CHAPTER XXXII
STONES IN SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS

“It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear.”
Romeo and Juliet.

Those who labour for the world belong to the world, no matter which little part of it may be claimed as their birthplace. This applies to the humblest as well as to the greatest, as in a play the excellence of individual players contributes to the artistic harmony and influence of the entire production. So it is that William Shakespeare, the inspired master of the “spacious times of great Elizabeth,” breaks through the narrow limits of sea-girt England and encompasses the whole world of women and men, detaches his unmaterial self from the period of his earth life and endures—a perpetual source of pleasure,pleasure, philosophy, wisdom and music. Throughout his works William Shakespeare mentions seventeen distinct stones of adornment, viz.: agate, amber, carbuncle, chrysolite, coral, crystal, diamond, emerald, flint, jet, lapis lazuli, marble, opal, pearl, ruby, sapphire, turquoise.

AGATE

In Act I, Scene 4 of “Romeo and Juliet,” Mercutio tells of Queen Mab—

“She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate stone
On the forefinger of an alderman.”

In Act 3, Scene 1 of “Much Ado about Nothing,” Hero says that

“Nature never framed a woman’s heart
Of prouder stuff than that of Beatrice”

who would swear that if a man were tall he would be like

“A lance illheaded;
“If low, an agate very vilely cut.”

In Act 2, Scene 1 of “Love’s Labours Lost,” Boyet tells the Princess of France that Navarre’s heart is

“Like an agate, with your print impressed.”

In King Henry IV, Part I, Act 2, Scene 4, Prince Hal says to Francis:

“Wilt thou rob this leathern jerkin, crystal button, knott-pated, agate-ring, puke-stocking, caddis-garter, smooth tongue, Spanish-pouch,...”

Falstaff in Part 2, Act 1, Scene 2, of the same play complains to his page that he was never “manned with an agate till now.”

(These quotations all serve to show how popular the agate was as a ring stone in Shakespeare’s time.)

AMBER

Hamlet, in answer to a question, tells Polonius that the “satirical rogue” whose book he is reading says that old men’s eyes are “purging thick amber and plum-tree gum” (Act 2, Scene 2), a thought no doubt suggested by the ancient myth of the “weeping sisters.”

Petruchio asks his “Mistress Kate”:

“Will we return unto thy father’s house
... With amber bracelets, beads, and all this knavery?”
(“Taming of the Shrew,” Act 4, Sc. 3.)

Says Dumain in “Love’s Labours Lost” (Act 4, Scene 3):

“Her amber hair for foul hath amber quoted”

and Biron—

“An amber-coloured raven was well noted.”

CARBUNCLE

Dromio of Syracuse in Act 3, Scene 2, of the “Comedy of Errors,” speaks of

“Her nose all o’er embellished with rubies, carbuncles, sapphires.”

Titus Lartius says of Marcius:

“Thou art lost, Marcius;
A carbuncle entire, as big as thou art,
Were not so rich a jewel.”
“Coriolanus,” Act 1, Sc. 4.

Iachimo, the soothsayer, (Cymbeline, Act 5, Scene 5) tells that—

“He, true knight,
No lesser of her honour confident
Than I did truly find her, stakes this ring:
And would so, had it been a carbuncle
Of Phoebus’ wheel, and might so safely, had it
Been all the worth of’s car.”

Hamlet speaks to the Players (Act 2, Scene 2) of Pyrrhus:

“With eyes like carbuncles, the hellish Pyrrhus
Old grandsire Priam seeks.”

Again the poet uses the “carbuncle of Phoebus’ wheel” in “Antony and Cleopatra,” Act 4, Scene 8:

“He has deserved it, were it carbuncled
Like holy Phoebus’ car.”

CHRYSOLITE

The fated Moor says of his poor murdered Desdemona in the last scene of the last act of “Othello”:

“Nay, had she been true,
If Heaven would make me such another world
Of one entire and perfect chrysolite
’I not have sold her for it.”
CORAL

Says Lucentio in Act 1, Scene 1, of the “Taming of the Shrew”:

“I saw her coral lips to move
And with her breath she did perfume the air:
Sacred and sweet was all I saw in her.”

