But pearls are fair; and the old saying is: Black men are pearls in beauteous ladies' eyes.
William Shakespeare (1793). “The Plays of William Shakspeare: In Fifteen Volumes. With the Corrections and Illustrations of Various Commentators. To which are Added, Notes by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens. The Fourth Edition. Revised and Augmented (with a Glossarial Index) by the Editor of Dodsley's Collection of Old Plays”, p.277