1717; the Orloff (194-3/4 old carats = 199.73 metric carats) was
bought by Prince Orloff for Catherine II, in 1775, for 1,400,000 Dutch
florins, or about $560,000. The famous Koh-i-nûr, weighing 186-1/16
carats (191.1 metric carats) in its old cutting, came to Europe, as a
gift to Queen Victoria from the East India Company, only in 1850;
although, if it be the same as the great diamond taken by Humayun, son
of Baber, at the battle of Paniput, April 21, 1526, its history dates
back at least to 1304, when Sultan Ala-ed-Din took it from the Sultan
of Malva, whose family had already owned it for generations.

As fresh-colored lips are likened to rubies, so it is said of a bright
eye, that it "would emulate the diamond" (_Merry Wives of Windsor_,
Act iii, sc. 3).

Bright eyes are also compared to rock-crystal, and the setting of
other gems within a bordering of crystals is evidently alluded to in
the following lines from _Love's Labour's Lost_ (Act ii, sc. 1):


Methought all his senses were lock'd in his eyes
As jewels in crystal.
First Folio, "Comedies", p. 128, col. A, line 7.


We have in _Richard II_ (Act i, sc. 2) the terms "fair and crystal"
applied to a clear sky, and in _Romeo and Juliet_ (Act i, sc. 2) the
word is used to denote superlative excellence, where a lady's love is
to be weighed against her rival on "crystal scales".

Rock-crystal was much more highly valued in the England of Elizabeth