614 EXTRAORDINARY SIZES AND VALUE OF DIAMONDS. 
Lee-Penny, or Lee-Stone. 
This is a curious stone of antiquity, belonging to the family of Lee 
in Scotland : of which an account was published in the Gent. Mag. 
for December 1787, w hich savours very much of the marvellous. It 
is a stone of a dark-red colour and triangular shape ; its size is about 
half an inch each side. It is set in a piece of silver coin, which 
though much defaced, is supposed, by some letters still remaining, to 
be a shilling of Edward I. It has been, according to tradition, in the 
Lee family ever since the year 1320, that is, a little after the death 
of king Robert Bruce, w ho having ordered his heart to be carried to 
the Holy Land, one of the noble family of Douglas was sent with it, 
and got the crowned heart in his arms from that circumstance. But 
the person who actually carried the heart was Simon Locard of Lee, 
who, from his carrying it locked up in a box, changed his name to 
Lock-heart, and got a heart within a lock for part of his arms, 
w ith the motto, “Corda serrata fero.” This Simon Lockhart, having 
taken prisoner a Saracen chief, his wife came to ransom him ; and on 
counting out the money or jewels, this stone fell out of her purse, 
which she hastily snatched up. Lockhart observing this, insisted 
on having it, or else he would not give up his prisoner. Upon this 
the lady gave it him, and told him its many virtues, viz. that it 
cured all diseases in cattle, and the bite of a mad dog both in man 
and beast. 
It is used by dipping the stone in water, which is given to the 
diseased animal to drink ; and the person who has been bit, and the 
wound or part infected, is washed with the water. No words are 
used in the dipping of the stone, nor any money is allowed to be 
taken by the servants. Many cures are said to have been performed 
by it, and people used to come from all parts of Scotland, and even 
from Yorkshire, to get the water in which the stone is dipt, to give 
their cattle, w'hen ill of the murrain and black-leg. It is even said to 
have cured the plague at Newcastle, during the seventeenth century. 
Lady Bird of Sanchtonhall, near Edinburgh, having been bit by a 
mad dog, was seized w'ith hydrophobia; upon which, having sent to 
beg the Lee-penny, she used it some weeks, drinking and bathing in 
the water it was dipped in, and was quite recovered. This happened 
about one hundred years ago, and is said to be very well attested. 
But it would require fresh attestation, and the most incontestable 
proofs, to persuade people in the present age to believe in such mira- 
cles, performed by a Saracenic talisman. 
Extraordinary Sizes and Value of Diamonds. 
The greatest diamond ever known in the w^orld belongs to the king 
of Portugal, and was found in Brasil. It is still uncut, and Mr. Ma- 
gellan informs us, that it was of a larger size, but a piece was broken 
off by the ignorant countryman who chanced to find this great gem, 
and tried its hardness by the stroke of a large hammer upon an anvil. 
This prodigious diamond weighs 1680 carats ; and, although it is 
uncut, Mr. Rome de lisle says, that it is valued at 224 millions ster- 
