ON THE VIRTUES OF FABULOUS STONES 177
upper
end so that the stone could be worn suspended. In a curious letter
written April 25, 1742, by Martha Postle-thwayte, sister of Sir Thomas
Gooch, who successively presided over the episcopal sees of Bristol,
Norwich and Ely, to her daughter Barbara Kerrick, the writer advises
her correspondent, in order to avoid a repetition of former
misadventures, to "wear the eagle-stone and take Mrs. Stone's receit,
' ' and adds : "I hope it may have good effect and make me a good
grandmother." The result was favorable, and must naturally have
affirmed the faith in the powers of the stone.41
An inventory of the furniture, plate, jewels, etc., of Charles V of France, made in 1379,42
describes two stones preserved in a case of cypress-wood which the king
always carried about with him. One of these was called the "holy stone"
and aided women in childbirth. This was probably an "eagle-stone." It
was set in gold and the setting was adorned with four pearls, six
emeralds and two balas-rubies. The other stone, which cured the gout,
was an engraved gem bearing the figure of a king and an inscription in
Hebrew characters. This description suggests one of the Gnostic gems so
common in the early Christian centuries. The gem was suspended from a
silver cord, so that it could be worn on the neck, or perhaps attached
to some other part of the body. "We find in the comptes royaux of
1420 an electuary composed of powdered precious stones, for the cure of
the infirmities of Isabel of Bavaria, who was fifty years old and had
been for several years obese and a valetudinarian.43
In some parts of the Orient the superstitious notion exists that the cetites occasionally emits a wailing sound during the night, and this is said to be either an expression of the
"Albert Hartshome, F.S.A., in Proceedings of Society of Antiquaries of London, Sec. Series, vol. xxii, p. 517, May 27, 1909.
a MS. 8356 of the Bibliothèque Nationale, f. LXXII, verso. " F. de Mely La Grande Encyclopédie, vol. xxvi, p. 884.
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