( IIAI-. ix.] THE PEARL-MUSSEL. 399 



and so extravagant did they become in their use of these gems 

 by way of personal ornament, that Seneca, the wise moralist, 

 reproaches a patrician by saying that his lady wore all the 

 wealth of his house in her ears, it being at that time the 

 fashion for a lady to have three or four of these valuable gems 

 hung in each ear-drop. As to the value of these drops from 

 the deep, we may instance Cleopatra's banquet to Mark 



THE SCOTTISH PEARL-MUSSEL. 



Antony, when, according to vulgar belief, she took a pearl 

 from her ear, worth 80,000 of our money, and dissolving it 

 in vinegar, swallowed it ! The pearl which Cresar presented 

 to the mother of Marcus Brutus is said to have been of the 

 value of 48,000. Then we are told that Clodius, the son of 

 the tragedian, once swallowed a pearl worth 8000. Actors' 

 sons of the present day have been known to do extravagant 

 things ; but few of them, I suspect, could achieve a feat like 



