mendable
moderation ; for, having received a gift of two very large pearls, he
desired that his wife should never wear them in public. After the fall
of the Roman Colossus the barbarian invaders adorned themselves with pearls, and with them also ecclesiastical ornaments were enriched.
The
Greeks of Byzantium made immoderate use of them ; and in this they were
imitated by the inhabitants of the banks of the Danube, and by the
Tartar successors of Rurik.
At
the period of the revival of the arts, the discovery of Columbus
brought a great supply of them to Europe, whilst the East still
continued to hold her own in great estimation.
Rudolf II. of Austria exhibited a superb pearl, which weighed 180 grains.
Philip
II. of Spain had a pear-shaped pearl of the size of a pigeon's egg,
weighing 134 grains. It was valued at 50,000 ducats, and was called peregrina, or
the incomparable. However, they had not yet seen that which Gougitas,
a merchant of Calais, brought from India to Philip IV., which was
pear-shaped, and weighed 480 grains. It is said that this king asked
the merchant, " How did you venture to risk such a fortune in acquiring
so small an object ?" " Sire," answered the other, " because I knew
there was a king in Spain who would buy it."
Leo X. bought a pearl for 80,000 crowns.
Tavernier describes one belonging to the King of Persia, which he states to have cost 1,600,000 lire.
