THE 
 
 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 OP 
 
 FIN^GEE-KIlSrGS 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES EDWARDS 
 
 COUNSBLLOB AT LAW, NEW TORK 
 
 * My ring I hold dear as my finger ; 'tis part of it.'* 
 
 Shakbpsars 
 
 WITH A PREFACE BY B. H. STODDARD, 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 JOHN W. LOVELL COMPANY 
 
 150 Worth Street, corner Mission Place 
 

 ^mH- 
 
 1 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year lS\>i, by 
 CHARLES EDWARDS, 
 
 In the Clerk's OflSce of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District 
 
 of New- York. 
 
PREFACE, 
 
 The history of finger-rings is more abundant than 
 the poetry, which is chiefly connected with the cere- 
 monies and observances in which they figure. What 
 this history is Mr. Edwards has indicated in the gos- 
 sipy pages which follow, and which contain a world 
 of curious information. Interesting in themselves, 
 they are valuable for their references, which enable 
 the reader to verify the statements of Mr. Edwards, 
 and to pursue his line of study farther than he has 
 chosen to do. He will find many particulars in regard 
 to rings of all sorts, among the different people by whom 
 they have been worn, in ancient and modern times, 
 and of the important part they have played in the his- 
 tory of the world. He will also find many allusions 
 to them in the poets, but not so many poems of which 
 they were the inspiration as he might have expected, 
 for the simple reason that such poems do not exist. 
 
 ** The small orbit of the wedding-ring/* 
 
 as a nameless old poet satirically calls it, has seldom 
 proved large enough for genius to revolve in. Mr. Ed- 
 wards quotes but one marriage poem, 
 
 ** Thee, Mary, with this ring I wed," 
 
 which he fails to trace to its author, the Rev. Samuel 
 Bishop, who has written nothing else that is worth 
 remembering. I am happy to restore it to him, and 
 
 iii 
 
 3 a 5^ O. C ^ 
 
IV P E E F A E. 
 
 to quote a second poem, wliicli is rather more' elegant 
 and less familiar, and wliicli is put down to the credit 
 of William Pattison, of whom I know nothing. I take 
 it from Dr. Palmer's " Poetry of Courtship and Com- 
 pliment" (1868), an admirable collection of amorous 
 verse. 
 
 TO HER RING. 
 
 Blest ornament ! how happy is thy snare. 
 
 To bind the snowy finger of my fair ! 
 
 O, could I learn thy nice concise art. 
 
 Now, as thou bind'st her fingers, bind her heart. 
 
 Not Eastern diadems like thee can shine, 
 Fed from her brighter eyes with beams divine ; 
 Nor can their mightiest monarch's power command 
 So large an empire as my charmer's hand. 
 
 O, could thy form thy fond admirer wear. 
 Thy very likeness should in all appear ; 
 My endless love thy endless love should show. 
 And my heart flaming, for thy diamond glow. 
 
 K H. S. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER ONE. ^ 
 
 1. Interest and Importance attaching to Rings ; Shakspeare's Eing ; Earl 
 Godwin. 2. Words symbolum and ungulus. 3. King-money. 4. Eings in 
 Mythology ; Theseus ; Prometheus, Inventor of the Fii-st Eing. 5. Seala 
 from the Scarabseus. 6. Eings in Greek Urns. 7. Judah and Tamar ; Al- 
 exander. 8. Eing a Symbol of Fidelity, Eternity and of the Deity. 9. Eo- 
 
 ' man Eings. 10. Eings in German Caverns. 11. Eings of the Gauls and 
 Britons. 12. Anglo-Saxon Workers in Metal. 13. Ladies' Seal-rings. 
 14. Substance, Forms and Size of Eings ; Number, and on what fingers 
 worn; Pearls ; Carbuncle ; Death's-head Eings. 15. Law of Eings. 16. Or- 
 der of the Eing. 17. Eings found in all places. 18. Persian Signets. 
 19. Value of ancient Eings. 20. Love's Telegraph, and Name-rings ; Polish 
 Birth-day Gifts. 21. Eings in Heraldry. 22. Eings in Fish. 23. Eiddle. 
 24. Eing misapplied. 25. Horace Walpole's Poesy on a Eing 9 
 
 CHAPTER TWO. 
 
 KINGS CONNECTED WITH POWER. 
 
 1. The Eing an Emblem of Power ; Pharaoh; Quintus Curtius; Antiochus 
 Epiphanes ; Augustus ; King of Persia ; Egypt under the Ptolemies ; Eo- 
 man Senators ; the Forefinger. 2. Eings used in Coronations ; Edward the 
 Second ; Mother of Henry VIII. ; Queen Elizabeth ; Charles II. ; Coro- 
 nation Eings ; Canute ; Sebert ; Henry II. ; Childeric ; Matilda, wife cf 
 William the Conqueror. 3. King withdrawing a Proceeding from the 
 Council by the use of a Eing. 4. The Doge of Venice marrying the Adriatic. 
 5. The Eing of Office of the Doge. 6. The Fisherman's Ring. 7. Papal 
 Eing of Pius II. 8. Investiture of Arch*)ishops and Bishops by delivery 
 of a Eing ; Cardinal's Eing; Extension of the two Forefingers and Thumb. 
 9. Serjeant's Eing. 10. Arabian Princesses. 11. Eoman Knights. 12. Al- 
 derman's Thumb Ring 65 
 
n CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER THKEE. ^ 
 
 EING8 HAVING SUPPOSED CHARMS OR VIRTUES, AND CONNECTED WITH DEGRADATION 
 AND SLAVERY, OR USED FOR SAD OR WICKED PURPOSES. 
 
 1. Antiquity of Amulets and Enclianted and Magical Kings ; Samothraeian 
 Rings; Double Object in Amulets; Substance and Form of them. 2. Pre- 
 cious Stones and their Healing or Protective Powers : Jasper ; Diamond ; 
 Euby ; Carbuncle ; Jacinth ; Amethyst ; Emerald ; Topaz ; Agate ; Sapphire ; 
 Opal , Cornelian ; Chalcedony ; Turquoise ; Coral ; Loadstone ; Sweating 
 Stones. 3. Enchanted Rings ; those possessed by Execustus ; Solomon's 
 Ring; Ballads of Lambert Linkin and Hynd Horn. 4. Talismanic Ring; 
 Elizabeth of Poland; Ring against Poison offered to Mary of Scotland; 
 Rings from the Palace at Eltham and from Coventry ; Sir Edmund Shaw ; 
 Shell Ring. 5. Medicinal Rings. 6. Magical Rings; Ariosto; Ring of 
 Gyges ; Sir Tristram ; Cramp Rings ; Rings to cure Convulsions, Warts, 
 Wounds, Fits, Falling Sickness, etc.; Galvanic Rings; Headache and 
 Plague Rings; Amulet against Storms. 7. Ordeal. 8. Punishment in 
 time of Alfred. 9. Founding of Aix-la-Chapelle. 10. Ring on a Statue. 
 11. Bloody Baker. 12. The Borgia Ring. 13. Rings held in the Mouth. 
 14. Rings used by Thieves, Gamblers and Cheats. 15. Roman Slave. . 93 
 
 CHAPTER FOUR. 
 
 RINGS COUPLED WITH REMARKABLE HISTORICAL CHARACTERS OR CIRCUMSTANCES. 
 
 1. Ring of Suphis; Pharaoh's Ring given to Joseph. 2. Rings of Hannibal; 
 Mithridates ; Pompey ; Csesar ; Augustus and Nero. ^ Cameo. 4. Ethel- 
 woulf; Madoc; Edward the Confessor ; King John; LordL'Isle; Richard 
 Bertie and his Son Lord Willoughby ; Great Earl of Cork ; Shakspeare's 
 Signet-Ring ; The Ring Queen Elizabeth gave to Essex ; Ring of Mary of 
 Scotland and one sent by her to Elizabeth ; Darnley ; The Blue Ring ; Duke 
 of Dorset's Ring in the Isle of Wight supposed to have belonged to Charles 
 the First, and Memorial Rings of this Monarch ; Earl of Derby ; Charles 
 the Second ; Jeffrey's Blood-Stone ; The great Dundee ; Nelson ; Scotch 
 Coronation Ring ; The Admirable Crichton ; Sir Isaac Newton ; Kean ; 
 Wedding Ring of Byron's Mother. 5. Matrons of Warsaw. 6. The Prus- 
 sian Maiden 147 
 
 CHAPTER F I Y E. 
 
 RINGS OF LOVE, A%"FECTION AND FRIENDSHIP. 
 
 1. The Gimmal or Gimmow Ring. 2, Sonnet by Davison. 3. Church Mar- 
 
 / riage ordained by Innocent HI. ; and, Marriage-Ring. 4. Rings used in 
 
 different countries in Marriages and on Betrothment : Esthonia ; the Copts ; 
 
CONTENTS. Vll 
 
 Persia; Spain ; Ackmetcliet in Kussia. 5. Betrothal Rings.- 6. Signets of 
 the first Christians. 7. Laws of Marriage. (S,, Wedding Finger ; Artery to 
 the Heart ; Lady who had lost the Ring Finger. 9. Roman Catholic Mar- 
 riages. Clji; Marriage-Ring during the Commonwealth. 11. Ring in Jew- 
 ish Marriages. 12. Superstitions. 13. Rings of twisted Gold-wire given 
 away at Weddings. 14. Cupid and Psyche. 15. St. Anne and St. Joachim. 
 16. Rush Rings. 17. Rings with the Orpine Plant. 18. Ancient Marriage- 
 Rings had Mottoes and Seals. 19. The Sessa Ring. 20. Rings bequeathed 
 or kept in Memory of the .Dead : Washington ; Shakspeare ; Pope ; Dr. 
 Johnson; Lord Eldon; Tom Moore's Motlier. 21. The Ship Fmvhai tan. 
 22. Ring of Affection illustrated by a Pelican and Young. 23. Bran of 
 Brittany. 24. Rings used by Writers of Fiction ; Shakspeare's Cymbe- 
 line. 25. Small Rings for the Penates ; Lines to a Wife with the gift of a 
 Ring. 26. Story from the " Gesta Romanorum." 195 
 
HISTORY AND FOETEY 
 
 FINGER-RINGS 
 
 CHAPTER ONE. 
 
 1. Interest and Importance attaching to Rings ; Shakspeare's Ring ; Earl 
 Godwin. 2. Words symbolum and ungulus. 3. Eing-money. 4. Eings in 
 Mythology ; Theseus ; Prometlieus Inventor of the First Eing. 5. Seals 
 from the Scarabaeus. 6. Eings in Greek Urns. 7. Judah and Tamar ; Al- 
 exander. 8. Eing a Symbol of Fidelity, Eternity, and of the Deity. 9. Eo- 
 man Eings. 10. Eings in German Caverns. 11. Eings of the Gauls and 
 Britons. 12. Anglo-Saxon Workers in Metal. 13. Ladies' Seal-rings. 
 14. Substance, Forms and Size of Eings ; Number, and on what fingers 
 worn ; Pearls ; Carbuncle ; Death's-head Eings. 15. Law of Eings. 16. Or- 
 der of the Eing. 17. Eings found in all places. 18. Persian Signets. 
 19. Value of ancient Eings. 20. Love's Telegraph, and Name-rings ; Polish 
 Birth-day Gifts. 21. Eings in Heraldry. 22. Eings in Fish. 23. Eiddle. 
 24. Eing misapplied. 25. Horace Walpole's Poesy on a Eing. 
 
 1. A CIRCLE, known as a finger-ring, has been an 
 
 object of ornament and of use for thousands of years. 
 
 Indeed, the time when it was first fashioned and worn 
 
 is so far in the past that it alone shines there ; all around 
 
 is ashes or darkness. 
 
 1* 
 
10 HIS T OR TAKDPOETKY 
 
 This little perfect figure may seem to be a trifling mat- 
 ter on which to found an essay ; and yet we shall fmd it 
 connected with history and j^oetry. It is, indeed, a small 
 link, although it has bound together millions for better 
 for worse, for richer for poorer, more securely than could 
 the shackle wrought for a felon. An impression from it 
 may have saved or lost a kingdom. It is made the sym- 
 bol of power; and has been a mark of slavery. Love 
 has placed it wher# a vein was supposed to vibrate in 
 the heart. Affection and friendship have wrought it 
 into a remembrance ; and it has passed into the grave 
 upon the finger of the beloved one. 
 
 And, though the ring itself may be stranger to us, and 
 might never have belonged to ancestor, friend or com- 
 panion, yet there can be even a general interest about 
 such a slight article. For instance, a few years ago a 
 ring was found which had belonged to Shakspeare, and 
 must have been a gift : for the true-lover's knot is there. 
 Who would not desire to possess, wdio would not like 
 even to see the relic ? There is reason to supj)ose that 
 this ring was the gift of Anne Hathaway, she " who had 
 as much virtue as could die." And we must be allowed 
 to indulge in the idea that it was pressing Shakspeare's 
 finger when those lines were inscribed " To the idol of 
 mine eyes and the delight of my heart, Anne Hatha- 
 way:''^ 
 
 " Talk not of gems, the orient list, 
 The diamond, topaz, amethyst, 
 The emerald mild, the ruby gay : 
 Talk of my gem, Anne Hathaway! 
 She Jiath a way, with her bright eye, 
 Their various lustre to defy, 
 
OP FINGEK -RINGS. 11 
 
 The jewel she, and the foil they, 
 So sweet to look Anne hath a way. 
 
 She JiMth a way, 
 
 Anne Hathaway, 
 To shame bright gems Anne liath a way .'"* 
 
 We shall find many interesting stories connected with 
 rings. By way of illustration, here is one : 
 
 In a battle between Edmund the Anglo-Saxon and 
 
 * The poem from wliicli this stanza is taken has now become so scarce, 
 and is so pleasing, that we are induced to insert it in this note : 
 
 TO THE IDOL OF MINE EYES AND THE DELIGHT OF MINE HEART, 
 4lNNE HATHAWAY. 
 
 Would ye be tauglit, ye feathered throng, 
 Witli love's sweet notes to grace your song. 
 To pierce the heart with thrilling lay, 
 Listen to mine Anne Hathaway ! 
 She liatli a way to sing so clear, 
 Phoebus might wond'ring stop to hear ; 
 To melt the sad, make blithe the gay. 
 And nature charm, Anne Jiath a way : 
 
 She liath a way^ 
 
 Anne Hathaway, 
 To breathe delight Anne Tiath a way. 
 
 When envy's breath and rancorous tooth 
 
 Do soil and bite fair worth and truth. 
 
 And merit to distress betray. 
 
 To soothe the heart Anne hath a way ; 
 
 She hath a way to chase despair. 
 
 To heal all grief, to cure all care. 
 
 Turn foulest night to fairest day : 
 
 Thou know'st, fond heart, Anne hath a way^ 
 
 She hath a way^ 
 
 Anne Hathaway, 
 To make grief bliss Anne hath a way. 
 
 Talk not of gems, the orient list. 
 The diamond, topaz, amethyst, 
 The emerald mild, the ruby gay : 
 Talk of my gem, Anne Hathaway ! 
 
1^ HISTORY AND POETKY 
 
 Canute the Dane, the army of the latter was "defeated 
 and fled ; and one of its principal captains, Ulf, lost his 
 way in the woods. After wandering all night, he met, 
 at daybreak, a young peasant driving a herd of oxen, 
 whom he saluted and asked his name. " I am Godwin, 
 the son of Ulfnoth," said the young peasant, " and thou 
 art a Dane." Thus obliged to confess who he was, Ulf 
 begged the young Saxon to show him his way to the 
 Severn, where the Danish ships were at anchor. " It is 
 foolish in a Dane," replied the peasant, " to expect such 
 a service from a Saxon ; and, besides, the way is long, 
 and the country people are all in arms." The Danish 
 chief drew off a gold ring from his finger and gave it to 
 the shepherd as an inducement to be his guide. The 
 young Saxon looked at it for an instant with great ear- 
 nestness, and then returned it, saying, "I will take 
 nothing from thee, but I will try to conduct thee." 
 Leading him to his father's cottage, he concealed him 
 
 She hath a way, with her bright eye, 
 Their various lustre to defy, 
 The jewel she and the foil they, 
 So sweet to look Amie hath a way. 
 
 She hath a way^ , 
 
 Anne Hathaway, 
 To shame bright gems, Anne hath a way. 
 
 But were it to my fancy given 
 
 To rate her charms, I'd call them Heaven ; 
 
 For though a mortal made of clay, 
 
 Angels must love Anne Hathaway. 
 
 She hath a way so to control 
 
 To rapture the imprisoned soul, 
 
 And sweetest Heaven on earth display, 
 
 That to be Heaven Anne hath a way ! 
 
 She hath a way, 
 
 Anne Hathaway, 
 To be Heaven's self Anne hath a way. 
 
OF FINGEK-KINGS. 13 
 
 there during the day ; and when night came on, they 
 prepared to depart together. As they were going, the 
 old peasant said to Ulf, " This is my only son Godwin, 
 w^ho risks his life for thee. He cannot return among his 
 countrymen again ; take him, therefore, and present him 
 to thy king, Canute, that he may enter into his service.'' 
 The Dane promised, and kept his word. The young- 
 Saxon peasant was well received in the Danish camp ; 
 and rising from step to step by the force of his talents, 
 he afterwards became known over all England as the 
 great Earl Godwin. He might have been monarch; 
 while his sweet and beautiful daughter Edith or Ethels- 
 with did marry King Edward. " Godwin," the people 
 said in their songs, contrasting the firmness of the father 
 with the sweetness of the daughter, " is the parent of 
 Edith, as the thorn is of the rose."* 
 
 2. The word symbolum^ for a long time, meant a 
 ring ; and was substituted for the ancient Oscan word 
 ungulus. 
 
 3. In examining ancient rings, care must be taken 
 not to confound them with coins made in the shape of 
 rings.f The fresco paintings in the tombs of Egypt 
 exhibit people bringing, as tribute, to the foot of the 
 throne of Pharaoh, bags of gold and silver rings, at a 
 period before the exodus of the Israelites. Great quan- 
 tities of ring-money have been found in different coun- 
 tries, including Ireland.:]: 
 
 * Chambers's Miscellany, vol. xv., No. 132. 
 
 t Layard's Nineveh, ii. 318. 
 
 X Papers read before the Irish Academy, 1836. 
 
14 HISTORY AND POETKY 
 
 ^Egyptian Ring-money. Celtic Ring-money. 
 
 The ancient Britons had them. That these rings were 
 used for money, is confirmed by the fact that, on being 
 weighed, by far the greater number of them appear to 
 be exact multiples of a certain standard unit. Layard 
 mentions^ that Dr. Lepsius has recently published a bas 
 relief, from an Egyptian tomb, representing a man 
 weighing rings of gold and silver, with weights in the 
 form of a bull's head ; and Layard also gives a seem- 
 ing outline of the subject, (although its description 
 speaks of " weights in the form of a seated lion.") It is 
 presumed that these rings are intended for ring-money ; 
 the fact of weighing them strengthens this idea ; and 
 see Wilkinson's Popular Account of the Ancient Egyp- 
 tians, (revised,) ii. 148-9. 
 
