SHAKESPEARE AND PRECIOUS STONES
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O wide is the range of the immortal verse of Shakespeare, and so many and various are the subjects he touched upon and adorned with the magic beauty of his poetic imagery, that it will be of great interest to refer to the allusions to gems and precious stones in his plays and poems. These allusions are all given in the latter part of this volume. What can we learn from them of Shakespeare's knowledge of the source, quality, and use of these precious stones ?
The great favor that pearls enjoyed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is, as we see, reflected by the frequency with which he speaks of them, and the different passages reveal in several instances a knowledge of the ancient tales of their formation and principal source. Thus, in Troilus and Cressida (Act i, sc. i) he writes: "Her bed is India; there she lies, a pearl;" and Pliny's tales of the pearl's origin from dew are glanced at indirectly when he says:
The liquid drops of tears that you have shed Shall come again, transform'd to orient pearl.
Richard III, Act iv, sc. 4. First Folio, "Histories," p. 198, col. A, line 17. IS
