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Ch. 14: Pearls - Facts & Fancies

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THE PEARL
previous to her husband's assassination by Ravaillac. The consort of James IV. of Scotland dreamt of pearls three nights in succession before the disastrous battle of Flodden Field in which he lost his life. These and similar stories which appeal to a love of the mysterious and wonder­ful have been perpetuated by writers of books, so that even to-day there are women who coveting pearls still fear to own them.
But to be out of the fashion is more dreadful to women than tears, so it has come to pass that with the increasing vogue of the pearl, less is heard of the superstition and it is dying, not of age or the contempt of knowledge, but by the potency of fashion.
A story already referred to in these pages, that has been current for over two thousand years during which time it has been mentioned by almost every writer about pearls, deserves, for its antiquity and absurdity, consideration here. It is of Cleopatra and the pearl worth upwards of three hundred thousand dollars she is said to have dissolved in wine to drink in costly fashion to her lover. This was, of course, impossible. She may, with the help of the wine
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