Silt HANS SLOANE. 
63 
hundred feet on each side, enclosing a court, and 
three front rooms had tables set along the middle, 
which were spread over with cases filled with all 
sorts of precious stones, in their natural beds or 
state, as they are found in the earth, except the 
first, that contained stones formed in animals, which 
are so many diseases of the creature that bears 
them ; as the most beautiful pearls, which are but 
warts in the shell-fish, the bezoar, concretious in 
the stomach, and stones generated in the kidney 
and bladder, of which man wofully knows the 
effects ; but the earth, in her bosom, generates 
the verdant emerald, the purple amethyst, the 
golden topaz, the azure sapphire, the crimson 
garnet, the scarlet ruby, the brilliant diamond, 
the glowing opal, and all the painted varieties 
with which Flora herself might wish to be 
decked ; here the most magnificent vessels of 
cornelian, onyx, sardonyx, and jasper, delighted 
the eye, and raised the mind to praise the great 
Creator of all things.” 
“ When their royal highnesses had viewed one 
room, and entered another, the scene was shifted ; 
for when they returned, the same tables were 
covered for a second course, with all sorts of 
jewels, polished and set after the modern fashion, 
or with gems carved or engraved, the stately and 
instructive remains of antiquity. For the third 
course, the tables were spread with gold and 
