248 Gleanings from the 



feas, and faile into far countries fo remote, and 

 come into thofe parts where the heate of the fun is 

 fo exceflive and extreme, and, when all is done, 

 we may perhaps mifTe of them." But the belt 

 are found in the Perfian Gulf. Profeflbr Skeat 

 confiders the word " pearl " derived from the Low 

 Latin " perula " or " pirula," a little pear, the 

 diminutive of " pirum." Whether from defign or 

 mifprint, his view is curioufly borne out by 

 Holland in the following words : " This fliell-fifti, 

 which is the mother of Pearle, differs not much 

 in the maner of breeding and generation from the 

 Oyfters ; for when the feafon of the yeare requireth 

 that they mould engender, they feeme to yawne 

 and gape, and fo do open wide; and then (by 

 report) they conceive a certaine moift dewe as 

 feed, wherewith they fwell and grow big, and 

 when time commeth labor to be delivered thereof; 

 and the fruit of thefe fliell-fifhes are the Peares 

 \_fic\) better or worfe, great or fmall, according to 

 the qualitie and quantitie of the dew which they 

 received. For if the dew were pure and cleare 

 which went into them, then are the Pearles white, 

 faire, and Orient ; but if grofle and troubled, the 

 Pearles likewife are dimme, foul, and dufkifh." 

 This conceit of pearls being fprung from dew runs 

 through much mediaeval poetry, and is a favourite 

 fancy with theologians. What was regarded as 

 playful imagination in Lord Beaconsfield's ftory of 

 the jeweller coming down once a year to wipe the 

 duchefs's pearls and lay them gently in the fun 

 with a fouth wind, has its prototype in Pliny. 



