CHAP. XI. 



AS ORNAMENTS. 309 



watch, though it had been introduced as early 

 as the beginning of the fourteenth century, only 

 the outer case was made of silver and the inner 

 one of copper, and a gold watch was not known 

 till a period long subsequent to the first inven- 

 tion. As far as is known of the jewelry of that 

 day it appears to have derived its great value 

 from the precious stones, and in a very small 

 degree from the gold or silver in which it was 

 fixed. Thus when our Henry the Third pawned 

 his jewels for five thousand marcs, or ten thou- 

 sand pounds, to the king of France in 1261, the 

 gold of the rings, in number three hundred and 

 twenty-four, however heavy they may have 

 been, could have borne no proportion in value 

 to the sum borrowed, the security for which 

 must have been founded on the precious stones. 



From the great value thus created in articles 

 of which gold and silver bore a part, we infer 

 that great care must have been taken of their 

 preservation, and that the articles of silver 

 whose value was increased by the costly work- 

 manship, and those of gold by the stones im- 

 bedded in it, were rarely used, and that con- 

 sequently there was but little loss occasioned by 

 that degree of friction to which they were ex- 

 posed. 



The art of gilding and plating had been car- 

 ried to some considerable extent, and the metal 

 which was thinly coated with gold or silver was 



