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Vicissitudes: Derry

Songs and epigrams on the diamond were passed about in all societies, and others, of a less refined character, were sung about the streets. One of these was entitled, "A True and Full Account of the Wonderful Diamond presented to the King's Majesty by Warren Hastings, Esq., on Wednesday, the 4th of June, 1786, being an excellent new song to the tune of 'Derry Down.'" Mr. Thomas Wright, F.S.A., has reprinted the song from a copy in his possession (with a slight necessary alteration) in his "Caricature History of the Georges." "I'll sing you a song of a diamond so fine, That soon in the crown of our monarch will shine; Of its size and its value the whole country rings, By Hastings bestow'd on the best of all kings. Derry down, etc. "From India this jewel was lately brought o'er; Though sunk in the sea, it was found on the shore, And just in the nick to St. James's it got, Convey'd in a bag by the brave Major Scott. Derry down, etc. "Lord Sydney stepp'd forth when the tidings were known-- It's his office to carry such news to the throne: Though quite out of breath, to the closet he ran, And stammer'd with joy ere his tale he began. Derry down, etc. "'Here's a jewel, my liege, there's none such in the land; Major Scott, with three bows, put it into my hand, And he swore, when he gave it, the wise ones were bit, For it never was shown to Dundas or to Pitt.' Derry down, etc. "'For Dundas,' cried our sov'reign, 'unpolish'd and rough, Give him a Scotch pebble--'tis more than enough-- And jewels to Pitt; Hastings justly refuses, For he has already more gifts than he uses. Derry down, etc. "'But run, Jenky, run!" adds the king in delight, 'Bring the queen and the princesses here for a sight; They never would pardon the negligence shown If we kept from their knowledge so glorious a stone. Derry down, etc. "'But guard the door, Jenky! No credit we'll win If the prince in a frolic should chance to step in; The boy to such secrets of State we'll ne'er call, Let him wait till he gets our crown, income, and all!' Derry down, etc. "In the princesses run, and surprised cry, 'O la! 'Tis as big as the egg of a pigeon, papa!' 'And a pigeon of plumage worth plucking is he,' Replies our good monarch, 'who sent it to me!' Derry down, etc. "Madam Schwellenberg peep'd thro' the door at a chink, And tipp'd on the diamond a sly German wink, As much as to say, 'Can we ever be cruel To him who has sent us so glorious a jewel?' Derry down, etc. "Now God save the queen! while the people I teach How the king may grow rich while the Commons impeach. Then let nabobs go plunder, and rob as they will, And throw in their diamonds as grist to his mill. Derry down, etc." Plato believed that the DIAMOND was the kernel of auriferous matter--its purest and noblest pith condensed into a transparent mass. Pliny calls "adamus," the diamond, a nodosity of gold, and the Rev. C. W. King observes that he may have stumbled on this truth by accident; but it still remains the fact that all diamond mines of which we know anything have been brought to light in the pursuit of gold. This was notably the case in Brazil, and is beginning to be true of the Australian diggings, which Mr. King thinks will yield a vast supply when their gravel comes to be turned over by people having other eyes for other objects than nuggets and gold flakes. Four thousand years of the world's history had elapsed before it was ever dreamed that diamonds existed, save in one spot, and that of limited extent. The first diamond of well-ascertained water brought to light out of India was, it is said, accidentally discovered by a miner in Brazil, in the commencement of the eighteenth century. Previous to this, the only known diamonds had been found in Borneo and Hindostan.

Some Brazilian miners in the beginning of the eighteenth century, while searching for gold, found some curious "pebbles," which they carried home to their masters as curiosities. Not being considered of any value, they were given to the children to play with. An officer who had spent some years in the East Indies saw these pebbles, and sent a handful to a friend in Lisbon to be examined. They proved to be diamonds, and were pronounced to be equal to those of Golconda.

Strange and various were the vicissitudes attending the early discovery of the Brazilian diamonds. Colossal fortunes were made, and as quickly dissipated. The adventurers who flocked to the diamond grounds saw before them a boundless source of wealth, and they had some reason for their expectations, for, it is said, that in the first twenty years of exploration, Europe received from Brazil diamonds amounting in weight to upwards of three millions of carats--a circumstance that appears almost fabulous, but the mines were then in their rich abundance, and the buried spoil of many ages.

Captain Burton, in his "Highlands of the Brazil," says "that the first man who sent diamonds to Portugal was one Sebastino Leme do Prado, in 1725. He had washed several brilliant octahedrons in the Rio Manso, an influent of the Sequitinhonha. They found no sale; and the same happened to Bernardo (or Bernardino) da Fonseca Lobo, who hit upon a large specimen amongst others, in the Cerro do Frio. There is a local tradition that the latter was a friar who had been in India, and that about 1727, seeing the curious brilliant little stones used as counters at backgammon by the gold miners of the Sequitinhonha, he made a collection of them, and took them to Portugal. Others attribute the discovery to an Ouvidor, or Auditor Judge, fresh from service at Goa. The specimens were sent to the Netherlands, then the great jewel-market of Europe."