repousse work in the
common Byzantine style. The small diameter of the last
six shows that they were not designed to be worn, but
merely for votive offerings. The two principal crowns,
however, open with hinges, and the queen's has a row of
rings along the edge evidently serving for the adjustment
of a lining. All have gold chains proceeding from a centre
or hook for suspension. In the king's crown this centre is
artistically cut out of a large crystal into the pattern of
a Byzantine capital, about one inch deep and somewhat
wider across the top; around this again spread gold
acanthus-leaves supporting small pendants. The chains
depending from it are stout flat almond-shaped pieces of
pierced work.

It is curious to observe in some cases bits of mother-o'-
pearl* set amongst valuable stones, and square pastes
now colourless side by side with the richest : perhaps they
were passed off upon the Gothic prince for real Opals by
the court-jeweller of the day. It is very singular that
neither the Euby nor the Almandine should appear at all ;
the whole species (Carhunculus) must have been purposely
left out for some mystic reason, probably as being regarded
of too Martial sl dye.

Most interesting, as it explains the destination of the
treasure, is a large Greek cross bearing the inscription on
both sides —

INDNI

MARIE

NOM

INS

INE

ORBA

OFFERET SONNICA

CES.

SCIE

* Which was regarded as precious, only second to the actual pearl,
during the succeeding ages. In Henry UI's. list of camei, above

312 NATUBAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, Ae.

which records its dedication by Sonnica in the church of
S. Maria in Sorbaceis, ** in the grove of sorb-apples," sup-
posed to be the present S. Maria de Abaxo placed at the
. foot of the hill on which stands the city of Toledo.*

It may be remarked here that the Visigoths had enjoyed
" the first pick " of the plunder of the dismembered empire.
The nuptial gift which, according to the custom of his
nation, was offered to Placidia by Adolphus (Alaric's
brother and successor) consisted of the rare and magnificent
spoils of her country, fruits of the recent sack of Bome.
" Fifty beautiful youths in silken robes carried a large
basin in each hand, and one of these basins was filled with
pieces of gold, the other with precious, nay, rather with
priceless, stones." So says Olympiodorus, her contempoiury,
who, from his mode of expression, seems to have assisted
at the ceremony.

CROWN OF CHARLEMAGNE.

Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the West by Pope
Leo on Christmas-day, a.d. 800, in the Church of St.
Peter's, Rome. His crown may therefore have been made
in that city for the occasion ; certainly its ornamentation
has more of the Byzantine than the Prankish style. It is
octagonal, formed by eight plaques of gold with round
tops, which thus make a scalloped border to its upper part.
Each alternate plaque bears the figure of a saint in enamel.
The front plaque is set with large stones en cahochon

quoted, " cokilles " figure conspicuously amongst items of actual intrin-
sic value : and disks of the substance embellish in company with the
gems the surface of Theodolinda's crown.

* M. Lasteyrie has published a full description in 4to. of these
crowns illustrated with facsimiles the actual size in chromo-lithograph.
These plates are the most successful specimens of the new process
known to me, the gems showing out as if actually before the eye.

CROWNS OF CHARLEMAGNE AND HUNGARY. 313

CSapphires ?), and others out square after the fashion of
table-diamonds (Emeralds, or Beryls ?). Above all rises a
Greek cross, also set with large stones : gems of less im-
portance are equally interspersed upon the other plaques.
From the cross springs an arch like a flying buttress which
gives stability to the entire fabric. Frederic Barbarossa,
in the year 1166, canonized Charlemagne, and took advan-
tage of the occasion (even if he did not create it expressly),
like a true Teuton, to despoil his sepulchre of the crown,
besides the enormous mass of treasure, infinitely magni-
fied by tradition, there deposited — ^the golden throne, the
two shields of gold, &c. Since that time the relic was
used at the coronation of the succeeding German emperors,
and the Elector Palatine had the custody of it ex officio.
The Austrian Francis, as the last in the Imperial series,
had possession of the crown, and took good care to retain
it ; it now rests in the Imperial Library of Vienna, a mere
monument of antiquity.

CROWN OF HUNGARY.

This memorial of the first establishment of Hungarian
nationality has ever been regarded with superstitious
veneration by every true Magyar, and authenticated every
coronation of the kings of that country until the shameful
overthrow of its liberties and constitution in our own
times.* It is, in truth, a most venerable relic of the
regular Byzantine art ; and is formed by a broad flat ban^
of fine gold, whence springs an arch, supporting a cross.
It was sent in the year 1072 by the Emperor Michael
Ducas to Geisa, the first Duke of Hungary, or, as he is
strangely (though with strict historical accuracy) styled

♦ When it disappeared, and its hiding-place remains known only to
a faithful few.

314 NATUBAL HI8T0BY OF PBECI0U8 8T0NE8, &c.

in the enamel portrait of him, npon a plaque rising above
the top of the circlet, " Geabitras, king of the ISirks'' *
Next to this comes the portrait of Constantine Porphyro-
genitos, then one of Dncas himself; the fourth, and largest
enamel, represents the Saviour enthroned exactly as he
is figured upon the bezants of that period. These four
portraits are set at the springing of the arches which
close the top of the crown: on the front of the band
itself are placed four smaller enamels of the angels Michael
and Gabriel, St. George and St. Demetrius.

Over the medallion of Christ is placed a large heart-
shaped Amethyst, below it an enormous rough Sapphire ;
four more large Sapphires are set at equal distances on the
band, all but one being unpolished. The edges of the
circlet are bordered with a row of Pearls set dose together.
The large Sapphire at the back is surrounded by four
green stones, cut oblong; but their exact species has not
been ascertained. In the deed by which Queen Eliza-
beth of Hungary pledged this crown to the Emperor
Frederic IV., the stones are enumerated as being 53
Sapphires, 50 Kubies, one Emerald, and 320 Pearls. It is
singular that the four green stones at the back are not
entered in this list ; perhaps they were known at the time
to be only prases, and therefore not reckoned amongst the
other stones of value.

It will be remarked from the foregoing details that,
although the Byzantine jewellers had still at their com-
mand abundance of Sapphires and of the finest quality,
the true Emerald had become very scarce. Yet, late
imder the Lower Empire, it was still profusely employed
in the decoration of the imperial vestments, although ever
accounted as next in value to the Diamond. Claudian

* They were a colony from the Turks origmally seated beyond the
Don.

CBOWN OF EJJNQAMY. 316

enumerates amongst the treasures left by Theodosius, under
the guardianship of Stilicho —

*' Sidonias chlamydes et cingula bacds
Aspera, gemmatasque togas, viridesque smaragdis
Loricas, galeasque renidentes hyadnthis."

Sidonian mantles rich with purple fold,
Belts bossed with pearls, robes stiff with gems and gold.
And breastplates shining green with emeralds bright,
And helmets rich with precious sapphires dight."

In illustration of the last line, it may be remarked that
his predecessor Constantino often figures upon his copper
coinage in a helmet studded with gems set close together.
This jewelled helm was the origin of the crown imperial
in its present form ; the gradual transition from the defen-
sive to the decorative head-covering being easily traced
upon the series descending of the Byzantine solidi. As to
the excess to which this department of luxury, like all the
rest, had been pushed by the Komans of more opulent
times, a single anecdote of Pliny's will be a sufficient ex-
ample (ix. 58) : —

** I have myself seen LoUia Paulina (once the wife of
the Emperor Caligula), though it was on no great occasion,
nor she in her full-dress of ceremony, but at an ordinary
wedding-dinner — I have seen her entirely covered with
Emeralds and Pearls strung alternately, glittering all over
her head, hair, bandeau, ears, neck, necklaces, and fingers,*
the value of all which put together amounted to the sum
of forty millions of sesterces (400,000?.), a value she was
ready to attest by producing the receipts. Nor were these

♦ Reminding us of Sedley's lines —

'* Such ropes of pearls her arms encumber ;
She scarce can deal the cards at ombre ;
Such loads of rings her fingers freight,
They tremble with the mighty weight"

316 NATURAL HISTORY OF FBECIOUS STONES, &c,

jewels the presents of a prodigal Emperor — they were
regular family heirlooms ; that is to say, bought with the
plunder of provinces. This was the end gained by his
peculations, this the object for which M. Lollius made
himself infamous all over the East by taking bribes from
its princes, and at the last poisoned himself when C. Caesar,
Augustus* adopted son, formally renounced his friendship —
all for this result, that his granddaughter might show herself
off by lamplight bedizened to the value of forty millions of
sesterces. Let any one now count up on the one side the
sums carried in triumph by a Curius or a Fabricius, let
him picture to himself their scanty display of treasure ; and
on the other side, LoUia, a wretched female, a tyrant's
plaything, seated at the feast ; would he not rather have
seen them dragged down from the triumphal car, than to
have conquered for an end like this ? "

Amongst the other mad freaks of Heliogabalus was the
serving-up dishes sauced with gold or precious stones ; for
example peas with gold-pieces, lentiles with Kubies, beans
with Amber-beads, rice with seed-pearls (Albis). The last
he used, instead of pepper, with his fish and truffles. It
will be observed that in the foregoing dishes there is a
studied union of the most plebeian fare with the most pre-
cious objects of luxury.

A notice in Lampridius (svh Maximis) gives us a curious
peep into the trousseau of a Eoman princess in the third
century : — " Junia Fadilla, his betrothed bride, retained
(after his murder) the imperial betrothal-gifts (arrhce
regioe), viz., a necklace of nine single Pearls, a hair-net of
eleven Emeralds, a bracelet with clasp of four Hyacinths.*
Her contemporary Tertullian exclaims, with his usual
energetic extravagance, in his tractate * On Women's Beha-

* This is certainly the trae reading of the passage : but differs con-
siderably from that found in the old editions.

CROWN OF HUNGABY, 317

vioTir ' : * The slight lobes of her ears outweigh a whole
year's income, and her left hand squanders a money-bag on
every one of its joints.' " Where saccus seems to denote a
fixed sum, like in our day the Turkish purse (60Z.).

Caylus (vii. pi. 70) figures a necklace that gives a good
notion of the style of Lollia's jewelry. It consists of four-
teen short six-sided prisms of plasma, and six irregular
pastes connected together by two goJd links between each.
The plasmas are one-third of an inch long, and very neatly
cut. Amongst the finest specimens now extant comes,
undoubtedly, the one formerly in the Uzielli Collection
(No. 637), composed of true-love-knots in gold, imiting
large irregular Kubies and Emeralds (fine stones), each
perforated at the ends. Lucian (Dial. Meret. vi.) makes
the girl Corinna beg her mother to " buy her a gold neck-
lace, having on it some fiery stones, like that of Philinnis."
These people are of the lower class ; the " fiery stones,"
therefore, must have been common Garnets, in which
abundance of beads are found shaped exactly as the plasmas
above mentioned.

