Enough has been said to demonstrate that the reign of Elizabeth, fertile in great events, was productive of much important jewellery, whose charm, excellence, and historic interest have, up to the present, by no means received the attention they deserve. And it may be stated, without prejudice, that jewels of the period which bear a clear stamp of English origin compare favourably, nay even advantageously, with the productions of contemporary jewellers of the Continent. * * * The jewels of the unhappy Mary Stuart form a subject of peculiar interest. Like her jealous rival Queen Elizabeth, Mary was most lavish in her display of jewellery. In addition to the crown jewels she had a profusion of personal ornaments, her own private property. Her inventories, published by the Bannatyne Club (1863), furnish many a vivid description of the splendid objects which, during the course of her turbulent life, she bestowed on her friends or lost under stress of circumstances. They have further acquired quite an historical celebrity "from the frequency with which they were claimed by their unfortunate mistress in her appeals for mercy and justice during her long captivity, and the rapacity with which her royal jailer and other enemies sought or retained possession of these glittering spoils." It is impossible here to enter into details respecting the many beautiful things recorded in her inventories, or the strange vicissitudes that they underwent. Their dispersal would seem to have begun with her infatuated passion for Bothwell. The number of jewels she lavished on him when they parted on Carberry Hill, those she distributed as personal gifts, and others that served in the various emergencies in which the unfortunate Queen found herself, afford some idea of the extraordinary quantity of precious articles in her possession. A few of Mary's actual jewels, such as the Duke of Norfolk's rosary and jewelled necklace, the Duke of Portland's jewelled cameo, and the Penicuik jewel, have been preserved to our own day. Along with the historical documents must rank the Leven and Melville portrait--the brilliant centre-piece of Mr. Andrew Lang's _Portraits and Jewels of Mary Stuart_. As far as jewellery in general is concerned, this portrait may be said to merit greater consideration than any picture of its own or of other times, in that it displays a complete parure of contemporary jewellery, each item of which is entered and described in detail in the personal inventories of the individual it represents. CHAPTER XXV RENAISSANCE HEAD-ORNAMENTS (ENSEIGNES, AIGRETTES, HAIR-PINS, EARRINGS)