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XVIII.
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THE PITT OR REGENT.
Found
by a Slave—Stolen by an English Skipper—Treachery and Murder—Sold for
£1,000—Bought for £24,500— Resold to the Regent of France for
£135,000—Stolen and Restored to the Garde-Meuble—Pawned to the Dutch
—Redeemed and Worn by Napoleon the Great—Captured after Waterloo, and
taken to Berlin—On View at the Paris Fxhibition—Among the Crown Jewels
of France, and Valued at £480,000.
IRST
known as the " Pitt," then as the " Regent," this perfect diamond has a
remarkable history. There are two stories of its original discovery.
They do not differ sufficiently to cast a doubt upon the general facts.
The second version of the narrative is easily reconcilable with the
first.
The
adventures of the " Pitt " begin very much on the lines of several
other great stones. Cupidity, murder, remorse, are factors in the
opening chapter. Trouble, political, social, and personal, accompany
the gem to its latest resting-place. It was found by a slave in the
Parteal mines, on the Kistna, in the year 1701. The story goes that, to
secure his treasure, he cut a hole in the calf of his leg, and
concealed it, one account says, in the wound itself, another in the
L
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