plentiful supply from the beds of the Tuscan rivers; even now the shingle of the brook Mugnone, near Florence, furnishes this stone in great abundance. The name Sardius is derived from the fact of the gem being first imported into Greece from Sardis, probably brought thither from the interior of Asia; for we are informed by Pliny that the best came originally from Babylon. This Babylonian mine had at that time failed; but the Romans obtained them also from many other countries, especially from Paros and Assos. Those from India were transparent, from Arabia somewhat opaque. One of the three Indian varieties used to be backed with silver foil when set. A gold foil was employed for those found in Epirus and Egypt. Sards retained their polish longer than any other gem, but suffered most from contact with oil.

CALCEDONY.

This is a semi-transparent white quartz, slightly tinted with yellow or blue; the latter kind is sometimes called the Sapphirine, being erroneously considered a pale variety of the Sapphire. This stone was much used at every period of antiquity; the earliest Babylonian cylinders being formed of it as well as the latest Sassanian stamps. Scarabei of Etruscan work, as well as good Greek and Roman intagli of all ages, occur in this material; but engraved upon the Sappherine in preference to the other sort; and justly so, as it is an extremely pretty stone, often approximating to a pale Sapphire in colour, although entirely destitute of brilliancy. The finest Persian cylinder known (engraved with the usual type of the king fighting with the lion) was formed out of this variety; the signet doubtless that once graced the wrist of some Darius or Artaxerxes of the later days of the Persian monarchy.

Busts and heads, in full relief and of considerable volume, are frequent in Calcedony. When the stone has a bright tinge of yellow, it is named the Opaline, and these heads and busts are therefore sometimes described as made out of Opal; a material in which it is almost needless to say that none ever existed.

The most noble work in relief executed on a gem that I myself have ever seen was a three-quarter head of Augustus in a white opaque Calcedony greatly resembling ivory; it was about three inches in height, and the work the very perfection of sculpture. It subsequently passed into the Fould Collection. In what way this stone got its present name is a very puzzling question, for the ancient Chalcedonius, so called from the locality where it was obtained in the coppermines, was a kind of inferior Emerald, "the green in it being mixed with blue, like the feathers of a peacock's tail, or of a pigeon's neck," but of which the supply had failed before the age of Pliny. The modern Calcedony, or White Carnelian, as our lapidaries call it, was probably the Leucachates and the Cerachates, the White and Wax Agate of the ancient mineralogists.3

ONYX, SARDONYX, NICOLO, AGATE.

Next in point of frequency to the Sards come these stones, all being varieties of the same material, but distinguished by the different colours and arrangement of the layers of which they are composed. The Sardonyx is defined by Pliny as “candor in sarda," that is to say, a white opaque layer super

2 The "Chernites" is described as a stone only differing from ivory in its superior hardness and density: the sarcophagus of Darius the Great was made of it.

3 More modern forgeries, especially

of camei, will be found in Calcedony than in any other stone; whilst, on the other hand, genuine antique works in this material are much more unfrequent than on any of the other varieties of the quartz family.

imposed upon a red transparent stratum of the true red Sard; and no better description can be given of a perfect gem of this species. Such were the Indian Sardonyx stones of his times, whilst the Arabian species retained no vestige of the Sard, but were formed of black or blue strata, covered by one of opaque white, over which again was a third of a vermilion colour. These stones were found in the beds of torrents in India, and were but little valued by the natives; they were of sufficient size to be worked up into sword-hilts. The Indians also bored holes through them, and wore them as necklaces; and this perforation was considered by the Romans as the test of their Indian origin. In certain specimens of this Indian variety the base was of the colour of wax or of horn, then came a white layer sometimes slightly iridescent, and the surface was "redder than the shell of a lobster."

