_The Nine of Diamonds, called the Curse of Scotland_ (Vol. i., pp. 61.,
90.).--The following explanation is given in a _Classical Dictionary of the
Vulgar Tongue_, 1785; an ignoble authority, it must be admitted:--
"Diamonds imply royalty, being ornaments to the imperial crown, and
every ninth King of Scotland has been observed for many ages to be a
tyrant, and a curse to that country."