 4. We not only find rings in the most ancient times, 
 but we also trace them in mythology. 
 
 Fish, in antediluvian period, were intelligent, had fine 
 musical perception and were even afi*ectionate. Thus, 
 in relation to Theseus, the Athenian prince : Minos hap- 
 pened to load Theseus with reproaches, especially on 
 account of his birth ; and told him, that, if he were the 
 son of Neptune, he would have no diflSculty in going to 
 the bottom of the sea ; and then threw a ring in to ban- 
 
 * Babylon and Nineveh, 518. 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS 
 
 15 
 
 ter him. The Athenian prince plunged in, and might* 
 have been food for lishes, had they not, in the shape of 
 dolphins, taken him upon their backs, as they had done 
 Arion, and conveyed him to the palace of Amphitrite."^ 
 It is not said whether she, as Neptune's wife, had a 
 right to the jetsam^ flotsam^ and lagan^ to the sweepings 
 or stray jewelry of the ocean ; but she was able to hand 
 Theseus the ring, and also to give him a crown, which 
 he presented to the ill-used lady Ariadne, and it was 
 afterwards placed among the stars. 
 
 And, coupled with mythology, we have, according to 
 the ancients, the origin of the ring. Jupiter, from 
 revenge, caused Strength, Force and Yulcan to chain 
 his cousin-german Prometheus to the frosty Caucasus, 
 where a vulture, all the livelong day, banqueted his 
 fill on the black viands of his hot liver. The god had 
 sworn to keep Prometheus there (according to Hesiodf) 
 eternally ; but other authors give only thirty thousand 
 years as the limit. He who had punished did, for 
 reasons, forgive ; but as Jupiter had sworn to keep 
 Prometheus bound for the space of time mentioned, he, 
 in order not to violate his oath, commanded that Pro- 
 metheus should always wear upon his finger an iron 
 ring, to or in which should be fastened a small fragment 
 of Caucasus, so that it might be true, in a certain sense, 
 that Prometheus still continued bound to that rock. 
 Thus, as we have said, came the idea of the first ring, 
 and, we may add, the insertion of a stone.:j: 
 
 While some writers, under this story, connect Prome- 
 
 * Pliny, lib. ix. ; Pausanias in Attic. Poet., c. vi. ; Ovid. Fast., 1. v. 
 Bannier, ii. 497. 
 t Lib. i. c. 1. X Plin. lib. xiii. ; Montfaucon. 
 
16 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 tlieus witli the first ring, riiiiy still says th'at the in- 
 ventor of it is not known, and observes that it was used 
 by the Babylonians, Chaldeans, Persians and Greeks, 
 although, as he thinks, the latter were unacquainted 
 with it at the time of the Trojan war, as Homer does 
 not mention it."^ 
 
 It has however been said that Dschemid, who made 
 known the solar year, introduced the use of the ring.f 
 
 Touching Pliny's notion of the antiquity of rings, 
 there is, in Southey's " Commonplace Book," (second 
 series, J) the following quotation from "Treasurie of 
 Auncient and Moderne Times," (1619:) "But the good 
 olde man Plinie cannot overreach us with his idle argu- 
 ments and conjectures, for we read in Genesis that Jo- 
 seph, who lived above five hundred yeares before the 
 warres of Troy, having expounded the dreame of Pha- 
 raoh, king of JEgypt, was, by the sayde prince, made 
 superintendent over his kingdom, and for his safer pos- 
 session in that estate, he took oif his ring from his hand 
 and put it upon Joseph's hand." . . . "In Moses's 
 time, which was more than foure hundred yeares before 
 Troy warres, wee find rings to be then in use ; for we 
 reade that they were comprehended in the ornaments 
 which Aaron the high priest should weare, and they of 
 his posteritie afterward, as also it was avouched by Jo- 
 sephus. Whereby appeareth plainly, that the use of 
 rings was much more ancient than Plinie reporteth 
 them in his conjectures : but as he was a Pagan, and 
 ignorant in sacred writings, so it is no marvell if these 
 things went beyond his knowledge." 
 
 * Book of Costume, by a Lady of Eank, 21. 
 
 t ArchsBologia Biblica. X P. 246. 
 
Of finger-rings. 17 
 
 It is pretended that seal-rings were an invention of 
 the Lacedemonians, who, not content with locking their 
 coffers, added a seal; for which purpose they made use 
 of worm-eaten wood, with which they impressed wax or 
 soft wood; and after this they learned to engrave seals.'^ 
 
 5. Cylinders, squares and pyramids were forms used 
 for seals prior to the adoption of ring-seals.f These 
 settled with the Greeks into the scarabseus or beetle, that 
 is to say, a stone something like the half of a walnut, 
 with its convexity wrought into the form of a beetle, 
 while the flat under surface contained the inscription for 
 the seal. The Greeks retained this derivable form until 
 they thought of dispensing with the body of the beetle, 
 only preserving for the inscription the flat oval which 
 the base presented, and which they ultimately set in 
 rings. This shows how ring-seals came into form. Many 
 of the Egyptian and other ring-seals are on swivel, and 
 we are of opinion that the idea of this convenient form 
 originated with the perforated cylindrical and other seals, 
 which were, with a string passed through them, worn 
 around the neck or from the wrist. if 
 
 The sculpture of signets was, probably, the first use of 
 gem engraving, and this was derived from the common 
 source of all the arts, India. Signets of lapis lazuli and 
 emerald have been found with Sanscrit inscriptions, pre- 
 sumed to be of an antiquity beyond all record. The 
 natural transmission of the arts was from India to Egypt, 
 
 * Fuss's Roman Antiquities. 
 
 t Pictorial Bible, (Knight's Ed.,) Note to 1 Kings, ch. xxi. 
 
 X Curiosities of Burial, (Chambers's Repository.) 
 
 Dagley's Gems, Preface, 
 
18 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 and our collections abound with intaglio and cameo 
 hieroglyphics, figures of Isis, Osiris, the lotus, the croco- 
 dile, and the whole symboUc Egyptian mythology 
 wrought upon jaspers, emeralds, basalts, bloodstones, 
 turquoises; etc. Mechanical skill attained a great excel- 
 lence at an early period. The stones of the Jewish high- 
 priests' breast-plate were engraved with the names of the 
 twelve tribes, and of those stones one was a diamond (?). 
 The Greek gems generally exhibit the figure nude ; the 
 Romans, draped. The Greeks were chiefiy intaglios. 
 
 It is generally understood that the ancients greatly 
 excelled the moderns in gem engraving, and that the art 
 has never been carried to the highest perfection in modern 
 times. Mr. Henry Weigall, however, states that "this 
 supposition is erroneous, and has probably arisen from 
 the fact of travellers supposing that the collections of 
 gems and impressions that they have made in Italy are 
 exclusively the works of Italian artists ; such, however, 
 is not the case, and I have myself had the satisfaction of 
 pointing out to many such collectors, that the most ad- 
 mired specimens in their collections were the works of 
 English artists."* 
 
 6. Rings have been discovered in the cinerary urns 
 of the Greeks. These could hardly have got there 
 through the fire which consumed the body, for vessels 
 still containing aromatic liquids have also been discov- 
 ered in the urns. It is very possible they were tokens 
 of affection deposited by relations and friends. Such 
 remembrances (as we shall see) are found in the graves 
 of early Roman Christians. 
 
 * Hottzappfel's Turning and Mechanical Manipulations, p. 1362. 
 
OF FINGER- RINGS. 19 
 
 The idea that rings in Eoman urns were secretly and 
 piously placed there, is strengthened by the fact that it 
 was contrary to the laws of Eome to bury gold with 
 the dead.^ There was one exception to this rule, which 
 appears odd enough to readers of the nineteenth century, 
 namely, a clause which permitted the burial of such gold 
 as fastened false teeth in the mouth of the deceased, thus 
 sparing the children and friends of the dead the painful 
 task of pulling from their heads the artificial teeth which 
 they had been accustomed to wear. It seems strange to 
 find that these expedients of vanity or convenience were 
 practised in Koine neai'ly two thousand years ago. 
 
 Maffeif gives a description and enlarged illustration 
 of a gold ring bearing a cornelian, whereon is cut the 
 story of Bellerophon upon his winged horse, about to 
 attack the chimera / and also a small but exquisite urn 
 of porphyry, which contained funeral ashes and this ring. 
 These were found in the garden of Pallas, freed man of 
 Claudius; and Maffei reasonably makes out that the 
 ring had belonged to him. Bellerophon is said to have 
 been a native of Corinth, and Pallas was from that city. 
 Nero became emperor mainly through Pallas, and jQt 
 he sacrificed the latter to be master of his great riches. 
 These relics thus possess much interest. Although a 
 freed man, merely as such, had no right to w^ear a gold 
 ring, yet Pallas gained the ofiice of Prsetor, and so was 
 entitled to one. (In Plutarch's Galba, the freed man of 
 the latter was honored with the privilege of wearing 
 the gold ring for bringing news of the revolt against 
 Nero.) 
 
 * Chambers's Kepository, (Curiosities of Burial.) 
 t Gemma Antiche, iii. 182, 
 
20 
 
 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 7. In the unpleasant story of Judah and Tamar, we 
 see that the former left in pledge with the latter his sig- 
 net.* Tliis, most likely, was in the shape of a ring, 
 although such signets were often worn from the wrist : 
 for, in this case, he also pledged his bracelets. 
 
 In the Scriptures, the signet ring is frequently named ; 
 and Quintus Curtius tells us that Alexander wore one. 
 After his fatal debauch, and finding himself past recov- 
 ery, and his voice beginning to fail, he gave his ring to 
 his general, Perdiccas, with orders to convey his corpse 
 to the temple of Ammon. Being asked to whom he 
 
 Genesis, ch. xli. et seq. 
 
OF FING ER-RINGS 
 
 21 
 
 would leave his empire, he answered, " To the most 
 worthy."^ 
 
 8. The ring was generally the emblem of fidelity in 
 civil engagements ; and hence, no doubt, its ancient use. 
 in many functions and distinctions.f A ring denoted 
 eternity among the Hindoos, Persians and Egyi3tians; 
 and Brahma, as the creator of the world, bears a ring in 
 his hand. The Egyptian priests in the temjDle of the 
 creative Phtha (Vulcan of the Greeks) represented the 
 year under the form of a ring, made of a serpent liaving 
 its tail in its mouth a very common sliape of ancient 
 rings. Although Jupiter is often figured with attributes 
 of mighty power, yet he is seldom coupled witli a mark 
 
 of eternity. There is, how- 
 ever, a gem (an aqua-marine, 
 engraved in hollow) of this 
 deity holding a ring as the 
 emblem of eternity. J 
 
 Pythagoras forbade the use 
 of the figures of gods upon 
 rings, lest, from seeing their 
 images too frequently, it 
 should breed a contempt for 
 them. 
 
 It has been attempted to 
 connect with a ring the con- 
 secration of a circle, as em- 
 blematical of the Deity. Over the door of a Norman 
 church at Beckford, in Gloucestershire, England, is a 
 
 * Goldsmith. 
 
 t And see Layard's Nineveh, 339, 340. 
 
 X Caylus, vol. iii. p. 157. 
 Montfaucon. 
 
22 HISTORY ANB POETRY 
 
 rude bas-relief, representing the lioly cross between the 
 four beasts, used as symbols of the Evangelists. The 
 "human form divine" appears to have been beyond the 
 sculptor's power ; he has made a ring. The others are 
 "an eagle, lion, and bull."^ 
 
 9. The Eomans distinguished their rings by names 
 taken from their use, as we do.f The excessive luxury 
 shown in the number worn, and the value of gems and 
 costly engraved stones in them, and the custom of wear- 
 ing lighter rings in summer and heavier in winter, are 
 among the most absurd instances of Eoman effeminacy, 
 (as we shall hereafter more particularly show.);}: The 
 case in which they kept their rings was called Dactylo- 
 theca. No ornament was more generally worn among 
 the Komans than rings. This custom appears to have 
 been borrowed from the Sabines. They laid them 
 aside at night, as well as when they bathed or were in 
 mourning, as did suppliants. However, in times of sor- 
 row, they rather changed than entirely put them aside ; 
 they then used iron ones, taking off the gold rings. || It 
 was a proof of the greatest poverty, when any one was 
 obliged to pledge his ring to live. Eings were given by 
 those who agreed to club for an entertainment. They 
 were usually pulled off from the fingers of dying per- 
 sons ; but they seem to have been sometimes put on 
 again before the dead body was buried. 
 
 There is no sign of the ring upon Eoman statues before 
 
 * Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xx., N. S., 55. 
 
 t Fuss's Roman Antiquities, sec. 485. 
 
 X Juvenal, Sat. VII. 
 
 Adams's Roman Antiquities, 366, (Boyd's edit.) 
 
 I Montfaucon. 
 
^ OF FINGER-RINGS* 23 
 
 those of Numa and Servins Tullius. The rings were 
 worn to be taken off or put on according to festivals, 
 upon the statues of deities and heroes, and upon some of 
 the emperors, witli the Litims ensculped, to show that 
 they were sovereign pontiffs. 
 
 This lituus is a crooked staff'; and the E-oman priests 
 are represented with it in their liands. They, as augurs, 
 used it in squaring the heavens when observing the flight 
 of birds. It is traced to the time of Romulus, who being 
 skilled in divination, bore the lituus ; and it was called 
 lituus qtoirinalis^ from Quirinus, a name of Romulus. 
 It was kept in the Capitol, but lost when Rome was taken 
 by the Gauls ; afterwards, w^hen the barbarians had 
 quitted it, the lituus was found buried deep in ashes, 
 untouched by tlie fire, whilst every thing about it was 
 destroyed and consumed.* Emperors^ appropriated to 
 themselves the dignities of the office of liigh priest,f and 
 hence this priestly symbol upon their medals, coins and 
 signets. Although it is a common notion that the pasto- 
 ral staff of the Church of Rome is taken from the sliep- 
 herd's crook, it may be a question whether it did not 
 take its rise from the lituus ? 
 
 Brave times those Roman times for lawyers or pat- 
 rons, as they were called. Their clients were bound to 
 give them the title of Bex; escort them to the Forum 
 and the Campus Martins; and not only to make ordi- 
 nary presents to them and their children or household, 
 but, on a birth-day, they received from them the birth- 
 day ring. It was worn only on that day.J 
 
 There were rings worn by flute-players, very brilliant 
 and adorned with a gem. 
 
 * Plutarch's Numa. t Fuss, 318. % Fosbroke, 247 ; Fuss, 150. 
 
24: HISTORY AND I'OETRY 
 
 In the Sierra Elvira, in Spain, more than two hundred 
 tombs and an aqueduct were discovered. Several skele- 
 tons bore the rings of Eoman knights; and some of 
 them had in their mouths the piece of money destined 
 to pay the ferryman Charon.^ These skeletons crumbled 
 into dust as soon as they were touched. What a perfect 
 subject for a poem by Longfellow ! 
 
 Eoman stamps or large seals or brands have been 
 found of quaint shapes. Some of them are in the form 
 of feet or shoes. Drawings of them ap- 
 pear in Montfaucon. They were fash- 
 ioned to mark casks and other bulky 
 articles. Caylus gives an illustration 
 
 "V J IC^ I ^^ ^ S ^" ^^^ ^*^*'^ ^^ ^ P^^^ ^^ shoes, 
 or rather, the soles of shoes.f 
 Pliny observes that rings became so common at Rome, 
 they were given to all the divinities ; and even to those 
 of the people who had never worn any. Their divinities 
 were adorned with iron rings movable rings, which 
 could be taken off or put on according to festivals and 
 circumstances. 
 
 10. At Erplingen in Germany, remarkable stalactical 
 caverns have been discovered. Every where, and espe- 
 cially in the lateral caves, human bones of extraordinary 
 size, with bones and teeth of animals, now" unknown, 
 have been discovered, and there, with pottery, rings 
 were found. 
 
 11. Bings were in use among the Gauls and Britons, 
 
 * Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xviii., N. S., 527. t 4. vol. i. pi. Ixxxix. 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 95 
 
 but seemingly for ornament only. They are often found 
 in British barrows. Anglo-Saxon rings were common.* 
 William de Belmeis gave certain lands to St. Paul's 
 Cathedral, and at the same time directed that his gold 
 ring set with a ruby should, together with the seal, be 
 affixed to the charter for ever. The same thing was done 
 by Osbart de Camera, he granting to St. PauFs, in pure 
 alms and for the health of his soul, certain lands ; giving 
 possession by his gold ring, wherein a ruby was set ; and 
 appointing that the same gold ring with his seal should 
 for ever be affixed to the charter whereby he disposed 
 of them.t 
 
 Anglo-Saxon kings gave rings to their wittenagemot 
 and courtiers, and they to their descendants. 
 
 12. In metals the Anglo-Saxons worked with great 
 skill. We read of the gold cup in which Rowena drank 
 to Yortigern. So early, perhaps, as the seventh century, 
 the English jewellers and goldsmiths were eminent in 
 their professions; and great quantities of otlier trinkets 
 were constantly exported to the European Continent. 
 Smiths and armorers were highly esteemed, and even the 
 clergy thought it no disgrace to handle tools.:]: St. 
 Dunstan, in particular, was celebrated as the best black- 
 smith, brazier, goldsmith and engraver of his time. This 
 accounts for the cleverness with which he laid iiold of 
 the gentleman in black : 
 
 ' Posbroke's Encyclopaedia of Antiquities, 247. 
 tDugdale's Hist v of St. Paul's ; and ArchjBologIa, xvii. 316. 
 JJEccleston's Introduction to English Antiquities, 60, 61 ; and see Manutactures 
 of Metal, 376 ; Hone's Every-Day Book, 671 ; Arcliseologia, iv. 54. 
 
 2 
 
26 HIS T C) II Y AND P O E T K Y . 
 
 ** St. Dunstan stood in his ivy'd tower. 
 Alembic, crucible, all were there ; 
 When in came Nick to play him a trick, 
 In guise of a damsel, passing fair. 
 
 Every one knows 
 
 How the Etory goes : 
 He took up the tongs and caught hold of his nose."* 
 
 13. Ladies used seal-rings in the sixth century; but 
 women of rank had no large seals till towards the be- 
 ginning of the twelfth.f . 
 
 14. There is scarcely a hard substance of which rings 
 liave not been composed. All the metals have been 
 brought into requisition. First, iron ; then, as in Rome, 
 it was mingled with gold. 
 
 Conquerors wore iron rings until Caius Marine chang- 
 ed the fashion. He had one when he triumphed over 
 King Jugurtha.ij: And while stones have lent their aid 
 as garniture if)r metal, these too have made the whole 
 hoop. 
 
 We find rings of two stones ; such were those which 
 the Emperor Yalerianus gave to Claudius. 
 
 Near to the Pyramids, cornelian rings have been dis- 
 covered. Rings of glass and other vitreous material have 
 been found. Emerald rings were discovered at Pompeii, 
 also glass used instead of gems. Some made entirely of 
 one stone, as of amber, have been obtained. 
 
