If this ode was really written by Anacreon, that poet must have been more familiar with pearls than some later Grecian writers. A similar idea quite as beautifully expressed occurs in "The Loves of the Angels." Then too the pearl from out its shell Unsightly, in the sunless sea, (As 'twere a spirit, forced to dwell In form unlovely) was set free, And round the neck of woman threw A light it lent and borrowed too. Unlike most of the poets, Moore does not describe the sparkling dew-drop as pearly and his references to tears of pearls include the idea of metamorphosis, as in "The Light of the Haram." And precious their tears as that rain from the sky, Which turns into pearls as it falls in the sea. These lines embody the ancient Hindu superstition which is also apparent in his "Lines to—:" Put off the fatal zone you wear, The shining pearls around it Are tears, that fell from Virtue there, The hour when Love unbound it. In his adoration of female beauty, he often holds the lustrous gem as a foil to the exceeding charms of woman, or to lift her to higher esteem by holding her, for preciousness, above the gem. Beyond all other things most lovely, only woman was lovelier yet. In "To weave a Garland for the Rose," he writes: Where is the pearl whose orient lustre Would not, beside thee, look less bright? And in one of the "Odes to Nea," he expresses the jealous regard of love thus: If I were yonder conch of gold And thou the pearl within it placed, I would not let an eye behold The sacred gem my arms embraced. Of the threads in which the woof of "The Genius of Harmony" is woven, there is one that sings thus to the passing of the shuttle: To the small rill, that weeps along Murmuring o'er beds of pearl. Betraying as he did so frequently in his poems, such a high regard for the pearl, it is somewhat curious that the gem was used descriptively in connection with himself. N. P. Willis, describing Thomas Moore as he met him at Lady Blessington's said of him, "His forehead shines with the lustre and smooth polish of a pearl." Schiller takes the gem from the warm touch of human sentiment and builds it into a grand conception, poetical but untrue to Nature. In common with other poets, he credits the pearl with a play of color seldom found even to a limited degree though it does occur in the mother-of-pearl. In "Parables and Riddles," he describes the rainbow thus: A bridge of pearls its fabric weaves, A gray sea arching proudly over. In "The Celebrated Woman" he alludes twice to pearls; once when the husband, bemoaning the passage of his choice vintages down the throats of unappreciative celebrities, realizes that the only reward from his spouse for his endurance of it is, "sour looks—deep sighs." Because he has no stomach for her notables and their wit, she regrets— That such a pearl should fall to swine—