The charming Ariel in “The Tempest,” (Act 1, Scene 2) sings:

“Full fathom five thy father lies:
Of his bones are coral made:
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.”
CRYSTAL
“But in that crystal scales let there be weighed
Your lady’s love against some other maid,”

says Benvolio to Romeo.

(“Romeo and Juliet,” Act 1, Sc. 2.)

In “Love’s Labours Lost” (Act 2, Scene 1) Boyet tells the Princess of France:

“Methought all his senses were locked in his eye,
As jewels in crystal for some prince to buy.”

In Act 4, Scene 3, of the same play, the King says:

“‘Ay, me!’ says one: ‘O, Jove!’ the other cries:
One, her hairs were gold, crystal the other’s eyes.”

In Act 3, Scene 2 of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” the awakening Demetrius sings Helen’s praises:

“O Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!
To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne?
Crystal is muddy.”

In Act 2, Scene 1, of “King John,” Queen Eleanor says of the sad sensitive Arthur:

“His mother shames him so, poor boy, he weeps,”

Constance retorting:

“Now shame upon you whether she does or no!
His grandam’s wrongs, and not his mother’s shames,
Draws those heaven-moving pearls from his poor eyes,
Which Heaven shall take in nature of a fee:
Ay, with these crystal beads Heaven shall be bribed
To do him justice and revenge on you.”

Bolingbroke in “Richard II” (Act 1, Scene 1) says:

“Since the more fair and crystal is the sky,
The uglier seem the clouds that in it fly.”

Says Bardolph in “Henry V” (Act 2, Scene 3):

“Go clear thy crystals.”

At the opening of “King Henry VI,” Bedford has the famous lines:

“Hung be the heavens with black, yield day to night,
Comets, importing change of times and states,
Brandish your crystal tresses in the sky.”

In Act 5, Scene 4, of “Cymbeline,” the ghost father Sicilius says:

“Thy crystal window ope: look out.”

“Two Gentlemen of Verona,” Act. 2, Scene 4:

“But that his mistress
Did hold his eyes locked in his crystal looks.”

The poetic use of crystal has its basis in ancient mystical philosophy, which is partly noticed in the section under CRYSTAL.

DIAMOND

Shakespeare alludes to the diamond twenty-one times, most of all in “Cymbeline.”

Imogen gives Posthumus as a pledge of affection her diamond ring:

“This diamond was my mother’s: take it, heart.”

The diamond is mentioned four times as an important part of the plot in the bargain between Posthumus and Iachimo:

“If she went before others I have seen, as that diamond outlustres many
I have beheld, I could not but believe that she excelled many: but I have not
seen the most precious diamond that is, nor you the lady.”
Posthumus: “I praised her as I rated her: so do I my stone.”
“I shall but lend my diamond till you return.”
Iachimo: “My ten thousand ducats are yours: so is your diamond too: if I come off.”

In Act 2, Scene 4, poor Posthumus says:

“All is well yet,
Sparkles this stone as it was wont?”

alluding to the ancient belief that the diamond turned dull when lovers proved unfaithful.

“... The stone’s too hard to come by.”
Iachimo: “I beg but leave to air this jewel: see! it must be married
To that your diamond.”

In Act 5, Scene 5, Cymbeline asks Iachimo:

“That diamond upon your finger—say,
How came it yours?”

The diamond is mentioned three times in Pericles:

Maisa: “To me he seems like diamond to glass.”   (Act II, Sc. 3.)
Helicanus: “Whom if you find, and win unto return,
You shall like diamonds sit about his crown.”
Cerimon: “She is alive: behold
Her eyelids, cases to those heavenly jewels
Which Pericles hath lost,
Begin to part their fringes of bright gold:
The diamonds of a most praised water
Do appear, to make the world twice rich.”

