Famous Pearls. 293 



(1886), at Messrs. Christie & Hanson's with the rest 

 of the Hope collection of precious stones. 



TJie Russian Pearl, 1840. 



" Sometime before I went to Moscow," observes 

 the traveller, J. G. Kohl, in his work on Russia, 

 "there died in a convent, whither he had retreated 

 after the manner of the wealthy pious ones of his 

 nation, 'a rich merchant, whose house had large 

 establishments in Moscow, Constantinople, and 

 Alexandria, and extensive connexions throughout 

 the East. Feeling the approach of age, he had by 

 degrees given up the toils of business to his sons. 

 His wife was dead and the only beloved object, which 

 even in the cloister, was not divided from him, was 

 one large, beautiful Oriental Pearl. This precious 

 object had been purchased for him by some Persian 

 or Arabian friend at a high price, and enchanted by 

 its water, magnificent size and colour, its perfect 

 shape and lustre,, he would never part with it, 

 however enormous the sum offered for it. Perhaps 

 in the contemplation of its peerless beauty, as it 

 lay before him in his leisure hours, he recalled the 

 events of his early life, and the glories of the East, 

 as he had formerly beheld them with his own eyes. 

 He fairly worshipped the costly globule. He himself 

 inhabited an ordinary cell in the convent ; but this 



