Rich women, including the queen, made themselves additionally beauteous by bleaching their skin with compounds of borax, sulfur, and lead-all at least mildly toxic, sometimes very much more so-for pale skin was a sign of supreme loveliness. {Which makes the "dark lady" of Shakespeare's sonnets an exotic being in the extreme.}
( Bill Bryson )
[ Shakespeare: The World as ]
www.QuoteSweet.com