 "With the Egyptians, bronze was seldom used in rings, 
 though frequently in signets. They were mostly of gold 
 
 Ingoldsby Legends, 223. t Fosbroke, 251. 
 
 I^Montfaucou. ^oebroke's Encyclopaedia of Antiquities, I 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 27 
 
 and this metal seems to have been always preferred to 
 silver. 
 
 Ivory and blue porcelain were the materials of which 
 those worn by the lower classes were made."^ 
 
 An ancient ring of jet has been dug up in England. 
 
 There were some rings of a single metal, and others 
 of a mixture of two ;f for the iron, bronze and silver 
 were frequently gilt, or, at least, the gold part was fixed 
 with tlie iron, as appears from Artemidorus.J The 
 Romans were contented with iron rings a long time ; and 
 Pliny assures us that Marius first wore a gold one in his 
 third consulate. Sometimes the ring w^as iron, and the 
 seal gold ; sometimes the stone was engraven, and some- 
 times plain ; and the engraving, at times, was raised^ 
 and also sunh, (The last were called gemmoB ectypce, 
 the former gemm^cje sciilpturd prominente?) 
 
 An incident, mentioned by Plutarch, shows how dis- 
 tinctive was a gold ring. When Cinna and Caius 
 Marius were slaughtering the citizens of Eome, the slaves 
 of Cornutus hid their master in the house and took a 
 dead body out of the street from among the slain and 
 hanged it by the neck, then they put a gold ring upon the 
 finger, and showed the corse in that condition to Marius's 
 executioners ; after which they dressed it for the funeral 
 and buried it as their master's body. 
 
 The rings of the classical ancients were rather incrust- 
 ed than set in gold in our slight manner.lF 
 
 The first mention of a Koman gold ring is in the year 
 
 Wilkinson's Manners of the Ancient Egyptians, 371. 
 
 tReee's Encyclopaedia Title, Bings, 
 
 JLib. i. i. cap. 5. 
 
 $Life of Caius Marius. 
 
 IPosbroke's Encyclopsedia of Antiquities, 2M, 
 
28 HISTOEY AND POETRY 
 
 432 U. C. ; but they, at last, were indiscrimiiiatelj worn 
 by the Eomans. Three bushels were gathered out of the 
 spoils after Hannibal's victory at Cannae.* 
 
 " Lovely soft pearls, the fanciful images of sad tears," 
 have been used in rings from the time of the Latins. 
 Cleopatra's drinking oif the residuum of a pearl, worth 
 three hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars, aside 
 from luxurious extravagance, seems to be somewhat 
 nasty ; but we are inclined to believe that tliis fond 
 queen had faith in its supposed medicinal and talismanic 
 properties : 
 
 " Now I feed myself 
 
 With most delicious passion." 
 
 Pliny, the Roman naturalist, gravely tells us that the 
 oyster which produces pearls, does so from feeding on 
 heavenly dew. Drummond thus translates him ; 
 
 " With open shells in seas, on heavenly dew, 
 A shining oyster lusciously doth feed ; 
 And then the birth of that ethereal seed 
 Shows, when conceived, if skies look dark or blue."f 
 
 Early English writers entertained the same notion ; 
 and Boethius, speaking of the pearl-mussel of the Scotch 
 rivers, remarks, that " These mussels, early in the morn- 
 ing, when the sky is clear and temperate, open their 
 mouths a little above the water and most greedily swal- 
 low the dew of heaven ; and after the measure and quan- 
 tity of the dew which they swallow, they conceive and 
 breed the pearl. These mussels," he continues, " are so 
 
 * Wilson's Archaeological Dictionary, Art. Rings, 
 t Chambers's Miscellany. 
 
OF FINGER- KINGS. 29 
 
 exceedingly quick of touch and hearing, that, however 
 faint the noise that may be made on the bank beside 
 them, or however small the stone that may be thrown 
 into the water, they sink at once to the bottom, knowing 
 well in what estimation the fruit of their w^omb is to all 
 people." In the East, the belief is equally common that 
 these precious gems are 
 
 " rain from the sky, 
 
 Which turns into pearls as it falls in the sea." 
 
 The ancient idea that pearls are generated of the dews 
 of heaven, is pretty conclusively met by Cardanus,* who 
 says it is fabulous, seeing that the shell fishes, in which 
 they are conceived, have their residence in the very 
 bottom of the depth of the sea. 
 
 The charlatan Leoni de Spoleto prescribed the drink 
 of dissolved pearls for Lorenzo the Magnificent, when he 
 was attacked by fever aggravated by hereditary gout.f 
 
 There was supposed to be a gem called a carbuncle, 
 which emitted, not reflected, but native light. :[ Our old 
 literature abounds with allusions to this miraculous gem. 
 Shakspeare has made use of it in Titus Andronicus, 
 where Martins goes down into a pit, and, by it, discovers 
 the body of Lord Bassianus ; and calls up to Quintus 
 thus : 
 
 " Lord Bassianus lies embrewed here, 
 All on a heap, like to a slaughter'd lamb, 
 In this detested, dark, blood-drinking pit. 
 
 Quintus. If it be dark, how dost thou know 'tis he ? 
 Martius. Upon his bloody finger he doth wear 
 
 * Cardan us, lib. vii. de Lapidihus. 
 t Dumas' Celebrated Crimes TJie Borgias. 
 X Notes to Tallis's Edit, of Shakspeare. 
 Act IV. Scene 2. 
 
30 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 A precious ring, that lightens all the hole, 
 Which, like a taper in some monument, 
 Doth shine upon the dead man's earthy cheek, 
 And show the ragged entrails of this pit : 
 So pale did shine the moon on Pyramus, 
 When he by night lay bathed in maiden's blood." 
 
 Ludovicus Yartomannus, a Eoman, reporteth that the 
 king of Pege (or Pegu), a city in India, had a carbuncle 
 (ruby) of so great a magnitude and splendor, that by 
 the clear light of it he might, in a dark place, be seen, 
 even as if the room or place had been illustrated by the 
 sunbeams. St. or Bishop Epiphanius saith of this gem, 
 that if it be worn, whatever garments it be covered 
 withal, it cannot be hid."^ 
 
 It was from a property of resembling a burning coal 
 when held against the sun that this stone obtained the 
 name ccurhunculus j which being afterwards misunder- 
 stood, there grew an opinion of its having the qualities 
 of a burning coal and shining in the dark. And as no 
 gem ever was or ever will be found endued with that 
 quality, it was supposed that the true carbuncle of the 
 ancients was lost; but it was long generally believed 
 that there had been such a stone. The species of car- 
 buncle of the ancients Avhich possessed this quality in the 
 greatest degree was the Garamantine or Carthaginian; 
 and this is the true garnet of the moderns.f 
 
 Rings, with a death's head upon them, were worn by 
 improper characters in the time of Elizabeth of Eng- 
 land. This kind of ring is referred to in Beaumont and 
 Fletcher : 
 
 * Nichols's Lapidary, 54, 57 ; Kobell, 274. 
 t Hill's Theophrastus, p. 75, notes n. y. 
 
OF fi:nger-rings 
 
 31 
 
 " I'll keep it, 
 
 As they keep death's head in rings : 
 To cry memento to me."* 
 
 Although we meet with nothing to show the motive 
 for wearing such rings by the characters referred to, we 
 are inclined to fancy the desire was to carry the sem- 
 blance of a widow and to let the ring have the character 
 of a mourning token. Lord Onslow, who lived in the 
 time of Elizabeth, bequeathed "a ring of gold with a 
 death's head " to friends, f 
 
 Sir Isaac E'ewton was possessed of a small magnet set 
 in a ring, the weight of which was only three grains, but 
 which supported, by its attractive power on iron, seven 
 hundred grains. It has been observed that such in- 
 stances are by no means common, although the smallest 
 magnets appear to have the greatest proportionate 
 power. :j: 
 
 Our own sailors, in the quiet weather of a voyage, 
 will, with the aid of a marlinspike, make exceedingly 
 neat rings out of Spanish silver or a copper coin. 
 
 Some of the Egyptian signets were of extraordinary 
 size. Sir Gardiner Wilkinso^ii mentions an ancient Egyp- 
 tian one which contained about twenty pounds worth of 
 gold. It consisted of a massive ring, half an inch in its 
 largest diameter, bearing an oblong plinth, upon which 
 the devices were engraved ; on one face was the succes- 
 sor of Amunoph III., who lived B. C. 1400 ; on the 
 other a lion, with the legend, " Lord of strength," refer- 
 ring to the monarch ; on the other side a scorpion, and 
 on the remaining one a crocodile. 
 
 * Chances, Act 1, Sc. 3. t Collins's Peerage. 
 
 X Harris's Rudimentary Magnetism, 6, 
 
32 HISTORY AND POETKY 
 
 In the work of Count Caylus, there 
 is a vignette of a ring of bronze, re- 
 markable from its size and the subject 
 upon it.* The collet or collar of the 
 ring is an inch in height, and eleven 
 lines in thickness. The figure upon it 
 is an ox or, as the author we have re- 
 ferred to calls it, a cow, recumbent and 
 swaddled, or covered by draperies ; and 
 it wears a collar, to which hangs, according to this author, 
 a bell. He considers that it was made when the Ro- 
 mans wore them of an excessive size, and while Gaul 
 was under the dominion of the former. He does not 
 give any guess at the intention or meaning of the sub- 
 ject. We believe it was, originally, Egyptian; and 
 made in memory of the sacred Bull Apis, (found in 
 tombs,) honored by the Egyptians as an image of the 
 soul of Osiris and on the idea that his soul migrated 
 from one Apis to another in succession. And as to what 
 Caylus considers a bell, we are inclined to de::ignate a 
 bag. In Dr. Abbott's collection of Egyptian Antiquities 
 are not only mummies of these sacred bulls, but also 
 the skulls of others, and over the. head of one is sus- 
 pended a large bag, found in the pits with the bulls, and 
 supposed to be used to carry their food. 
 
 Addison, in observing upon the size of old Roman 
 rings,t refers to Juvenal, as thus translated by Dryden : 
 
 " Charged with light summer rings, his fingers sweat, 
 Unable to support a gem of weight." 
 
 And he goes on to say, that this " was not anciently 
 
 Recueil d'AntiquiUs. + Remarks on Italy. 
 
OF FINGER-KINGS. 33 
 
 SO great an hyperbole as it is now, for I have seen old 
 Koinan rings so very thick-about and with such large 
 stones in them, that it is no wonder a fop should reckon 
 them a little cumbersome in the summer season of so hot 
 a climate." 
 
 As a proof of the size to which Koman rings some- 
 times reached, we here give an outline of one as it 
 appears in Montfaucon. 
 
 This ring bears the portrait of Trajan's good queen 
 Plotina. Tlie coiffure is remarkable and splendid, being 
 composed of three rows of precious stones cut in facets. 
 
 According to Pliny, devices were not put upon the 
 metal of rings until the reign of Claudius. 
 
 2* 
 
34 HISTORY AND POETKY 
 
 When a wealthy Egyptian had been embalmed and 
 placed in a superb case or coffin, with a diadem on bis 
 head and bracelets upon his arms, rings of gold, ivory 
 and engraved cornelian were placed upon his iingergi^* 
 
 Contrary to what might have been supposed, the 
 British Museum is not rich in rings. Through a dear 
 friend, the author is able to give drawings of a few of its 
 treasures, and the following extract from a letter : " They 
 can trace none of their rings with any certainty. The 
 collection is not large, and lias been bought at various 
 times from other collections and private sources, which 
 could give no history, or, if attempted, none that can be 
 relied on. Mr. Franks, the curator of this department, 
 kindly made the impressions I send of those he con- 
 sidered most curious, and selected the others for me." 
 
 Here is one of those rings. It 
 bears the heads of Isis and Serapis. 
 A similar ring (perhaps the same) 
 is figured in Caylus,twho observes 
 on the singularity of form and 
 the ingenuity attendant upon shap- 
 ing it, while it is considered ex- 
 tremely inconvenient to wear. It 
 would, however, suit all fingers, 
 large or small, because it can be easily diminished or 
 widened. The two busts are placed at the extremities of 
 the serpent which forms the body of the ring contrari- 
 wise if we may be allowed the expression so that 
 whatever position or twist is given to the ring, one of 
 the two heads always presents itself in a natural position. 
 
 * Curiosities of Burial Chambers's Eepository. 
 t Eecueil d'Antiquit6s, Tom. ii. p. 310. 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS 
 
 35 
 
 The ring given by Cajlus was found in Egypt, but is 
 said to be of Roman workmanship and made when the 
 former was under the dominion of the Romans ; and he 
 hints that the heads may represent a Roman emperor 
 and empress under the forms of Isis and Jupiter Serapis, 
 adding, "I will not hazard any conjecture on the names 
 that may be given them. I will content myself with 
 saying that the work is of a good time and far removed 
 from the lower empire ; and I will add, that the quantity 
 of rings which were wrouglit for the Ro- 
 mans of all the states may serve to explain 
 the extraordinary forms which some present 
 to us." 
 
 Here is another, from the British Mu- 
 seum, in which Isis and Serapis appear, 
 singularly placed. This ring is Romano- 
 Egyptian, and of bronze. 
 Here are two, Etruscan, from the same source, with 
 an impression from each. 
 
 No. 1. 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 They are both of gold, while 'No. 2 has a white stone 
 which works upon a swivel. 
 
36 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 We add, in this portion of our book, another 
 from the British Museum. It is worked from 
 Greek or Etruscan gold, and was found in the 
 Abruzzi. 
 
 Illustrations of some of the Egyptian seal- 
 rings contained in the British Museum, will be 
 found in Knight's Pictorial Bible, at the end 
 of the third chapter of Esther. 
 
 Fashion and Fancy have given us rings of all imagin- 
 able shapes, and these powers, joined with Eeligion and 
 Love, have traced upon them every supposable subject. 
 Although modern rings seldom display the exquisite 
 cutting and artistic taste which appear upon antiques, 
 still the latter exhibit sentimental phrases and sentiments 
 similar to such as are observed upon rings of the present 
 day. The Greeks w^ere full of gallantry. Time has 
 preserved to us incontestable proofs of the vows which 
 they made to mistresses and friends, as well as of the 
 trouble they took and the expense they went to in order 
 to perpetuate their sentiments. Caylus,* who says this, 
 gives a drawing of a ring bearing the words KIPI A KAAH, 
 Beautiful Ciria / and adds, " This inscription is simple 
 but energetic ; it appears to me to suit the sentiment." 
 In Montfaucon are several illustrations of Greek sentences 
 upon rings, which carry out what Caylus has observed ; 
 thus there are (rendered into English), Good he with you^ 
 Madam. Good he with ydu^ Si7\ Good he with Kim 
 who wears you and all his household. Bememher it. 
 Theanus is my light. Upon a ring bearing a hand 
 which holds a ring : Bememher good fortune. There 
 are, also, upon Koman rings, sentiment and compliment 
 
 * Lib. iv., p. 172, PI. LVII. 
 
OF Fll^aER-ElNGS. 
 
 37 
 
 in Latin sentences, as thus translated : Live hajpjpy^ my 
 hosfiess. You have this pledge of love. Live in God. Live. 
 And Caylus* gives a description anddrawingof a remark- 
 ably formed gold ring ; and although it bears Greek words^ 
 he leaves it in doubt whether it is of Eoman or Grecian 
 workmanship. It has the appearance of three rings united, 
 widened in the front and tapering within the hand. Upon 
 the wide part of each are two letters, the whole forming 
 ZHCAIC, Mayest thou live. The 
 Komans often preferred the Greek 
 language in their most familiar 
 customs. 
 
 A ring of bronze has been discovered, in the form of 
 
 a snake with its tail in its mouth, made on the principle 
 
 of some of our steel rings which we use 
 
 to hold household keys, widening their 
 
 circle by pressure.f In the finger-ring, 
 
 the part in the mouth is inserted loose, 
 
 so as to draw out and increase to the 
 
 size of the circle needed. 
 
 Eings of gold are common in England at the present 
 
 day, made to form a strap with buckles, precisely, in 
 
 shape, a common belt or collar. It lies flat like an 
 
 ordinary leather strap, and is formed 
 
 of small pieces of gold which are kept 
 
 so delicately together that the lines 
 
 of meeting are scarcely perceptible. 
 
 This is accomplished by having many minute and nn- 
 
 * Lib. V. p. 161. t Caylus, ii. 311. 
 
38 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 seen hinges, which make the whole pliable and allow it 
 to be buckled (as a ring) upon the finger. 
 
 JSTothing is new. One of the prettiest modern rings, 
 used as a remembrancer, has a socket for hair and a 
 closing shutter. Roman remains were found at He- 
 ron val in Normandy, and among them were rings. One 
 of these was almost of modern form, with a small place 
 under where the stone is usually fixed, into which hair 
 might be inserted.* We are constantly retracing the 
 steps of antiquity. 
 
 A Eoman gold ring of a triangular form has been dis- 
 covered in England, with an intaglio representing the 
 story of Hercules strangling the Nemean lion.f And 
 also a ring that, while it was remarkable for its thick- 
 ness, had a whistle on one side, which was useful in call- 
 ing servants before the time of domestic bells. :[: 
 
 "We shall find that there were rings in which poison 
 was carried. 
 
 Wilkinson has discovered several Egyptian rings, 
 where the subject is made up of two cats sitting back to 
 back, and looking round at each other, with an emblem 
 of the goddess Athor between them. 
 
 We do not know why Athor, Venus, should be be' 
 tween these sentinel cats. Had the symbol of Pasht, 
 Diana, been there, the thing would have been less diffi- 
 cult; for cats, like maids, "love the moon," and their 
 guardian goddess was Pasht. Tlieir attitude is more 
 watchful than sacred cats would be supposed to assume, 
 and might rather appear to apply to the species em- 
 balmed in Kilkenny history. 
 
 * Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. xviii., N. S., 527. 
 
 t Archseologia, v. 71. X It>' viii. 480. 
 
OF FINOER-RING S. 89 
 
 There is an Anglo-Saxon ring inscribed Ahlstan, 
 Bishop of Sherborne, which has the hoop of alternate loz- 
 enges and circles. It has, also, a Saxon legend. Epi- 
 graphs in that language are extremely rare. It has been, 
 supposed that Ahlstan had command of the Saxon army.* 
 
 In the catacombs of Eome, where the early Christians 
 " wandered about in sheep-skins and goat- skins, being 
 destitute, afflicted, tormented,"* where they stealthily 
 prayed and lived and died, vast quantities of signet 
 and other rings have been discovered, as well as med- 
 als, cameos and other precious stones. Signet rings of 
 different devices, as belonging to different owners, are 
 in the catacombs here ; and this has raised the idea that 
 they were deposited by relatives and friends as the stone 
 lid of the grave was about to be shut, offerings of love 
 and affection. f 
 
 " What a picture," exclaims a writer in the London 
 Art Journal,:}: " do these dark vaults display of the devo- 
 tion, the zeal, the love of those early Christian converts 
 whose baptism was in blood ! I picture them to myself, 
 stealing forth from the city in the gloomy twilight, out 
 towards the lonely Campagna, and disappearing one by 
 one through well-known apertures, threading their way 
 through the dark sinuous galleries to some altar, w^liere 
 life and light and spiritual food, the soft chanting of the 
 holy psalms and the greeting of faithful brethren, waking 
 the echoes, awaited them. The sight of these early 
 haunts of the persecuted and infant religion is inexpress- 
 ibly affecting ; and I pity those, be they Protestant or 
 Catholic, who can visit these hallowed precincts without 
 
 * Heb. xi. 37, 38. t Fosbroke, 247 ; Archseologia, iv. 54. 
 
