28-1 STOCK OF NOBLE FAMILIES. CHAP. ix. 



the jewels of their wives and the hereditary 

 ornaments of their palaces 1 ." 



An account is given by Chrysostom, as quoted 

 by Gibbon, of the gold and silver furniture of 

 what was reckoned *a wealthy senator : " that 

 each wealthy house possessed a semicircular 

 table of massy silver, such as two men could 

 scarcely lift, a vase of solid gold of the weight 

 of forty pounds, besides cups and dishes." This 

 could not be worth more, if so much, as two 

 thousand five hundred pounds of our money; 

 an amount which is exceeded by that of some 

 thousand families in England, when their plate, 

 watches, and personal ornaments are included ! 



1 Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap, 

 xxxiv. 