Before dismissing this subject, its national interest pleads
for a brief notice of another crown, though it boasts of no
historical celebrity, all our ancient regalia having been
sold by order of the Commonwealth Commissioners. Yet a
few of the most important stones belonging to them were
recovered from the purchasers, and employed in the crown
made for the coronation of Charles II., and again when
that was broken up introduced in that now in use. The
following is an exact copy of Prof. Tennant's description of
the Imperial State Crown of England : —

" The Imperial State Crown of H.M. Queen Victoria was
made in the year 1838 by Messrs. Eundell and Bridge,
with jewels taken from old crowns and others famished by
command of Her Majesty. It consists of diamonds, pearls,

318 NATURAL HI8T0BT OF PRECIOUS 8T0NE8, &e.

rubies, sapphires, and emeralds set in silver and gold:
it has a crimson velvet cap with ermine border, and is
lined with white silk. Its gross weight 39 oz. 6 dwts.
troy.* The lower part of the band above the ermine border
consists of a row of 129 pearls ; and the upper part of the
band, of a row of 112 pearls, between which in the fix)nt of
the crown is a large sapphire (partly drilled) purchased for
the crown by H. M. King George IV. At the back is a
sapphire of smaller size, and six other sapphires, three on
each side, between which are eight emeralds.

'* Above and below the seven sapphires are fourteen
diamonds, and around the eight emeralds 128 diamonda
Between the emeralds and sapphires are sixteen trefoil
ornaments containing 160 diamonds. ' Above the band are
eight sapphires surmounted by eight diamonds, between
which are eight festoons consisting of 148 diamonds.

** In the front of the crown and in the centre of a disr
mond Maltese cross is the famous ruby said to have been
given to Edward Prince of Wales, the Black Prince, by
Don Pedro, king of Castile, after the battle of N'ajara, near
Vittoria, a.d. 1367. This ruby was worn in the helmet
of Henry V. at the battle of Agincourt, a.d. 1415. It is
pierced quite through after the Eastern custom, the upper
part of the piercing being filled up by a small ruby.
Around this ruby to form the cross are 75 brilliant-
diamonds. Three other Maltese crosses, forming the two
sides and back of the crown, have emerald centres, and
contain respectively 132, 124, and 130 brilliant-diamonds.

" Between the four Maltese crosses are four ornaments in
the form of French fleurs-de-lys, with four rubies in their

* Barbot with some reason gently sneers at "les nombreux ome-
ments qui surchargent peut-etre par trop cette piece tout-li-fait dans le
goiit Anglais." He estimates the total value of the stones at 3,000.000
francs, or 120,O00Z.

Page 318.

CBOWN OF ENGLAND, 319

centres, and surrounded by rose-diamonds : containing
respectively 84, 86, 86, 87 rose-diamonds.

"From the Maltese crosses issue four imperial arches
composed of oak-leaves and acorns : the leaves containing
728 rose, table, and brilliant-diamonds : 32 pearls forming
the acorns set in cups, containing 54 rose-diamonds and
one table-diamond. The total amount of diamonds in the
arches and acorns is 108 brilliant, 116 table, and 559 rose-
diamonds.

" From the upper part of the arches are suspended four
large pendent peeur-shaped pearls with rose-diamond cups
containing 12 rose-diamonds, and stems containing 24 very
small rose-diamonds. Above the arch stands the Mound,
containing in the lower hemisphere 304 brilliants, and in
the upper 244 brilliants : the zone and arc being composed
of 33 rose-diamonds. The cross on the sunmiit has a rose-
cut sapphire* ('blue beryl,' Barbot) in the centre, sur-
rounded by 4 large brilliants and 108 smaller brilliants."

SuMMAEY OP Jewels comprised in the Crown.

1 large ruby irregularly polished.
1 large broad-spread sapphire.
16 sapphires.
11 emeralds.
4 rubies.
1363 brilliant-diamonds.
1273 rose-diamonds.
147 table-diamonds.

4 drop-shaped pearls.
273 pearls.

* There is a tradition that this sapphire came out of the famous ring
of Edward the Confessor, so long treasured up on his shrine, and the
heritage of which gave his successors the miraculous power of blessing
the cramp-rings. If so, the stone must have been re-cut for Charles II.
In the list of Henry III.'s gems collected for the shrine is entered a
Sapphire of 52 dwts. = 312 car. ; can it be this ?

320 NATURAL HISTOBY OF PBECIOUS STONES, dte.

SACREV JEWELS.

Gems, both unset and set, were from the very earliest times
reckoned amongst the most grateful offerings to the gods,
and therefore dedicated in profusion in their temples.
Thus Boeckh's Inscriptions (dating from the Peloponnesian
War) enumerate in the Treasury of the Parthenon : " A
large onyx engraved with an antelope rutting, weighing
32 drachms ; an onyx, plain, 276 drs. and half an obole ;
an onyx set in a gold ring ; an onyx set in a silver ring ;
a jasper set in a gold ring ; a jasper seal enclosed in gold
(seemingly a mounted scarabeus) ; a signet in a gold ring;
a signet in a gold ring dedicated by Dexilla (the two last
were evidently cut in the gold itself) ; two gem- signets set
in one gold ring ; two signets in silver rings, one plated
with gold ; seven signets of coloured glass, plated with gold
(i, e. their settings) ; eight silver rings, and one gold piece,
fine (probably a Dario); a gold ring of IJ drs. offered by
Axiothea, wife of Socles ; a gold ring with one gold piece,
fine, tied to it, offered by Phryniscus the Thessalian; a
plain gold ring weighing half-a-drachm offered by Pletho of
iEgina (a widow's mite); five ear-rings in tin offered by
Thaumarete."

And this custom flourished down to the fall of Paganism,
but the donaria at the shrines of Imperial Rome were of a
very different class from the tiny jewels extorted from the
devotion of the poverty stricken natives of Attica. Precious
stones, in their native state, and engraved gems, still con-
tinued to pour into the sacred treasuries. Every example
of unusual beauty or rarity became a thank-offering to the
patron-god of its possessor. Pompey consecrates to Jupiter
the rarest mineral specimens found in the Pontic treasury ;
CaBsar, an enthusiastic gem-coUector, six caskets of his
own choicest rings to his progenitrix, Venus ; his amiable

SACKED JEWELS. 321

descendant Marcellus, another to the goddess of Peace.*
The largest block of crystal ever seen, Pliny tells us, was
that dedicated in the Capitol by Livia Augusta. In such
a form also did the gems appear, described by Lucian, in
his Dea Syria (32), as decorating the celebrated statue of
that goddess, Astarte the great goddess of Edessa : f—
" Precious stones colourless (diamonds), water- coloured
(beryls), fiery (rubies), the sardonyx-stones, hyacinths, and
emeralds, brought hither by Egyptians, Indians, Ethi-
opians, Medes, Armenians, and Babylonians." J

Other gems, valuable from their magnitude, were conse-
crated by engraving upon them the head of some particular
deity: an example of which is the splendid pyramidal
amethyst (Besborough), thus dedicated to Serapis. The
same cabinet, by a singular coincidence, preserves, in
No. 10, one of these very oflferings to the Dea Syria: a
nicolo of unusual magnitude, on which is figured the deity
herself seated on her lion, flanked by the Dioscuri, with the
dedicatory legend —

OTPANIA HPA— AMMHNIOC AN£0HKe £n AFAdH,

" To the celestial Juno, dedicated by Ammonius for good
luck," marking it for bribe to secure the fiiture patronage of
this divinity. Another noble gem, figured by Caylus, repre-
sents Serapis attended by Venus and Harpocrates with

* A great Roman temple was a regular British Museum for the he-
terogeneous character of the rarities exhibited therein, from the great
serpent (stuffed), 120 feet long, of the river Bagradas, who singly defied
Regulus and his whole army, down to the identical ring that Polycrates
threw into the sea.

t According to Plutarch, the personification of nature, or the Prin-
ciple generating all that lives out of moistwre,

X These gems, offerings perpetually renewed, were probably stuck by
the devotee with wax upon the goddess's lap : this being the estab-
lished mode of dedicating minute and precious donaria^ as the same
author tells us in his Philopesudes apropos of the statue of Pelichus,
which had become the abode of a Lar familiaris, or hatu-geisi.
(M)

322 NATVBAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS 8T0NE8, 4re,

various attributes, and the statement that it was engraved
RATA XPHMATICMON, '*by command of an oracle."

But the most interesting monument of such a dedication,
furnishing us as it does with the list of the contents of a
wealthy Koman lady's jewel-box, is the inscription given
by Mqntfaucon (PL 136), cut upon the pedestal formerly
supporting a statue of Isis as is supposed, discovered at
Alicante. It records that "by divine command Fabia
Fabiana had dedicated in honour of her granddaughter
Avita (deceased, it would appear) 112i pounds' weight of
silver plate : also, ornaments in the hasilicum (diadem), one
unio* and six margaritaj emeralds two, cylindri (beryls)
seven, carbuncle one gem, hyacinth one gem, ceraunicR
(rubies) two. In her ears : emeralds two, pearls two. On
her neck : a qwidrtbacium, or quadruple row of pearls thirty-
six, emeralds eighteen. In two circlets or anklets (clu-
mris) on her legs : emeralds two, cylindri eleven. In her
bracelets (smiaUis) : emeralds eight, pearls eight. On her
little finger, two rings with diamonds : on the next finger,
a ring with many gems {j^lyjp8ephu8\ emeralds and one
pearl (a duster-ring, as we should call it) ; on the top^oint
of the same finger a ring with an emerald. Upon her
shoes, cylindri eight in number."

It cannot be imagined that in the flourishing times of
art the Greeks attempted to enhance the divine beauty of
their embodied deities by bedizening them in the jewelry

* In this list the distinction made between the unio and the mar-
garitum has to be noted ; the former the pearl of spherical shape and
infinitely the more valuable ; the latter the irregularly formed, Pliny's
elenchi and crotalia. The notice of the " two diamond-rings, and the
emerald-ring on the top joint of the ring finger " is very curious. The
value of the hyacinthus is apparent, for but a single one figures in the
liHt. "Gemma" implies it was engraved. The pious old lady had
evidently ofiered the entire set of jewels belonging to her deceased
grandchild for the repose of ber soul.

SACRED JEWELS. 323

of people of fashion, but such had become the regular prac-
tice with the superstitious, semi-Oriental devotees of the
Lower Empire. The Persian envoy presented to Sev.
Alexander, for his empress, a pair of round pearls of extra-
ordinary weight and beauty. The Eoman ordered them to
be sold, but no one was found able to pay their estimated
value. He, therefore, not choosing that his wife should set
a bad example by wearing such costly decorations, dedi-
cated them in the ear-rings of Venus, where, it may be
supposed, the perfect twins replaced the split one of Cleo-
patra's. Another remarkable example is the necklace of
the most costly stones upon the statue of Vesta, to whose
vengeance Zosimus (a devoted adherent to the ancient
feiith) ascribes the tragic end of Serena, Stilicho's widow,
who had despoiled her of it. This was done after her
temple had been deserted by its former guardians, in con-
sequence of the confiscation of its revenues by the needy
government, though still for some time protected from rob-
bery by the rdigio loci. The historian, though lamenting
the cruel fate of so worthy a princess — she had been stran-
gled by the command of the miserable Honorius — cannot
refrain from instancing the poetical justice of the mode of
execution, "which encircled with the cord a throat pre-
viously decorated with a necklace obtained by sacrilege
from the most venerable of the Eoman shrines." *

* The possibility of such a resumption by mundane vanity of dedicated
jeweb-y, the wiser Christian priesthood have obviated by the ingenious
expedient of immediately substituting paste facsimiles in every new
offering, and treasuring up the origmals in the strong box of the sacristy,
as it is proper to believe. The " Annunziata" of Rome, and her sisters
of Florence and of Madrid, are baded with sets ofparures of incalculable
value when presented, and to the eye of the uninitiated offering the
same magnificent show. Lady M. W. Montagu remarks that the result
of the permission granted her, in virtue of her quality, to inspect the
relics in all the German churches (1715), was the conviction that all the
diamonds and rubies adorning them were only pastes.

y 2

324 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c.

