250 Gleanings from the 



with them, there is no remedie. Some fay that 

 thefe mother-pearles have their kings and captaines, 

 as Bees have ; that as they have their fwarmes led 

 by a mafter-Bee, fo every troup and companie of 

 thefe have one fpeciall great and old one to con- 

 duct it, and fuch commonly have a fingular dexteritie, 

 and wonderfull gift to prevent and avoid all 

 daungers. Thefe they be that the dyvers after 

 pearles are moft carefull to come by, for if they be 

 once caught, the reft fcatter afunder and be foone 

 taken up within the nets." He knew of their 

 being laid in heaps, as at prefent, until, on the 

 creature dying, the pearls are found in the fhells. 

 A good pearl ought to pofTefs five qualities: it 

 fhould be orient (glittering), white, great, round, 

 fmooth, and weighty. The beft pearls, when thefe 

 qualities meet in them, were known at Rome as 

 " Unions," " as a man would fay Singular, and by 

 themfelves alone. The Greeks have no fuch 

 tearmes for them, neither know they how to cal 

 them ; nor yet the Barbarians, who found them 

 firft out, otherwife than Margaritas." 1 Their 

 higheft praife, he adds, is to be called exaluminati^ 

 i.e. orient, and clear as alum. Pear-fhaped pearls, 

 (or elenchi) were greatly valued ; " our dames take 

 a great pride in a brauerie, to haue thefe not only 

 hang dangling at their fingers, but alfo two or three 

 of them together pendant at their eares." They took 

 pleafure in hearing them when thus hung knock 



1 This word " margarita," fo well-known in modern languages, 

 is faid to be derived from a Sanfcrit word manaaritS, "the 

 pure." (See Trench, " Parables," 6th ed., p. 130.) 