 X Vol. iv. N. S., p. 224. 
 
40 HISTORY AKD POETRY 
 
 an overwhelming emotion. How many martyrs, their 
 bodies torn and lacerated by the cruel beasts amid the in- 
 furiated roar of thousands shrieking forth the cry of Chris- 
 tianos ad leonem ! in the bloody games of the Flavian am- 
 phitlieatre, breathing their last sigh, calling on the name 
 of the Eedeemer, have passed, borne by mourning friends 
 or by compassionate widows or virgins to their last dark 
 narrow home, along the very path I was now treading ! 
 How many glorified saints, now singing the praises of 
 the Eternal around the great white throne in the seventh 
 heaven of glory, may have been laid to rest in these 
 very apertures, lighted by a flickering taper like that I 
 held. But I must pause this is an endless theme, end- 
 less as the glory of those who hover in eternal light and 
 ecstatic radiance above ; it is moreover a paean I feel 
 utterly unworthy to sing." 
 
 We have received a drawing and im- 
 pression of a ring which is in the British 
 Museum ; and our opinion is that it be- 
 longed to one of the early Christians. 
 "While the XAIP12, / rejoice^ upon it, 
 favors the idea, the monogram (upon the 
 signet part) confirms it. This is, evi- 
 dently, the name of Jesus in its earliest 
 monogrammatic form, made up of the 
 letters X. and ^. As commonly found on 
 monuments in the catacombs of Rome, it 
 has a single cross with the *I. thus, 
 while in our illustration the cross 
 is multiplied ; and this is the only 
 difference. Surely such a memorial as this is more likely 
 to have been the ring of the lowly-minded " fisherman," 
 
 % 
 
Ot FiNGER-RlNGg. 41 
 
 than the one which is said to be framed with diamonds 
 and worn by the Pope. In Dr. Kip's very interesting 
 work on the Catacombs of Rome, there is an illustration 
 of a seal-ring, upon which a like monogram appears, 
 although somewhat complicated.* 
 
 ^ear Cork, in Ireland, a silver ring was discovered, 
 the hoop whereof is composed of nine knobs or bosses, 
 which may have served instead of beads and been used 
 by the wearer in the Catholic counting of them. The 
 antiquaries of Ireland have considered this ring as very 
 ancient.f 
 
 In referring to Irish rings, it may be well to mention 
 one which was found in the county of Westmeath, with 
 some very ancient remains.:]: It is remarkable, from 
 being set with many diamonds in beautifully squared 
 
 work. On account of the place where it was discovered, 
 a suggestion has been made that it may have belonged 
 to Eose Failge, Prince of Ireland, eldest son of Calhoir 
 the Great, who reigned A. D. 122, he being called the 
 Hero of Rings. However, diamonds do not appear to 
 have been named among precious stones at that early 
 period. 
 
 * (Published by Eedfield,) p. 110. 
 
 t Lond. Gent.'s Mag., Vol. xxiv. p. 285. 
 
 X Archeeologia, (London,) ii. 35. 
 
42 HISTORY Al^D POETRY 
 
 The author is not aware that diamonds are often set 
 loosely or upon swivel in a ring. We have mention of 
 one in the reign of James I. of England. Kobert Cecil, 
 Earl of Salisbury, (nicknamed by a cotemporary " Kobert 
 the Devil," and by James called his "little Beagle,") 
 was dangerously ill at Bath ; but on a report of his re- 
 covery, the King sent purposely the Lord Hay to him, 
 with a token, " which was a fair diamond, set or rather 
 hung square in a gold ring without a foil" and this 
 message, " That the favor and affection he bore him was 
 and should be ever, as the form and matter of that, end- 
 less, pure and most perfect."* A writer, given to detrac- 
 tion, says that this great statesman died of the disease of 
 Herod, upon the top of a mole-hill ; and that his body 
 burst the lead it was wrapped in. On his tomb lies the 
 skeleton of the Earl curiously carved. He seemed well 
 to weigh the glory of a courtier, for in writing to Sir 
 John Harrington,f he said : "Good Knight, rest content 
 and give heed to one that hath sorrowed in the bright 
 lustre of a Court, and gone heavily even on the best 
 seeming fair ground. 'Tis a great task to prove one's 
 honesty and yet not spoil one's fortune. You have tasted 
 a little hereof in our blessed Queen's time, who was 
 more than a man, and, in truth, sometimes less than a 
 woman. I wish I waited now in your presence chamber, 
 with ease at my food and rest in my bed. I am pushed 
 from the shore of comfort, and know not where the 
 winds and waves of a Court will bear me. I know it 
 bringeth little comfort on earth ; and he is, I reckon, no 
 wise man that looketh this way to heaven." 
 
 * Memorials of Affairs of State, iii. 368. 
 t Nugee Antiquse, ii. 263. 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 
 
 43 
 
 In the year one thousand 
 eight hundred and fifty- two, 
 some citizens of California pre- 
 sented President Pierce with a 
 gigantic ring. We here give 
 an outline, and add a descrip- 
 tion of it from Gleason's Pic- 
 torial Newspaper for the 25th 
 of December, 1852. 
 
 " It is already pretty widely known to the public gen- 
 erally, that a number of citizens of San Francisco have 
 
44 HISTORY AiTD I*OETKY 
 
 caused to be manufactured and forwarded to Gen. 
 Pierce, a most valuable and unique present, in the form 
 of a massive gold ring, as a token of esteem for the Pres- 
 ident elect. Of this ring our artist has herewith given 
 us an admirable representation. It is a massive gold 
 ring, weighing upwards of a full pound. This monster 
 ring, for chasteness of design, elegance of execution, and 
 high style of finish, has, perhaps, no equal in the world. 
 The design is by Mr. George Blake, a mechanic of San 
 Francisco. The circular portion of the ring is cut into 
 squares, which stand at right angles with each other, and 
 are embellished each with a beautifully executed design, 
 the entire group presenting a pictorial history of Cali- 
 fornia, from her primitive state down to her present flour- 
 ishing condition, under the flag of our Union. 
 
 "Thus, there is given a grizzly bear in a menacing atti- 
 tude, a deer bounding down a slope, an enraged boa, ^ 
 soaring eagle and a salmon. Tlien we have the Indian 
 with his bow and arrow, the primitive weapon of self- 
 defence ; the native mountaineer on horseback, and a 
 Californian on horseback, throwing his lasso. Next 
 peeps out a Californian tent. Then you see a miner at 
 work, with his pick, the w^liole being shaded by two 
 A^merican flags, with the staves crossed and groups of 
 stars in the angles. The part of the ring reserved for a 
 seal is covered by a solid and deeply carved plate of 
 gold, bearing the arms of the State of California in the 
 centre, surmounted by the banner and stars of the United 
 States, and inscribed with ' Frank Pierce,' in old Ro- 
 man characters. This lid opens upon a hinge, and pre- 
 sents to view underneath a square box, divided by bars 
 of gold into nine separate compartments, each containing 
 
OF FINGEK-RINGS. 45 
 
 a pure specimen of the varieties of ore found in the 
 country. Upon the inside is the following inscription : 
 ^Presented to Fkanklin Pierce, the Fourteenth President 
 of the United States. "^ The ring is valued at $2000. 
 Our engraving gives a separate view of the lid, so as to 
 represent the appearance of the top of the ring both when 
 it is open and when it is closed. Altogether, it is a mas- 
 sive and superb affair, rich in emblematical design and 
 illustration, and worthy its object." 
 
 Rings appear to have been worn indiscriminately on 
 the fingers of each hand. It would seem, however, from 
 Jeremiah, that the Hebrews w^ore them on their right 
 hand ; we there read that when the Lord threatened 
 King Zedekiah w4th the utmost effects of his anger, he 
 told him : " Though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king 
 of Judah, w^ere the signet on my right hand, yet w^ould 
 1 pluck thee thence.""^ 
 
 Trimalchion wore two rings, one large and gilt, upon 
 the little finger of his right hand, and the other of gold, 
 powdered with iron stars, upon the middle of the ring 
 finger.f 
 
 Among the Romans, before rings came to be adorned 
 with stones, and wdiile the graving was yet on the metal 
 itself, every one wore them at pleasure on what hand and 
 finger he pleased. When stones came to be added, they 
 had them altogether on the left hand ; and it would have 
 been held an excess of foppery to have put them on the 
 right. 
 
 Pliny says, they were at first w^orn on the fourth finger, 
 then on the second or index, then on the little finger, and 
 at last, on all the fingers excepting the middle one. 
 
 Jer, xxii. 24, t Montfaiicou, 
 
46 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 Clemens Alexandrinus has it that men wore the ring 
 on the extremity of the little finger, so as to leave tlie 
 hand more free. 
 
 According to Aulus Gellius,* both the Greeks and 
 Eomans wore them on the fourth finger of the left 
 hand ; and the reason he gives for it is this, that having 
 found, from anatomy, that this finger had a little nerve 
 that went straight to the heart, they esteemed it the most 
 honorable by this communication with that noble part. 
 Macrobius quotes Atteius Capito, that the right hand 
 was exempt from this office, because it was much more 
 used than the left, and, therefore, the precious stones of 
 the rings were liable to be broken, and that the finger 
 of the left hand was selected which was the least em- 
 ployed. 
 
 Pliny says, the Gauls and ancient Britons wore the 
 ring on the middle finger. 
 
 At first, the Eomans only used a single ring ; then, 
 one on each finger, and, at length, as we gather from 
 Martialjf several on each. Afterwards, according to 
 Aristophanes, :{: one on each joint. Their foppery at 
 length arose to such a pitch that they had their weekly 
 rings. 
 
 The beast Heliogabalus carried the point of using rings 
 the farthest, for, according to Lampridius, he never wore 
 the same rino- or the same shoe twice. 
 
 Heliogabalus was a funny wretch : he would fre- 
 quently invite to his banquets eight old men blind of 
 one eye, eight bald, eight deaf, eight lame wdth the gout, 
 eight blacks, eight exceedingly thin, and eight so fat that 
 
 Lib. X. t Martial, Lib. xi., epiq. 60. 
 
 X Aristophanes, in Nub., &c. 
 
OFFING p:r-kings. 47 
 
 they could scarcely enter the room, and who, when they 
 had eaten as much as they desired, were obliged to be 
 taken out of the apartment on the shoulders of several 
 soldiers. 
 
 Egyptian women wore many, and sometimes two or 
 three on one finger ; but the left was considered the hand 
 peculiarly privileged to bear these ornaments ; and it is 
 remarkable that its third was decorated with a greater 
 number than any other and was considered by them as 
 the ring finger."^ This notion, as we have observed, the 
 Grecians had. 
 
 The idea of wearing rings on the fourth finger of the 
 left hand, because of a supposed artery there which went 
 to the heart, was carried so far that, according to Levinus 
 Lemnius, this finger was called Medicus / and the old 
 physicians would stir up their medicaments and potions 
 with it, because no venom could stick upon the very 
 outmost part of it but it will offend a man and commu- 
 nicate itself to the heart. 
 
 With regard to the translation of rings from the right 
 to the left hand, it may be pleasing to refer to that 
 charming old w^ork. Enquiries into Vulgar and Common 
 Errors^ by Browne :t he says, "That hand [the left] 
 being lesse employed, thereby they were best preserved, 
 and for the same reason they placed them on this finger, 
 for the thumbe was too active a finger and is commonly 
 imployed with either of the rest : the index or fore finger 
 was too naked whereto to commit their pretiosities, and 
 hath the tuition of the thumbe scarce unto the second 
 joynt : the middle and little finger they rejected as ex- 
 treams, and too big or too little for their rings ; and of all 
 
 Wilkinson. f ^' 185, Edit, of 1646. 
 
48 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 chose out the fourth as being least used of any, as being 
 guarded on either side, and having in most this pecu- 
 liar condition that it cannot be extended alone and by 
 itselfe, but will be accompanied by some finger on either 
 side." 
 
 As to the Egyptians deriving a nerve from the heart 
 in the fourth finger of the left hand, the priests, from this 
 notion, anointed the same with precious oils before the 
 altar. And Browne, in his Yulgar Errors, says, " The 
 Egyptians were weak anatomists, which were so good 
 embalmers."^ 
 
 In the General Epistle of St. James,f we have this : 
 "For if there come unto your assembly a man with a 
 gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a 
 poor man in vile raiment ; and ye have respect to him 
 that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him. Sit thou 
 here in a good place ; and say to the poor. Stand thou 
 there or sit here under my footstool : are ye not then 
 partial in yourselves and are become judges of evil 
 thoughts ?" In an illustrated edition of the New Testa- 
 ment, it is said, the expression " with a gold ring " might 
 very properly be rendered, " having his fingers adorned 
 with gold rings ;" and that about the time referred to in 
 the text, the wearing of many rings had become a fash- 
 ion, at least among the master people, the Romans, 
 from whom it was probably adopted by persons of 
 wealth and rank in the provinces. The custom is noticed 
 by Arrian ; while Seneca, in describing the luxury and 
 ostentation of the time, says, " We adorn our fingers 
 with rings, and a jewel is displayed on every joint." 
 There is a newspaper anecdote of an eminent preacher at 
 
 * P. 185. t Chap, ii., v. 2. 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 49 
 
 Norwich, in England, which shows that he had the 
 above verse (from the Epistle of St. James) in mind when 
 it occurred. His Eeverence made a sudden pause in 
 his sermon ; the congregation were panic-struck. Hav- 
 ing riveted their attention, he addressed himself by name 
 to a gentleman in the gallery. "Has that poor man 
 who stands at the back of your pew a gold ring on his 
 finger?" The gentleman turned round, and replied, "I 
 believe not, sir." " Oh, then, I suppose that is the rea- 
 son he must not have a seat." The gentleman had three 
 gold rings on his hand ; and his pew was nearly empty. 
 
 Here is another anecdote of a priest, in worse taste 
 than the last. Albert Pio, Prince of Caspi, was buried 
 with extraordinary pomp in the Church of the Corde- 
 liers at Paris. He had been deprived of his princi- 
 pality by the Duke of Ferrara, became an author, and 
 finally a fanatic. Entering one day into one of the 
 churches at Madrid, he presented holy water to a lady 
 who had a very thin hand, ornamented by a most beau- 
 tiful and valuable ring. He exclaimed in a loud voice 
 as she reached the water, "Madam, I admire the ring 
 more than the hand." The lady instantly exclaimed, 
 with reference to the cordon or rope with which he was 
 decorated, " And for my part, I admire the halter more 
 than I do the ass." He was buried in the habit of a Cor- 
 delier ; and Erasmus made a satire on the circumstance, 
 entitled the " Seraphic Interment." 
 
 The Hebrew women wore a number of rings upon 
 their fingers.^ 
 
 Hippocrates, in treating of the decency of dress to be 
 observed by physicians, enjoins the use of rings. We 
 
 ArohflBologia Biblica, 128-9 ; Wilkinson. 
 
 3 
 
50 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 have somewhere seen it suggested, that the rings thus 
 worn by physicians might have contained aromatic water 
 or preservative essence, in the same way as their canes 
 were supposed to do; and hence the action of putting 
 the heads or tops of the latter to their noses when con- 
 sulting in a sick-room. 
 
 15. The author deems it as well to refer to the law, 
 in relation to rings. In common parlance, we consider 
 precious stones to be jewels ; but rings of gold will pass 
 by that word. In the time of Queen Elizabeth, the Earl 
 of E^orthumberland bequeathed by his will his jewels to 
 his wife, and died possessed of a collar of S's, and of a 
 garter of gold, and of a button annexed to his bonnet, 
 and also many other buttons of gold and precious stones 
 annexed to his robes, and of many chains, bracelets 
 and rings of gold and precious stones.* The question 
 was, whether all these would pass by the devise imder 
 the name of jewels? It was resolved by the justices, 
 that the garter and collar of S's did not pass, because 
 they were not properly jewels, but ensigns of power 
 and state; and that the buckle of his bonnet and the 
 button did not pass, because they were annexed to his 
 robes, and were no jewels. But, for the other chains, 
 bracelets and Tings, they passed under the bequest of 
 jewels. 
 
 Persons who desire to leave specific rings to friends 
 should designate them ; for, otherwise, the particular ar- 
 ticle will not pass. Thus, " I give a diamond ring," is 
 what is called a general legacy, which may be fulfilled 
 by the delivery of any ring of that kind ; while " I give 
 
 Godolphin's Orphan's Leg., 413, 
 
OFFINGEK-KINGS. 51 
 
 the diamond ring presented to me by A," is a specific 
 legacy, which can only be satisfied by the delivery of 
 the specified subject.^ A legacy of 50 for a ring is but 
 a money legacy ; it fastens upon no specific ring, and 
 carries interest like other money bequests.f 
 
 A family ring may become an important piece of evi- 
 dence in the establishment of a pedigree ; and the law 
 admits it for that purpose : upon the presumption, as 
 Lord Erskine has it, "that a person would not wear a 
 ring with an error upon it.":|: 
 
 In ancient times dying persons gave their rings to some 
 one, declaring thereby who was their lieir. 
 
 16. We do not find in any work on orders of knight- 
 hood, any association having direct reference to a ring ; 
 but in a volume of the Imperial Magazine there is a 
 reference to the Order of the Ring, said to have been 
 copied from a beautifully illuminated MS., on vellum.^ 
 The sovereign of the order was to wear upon the fifth 
 finger a blue enamelled ring, set round with diamonds, 
 with the motto. Sans changer. The matter looks ficti- 
 tious, for it embraces the seeming signatures of Leonora, 
 Belvidera, Torrismond and Csesario. 
 
 Lorenzo the Magnificent, of the Medici family, bore a 
 diamond ring with three feathers and the motto, Semper i 
 and when the Medici returned to Florence, Giuliano de 
 Medici instituted an order of merit, denominated the 
 Order of the Diamond, alluding to the impresa, an em- 
 blem of his father. This was done to secure influence 
 
 * Williams on Executors, 739. t Apreece v. Apreece, 1 V. and B. 364. 
 
 X Vawles V. Young, 13 Ves. J. 144. Montfaucon, 
 1[ London, for 1760, p. 243, 
 
52 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 by recalling the memory of the parent. The members 
 of it had precedence on public occasions, and it was 
 their province to preside over festivals, trimnphs and 
 exhibitions.* 
 
 17. Rings have been found in strange places, and 
 under interesting circumstances. We find them upon 
 and below the earth ; within the Pyramids ; beneath the 
 ashes of Pompeii and Herculaneum ; and strew^ed over 
 battle-fields. t They have been discovered on the field 
 of Cressy. 
 