The same custom of dedicating uncommonly fine speci-
mens of precious stones to tlie honour of the Deity, or his
saints, was carried down far into the Middle Ages. In
the 'BaXio or chased gold frontal of the high-altar of S.
Ambrogio, Milan, is inserted a long oval topaz inscribed
aDAIJlVTOV, which can only be interpreted as the
votive ofifering of Eiada, some Lombard contributor to its
construction in the ninth century. Under Lychnis I have
noticed the far-famed harfunJed, so long believed by report
to have lighted up the shrine of S. Elizabeth of Marburg.
Leofric, the tenth abbot of St. Alban's, Matthew Paris tells
us in his Life, in order to relieve the poor during a great
famine, sold all the plate belonging to his church, except
" certain noble engraved gems now vulgarly called camei,
for which he could find no purchasers." And the Patent
KoUs give a detailed list of the ciamei collected by Henry
III. for the embellishment of the shrine he was project-
ing for Edward the Confessor. They were over eighty in
number; amongst which fifty-five are particularized as
" large," and one especially " in a gold setting with a chain
to it," is valued at 200Z., an incredible sum if brought to
the present standard, which requires it to be multiplied at
least twenty-fold. Besides these, several precious stones,
of large size, especially sapphires, appear in this list, as
set in the breasts or held in the hands of the numerous
statuettes in gold, where "Peter trampling upon Nero"
figured in company with sainted Saxon kings, which embel-
lished this incredibly rich production of the artist-gold-
smitlis of the thirteenth centurj^.

But the richest assemblage of gems, both intrinsicallj^
valuable, and priceless as works of art, was that formerly
enriching the abbey of St. Denys. Many of them had come
down from the Carlovingian kings, some were presents
from the early Byzantine emperors, others trophies of the

SACRED JEWELS, 325

Frankish conquest of Constantinople. The greater part
appear to have been introduced in the ornamentation of the
statuettes in gold and silver, and on the reliquaries in other
shapes, in devising which the ingenious devotion of the
Middle Ages delighted to exert its skill and fancy. A de-
scription invaluable to the admirer of mediaeval art, and
full of curious details of these riches, drawn up at the time
of their greatest splendour, will be found in the old Bene-
dictine Dom Doublet's * Tr^sor de S. Denys,' published in
1625.

326 NA TUBAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c.

URIM and THUMMIM: Ao7W)i;: Batimale.

My record of Sacred Jewels would be sadly incomplete
did it close without a few words concerning that most
ancient and most virtuous of them all, being at once deco-
ration, periapt, and talisman, Aaron's Breastplate. It was
a decorcUiony from the costliness of its nature ; a periapt, for
it was suspended round his neck by golden chains ; a talis-
man, for it ensured the divine protection to the tribes
whose names were thereon engraven.

This magnificent sacerdotal ornament, still represented
in the piviale or immense circular disk serving as a morse
for the vestments of the Pope, was in its primary form
doubtless no other than one of those square vitrified tablets,
enamelled blue, embossed with the image of a deity seated
within his shrine, and which were worn as his distinctive
badge by the Egyptian priest when performing his sacred
functions, ^lian (xiv. 34), in fact, states that the high-priest
of the Egyptians, who was at the same time the supreme
judge, when administering justice, wore suspended round
his neck an image, called " Tsuth," made of the Sapphire-
stone (our lapis-lazuli j : and of this so precious material the
tablets now extant are evident imitations. Epiphanius,
following some ancient tradition, records that when the
Jewish high-priest entered the Holy of Holies on the three
great days, Pascha, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles,
he wore suspended over the breastplate the " Declaration," as
he translates the mystic words " Urim and Thummim."

THE UBIM AND THUMMIM, 327

This was the Adamas of a cerulean colour (our Sapphire),
which by its change of hue declared the favour or the wrath
of Jehovah towards his people, for it turned black as night
before a. coming pestilence, red as blood before war, but
shone bright and blue when it announced coming pros-
perity.

Of this important jewel, the very soul, so to speak (if we
credit Epiphanius), of the entire Kationale, neither the
Pentateuch nor Josephus make the least mention, as an
adjunct altogether distinct and superior to the breastplate
itself; but the notice of it preserves a tradition of the
original nature of the appendage, before the whole jewel
had received the embellishments and enrichments of the
Persian taste. In fact the Hebrew " Urim and Thummim " *
are translated by the LXX. " The Declaration and the
Truth" The latter word plainly enough refers to the
Egyptian original, similarly designated. The Greeks, says
Josephus, named the breastplate " The Oracle of Judg-
ment," and this title Aoytov, too literally translated into
ecclesiastical Latin, becomes "Rationale," though the proper
rendering is " Oraculum." Its Hebrew appellation is
" Hosen," or " Essen." It is worthy of remark that Epi-
phanius particularizes the cerulean colour of the Declaration
or Adamas.

The universal tradition amongst the Greeks as to the
origin of the Jewish nation, and which Diodorus Siculus
has recorded, related that it was a colony sent out from
Egypt into Syria, at the very same time that Danaus sailed
for Greece, and the striking similarity between the insti-
tutions of Moses and the Egyptian laws, of which the same
author gives a full and most interesting summary, supported

♦ Moses, however, certainly applied these -words to the twelve gems
themselves : ** And thou shalt put into the breastplate of judgment
the Urim and Thummim," &c. (Exod. xxviii 30).

328 NA TUBAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, ike.

tho opinion amongst all his contemporaries. In fetct, from
their own chronicles, the Jews themselves appear to have
retained a strong attachment to the supposed parent state ;
extremely unaccountable had tradition only described it to
them as "the house of bondage." In all their political
distresses, whenever hard pressed by their Syrian neigh-
bours, the idea of a return to Egj'^pt ever suggests itself to
tbem as the surest escape, although vehemently opposed
by the sacerdotal order. The famous letter of Areius, king
of the Lacedemonians, to the high-priest Onias (Jose-
phus xii. 6), in which he alludes to the common descent of
both nations from Abraham I even though it were a Jewish
forgery, serves to show, and the argument is the stronger
if it be a forgery^ how established was the belief in the
original unity of the two races : which presupposes them
both colonies sent out from the same mother-country.
Diodorus also (i. 4) speaks of the Egyptian Hercules as
having travelled all over the world before erecting his cele-
brated Pillars ; and it was from this god that the Spartan
royal family claimed their descent. Again it was on the
score of their common parentage that the Spartans salute
the Jews as their brethren in their letter of congratulation
to Simon Maccabeus, on his re-establishing the independence
of his nation; and intimate relations seem to have been
kept up to the last between Jerusalem and Sparta. It was
a noble Spartan, Eurycles, who became the prime minister
of Herod the Great, and who by his pernicious counsels
brought about the ruin of his family.

The Breastplate was in form a square of a span, that is,
8 inches every way; and having the stones set in four
rows, containing three each, it follows from this arrange-
ment that each stone, with its setting, must have occupied
a space 2J inches long by 2 deep, and hence that they were
cut into an elliptical shape exactly like the cartouches

TEE UBIM AND THUMMIM. 329

inclosing proper names in Egj^ptian hieroglyphics — the
identical form we should have expected in a piece of
jewelry executed un der similar historical circiunstances. As
to their arrangement according to their species, no better
authority can be adduced than that of Josephus, a writer
who from his position had frequent opportunities of inspect-
ing the original, both when in use and when deposited in
the Temple of Peace in Kome, and whose description more-
over could, for three centuries at least after, be verified by
any of his readers who was inquisitive upon the subject.
His list, too, is confirmed by that given in the Vulgate, an
authority also of weight in such a matter, being written at
a time, the fifth century, when the knowledge of precious
stones, and of the true meaning of their. Hebrew appella-
tions, may be supposed to have been still maintained.

Ist Bow. — Sardius, red ; Topazius, yellowish green ; Sma-
ragdus, bright green.

2nd Bow. — Carbunculus, red ; Sapphirus, blue ; Jaspis,
green.

drd Bow. — Ligurius (lyncuriimi), yellow ; Achates, black
and white ; Amethystus, pui:ple.

4cth Bow. — Chrysolithus, yellow ; Onyx, blue and black ;
Beiyllus, pale green, or pale blue.

Our version gives a different arrangement,* but the stones
the same with one exception ; it substitutes the Diammid
for the Chrysolithus, a most absurd exchange, for besides its
being totally beyond the power of any ancient engraver to
have inscribed the tribe upon this invincible substance, a
Diamond to correspond in dimensions with the rest of the
stones in the Breastplate must have exceeded the Koh-i-noor

* Viz., Sardius, Topaz, Carbuncle.
Emerald, Sapphire, Diamond,
liigure, Agate, Amethyst.
Beryl, Onyx, Jaspar.

330 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c.

in superficial extent. Epiphanius acutely (for once) notices
a remarkable omission in the series — there is no Hyacinthus
(our Sapphire). He conjectures that by the Liguritis, a
name not to be found in any of the authors he had con-
sulted, the Hyacinthus must be understood, on the ground
that a gem ranking so high in value could not but have
had a conspicuous place in the catalogue. But Isidorus, a
century and a half later, actually gives Ligurius as synony-
mous with Lyncurium : " Ligurius vocatur quod fi.t ex
urina lyncis bestiae " (xvi. 8) ; and this was our Jacinth, a
gQm exactly resembling amber, as clearly appears from
what Theophrastus says of it. As for the Onyx, there can
be no doubt it was the kind now called Nicolo, for De Boot
mentions that in his times (circ. 1600) it had ever been
peculiarly valued by the Jews upon this very account, as
being the true species of the two large Onyx-stones en-
graved with the names (Exod. xxviii. 9) of the tribes, six
on one and six on the other, which being set in ouches of
gold, were fixed upon the ephod, and whence proceeded
the two wreathed chains by which the Breastplate hung.
And without doubt this tradiijion is correct, for Pliny notes
that the popular name for this kind was ^Egyptilla, and
that it came from Arabia.*

Josephus adds that all the stones were conspicuous for
their size and beauty, and of inestimable value. The names
of the tribes were engraved in the " national character ;"
but the Breastplate known to him could not have been the
original one made by the directions of Moses, for a reason
hereafter to be considered. But before going further, one
point requires attention. By " national character" Josephus
could only have meant the Chaldee, or modem Hebrew
letter, used in his times for the Sciiptures; and this of

* In fact it is merely the Arabian Sardonyx, with the third or top-
most layer removed.