The diamond is mentioned three times in King Henry VI:

“To me he seems like diamond to glass.”
Pericles, Act II, Sc. 3.
Suffolk: “So farewell Reignier: set this diamond safe
In golden palaces, as it becomes.”
(Part 1, Act V, Sc. 8.)
The Queen: “I took a costly jewel from my neck,
A heart it was, bound in with diamonds,
And threw it towards thy land.”
(Part 2, Act III, Sc. 2.)

Horoscope of Shakespeare

King Henry: “My crown is in my heart not on my head:
Not decked with diamonds and Indian stones
Nor to be seen: my crown is called content
A crown it is that seldom kings enjoy.”
(Part 3, Act III, Sc. 1.)

In the “Comedy of Errors,” the diamond is twice mentioned:

The Courtezan: “Give me the ring of mine you had at dinner,
Or for my diamond, the chain you promised.”
(Act IV, Sc. 3.)
The Courtezan: “Sir, I must have that diamond from you.”
(Act V, Sc. 1.)

In Act 3, Scene 3, in “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” Falstaff says to Mistress Ford:

“I see how thine eye would emulate the diamond.”

The Princess in “Love’s Labours Lost,” Act 5, Scene 2, speaks of a

“Lady walled about with diamonds.”

In “Timon of Athens,” Act 3, Scene 6, the Fourth Lord says:

“One day he gives us diamonds, next dry stones.”

In “The Merchant of Venice,” Act 3, Scene 1, Shylock exclaims,

“A diamond gone, cost me two thousand ducats in Frankfort.”

In “Macbeth,” Act 2, Scene 1, Banquo presents the King’s diamond with the words:

“This diamond he greets your wife withal.”

In “King Lear,” Act 4, Scene 3, the gentleman tells Kent:

“You have seen
Sunshine and rain at once: her smiles and tears
Were like a better way: those happy smilets,
That played on her ripe lip, seemed not to know
What guests were in her eyes: which parted thence
As pearls from diamonds dropped.”
EMERALD

Emerald is mentioned but once—in Act 5, Scene 5, of “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” when Mistress Quickly says:

