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Page 6
It will have been seen that the text of Shakespeare's plays gives no
evidence tending to show any greater familiarity with precious stones
than could be gathered from the poetry of his day, and from his
intercourse with classical scholars, such as Francis Bacon, Ben
Jonson, and others of those who formed the unique assemblage wont to
meet together at the old Mermaid Tavern in London. That a diamond
could cost 2000 ducats ($5000), a very large sum in Shakespeare's
time, is noted in one of his earliest plays, the _Merchant of Venice_
(Act iii, sc. 1), and the following injunction emphasizes the great
value of a fine diamond:
Set this diamond safe
In golden palaces, as it becomes.
_I Henry VI_, Act v, sc. 3.
"Histories", p. 116, col. B, line 54.
In _Pericles_ we read (Act iii, sc. 2):
The diamonds of a most prais�d water
Do appear, to make the world twice rich.
Third Folio, 1664, p. 7, col. B, line 38;
separate pagination.
In Shakespeare's time but few of the world's great diamonds were in
Europe, though two, at least, were in his native country. All of them
must have been of East Indian origin, as this was before the discovery
of the Brazilian mines (1728). In 1547, Henry VIII of England bought
of the Fuggers of Augsburg--the great money-lending bankers and jewel
setters, or royal pawnbrokers, who generally sold or forced some
jewels upon those who obtained a loan--the jewel of Charles the Bold,
called the "Three Brethren", from three large balas-rubies with which
it was set; the central ornament was a "great pointed diamond"; of its
weight nothing is known. This jewel was lost by Duke Charles on the
field of Granson, March 2, 1476, where it was secured by the Swiss
victors; it was eventually bought by the Fuggers. The other fine
English diamond was that known as the Sancy, weighing 53-3/4 carats
(55.23 metric carats), acquired by James I from Nicholas Harley de
Sancy, in 1604, for 500,000 crowns. This is also stated to have
belonged to Charles the Bold. In 1657 it was redeemed by Cardinal
Mazarin, after having been pledged for a loan by Queen Henrietta
Maria, and at Mazarin's death, in 1661, was bequeathed, with his other
diamonds, to the French Crown. After passing through many
vicissitudes, it has recently come into the possession of Baron Astor
of Hever (William Waldorf Astor).
There is a possibility that the Florentine diamond of 133-22/32 carats
(137.27 metric carats) was already owned by the grand-ducal house of
Tuscany before Shakespeare's death, but the earliest notice of it
appears to be that given by Fermental, a French traveller, who saw it
in Florence in 1630. The other great diamonds of former days are of
more recent date. The Regent of 136-7/8 carats (140.64 metric carats),
found in India about 1700, was acquired by the Duke of Orleans in
1717; the Orloff (194-3/4 old carats = 199.73 metric carats) was
bought by Prince Orloff for Catherine II, in 1775, for 1,400,000 Dutch
florins, or about $560,000. The famous Koh-i-n�r, weighing 186-1/16
carats (191.1 metric carats) in its old cutting, came to Europe, as a
gift to Queen Victoria from the East India Company, only in 1850;
although, if it be the same as the great diamond taken by Humayun, son
of Baber, at the battle of Paniput, April 21, 1526, its history dates
back at least to 1304, when Sultan Ala-ed-Din took it from the Sultan
of Malva, whose family had already owned it for generations.
As fresh-colored lips are likened to rubies, so it is said of a bright
eye, that it "would emulate the diamond" (_Merry Wives of Windsor_,
Act iii, sc. 3).
Bright eyes are also compared to rock-crystal, and the setting of
other gems within a bordering of crystals is evidently alluded to in
the following lines from _Love's Labour's Lost_ (Act ii, sc. 1):
Methought all his senses were lock'd in his eyes
As jewels in crystal.
First Folio, "Comedies", p. 128, col. A, line 7.
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