HISTORICAL AND REMARKABLE DIAMONDS. 225
This diamond was considered one of the largest in Christendom, and was described as a pyramid, five-eighths of an inch
square at the base, and with the apex cut into a star, in relief,
presenting four rays. It was reçut by Berquem and set with
three large balas-rubies, styled "The Three Brothers." Four
baroque pearls, weighing half an ounce each, formed the
pendant. The jewel was sold to Henry VIII. of England,
and was given by Queen Mary to Philip IL, a descendant of
the House of Burgundy. The remarkable part of the story is
that a diamond mounted in this ornate style should have been
twice sold for a trifle.
The Pitt or Regent. — This diamond, before cutting, ranked
next to the Great Mogul in size, weighing four hundred and
ten carats. It was found in the Indian mines at Puteal, in 1701,
by a slave, who concealed the discovery, and fled with it to the
coast, but only to meet with a tragical end ; for, being decoyed
on board an English vessel, he was robbed and thrown overboard. The captain who committed the double crime sold the
diamond for the paltry sum of five thousand dollars, spent his
dishonest gains in dissipation, and closed his career by hanging
himself.
The next we hear of this prize is that it was bought of a
Parsee merchant by Thomas Pitt, governor of Fort George,
Madras, and grandfather of the celebrated William Pitt, for
the sum of ten thousand dollars, or sixty-two thousand five
hundred dollars, according to widely different statements.
This purchase was the occasion of much scandal and satire in
England at the time, reflecting— unjustly it is thought — upon
the integrity of the governor. Pope alludes to the transaction
in the " Man of Ross" in the lines, —
"Asleep and naked as the Indian lay,
An honest factor stole the gem away."