 18. In Persia, at the present day, letters are seldom 
 written and never signed by the person who sends them ; 
 and it will thus appear that the authenticity of all orders 
 and communications, and even of a merchant's bills, de- 
 pends wholly on an impression from his seal-ring. :j: This 
 makes the occupation of a seal-cutter one of as much 
 trust and danger as it seems to have been in Egypt. 
 Such a person is obliged to keep a register of every 
 ring-seal he makes ; and if one be lost or stolen from the 
 party for whom it was cut, his life would answer for 
 making another exactly like it. The loss of a signet-ring 
 is considered a serious calamity ; and the alarm wdiich 
 an .Oriental exhibits when his signet is missing, can only 
 be understood by a reference to these circumstances, as 
 the seal-cutter is always obliged to alter the real date at 
 which the seal was cut. The only resource of a person 
 who has lost his seal is to have another made with a 
 
 * Koscoe's Leo X., i. 338, (8vo.) 
 
 t Library of Entertaining Knowledge, Pompeii, vol. ii. p. 324. 
 
 I And see Layard's Nineveh, and Babylon, (Putnam's Edit.,) 529^ 
 
'0FFINGER-RING8. 53 
 
 new date, and to write to his correspondents to inform 
 them that all accounts, contracts and communications to 
 which his former signet is affixed are null from the day 
 on which it was lost. 
 
 Importance has been given to signets in England. 
 This was at a time when the schoolmaster had not made 
 many penmen. " And how great a regard was had to 
 seals," says Collins, in his Baronage^ " appears from 
 these testimonies ; the Charter of King Henry I. to the 
 Abbey of Evesham, being exhibited to King Henry HI. 
 and the seal being cloven in sunder, the King forthwith 
 caused it to be confirmed," etc., etc. ; " and in 13 Ed. 
 in., when, by misfortune, a deed, then showed in the 
 Chancery, was severed from the seal, in the presence of 
 the Lord Chancellor and other noble persons, command 
 was not only given for the affixing it again thereto, but 
 an exemplification was made thereof under the Great 
 Seal of England, with the recital of the premises. And 
 the counterfeiting of another man's seal was anciently 
 punished with transportation, as appears from this record 
 in the reign of King John," etc., etc. " It is also as re- 
 markable that in 9 H. HI. c. c. marks damages were 
 recovered by Sir Ealph de Crophall, Knight, against 
 Henry de Grendon and William de Grendon for forcibly 
 breaking a seal from a deed. Also so tender was every 
 man in those times of his seal, that if he had accidentally 
 lost it, care was taken to publish the same, lest another 
 might make use of it to his detriment, as is manifested 
 in the case of Benedict de Hogham," etc. "Also not 
 much unlike to this is that of Henry de Perpount, a per- 
 son of great quality, (ancestor of his Grace the Duke 
 of Kingston,) who, on Monday, in the Octaves of St. 
 
M HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 Michael, 8 Ed. I., came into the Chancery at Lincoln 
 and publicly declared, that he missed his seal ; and j^ro- 
 tested, that if any instrument should be signed with that 
 seal, for the time to come, it should be of no value or 
 effect. I^or is that publication made by John de Grese- 
 ley of Drakelow, in Com. Derb. 18 E. II., upon the 
 loss of his seal, less considerable," etc., etc.* 
 
 19. We are aware of the value of many modern 
 rings, arising from their being used as mere frames for 
 jewels. And ancient ones, from the same fact or from 
 having exquisite engraving upon them, were also highly 
 prized. ]N"onius,f a senator, is said to have been pro- 
 scribed by Anthony foi* the sake of a gem in a ring, worth 
 twenty thousand sesterces. 
 
 The " Roving Englishman":!: informs us, that the Pasha 
 w^ears on his right-hand little finger, a diamond ring 
 which once belonged to the Dey of Algiers, and cost a 
 thousand pounds sterling. 
 
 20. An English work, of but little note, professes to 
 make out " Love's Telegraph," as understood in America, 
 thus : If a gentleman wants a w^ife, he wears a ring on 
 \}l\^ first finger of the left hand ; if he is engaged, he wears 
 it on the second finger; if married, on the third y and 
 on the fourth if he never intends to be married. When 
 a lady is not engaged, she wears a hoop or diamond on her 
 fii'st finger ; if engaged, on the second / if married, on the 
 third / and on the fourth if she intends to die a maid. 
 
 * Vol. i. p. 345, 4to. 
 
 t Adam's Roman Antiquities, 366, (Boyd's edit.) 
 
 \ Household Words, ix. 462. Family Friend, vol. ii. p. 132, 
 
OT^FINGER-RINOS. 55 
 
 Many of our readers are aware that there are name- 
 rings^ in which the first letter attaching to each jewel 
 employed will make a loved one's name or a sentiment. 
 In the formation of English rings of this kind, the terms 
 Regard and Dearest are common. Tims illustrated : 
 'Riitby) Yimerald) Q^{arnet) A{methyst) 'R{uhy) T>{iamond). 
 D{iamond) 'E{7nerald) Mmethysf) ^{uhy) 'E{meTald) 
 8{apphire) Tipjpaz). It is believed that this pretty notion 
 originated (as many pretty notions do) with the French. 
 The words which the latter generally play with, in a 
 combination of gems, are Souvenir and Amitie^ thus : 
 S{apMr or/Sardoine) 0{nix or 6^pale) JJ{raine)Y{erm,eille) 
 'E{meraude) l^{atralithe) l(ris) 'R{ubis or i?ose diamant). 
 KiinetJiiste or J.igue-marine) W^alacliite) \(ris) Tiitr- 
 quoise or Tbpaze) l{ris) ^{meraude). 
 
 Here are the alphabetical French names of precious 
 stones :* 
 
 A. Amethiste. Aigue-marine. 
 
 B. Brilliant. Diamant, designiant la meme pierre. 
 
 C. Chrisolithe. Carnaline. Chrisophrase. 
 
 D. Diamant. 
 
 E. Emeraude. 
 
 F. {Pas de pierre connue.) 
 
 G. Grenat. 
 H. Hiacinthe. 
 I. Iris. 
 
 J. Jasper. 
 
 K. (.Pas de jpierre connue.) 
 
 L. Lapis lazuli. 
 
 M. Malachite. 
 
 * Furnished to the author through the attention of Messrs. Marchand A6. 
 Gaime, Guillemot & Co., Jewellers, of New-York. 
 
b6 HiSTOlltANDPOETRY 
 
 N. l^atralithe. 
 
 O. Onix. Opale. 
 
 P. Perle. Peridot. Purpurine. 
 
 Q. {Pas depierre connue.) 
 
 E. Pubis. Kose diamant. 
 
 S. Saphir. Sardoine. 
 
 T. Turquoise. Topaze. 
 
 U. TJraine. 
 
 Y. Yermeille {esj>ece de grenat jaune). 
 
 X. Xepherine. 
 
 Y. Z. {Pas de nous connus.) 
 
 Kobell says,^* "In name-rings, in which a name is 
 indicated by the initial letter of different gems, the eme- 
 rald is mostly used under its English and French name 
 {Emeraude) to stand for e, which would otherwise not be 
 represented. (The German name is Smaragd.) While on 
 this point, it may be mentioned that a difficulty occurs 
 with u, but recent times have furnished a name which 
 may assist, namely, a green garnet, containing chrome, 
 from Siberia, which has been baptized after the Russian 
 Minister Uwarrow, and called UwarroviteP 
 
 The Poles have a fanciful belief that each month of 
 the year is under the influence of a precious stone, which 
 influence has a corresponding effect on the destiny of a 
 person born during the respective month. Consequently 
 it is customary among friends and lovers, on birth-days, 
 to make reciprocal presents of trinkets ornamented with 
 the natal stones. The stones and their influences, cor- 
 responding with each month, are supposed to be as 
 follows : 
 
 January Garnet. Constancy and Fidelity. 
 
 Mineral Kingdom, p. 269, 
 
^OFFINGEE-KINGS. 57 
 
 February Amethyst. Sincerity. 
 
 March Bloodstone. Courage, presence of mind. 
 
 April Diamond. Innocence. 
 
 May Emerald. Success in love. 
 
 June Agate. Health and long life. 
 
 July Cornelian. Contented mind. 
 
 August Sardonyx. Conjugal felicity. 
 
 September Chrysolite. Antidote against madness. 
 
 October Opal. Hope. 
 
 November ^Topaz. Fidelity. 
 
 December ^Turquoise. Prosperity. 
 
 Modern jewellers are known to palm off imitations of 
 gems; and so did sellers of trinkets in ancient times. 
 The moderns only run the chance of a loss of custom ; 
 but the latter were well off if they got no greater fright 
 than the jeweller who sold to the wife of Gallienus a 
 ring with a piece of glass in it. Gallienus ordered the 
 cheat to be placed in the circus, as though he were to be 
 exposed to the ferocity of a lion. While the miserable 
 jeweller trembled at the expectation of instant death, 
 the executioner, by order of the em^Deror, let loose a 
 capon upon him. An uncommon laugh was raised at 
 this; and the emperor observed that he who had de- 
 ceived others should expect to be deceived himself. 
 
 A ring often figures in the old English ballads. Thus, 
 in Child Noryce^ the hero of it invites Lady Barnard to 
 the merry greenwood : 
 
 " Here is a ring, a ring, he says, 
 It's all gold but the stane ; 
 You may tell her to come to the merry greenwood, 
 And ask the leave o' nane." 
 3* 
 
58 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 21. A ring, as an heraldic figure, is found in coats 
 of arms throughout every kingdom in Europe. In He- 
 raldry, it is called an annulet. We find the ring " gem- 
 med" borne in the arms of the Montgomeries, who hold 
 the Earldom of Eglinton ; and one of whom figures in the 
 ballad of Chevy Chase : 
 
 "Against Sir Hugh Montgomerie 
 So right his shaft he set, 
 The gray-goose-wing that was therein 
 In his heart blood was wet." 
 
 A father and son of this family were opposed to each 
 other in the battle of Marston Moor. The father, from 
 his bearing, had the popular appellation of Gray Steel. 
 We find the amulet borne in the coats of arms of several 
 of the peers and gentlemen of England. 
 
 Louis IX. of France, St. Louis, took for his device a 
 marguerite or daisy and fleur-de-lis, in allusion to the 
 name of Queen Marguerite his wife and the arms of 
 France, which were also his own.* He had a ring made 
 with a relief around it in enamel, which represented a 
 garland of marguerites and fleurs-de-lis. One was 
 engraven on a sapphire with these words, ''This ring 
 contains all we loveT Tims, it has been said, did this 
 excellent prince show his people that he loved nothing 
 but Religion, France and his wife. It is a question, how- 
 ever, whether the emblem on the escutcheon of the kings 
 of France is really a fleur-de-lis. Some think it was ori- 
 ginally a toad, which formed the crest of the helmet worn 
 by Pharamond ; and others, the golden bees which were 
 
 New- York Albion newspaper, 8th October, 1853. 
 
OFFIKGER-RINGS. 5d 
 
 discovered in the tomb of Cliilderic at Tournay in 1653.* 
 The story is that Clovis, after baptism, received a fleur- 
 de-lis from an angeL Since then France has been called 
 " the empire of lilies." The coat of arms of Clovis and 
 his successors was a field of azure, seeded with golden 
 fleurs-de-lis. 
 
 The story of losing rings and finding tliem in fish, is 
 as old as Pliny, and we shall have to mention Solomon's 
 ring, which, it is said, was found in one. We have an 
 English statementf of a Mrs. Todd, of Deptford, who, in 
 going in a boat to Whitstable, endeavored to prove that 
 no person need be poor who was willing to be otherwise ; 
 and, being excited with her argument, she took off" her 
 gold ring and throwing it into the sea, said, " It was as 
 much impossible for any person to be poor, who had an 
 inclination to be otherwise, as for her ever to see that 
 ring again." The second day after this, and when she 
 had landed, she bought some mackerel, which the servant 
 commenced to dress for dinner, whereupon there was 
 found a gold ring in one. The servant ran to show it to 
 her mistress, and the ring proved to be that which she 
 had thrown away. 
 
 We are told in Brand's " History of Newcastle," that 
 a gentleman of that city, in the middle of the seventeenth 
 
 * When the tomb of Childeric, father of Clovis, was opened, there were 
 found, besides the skeletons of his horse and page, his arms, a crystal orb and 
 more than three hundred little ornaments resembling bees of the purest gold, 
 their wing part being inlaid with a red stone like cornelian. It has. however, 
 been asserted that they were what are called Jleurons, supposed to have been 
 attached to the harness of the monarch's war-horse. Napoleon, wishing to 
 have some regal emblem more ancient than the Jleiir-de-Us, adopted the fleu- 
 rons or bees, and the green ground as the original Merovingian color. 
 (Notes and Queries, viii. 30.) 
 
 t London Gent.'s Mag. for January, 1765, p. 210. 
 
 ' i 
 
60 HISTOKYAl^D POETRY 
 
 century, dropped a ring from his hand over the bridge 
 into the river Tyne. Years passed on ; he had lost all 
 hopes of recovering the ring, when one day his wife 
 bought a fish in the market, and in the stomach of that 
 fish was the identical jewel which had been lost ! From 
 the pains taken to commemorate this event, it would 
 appear to be true ; it was merely an occurrence possible, 
 but extremely unlikely to have occurred. 
 
 We are inclined to add in this section a circumstance 
 connected with a ring as it appeared in a respectable 
 English periodical. Fact, here, beats fiction : 
 
 "Many years ago a lady sent her servant, a young 
 man about twenty years of age, and a native of that part 
 of the country where his mistress resided, to the neigh- 
 boring towm with a ring, which required some alteration, 
 to be delivered into the hands of a jeweller. The young 
 man went the shortest way across the fields ; and coming 
 to a little w^ooden bridge that crossed a small stream, he 
 leant against the rail, and took the ring out of its case to 
 look at it. "While doing so, it slipped out of his hand, 
 and fell into the water. In vain he searched for it, even 
 till it grew dark. He thought it fell into the hollow 
 of a stump of a tree under water, but he could not find 
 it. The time taken in the search was so long, that he 
 feared to return and tell his story, thinking it incredi- 
 ble, and that he should be even suspected of having gone 
 into evil company and gamed it away or sold it. In 
 this fear he determined never to return left wages and 
 clothes, and fairly ran away. This seemingly great mis- 
 fortune was the making of him. His intermediate his- 
 tory I know not ; but this, that after many years' absence, 
 either in the East or West Indies, he returned with a 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 61 
 
 very considerable fortune. He now wished to clear 
 himself with his old mistress ; ascertained that she was 
 living ; purchased a diamond ring of considerable value, 
 which he determined to present in person, and clear his 
 character, by telling his tale, to which the credit of his 
 present position might testify. He took the coach to the 
 town of , and from thence set out to walk the dis- 
 tance of a few miles. He found, I should tell you, on 
 alighting, a gentleman who resided in the neighborhood, 
 who w^as bound for the adjacent village. They walked 
 together, and in conversation, this former servant, now a 
 gentleman, with graceful manners and agreeable address, 
 communicated the circumstance that made him leave 
 the country abruptly many years before. As he was 
 telling this, they came to the very wooden bridge. 
 'There,' said he; 'it was just here that I dropped the 
 ring ; and there is the very bit of old tree into a hole of 
 which it fell just there.' At the same time he put 
 down the point of his umbrella into the hole of the knot 
 in the tree, and drawing it up, to the astonishment of 
 both, found the very ring on the ferrule of the umbrella." 
 
 Here also was an occurrence against which one would 
 have previously said the chances were as one to infinity. 
 It was a circumstance which we see to be most unlikely, 
 yet must acknowledge to be possible, and, when well 
 authenticated, to be true. 
 
 In the year 1765, a codfish was sold, and in its sto- 
 mach was a gold ring. It had remained there so long 
 that the inscription w^as worn ofi", although the scrolls in 
 which it had been written remained entire.* Codfish, 
 like sharks, swallow any thing, whether fresh or salted, 
 
 Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xxxv. old series, p. 141, 
 
62 HISTORYAND POETRY 
 
 bits of wood, red cloth, and even a whole book has been 
 found in one. We are not aware, however, that a cod 
 has turned " State's evidence," as it is said a shark did. 
 A shark had swallowed a log-book, thrown overboard to 
 him by a pirate ; and afterwards repenting, took the first 
 hook that offered, and thus turned State's evidence so 
 as to hang the villain by the revelation of the docu- 
 ment.* 
 
 23. Poetical riddles are but a low species of verse, 
 and yet the best of poets have made them. We find a 
 neat one on a ring, which, in riddle-phrase, has been 
 said to " unite two people together and touch only one." 
 It runs thus : 
 
 " Though small of body, it contains 
 The extremes of pleasure and of pains ; 
 Has no beginning, nor no end ; 
 More hollow than the falsest friend. 
 If it entraps some headless zany, 
 Or, in its magic circle, any 
 Have entered, from its sorcery 
 No power on earth can set them free. 
 At least, all human force is vain, 
 Or less than many hundred men. 
 Though endless, yet not short, nor long ; 
 And what though it's so wondrous strong, 
 The veriest child, that's pleased to try, 
 Might carry fifty such as I." 
 
 George Herbert " Holy Mr. Herbert," as Isaac Wal- 
 ton calls him ^has an enigma in which a ring appears. 
 We must confess our inability to solve it, and leave, 
 readers to do so. It is entitled 
 
 * Article in the N. Y. Albion for Slst Dec. 1853, on Cod and Cpd Fishing, 
 
OFFINGER-KINGS. 63 
 
 " HOPE. 
 
 " I gave to Hope a watch of mine ; but he 
 
 An anchor gave to me. 
 Then an old prayer-book I did present, \ 
 
 And he an optic sent. 
 With that, I gave a phial full of tears ; 
 
 But he a few green ears. 
 Ah, loiterer ! I'll no more, no more I'll bring : i 
 
 I did expect a ring." 
 
 24. Eings are sometimes misapplied. In the church 
 of Loretto is the house in which some Catholics say the 
 Virgin mother of Jesus was born, it having occupied a 
 lane in Nazareth where Christ resided, and which, after 
 a long flight of years, was transported by angels to 
 Loretto. It must, as it stood in Nazareth, have resem- 
 bled a mud cabin. Within it is a miraculous statue of 
 the Yirgin and child, in cedar wood. " The Bambino," 
 says an authoress, "holds up his hand, as if to sport 
 a superb diamond ring on his finger, presented to him 
 by Cardinal Antonelli ; it is a single diamond, and 
 weighs thirty grains."^ 
 
 25. The scenes through which many rings are car- 
 ried must be as remarkable as those exhibited in "The 
 Adventures of a Guinea," or " of a Feather." " My 
 Lady Eochford," writes Horace Walpole, " desired me 
 t'other day to give her a motto for a ruby ring, which 
 had been given by a handsome woman of quality to a 
 fine man ; he gave it to his mistress, she to Lord **-^**, 
 he to my Lady ; who, I think, does not deny that it has 
 not yet finished its travels. I excused myself for some 
 
 Lady Morgan's Italy, vol. ii. p. 419, 
 
64^ FINGEK-EINGS. 
 
 time, on the difficulty of reducing such a history to a 
 poesy at last I proposed this : 
 
 * This was given by woman to man and by man to woman.' "* 
 * Correspondence, vol. iii. p, 107. 
 