THE VBIM AND THUMMIM, 331

itself proves the comparatively recent date of the inscrip-
tions. For the Chaldee,* after Ezra's legislation, became
the sacred alphabet of the nation : if they used any aljpha-
heticoH characters at all before the Captivity, they must
have belonged to the oldest Punic.

This Breastplate, Josephus records, when put on by the
High-priest on great solemnities, shot forth brilliant rays
of fire that manifested the immediate presence of the Deity.
He, however, prudently subjoins that this mimculous pro-
perty had become extinct, in consequence of the impiety of
his people full two centuries before the time at which he
was writing.

The Eabbins told a curious and characteristic legend as
to the mode in which the holy characters were cut upon
these incomparable stones. Moses effected this by simply
tracing the words in the blood of the worm Samir, a liquid
of such wondrous potency as immediately to dissolve and
corrode the hardest substances. This fable is entirely based
upon the name of the chief agent used by the ancient gem-
engravers, Smir, written in Hebrew Samir. This was quite
sufficient stuff for those fanciful sages to enlarge into so
truly Oriental a story, and probably their imaginations were
aided by some tradition as to a secret process known to the
Egyptians for softening extremely obdurate materials — a
thing which there are, indeed, some grounds for considering
possible. It is curious that Heraclius, in his extraordinary
treatise, * De Artibus Eomanorum,' gives a recipe for
softening gems for engraving upon, in which earthworms
are the chief ingredient.

It wiU sound incredible to the ears of the uninitiated,

♦ More properly the oldest form of the Pehlevi, as it appears in the
Persepolitan inscriptions, which is almost identical with the Eabbi-
nical Hebrew letter. Artaxerxes, the first of the Sassanian line, uses
it on his coins.

332 NATUBAL HISTOBT OF PRECIOUS 8T0NE8, &c.

yet every one conversant with tlie nature of gems will
admit that these most venerable productions of the glyptic
art must still be in existence, and in all their pristine
splendour. No lapse of time produces any sensible effect
upon these relics, as the perfect conservation of such in a
softer material— mere vitrified clay— proves, and yet we have
abundance of tablets bearing the titles of Thothmes III.,
the contemporary of Moses himself Besides this, their
intrinsic value as the finest gems that could be dedicated by
the zeal of a race trafficking all over the world must have
caused them to be esteemed the most precious of trophies,
to be guarded with the most jealous care by all the con-
querors into whose hands they successively fell. Even
supposing them extracted from their primary arrangement
and re-set amongst the other state jewels of their captors,
the essential portions of the stones, with their inscrip-
tions, would still remain unchanged. Perhaps this was
the reason why the Eationale is not to be found in Ezra's
list of the sacred articles restored by Cyrus to the Temple
of Jerusalem — the 6400 gold and silver vessels. The
latter appear to have been easily identified: because,
according to the practice of the East, they had all been
placed as offerings and trophies in the grand temple
of the Babylonian Bel us ; it is certain they, during those
seventy years, had still remained hallowed for sacred usage,
for their profanation for the first time by Belshazzar is
assigned as the deed that filled up the measure of his
iniquities.

The Breastplate described by Josephus was carried to
Eome along with the other spoils of the Temple upon the
destruction of the Holy City by Titus. The magnificent
Temple of Peace, just erected by his father, was the place
selected to hold these trophies after they had been paraded
in his triumph through the streets of Rome. Of their sub-

THE UEIM AND THUMMIM. 333

sequent fate there are three conflicting accounts ; the first
that they were sent off by Genseric to Carthage upon the
sack of Kome, but that the ship, with them on board, was
lost on the voyage. But sopae at least, if not all, must
have fallen into Alaric's hands when he sacked the city
some fifty years before, if there were any foundation for
the belief mentioned by Procopius. He states that the
main reason why the Franks in the sixth century pressed the
siege of Karbonne, the Visi-Gothic capital, with such eager-
ness, was the being there deposited the treasure of King
Ataulphus, which boasted, amongst its other incalculable
riches, of vases formed out of Emeralds (praaini, he uses the
contemporary Latin term for the precious kind), made of
old time for the use of the Temple by King Solomon. The
third story rests on better authority than either of the pre-
ceding. Procopius, an eye-witness, states that amongst the
innumerable spoils of Carthage, carried in his Vandalic
triumph by Belisarius through Constantinople, were the
vessels of (he Temple of Jerusalem^ formerly the prey of Gen-
seric (Bell. Vand. xi. 9). Justinian deposited them in the
sacristy of Sta. Sophia ; but hearing of a remark made by
a Jew how these spoils brought ruin upon all who presumed
to detain them from the place for which they had been
made, being struck with the fear of sacrilege, sent them off
with all possible dispatch to the Christian church of the
Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem. In this case they must soon
after have fallen again into the hands of another Persian
conqueror, Chosroes II., when he took the Holy City in 615,
and abundantly verified the Jews' prediction by the speedy
destruction they brought upon the Sassanian dynasty, ex-
tinguished in blood a.d. 632. Hence there is good reason
to suppose them still buried in some unknown treasure-
chamber of one of the old Persian capitals, and to have a
chance of emerging from oblivion at no very distant day

334 NATURAL HISTOBT OF PBECI0U8 STONES, &c.

when the dark nooks of the Shah's or Sultan's treasure-
vaults come to be ransacked by the Kussian heir apparent
to the " two sick men," who already

^ CircDm loculos et claves Isetns ovansque
Currit.*'

What a source of rejoicing both to archaeologists, and
above all to the religious world, will be the identification of
even one of these venerable relics ! A contingency by no
means to be pronoimced chimerical in an age which has
witnessed the resuscitation of Sennacherib's own cup,
signet, and queen's portrait

TEE NEW JERUSALEM.

In St. John's vision (xxi. 1) of " the Holy City, New Jeru-
salem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as
a bride adorned for her husband," he depicts her walls as
built out of twelve courses of precious stones. It is a singu-
lar fact that these stones are not arranged here in the same
order as in the Eatiocale, a collocation we should have
expected so thoroughly Hebrew a writer to have adopted
as a matter of course, the more especially as they represent
the same idea in both cases. Instead of this, he has most
ingeniously disposed them according to their various shades
of the same colour, as the following list will demonstrate,
taking them in order from the bottom upwards : —

1. Jaspis, dark green. 2. Sapphirus, blue. 3. Chalce-
don, a greenish blue sort of Emerald.*

4. Smaragdus, bright green. 6. Sardonyx, red and white.
6. Sardius, bright red.

* Understood by Marbodus as the Carchedonius, or African Car-
buncle, which only shines by nignt, and then flame-coloured : a very
common confusion of the two names, arising from the similarity between
KoAxTjSwi/ and Kapx^^cov.

THE NEW JEBUSALEM. 335

7. Chrysolite, golden-yellow. 8. Beryl, bluish green.
9. Topazius, yellowish green.

10. Chrysoprasus,* apple-green. 11. Hyacinthus, blue.
12. Amethyst, violet, or purple.

Neither is this order of the colours suggested by the
rainbow, as their heavenly position would naturally sug-
gest, for in that primeval symbol of God*s covenant the
colours follow thus : — red, orange, yellow, green, blue,
purple, violet. Again, St. John being so close an imitator
of Ezekiel, one might have presupposed him guided by the
prophet's most poetical apostrophe to the king of Tyrus
(xxviii. 13), "Thou has been in Eden the garden of the
Lord ; every precious stone was thy covering : the Sardius
(marg. Euby), Topaz, and the Diamond ; the Beryl (marg.
Chrysolite), the Onyx, and the Jasper ; the Sapphire, the
Emerald, (marg. Chrysoprase), and the Carbuncle.'* f

So minute an acquaintance with the nicest shades of
colour of the precious stones will more forcibly impress the
reader, if he should attempt to arrange from memory, and
by the aid of his own casually acquired knowledge alone,
twelve gems or even half that number according to their
proper tints. Without a practical acquaintance with the
subject such an attempt will only end in confusion. The
'* sainted seer " alludes in other passages to the proper
colours of precious stones in a very technical manner:
" He that sat on the throne " was like the Jaspis and the
Sardius, and was crowned with a rainbow like the
Smaragdus ; whilst the light within the Holy City was like
**a very precious stone, a Jaspis resembling Crystal" or

♦ For this Marbodus has evidently read CJirysopastorit a dark blue
studded with gold-dust : if correct, the three shades of blue would then
follow each other in order.

t Here again the old text of the Vulgate diflfers considerably : ** Lapis
pretiobus in operimcntum tuum : Sardius, Topazius, Jaspis ; Chrysoli-
thus, et Onyx, et Beryllus ; Sapphirus. et Carbunculus, et Smaragdus.'*

336 NATURAL RI8T0BY OF PBECI0U8 8T02^E8, &e.

the green of the Plaama nnited with the brilliancy and
lucidity of the Ciystal, by which he probably sought to
distiDguish the tme Emerald ; ever a special £stvourite with
the Jews. Such aUusions display that exact knowledge
of particulars only possessed by persons either dealing in
precious stones, or from other circumstances obliged to
have a practical acquaintance with their nature, which
could never have been found in a Galilean fisherman;
unless we choose to cut the knot of the difficulty with the
ever-ready sword of verbal inspiration. Here then may
be found another argument to support the opinion that St.
John the Evangelist and the Divine were two different per-
sons. The image, however, of the Holy City built up of
precious stones is not original, for it occurs in the prayer
of Tobias ; certainly, whatever be its date, a much more
ancient composition than the Apocalypse. In our version
the passage stands thus : *' Jerusalem shall be built up of
Emerald, Sapphire, and all precious stones, her walls, and

towers, and battlements of most fine gold the

streets of Jenihalem shall be paved with Carbuncle, Beryl,
and stones of Ophir." It is possible the writer may have
had in his mind the old legend derived from his brethren
in Persia, as to the seven concentric walls of Ecbatana,
coloured in this order; black, white, red, blue, yellow,
silver, gold : a disposition apparently having reference to
the planets, so important in the religious system of the
Chaldaaans.

St. John doubtless intended his twelve colours to typify
the twelve tribes, and saw no other, nor deeper, meaning
in them, but Marbodus has ingeniously applied them to
express the several virtues that ought to build up the
Christian Church, of whose fanciful allegory the following
verses are a close translation : —

(M)

TEE NEW JERUSALEM. 337

Celestial tribes ! together sing

Loud praise to God, of kings the king,

For he's the architect supreme

Of heaven's own New Jerusalem :

Within whose edifice is laid

The bright foundation thus displayed :

Prefigured in the Jasper's green
The springing plant of Faith is seen ;
That faith, which is the perfect man,
Entirely wither never can ;
By whose protecting buckler wide
The fiend's assaults we turn aside.

