Shakespeare and Precious Stones
sum of £50,000 by his profitable connection with the court, and had also acquired lands and houses at Rochampton, in Surrey, and St. Martin's-inthe-Fields, London. His residuary estate, which amounted to £23,625 ($ 118,125), he entrusted to the provosts, bailiffs, ministers, and ordinary town-council of Edinburgh for the erection of an institution to be called Heriot's Hospital, where a number of poor freemen's sons of the town should be educated.18 This foundation still exists, and the excellent management of those who have had to do with the endowment is shown by the fact that the income it now produces equals the whole sum of the original bequest.
This great Scotch goldsmith fashioned a number of splendid rings for the queen. An old account furnished by Heriot lists them as follows:19
A ring with a heart and serpent, all set about with diamonds;
A ring with a single diamond, set in a heart betwixt two hands;
18WilliamHone,"TheEvery-DayBook,"London,i838, vol. ii, cols. 748, 749.
19William Hone, "Every-Day Book," London, 1838, vol. ii, cols. 749, 750.
54
