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Vicissitudes: Regent

These reports, however, never obtained much credit, though they were loud enough to reach the ears of the person against whom they were directed, who vindicated himself in the letter which I have already quoted. In the Daily Post (Nov. 3rd, 1743) is also a vindication of Mr. Pitt. About the year 1717, negotiations were set on foot to effect the sale of this diamond to the Duke of Orleans, Regent of France; and in this transaction the unscrupulous Law, the Scotch financialist, then in high favour with the French court, figures prominently. The Duke De Saint Simon, in his lively "Memoirs," gives an account of the affair. It seems that a model of the diamond was made in England, and placed in the hands of Law, who proposed to the regent that he should purchase the jewel for the king. The price dismayed the regent, who refused to buy. Law took the model to Saint Simon, who agreed with him that France ought to possess a jewel unique of its kind in the world: and, together, they persuaded the Duke of Orleans to make the purchase for one hundred and thirty thousand pounds, five thousand of which were expended in the negotiation, of which Law, no doubt, had his full share. Money, however, was fearfully scarce in France, and the interest of the purchase was paid until the principal could be settled, jewels to the full amount being given as security.

Anquetil, in his "Memoirs of the Court of France," says that the diamond weighed more than five hundred grains, was of the size of a large plum, perfectly white, without spot, and of an admirable water. In the list of the crown jewels of France, published by order of the National Assembly in 1791, the "Regent" is thus described:- "Un superbe diamant brilliant blanc, forme carree, les coins arrondis, ayant une petite glace dans le filetis, et une autre a un coin dans le dessous: pesant 136 14/16 karats, estime douze millions livres."