“And ‘Honi soit qui mal y pense,’ write
In emerald tufts, flowers purple, blue and white:
Like sapphire, pearl and rich embroidery
Buckled below fair knighthood’s bending knee.”
FLINT
Talbot: “God is our fortress in whose conquering name
Let us resolve to scale their flinty bulwarks.”
(“King Henry VI,” Part 1, Act II, Sc. 1.)
Gloucester: “Uneath may she endure the flinty streets.”
Duchess of Gloucester: “The ruthless flint doth cut my tender feet.”
(Henry VI, Part 2, Act II, Sc. 4.)
Queen Margaret: “Because thy flinty heart more hard than they....”
(Henry VI, Part 2, Act III, Sc. 2.)
York: (aside): “Scarce can I speak my choler is so great:
Oh, I could hew up rocks and fight with flint
I am so angry at these abject terms.”
(Henry VI, Part 2, Act V, Sc. 1.)
York: “Women are soft, mild, pitiful and flexible:
Thou stern, obdurate, flinty, rough, remorseless.”
(Henry VI, Part 3, Act I, Sc. 4.)
Richard: “Then Clifford were thy heart as hard as steel
As thou hast shown it flinty by thy deeds
I come to pierce it or to give thee mine.”
(Henry VI, Part 3, Act II, Sc. 1.)
Lucius: “Searching the window for a flint I found
This paper, thus sealed up.”
(Julius Caesar, Act II, Sc. 3.)
Brutus: “O Cassius, you are yoked with a lamb
That carries anger as the flint bears fire.”
(Julius Caesar, Act IV, Sc. 3.)
Enobarbus: “Throw my heart
Against the flint and hardness of my fault.”
(Antony and Cleopatra, Act IV, Sc. 9.)
Thersites: “There were wit in this head, an ’twould out: and so
there is, but it lies a coldly in him as fire in a flint,
which will not show without knocking.”
(Troilus and Cressida, Act III, Sc. 3.)
Demetrius: “But be your heart to them
As unrelenting flint to drops of rain.”
(Titus Andronicus, Act II, Sc. 3.)
Marcus: “My heart is not compact of flint nor steel.”
(Titus Andronicus, Act V, Sc. 3.)
Gower: “Make raging battery upon shores of flint.”
(Pericles, Act IV, Sc. 4.)
Poet: “The fire i’ the flint shows not till it be struck.”
(Timon of Athens, Act I, Sc. 1.)
Timon: “What, dost thou weep? Come nearer. Then I love thee.
Because thou art a woman and disclaim’st
Flinty Mankind.”
(Timon of Athens, Act IV, Sc. 3.)
Friar Lawrence: “Here comes the lady: oh, so light a foot
Will ne’er wear out the everlasting flint.”
(Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Sc. 6.)
Gloucester: “I would to God my heart were flint, like Edward’s.”
(Richard III, Act I, Sc. 3.)
Belarius: “... Weariness
Can snore upon the flint, when resty sloth
Finds the down pillow hard.”
(Cymbeline, Act III, Sc. 6.)
First Priest: “... For charitable prayers,
Shards, flints and pebbles should be thrown on her.”
(Hamlet, Act V, Sc. 1.)
Bastard: “Till their soul-fearing clamours have brawled down
The flinty ribs of this contemptuous city.”
(King John, Act II, Sc. 2.)
King Richard: “Go to Flint castle: there ’Il pine away;
A King, woe’s slave, shall kingly woe obey.”
(Richard II, Act III, Sc. 2.)
Queen: “This is the way
To Julius Caesar’s ill-erected tower,
To whose flint bosom my condemned lord
Is doomed a prisoner by proud Bolingbroke.”
(Richard II, Act V, Sc. 2.)
King Richard: “How these vain weak nails
May tear a passage through the flinty ribs
Of this hard world.”
(Richard 2, Act V, Sc. 5.)
King Henry: “He hath a tear for pity and a hand
Open as day for melting charity:
Yet notwithstanding, being incens’d, he’s flint.”
(Henry IV, Part 2, Act IV, Sc. 4.)
Othello: “The tyrant custom, most grave senators,
Hath made the flinty and steel couch of war
My thrice-driven bed of down.”
(Othello, Act I, Sc. 3.)
Helena: “Which gratitude
Through flinty Tartar’s bosom would peep forth,
And answer ‘Thanks.’”
(All’s Well that Ends Well, Act IV, Sc. 4.)
Duke: “Pluck commiseration of his state
From brassy bosoms and rough hearts of flint.”
(Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Sc. 1.)
Viola: “My master, not myself, lacks recompense,
Love make his heart of flint that you shall love;
And let your fervour like my master’s, be
Placed in contempt! Farewell, fair cruelty.”
(Twelfth Night, Act I, Sc. 5.)
Holofernes: “Fire enough for a flint, pearl enough for a swine.”
(Love’s Labours Lost, Act IV, Sc. 2.)
Volumnia: “Oh, stand up blest,
Whilst, with no softer cushion than the flint,
I kneel before thee.”
(Coriolanus, Act V, Sc. 3.)
JET
Gloucester: “What colour is my gown of?”
Simpcox: “Black, forsooth: coal black as jet.”
King: “Why then, thou know’st what colour jet is of?”
Suffolk: “And yet, I think, jet did he never see.”
(Henry VI, Part 2, Act II, Sc. 1.)
Titus: “Provide two proper palfreys, black as jet,
To hale thy vengeful waggon swift away.”
(Titus Andronicus, Act V, Sc. 2.)

Salarino: “There is more difference between thy flesh and hers than between jet and ivory.”

