Lapis-lazuli or Lazuli. A mineral of a fine azure-blue color, usually occurring in small rounded masses. It is essentially a silicate of alumina, lime, and soda, with some sodium sulphide. It is often marked by yellow spots or veins of sulphide of iron, and is much valued for ornamental work.

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“God often bestows temporal prosperities on the wicked, to show how lightly he esteems what the world is so dazzled with; but crosses he reserves for his own, whom he would humble under his Almighty hand, and make them the objects of his delight.”
–Fenelon