THE CROWN JEWELS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1019, 7 January 1911, Page 10

THE CROWN JEWELS.

STORY OF THE KOH-I-NOOR* , The Crown jewels have bfcen much! talked of lately with the first appearance at the Tower of the Stars of Africa. This reminds _ me (writes a correspondent an English', journal) : that I saw the other day an authentic, story of the-Koh-i-noor. • It is, I suppose, the most, Imperialist piece of property in v the- world; - ;For it". - was first, possessed by 'the great- Akhbaiy who got.it> from the GoJccnda; . It. waa '• m the possession of his grandson Arung-. zebd, who rose to the Great Mogul;" ,lt - - then canie into the hands of Kadir-Shah," the great Persian conqueror; From him' ;/- it passed :to Ahmed &hah Durani," who founded the Afghan Empire. 'Then* Raujit Singh, the founder of the Sikli • Empire,, carried it in his turban. •' Su6h> a history does not seem lo bear -out the .'- story.that tho Koh-i-noor brings ill-luck " to its'owners, unless' it is ill-luck to have • an empire. For'those who have held'it-A have all established empires, and. tlio-... empire of every emperor who has held' it has crumbled from "th£ moment he lost it. • > - -V-' But. this is the storv. Ranjit' SingK ' seized the Koh-i-noor trom Shah Sujah, ; the last of the .Duranis. The Sikh king-' : sent at .once to .Amritsar- to be appraised • •• by the jewellers of that golden city. / v Their Teply was:that its-value could tot •' bo estimated in mojiey. , Ranjit. Singh.-, then sounded Shah SujaVs Empress <13. "• to the value of the gem* * She . replied • , rather vaguely that if a strong .man were r " to take five stories and'throw' one east,' one west, one south, cno north, and one : ~ straight up into ; the air, and that if: all the space' betweoh these points were filled with gold and gems, the, total would 1 - not equal the value of tho Koh-i-noor. Kanjit Singh then tried . to. get an esti-, - mate out of the Empress's husband, who • replied, 'The,value, Koh-i-noor- is. v that whoever holds it is victorious over all his enemies.", This,story comes froniV' Lord Dalhousie s private letters, and was tojd him by tho messenger who passed S ibetween Itaiijifc Singh and . the lato owners of the gem. . .* • f l 1 . " 7*ll/0 A. ■ Mr. Louis N\. Parker has finished jheS.-* manuscript of his new comedy, "Pomctn- . ' der Walk,?' which was to have had production in.New York'this month:' lt,-H----is to.be played• there -by . an. 'English company. .Mr. Parker-.Tvill superintend - theiinal rehearsals: "Pomander Walk" is thus described: "England of .1805;-a. crescent walk around a lawn facing the T Thames, and bordered' by sis houses.- . The same scene for .the three acts.; little - ' plot, only a discursive narrative about, the - six families who &}ive. in these • houses; no villain." 1 A. new Italian:operetta, written by aL 1 ' well-known composer, who in tho pre- - sent instance prefers to conceal his identity under tho pseudonym '-Max Ringer," is about to be published, hav-. ing for its title ."The Beautiful Miss." ' The operetta is a satire on tho romantic love affair of Duke Luigi- of the Abruzziand. Miss Catherino - -Elkins.Signor Leopold Carta is tho author, of'-'i the librett-o. .The publishers assert- ■ : that the work is too . delicate.and clever to be branded as a breach "of good '. tasto. .. J.