CROWN JEWELS.
Gems, it has been said, require the concomitants of royalty,
grandeur, and beauty, to be appreciated in all their splendor
and magnificence, and it is an historical fact that they have
been universally employed as symbols of regal power in the
decoration of crowns, sceptres, and other insignia of high rank.
Royal crowns or diadems have a great antiquity, as supreme
power invested in a single person became the prevailing form
of government at an early period in the history of nations,
though the sceptre, as a sign of royal power, has the priority of
date. The first mention of a crown in the sacred writings is
that of Saul's, which was brought to David after the defeat and
death of the former.
The Crown. — This ornament was at first the emblem of the
priestly office rather than that of the ruling power ; but when
the two prerogatives were united in the same person, it became
more exclusively the representative of royalty. The crowns
of the Egyptian, Hebrew, and Mexican rulers are thought to
have borne a resemblance to the episcopal mitre of the present
day.
The crown may have originated in the diadem, a fillet
about two inches broad, worn across the forehead and tied
"behind, the two words, crown and diadem, subsequently becoming synonymous terms. At first, it was made of branches of
flowers, more frequenti- the laurel, the vine, wheat, etc., and
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