 It may be well for the author to so far take the part of 
 ft jeweller, as to sort his Eings before he exhibits them. 
 We propose to speak of: 
 
 1. Eings connected withj^ower, 
 
 2. Rings having supposed cha/rms and mrtices, or con- 
 nected with degradation and slavery, or used/or sad 
 and wicked purposes. 
 
 8. Rings coupled with remarJcahle historical characters 
 or circumstances. 
 
 4. Rings of love, affection and friendship. 
 
CHAPTER TWO 
 
 KINGS CONNECTED WITH POWER. 
 
 1. The King an Emblem of Power ; Pharaoh ; Quintus Curtius ; Antiochna 
 Epiphanes, Augustus; King of Persia, Egypt under the Ptolemies ; Ro- 
 man Senators ; the Forefinger, 2. Eings used in Coronations ; Edward the 
 Second , Mother of Henry VIII. ; Queen Elizabeth ; Charles II. ; Coro- 
 nation Eings, Canute; Sebert; Henry II.; Childeric; Matilda, wife cf 
 William the Conqueror. 3. King witlidrawing a Proceeding from the 
 Council by the use of a Eing. 4. The Doge of Venice marrying the Adriatic. 
 5. The Eing of Office of the Doge. 6. TJie Fisherman's Ring. 7. Papal 
 Eing of Pius II. 8. Investiture of Archbishops and Bishops, by delivery 
 of a Eing ; Cardinal's Eing; Extension of the two Forefingers and Thumb. 
 9. Serjeant's Eing. 10. Arabian Princesses. 11. Eoman Knights. 12. Al- 
 derman's Thumb Eing. 
 
 1, From the most ancient times, a ring has been an 
 emblem of power. 
 
 Pharaoh put his ring upon Joseph's hand, as a mark 
 of the power he gave him ; and the people cried, " Bow 
 the knee."^ 
 
 Quintus Curtius tells us that Alexander the Great 
 sealed the letters he wrote into Europe with his own 
 ring seal, and those in Asia with Darius's ring ; and that 
 when Alexander gave his ring to Perdiccas, it was un- 
 derstood as nominating him his successor. 
 
 When Antiochus Epiphanes was at the point of death, 
 he committed to Philip, one of his friends, his diadems, 
 royal cloak and ring, that he might give them to his 
 successor, young Antiochus. f 
 
 * Genesis, chap. Ixi. et seq. 1 1 Mac. vi. 15, 
 
G6 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 Augustus, being very ill of a distemper wliicli he 
 thought mortal, gave his ring to Agrippa, as to a friend 
 of the greatest integrity. 
 
 The ring given by Pharaoh to Joseph was, undoubt- 
 edly, a signet or seal-ring, and gave authority to the 
 documents to which it was affixed ; and by the delivery 
 of it, therefore, Pharaoh delegated to Joseph the chief 
 authority in the state."^ The king of Persia, in the 
 same way, gave his seal-ring to his successive ministers, 
 Haman and Mordecai ; and in the book of Esther,f the 
 use of such a ring is expressly declared : " The writing 
 which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the 
 king's seal, may no man reverse." 
 
 That ministers or lords under the king had their rings 
 of office, is also apparent from what occurred with the 
 closing of the den of lions : "And a stone was brought 
 and laid upon the mouth of the den ; and the king sealed 
 it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords ; 
 that the purpose might not be changed concerning 
 Daniel."i 
 
 In Egypt, under the Ptolemies, the king's ring was the 
 badge under which the country was governed. It seem- 
 ed to answer to the great seal of England. We read 
 that Sosibius, minister under Ptolemy Philoj)ater, was 
 forced, by popular clamor, to give up the king's signet 
 ring to another. Here was a going out of a Lord John 
 Russell, and a coming in of a Lord Palmerston. 
 
 At first, Roman Senators were not allowed to wear 
 gold rings, unless they had been ambassadors ; but, at 
 length, the Senators and Knights wxre allowed the use 
 
 * Encyc. Brit., Article Bing. f Chap. viii. 8. 
 
 X Daniel vi. 17, Egypt under the Ptolemies, by Sharp, 118. 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 67 
 
 of them ; although Acron in Horace observes they could 
 not do it unless it were given them hj the Prsetor.* The 
 people wore silver rings. 
 
 Inhabitants of the eastern world do not sign their 
 names. They have ring-seals, in which name and title 
 are engraven, and they make an impression with thick 
 ink where we make our signature. To give a person, then, 
 your seal-ring, is to give him the use of an authority and 
 power which your own signature possesses. This explains 
 the extraordinary anxiety about seals, as exhibited in the 
 laws and usages of the East, and to which we have refer- 
 red in a former chapter. It also illustrates Judah's anxi- 
 ety about the signet which he had pledged to Tamar. 
 
 In ancient times, the forefinger w^as emblematical of 
 power. Among the Hebrews, " the finger of God " 
 denoted his power ; and it was the forefinger among the 
 gods of Greece and Italy which wore the ring, the em- 
 blem of supremacy.f 
 
 2. Eings are used in coronations. The English 
 public records, as now extant in the Tower of London, 
 contain no mention of any coronation proceedings before 
 the reign of Edward the Second. The accounts of the 
 forms observed with reference to that king being crown- 
 ed, as also of Richard the Second, are the two most 
 ancient from which the minutes of those matters can 
 be collected on oflicial authority.:]: However, there is 
 
 * Lib. ii. Sat. 7. f Notes and Queries, iv. 261. 
 
 X An Historical and Critical Enquiry into the nature of the Kingly Offices, 
 etc., by T. C. Banks, p. 7. See also a complete account of the Ceremonies 
 observed in the Coronation of the Kings and Queens of England, 4th edition, 
 published by J Eoberts. Also, the entire Ceremonies of the Coronation of 
 King Charles II., and of Queen Mary, consort of James II., as published by 
 the Learned Heralds, Ashmole and Sandford. 
 
68 HISTOKY AND POETRY 
 
 enough of Saxon times left to show that the Anglo-Saxon 
 kings used a ring in their coronation ceremonies."^ 
 
 In a curious old manuscript relating to the Ancient 
 Form of the Coronation of the Kings and Queens of Eng- 
 land, we have this : " After the king is thus arrayed, 
 then let the crown be placed upon the king's head by 
 the Archbishop, and afterwards let a ring be put upon 
 the king's hand by the Bishop." 
 
 In Leland's Collectanea is a circumstantial account of 
 the coronation of the mother of Henry the Eighth. In 
 describing the ceremonies made use of by the Archbi- 
 shop : " He next blest her ring and sprinkled on it holy 
 water." 
 
 In the ceremony of Queen Elizabeth's coronation, she 
 was wedded to the kingdom with a ring, which she 
 always wore, till the flesh growing over it, it was filed 
 off a little before her decease. f 
 
 On the restoration of Charles the Second of England, 
 measures were adopted to repair, as much as possible, 
 the loss of the ancient regalia of the crown taken from 
 their depository, the Jerusalem Chamber, Westminster, 
 and broken up and sold by the Parliamentarians.:!: The 
 new regalia was constructed by Sir Hobert Yyner, the 
 king's goldsmith. The cost of it was 21,978 9s. lid. 
 
 In an account of the coronation of Charles II. of Eng- 
 land, we have the following, which comes after a de- 
 scription of the robing and crowning : " Then the master 
 of the jewel house delivered to the Archbishop the ring, 
 
 * Archseologia, (London,) iii. 390. + Biographia Britannica, Art. Devereux. 
 
 X Archaeologia, vol. xxvi. (London.) Account of the Jerusalem Chamber, 
 by A. J. Kempe, Esquire. 
 
 lb. vol. xxix. pi. 2. Particulars of the Eegalia of England, made for the 
 Coronation of Charles II., by Kobert Cole, Esquire. 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 69 
 
 who consecrated it after this manner, saying : Bless, O 
 Lord, and sanctify this ring, that thy servant, wearing 
 it, may be sealed with the ring of faith and, by the power 
 of the Highest, be preserved from sin ; and let all the 
 blessings, which are found in Holy Scripture, plentifully 
 descend upon him, that whatsoever he shall sanctify may 
 be holy ; and whomsoever he blesseth may be blessed. 
 Amen.' After which he put it upon the fourth finger 
 of the king's right hand, and said : 'Eeceive this ring of 
 kingly dignity, and by it the seal of Catholic Faith, that 
 as this day thou art adorned the head and prince of this 
 kingdom and people, so thou mayest persevere as the 
 author and establisher of Christianity and the Christian 
 faith ; that being rich in faith and happy in works, thou 
 mayest reign with Him that is King of kings ; to whom 
 be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.' " Think 
 of this imposing ceremony ; and then remember the after 
 life and the death of that royal libertine. Better for his 
 country had he never known a British oak for safety. 
 The living tree was dishonored when its foliage shaded 
 him. What can be said in favor of one who squandered 
 on his mistresses seventy thousand pounds sterling, 
 which had been voted by Parliament for a monument to 
 liis fatlier ? And also to think of the joking excuse, that 
 liis father's grave was unknown ! 
 
 In an explanation of what are called the sacred and 
 royal habits and other ornaments w^herewith monarchs 
 of England are invested on the day of coronation, we 
 liave a description of the king's and queen's coronation 
 rings. The king's is a plain gold ring, with a large table 
 ruby violet, wherein a plain cross or cross of St. George 
 is curiously enchased. Tlie queen's coronation ring is 
 
70 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 likewise gold, with a large table ruby set therein and 
 sixteen other small rubies round about the ring, whereof 
 those next to the collet are the largest, the rest diminish- 
 ing proportionally. 
 
 In the account of Ancient Eegalia which were de- 
 stroyed and dissipated in the time of the Commonwealth 
 in England, there is no mention of a ring. 
 
 In the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-six, 
 some workmen discovered a monument while repairing 
 "Winchester Cathedral, in England.* It contained the 
 body of King Canute, and was remarkably fresh. There 
 was a wreath around the head, several ornaments of gold 
 and also silver bands ; upon a finger was a ring, in which 
 was set a large and remarkably fine stone ; while in one 
 of the hands was a silver penny. This silver penny was 
 not for " the ferryman that poets write of," as was the 
 piece of money in the mouths of the Koman knights 
 whose passing-away bodies we have before referred to; 
 but, although it may have been for Peter and not Charon, 
 is it not probable that we find here a custom of Christian 
 times springing out of heathen root ? A statue of Jupi- 
 ter has been turned into a Christ ; and that which the 
 Koman used for the boatman of Styx, is here meant for 
 one who had the key of heaven. 
 
 While Henry the Second, of England, was rebuilding 
 Westminster Abbey, the sepulchre of Sebert, king of the 
 East Angles, was opened. f The body was dressed in 
 royal robes, and there was a thumb-ring, in which was 
 set a ruby of great value. 
 
 Horace Walpole, having reference to the opening of 
 this monarch's tomb, complains, like an antiquary, of 
 
 * Archaeologia, iii. 390. t lb. 385. 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. Tl 
 
 the reburying the king's regalia. " They might, at least, 
 have cut out the portraits and removed the tomb [of King 
 Sebert] to a conspicuous situation ; but though this age 
 is grown so antiquarian, it has not gained a gi*ain more 
 of sense in that walk witness, as you instance, in Mr. 
 Grose's Legends, and in the dean and chapter reburying 
 the crown, robes and sceptre of Edward I. There would 
 surely have been as much piety in preserving them in 
 their treasury, as in consigning them again to decay. I 
 did not know that the salvation of robes and crowns de- 
 pended on receiving Christian burial. At the same time, 
 the chapter transgresses that prince's will, like all their 
 antecessors, for he ordered his tomb to be opened every 
 year or two years, and receive a new cere-cloth or pall ; 
 but they boast now of having inclosed him so substan- 
 tially that his ashes cannot be violated again. "^ 
 
 When the tomb of Henry the Second, of England, was 
 opened, it appeared that he was buried wearing a crow^n 
 and royal robes, with other paraphernalia, while there 
 was a great ring upon his finger.f 
 
 Richard the Second, of England, by his will directed 
 that he should be buried in velvet or white satin, etc., 
 and that, according to royal usage, a ring, with a precious 
 stone in it, should be put upon his finger. 
 
 The body of Childeric, the first king of the Franks,^ 
 was discovered at Tours. It was found in royal robes, 
 and, with other regalia, a coronation ring. 
 
 In the year one thousand five hundred and sixty-two, 
 the Calvinists broke open the tomb of Matilda, wife to 
 William the Conqueror, in the Abbey of Caen ; and 
 discovered her body dressed in robes of state and a gold 
 
 * Correspondence, vol. vi. p. 67. t Archajologia, iii. 392. X l^- 389. 
 
72 HISTOEY AND POETRY 
 
 ring, set with a sapphire, upon one of lier fingers. The 
 ring was given to the then abbess, who presented it to 
 lier father, the Baron de Conti, constable of France, when 
 lie attended Charles IX. to Caen in 1563. 
 
 3. In the time of Henry YIII. of England, the king's 
 ring was used to withdraw from the Council the power 
 to adjudge a matter and to place it entirely in the hands 
 of the monarch. We refer to tlie complaints against 
 Cranmer, which are made use of by Shakspeare,* who 
 has very closely followed Fox, in his Book of Martyrs.f 
 The king sends for Cranmer, and follows up his discourse 
 thus : "Do you not consider what an easy thing it is to 
 procure three or four false knaves to witness against you ? 
 Think you to have better luck that way than your master 
 Christ had ? I see by it you will run headlong to your 
 undoing, if I would suffer you. Your enemies shall not 
 so prevail against you, for I have otherwise devised with 
 myself to keep you out of their hands. Yet, notwith- 
 standing, to-morrow when the council shall sit and send 
 for you, resort unto them, and if, in charging you with 
 this matter, they do commit you to the Tower, require 
 of them, because you are one gf them, a counsellor, that 
 you may have your accusers brought before them with- 
 out any further indurance, and use for yourself as good 
 ])ersuasions that way as you may devise ; and if no en- 
 treaty or reasonable request will serve, then deliver unto 
 them this my ring, (which, then, the king delivered unto 
 the Archbishop,) and say unto them, ' If there be no re- 
 medy, my lords, but that I must needs go to the Tower, 
 then I revoke my cause from you and appeal to the king's 
 
 * King Henry VIII., Act 5, Scenes 1, 2. 
 
 t See also Antiquitat. Britannicse, 334, 336 ; Burnet, 327, et seq. 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 7S 
 
 own person by this token nnto you all ;' for, (said the 
 king then unto the Archbishop,) 'so soon as they shall see 
 this my ring, they know it so well that they shall under- 
 stand that I have reserved the whole cause into mine own 
 liands and determination, and that I have discharged 
 them thereof.' Anon the Archbishop was called into 
 the council chamber, to wdiom w^as alleged as before is 
 rehearsed. The Archbishop answered in like sort as the 
 king had advised him ; and in the end, when he perceived 
 that no manner of persuasion or entreaty could serve, 
 he delivered them the king's ring, revoking his cause 
 into the king's hands. The whole council being thereat 
 somewhat amazed, the Earl of Bedford, with a loud voice, 
 confirming his words with a solemn oath, said, 'When 
 you first began the matter, my lords, I told you wdiat 
 would become of it. Do you think that the king would 
 sufiier this man's finger to ache ? Much more (I warrant 
 you) will he defend his life against brabbling varlets. 
 You do but cumber yourselves to hear tales and fables 
 against him.' And incontinently upon the receipt of the 
 king's token, they all rose and carried to the king his 
 ring, surrendering that matter, as tlie order and use was, 
 into his own hands." 
 
 4. The stranger in Venice is yet shown the richly 
 gilt galley, called Bucentaur^ in which the Doge, from 
 the year 1311, was accustomed to go out into the sea 
 annually on Ascension Day, to throw a ring into the 
 water, and thus to marry, as it were, the Adriatic, as a 
 sign of the power of Venice over that sea.* This cere- 
 mony does not go into remote antiquity, yet the origin 
 
 * Encyc. Am., Art. Venice. And see Scott's Discovery of Witchcraft 
 (1665,) p. 152. 
 
 4 
 
74 HISTORY ANt) l>OETliY 
 
 of it is of considerable date. In the year 1177, when the 
 Emperor Barbarossa went to humble himself before the 
 Pope, who had taken refuge in Venice, the Pope, in tes- 
 timony of the kindness he had there received, gave to the 
 Doge a ring, and with it a right for the Venetians to call 
 the Adriatic sea their own. He bade the Doge cast it 
 into the sea, to wed it, as a man marries his wife ; and 
 he enjoined the citizens, by renewing this ceremony 
 every year, to claim a dominion which they had won by 
 their valor ; for they had, with a small squadron, defeat- 
 ed a large fleet of the Emperor's and taken his son pri- 
 soner ; and it was to regain his son that the Emperor 
 submitted himself to the Pope. 
 
 The ceremony took place on Ascension Day. The 
 Doge, the senators, foreign ambassadors and great num- 
 bers of the nobility, in their black robes, walked to the 
 sea-side, where the magnificent vessel, the Bucentoro, 
 was waiting to receive them. Tliey then proceeded 
 about two miles up the Laguna, and when arrived at a 
 certain place, they all stopped. The Doge then rose 
 from his chair of state, went to the side of the vessel and 
 threw a gold ring into the sea, repeating the following 
 words: "We espouse thee, O sea! as a token of our 
 perpetual dominion over thee." At the close of this part 
 of the ceremony, all the galleys fired their guns ; and 
 the music continued to play. On their voyage back, 
 they stopped at a small island, where they went to church, 
 and high mass was there celebrated. They then returned 
 in the same order they at first set out.* 
 
 * In the Gentleman's Magazine for March, 1798, p. 184, is a minute account 
 of this ceremony, whicli somewliat varies from the above : " On Ascension 
 Day, the Doge, in a splendid barge, attended by a thousand barks and gon- 
 
This cry of perpetual dominion over the sea, puts us 
 in mind of the story of Canute ; and knowing the present 
 prostrate and decaying condition of Venice, truly i\n\\ 
 we say: "How are the mighty fallen." One of our 
 frigates would make the wliole maritime power of Venice 
 tremhle like the ring as it went through the waters. 
 This ceremony was intermitted in the year one thousand 
 seven hundred and ninety-seven.^ 
 
 5. The Doge of Venice had a ring of office. We 
 find it figuring in the acts through which the Doge 
 Foscari had to move. A noble creature was this Foscari. 
 'No Brutus ever behaved with the aw^ful dignity which 
 was apparent in Foscari at the period of his son's torture 
 in his presence.f 
 
 When the Council of Ten demanded of him 
 
 " The resignation of the Ducal ring, 
 Which he had worn so long and venerably," 
 
 he laid aside the Ducal bonnet and robes ; surrendered 
 his ring of office, and cried out : 
 
 " There's the Ducal ring, 
 And there the Ducal diadem. And so. 
 The Adriatic 's free to wed another." 
 
 dolas, proceeds to a particular place in the Adriatic. In order to compose 
 the angry gulf and procure a calm, the patriarch pours into her bosom a 
 quantity of holy water. As soon as this charm has had its effect, the Doge, 
 with great solemnity, through an aperture near his seat, drops into her lap a 
 gold ring, repeating these words, ' Desponsamus te, Mare, in signum veri per- 
 petuique dominii.'' ' We espouse thee, sea ! in token of real and perpetual 
 dominion over thee.' " 
 
 * Dictionary of Dates, Adriatic. *" 
 
 t See Smed ley's Sketches of Venetian History, referred to m note [A] to 
 Byron's Works. 
 
