Chap. 58.] 
PEAELS. 
437 
and sometimes another. Indeed, I have seen some which lay 
at the edge of the shell, just as thongh in the very act of 
coming forth, and in some fishes as many as four or five. 
Up to the present time, very few have been found which ex- 
ceeded half an ounce in weight, by more than one scruple. It 
is a well-ascertained fact, that in Britannia*^ pearls are found, 
though small, and of a bad colour ; for the deified Julius Csesar 
wished it to be distinctly understood,^^ that the breast-plate 
which he dedicated to Yenus Genetrix, in her temple, was 
made of British pearls. 
CHAP. 58. INSTANCES OF THE "USE OF PEAKLS. 
I once saw Lollia Paulina,^^ the wife of the Emperor Caius*^^ 
— it was not at any public festival, or any solemn ceremonial, 
but only at an ordinary wedding entertainment^* — covered 
Ciivier observes, that most of the rivers and lakes of the north of 
Europe possess the mya margarifera : the pearls of which, thoug-h much 
inferior to those of the East, are sufficiently esteemed to be made an article 
of commerce. Bad pearls, of a dead marble colour, are also very frequently 
found in the mussels taken off our coasts. Pearls have in modern times 
declined very considerably in value ; those of about the size of a large pea 
can he purchased, of very fine quality, for about a guinea each, while those 
of the size of a pepper-corn sell at about eighteen-pence. Seed pearls, of 
the size of small shot, are of very little value. Tavernier speaks of a re- 
markable pearl, that was found at Catifa, in Arabia, the fishery probably 
alluded to by Pliny, in C. 54, and which he bought for the sum of £110,000, 
some accounts say £10,000^ of our money. It is pear-shaped, the elenchus 
of the ancients, regular, and without blemish. The diameter is .63 of an 
inch, at the largest part, and the length from two to three inches. It is 
said to be in the possession of the Shah of Persia. 
^0 Tacitus, in his Agricola, says that pearls of a tawny and livid'colour 
are thrown up on the shores of Britain, and there collected. Suetonius 
absolutely says, c. 4, that Julius Caesar invaded Britain in the hope of 
obtaining pearls, in the weight and size of which he took considerable 
interest. 
51 By the inscription placed beneath the thorax, or breast-plate. 
^2 The grand- daughter of M. LoUius, and heiress to liis immense wealth. 
She was first married to C. Memmius Eegulus ; but was divorced from 
him, and married to the Emperor Caligula, who, however, soon divorced 
iier. At the instigation of Agrippina, Claudius first banished her, and 
then caused her to be murdered. A sepulchre to her honour was erected 
in the reign of the Emperor Nero. 
53 Caligula. 
5^ Or rather "betrothal entertainment,*' "sponsalium coena." The 
" gponsalia " were not an unusual preliminary of marriage, but were not 
absolutely necessary. 
