LET US GO AFIELD 



pleasance of the Regent and the ladies. Saint-Simon 

 describes the matter thus : 



"By extremely rare good fortune a servant em- 

 ployed in the diamond mines of the Great Mogul 

 found means to secrete about his person a diamond 

 of prodigious size. To complete his good fortune 

 he safely arrived in Europe with his diamond. He 

 showed it to several princes, none of whom were 

 rich enough to buy, and carried it at last to England, 

 where the King desired it, but could not resolve 

 to purchase it. A model of it in crystal was made 

 in England; and the man, the diamond and this 

 model were introduced to the financier, John Law, 

 then prominent in Paris, who proposed to the Re- 

 gent that he should purchase the jewel for the King. 

 The price dismayed the Regent, who refused to buy. 



"The state of the finances was an obstacle on 

 which the Regent much insisted. He feared blame 

 for making so considerable a purchase while the 

 most pressing necessaries could only be provided for 

 with much trouble. I praised his sentiment, but 

 said that he ought not to regard the greatest king 

 of Europe as he would a private gentleman; that 

 this was a glory for his regency that would last 

 forever; that, whatever might be the state of the 

 finances, the saving obtained by the refusal of the 

 jewel would not much relieve them in fact, I did 



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