(Merchant of Venice, Act III, Sc. 1.)
LAPIS LAZULI
Evans: “What is ‘lapis,’ William?”
William: “A stone.”
Evans: “And what is a ‘stone,’ William?”
William: “A pebble.”
Evans: “No, it is ‘lapis’: I pray you, remember in your prain.”
William: “Lapis.”
Evans: “That is a good William.”
(The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act IV, Sc. 1.)
MARBLE
Card. Wolsey: “When I am forgotten, as I shall be:
And sleep in dull, cold marble.”
(Henry VIII, Act III, Sc. 2.)
King Henry: “Her tears will pierce into a marble heart.”
(Henry VI, Part 3, Act III, Sc. 2.)
Gloster: “He plies her hard: and much rain wears the marble.”
(Henry VI, Part 3, Act III, Sc. 2.)
Sicilius: “Peep through thy marble mansion.”
Sicilius: “The marble pavement closes.”
(Cymbeline, Act V, Sc. 4.)
Lavinia: “The milk from her did turn to marble.”
(Titus Andronicus, Act II, Sc. 3.)
Othello: “Now by yond marble heaven,
In the due reverence of a sacred vow
I here engage my words.”
(Othello, Act III, Sc. 3.)
Hamlet: “O, answer me! why the sepulchre
Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn’d,
Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws,
To cast thee up again.”
(Hamlet, Act I, Sc. 4.)
Duke: “And he, a marble to her tears, is washed with them, but relents not.”
(Measure for Measure, Act III, Sc. 1.)
Mariana: “Let me in safety raise me from my knees:
Or else forever be confixed here,
A marble monument!”
(Measure for Measure, Act V, Sc. 1.)
Macbeth: “I had else been perfect,
Whole as the marble.”
(Macbeth, Act III, Sc. 4.)
3rd Gentleman: “Who was most marble there, changed colour.”
(The Winter’s Tale, Act V, Sc. 2.)
Andriana: “If voluble and sharp discourse be marred,
Unkindness blunts it more than marble hard.”
(Comedy of Errors, Act II, Sc. 1.)
OPAL

Clown: “Now, the melancholy god protect thee: and the tailor make thy doublet of changeable taffeta, for thy mind is a very opal.”

(Twelfth Night, Act II, Sc. 4.)
PEARL
Ariel: “Those are pearls that were his eyes.” (See Coral.)
(Tempest, Act I, Sc. 1.)
Macduff: “I see thee encompass’d with thy kingdom’skingdom’s pearl
That speak my salutation in their minds.”
(Macbeth, Act V, Sc. 8.)
Constance: “Those heaven-moving pearls.” (See Crystal.)
(King John, Act II, Sc. 1.)
Othello: ... “Of one whose hand,
Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away
Richer than all his tribe.”
(Othello, Act V, Sc. 2.)
King: “Hamlet, this pearl is thine:
Here’s to thy health.”
(Hamlet, Act V, Sc. 2.)
Lear: “As pearls from diamonds dropped.” (See #Diamond:DIAMOND.)
(King Lear, Act IV, Sc. 3.)
Quickly: “Like sapphire, pearl and rich embroidery.” (See Emerald.)
(Merry Wives of Windsor, Act V, Sc. 5.)
Valentine: “And I, as rich in having such a jewel
As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl,
The water nectar and the rocks pure gold.”
(Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act II, Sc. 4.)
Proteus: “A sea of melting pearl which some call tears.”
(Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act III, Sc. 1.)
Proteus: “But pearls are fair: and the old saying is,
Black men are pearls in beauteous ladies’ eyes.”
Julia (aside): “’Tis true: such pearls as put out ladies’ eyes:
For I had rather wink than look on them.”
(Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act V, Sc. 2.)
Lord: “Or wilt thou ride? thy horses shall be trapped,
Their harness studded all with gold and pearl.”
(Taming of the Shrew, Induction, Sc. 2.)
Gremio: “In ivory coffers I have stuffed my crowns:
.... Fine linen, Turkey cushions bossed with pearl.”
(Taming of the Shrew, Act II, Sc. 1.)
Tranio: “Why, sir, what ’cerns it you if I wear pearl and gold?”
(Taming of the Shrew, Act V, Sc. 1.)
Touchstone: “Rich honesty dwells like a miser, sir, in a rich house:
as your pearl in your foul oyster.”
(As You Like It, Act V, Sc. 4.)

Margaret: “I saw the Duchess of Milan’s gown that they praise so By my troth’s but a night-gown in respect of yours: cloth o’ gold, and cuts, and laced with silver, set with pearls, down sleeves, side sleeves, and skirts, round underbone with a bluish tinsel.”

