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Page 15
In no period was jewelry worn more ornately, or with greater display,
we might almost say ostentation, than in the age of Shakespeare. As a
rule, in this period the precious stones were less considered than the
elaborate goldsmith work in which they were placed. They were the
adjuncts, rather than the principal glory of the jewel.
The court jeweller of James VI of Scotland and of this monarch after
his accession to the English throne, as James I, was George Heriot
(ca. 1563-1624), born in Edinburgh, the son of a member of the company
of goldsmiths in that city. As the Scotch goldsmiths cumulated the
profession of money-lending with that of goldsmithing, they were
usually persons of considerable account among the citizens. Heriot
became a member of the company in 1588, the year of the Spanish
Armada. Despite the rather straitened circumstances of the Scottish
court, considerable amounts were expended for jewels, especially as
the queen, Anne of Denmark, was very fond of display. The nobility
also, such of them at least as possessed the means, were inclined to
deck themselves out with brilliant jewels and splendid ornaments of
massive gold. Heriot's appointment as goldsmith to the queen dates
from 1597; soon after this he was made jeweller and goldsmith to the
king. He followed the court to London in 1603, when King James
succeeded to Elizabeth, and at the time of his death, February 12,
1624, had amassed the sum of �50,000 by his profitable connection
with the court, and had also acquired lands and houses at Rochampton,
in Surrey, and St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, London. His residuary
estate, which amounted to �23,625 ($118,125), he entrusted to the
provosts, bailiffs, ministers, and ordinary town-council of Edinburgh
for the erection of an institution to be called Heriot's Hospital,
where a number of poor freemen's sons of the town should be
educated.[18] This foundation still exists, and the excellent
management of those who have had to do with the endowment is shown by
the fact that the income it now produces equals the whole sum of the
original bequest.
[Footnote 18: William Hone, "The Every-Day Book", London, 1838, vol.
ii, cols. 748, 749.]
This great Scotch goldsmith fashioned a number of splendid rings for
the queen. An old account furnished by Heriot lists them as
follows:[19]
A ring with a heart and serpent, all set about with diamonds;
A ring with a single diamond, set in a heart betwixt two hands;
A great ring in the form of a perssed hand and a perssed eye, all
sett with diamonds;
One great ring, in forme of a frog, all set with diamonds, price
two-hundreth poundis;
A ring of a burning heart set with diamondis;
A ring in the forme af a scallope shell, set with a table diamond, and
opening on the head;
A ring of a love trophe set with diamondis;
Two rings, lyke black flowers, with a table diamond in each;
A daissie ring sett with a table diamond;
A ryng sett all over with diamondis, made in fashion of a lizard,
120 l.;
A ring set with 9 diamonds, and opening on the head with the King's
picture in that.
[Footnote 19: William Hone, "Every-Day Book", London, 1838, vol. ii,
cols. 749, 750.]
Heriot also lists a ring delivered about 1607 to Margaret Hartsyde,
one of the royal household, describing it as "sett all about with
diamondis, and a table diamond on the head"; that is, in the bezel. He
states that he had been given to understand that this was by direction
of Her Majesty. His precaution in making this note appears to have
been fully justified, for this Margaret Hartsyde was tried in
Edinburgh, May 31, 1608, on the charge of having purloined a pearl
belonging to the queen and valued at �110. Her excuse was that she had
taken this and other pearls to adorn dolls for the amusement of the
royal children, and that she did not expect the queen would ask for
them. As, however, it was brought out in the trial that she had
cleverly disguised some of the pearls she had taken, and had offered
to sell them to the queen, she was condemned to imprisonment in
Blackness Castle until the payment of a fine of �400, and to
confinement in Orkney during the remainder of her life. Eleven years
later, however, the king's advocate "produced a letter of
rehabilitation and restitution of Margaret Hartsyde to her fame".[20]
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