The Sun.
London, England, 1865-07-17 00:00:00

LITERATITEE,

Diamonds and Precious Stones. By H. Emanuel,
F.R.G.S. One Vol., pp. 266. J. C. llotten.

The Princess of the Fairy Tale might have writ-
tent this lovely book about "Diamonds and Precious
Stones." Every sentence, so to speak, has a chromatic
glitter about it—a glitter as of the pouring out of
the radiant treasures of a lapidary. We turn the
leaves in a manner dazzled by the glory of these
gems of price, having, the while, a delicious sense, as
though we were dabbling our hands (up to the
wrists) our arms (up to the elbows) in some
such brimming chest of jewels as the one dis-
covered with such marvellous ingenuity by the hero
of Edgar Poe's wonderful story of " The Golden
Beetle !" The author of the book before us fairly
sets his reader's mouth watering, as if in emulation
of the Diamonds of purest water about which he
writes himself with so genuine a gusto ! The very
title-page is a something delicious. A page, it is, of the
heavenliest, velvetty, cerulean blue—gemmed, in the
centre of it, with the effigy of a gigantic and lustrous
Opal giving forth, in the glistening sheen of it, hints of
all the colours of the rainbow—an oval opal, surrounded
by a filagree of golden setting. That—just by way
of foretaste! But the book itself—with its abounding
store of jewels, and of everything relating to jewels
and jewelry ! To enjoy it—at its utmost—we would
fain read its contents, luxuriously, to the tune, let us
say, of the jewel-song of Goethc's heroine in
Gounod's lyrical version of the love-tale of
" Faust and Marguerite !" 0 the delectable
book ! This book now under notice, with its re-
freshing showers, cascades, cataracts, hail-storms,
of all the Precious Stones known, more or
less familiarly, to the ancient and the modern lapi-
dary ! Precious Stones which are here set forth
singly and in sprinkles, with due regard paid to
their relative hardness, to their distinctive colouring,
to their powers of refraction, to their specific gra-
vity, to their electrical properties, to their fusibility,
to their diapheneity ! Diamonds of every size,
shape, weight, value, lucidity, magnificence !
Diamonds of great antiquity, of historical re-
nown, of world-wide reputation. Brilliants and Rose
Diamonds. The Shah and the Saucy—the Piggott
and the Braganza—thc Regent or Pitt Diamond, and
the enormous Koh-i-noor ! And besides that empe-
ror of all the Precious Stones, the Diamond (for the
most part colourless)—Jewels of every varying
hue ! The faint, liquid blue of the Sapphire. The
delicate lilac of the Amethyst. The grass-green
of the oriental Emerald. The blood-red Ruby.
The darker and yet ruddier Garnet. The gor-
geous yellow of the Topaz. The celestial blue
of the Torquoise. The streaked richness of the
Onyx. The dappled verdure of the Lapis Lazuli.
And—added to all these—jasper, and agate, and
amber, and jet, and coral—opal and bloodstone—car-
nelion and carbuncle—jacinth and cinnamon—beryl
and chrysolite—jade and moonstone—sardonyx and
tourmaline—felspar, and quartz, and cairngorm,
and malachite ! A truly delicious book it is, this
volume about "Diamonds and Precious Stones," and
one for the production of which we have to thank Mr.
EMMANUEL, the author, and Mr. HOTTEN, his pub-
lisher, each of whom has done his part in regard to
this volume—to our fancy, at least—to perfection.
Procuring it—is, for all the world, very much like
buckling on to one's shoulders a pair of patent wings
(ever so much better than those contrived by the
philosopher in Rasselas) and, by a throb or two of
these said wings, taking a flight down into Sinbad's
Valley of Diamonds. Nay, it is more even
than that—it is like putting one's finger,
as Aladdin put his, into the ring-handle of the
ponderous stone trap - door in the Chinese wil-
derness, and lifting that door up to reveal the
staircase beneath it, and descending that stair-
case, and emerging at the foot of it into
the subterranean garden the orchard-trees of
which were laden ripely at every bough, at every
minutest twig, with ruby, and opal, and emerald,
and diamond, and turquoise, and topaz, and
amethyst, and all the other precious stones already
particularised. A glorious book this is in simple
truth—a book in which Harry Emanuel has done
for " Gems," what Henry Bradbury had achieved
in his for "Ferns," and Eugene Rimmel in Ms for
" Perfumes." With this difference only, that as Dia-
monds and Precious Stones are when compared with
Ferns and Perfumes, so are the rarer records here
set down by this later and now ambitious compiler,
as contrasted with those of his two ingenious
contemporaries, the botanist, and the perfumer.
Ending pretty nearly where we began, we would here
remark once more at the risk of repetition that the
words dropped one by one upon his page from the
pen of the author of this charming volume are very
much like those that fell—with kindred sparkle, and
colour, and splendour—from the lips of the Arabian
Princess.

The borough elections which have just terminated
have been sadly adverse to naval reformers. Sir
John Hay and Sir James Elphinstono have failed to per-
suade their former constituencies to send them back to
Parliament, while Rear-Admiral George Elliot, who re-
signed a lucrative appointment to contest Chatham, has
been defeated by the Government candidate. Lord
Clarence Paget has, however, secured his seat at Sand-
wich by a considerabla majority, so has Mr. Laird, who,
irrespective of party, has worked well during his career in
Parliament, to forward the interests of all connected with
the navy.--Army and Navy Gazette.
GOETIIE'S HOUSE AT FRANKFORT.—Tourists who
pass Frankfort should not omit to visit Goethe's
House, the restoration of which, at the hands of the
" Freies Deutsches Hochstift," is nearly complete. The
front of the house, which had been badly disfigured, has
entirely regained its former aspect, by the removal of the
shop doors and attic windows, and by the restoration of
the six front windows, exactly after the old model. The
hall of the house has received back its former spaciousness
and clearness, by the removal of the wall of the northern
front room on the ground-floor, which had been crammed
into the house-floor, making it narrow and dark. Now the
visitor has again at once before him the magnificent stair-
case, and receives the impression of a comfortable, luxu-
rious roominess, as the house presented in the days of Herr
Rath. The old arrangement of the rooms on the ground-
floor, especially the dwelling-rooms, the kitchen of Frau
Rath, and the store-room, become so famous through
Welhelm Meister, is now exactly the same as it was origi-
nally. The alterations which had taken place in course of
time did not affect the plan of the house materially, and
were easily removed, leaving the house in its old condi-
tion. A room which had been added to the first-floor,
projecting into the handsome front-place, darkening it and
the shops as well, has been taken away ; the front-place is
now open and clear, and has boon paved neatly with white
and red flags, making it look exactly as in the time when
the King's lieutenant used it as a reception-room. The
upper floors have been cleared by their tenants since the
peginning of spring, and are now also accessible.