284 Pearls. 



of great wealth, but noted for gluttony, perpetrated 

 a similar act of folly. Indeed the story runs that 

 he not only dissolved two valuable Pearls and drank 

 off the solution himself, but gave to each guest at 

 his table a' Pearl to be drunk in like manner. It 

 is also recorded that a valuable Pearl was similarly 

 destroyed by Sir Thomas Gresham, as will be 

 explained a few pages further on. In connexion 

 with this subject we may remind the reader that 

 in " Hamlet," Shakespeare introduces the idea of 

 dissolving a Pearl, or as he calls it "an Union," 

 in a cup of wine : 



"The King shall drink to Hamlet's better health, 

 And in the cup an Union shall be thrown, 

 Richer than that which four successive kings 

 In Denmark's crown have worn." 



Let us add that a sceptical age is disposed, 

 not without good reason, to cast doubt upon all 

 the old stories of Pearl drinking. Barbot, the French 

 jeweller, having macerated a Pearl in the strongest 

 vinegar, found that the outer layer was reduced to 

 a gelatinous condition, while the deeper part of the 

 Pearl remained unaffected. 



TJie Lollia Pcmlina Pearls, c. A.D. 50. 



In an early chapter of this work (pp. 37, 38) we 



have quoted Pliny's description of the extravagant 



decoration of Lollia Paulina, the wife of the Emperor 



Caligula, whose parure of Pearls and Emeralds was 