76 HISTORY AND I*OETRY 
 
 The ring was broken in his presence, and as nobly as 
 the old Doge had borne himself, whetlier when strangers 
 were before him, or when his son was tortured in his 
 presence, (as an awful punishment for the yearning of a 
 young heart for childhood's home,) so did this great 
 Venetian still act. He refused to leave the Ducal 
 palace by a private way. He would descend, he said, 
 by no other than the same giant stairs which he had 
 mounted thirty years before. Supported by his brother, 
 he slowly traversed them. At their foot, leaning upon 
 his staff, for years of age were upon him, he turned 
 towards the palace, and accompanied a last look with 
 these parting words : " My services established me with- 
 in your walls; it is the malice of my enemies which 
 tears me from them." The bells of the Campanile told 
 of his successor. He suppressed all outward emotion, but 
 a blood-vessel was ruptured in the exertion and he died 
 in a few hours. 
 
 6. A Pope wears a ring of gold with a costly eme- 
 rald or other precious gem set in it. 
 
 The decrees of the Romish Court consist of bulls and ' 
 briefs. The latter are issued on less important occasions 
 than the former. Briefs are written upon fine white 
 parchment, with Latin letters ; and the seal is what is 
 called " The- Fisherman's Ring." It is a steel seal, made 
 in the fashion of a Roman signet, {signatorius annulus.) 
 When a brief is written to any distinguished personage, 
 or has relation to religious or general important matter, 
 the impression from the Fisherman's Ring is said to be 
 made upon a gold surface ; in some other cases it appears 
 upon lead ; and these seals are generally attached by 
 
OF FINGER- KINGS. Y7 
 
 strings of silk. Impressions of this seal are also made 
 in ink, direct upon the substance on which the brief is 
 written. The author has obtained a sight of an impres- 
 sion of the Fisherman's King, attached to a bull or brief 
 in the archives of the Catholic bishopric of New- York, 
 and liberty to copy it for publication.* The impression 
 is in ink upon vellum or fine parcli- 
 ment, at the left hand of the extreme 
 lower corner, balancing the signature 
 at the other (lower) corner. We are 
 not aware that a sketch has ever be- 
 fore been made public. 
 
 A " Fisherman's Ring " was used 
 at a very early period ; and no doubt the original device 
 has been renewed. The reader will observe the antique 
 form of the prow of the boat and oar, as well as the sin- 
 gular flying drapery attached to the head of the figure. 
 When a pope dies, the cardinal chamberlain or chan- 
 cellor (Gajinerlengo\ accompanied by a large number of 
 the high dignitaries of the Papal Court, comes into the 
 room where the body lies ; and the principal or great 
 notary makes an attestation of the circumstance. Then 
 the cardinal chamberlain calls out the name of the de- 
 ceased pope three times, striking the body each time 
 with a gold hammer; and as no response comes, the 
 chief notary makes another attestation. After this, the 
 cardinal chancellor demands the Fisherman's Ring, and 
 certain ceremonies are performed over it ; and then he 
 strikes the ring with the golden hammer, and an ofti- 
 cer destroys the figure of Peter by the use of a file. 
 
 * He is under obligations to the Reverend Thomas S. Preston for this, 
 
78 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 From this moment all the authority and acts of the late 
 pope pass to the College or Conclave of Cardinals. 
 
 When a new pope is consecrated, it is always the 
 cardinal chancellor or chamberlain who presents the 
 renewed Fisherman's Ring; and this presentation is 
 accompanied by imposing ceremonies. 
 
 Gavazzi, who tilts at every matter which may appear 
 mystically Catholic, just as an excited bull runs at a red 
 mantle, says : " The Fisherman's King now in use is most 
 valuable, and would hardly square with the simplicity 
 of Peter ;"* and he remarks, in reference to the present 
 Pope : " Tliis man has on one of his fingers a splendid 
 ring, composed of diamonds and pearls of great price, 
 and this ring of $8,000 is called the Fisherman's Ring ; 
 it symbolizes the ring of poor St. Peter, which cost, per- 
 haps, two cents." Gavazzi must be in error. A ring 
 like that of the "Fisherman's," subject to be destroyed 
 on the death of a pope, would not be surrounded by 
 brilliants ; and the fact that this ring is used as a signet 
 to impress a gold or leaden surface, or even vellum, car- 
 ries with it the conviction that it would not be encircled 
 with precious stones and pearls ; for, independent of the 
 chance of injury, they would impede an impression. It 
 is very possible that the official ring, bearing an emerald, 
 and which a pope wears as Bishop of Rome, might be 
 further ornamented. We have been favored with a sight 
 of a ring used by the present Archbishop of l^ew-York, 
 which is composed of an extra large oblong emerald of 
 beautiful color, surrounded by brillants. This ring is 
 worn on the fourth finger of the right hand. 
 
 Horace Walpole refers to his friend Mr. Chute's play- 
 
 * U-avazzi's Lectures, (iSew-York cd.,) 185. 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 
 
 79 
 
 
 fully using an expression which con- 
 pies itself with the fisherman's ring : 
 " Mr. Chute has received a j)resent 
 of a diamond mourning ring from a 
 cousin ; he calls it Vannello del Pisca- 
 tore. Mr. Chute, who was unmarried, 
 meant that his cousin was ^5 Am^ for 
 his estate." 
 
 7. There is a massive ring extant, 
 chased with the arms of Pope Pius the 
 Second.* It is of brass, and has been 
 thickly gilt. It is set with a topaz, the 
 surface of which has lost its polish. 
 
 * Londou Geut.'s Mag. for 1848, p. 599. 
 
80 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 On the hoop of the ring are chased the arms of Pope 
 Pius the Second, of the family of Picolomini, the papal 
 tiara, and this inscription, Pcbpa Pio, The stone is set in a 
 massive square facet, carried up to a considerable height 
 above the finger ; and on each of the four sides is placed, 
 in relief, one of the four beasts of the Revelation, which 
 were used to typify the Evangelists. Pope Pius the 
 Second is better known by his literary name of ^neas 
 Sylvius. His works, which include a History of Europe, 
 a History of Bohemia and a long series of letters, have 
 passed through several editions. He was elected Pope 
 in 1418, and died in 1464. This ring is considerably 
 larger in size than the rings usually found buried with 
 bishops, and which were probably what they received 
 on their consecration. It must have been intended to 
 have been worn over a glove. It seems to have been 
 a state ring worn on one of those occasions when all 
 Christendom came to receive his benediction. 
 
 The estates and honors which composed the ecclesias- 
 tical temporalities were considered to partake of the na- 
 ture of fiefs ; and, therefore, to require similar investiture 
 from the chief lord. Charlemagne is said to have 
 introduced this practice and to have invested a newly 
 consecrated bishop by placing a ring and crosier in his 
 hands. 
 
 By a Concordat at Worms, Henry Y. resigned for ever 
 all pretence to invest bishops by the ring and crosier. 
 
 8. During the times of the early British kings, it 
 was a rule for the monarch to invest archbishops and 
 bishops, by delivery of a ring and the pastoral staff. 
 Anselm was hurried into the presence of William Rufus, 
 
OF FINGEE-RINGS. 81 
 
 ia order to be made Archbishop of Canterbury.* He 
 liesitated, because he was subject to Normandy, and the 
 way in which the holy men around him acted, savors 
 very much of a portion of the hurly-burly of a popular 
 democratic election. When no argument could prevail, 
 the bishops and others w^ho were present clapped the 
 pastoral staff into his hands, forced the ring upon his 
 linger, shouted for his election and bore him by force 
 into the church, where Te Deum was sung. This right 
 of investiture became a serious matter of dispute in the 
 time of Anselm. 
 
 Miracles have been attributed to Anselm. A Flemish 
 nobleman was cured of a leprosy by drinking the water in 
 which Anselm had washed his hands ; and a ship, wherein 
 he sailed, having a large hole in one of her planks, 
 nevertheless took in no water so long as the holy man 
 was on board. f 
 
 From the reign of Charlemagne, sovereign princes 
 took upon them to give the investiture of the greater 
 benefices by the ring and pastoral staff. J Gregory YIL 
 was the first who endeavored to take from them this right, 
 towards the end of the eleventh century. 
 
 Arnulph, immediately on his consecration as Bishop 
 of Rochester, gave the attendant monks to understand 
 how a dream about a ring had foretold this dignity.g 
 " Arnulph being received by the monks w^ith all marks 
 of respect, said to us, on the very day of his election : 
 * Brethren, I had assurance given me a few days ago 
 that, unworthy as I am, I should soon be raised to the 
 
 * Eadmer, Histor. Nov., 1. i. p. 16. 
 
 + John of Salisbury's Life of Anselm. 
 
 X Rapin. William of Malmesbuiy. 
 
 4* 
 
82 HISTORYANDPOETKY 
 
 dignity now conferred upon me. For as I slept one night, 
 Gimdiilplms ' (who had been Bishop of Rochester) ' ap- 
 peared to me, offering me a ring of great weight ; which 
 being too heavy for me, I refused to accept it ; but he, 
 chiding me for my stupidity in rejecting his present, 
 obliged me to receive it, and then disappeared.' This he 
 related to us ; and we were convinced it was no fantas- 
 tical illusion which the holy man had seen in his sleep, 
 since, being made Bishop of Rochester, he received that 
 very ring, which Bishop Gundulphus, when alive, had 
 given to Ralph, then an abbot, but afterwards bishop." 
 
 Symbols of ring, staff, mitre and gloves are not used 
 at the present day in the consecration of archbishops and 
 bishops of the Church of England. The delivery of the 
 pastoral staff in the Roman pontificate was preceded by 
 its consecration, and followed by the consecration and 
 putting on of a ring in token of his marriage to the 
 church ; and of a mitre^ as an helmet of strength and 
 salvation, that his face being adorned, and his head (as 
 it were) armed with the horns of both Testaments, may 
 appear terrible to the adversaries of the truth, as also in 
 imitation of the ornaments of Moses and Aaron ; and 
 of gloms, in token of clean hands and breast to be pre- 
 served by him.^ 
 
 The episcopal ring, and which is thus esteemed a 
 pledge of the spiritual marriage between the bishop and 
 his church, was used at a remote period. The fourth 
 Council of Toledo, held in 633, appoints that a bishop 
 condemned by one council and found afterwards inno- 
 cent by a second should be restored by giving him the 
 ring, staff, etc.f 
 
 * Burn's Ecclesiastical Law, 209, t Encyc. Brit., Title, Bmg, 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 83 
 
 From bishops, the custom of the ring has passed to 
 cardinals, who are to pay a large sum for the right to 
 use a ring as such. Perhaps this arises from the fact 
 that cardinals and prelates do not, strictly, belong to the 
 hierarchy. 
 
 A bishop, like a pope, receives a gold ring, set with 
 a green gem. Sometimes an abbot of a convent is in- 
 vested with a ring, but this is said only to occur when 
 he possesses a bishop's powers. 
 
 Solid gold rings are frequently found in tombs of 
 abbots and bishops."^ 
 
 In a description of the finger-ring found in the grave of 
 the venerable Bede, it is said, that no priest, during the 
 reign of Catholicity in England, was buried or enshrined 
 without his ring. This, however, has been questioned. f 
 High dignitaries of the Church do not appear to have 
 restricted themselves to a single ring. On the hands of 
 the effigy of Cardinal Beaufort in Winchester Cathedral, 
 there are gloves fringed with gold and having an oval- 
 shaped jewel on the back; w^hile on the middle and 
 third fingers of each hand are rings worn over the gloves. 
 In new paving and beautifying of Exeter Ca- 
 thedral in England, a leaden coflin was found 
 of a Bishop Bitton, who died in 1307.:}: E'ear 
 the bones of the finger was discovered a sap- 
 phire ring set in gold, in the centre of which 
 was engraved a hand with the two forefingers 
 extended in the attitude of benediction. 
 This extension of the two forefingers, in company with 
 the thumb, must have been often observed in Catholic 
 
 * London Gent's Mag., vol. Ixxi. p. 1082. 
 
 t Notes and Queries, viii. 387. X lb. 2d vol. 4th S., 300. 
 
84: HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 pictures. We see it in the painting of the Virgin and 
 Child in the Diisseldorf collection now in New- York. 
 
 The thumb and the first two fingei-s have always been 
 reserved as symbols of the three persons of the Trinity.* 
 When a bishop gives his blessing, he blesses with the 
 thumb and first two fingers. Sepulchral monuments 
 bear witness of this fact. 
 
 Both the Greek and Latin Churches agree that the 
 thumb and first two fingers symbolize the Trinity. f 
 
 It is, however, insisted that the origin of thus using the 
 thumb and two fingers is not of Christian, but of heathen 
 derivation ; for Apuleius mentions this practice as the 
 usual one with orators soliciting the attention of an au- 
 dience.J Here we see another j^agan custom become a 
 Christian one. 
 
 The hand, with the thumb and two fingers extended, 
 is sometimes called the "hand of justice." 
 
 Miniature hands, taking in a part of the arm, are found 
 in Rome, which have the thumb and two forefingers 
 extended and the remaining fingers closed. Caylus 
 gives a drawing of one (two inches and nine lines in 
 length) which has a serpent stretched on the back of 
 the hand, after having surrounded the wrist, and a liz- 
 ard, likewise in relief, placed upon the arm.|| The au- 
 thor we have referred to cannot account for this peculiar 
 disposition of the thumb and fingers ; but he considers 
 that the thing itself was an ofi'ering, and refers to a hole 
 in it by which it could be suspended. But we observe that 
 Addison, in his Remarks on Italy,T says : " The custom 
 
 * Notes and Queries, v. 114. t lb. 492. 
 
 X Metaraorph. ii. 34. Ennemoser, i. 258, et seq. 
 
 J Caylus, vi. 295^ PI. xciii, ^ Addison, (Tickell's edit.,) v. 178, 
 
OF FINGER-RIKGS. 85 
 
 of hanging up limbs of wax, as well as pictures, is cer- 
 tainly direct from the old heathens, who used, upon their 
 I'ecoverj, to make an offering in wood, metal or clay of 
 the part that had been afflicted with a distemper, to the 
 deity that delivered them. I have seen, I believe, every 
 limb of a human body figured in iron or tilay which 
 were formerly made on this occasion, among the several 
 collections of antiquities that have been shown in Italy." 
 This, however, does not account for the snake and the 
 lizard, or the peculiarity of closing two fingers and ele- 
 vating the others with the thumb ; and we are inclined 
 to raise a question, whether the miniature hand and arm, 
 figured by Caylus, was not an amiilet and worn as such ? 
 The position of the fingers and thumb may here denote 
 power, or authority and control over noxious creatures. 
 A Roman soldier going into Egypt might carry such an 
 one.* (This custom of ofiPering a model of the restored 
 part, was common with the ancient Egyptians.f) 
 
 Catholics kiss the bishop's hand, or, rather, the ring 
 which he wears in virtue of his episcopal office. 
 
 In the earliest ages bishops sealed with rings; but 
 from the ninth century they had distinct seals.:}: 
 
 * Since writing the above, we have come across Unnemoser'' s IRstory of 
 Ma^ic, who refers to these hands ; and wliile he takes up with the notion of 
 their being votive offerings, he refers to the extended fingers to show that 
 a cure had been effected by magnetic manipulation. In reference to one par- 
 ticuhir specimen, the author considers the hand itself to be an appropriate 
 emblem from having performed the cure. (Vol. i. p. 255.) This, then, does 
 away with the idea that a cure in the hand itself was effected ; and if we 
 take away the hand, the remarkable figures with which it was studded do not 
 seem to be connected with or emblemiitieal of any kind of disease. All this 
 brings us nearer to our notion, that these hands were used as amulets. 
 
 t Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, ii. 354. 
 
 X Fosbroke's Encyc. of Antiquities, 246. 
 
86 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 It is said that formerly bishops wore their rings on the 
 forefinger of the right hand.^ 
 
 When a bishop receives the ring at his consecration, 
 the words used are : " Eeceive the ring, the badge of 
 fidelity, to the end that, adorned with inviolable fidelity, 
 you may guard, without reproach, the Spouse of God, 
 that is, the Holy Church." 
 
 9. At the English Law Bar, there is a distinction 
 among the barristers. Those called Serjeants are of the 
 highest and most ancient degree, and judges of the Courts 
 of Westminster are always admitted into this venerable 
 order before they are advanced to the Bench. 
 - The ceremony of making a serjeant is or rather was 
 a very imposing and expensive one. Connected with 
 this ceremony, the serjeant had to give a great dinner, 
 "like to the feast of a king's coronation," and which 
 continued seven days, and he had to present gold rings, 
 bearing some loyal motto, to every prince, duke and 
 archbishop present, and to every earl and bishop, lord 
 privy seal, lords chief justices, lord chief baron, every 
 lord baron of Parliament, abbot and notable prelate, 
 worshipful knight, master of the rolls, every justice, 
 baron of exchequer, chamberlain, officer and clerk of the 
 courts, each receiving a ring, convenient for his degree. 
 And a similar token was given to friends. 
 
 These rings were delivered by some friend of the new 
 Serjeant's and who was of the standing of barrister. He 
 was called his colt. Whitlock says, when the new Ser- 
 jeants counted, their colts delivered the rings. f Why 
 
 * Notes and Queries, v. 492. 
 t Whitlock's Memoirs, p. 356. 
 
they are thus called is not very clear : " colt^^ according 
 to Shakspeare, is a young foolish fellow. 
 
 In 1 Modern Reports ^ case 30, we have a hint of " short 
 weight." "Seventeen Serjeants being made the 14th 
 day of November, a daye or two after Serjeant Powis, 
 the junior of them all, coming to the King's Bench bar, 
 Lord Chief Justice Kelynge told him that he had some- 
 thing to say to him, viz. : that the rings which he and 
 the rest of the Serjeants had given weighed but eighteen 
 shillings apiece ; wliereas Fortescue, in his book De 
 Laudihus Legiiin Anglice^ says, 'The rings given to the 
 chief justices and to the chief baron ought to weigh 
 twenty shillings apiece ;' and that he spoke not this ex- 
 pecting a recompence, but that it might not be drawn 
 into a precedent, and that the young gentlemen there 
 might take notice of it." 
 
