garnis
d'or et enrichis de saphirs, grenats, prismes d'esmé· raudes, et de
soixante et dix perles orientales. Cette pièce est grandement estimée
par ceux qui se connoissent en pierres. Elle fut jadis engagée par le
roy Louis le Gros (110S-1137) et desengagée de son consentement par
l'Abbé Suger, qui en paya 60 marcs d'argent, grande somme pour ces
temps-là. Elle a estée faite ou du moins garnie par Sainct Eloy, comme
le mesme Suger asseure au livre de ses gestes :—' Quod vas (dit il,
parlant de cette gondole) tam pro pretiosa lapidis qualitate, quam
integra sui quantitate, mirificum, inclusorio Sancti Eligii opere
constat esse ornatura ; quod omnium artificum judicio pretiosissimum
aestimatur.' "
The existence of this gondole, as well as the Yienna patera (murrhina), if
really in stone, explains what Pliny means by his Chrysoprasus, " more
near gold in tint than the Topazius," sufficiently large to permit cymbia, boat-shaped
vessels, to be cut out of it. Again, I have seen vases, by no means
minute,.brought from China carved in a green translucent material, of
the exact shade of the Peridot, the true nature of which is still a
question amongst mineralogists, some supposing it to be a variety of
Felspar, others the true Chrysoprase.
Treatises
were extant in Pliny's time (75), showing how false Emeralds might be
made by staining rock-crystal, as well as other gems—a fraud which he
terms the most lucrative in the world. This was probably done by
plunging the heated crystal into verdigris dissolved in turpentine,
according to the modern plan to be described under Rubace. The
crystal becomes full of minute cracks, into which the colouring fluid
insinuates itself, and tinges the entire substance. The great art is so
to regulate the operation that these cracks do not become too
conspicuous upon the surface. Upon this point Seneca has the follow-