Upon the SappJdre blue is shewn,
The reflex of the heavenly throne :
In this the simple heart we view
Which holds in Hope the promise true,
A life which graced with virtues bright
Sheds far and wide a brilliant light.

The pale Calcedony the rays
Of faintly smouldering fire displays,
A glimmering dull by day it shows
But in thick darkness fiercely glows ;
And here the type of those we see
Who serve the Lord in secresy.

In th' Emerald's hue of matchless green.
Which casts abroad an oily sheen,
An image apt of Faith's supplied ;
To every good thing open wide,
Which in a constant course proceeds
Of never-ending pious deeds.

The Sardonyx hath colours three—
The inner man 't will shew to thee —
Humility may dim his worth
Yet Chastity shall set it forth ;
And, to complete his honoured praise.
Red Martyrdom shall crown his days.

The Sardius stone is shining red.
Deep with the hue of blood o'erspread ;

338 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, dtc.

In this the world may fitly see
The martyr's glorious victory :
Sixth in the list it shines above.
Joined to the mystic Cross of love.

The ChrysoUte with golden rays
Flames like a fiery oven's blaze ;
It in clear sense the truly wise,
The perfect Christian, typifies,
Who through the sevenfold gift of God
His shining radiance flings abroad.

The Beryl shows a limpid gleam —
Sol's light reflected in the stream ;
In it those vows an image find,
The longings of the pious mind
To quit the world and all its strife
And seek the gate of quiet life.

The Topaz is a jewel rare,

And therefore must be bought full dear ;

Made up of hues of golden light

And with celestial lustre bright :

Here see the man on study bent,

A life in contemplation spent.

The Chrysoprase may justly boast
The likeness of the purple host :
How richly dyed its mottled mould
Besprinkled thick with stars of gold !
This is that true, that perfect Love,
Whose truth no cruelty can move.

The Hyacintlis celestial blue

Is tempered by a milder hue ;

A stone it is of varying ray.

And changes with the changing day :

A pious life it seems to draw,

Well guided by discretion's law.

On high the Amethyst is set

In colour like the violet,

With flames as if of gold it glows

And far its purple radiance throws ;

The humble heart it signifies,

Of him who in the Saviour dies.

THE NEW JERUSALEM. 339

These precious stones the picture give
Of saints who in the flesh yet live,
Their various colours bright as day
Virtues of various kind portray :
With these whatever man shall bloom
He 'mongst thy dwellers shall find room.

Jerusalem of peace the heir !

These stones be thy foundations fair ;

How blest, how near to Gk)d the soul

Inscribed upon thy mxister roll :

The watchman that thy towers doth keep

Shall never close his eyes in sleep :

Grant Sovereign of the heavenly city,
Grant Holy One, of thy large pity.
That when this fleeting life is spent
We may thy courts above frequent.
And mid the host of saints thy praise
Like them to endless ages raise 1 "

In the original MS. of this poem some notes follow,
extremely curious as indicating that the art of gem-en-
graving was not quite extinct at the date of the composi-
tion, late in the eleventh century. For example : '* The
Calcedony blest and tied about the neck cures lunatics.
One ought to engrave upon it Mars armed and a virgin
robed, wrapped in a vestment, and holding out a laurel-
branch. The Beryl — engrave upon it a lobster, and under
its legs a raven ; and put beneath the gem a vervan-leaf
inclosed in a little plate of gold : being consecrated, it
makes the wearer conqueror over all bad things, and pre-
serves from diseases of the eyes. The Sard is good to be
worn, and makes the person beloved by women ; engrave
with a vine with ivy twining round it. The Castais is
good for obtaining liberty, when consecrated and all things
duly performed about it. To perfect the gem when you

z 2

^40 XATTBAL HISmST OF PRECIOUS STONES, ike.

barer obtanined it, do thus : engrave upon it a beetle and a
nutn standing underneath; afterwards let it be bored
thnnxgh its length and set npon a gold fibula ; then, being
t>lt%i and eel np in a proper place, it shall shew forth the
glory ihat God hath given it"

CRYSTALLIZATION OF PRECIOUS STONES.

Diamond.

Emerald.

Garnet.

Ruby and Sapphire.

A^

Zircon: Jacinth.

Page 341.

CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF FBECIOUS STONES. 341

L THE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF PRECIOUS
STONES.

BERYL: EMERALD.

Combinatiou of glucina, silica, and alumina.

Emerald. Beryl.

Glucina 12-50 .... 15-50

Silica 68-50 :. .. 66-45

Alumina 15-75 .... 16-75

Oxide of Chrome .. 0*30 .... 0-00

Oxide of Iron .. .. TOO .... 0*60

Lime 0-25 .... O'OO

Sp. Gr. 2-76 to 2-73. H. 7-5—8.

Native form : a hexahedral prism terminated in a six-sided pyra-
mid, imbedded in a vein of magnesian limestone traversing horn-
blende rocks. Colour : Emerald, grass-green ; Beryl, light green,
tinged more or less with blue.

CALCEDONY,

Consists of silica and alumina.

Silica

84-0

Alumina 16*0

Sp. Gr. 2-6. H. = 7.

Agate, Heliotrope, Onyx, Plasma, Sard, are all varieties of Calce-
dony differently coloured by metallic oxides.

Native form : botryoidal (grape-like) masses ; but more frequently
found in rolled pebbles.

^4^ JJ^rUBJH SJSfflRT^J^ FSMICXXS STiMSXS, ^

Eanixiem = 1*1^ t:ne hi^ies: in, rsm weaibL, W^sly decnic br

^iinyfi incEXL: an. aetaaatniL enrssal^ nmnilly mafified by the
■laiicaacaiL ijt tite iniWgK tsnd. a^ses: inmii w^***:* wifih goid-dust in

CtnxilnziaciaoD. 'li & «^'^T«»»ti» ^f ^le proooxDic of iroQ with sifiGate of

S9ic» 33-75

Alnmrna .. .. .. .. .. .. 27*25

Oxaieatlrcn 36-00

Osn2e of l£fng3QeK (^25

Sp.Gr.4rfL H. S^ to 7-5.

The lu&iv^ eamec (Ahnsnchx) is noc cicctnc liy fiictioii, but

Triien robjciid aad Licetnxd I biTe fcand br experiment that it

CtiOOdiS riT..rfI- v 5o,

Xasve ii-nz. : a rtoccic ootiaarLedrac, rcitcddel in mica-slate ;
iUc' LoGse ID. the eaizk. Cclcur : dark red, sonetimes purple.

LAPIS-LAZULI.

Saka 49-0

AlTimf-na 11-0

Lime 16-0

Soda S'O

Oxide of Iron 4-0

MagTtfCTA 2*0

Sulphnric Acid 2-0

Sp. Gr. 2*95. Hardness suflBcient to scratch glass.

F'ound massive, but sometimes in rhombic dodecahedrons : colour,
pure azure.

CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF PRECIOUS STONES. 343

OPAL

Combination of silica and water.

Silica 90-0

Water lO'O

Sp. Gr. 2*9. Hardness not sufficient to strike fire with steel.

Found massive imbedded in a decom[)osed porphyry and in trap-
rocks : colour, milky, but richly iridescent.

PERIDOT: CHRYSOLITE.

Combination of magnesia, silica, and peroxide of iron.

Magnesia 43*5

Silica 39-0*

Oxide of Iron 19-0

Sp. Gr. 3-3— 3-5. H. = 65-7.

Primary form : a right prism, with rectangular bases ; but occurs
more frequently in rounded crystalline masses. Colour : green, more
or less mixed with yellow.

SAPPHIRE: RUBY) ORIENTAL TOPAZ

Pure alumina, coloured from admixture with oxide of iron.

Sapphire. BUby.

Alumina 985 .... 90*0

' Lime 0-5 .. .. 0*0

Silica 0-0 .. .. 7*0

Oxide of Iron .. .. TO .... 1*2
Sp. Gr. 3*99. Hardness only inferior to the diamond. Highly
electric.

Native form: six-sided prism variously terminated, but more
frequently found in rolled masses. Colours : blue, blood-red, and
yellow.

344 NATVBAL HISTOBY OF PBECI0U8 STONES, &c,

SPINEL AND BALAIS.

Combination of alumina and magnesia, coloured red by a minute
admixture of chromic acid, or blue by the protoxide of iron. i

Red. Blae.

Alumina 74-50 72*65

Magnesia 8*25 14-63

Silica 15-50 .. .. 5*45

Lime 0*75 .. .. 0*00

Protoxide of Iron .. 1-50 4-2

Sp. Gr. 3-5. H. = 8.

Native form: the perfect octahedron, like the diamond, and
similarly modified. Colour : Spinel, red, or slightly tinged with cin-
namon ; Balais,.pale rose, or lilac.

TOPAZ,

Combination of alumina, silica, and fluoric acid.

Brazil. Saxony.

Alumina 47*5 .... 59*0

Silica 44-5 .. .. 35*0

P^luoric Acid .. .. 7*0 .... 5*0
Sp. Gr. 3-49 to 3*56. H. = 8. Highly electric by friction.

Native form : prism with the sides deeply striated, and the ends
very variously tenninated. Colour ; vinous yellow.

TUBQUOIS.

Considered by Fischer to be only clay coloured by oxide of copper;
but J aim notices —

Alumina 73*0

Oxide of Copper .. ... .. .. 4'5

Oxide of Iron 4*0

Water 18*0

Sp. Gr. 2-8— 3-0. H. 5 to 6.

Occurs in kidney- shaped masses, usually botryoidal, or mimil-
lated ; colour, blue.

CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF PRECIOUS STONES. 345

ZIRCON,

Combination of zirconia and silica.

Zirconia

Silica

Oxide of Iron

Sp. Gr. 4-5 to 4-7. H. 7-5.

Primary form a rhomboidal octahedron, modified like the diamond,
but all its angles set obliquely : colour, orange, sometimes white.

Jacinth.

Jargoon.

70-0 ..

.. 66-0

.25-0 ..

.. 31-0

0-5 ..

.. 2-0

The test of relative hardness is a very important one for
ascertaining the species of precious stones, on account of
the facility of its application. Its principle is the fact that
the native crystal of any species will scratch all in the
scale below itself. Thus the Diamond, standing highest
(10.) scratches all the rest. The following is the received
scale: 9. Corundum: Sapphire, Euby; 8. Brazilian Topaz;
7. Eock-crystal ; 6. Adularia; 5. Asparagus-stone; 4. Fluor-
Spar, &c.

The test of the relative specific gravity of the different
species, a criterion upon which our modem mineralogists
lay so much stress, and which they claim as a discovery of
their own, was well known and resorted to by the Persian
jewellers six centuries ago, and if then, doubtless at a
much earlier date.

Ben Mansur's notice of this point is so curious as to
demand its insertion at length: — **0f the relations of
certain precious stones to others. Ahu Bihan pretends to
have discovered by expeiiment that one miscdl of the Blue
Jacut stands in equal proportion with five dank and three
tism of the Eed Jacut ; with five dank and two and a half
tiam of the Laal ; with four dank minus one tissu of Coral ;

346 NATURAL HI8T0BY OF PRECIOUS 8T0NE8, <fcc

and with four darik minus two tissu of the Onyx, or of the
Crystal.

