therein; upon which, Jourcund, one of the most eminent diamond-merchants in these parts, came down about December, 1701, and brought with him a large, rough stone, about 305 mangelins, and some small ones, which myself and others bought but he, asking a very extravagant price for the great one, I did not think of meddling with it, when he left it with me for some days, and then came and took it away again, and did so several times, not insisting upon less than 200,000 pagodas; and, as I best remember, I did not bid him above 30,000, and had little thoughts of buying it for that. I considered there were many and great risks to be run, not only in cutting it, but also whether it would prove foul or clear, or the water good; besides, I thought it too great an amount to be ventured home on one bottom. But Jourcund resolved to return speedily to his own country; so that, I best remember, it was in February following he came to me again (with Vincatee Chittee, who was always with him when I discoursed with him about it), and pressed me to know whether I resolved to buy it, when he came down to 100,000 pagodas, and something under, before we parted, when we agreed upon a day to meet and make a final end thereof, which I believe was the latter end of the aforesaid month, or the beginning of March; when we accordingly met in the Con

sultation Room, where, after a great deal of talk, I brought him down to 55,000 pagodas, and advanced to 45,000, resolving to give no more, and he, likewise, resolving not to abate, I delivered him up the stone, and we took a friendly leave of one another. Mr. Benyon was then writing in my closet, with whom I discoursed on what had passed, and told him now I was clear of it; when, about an hour after, my servant brought me word that Jourcund and Vincatee were at the door, who, being called in, they used a great many expressions in praise of the stone, and told me he had rather I should buy it than anybody, and to give an instance thereof, offered it for 50,000 pagodas; so, believing it must be a pennyworth if it proved good, I offered to part the 5,000 pagodas that was then between us, which he would not hearken to, and was going out of the room again, when he turned back, and told me that I should have it for 49,000; but I still adhered to what I had before offered him, when presently he came to 48,000, and made a solemn vow he would not part with it a pagoda under, when I went again into the closet to Mr. Benyon, and told him what had passed, saying that if it was worth 47,000 it was worth 48,000 ;* so I closed with him for that sum, when he delivered me the stone, for which I paid him very honourably, as by my books

* £20,400 sterling, at 8s. 6d. per pagoda.

appears. And I here further call God to witness that I never used the least threatening word at any of our meetings to induce him to sell it me; and God himself knows it was never so much as in my thoughts so to do. Since which, I have had frequent and considerable dealings with this man, and trusted him with several sums of money, and balanced several accounts with him, and left upwards of 2,000 pagodas in his hands at my coming away. So, had I used the least indirect means to have got it from him, would not he have made himself satisfaction when he has had money so often in his hands? Or, would I have trusted him afterwards, as I did, preferably to all other diamond-merchants? As this is the truth, I hope for God's blessing upon this and all my other affairs in this world, and eternal happiness hereafter."

The diamond, thus acquired, was brought over by Governor Pitt in a rough state, when it weighed 410 carats; being cut in brilliant, at a cost of £5,000, its weight was reduced to 135 carats, and its size to about an inch and a quarter in diameter. The clips yielded £8,000.

From the same memoranda, it appears that £80,000 were bid for this enormous stone by some private person, but it was finally sold, in 1717, to the Crown of France, for the sum of £200,000; and the state jewels, in sealed packets,

numbered, were pledged for the payment. The Governor himself delivered it at Calais, and his son-in-law, Charles Cholmondeley, Esq., of Vale Royal, was accustomed, at stated periods, to take one of the packets of the French jewels to Dover, where he delivered his charge to a messenger of the King, and received from him an instalment of the purchase-money.

Upon the transfer of the diamond to France, it was generally called there the Regency Diamond, from its having been bought when the Duke of Orleans was regent of that country, during the minority of Louis XIV, who afterwards used to wear it as a button to his hat upon extraordinary occasions. At a yet later period, it is stated to have formed the principal ornament in the crown of France. Bonaparte, whose every idea was military, when the diamond fell to him with the wefts and strays of the wrecked monarchy, placed it in the pummel of his sword, since when it has probably travelled from hand to hand with the crown itself.

Governor Pitt died in 1726, and was buried in Blandford, St. Mary's Church, Dorsetshire. His eldest son Robert of Boconnock, M.P. was father of Thomas Pitt of Boconnock (whose son became Lord Camelford) and of William Pitt, the great Earl Chatham.

272

THE LAIRD OF WESTBURN'S DREAM.

GABRIEL HAMILTON, of Westburn, in the county of Lanark, was the representative of an ancient and distinguished branch of the Duke of Hamilton's family, viz., Hamilton of Torrance, a cadet of the great house of Raploch, which was immediately sprung from the Lords of Cadzow, the ancestors of the Earls of Arran and Dukes of Hamilton. The grandmother of this Hamilton of Westburn was a daughter of Sir Walter Stewart, of Allanton. And thus, Westburn and Allanton were near kinsmen, at a time when relationship and intimacy were synonymous; the death of Westburn took place about 1757 or