To lighten all this isle;"[397:A]
and in Titus Andronicus, (if that play can be deemed his,) upon the discovery of Bassianus slaughtered in a pit;
"Martius. Upon his bloody finger he doth wear
A precious ring, that lightens all the hole,
——like a taper in some monument;"[397:B]
He also mentions this "rich jewel" by way of comparison in Coriolanus[397:C]; appropriates it as an ornament to the wheels of Phœbus's chariot in Cymbeline[397:D]; and in the Player's speech in Hamlet, the eyes of Pyrrhus are said to be "like carbuncles."[397:E]
Drayton describes this fabled stone with nearly as much precision as Chaucer; he calls it
"——— that admired, mighty stone,
The carbuncle that's named;
Which from it such a flaming light