190 THE SANCI.
Along
with the Crown, the Sanci descended to James II., and no doubt figured
at the extraordinarily fine coronation which inaugurated his
disastrous reign. The Queen had a million's worth of jewels on her gown
alone, and " shone like an angel," says a contemporary, who was so
dazzled by her splendor that he could scarcely look at her. When James
lost his crown he managed to keep hold of the Sanci and also,
presumably, of the Portugal. Indeed the jewels of England for a long
time served to keep the famished court of the Stuarts around James and
his son. Gradually they were sold to meet the exigencies of the various
Pretenders till nothing of value was left for the last Stuart, the
Cardinal of York, to bequeath to the English King. Among the first to
go was the Sanci which James 11. sold to Louis xiv. for twenty-five
thousand pounds about the year 1695.
From this date for one hundred years the Sanci ranked third among the French jewels,
