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PEARLS IN LITERATURE
The
Pastors of the flocks Have on their sacerdotal albs, which pass In
front divided o'er their golden frocks, Clasp'd with aigraffes of pearl.
In the review of the oriental hordes, Armida's
car is thus described,
Her car, that glorious as Aurora's roll'd,
With rubies, pearls, and hyacinths glisten'd clear.
Among those who passed the Egyptian prince,
were:
The
Islanders with fleecy curls, Whose homes are compassed by th' Arabian
waves; By whom those shells which breed the Persian pearls Are dived
and fish'd for, in their green sea caves.
The name of the gem is used in rare fashion in picturing the enchanted wood through which Rinaldo wanders:
Impearl'd with manna was each fresh leaf nigh.
And twice does the sweat of the human face become pearly in the poet's imagination: once when Armida watches Rinaldo sleeping:
The living heat-dews that impearl'd his face, She with her veil wiped tenderly away.
In the second instance, speaking of Armida, the poet says:
She dies Of the sweet passion, and the heat that pearls, Yet more her ardent aspect beautifies.
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