ncient times. At least, we might
gather from this passage that the poet was aware of the distinction
between ruby and carbuncle (pyrope garnet). Rubies as "fairy favors"
is a dainty mention in the fairy drama _Midsummer Night's Dream_ (Act
ii, sc. 1). Caesar's wounds "ope their ruby lips" (_Julius Caesar_, Act
iii, sc. 1). Macbeth speaks of the "natural ruby of your cheeks", in
addressing his wife at the apparition of Banquo's ghost; with her this
is unchanged, while with him terror or remorse has blanched it
(_Macbeth_, Act iii, sc. 4). Lastly, the term "ruby lips", so often
used by poets, is employed by Shakespeare with consummate art in
_Cymbeline_ (Act ii, sc. 2) where he writes:

But kiss; one kiss! Rubies unparagon'd,
How dearly they do't.
First Folio, "Tragedies", p. 376, col. B, line 18.

The "rubies" of the poet's time were frequently ruby spinels, or the
so-called "balas rubies" from Badakshan, in Afghan Turkestan. The most
noted one in the England of that period was probably the one said to
have been given to Edward the Black Prince by Pedro the Cruel of
Castile, after the battle of Najera, in 1367, and now the most prized
adornment of the English Crown, excepting the great historic diamond,
the Koh-i-nur. The immense Star of South Africa, weighing 531 metric
carats, five times the weight of the Koh-i-nur, is intrinsically worth
much more, but lacks the manifold dramatic and historic associations
of its Indian sister.

Strange to say, the beautiful sapphire is only twice named by
Shakespeare, once as an adjunct to the pearl in embroidery (_Merry
Wives of Windsor_, Act v, sc. 5). The single mention of chrysolite is
much more impressive:

If heaven would make me such another world,
Of one entire and perfect chrysolite!
_Othello_, Act v, sc. 2.
"Tragedies", p. 337, col. A, line 5.

Chrysolite (peridot, or olivine) was regarded in Shakespeare's time
and earlier as of exceptional rarity. The fine peridots of the Chapel
of the Three Kings in Cologne Cathedral were believed to be emeralds
of extraordinary size and were once valued at $15,000,000, although
they are really worth barely $100,000; some of them are more than an
inch in diameter. Whence they came is uncertain, but it is probable
that they were brought from the East at some time during the Crusades.
Indeed the origin of the fine peridots of the Middle Ages i