Shakespeare and Precious Stones | Page 2

and French, of Shakespeare's age. Thus the reader will find, besides the
very full references to the poet's words and clear directions as to where
all the passages can be located in the First Folio of 1623, much material
that will stimulate an interest in the subject and promote further
independent research.
The author wishes to express his thanks to Dr. Appleton Morgan,
President of the Shakespeare Society of New York; Miss H.C. Bartlett,
the Shakespearean bibliophile; the New York Public Library and H.M.
Leydenberg, assistant there; Gardner C. Teall; Frederic W. Erb,
assistant librarian of Columbia University; the Council of the Grolier
Club, Miss Ruth S. Granniss, librarian of the Club, and Vechten
Waring, all of New York City.
G.F.K.
NEW YORK April, 1916

CONTENTS
SHAKESPEARE AND PRECIOUS STONES
PRECIOUS STONES MENTIONED IN THE PLAYS OF
SHAKESPEARE
PRECIOUS STONES MENTIONED IN THE POEMS OF
SHAKESPEARE

ILLUSTRATIONS

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (ENGRAVED BY MARTIN
DROESHOUT) Frontispiece FIVE OF THE SIX AUTHENTIC
SHAKESPEARE SIGNATURES
DIAMOND CUTTER'S SHOP, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
FROM A PORTRAIT OF QUEEN ELIZABETH
PRINTER'S MARK OF RICHARD FIELD

SHAKESPEARE AND PRECIOUS STONES
So 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. 1) 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.
This is undoubtedly the reason for the comparison between pearls and
tears, leading to the German proverb, "_Perlen bedeuten Tränen_"
(Pearls mean tears), which was then taken to signify that pearls
portended tears, instead of that they were the offspring of drops of
liquid. The world-famed pearl of Cleopatra, which she drank after
dissolving it, so as to win her wager with Antony that she would
entertain him with a banquet costing a certain immense sum of money,
is not even noticed, however, in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra.
In the poet's time pearls were not only worn as jewels, but were
extensively used in embroidering rich garments and upholstery and for

the adornment of harnesses. To this Shakespeare alludes in the
following passages:
The intertissued robe of gold and pearl. Henry V, Act iv, sc. 1. First
Folio, "Histories", p. 85 (page number repeated), col. B, line 13.
Their harness studded all with gold and pearl. Taming of the Shrew,
Introd., sc. 2. "Comedies", p. 209, col. B, line 33.
Fine linen, Turkey cushions boss'd with pearl. Ibid., Act ii, sc. 1.
"Comedies", p. 217, col. B, line 32.
Laced with silver, set with pearls. Much Ado About Nothing, Act iii, sc.
4. "Comedies", p. 112, col. B, line 65.
Moreover, we have a simile which might almost make us suppose that
Shakespeare knew something of the details of the pearl fisheries, when
the oysters are piled up on shore and allowed to decompose, so as to
render it easier to get at the pearls, for he makes one of his characters
say, speaking of an honest man in a poor dwelling, that he was like a
"pearl in your foul oyster". (As You Like It, Act v, sc. 4.)
In the strange transformation told of in Ariel's song, the bones of the
drowned man have been turned to coral, and his eyes to pearls (Tempest,
Act i, sc. 2). The strange and sometimes morbid attraction of opposites
finds expression in a queer old English proverbial saying given in the
_Two Gentlemen of Verona_: "Black men are pearls in beauteous
ladies' eyes". The likeness to drops of dew appears where we read of
the dew that it was "Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass"
(_Midsummer Night's Dream_, Act i, sc. 1), and a little later in the
same play we read the following injunction:
I most go seek some dewdrops here And hang a pearl in every
cowslip's ear. _Midsummer Night's Dream_, Act ii, sc. 1. First Folio,
"Comedies",