Perhaps the smallest diamond ring mentioned was placed by Cardinal Wolsey on the tiny finger of the little Princess Mary, aged just two years, daughter of Henry VIII, on October 5th, 1518, on the occasion of her marriage with the baby Dauphin of France, son of Francis I. The baby bride’s dress was of cloth of gold and her black velvet cap sparkled with jewels. Another historical diamond ring was that sent to the imprisoned Lord Lisle, giving freedom and forgiveness—an act so unexpected that it caused the unfortunate man to die of joy. The ring sent by Mary, Queen of Scots, to Queen Elizabeth, is described by Mr. William Jones, quoting from Aubrey, as “a delicate piece of mechanism consisting of several joints which, when united, formed the quaint device of two right hands supporting a heart between them. This heart was composed of two separate diamonds held together by a central spring which, when opened, would allow either of the hearts to be detached. Queen Elizabeth kept one moietie and sent the other as a token of her constant friendship to Mary, Queen of Scots, but she cut off her head for all that.” Another story of Elizabeth, quoted by Fairholt, is that Sir Walter Raleigh wrote on a window with his pointed diamond ring: “Fain would I rise, but that I fear to fall,” the Queen writing beneath with her ring: “If thy heart fail thee, do not rise at all.” Very different was the experience of Queen Isabella who was saved from death by a diamond. Ex-President Kruger’s diamond had a bad history that did not change with its different holders. In allusion to the Diamond Jousts instituted by King Arthur, Dr. Brewer says: “He named them by that name since a diamond was the prize. Ere he was King he came by accident to a glen in Lyonnesse, where two brothers had met in combat. Each was slain, but one had worn a crown of diamonds which Arthur picked up, and when he became King offered the nine diamonds as the prize of nine several jousts—‘one every year, a joust for one.’ Lancelot had won eight and intended to present them all to the Queen when all were won. When the knight laid them before the Queen, Guinevere in a fit of jealousy flung them out of the palace window into the river which ran below.” [Illustration: HOROSCOPE OF ISABELLA II This Queen was saved from assassination when the dagger of her would-be murderer glanced off the diamond she wore. ]