Was I deceiv'd, or did a sable cloud

Turn forth her silver lining on the night?

John Milton (1608-1674): Comus. Line 221.

Night, sable goddess! from her ebon throne,

In rayless majesty, now stretches forth

Her leaden sceptre o'er a slumbering world.

Edward Young (1684-1765): Night thoughts. Night i. Line 18.

Underneath this sable hearse

Lies the subject of all verse,—

Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother.

Death, ere thou hast slain another,

Learn'd and fair and good as she,

Time shall throw a dart at thee.

Ben Jonson (1573-1637): Epitaph on the Countess of Pembroke.

Care-charmer Sleep, son of the sable Night,

Brother to Death, in silent darkness born.

Samuel Daniel (1562-1619): To Delia. Sonnet 51.

  Ham.  His beard was grizzled,—no?

  Hor.  It was, as I have seen it in his life,

A sable silver'd.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Hamlet. Act i. Sc. 2.