Quhen Alysaunder oure kyng wes dede, That Scotland led in lauche and le, Away wes sons of alle and brede, Off wyne and wax, of gamyn and gle; Oure gold wes changyd in to lede. Cryst, borne in to virgynyte, Succour Scotland, and remede, That stad is in perplexyte.

-Anonymous
c.1286  Lines said to have been written after the death of Alexander II of Scotland, the earliest extant piece of Scottish verse. Quoted in the Original Chronicle of  Andrew Wyntoun (c.1420), bk.7.

There was a girl in our town, Silk an'satin was her gown, Silk an'satin, gold an' velvet, Guess her name, three times I've telled it.

-Anonymous
Quoted in  James Orchard Halliwell  The Nursery Rhymes of England (1842). The answer, of course, is'Ann'.

He who hath the gold maketh the rule.

-Anonymous
  Inscription on plaque in  Armand Hammer's bedroom. Quoted in Regardie's, Feb.

Fetters of gold are still fetters, and the softest lining can never make them so easyas liberty.

-Astell, Mary
  An Essay in Defence of the Female Sex.

The order of nobility is of great use, too, not only in what it creates, but in what it prevents. It prevents the rule of wealthöthe religion of gold. This is the obvious and natural idol of the Anglo-Saxon† From this our aristocracy preserves us.

-Bagehot,Walter
  The English Constitution, ch.4,'The House of Lords'.

'O I forbid you, maidens a', That wear gowd on your hair, To come or gae by Carterhaugh, For youngTam Lin is there. 'There's nane that gaes by Carterhaugh, But they leave him a wad. Either their rings or green mantles, Or else their maidenhead.' Janet has kilted her green kirtle A little aboon her knee, And she has braided her yellow hair A little aboon her bree, And she's awa'to Carterhaugh As fast as she can hie.

-Ballads
'Tam Lin', opening stanzas.

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Proverbs 25:11.

Thou,O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his bellyand his thighs of brass.His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stonewas cut out without hands, whichsmotetheimage upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Daniel 2:31^34.

And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

-Bible (NewTestament)
St Matthew 2:11.

Silverand gold have Inone; but such as Ihave give Ithee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.

-Bible (NewTestament)
Acts of the  Apostles 3:6.

And the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.

-Bible (NewTestament)
Revelation 21:21.

Bring me my bow of burning gold! Bring me myarrows of desire! Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold! Bring me my chariot of fire!

-Blake,William
  Milton, preface. Stanza 3.

   Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead! There's none of these so lonely and poor of old, But, dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold.

-Brooke, Rupert Chawner
  'The Dead'.

Dear, dead woman, with suchhair, tooöwhat's become of all the gold Used to hang and brush their bosoms? I feel chilly and grown old.

-Browning, Robert
  Men and Women,'A  Toccata of Galuppi's'.

We're bought and sold for English gold, Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

-Burns, Robert
  'Such a parcel of rogues in a nation', stanza 3.

But al be that he was a philosophre, Yet hadde he but litel gold in cofre.

-Chaucer, Geoffrey
  Canterbury  Tales,'General Prologue', l.298^9.

If gold ruste, what shall iren do?

-Chaucer, Geoffrey
  Canterbury  Tales,'General Prologue', l.500.

What is bettre than gold? Jaspre.What is bettre than jaspre? Wisedoom.

-Chaucer, Geoffrey
  Canterbury  Tales,'The Tale of Melibee', l.1106^7.

His coomb was redder than the fyn coral, And batailled as it were a castle wal; His byle was blak, and as the jeet it shoon; Lyk asure were his legges and his toon; His nayles whitter than the lylye flour, And lyk the burned gold was his colour.

-Chaucer, Geoffrey
  Of Chauntecleer. Canterbury Tales,'The Nun's Priest's Tale', l.2859^64.

Do not expect again a phoenix hour, The triple-towered sky, the dove complaining, Sudden the rain of gold and heart's first ease Traced under trees by the eldritch light of sundown.

-Day-Lewis, Cecil
  'From Feathers to Iron'.