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Shakespeare and Precious Stones
And when the dusky sky began to rob My earnest-gaping sight of thy land's view, I took a costly jewel from my neck, A heart it was, bound in with diamonds, And threw it towards thy land: the sea received it, And so I wish'd thy body might my heart. First Folio, "Histories," p. 134, col. A, lines 41-48.
The idea of the sacredness of a ring as a lovetoken is voiced by Portia in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice where she says (Act v, sc. 1):
I gave my love a ring and made him swear Never to part with it; and here he stands; I dare be sworn for him he would not leave it Nor pluck it from his finger, for the wealth That the world masters. First Folio, "Comedies," p. 183, col. B, lines 12-16.
The nearest approach to a sentimental characterization of precious stones is to be found in "A Lover's Complaint," lines 204-217. Although we have already noted most of them separately, it may be well to give the entire passage here consecutively:
And, lo, behold these talents of their hair, With twisted metal amorously impleach'd, I have received from many a several fair, Their kind acceptance weepingly beseech'd With the annexions of fair gems enrich'd, And deep-brain'd sonnets that did amplify Each stone's dear nature, worth, and quality. 35
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