318 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c.
rubies,
sapphires, and emeralds set in silver and gold : it has a crimson
velvet cap with ermine border, and is lined with white silk. Its gross
weight 39 oz. 5 dwts. troy.* The lower part of the band above the
ermine border consists of a row of 129 pearls ; and the upper part of
the band, of a row of 112 pearls, between which in the front of the
crown is a large sapphire (partly drilled) purchased for the crown by
H. M. King George IV. At the back is a sapphire of smaller size, and
six other sapphires, three on each side, between which are eight
emeralds.
"Above
and below the seven sapphires are fourteen diamonds, and around the
eight emeralds 128 diamonds. Between the emeralds and sapphires are
sixteen trefoil ornaments containing 160 diamonds. Above the band are
eight sapphires surmounted by eight diamonds, between which are eight
festoons consisting of 148 diamonds.
"
In the front of the crown and in the centre of a diamond Maltese cross
is the famous ruby said to have been given to Edward Prince of Wales,
the Black Prince, by Don Pedro, king of Castile, after the battle of
Najara, near Vittoria, A.D. 1367. This ruby was worn in the helmet of
Henry V. at the battle of Agincourt, a.D. 1415.
It is pierced quite through after the Eastern custom, the upper part of
the piercing being filled up by a small ruby. Around this ruby to form
the cross are 75 brilliant-diamonds. Three other Maltese crosses,
forming the two sides and back of the crown, have emerald centres, and
contain respectively 132,124, and 130 brilliant-diamonds.
" Between the four Maltese crosses are four ornaments in the form of French fleurs-de-lys, with four rubies in their
