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XLVII.
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THE GREAT SANCY.
The
Sphinx of Diamonds — Looking Back over Three Hundred Years—In the Days
of the " Holy League" A Royal Debauchee—A Faithful Valet—Important
Revelations—Under a Cloud—A " Cause C61ebre "— Once More on its
Travels—An Incident of the Prince of Wales's Indian Tour.
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HIS
is the very sphinx of diamonds. The history of many other gems is no
doubt sufficiently obscure, and often involved in great confusion.
There is generally, however, some key to the solution of the most
difficult problems, and the writers of this work are complacent enough
to hope that the reader will find more than one such problem
satisfactorily solved in the accompanying pages. But the " Sancy "
seems to be wrapped in a dense cloud of mystery, defying the most
subtle analysis, and impenetrable to the attacks of the keenest
processes of reasoning. Nevertheless, there are even here, one or two
breaks of light, by means of which it may be possible to dissipate the
darkness in which this famous jewel has hitherto been involved.
Much
of this darkness is due to the commonly accepted statement, that the "
Sancy " was one of the large diamonds lost by Charles of Burgundy,
either at Nancy or Granson. Its history thus became
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