" The method used for the investigation of the weights
and dimensions of gems is the following. They take a
bowl filled with water, and throw the stones singly into
the same. The quantity of water that through the immer-
sion of each separate stone flows over the bowl occupies
the space of the same. God knoweth best ! "

Note. — ^The dank in Egypt = 3 carats, in Spain = 2. It is the quarter
or the sixth of a drachm. The tisstf =4, or 2 grains of barley. The
mi$cal =■ H drachm.

The Auslriun, 139i c.

Pagt 346.

The Shah, 95 c.

Mr. Dresden's Diamond, 761 c.

The same, rough.

Karly Tublc, 63 f{] c. Cut at the mine, Coulour (1653),
bought by Taveniier.

Page 347.

TABLE OF WEIGHTS AND PATTEBN8. 347

TABLE OF THE WEIGHTS AND PATTEENS OF
THE LAEGEST KNOWN DIAMONDS AND OTHER
PEECIOUS STONES.

" The King of Portugars," as large as a hen's egg, pea-shaped,
slightly concave ou one side ; colour, deep yellow, and suspect^ of
being a Topaz, uncut ; weight, 1680 car. (Mawe).

"The Rajah of Mattan's," found at Laudak in 1787, uncut,
367 car.

" The Nizam's," found at Golconda, uncut, 340 car.

"The Great Mogul's," found at Coulour; weight in the rough,
787i car. ; cut as a rose, 280 car.

" The Great Table," seen by Tavemier at Golcond in 1642 ; weight,
242i car. It was on sale for 600,000 rupees, he bad 400,000 for it
in yain.

" The Regent," found at Puteal, in the rough, 410 car., cut as a
brilliant, 136| car.

" The Orloff," Indian-cut as a rose, 193 car. It has a faint yellow
tinge.

" The Star of the South," found at the Bogageni minoj Brazil,
by a negress (1853) ; in the rough, 264^ car. ; cut as a brilliant,
124i car. The stone has a decided tinge, some say of rose, others, of
yellow.

"The Koh-i-noor," Indian-cut, but retaining nearly its native
weight, 186i car. ; re-cut (1862) as a brilliant, 102^ car.

" The Grand Duke of Tuscany," sometimes named " The Austrian ;"
cut as a double-rose, 139§ car. Its colour is a decided yellow ; and
there is a tradition that the stone was bought for a trifle as a mere
coloured crystal at a jeweller's in Florence.

" The Shah " (Russia), a long prism, retaining many of its native
faces, 95 car. What greatly adds to its interest is a Persian inscrip-
tion cut upon it. Bought of Chosroes, Abbas Mirza's youngest son.

348 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &o.

" The Nassack " (the Marquis of Westminster's), captured from
the Peishwah of the Mahrattas ; Indian-cut, 89f car., a pear-shaped
stone, re-cut as a brilliant in London, 78f car.

" The Pigott," 82i car., was disposed of by lottery in London
(1801) for 30,000/. The present owner is not known.

** Mr. Dresden's Diamond," from Brazil (1860), heart-shaped, a
shallow brilliant, 76a car.

" The Empress Eugenie's," a brilliant, 51 car.

« The Pasha of Egypt's," a brilliant, 40 car.

"The Dutch," 36 car.

"Hope's Blue Diamond," suspected to be that of the French
Regalia (stolen in 1792), and then weighing 67 car., and afterwards
re-cut as a brilliant to its present weight of 44i car. This was pro-
bably at its origin the stone " d'un beau violet," weighing in the
rough 112-j^ car,, but disadvantageously shaped, being flat and thin,
brought from India by Tavemier, and sold to Louis XIV. in 1668.

" The Polar Star " (Princess Yassopouff), a brilliant, 40 car.

" The Treasury of Dresden's," emerald-green, 31 i car.

" Halphen's Rose-coloured," 22^ car.

" Prince de la Riccia's," rose-coloured, 15 car.

** Paul I.'s," ruby-coloured, 10 car.

Mawe also mentions as belonging to the Portuguese
crown two other diamonds, rough, of great beauty ; the one
weighing 215 carats, the other a little less. Both were
found in the river Ahayte, to the east of the district of
Minas Geraes, by three men banished into the interior.
Besides these he notices two nearly perfect octahedrons,
of 134 and 120 carats each. And to conclude, the state-
waistcoat of Joseph I. had twenty buttons, each a single
diamond worth 5000?.

The largest known Emerald is the Devonshire, two
inches in diameter, and of the finest colour : not cut. It
came from the Muzo mine, Santa Fe di Bogota, and was
purchased by the Duke from Dom Pedro.

The largest Sapphire has got its name, ** The Wooden «

The Devonshire Emerald, 8 oz. 18 dwts., found at Muro, near Santa F^ di Bogota :
^ purchased by the Duke from Dora Pedro.

• I

Emerald^rdle of Indian-cut stones. The Persian Diamond, " Sea of light."

Pag€

LARGEST KNOWN DIAMONDS. 349

spoon-seller's," from the occupation of the man who found
it, in Bengal. It is also called the " Enspoli " after a
former owner. Lozenge- shaped, with six faces, 132yy
carats. It was bought by Ferret, a Parisian jeweller, for
170,000 francs (6800/.). Now in the Musee de Min^ralogie,
which possesses another of rare beauty, measuring 2X1^
inches.

The largest Pearl in the world is beyond all rivalry the
" Hope ; " weighing 3 ounces, and 2 inches deep by 2i in
circumference at the larger end. It is pear-shaped and of
a dark opalized hue. It is mounted for a pendant in a
crown-imperial of five vertical bars set with brilliants
upon a lining of crimson enamel, with a gold border of
emeralds, sapphires, and rubies.

The largest Cats-eye (also the *' Hope ") is hemispherical,
1 J inches in diameter ; and formerly was the great pride
of the King of Candy, from whom it was captured in 1815.
It has been celebrated for many ages, and appears to be
the one mentioned by Eibeiro in his " History of Ceylon,"
as at that time (16 th century) belonging to the Prince of
XJra. It is mounted in massy pure gold, set with cabochon
rubies in the Oriental manner.

The largest Euby ever seen in Europe is that presented
by Gustavus III. of Sweden to the Czarina, upon his visit
to her in 1777, It is equal in bulk to a small hen's-egg,
and is of fine colour. This was the size of Kudolf ll.'s,
already quoted, and therefore must weigh at least 100
carats. The highest weight of those seen in India by
Tavemier did not exceed 50 carats. None in the French
Eegalia weighed above 8tV carats.

360 NATUBAL HISTORY OF PBECI0U8 STONES, &e.

FOEMER AND PRESENT SELLING PRICES OF
PRECIOUS STONES.

Cellini (Orijicena) efitimates the comparative values of the
four species to which he restricts the honourable title of
** Precious " as follows, for stones of the best quality : —

Gold Scudi.
Ruby, of one carat weight . . . . 800

Emerald „ .... 400

Diamond „ .... 100

Sapphire „ .... 10

The gold scudo (8 to the ounce Roman) equals nine shil-
lings in intrinsic value, and its current was at that date
(1560) not much more in Italy, then the richest country in
the world. This point, as regards the preceding century,
has been satisfactorily established by Carli {Zecche Italiane),

In De Boot's age, the next generation, the jewellers
valued the Ruby at half the price of a Diamond of the same
size (not weight), but if it exceeded 10 carats, then by the
same rule as he lays down for the latter stone. The Balais
he fixes at 10 ducats for the first carat, afterwards to be
multiplied by the simple weight ; the Spinel at half the
price of the Diamond, which last, for table-cut, he puts at
30 ducats (15Z.). The Sapphire of one carat, at 2 thalers
(6«.), for higher weights as their square multiplied by one
thaler. The Emerald had then become so plentiful that he
thinks quarter the value of the Diamond rather above than
below the mark for its selling price.

FORMER AND PRESENT SELLING PRICES. 351

Berquem values the Diamond, rose-cut, of one carat at
100 francs; Tavemier, some twenty years later, at 150.
Neither mentions other patterns than the Eose and the
Table. I should therefore accept with all distrust Caire's
assertion that the " single-cut brilliant " (brillant en seize)
was invented under Mazarin's auspices.

Dutens (published in 1777) puts the value of the Dia-
mond brilliant of one carat at 8 louis d*or (the louis is
worth 18«. intrinsically), and afterwards as the square of
the weight multiplied by that figure. Small Emeralds, fine
quality, at one louis the carat, taken together : of li car.
at 5 louis ; of 2 car. at 10 ; after which weight no rule
could be laid down as trustworthy. In his times the Sap-
phire was much depreciated, for he fixes the first carat at
12 livres (9«.) only, and thenceforward as the square multi-
plied by this. One of 10 car. he prices at 50 louis ; of
20 car. at 200, and so on. Emeralds had fallen so low at
the beginning of this century that Cairo fixes the first carat
at no more than 24 fr. A stone of 20 car. he values at
3000 fr. (120Z.) only. For the Ruby, he puts the first carat
at 10 louis ; of 2 car., at 40 ; of 3, at 150 ; of 4, at 400. It
is evident that then, as now, there was no fixed principle
for valuing a fine Ruby exceeding 2 car. in weight.

In the present trade a Ruby (perfect) exceeding cue
carat sells far higher than a Diamond of equal weight. I
have myself seen one of 3 carats, for which 300Z. had re-
cently been paid, and was informed, on the best authority,
that one of yet finer colour, weighing 11 grains, had recently
(this was in 1856) changed hands for llOOZ., that is, at the
rate of lOOZ. per grain, or nearly at Cellini's estimation.

For many years antecedent to 1850, the Diamond re-
mained fixed (with few fluctuations) at Jeffries' and Dutens'
figure of 8Z. the first carat. Emeralds and Sapphires were
also equalized in value, which might be called 3Z. the carat

FOBMEB AND PRESENT SELLING PRICES. 353

in the last century this was a valuable stone, Dutens
pricing it by the square of the weight multiplied by 5«., or
at a third of that of the Oriental. Again, the Chrysoprase,
which then fetched JOZ. to 20Z. as a ring-stone, may now
be bought for a few shillings merely as a specimen for the
cabinet.

Lapis-lazuli, the fine Persian, sells in the mass at 30Z. per
pound. It is sawn into slabs for brooches and pendants,
an antique fashion recently revived. The inferior pieces
used formerly to be calcined for ultramarine, but have been
superseded by the cheaper prepared cobalt.

(M.) 2 A

( «« )

DESCEIPTION OF THE TAII/-PIBCES.

All drawn to doublb tbx actual Size.

Title-page. Serapis, lord of the subterranean world and
its treasures. Assnming here the added diaracters of Ammoti
and FhoBbns, all three deities being understood by the later
theosophists as mere personifications of the Solar Grenius.
Sapphirine Calcedony, the Jaspis aerizusay chosen as a ma-
terial appropriate to the subject. The legend is the dedi-
catory inscription upon an altar to the same god in the
Villa Albani.

