| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907. | | | | The Stately Dames of Rome Their Pearls Did Wear | | By George Gascoigne (d. 1577) |
| | | THE STATELY dames of Rome their pearls did wear | |
| 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 | 5 |
| 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— | 10 |
| 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. | | | | |
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