THE PITT FAMILY OF BLANDFORD ST. MAKY. 171 



was tied. The man made off with his prize to the coast 

 and took passage in a small trading vessel. Suffering from 

 nervous fears, he confided his secret to the skipper, and the 

 skipper without scruple, according to the account, secured 

 the gem and put the poor fellow overboard. He soon sold 

 it to a dealer who was known to Governor Pitt, and who had 

 instructions from him to look out for profitable treasures 

 of any sort. A long haggle went on between Pitt and the 

 dealer, and Pitt confesses to have beaten him down again 

 and again, but at last agreed to pay a sum equal to about 

 20,000 of English money. The gem was taken home by 

 his son Robert with the most minute orders about the way 

 in which he was to take care of it. It is again and again 

 mentioned in the letters, and at one time he names 800,000 

 as its supposed value. He offered it for sale to all the Sovereigns 

 and rich men of Europe. In the end it was bought in 1713 

 for 135,000 by the Duke of Orleans, who in 1715 became 

 Regent of France during the minority of Louis XV. It 

 has, therefore, often been called the Regent Diamond. On 

 the death of the Duke it became one of the Crown jewels, 

 and in the time of the Revolution (1793) it was seized as 

 national property. Then comes a curious story of its being 

 stolen and recovered with other jewels from a ditch on the 

 outskirts of Paris. Napoleon, when First Consul, pawned 

 it for a time to a firm of Dutch bankers, and afterwards 

 redeemed it, and it figured in his Coronation as Emperor 

 on December 2nd, 1804, by the Pope ; but whether it shone 

 in the diadem, or whether it adorned the hilt of the Emperor's 

 sword, is a question about which the records vary. Since 

 then the only mention of it seems to be its inclusion in the 

 inventory of jewels made by the Minister of Finance in 1881, 

 and it appears that it now rests in a strong box in the cellars 

 of his office in Paris. 



So much for the diamond. We return to Governor Pitt. 

 He left India finally in 1710, and afterwards resided in turn 

 at the various houses on his estates. We have already 

 mentioned his restoration of the church at Old Sarum in 



