Famous Pearls. 293
(1886), at Messrs. Christie & Manson's with the rest of the Hope collection of precious stones.
The Russian Pearl, 1840.
" Sometime before I went to Moscow," observes the traveller,
J. G. Kohl, in his work on Russia, "there died in a convent, whither he
had retreated after the manner of the wealthy pious ones of his nation,
a rich merchant, whose house had large establishments in Moscow,
Constantinople, and Alexandria, and extensive connexions throughout the
East. Feeling the approach of age, he had by degrees given up the toils
of business to his sons. His wife was dead and the only beloved object,
which even in the cloister, was not divided from him, was one large,
beautiful Oriental Pearl. This precious object had ,been
purchased for him by some Persian or Arabian friend at a high price,
and enchanted by its water, magnificent size and colour, its perfect
shape and lustre, he would never part with it, however enormous the sum
offered for it. Perhaps in the contemplation of its peerless beauty, as
it lay before him in his leisure hours, he recalled the events of his
early life, and the glories of the East, as he had formerly beheld them
with his own eyes. He fairly worshipped the costly globule. He himself inhabited an ordinary cell in the convent ; but this
