ged at the Castle
of St. Angelo.

Probably the most colossal jewel of ancient times was the Peacock
Throne of Delhi. It was in the form of two spread tails of peacocks,
composed entirely of sapphires, emeralds and topazes, feather by
feather and eye by eye, set so as to touch each other. A parrot of
life size carved from a single emerald, stood between the peacocks.

In 1161 the throne of the Emperor in Constantinople is described
by Benjamin of Tudela: "Of gold ornamented with precious stones.
A golden crown hangs over it, suspended on a chain of the same
material, the length of which exactly admits the Emperor to sit
under it. The crown is ornamented with precious stones of inestimable
value. Such is the lustre of these diamonds that even without any
other light, they illumine the room in which they are kept."

The greatest mediaeval jeweller was St. Eloi of Limoges. His history
is an interesting one, and his achievement and rise in life was very
remarkable in the period in which he lived. Eloi was a workman in
Limoges, as a youth, under the famous Abho, in the sixth century;
there he learned the craft of a goldsmith. He was such a splendid
artisan that he soon received commissions for extensive works on his
own account. King Clothaire II. ordered from him a golden throne,
and supplied the gold which was to be used. To the astonishment of
all, Eloi presented the king with _two_ golden thrones (although
it is difficult to imagine what a king would do with duplicate
thrones!), and immediately it was noised abroad that the goldsmith
Eloi was possessed of miraculous powers, since, out of gold sufficient
for one throne, he had constructed two. People of a more practical
turn found out that Eloi had learned the art of alloying the gold,
so as to make it do double duty.

A great many examples of St. Eloi's work might have been seen in
France until the Revolution in 1792, especially at the Abbey of St.
Denis. A ring made by him, with which St. Godiberte was married to
Christ, according to the custom of mediaeval saints, was preserved at
Noyon until 1793, when it disappeared in the Revolution. The Chronicle
says of Eloi: "He made for the king a great numer of gold vesses
enriched with precious stones, and he worked incessantly, seated
with his servant Thillo, a Saxon by birth, who followed the lessons
of his master." St. Eloi founded two institutions for goldsmithing:
one for the production of domestic and secular plate,