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FIRE IN THE EARTH
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pearls, and precious stones. She also wore the first "farthingale" seen in England.
To
the north, meanwhile, Mary Stuart, later to become the tragic Queen of
Scots, was making jeweled fashions popular. Mary had been to the court
of France, she was the widow of the boy-king Francis II, so knew the
ways of beguilement with dress and ornament. When she appeared in
public she sometimes wore a white satin Scotch cap placed very low on
one side of her head, with a rosette of white ostrich feathers and in
the center a ruby brooch around which was wrought in gold letters the
words Mariae Reginae Scotorum. From this suspended a drooping plume
formed of a small pendant of pearls. Her dress was of white damask
fitting closely to her shape, with a small pantlet ruff of scalloped
point lace, supported by a collar of sapphires and rubies, a girdle of
gems to correspond encircling her waist. The dress was made without
plaits, gradually widening toward the feet in the shape of a bell and
fastened down the front with medallions of pearls and precious stones.
A royal mantle of pure white was attached to the shoulders of her
dress, trimmed with point lace. Her sleeves were full, parted with
strings of pearls and finished with small ruffles and jeweled
bracelets. Her wedding costume was literally sprinkled with diamonds,
pearls, rubies, and emeralds.
It
was not until the reign of Elizabeth (1558-1603) that jewel fashions
really came into prominence in the British Isles. Elizabeth was the
first British queen to wear large quantities of diamonds. Most
cherished were the gifts from her favorite, Robert Dudley, Earl of
Leicester. These included a diamond watch, hanging from a gold and
diamond chain, huge diamond rings and earrings. Henrietta Maria
(1609-1669), wife of King Charles I, carried on the tradi-
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