of Plinies Naturall Hiftorie. 
A byropes that thall get it forth. They that bee skilfull and well experiencedtherein, goe by divers 
markes and fignes which direct them to places where there is criftall,and whereby alfo they can 
difcerne good from bad} for this you muft thinke, there be many imperfeCtions and faults ther- 
in; asnamely, when itis tough or rugged in hand, ruftie like yron, clowdie and full of {peckes : 
otherwhiles there is a fécret hidden fiftulous ulcer as it were within : there lieth alfo in it a certain 
hardknurre, which is brittle and apt to breake into {mall crumbs, befides the corne or graine 
therein called Sal. Some peeces of cryftall you fhall have which carrie a certaine redruft: others 
be full of hairie ftrakes,a man would imagine they were fo many rifts; but cunning artificers can 
hide this Jaft imperfeGtion when they cut and engrave the peece that hath it: forin wuth, if a 
cryftall be pure and cleare of it felfe, much fairer it is plaine, than fo wrought and engraven 3 and 
fuch cryftalls the Greeks call Aconteta ; but above all, when they looke not like the froth of clear 
water : laft of all, thisisto be confidered,chat the heavier cryftall isin proportion,the better ac- 
count there ismade of it, Moreover, l read of certaine Phyficians who are of opinion, that there 
is nota better and more holefome cauterie for any part ofthe bodie that requireth cauterifing 
or burning, than a ball or pomander of cryftall held oppofit betweene the member andthe Sun 
beams, But will you heare of another notorious example of follie and madneffein thefe cryftals 
as well asin Caffidoins ? There are not many yeers fince a dame of Rome,and theenone of the 
ticheft, whobought one boll or drinking cup of cryftall, and paid 150000 fefterces for it, As 
for Nero the Emperour (of whome] fpake erewhile) when unhappic news was brought unto him 
of a great overthtowanda field loft tothe daunger of his owne ftate andthe common-wealth, 
in the heigth of his rage and a moft furious fit of anger,caught up two cryftall drinking cups and 
pafhtthem all to peeces :his{pight was belike at all the men living in thacage, & better means 
hee could not devife to plague and punifh them, than to prevent that no man elfe fhould drinke 
out of thofe gaffes : and in veri¢ truth, acryftall being once broken, carinot by any devife what- 
foever be reunited and made whole againeasbefore, Wee haveatthis day cups atid veflels of 
gla fle that come paffing neare uncocryftall: but woonderfull itis, that notwithftanding our glaf- 
fes be fo like, yetthey havenot abatedand brought downe the price of cryftall, but rather cau- 
fed it to be farre dearer, RAVI SV ath i | 
In the next degreeto Cryftall, wee are to place Amber, a thing that hitherto heare women 
onely fer daintie tore by and adorne themfelveswithall : {trange it is, chat! Ambre,Caifidoine, 
and Cryftall, fhould thus be in equall requeft with fine pretious ftones 5 marie for Caffidoin and 
Cryftall,in fome refpects verely they may feeme to deferve a higher roume, and namely inte- 
gard that both of them are fo appropriat for to drinke water or cold liquor out of {uch cups: bue 
as for Aber, our delicatesand wantons have not yet devifed any probable reafon why there 
fhould be fucha reckning made of it: but furely itis the follie and vaine curiofitie ofthe Greeks 
. that hath given occafion thereof, and brought it into fo greata name. And here muft befeech 
the readers to beare with mein this my difcourfe as touching the firft originall of Amber ; for I 
thinke it not impertinent to deliver what marveiles and woondersthe Greekes have broached as 
touching this thing, that the age and pofteritie enfuing may yetbe acquainted with their fabu- 
lofities :firftand foremoft therefore, many of their Poéts, yea and as] {uppofe, the chiefe and 
ptincipall of them, to wit, Ai/chylws, Philoxenus, Nicander, Earipides, and Satyrus, tellus a tale 
of the fifters of young prince Phaéton, weeping pitcoufly for the miferable death of their bro- 
ther who was {mitten with lightning, were turned into Poplar trees, which in ftead of tears yeel- 
dedeverie yeere a certaine liquor called Electrum|[7de/?, Amber ] which iffued from chem where 
they grew along the river Eridanus, which wee call Padus, id¢/t, the Po : and the reafon why the 
fame was named EleGrum, isthis, Becaufe the Sunne in old time was ufually called * EleGtor in * intarap, gui 
Greeke, But that this is one of their lowd lies, it appeareth evidently by the teftimonie of all Ita- %* 47+ fee 
lie. But fome of thefe Greeke writers and {uch as wouldfeeme tobe more fpeculative and better ke vouch 
feene in the works of Nature than their fellows, have told us of certaine {lands that fhould lye raifech as ina 
along the coaft within the Venice gulfe, called EleGtrides, forfooth becaufe that amber is there of carbs 
FEE iij Rhofne 
Ee 
