William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907.
The Stately Dames of Rome Their Pearls Did WearGeorge Gascoigne (d. 1577)
T
About their necks to beautify their name:
But she whom I do serve, her pearls doth bear
Close in her mouth, and, smiling, shew the same.
No wonder, then, though every word she speaks
A jewel seem in judgment of the wise,
Since that her sugared tongue the passage breaks
Between two rocks, bedecked with pearls of price.
Her hair of gold, her front of ivory—
A bloody heart within so white a breast—
Her teeth of pearl, lips ruby, crystal eye,
Needs must I honour her above the rest,
Since she is formed of none other mould
But ruby, crystal, ivory, pearl and gold.