_Sû la pietra, e nel foco l’or si proua, E nel bisogno, come l’or nel foco, Si dee mostrar leale in ogni loco l’Amante; e alhor si vee d’Amor la proua._” The same metaphor of attesting characters, as gold is proved by the touchstone or by the furnace, is of frequent occurrence in Shakespeare’s undoubted plays; and sometimes the turn of the thought is so like Whitney’s as to give good warrant for the supposition, either of a common original, or that Shakespeare had read the Emblems of our Cheshire poet and made use of them. King Richard III. says to Buckingham (act iv. sc. 2, l. 8, vol. v. p. 580),— “O Buckingham, now do I play the touch, To try if thou be current gold indeed.” And in _Timon of Athens_ (act iii. sc. 3, l. 1, vol. vii. p. 245), when Sempronius observes to a servant of Timon’s,— “Must he needs trouble me in’t,—hum!—’bove all others? He might have tried Lord Lucius and Lucullus; And now Ventidius is wealthy too, Whom he redeem’d from prison: all these Owe their estates unto him.” The servant immediately replies,— “My lord, They have all been touch’d and found base metal, for They have all denied him.” Isabella, too, in _Measure for Measure_ (act ii. sc. 2, l. 149, vol. i. p. 324), most movingly declares her purpose to bribe Angelo, the lord-deputy,— “Not with fond shekels of the tested gold, Or stones whose rates are either rich or poor As fancy values them; but with true prayers That shall be up at heaven and enter there Ere sun-rise, prayers from preserved souls, From fasting maids whose minds are dedicate To nothing temporal.” In the dialogue from _King John_ (act iii. sc. 1, l. 96, vol. iv. p. 37) between Philip of France and Constance, the same testing is alluded to. King Philip says,— “By heaven, lady, you shall have no cause To curse the fair proceedings of this day: Have I not pawn’d to you my majesty?” But Constance answers with great severity,— “You have beguiled me with a counterfeit Resembling majesty, which being touch’d and tried, Proves valueless: you are forsworn, forsworn.” One instance more shall close the subject;—it is from the _Coriolanus_ (act iv. sc. 1, l. 44, vol. vi. p. 369), and contains a very fine allusion to the testing of true metal; the noble traitor is addressing his mother Volumnia, his wife Virgilia, and others of his kindred,—