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Chap. Lill.
BORNHOLM DIAMONDS.
347
king, when a second quantity was discovered, issued
a series of whole, half, and quarter ducats, on which
were represented a pair of spectacles, with the
inscription, “ Vide mira Domini,” indicating that those who
doubted the fact might be in want of them. Kings
liked to coin medals from gold out of their own
possessions. In the days of swords and knee-breeches,
of powder, hoops, and shoe-buckles, when all men
liked to be smart and glitter, Bornholm, like Alençon
and Bristol, bore quite a reputation for diamonds.
Somehow or other, tradition relates not how, these
crystals were brought before the notice of our English
princess the good Queen Louisa. From the day of
her marriage she became Danoise pur sang, and
loved, as much as was in her power, to promote the
manufactures of her adopted country. She recollected,
may be, the Bristol stones of her own native land,
then in full vogue and fashion, and one fine night, at a
Court reception, she wore in her head a “bæve naal”
of glittering stones.*
The courtiers greatly admired the new ornament now
first worn by the queen. It was beautiful I what taste I
“ A present lately sent from England ?” “ On the
contrary,” replied somebody; “ it had arrived only that
very morning by the courier from Vienna.” Queen
Louisa kept her counsel till late in the evening, and
then informed her ladies and the courtiers that it was
composed of Bornholm diamonds. “ Bornholm
diamonds ! impossible! ” The whole assembly was aghast,
above all the dowagers of the old regime. Why,
* Bæve naal is a sort of pin mounted as a star, a flower, or a rosette,
hung with dangles. Queen Louisa is represented with one in her
portrait.
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