| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Laura—Part I. | | XXV. White was the orient pearl which, on a day | | Robert Tofte (1561–1620) |
| | | WHITE was the orient pearl which, on a day, | |
| That hand me gave: which scorns the proud compare | |
| Of purest white; and bears the palm away | |
| As of all pearly Fairs, the orient’st fair. | |
| And whilst She offered unto me the same, | 5 |
| I knew not which the Pearl was, of the twain. | |
| So white the hand was of my peerless Pearl | |
| As it did dazzle with delight mine eyes, | |
| And pearl seemèd to me, giving me the pearl; | |
| Which made me, sighing, say in whisp’ring wise, | 10 |
| “Ah, why once may I not so happy be, | |
| This Pearl to have; which th’ other gives to me?” | | | | |
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