(Much Ado About Nothing, Act III, Sc. 4.)
Holofernes: “Pearl enough for a swine.” (See Flint.)
(Love’s Labours Lost, Act IV, Sc. 2.)
Maria: “This and these pearls to me sent Longaville.”
Princess: “What, will you have me or your pearl again?”
(Love’s Labours Lost, Act V, Sc. 2.)
Lysander: “Tomorrow night when Phoebe doth behold
Her silver visage in the watery glass,
Decking with liquid pearl the bladed glass
A time that lovers’ flights doth still conceal,
Through Athens’ gates have we devised to steal.”
(A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act I, Sc. 1.)
Fairy: “I must go seek some dewdrops here
And hang a pearl in every cowslip’s ear.”
(Act II, Sc. 1.)
Oberon: “And that same dew which sometime on the buds
Was wont to swell like round and orient pearls,
Stood now within the pretty flowerets’ eyes.”
(Act IV, Sc. 1.)
Sebastian: “This is the air: that is the glorious sun:
This pearl she gave me, I do feel’t and see’t
And though ’tis wonder that enwraps me thus,
Yet ’tis not madness.”
(Twelfth Night, Act IV, Sc. 3.)
Falstaff: “Your brooches, pearls and ouches.”
(Henry IV, Part 2, Act II, Sc. 4.)
King Henry: “I am a king that find thee, and I know
’Tis not the balm, the sceptre, and the ball,
The sword, the mace, the crown imperial,
The intertissued robe of gold and pearl,
The farced title running ’fore the King,
The throne he sits on nor the tide of pomp
That beats upon the high shore of the world.”
(Henry V, Act IV, Sc. 1.)
Clarence: “Methought I saw a thousand fearful wrecks:
Ten thousand men that fishes gnawed upon:
Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,
Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels,
All scattered in the bottom of the sea:
Some lay in dead men’s skulls: and, in those holes
Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept
As ’twere in scorn of eyes, reflecting gems.”
(King Richard III, Act I, Sc. 4.)
King Richard: “The liquid drops of tears that you have shed
Shall come again, transformed to orient pearl.”
(Act IV, Sc. 4.)
Cleopatra: “How goes it with my brave Mark Antony?
Alexas: “Alexas: “ Last thing he did, dear Queen,
He kissed—the last of many doubled kisses—
The orient pearl. His speech sticks in my heart.”
Cleopatra: “Mine ears must pluck it thence.”
Alexas: “Alexas: “‘Good friend,’ quote he,
‘Say the firm Roman to great Egypt sends
This treasure of an oyster.’”
(Antony and Cleopatra, Act I, Sc. 5.)
Cleopatra: “’Il set thee in a shower of gold and hail
Rich pearls upon thee.”
(Act II, Sc. 2.)
Troilus: “Her bed is India: there she lies, a pearl.”
(Troilus and Cressida, Act I, Sc. 1.)
Troilus: “Why, she is a pearl,
Whose price hath launched above a thousand ships,
And turned crowned kings to merchants.”
(Act II, Sc. 2.)
Aaron: “I will be bright and shine in pearl and gold,
To wait upon this new-made empress.”
(Titus Andronicus. Act II, Sc. 1.)
Lucius: “This is the pearl that pleased your empress’ eye,
And here’s the base fruit of his burning lust.”
(Act V, Sc. 1.)
RUBY
Fairy: “The cowslips tall her pensioners be:
In their gold coats spots you see:
Those be rubies, fairy favours,
In those freckles live their savours.”
(A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act II, Sc. 1.)
Macbeth: “You make me strange
When now I think you can behold such sights,
And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks,
When mine is blanched with fear.”
(Macbeth, Act III, Sc. 4.)
Mark Antony: “Over thy wounds now do I prophesy—
Which like dumb mouths do ope their ruby lips,
To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue.”
(Julius Caesar. Act III. Sc. 1.)
Dromio: “Embellished with rubies, carbuncles, sapphires.”
(See Carbuncle.)
(Comedy of Errors. Act III. Sc. 2.)