This stone (and, literally, Pliny's definition of it, "candor in Sarda") was imitated by the ancient as well as by modern lapidaries, by placing a Sard upon a red-hot iron; this process converted the red surface of the stone into an opaque white layer of the depth required, which forms a good relief to the intagli cut through it into the transparent ground beneath. No doubt this effect of fire upon the Sard was first discovered by accident, and that too at a late period of the Empire, as I have never seen any fine engravings upon such a material, though Gnostic subjects are common enough in it. As might

This fact explains the reason of the fine hole we so frequently notice passing through the axis of Sardonyx camei; the stones, having been imported into Europe in the form of oval beads, were subsequently cut down into flattened disks to afford the proper disposition of their strata for the working out of the design in relief. From ignorance of this original destination of the material,

many collectors have been puzzled to account for the purpose served by these minute perforations, as well as the method by which they had been drilled through the width of these thin slabs without the risk of fracture. Amongst the Pulsky camei is a perforated Onyx still retaining within the hole the rusted wire on which it was anciently strung.

be expected, it was a favourite substance with the Italian and French artists since the Revival, to whom it was recommended by the lively contrast of colours afforded by it when engraved upon.

Under this head some notice may be taken of the famous signet of Polycrates; the pretended stone of which, a Sardonyx, and not engraved (intacta illibata), was shown in Pliny's time set in a golden cornucopia in the Temple of Concord, and there occupying but the last place amongst a multitude of other gems, all deemed of superior value. How came this legend to be affixed to this particular Sardonyx? For Herodotus expressly calls the signet of Polycrates "an Emerald, the work of Theodorus of Samos:" Clemens Alexandrinus adds that the device engraved upon it was a lyre. Lessing, in order to support Pliny's tale, endeavours, with the usual "überklugheit" of a German critic, to prove that opyis does not necessarily signify an engraved gem, and that the expression "the work of Theodorus of Samos" merely refers to the setting of the stone, because this same artist is celebrated for having executed certain works in metal for King Alyattes. But Herodotus says nothing about the gold ring itself: the Emerald signet, valuable both on account of the precious stone and of the intaglio by so famous an artist, was the priceless object the sacrifice of which was supposed to be of sufficient importance to avert the wrath of the offended Nemesis. A few years back an Emerald was shown in Rome (said to have been just discovered in the earth of a vineyard at Aricia), which enthusiastic antiquaries looked upon as this far-famed gem. The stone was of large size and fine quality; the intaglio a lyre, above which hovered three bees, or, more probably, "cicada," an insect noted by the poets for its musical powers, and which, though of much greater bulk, somewhat resembles in shape a large

drone. This type of the lyre and cicadæ often occurs on antique gems; I have no doubt that it was borrowed from the traditionary description of the signet of Polycrates, and was a favourite device with literary men.5

The common Onyx has two opaque layers, of different colours, usually in strong contrast to each other, as black and white, dark red and white, green and white, and many other varieties. In the Oriental Onyx, still a very valuable gem (one the size of a crown-piece selling for 307. at the present day), three layers occur-the top one red, blue, or brown; the middle white, sometimes of a pearly hue; and the base a jet black or a deep brown. The stone is considered more perfect if the top and the bottom layer be of the same colour. The Onyx of Theophrastus was composed of white and brownish-red in parallel layers; but, according to Pliny, this variety was distinguished by spots of various colours surrounded by white veins, like so many eyes-an exact description of certain Agates. By cutting out a blue spot with a black zone encircling it, the so-called Nicolo is obtained; a stone named by the Romans Ægyptilla, "Vulgus in nigra radice cæruleam facit," blue upon a black ground. The name Nícolo is an abbreviation of the Italian "Onicolo," a little Onyx; and not derived, as is often absurdly stated, from Nicolò, an artist's name. The upper layer of a first-class stone of this kind is of a rich turquois blue, and the base a jet black. On this gem fine Roman intagli occur more frequently than upon any other after the Sard. On the other varieties of the

There are several pretty epigrams in the Greek Anthology (especially one by Meleager) addressed to the TÉTTIYέ, cicada; or cigala of the modern Italians.

In fact, the Agate and Onyx are the same substance, but the layers in the former arc wavy and often

concentric, whilst in the latter they are parallel. Hence in descriptions of camei the terms are often used indiscriminately; the ancients, however, seem at first to have restricted the designation of Agate to the stone of black and white strata.