Shakespeare and Precious Stones
be bestowed upon the queen at the christening of the Princess Mary in 1605.21
While the jeweller's art in England was still under the influence of foreign goldsmiths in Elizabeth's time, it had to a considerable extent emancipated itself from foreign control in the latter part of her reign and in that of her successor. In addition to George Heriot, whom we have just noticed, several others are well worthy of mention, such as Dericke Anthony, Affabel Partridge, Peter Trender, and Nicolas Herrick,22 the father of the poet Robert Herrick, who makes many a telling use of the colors and charm of precious stones and pearls in his dainty poems. To these must be added Sir John Spilman,of German birth, who made many jewels at the royal command.
We should remember that for the cutting of precious stones steam-power was not then available, "man-power" being employed. A large turning wheel was pushed around by a man holding a bar extending from it. The motion of this large wheel was transmitted to other smaller ones. The number of revolutions per minute hardly exceeded a few hundred, while in modern
21H. Clifford Smith, "Jewellery," London, 1908 , p. 302. 22 H. Clifford Smith, "Jewellery," London, 1908, pp. 219, 320, 301.
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