Idolatry | Page 4

stone firmly
in place. The whole forms a pretty symbol of the human soul, battled
for by the good and the evil principles. But the diamond seems, in its
entirety, to be an awkward mouthful for either. The snakes are wrought
with marvellous dexterity and finish; each separate scale is
distinguishable upon their glistening bodies, the wrinkling of the skin
in the coils, the sparkling points of eyes, and the minute nostrils. Such
works of art are not made nowadays; the ring is an antique,--a relic of
an age when skill was out of all proportion to liberty,--a very distant

time indeed. To deserve such a setting, the stone must have exceptional
qualities. Let us take a closer look at it.
Fortunately, its own lustre makes it visible in every part; the
minuteness of our scrutiny need be limited only by our power of eye. It
is cut with many facets,--twenty-seven, if you choose to count them;
perhaps (though we little credit such fantasies) some mystic
significance may be intended in this number. Concentrating now our
attention upon any single facet, we see--either inscribed upon its
surface, or showing through from the interior of the stone--a sort of
monogram, or intricately designed character, not unlike the mysterious
Chinese letters on tea-chests. Every facet has a similar figure, though
no two are identical. But the central, the twenty-seventh facet, which is
larger than the others, has an important peculiarity. Looking upon it, we
find therein, concentrated and commingled, the other twenty-six
characters; which, separately unintelligible, form, when thus united, a
simple and consistent narrative, equivalent in extent to many hundred
printed pages, and having for subject nothing less than the complete
history of the ring itself.
Some small portion of this narrative--that, namely, which relates more
particularly to the present wearer of the ring--we will glance at; the rest
must be silence, although, going back as it does to the earliest records
of the human race, many an interesting page must be skipped perforce.
The advantages to a historian of a medium such as this are too patent to
need pointing out. Pretension and conjecture will be avoided, because
unnecessary. The most trifling thought or deed of any person connected
with the history of the ring is laid open to direct inspection. Were there
more such talismans as this, the profession of authorship would become
no less easy than delightful, and criticism would sting itself to death, in
despair of better prey. So far as is known, however, the enchanted ring
is unique of its kind, and, such as it is, is not likely to become common
property.

II.

OUT OF EGYPT.
But the small hours of the morning are slipping away; we must
construe our hieroglyphics without further palaver. The sleeper lies
upon his side, his left hand resting near his face upon the pillow. Were
he to move it ever so little during our examination, the history of years
might be thrown into confusion. Nevertheless, we shall hope to touch
upon all the more important points, and in some cases to go into details.
Concentrating our attention upon the central facet, its clear ray strikes
the imagination, and forthwith transports us to a distant age and climate.
The air is full of lazy warmth. A full-fed river, glassing the hot blue sky,
slides in long curves through a low-lying, illimitable plain. The rich
earth, green with mighty crops, everywhere exhales upward the
quivering heat of her breath. An indolent, dark-skinned race, turbaned
and scantly clothed, move through the meadows, splash in the river,
and rest beneath the palm-trees, which meet in graceful clusters here
and there, as if striving to get beneath one another's shadow. Dirty
villages swarm and babble on the river's brink.
Were there leisure to listen, the diamond could readily relate the whole
history of this famous valley. For the stone was fashioned to its present
shape while the thought that formed the Pyramids was yet unborn, and
while the limestone and granite whereof they are built lay in their silent
beds, dreaming, perchance, of airy days before the deluge, long ere the
heated vapors stiffened into stone. Some great patriarch of early days,
founder of a race called by his name, picked up this diamond in the
southern desert, and gave it its present form; perhaps, also, breathed
into it the marvellous historical gift which it retains to this day. Who
was that primal man? how sounded his voice? were his eyes terrible, or
mild? Seems, as we speak, we glimpse his majestic figure, and the
grandeur of his face and cloudy beard.
He passed away, but the enchanted stone remained, and has sparkled
along the splendid march of successive dynasties, and has reflected
men and cities which to us are nameless, or but a half-deciphered