Page X. Philosopher studying under the inspiration of a
terminal bust of Socrates. Sard.

Page 38. Democritus, the first mineralogist. Sardoina

Page 118. Parakeet carrying a bunch of nuts. This was
the only species known to the ancients, the "psittacus
torquatus " of Central India, and the " psittacus Alexandri"
of Ceylon. It is bright-green, with a red ring, torques,
about the neck, and two long reflexed tail-feathers, exactly
as described by Apuleius in his * Florida.' Sard.

Page 138. Minerva wearing an Athenian helmet : an imi-
tation of the pure Greek style by the Neapolitan artist
Eega, the greatest of the modem school. Aqua-marine.

Page 169. Enormous Corinthian crater, of embossed
metal, belonging to the Phrygian (Bacchic) Mysteries;
symbols of which are the shepherd's-crook and pipes laid
at its base, Eed Jasper.

Page 224. Kural scene, bull and goats under a tree; a

FORMER AND PRESENT SELLING PRICES. 351

Berquem values the Diamond, rose-cut, of one carat at
100 francs; Tavemier, some twenty years later, at 150.
Neither mentions other patterns than the Eose and the
Table. I should therefore accept with all distrust Caire's
assertion that the " single-cut brilliant " (briUant en seize)
was invented under Mazarin's auspices.

Dutens (published in 1777) puts the value of the Dia-
mond brilliant of one cai-at at 8 louis d'or (the louis is
worth 188. intrinsically), and afterwards as the square of
the weight multiplied by that figure. Small Emeralds, fine
quality, at one louis the carat, taken together : of li car.
at 5 louis ; of 2 car. at 10 ; after which weight no rule
could be laid down as trustworthy. In his times the Sap-
phire was much depreciated, for he fixes the first carat at
12 livres (98,) only, and thenceforward as the square multi-
plied by this. One of 10 car. he prices at 50 louis ; of
20 car. at 200, and so on. Emeralds had fallen so low at
the beginning of this century that Cairo fixes the first carat
at no more than 24 fr. A stone of 20 car. he values at
3000 fr. (120Z.) only. For the Ruby, he puts the first carat
at 10 louis ; of 2 car., at 40 ; of 3, at 150 ; of 4, at 400. It
is evident that then, as now, there was no fixed principle
for valuing a fine Euby exceeding 2 car. in weight

In the present trade a Euby (perfect) exceeding oae
carat sells far higher than a Diamond of equal weight. I
have myself seen one of 3 carats, for which 300Z. had re-
cently been paid, and was informed, on the best authority,
that one of yet finer colour, weighing 1 1 ^rairw, had recently
(this was in 1856) changed hands for llOOZ., that is, at the
rate of lOOZ. per grain, or nearly at Cellini's estimation.

For many years antecedent to 1850, the Diamond re-
mained fixed (with few fluctuations) at Jeffries' and Dutens'
figure of 8Z. the first carat. Emeralds and Sapphires were
also equalized in value, which might be called 3Z. the carat

360 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &e.

FOEMER AND PRESENT SELLING PRICES OF
PRECIOUS STONES.

Ceixini (Orijiceria) efitimates the comparative values of the
four species to which he restricts the honourable title of
** Precious " as follows, for stones of the best quality : —

Gold ScudL
Ruby, of one carat weight .. .. 800
Emerald „ .. .. 400

Diamond „ .... 100

Sapphire „ .... 10

The gold scudo (8 to the ounce Roman) equak nine shil-
lings in intrinsic value, and its currefnt was at that date
(1560) not much more in Italy ^ then the richest country in
the world. This point, as regards the preceding century,
has been satisfactorily established by Carli (^Zecche Italiane).

In De Boot's age, the next generation, the jewellers
valued the Ruby at half the price of a Diamond of the same
size (not weight), but if it exceeded 10 carats, then by the
same rule as he lays down for the latter stone. The Balais
he fixes at 10 ducats for the first carat, afterwards to be
multiplies by the simple weight ; the Spinel at half the
price of the Diamond, which last, for table-cut, he puts at
30 ducats (15Z.). The Sapphire of one carat, at 2 thalers
(6«.), for higher weights as their square multiplied by one
thaler. The Emerald had then become so plentiful that he
thinks quarter the value of the Diamond rather above than
below the mark for its selling price.

FORMER AND PRESENT SELLING PRICES. 351

Berquem values the Diamond, rose-cut, of one carat at
100 francs; Tavemier, some twenty years later, at 150,
Neither mentions other patterns than the Eose and the
Table. I should therefore accept with all distrust Caire's
assertion that the " single-cut brilliant " (brillant en seize)
was invented under Mazarin's auspices.

Dutens (published in 1777) puts the value of the Dia-
mond brilliant of one camt at 8 louis d'or (the louis is
worth 188. intrinsically), and afterwards as the square of
the weight multiplied by that figure. Small Emeralds, fine
quality, at one louis the carat, taken together : of li car.
at 5 louis ; of 2 car. at 10 ; after which weight no rule
could be laid down as trustworthy. In his times the Sap-
phire was much depreciated, for he fixes the first carat at
12 livres (98,) only, and thenceforward as the square multi-
plied by this. One of 10 car. he prices at 50 louis ; of
20 car. at 200, and so on. Emeralds had fallen so low at
the beginning of this century that Caire fixes the first carat
at no more than 24 fr. A stone of 20 car. he values at
3000 fr. (120Z.) only. For the Ruby, he puts the first carat
at 10 louis ; of 2 car., at 40 ; of 3, at 150 ; of 4, at 400. It
is evident that then, as now, there was no fixed principle
for valuing a fine Ruby exceeding 2 car. in weight.

In the present trade a Ruby (perfect) exceeding oue
carat sells far higher than a Diamond of equal weight. I
have myself seen one of 3 carats, for which 300Z. had re-
cently been paid, and was informed, on the best authority,
that one of yet finer colour, weighing 11 grains, had recently
(this was in 1856) changed hands for llOOZ., that is, at the
rate of lOOZ. per grain, or nearly at Cellini's estimation.

For many years antecedent to 1850, the Diamond re-
mained fixed (with few fluctuations) at Jeffries' and Dutens'
figure of 8Z. the first carat. Emeralds and Sapphires were
also equalized in value, which might be called 3Z. the carat

866 DESCRIPTION OF THE TAIL-FIECES.

Page 346. Bust of a young lady of the times of Severns.
The legend AMO TE EGO snffioiently bespeaks the original
destination of the gem ; an exceptionally good engraving
for that period. Ssurd.

Page 353. Melpomene, of Minerva Yietriz, holding a
palm-branch and seated npon a pile of armonr. She is
apostrophizing a mask of the Honied Baochns, patron-god
of the drama, whilst the '' thymele," or theatrical altar,
blazes before her ; adjuncts all pointing out the gem as the
signet of some eminent tragedian. Sard.

Page 356. Mole-cricket, canying a cornucopia, whence
issue Capricorn and a bee. These three emblems of Earth,
Water, and Air, combine in this talisman to produce the
fecwMty expressed by the wheat-sheaf in the daw of the
insect-porter. Sardoine.

Page 364. Medusa, in the grandest Greek manner.
Peridot

FOBMEB AND PBE8ENT SELLING FRIGES. 361

Berquem values the Diamond, rose-cut, of one carat at
100 francs; Tavemier, some twenty years later, at 150.
Neither mentions other patterns than the Kose and the
Table. I should therefore accept with all distrust Caire's
assertion that the " single-cut brilliant " (brillant en seize)
was invented under Mazarin's auspices.

Dutens (published in 1777) puts the value of the Dia-
mond hriUiant of one caiat at 8 louis d'or (the louis is
worth 18«. intrinsically), and afterwards as the square of
the weight multiplied by that figure. Small Emeralds, fine
quality, at one louis the carat, taken together : of li car.
at 5 louis ; of 2 car. at 10 ; after which weight no rule
could be laid down as trustworthy. In his times the Sap-
phire was much depreciated, for he fixes the first carat at
12 livres (98.) only, and thenceforward as the square multi-
plied by this. One of 10 car. he prices at 50 louis ; of
20 car. at 200, and so on. Emeralds had fallen so low at
the beginning of this century that Caire fixes the first carat
at no more than 24 fr. A stone of 20 car. he values at
3000 fr. (120Z.) only. For the Kuby, he puts the first carat
at 10 louis ; of 2 car., at 40 ; of 3, at 150 ; of 4, at 400. It
is evident that then, as now, there was ijlo fixed principle
for valuing a fine Kuby exceeding 2 car. in weight.

In the present trade a Kuby (perfect) exceeding one
carat sells far higher than a Diamond of equal weight. I
have myself seen one of 3 carats, for which SOOl, had re-
cently been paid, and was informed, on the best authority,
that one of yet finer colour, weighing 1 1 ^rairw, had recently
(this was in 1856) changed hands for llOOZ., that is, at the
rate of lOOZ. per grain, or nearly at Cellini's estimation.

For many years antecedent to 1850, the Diamond re-
mained fixed (with few fluctuations) at Jeffries* and Dutens'
figure of Si. the first carat. Emeralds and Sapphires were
also equalized in value, which might be called 31. the carat

860

INDEX.

Glidle with niello, anttqiiie, 137*
«'01aiiL"bead,2s8.
OlaaB oliaiger, Gfeek, 158.
Gokonda, mines at, 55.
Gold» oBose of its TiEdnfib x?'-

mining, Gveek, 189.

^,BomaiLi9J,

plate, Gfeek, 155.

— — ooinageB, 193 ; textile, 208.
— - refining, 183 ; Indian miode oi,

Gondole of ohiysolitey 302.
Gontion, 214,
Gofgias, 212.
GraTity, specific^ 345.
Green diamond, 66, 348.

Bnl^, 283.

Gninet, St Peter's, 128.

Hadrian, emeralds ci, 298,
Hsll'^naik, 207.
Hiaoap, gold, 167.
Hardness, test ci, 345.
Hardening gold, 208.
Harlai de Sancy, diammids q( 69.
Hayilali, land of, 27.
Heliogabalns, plate of, 145 ; sanceso^

316.
Heniy 11., emerald of^ 279.
Henry Vm. buys Charles the Bold's

diamond, 65.
Henry III., gold coinage of; 200.
Henri IV., ruby portrait o^ 236,
Hermes Tresmegistus, 18.
Hermias, tomb of, 286.
Hispano-Gothio crowns, 309.
Hope engraved diamond, 98 ; pearl,

Hbeen, or Essen, 327.
Hungpary, crown o^ 313.
Hyacinthus, derived, 245.

, the flower, 243.

Hydrargyrum, 125.

niao vases, 146.

Imadixa's diamond mines, 54.

Indian emerald, 284.

India, drain of specie to, 176.

— — primitive currency ot 192,

LASQUK.

Indian trade, andent, 176.
Intanasile opns, 150.
Ionia, balaas, 227.
Iron crown, the, 277.

alloy of silyer, 129.

Isidoms, 12.
Itaoolnmiteb 46.
lynx, 308.

Jaoinlli, iJacni; 245.

