Classic Poem

In shells and gold, pearles are not kept alone,
A Margaret here lies beneath a stone;
A Margaret that did excell in worth
All those rich gems the Indies both send forth;
Who, had she liv'd when good was lov'd of men,
Had made the Graces foure, the Muses ten,
And forc'd those happy times her daies that claim'd,
From her to be the age of pearle still nam'd.
She was the richest jewell of her kind,
Grac'd with more lustre than she left behind,
All goodnesse, vertue, bounty, and could cheare
The saddest mind: now nature knowing here
How things but shown, then hidden, are lov'd best,
This Margaret shrin'd in this marble chest.