The old writers remember few other stones of estimation to be found in
[sidenote: Geat.]
this Iland than that which we call geat, and they in Latine _Gagaies_:
wherevnto furthermore they ascribe sundrie properties, as vsuallie
[Sidenote: Laon.]
[Sidenote: Chalchondile.]
practised here in times past, whereof none of our writers doo make
anie mention at all. Howbeit whatsoeuer it hath pleased a number of
strangers (vpon false surmise) to write of the vsages of this our
countrie, about the triall of the virginitie of our maidens by
drinking the powder hereof against the time of their bestowing in
mariage: certeine it is that euen to this daie there is some plentie
to be had of this commoditie in Darbishire and about Barwike, whereof
rings, salts, small cups, and sundrie trifling toies are made,
although that in manie mens opinions nothing so fine as that which is
brought ouer by merchants dailie from the maine. But as these men are
drowned with the common errour conceiued of our nation, so I am sure
that in discerning the price and value of things, no man now liuing
can go beyond the iudgement of the old Romans, who preferred the geat
of Britaine before the like stones bred about Luke and all other
countries wheresoeuer. Marbodeus Gallus also writing of the same among
other of estimation, saith thus:
Nascitur in Lycia lapis & propè gemma Gagates,
Sed genus eximium fæcunda Britannia mittit,
Lucidus & niger est, leuis & leuissimus idem,
Vicinas paleas trahit attritu calefactus,
Ardet aqua lotus, restinguitur vnctus oliuo.
The Germane writers confound it with amber as it were a kind therof:
but as I regard not their iudgement in this point, so I read that it
taketh name of Gagas a citie and riuer in Silicia, where it groweth in
plentifull maner, as Dioscorides saith. Nicander in Theriaca calleth
it Engangin and Gangitin, of the plentie thereof that is found in the
place aforesaid, which he calleth Ganges, and where they haue great
vse of it in driuing awaie of serpents by the onelie perfume thereof.
Charles the fourth emperour of that name glased the church withall
that standeth at the fall of Tangra, but I cannot imagine what light
should enter therby. The writers also diuide this stone into fiue
kinds, of which the one is in colour like vnto lion tawnie, another
straked with white veines, the third with yellow lines, the fourth is
garled with diuerse colours, among which some are like drops of bloud
(but those come out of Inde) and the fift shining blacke as anie
rauens feather.
Moreouer, as geat was one of the first stones of this Ile, whereof
anie forren account was made, so our pearles also did match with it in
renowme; in so much that the onelie desire of them caused Cæsar to
aduenture hither, after he had séene the quantities and heard of our
plentie of them, while he abode in France, and whereof he made a
taberd which he offered vp in Rome to Venus, where it hoong long after
as a rich and notable oblation and testimonie of the riches of our
countrie. Certes they are to be found in these our daies, and thereto
of diuerse colours, in no lesse numbers than euer they were in old
time. Yet are they not now so much desired bicause of their smalnesse,
and also for other causes, but especiallie sith churchworke, as copes,
vestments, albes, tunicles, altarclothes, canopies, and such trash,
are worthilie abolished; vpon which our countrimen superstitiously
bestowed no small quantities of them. For I thinke there were few
churches or religious houses, besides bishops miters, bookes and other
pontificall vestures, but were either throughlie fretted, or notablie
garnished with huge numbers of them. Marbodeus likewise speaking of
pearles, commendeth them after this maner:
Gignit & insignes antiqua Britannia baccas, &c.