Jaoqninitonida^ 59.

Jahalom, 42.

Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, Sir, 68.

Jaigoon, 45-

Jehanghir, emerald ring o^ 297.

Jehan Shah, 77, 8o.

Jehanira, 80.

j6raniali'snoticeoftheDiajnond,50.

Jemsalemy the New, 335.

Jezabel, 127.

JuIni, 3.

Julian, 221.

Julius n., emerald o( 278.

, diamond of; 96.

Juno's caniage, 25 8,

Karfankel of Marburgh, 239.
Katherine of Arragon, ruby of, 240.
Kentmaun, 22.

Kerkend, E^erkin, garent, 252.
Eertch, tomb treasures of; 175.
Koh-i-noor, history of, 70; its in-
fluence, 73.

, first notice of; 55.

, re-cutting oi, 74,

Kohl, Stibium, 127.
Kuzar, 252.

Laal, Spinel, 230.

Laborde, on the invention of dia-
mond-cutting, 102.
Laet, De, 23.
Lambeccias, 64.
Landak, 56.

Languier, tongue-tree, 164.
Lapidaria, mediaeval, 16.
" Lapillas," KiOos, 4,
Lasque diamond, 43.

INDEX,

361

LAUKlt'M.

Laurium, mines of, 119.

Legion, cost of, 223.

Leopold, Emperor, diamond o^ 98.

AtdoKSWTjTaf 302.

lion of Croesus, 177.

Little finger, ring worn on, 322.

Lollia Paulina, jewels of, 316.

Lorenzo dei Medici, 15.

Louis d'Anjou, plate of, 161.

Loys XII., ruby portrait of, 230.

Lucullus, ring of, 297.

Ludovico II Moro, balais of, 236,

Luminous gems, 238.

Lychnis, balais ruby, 226.

Lydia, primitive coins of, 174, 178.

Macedonian kings, wealth of, 189.
Magi, their pretensions, 299.
Maniiius, his notice of the diamond,

39.
Manilla, African, 218.
Marbodus, 12.

Margaret of Anjou's ring, 235.
Maria Honorii, 208.
"Mariage," 233.
Marlborough, Duke of^ his diamonds,

no.
" Marriage of Anchises and Venus,"

141.
Martial's gold cup, 153.
Mary Tudor, seal of, 97.

. Queen of Scots, signet ofi 97.

diamond sent to Elizabeth, 100.

Mat tan, Bajah of, 87.
Maximilian II., ring ofi 293.
**Mazarins, les douze," 95.
Meat, price of at Rome, 224,
Medallions, Roman, 215.
MedisBval gem-cutting, 103.
Medicine, gems used in, 15, 274, 304.
Mentor, 142.
Mercureus Cannetonensis, plate of^

T46.
Midas, 178.
Milkstone, 47*
Milliarensis, 131.
Minium, 125.
Mining terms, their derivation, 304.

PANAMA.

Mirgimola, history of, 77.
Mirrors, ancient, 134.
Missorium of Aetius, 214.
Mithridates, gold statue of, 212.
Mogul diamond, the, 76.
Mohammed Ben Mansur, 14,
Montezuma, cup o^ 169.
Mummulus, 214,
Mys, 142.

Naifes, 54.

Names of gems, whence derived, 301.

Narbonne, Gothic treasury at, 333.

Nassack diamond, the, 348.

Natter, 51.

Naumachius, 247.

Necklace, the Diamond, 116.

Necklaces, celebrated ancient, 306.

Nef, in gold, 168.

Nero, portrait on a diamond, 99.

, emerald of^ 293.

, invention of, 294,

Nerva, diamond o^ 48.

New Carthage, mines at, 123.

Newton, 24.

Nicander, 2, 7.

Nicolo, votive, 321.

Niello, invention of, 135.

Nilaa, sapphire, Nilion, 248.

Nizam diamond, the, 87.

Nonnus, 306.

Novas Minaa, "Slaves* Diamond,"

115.
Nuggets, origin of, 184.

Obolus, primitive, 192.
Obryza, test for gold, 204.
Onyx of Havilah, 27.

votive, 236.

Origin of stones, 26.

Orloff diamond, the, 86.

« Or," "Our," names for gold, 171.

Osculan, 238.

Orpheus, date of his poem, 6.

Pactolas, 176.

Palio di S. Ambrogio, 324.

Panama pearls, 271.

U2

INDEX.

PangSBOB, 189.
Par^iise, site of^ 37.
Parthenius, or Phitaroh, 9.
Parthenon, donaria in the, 320.
Paste, ruby, 232.
Pattinson's process, 124.
Pearl fishery, antiqae, 259.

, British, 263.

baroque, 268.

Penny, gold, 200.
"Peregrina, la," 271.
Periegetes, Dionysius, 11.
Perezes, pearl oi, 267.
Perperi, 205.
Perseus, wealth of, 156.
Persian revenue, 1 79.

coinage, 187.

Persine, queen, 295.
Peruvian emerald, 278.

first imported, 305.

Peruzzi, 95.

Philippus, 189, 190, 217.

Philip II., diamond of, 68.

, pearls o^ 271.

Philostratus, 238.
"PiUow, the king's," 180.
Pitt diamond, the, 83.
Placidia, bridal gift to, 312.
Plate, Greek, 142.

, Roman, 145, 214.

, Gallic, 186.

, Mediaeval, 160.

Plato on the origin of gems, 26.

on the Adamas, 40.

PUny, r.

Polycrates, ring of, 295.
Ponceau colour, 251.
Pound, Roman, 123.
Prase, 286.
Prometheus, 39.
PseUas, 13.

Psittacus, derived, 302.
Ptolemy, plate of, 155.
Pyropus, 208.
Pytheas, chaser, 142.
Pythias, wealth of, 1 79.

Quadribacium, 322.

SOOTnSH.

Quartation, 202.
Quicksilver, 125, 210.

Babanus Maurus, 18.
Ragiel, 18,
Rati, 82.
Rationale, 248.
Receswinthus, crown ot, 309.
Reichenau emerald, 290.
" Reconciliazione, piefoa della,"
Refining, 125, 203.

, ancient method, 183.

Regent diamond, the, 83.
"Rennes, pat^ de," 149.
Rent, Roman house, 224.
Repousse work, 140.
Rhine gold-washings, 18 7.
Riceia diamond, the, 348.
Rienzi, ring of, 138.
Roman we^th, 223.

revenue, 180.

Root of emerald, 282.
Rose diamond, 94.
Rosanna sapphire, the, 253.
Rosicrucians, 17.
Ruby, the largest, 237, 349.

, omen of, 240.

, engraved, 234; false, 232.

Rudolph II., 61.

, pearl of, 271.

ruby, 237.

Runjeet Singh, emerald of, 294.
Ruspone, 201.

Sabean traders, 54.
Sacro Cateno, 289.
Samir, 41, 331.
Sancy diamond, the, 66.
Sappare, lolite, 348.
Sapphire, derived, 248.

, engraved, 253.

, the largest, 349.

Saracenic plate, 167.
Sassanian coinage, 187.
Scapte Hyle, 173, 189.
Scipio, shield of, 147.
Scottish pearls, 264.

47.

INDEX.

363

SuxTuiAN.

8c3^an emerald, 283.
Sestertia, computation by, 222.
Sigils, virtues of, 16.
Signatures, doctrine of, 25.
Silver mines, ancient, 119,

^ Spanish, 121.

, stetues in, 134.

Siphnus, 172.

Sirietti, 51.

Siiis, the bronzes of, 141.

Siries, Louis, 100.

** Smaragdus *' of the Greeks, the,

280.
Smaragdi, monster, 289.
**Smaragdi tinctuia," 304.
Solinus, II.

Soldiers* pay, Romail, 223.
Solomon, table of, 289 ; vases of,

333-
Sone, Sonne, 171.
Sonnica, 311.
Sotacus, I.
Sothiac period, 299.
Spanish mines, 123, 194.
^(pvfyfiXaroVf 139.
Spinel, 228.
Stater of CroBSUS, 178.

of Philip, 190.

Standard of gold, 199.
Star of the South, 347.
Statues in gold, 212.
Stibium, 126.
Stork and ruby, 238.
Sulla plunders Delphi, 191.
Syria Dea, gems offered to, 321.
Syria, gems of, 287.

Table diamond, 93.
Tacitus, Emperor, wealth of, 224.
Talent, value of the, 173.
Talismans in emerald, 299.
Taprobane, pearls oi, 272.
Tavemier's notice of the Mogul

regalia, 78.
Tax, capitation, 221.
Testers of money, 132.
Teucer, 142.
Thasos, gold-mines ot 173.

"WEIOHTS.

Theodosius, silver column ci, 134,
Theodelindia, crown of, 277.
Theophrastus, 3 ; theory ot 31.
Thronus, Jacobus, 97.
Tiberius, sword o4 15 1.
Timajus, 26.

" Tolosanum Aurum," 185.
Topaz, Oriental, yellow jacut, 251.

" slaves'," Novas Minas, 115.

Toreutice, 139.

Torques, Gallic, 185.

Tourmaline, first noticed, 305.

Trezzo engraves the diamond, 97.

Troy-weight, 123.

Truth, Egyptian symbol of, 326.

Turbo, 42.

Turquois, Smaragdus Persioas, 287.

Tympania^ 261.

Uffenbach, 83.

XTnio, 267.

Ural diamonds, 57; emeralds^ 283.

Urim and Thummim, 248, 326.

Vaini, the Prior, 98.

Yalentinian, discus o^ 148.

Yallanzasca mines, 198.

Value of precious stones, 350.

Vases, jewelled, 191 ; painted, 141.

Venice, 95, 200.

VercelU, gold-mines ofi 198.

Vermilion, 125.

Verres, 143.

Vesta, necklace ofi 323.

Vieuxbourg, treasure trove at, 185.

Vigra gold-mines, 188.

Vine, the golden, 227.

Virtues of Sigils, 20.

, medicinal, of gems, 24.

, cause of, 3 2.

Votive vases in gold, 191.

Wallenstein, ruby of, 230.
Watch cases, chasing of, 141.
Wealth, ancient, 223.
Weights, Greek and Boman, 123.

364

INDEX.

Wouastoii, Ur. 50*

Wondorfcil gems, 9*

** WoodeaHspoon-flellera *' Sapphire^

the, 349.
World, the tnie, of Plato, 27.
Worm Samir, the, 331.

Xenophon, on Attic silver mining,

119.
HieiA^ 2S4.

TeUow, the colour, why admired, 171.

ZUMBOH.

Yoni,87.

TuBsopouff pearl, 272 ; ** Polar Star,"
348.

Zachalias, 2,
Zeochino, 200.
Zenodoms, 144.
Zenothemis, i.
Zoroaster, 2.
Zosimns, 323.

Znbara, emerald-mines, 285.
Zmnech, 2a

THE END.

LONDOK: PKOrrKD BY W. CLOVrSS AMD SONS, STAUFOItO STIiSET,
AKD GBAUIN6 OBOS8.

i :^

//.c^ 3.^^^i .