THE AUSTRIAN YELLOW. 235
as with them the one object was to preserve the weight of the stone as far as possible.
Chemically
speaking, the diamond is almost pure carbon, and may be said to be
first cousin to ordinary coal and half-brother to the smoke of an oil
lamp. If the lordly gem should refuse to acknowledge such mean
relations it can always be confronted with the " black diamond," which
though an undoubted diamond, looks so very like a piece of coal that
the kinship is evident. The present writer once saw a very costly parure belonging
to the Countess of Dudley, composed entirely of black diamonds set
heavily in gold. Being a very little girl she considered it a great
waste of the precious metal to employ it to set such ugly stones. She
is of the same opinion still.
In
ancient times the diamond was credited with a vast number of occult
virtues. Thus it was said by the Romans to baffle poison, keep off
insanity and dispel vain fears. The Italians believed that it
maintained love between man and wife, but we have already seen one
notable
