and vinegar with the warm blood and
I anointed the whole clearly shining vessel; which being done, I
essayed to sculp the glass with the hard stone called the Pyrites."
What a pity good Theophilus had not begun with the pyrites, when
he would probably have made the further discovery that his worms
and goats could have been spared.

In the polishing of precious stones, he is quite sane in his directions.
"Procure a marble slab, very smooth," he enjoins, "and act as useful
art points out to you." In other words, rub it until it is smooth!

Bartholomew Anglicus is as entertaining as Theophilus regarding
crystal. "Men trowe that it is of snow or ice made hard in many
years," he observes complacently. "This stone set in the sun taketh
fire, insomuch if dry tow be put thereto, it setteth the tow on
fire," and again, quoting Gregory on Ezekiel I., he adds, "water
is of itself fleeting, but by strength of cold it is turned and
made stedfast crystal."

Of small specimens of sculptured crystal some little dark purple
beads carved into the semblance of human faces may be seen on the
Tara brooch; while also on the same brooch occur little purple
daisies.

The Cup of the Ptolemies, a celebrated onyx cup in Paris, is over
fifteen inches in circumference, and is a fine specimen of early
lapidary's work. It was presented in the ninth century by Charles
the Bald to St. Denis, and was always used to contain the consecrated
wine when Queens of France were crowned. Henry II. once pawned
it to a Jew when he was hard up, and in 1804 it was stolen and
the old gold and jewelled setting removed. It was found again in
Holland, and was remounted within a century.

In the Treasury of St. Mark's in Venice are many valuable examples
of carved stones, made into cups, flagons, and the like. These were
brought from Constantinople in 1204, when the city was captured
by the Venetians. Constantinople was the only place where glyptics
were understood and practised upon large hard stones in the early
Middle Ages. The Greek artists who took refuge in Italy at that time
brought the art with them. There are thirty-two of these Byzantine
chalices in St. Mark's. Usually the mountings are of gold, and precious
stones. There are also two beautiful cruets of agate, elaborately
ornamented, but carved in curious curving forms requiring skill
of a superior order. Two other rock crystal cruets are superbly
carved, probably by Oriental workmen, however, as they