about
1870, and from 1880 onward it has become more and more favored, until
now it has almost entirely superseded gold in the finest jewelry,
especially for diamond settings. Long before the metal was known and
used in Europe, ornamental use of it was made in South America, in the
district we have mentioned, the material not being fused, but simply
forged out of the nuggets found in the deposits.

That but few fine diamonds were in Europe when Shakespeare wrote has
already been noted; indeed, the annual importation from India, then
the only source, can hardly have exceeded $100,000 on an average,
while at the present day the value of the diamonds from the great
African mines imported into Europe and America amounts to from
$40,000,000 to $60,000,000 each year.

In King James's reign, besides Heriot, William Herrick (brother of
Nicolas) and John Spilman were appointed jewellers to the king, queen,
and prince, the annual emoluments being L50 annually. It is stated
that Herrick furnished jewels worth L36,000 to Queen Anne of Denmark.
Such of her many jewels as were to be found when she died are said to
have been left to her son, later Charles I, and none to her daughter
Elizabeth, later Queen of Bohemia and ancestress of many of the
sovereigns of Europe, as well as of the present reigning house in
England. Unfortunately for her heir, a great part of the jewels had
been embezzled, and could not be recovered, although models of many
had been carefully preserved by William Herrick, who swore that the
originals had been delivered to the queen. Less notable jewellers of
King James's day were Philip Jacobson, Arnold Lulls, John Acton, and
John Williams. One of them, Arnold Lulls, has left a fine set of
contemporary drawings representing jewels of the epoch; these are now
to be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. As an instance
of the value of some of the jewels of his design, it is recorded that
the sum of L1550 was paid for a diamond jewel with pearl pendants and
two dozen buttons, furnished to the king to be bestowed upon the
queen at the christening of the Princess Mary in 1605.[21]

[Illustration: Diamond cutter's shop, eighteenth century, in which the
diamond-cutting mill is operated by "man-power". Published in the
Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure, by John Hinton, England,
July, 1749]

[Footnote 21: H. Clifford Smith, "Jewellery", London, 1908, p. 302.]

While the jeweller's art in England wa