142 THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES
This was very freely rendered by Thomas Nicols as follows:38
Nature
by frailty doth dayly waste away. Fortune is turn'd and changed every
day. In all, there is an eye know's no decay. Jah sees for aye.
There
is in the Imperial Academy at Moscow a turquoise two inches in
diameter, inscribed with a text from the Koran in letters of gold. This
turquoise was formerly worn by the Shah of Persia as an amulet, and it
was valued at 5000 rubles by the jeweller from whose hands it came.39
It
is well known that Napoleon III was inclined to be superstitious, and
there is not, therefore, anything inherently improbable in the report
that he left the seal he wore on his watch-chain to his son, the
unfortunate Prince Imperial, as a talisman. This seal is said to have
borne an inscription in Arabic characters, signifying "The slave
Abraham relying on the Merciful One (God)."40 The talisman
lost its virtue on that unlucky day when, in far-off Zululand, the heir
to so many hopes was cut off in the first flush of early manhood (see
page 64).
38Nicols,
"Faithful Lapidary," London, 1659, p. 107. ""Kluge, " Edelsteinkunde,"
Leipsie, 1860, p. 366. Ternie, "Precious Stones for Curative Wear,"
Bristol, 1907, p. 109.
