have
them always in sight, and secondly on account of the mysterious power
then attributed to precious stones. Charles lost this diamond at the
battle of Morat, on the twenty-second of June, 1476. Tradition relates
that it was picked up by a peasant who took it for a piece of glass and
sold it for a florin. The new owner, Bartholomew May, a citizen of
Berne, sold it to the Genoese, who sold it in turn to Ludovico Moro
Sforza. By the intercession of the Fuggers it came into the Medici
treasury at Florence. When Francis Stephen of Lorraine ex changed this
duchy against the grand-duchy of Tuscany he became owner of the
Florentine diamond."
Of
this extraordinary tale the concluding sentence alone is the only one
worthy of the slightest attention ; all the rest is mere legend.
Contemporary accounts show that Charles the Bold had no diamond at all
similar to the Austrian Yellow either in size or shape; two very
important factors in establishing the identity of a diamond.
We
have now reached the last great diamond which it is our purpose to
chronicle, and it is hoped that the reader has become sufficiently