Marcellinus also Lib. 23, "in ipso fine," speaketh of our pearls and
their generation, but he preferreth greatlie those of Persia before
them, which to me dooth séeme vnequallie doone. But as the British
geat or orient pearle were in old time estéemed aboue those of other
countries; so time hath since the conquest of the Romans reuealed
manie other: insomuch that at this season there are found in England
the Aetites (in English called the ernestone, but for erne some
pronounce eagle) and the hematite or bloodstone, and these verie pure
and excellent: also the calcedonie, the porphyrite, the christall, and
those other which we call calaminares and speculares, besides a kind
of diamond or adamant, which although it be verie faire to sight, is
yet much softer (as most are that are found & bred toward the north)
than those that are brought hither out of other countries. We haue
also vpon our coast the white corall, nothing inferiour to that which
is found beyond the sea in the albe, néere to the fall of Tangra, or
to the red and blacke, whereof Dioscorides intreateth, Lib. 5. cap. 8.
We haue in like sort sundrie other stones dailie found in cliffes and
rocks (beside the load stone which is oftentimes taken vp out of our
mines of iron) whereof such as find them haue either no knowledge at
all, or else doo make but small account, being seduced by outlandish
lapidaries, whereof the most part discourage vs from the searching and
séeking out of our owne commodities, to the end that they maie haue
the more frée vtterance of their naturall and artificiall wares,
whereby they get great gaines amongst such as haue no skill.
[Sidenote: Triall of a stone.]
I haue heard that the best triall of a stone is to laie it on the
naile of the thombe, and so to go abroad into the cleare light, where
if the colour hold in all places a like, the stone is thought to be
naturall and good: but if it alter, especiallie toward the naile, then
is it not sound, but rather to be taken for an artificiall péece of
practise. If this be true it is an experiment woorthie the noting.
[Sidenote: Lib. 7.]
Cardan also hath it in his "De subtilitate;" if not, I haue read more
lies than this, as one for example out of Cato, who saieth, that a cup
of iuie will hold no wine at all. I haue made some vessels of the same
wood, which refuse no kind of liquor, and therefore I suppose that
there is no such _Antipathia_ betweene wine and our iuie, as some of
our reading philosophers (without all maner of practise) will seeme to
infer amongst vs: and yet I denie not but the iuie of Gréece or Italie
may haue such a propertie; but why should not the iuie then of France
somewhat participat withall in the like effect, which groweth in an
hotter soile than ours is? For as Baptista porta saith, it holdeth not
also in the French iuie, wherfore I can not beléeue that it hath anie
such qualitie at all as Cato ascribeth vnto it. What should I say more
of stones? Trulie I can not tell, sith I haue said what I may
alreadie, and peraduenture more than I thinke necessarie: and that
causeth me to passe ouer those that are now & then taken out of our
oisters, todes, muskels, snailes and adders, and likewise such as are
found vpon sundrie hils in Glocestershire, which haue naturallie such
sundrie proportions, formes & colours in them, as passe all humane
possibilitie to imitate, be the workeman neuer so skilfull and
cunning, also those that are found in the heads of our perches and
carps much desired of such as haue the stone, & yet of themselues are
no stones but rather shels or gristles, which in time consume to
nothing. This yet will I ad, that if those which are found in muskels
(for I am vtterlie ignorant of the generation of pearls) be good
pearle in déed, I haue at sundrie times gathered more than an ounce of
them, of which diuerse haue holes alreadie entered by nature, some of
them not much inferiour to great peason in quantitie, and thereto of
sundrie colours, as it happeneth amongst such as are brought from the
esterlie coast to Saffron Walden in Lent, when for want of flesh,
stale stinking fish and welked muskels are thought to be good meat;
for other fish is too déere amongst vs when law dooth bind vs to vse
it. Sée more for the generation of pearls in the description of
Scotland, for there you shall be further informed out of Boetius in
that behalfe. They are called orient, because of the cléerenesse,
which resembleth the colour of the cléere aire before the rising of
the sun. They are also sought for in the later end of August, a little
before which time the swéetnesse of the dew is most conuenient for
that kind of fish, which dooth ingender and conceiue them, whose forme
is flat, and much like vnto a lempet. The further north also that they
be found the brighter is their colour, & their substances of better
valure, as lapidaries doo giue out.