 We consider the matter about Serjeants' rings suffi- 
 ciently curious and interesting to allow of our adding 
 extracts from Fortescue and Cooke : 
 
 " But this you must understand,"^ that when the day 
 appointed is come, those elect persons, among other so- 
 lemnities, must keep a great dinner, like to the feast of 
 a king's coronation, which shall continue and last for the 
 space of seven days, and none of those elect persons 
 shall defray the charges growing to him about the costs 
 of this solemnity with less expense than the sum of four 
 hundred marks ; so that the expenses which eight men 
 so elect shall then bestow, will surmount to the sum of 
 three thousand and two hundred marks, of which ex- 
 penses one parcel shall be this : Every of them shall give 
 rings of gold to the value of forty pounds sterling at the 
 
 * Fortescue de Laud. Leguin Aiigl., cap. 50. 
 
88 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 least ; and your chancellour well remembreth, that at 
 what time he received this state and degree, the rings 
 which he then gave stood him in fifty pounds. For every 
 such Serjeant, at the day of his creation, useth to give 
 unto every prince, duke and archbishop being present 
 at that solemnity and to the Lord Chancellour and Lord 
 Treasurer of England a ring of the value of 26s. Sd. 
 
 " And to every earl and bishop, being likewise present, 
 and also to the lord privy seal, to both the lords chief 
 justices, and to the lord chief baron of the King's Exche- 
 quer a ring of the value of 20^. 
 
 " And to every lord baron of the Parliament, and to 
 every abbot and notable prelate and worshipful knight, 
 being then present, and also to the master of the rolls 
 and to every justice a ring of the value of a mark ; and 
 likewise to every baron of the exchequer, to the cham- 
 berlains and to all the officers and notable men serving 
 in the king's courts rings of a smaller price but agreea- 
 bly to their estates to whom they are given. 
 
 " Insomuch that there shall not be a clerk, especially 
 in the Court of the Common Bench, but he shall receive 
 a ring convenient for his degree ; and, besides these, they 
 give divers rings to other of their friends." 
 
 " And on Tuesday, May 10,* in the second week of 
 the term, the said Sir John Walter being of the Inner 
 Temple, Sir Henry Yelverton of Grayes Inne and Sir 
 Thomas Trevor of the Inner Temple, with the benchers, 
 readers and others of those Inns of Court whereof they 
 respectively had been, being attended by the warden of 
 the Fleet and marshall of the Exchequer, made their ap- 
 pearance at Serjeants Inne in Fleet street, before the 
 
 8 Cooke's Reports, 8. 
 
oe*finger-rt:^gs. 89 
 
 two chief justices and all the justices of both benches. 
 And Sir Eandolph Crew, chief justice, made a short 
 speech unto them, and (because it was intended thej 
 should not continue Serjeants to practise) he acquainted 
 tlieni with the king's purpose of advancing them to seats 
 of judicature, and exhorted them to demeane themselves 
 well in their several places. Then every one in his order 
 made his count, (and defences were made by the ancient 
 Serjeants,) and their several writs being read, their coyfs 
 and scarlet hoods were put on them, and being arrayed 
 in their brown-blew gownes, went into their chambers, 
 and all the judges to their several places at Westminster, 
 and afterward tlie said three Serjeants, attyred in their 
 party-coloured robes, attended w^ith the marshall and 
 warden of the Fleete, the servants of the said Serjeants 
 going before them, and accompanied with the benchers 
 and others of the several Inns of Court of whose society 
 they had been, walked unto Westminster and there 
 placed themselves in the hall over against the Common 
 Pleas bar. 
 
 " And the hall being full, a lane was made for them 
 to the barre ; (the justices of the Common Bench being 
 in court) they recited three several counts, (and several 
 defences made to several counts,) and had their writs 
 read. The first and third by Brownlow the chief pro- 
 thonotary, and the second by Goulton the second pro- 
 thonotary. And Sir John Walter and Thomas Trevor 
 gave rings to the judges with this inscription, ' Regi 
 Legi semire lihertas^ And Sir Henry Yelverton gave 
 rings whereof the inscription was, ' Stat Lege Corona^ and 
 presently after (they all standing together) returned to 
 Serjeants Inn, where was a great feast, at which Sir 
 
90 HISTORY ANDPOETRY 
 
 James Lee, Lord Treasurer and the Earl of Manchester, 
 Lord President of the Council, were present." 
 
 10. Arabian princesses wear golden rings on their 
 fingers, to which little bells are suspended, so that their 
 superior rank may be known, and they, themselves, re- 
 ceive, in passing, the homage due to them.^ 
 
 11. Tne insignia of honor peculiar to the Eoman 
 knights were a charger, furnished at the public expense, 
 a golden ring and a certain place in the theatre.f The 
 senators also wore golden rings.:]: 
 
 12. We read of; 
 
 " an agate stone 
 
 On the forefinger of an alderman ;" 
 
 but cannot discover whether an alderman in Shakspeare's 
 time wore a ring in connection with his office. We how- 
 ever find this : " Grave persons, such as aldermen, used 
 a plain broad gold ring upon the thumb." It may be 
 that Shakspeare was not thinking of an alderman whose 
 duties were attached to a mere city, but of the earl or 
 alderman of a whole shire, to whom the government of 
 it was intrusted. Such a person, from the authority he 
 possessed, might have worn a ring of power in former 
 times. Tlie word had the same signification in general 
 as senator. By Spelman's Glossary it appears there 
 was anciently in England a title of aldermannus totius 
 AnglicB ; and that this officer was in the nature of Lord 
 Chief Justice of England. 
 
 Calmet's Dictionary, Art. Bella. t Roman Antiquities, by Fosb, 62. 
 Jib. 456. 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. ^1 
 
 It will be seen that there is an incorrectness in Mer- 
 cutio, a Veronese and in Yerona, referring to an alderman. 
 Knight, in his edition of Shakspeare, sees this and pro- 
 poses that we read, instead of alderman, hurgomaster. 
 It has been observed that in whatever country Shak- 
 speare lays the scenes of his drama, he follows the cos- 
 tume of his own.* 
 
 In a portrait of Lady Ann Clifford, the celebrated 
 Countess of Pembroke, she wears a ring upon the thumb 
 of her right hand. 
 
 The mention of this lady will, at once, call up Ben 
 Jonson's epitaph of the "wise, fair and good," and 
 excuse us for quoting : 
 
 " That is a touching pillar planted on the road between 
 Penrith and Appleby, in the year 1656, by Anne, 
 Countess Dowager of Pembroke, to commemorate her 
 final parting with her mother on this spot, on the second 
 of April, 1616. The inscription declares that Anne of 
 Pembroke gave four pounds to be annually distributed 
 * upon the stone hereby ' amongst the poor within the 
 parish of Brougham. Well, after forty years of troubles 
 and troubles that must have cost the ' pious Pembroke ' 
 many a bitter hour it is pleasant to think of the daugh- 
 ter returning to consecrate it. Four pounds a year could 
 not do much good, you may say, to the people of 
 Brougham : but it may consecrate the spot in years of 
 scarcity by the thanks of people sorely pressed ; and the 
 spirit of tenderness which dictated the bounty is some- 
 thing to think of every year."f 
 
 In a polyglot dictionary published in 1625, by John 
 
 * Brande's Popular Antiquities, (by Ellis,) 264. 
 \ t Household Words ; / Give cmd Bequeath. 
 
92 FINGER-RINGS. 
 
 Minshew, under the article Bing Finger^ it is said that 
 rings were worn on the thumb by soldiers and doctors. 
 
 A thumb-ring would not seem to be always connected 
 with a dignity, if it is to be judged of through its in- 
 scription or bearing. A massive thumb-ring of brass, 
 strongly gilt, was formerly in the collection of the late 
 Marquis of Donegal. Its motto, within side, was in 
 quaint Latin, {Cauda piera meteor cera^) which may be 
 rendered in this jingle : 
 
 When God does send, 
 The times shall mend.* 
 
 London Gentleman's Magazine, vol. Ixxxiii. p. 17. 
 
CHAPTER THREE. 
 
 RINGS HAVING SUPPOSED CHAKMS OR VIRTUES, AND CON- 
 NECTED WITH DEGRADATION AND SLAVERY, OR USED FOR 
 SAD OR WICKED PURPOSES. 
 
 1. Antiquity of Amulets and Enchanted and Magical Eings ; Samotliracian 
 Kings ; Double Object in Amulets ; Substance and Form of them. 2. Pre- 
 cious Stones and their Healing or Protective Powers ; Jasper ; Diamond ; 
 Euby ; Carbuncle ; Jacinth ; Amethyst ; Emerald ; Topaz ; Agate ; Sapphire ; 
 Opal ; Cornelian ; Chalcedony ; Turquoise ; Coral ; Loadstone ; Sweating 
 Stones. 3. Enchanted Kings; those possessed by Execustus; Solomon's 
 Ring ; Ballads of Lambert Linkin and Hynd Horn. 4. Talismanic King ; 
 Elizabeth of I^oland ; Ring against Poison offered to Mary of Scotland; 
 Rings from the Palace at Eltham and from Coventry ; Sir Edmund Shaw ; 
 Shell King. 5. Medicinal Rings. 6. Magical Kings; Ariosto; King of 
 Gyges ; Sir Tristram ; Cramp Kings ; Kings to cure Convulsions, W^arts, 
 Wounds, Fits, Falling Sickness, etc.; Galvanic Kings; Headache and 
 Plague Kings; Amulet against Storms. 7. Ordeal. 8. Punishment in 
 time of Alfred. 9. Founding of Aix-la-Chapelle. 10. Ring on a Statue. 
 11. Bloody Baker. 12. The Borgia King. 13. Kings held in the Mouth. 
 14. Kings used by Thieves, Gamblers and Cheats. 15. Roman Slave. 
 
 1. Kings were made use of by way of charm and 
 talisman in remote ages. 
 
 Their potency was directed against fascination of every 
 kind, but more particularly the evil eye, against demons 
 and watches, to excite debility, against the power of 
 flames, against wounds in battle and, indeed, every 
 danger and most diseases. IS^or was it the ring alone, 
 for the supposed virtue existed also in the material or in 
 some device or magical letter engraved upon its circum- 
 ference. 
 
94 HISTORYANDPOETKY 
 
 Shakspeare is thinking of the fascination of the eye in 
 " Titus Andronicus," when he makes Aaron say :* 
 
 " And faster bound to Aaron's charming eyes." 
 
 It has been observed that even Solomon was not ex- 
 empt from the dread of the fascination of the evil eye, 
 and reference is made to Proverbs xxiii. 6 : " Eat thou 
 not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, nor desire 
 thou his dainty meats." A writer, however, remarks 
 how the context clearly shows that nothing more is in- 
 tended than to express the disquiet with which a nig- 
 gardly person regards what another consumes at his 
 table. t This dreaded fascination still perplexes the 
 minds of Orientals ; and is not banished from Spanish 
 and ISTeapolitan superstitions. Naples is the headquar- 
 ters for charms and amulets. All the learning has been 
 collected by the Canon Jorio and the Marques Arditi.J 
 
 We read of the Samothracian talismanic iron ring, 
 engraved with magical characters, inclosing an herb cut 
 at a certain time or small stones found under particular 
 constellations. Samothrace is an island of the JEgean 
 sea, opposite the Trojan territory, and celebrated for its 
 mysteries. An initiation into those mysteries was sup- 
 posed to have efficiency in preserving persons from dan- 
 gers by sea. II 
 
 It has been observed that inscribed rings, commonly 
 called talismanic or cabalistic rings, are improperly so 
 designated. The mixed term is much more appropriate, 
 annuli virtuosi. Perhaps mystical might be a suitable 
 name. 
 
 * Act 2, scene 1 ; and see Donee's Illustrations, 383. 
 
 + Knight's Bible. \ Spaniards and their Country, 66. 
 
 Fosbroke's Ency. of Antiquities, 247-8. \ Ency. Brit., Ency. Amer. 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 95 
 
 Although true "Abraxas" stones liave that word en- 
 graved upon them, and most of these are as old as the 
 third century, yet this term is now applied to gems 
 which bear supposed talismanic emblems, although it 
 would be most proper to call them Abraxoids. 
 
 According to Caylus, amulets wxre always made with 
 a double object : to flatter the superstition of the people 
 and serve for seals ; thus holding on to the charm itself, 
 while they were able to spread a supposed effect through 
 impression ; and this idea, he observes, is strengthened 
 by the fact that the subjects cut upon them never appear 
 in relief. 
 
 Philostratus says : " The Indian Brahmins carry a 
 staff and a ring, by means of which they are able to do 
 almost any thing." Here may be the origin of similar 
 articles received by Christian kings and ecclesiastics as 
 emblems of power ? 
 
 Stones and conglomerated earth were mostly used for 
 amulets. 
 
 Wherever the living man turns up the remains of past 
 ages, superstition is shown to belong to them through 
 the appearance of amulets ; and no matter whether the 
 subjects be Pagan or Christian for still we find this 
 proof of weakness. Even in our own day, men will 
 carry these things under some creed that allows or cus- 
 tom which defends their use. It is a pity such persons 
 do not feel, as they must know, that he is nearest hea- 
 ven whose conduct is his talisman. 
 
 Many of the ancient amulets are in other shapes than 
 rings ; often in the form of perforated cylinders, worn 
 round the neck ; and we presume they were set in rings 
 for convenience. 
 
96 HISTORY ANDPOETRY 
 
 Werenfels, in his Dissertation on Superstition,* where 
 he speaks of a superstitious man, says : " He will make 
 use of no herbs but such as are gathered in the planetary 
 hour. Against any sort of misfortune he will arm him- 
 self with a ring^ to which he has fixed the benevolent 
 aspect of the stars and the lucky hour that was just at 
 the instant flying away, but which, by a wonderful nim- 
 bleness, he has seized and detained." 
 
 A ring, being a circle, was given to the initiated in 
 the Eleusinian mysteries as an amulet possessed of the 
 power to avert danger. f 
 
 We find amulets referred to in Isaiah : " In that day 
 will the Lord take from them the ornaments of tlie feet- 
 rings and the net works and the crescents, the pendents 
 and the bracelets and the thin veils, the tires and the 
 fetters and the zones and the perfume boxes and the 
 amulets y 
 
 FosbrokeJ says that the makers of talismanic rings 
 generally used to have the sealing part made of a square 
 shape ; we, however, find many of an oval form. 
 
 "Amulet" with us, is talisman with the Arabians. 
 The Jews were extremely superstitious in the use of them 
 to drive away diseases ; and the Mishna forbids them, 
 unless received from an approved man who had cured at 
 least three persons by the same means. 
 
 The use of charms and amulets to cure diseases or 
 avert danger and mischiefs, both from the body and the 
 fruits of the earth, was even common among ignorant 
 and superstitious Christians : for Constantine had allow- 
 ed the heathen, in the beginning of his reformation, for 
 some time, not only to consult their augurs in public, 
 
 * P, 6, t OUver on Masonry, 168, X P. 249, 
 
OF FlNGEE-EINQS. 
 
 S7 
 
 but also to use charms by way of remedy for bodily dis- 
 tempers, and to prevent storms of rain and hail from 
 injuring the ripe fruits, as appears from the very law 
 v^here he condemns the other sorts of magic (that tended 
 to do mischief) to be punished with death. St. Chrysos- 
 tom thundered against the use of amulets and charms, 
 as did St. Basil and Epiphanius, which shows that this 
 piece of superstition, of trying to cure diseases without 
 physic^ was deeply rooted in the hearts of many Chris- 
 tians."^ 
 
 We here give an enlarged specimen of one of these 
 
 Bingham's Origines Ecclesiasticee, p. 943, (Bohn's edit.) 
 
 5 
 
08 HISTORY AND tOETRY 
 
 complicated amulets an amulet against evil, to act fa* 
 vorably and fortunately.* 
 
 The emblems are thus made out. The hare, rustic 
 head and head of a goat are to be considered as repre- 
 senting the god Pan, and to be a guard against fear and 
 certain sudden terrors called panics, which were thought 
 to be occasioned by this god.f The cornucopia (erect) 
 is to confirm abundance and happiness. In Memphis a 
 white cock was held to be a sacred animal. He was 
 consecrated to the sun : according to the Egyptians, to 
 Osiris. It was made an emblem of the soul. When 
 Socrates hoped to be able to unite the divinity of his soul 
 with the divinity of the greater world, he ordered a 
 cock to be sacrificed to ^sculapius, as to the physician of 
 souls. This animal was sacrificed to Annubis, who was 
 the sailor's Mercury. The dolphin, fed from food thrown 
 away by sailors, is to represent those seeming friends 
 who swim with and follow our fortunes until they get 
 depth of water sufficient for themselves. Here the cock, 
 by treading upon a dolphin, with a palm branch over 
 him, represents the power of wisdom in the soul over a 
 feigned or evil friend. 
 
 "We are inclined to present the reader with another of 
 these remarkable combinations, which is said to be an 
 amulet of health.:]: 
 
 * Maffei, vol. ii. pi. 20, p. 42. 
 
 t "The first author of it (general shout) was Pan, Bacchus's Lieutenant- 
 General in his Indian expedition, where, being encompassed in a valley with 
 an army of enemies, far superior to them in number, he advised the god to 
 order his men in the night to give a general shout, which so surprised the 
 opposite army that they immediately fled from their camp ; whence it came 
 to pass that all sudden fears impressed upon men's spirits without any just 
 reason were called by the Greeks and Eomans pannkk terrors." Potter's 
 Greece^ iii. c. 8. X Maffei, vol. ii. pi. 21, p. 45. 
 
OF FiNaER-RINGS 
 
 99 
 
 The bird Ibis appears here as it is seen in the hiero- 
 glyphics upon obelisks. It was dedicated to Osiris and 
 Isis, good and salutary genii. This creature treads upon 
 the crocodile, emblematical of Typhon, who was reck- 
 oned among the Egyptians as the cause of every evil. 
 The two-headed Janus may signify the power of the sun 
 and of Osiris from east to west in the day and in the 
 night (although it has been questioned whether the faces 
 are not those of Pythagoras and the magician Apollo- 
 nius). The goat's head, which also appeared in the last 
 gem, is said to be an amulet of health and intended to 
 have power to defend against evils which malice might 
 work, and such its power is marked by holding in its 
 mouth a monstrous crested dragon allied to hatred and 
 coupled with poisonous qualities and carrying a terrible 
 appearance. 
 
 2. Jasper, set in rings, took the lead of all other 
 precious stones in its supposed healing power ; and this 
 
100 SISTOKY AKD POETEY 
 
 power was supposed to be strengthened when combined 
 with silver in preference to gold. 
 
 Even Galen has recommended a ring with jasper set 
 in it and engraved with the figure of a man wearing a 
 bunch of herbs round the neck. Many of the Gnostic 
 or Basilidian gems, evidently used for magical and talis- 
 manic purposes, were of jas23er. Kings of this material, 
 and to be used as marriage tokens, are said to be made 
 at Wesingburg, the materials being supplied from the 
 shores of Lake Wetter.^ 
 
 Pierre de Boniface, a great alchemist and much versed 
 in magic, who died in 1323, is the reputed author of a 
 manuscript poem on the virtues of gems, of which the 
 celebrated ^N^ostradamus gives the following pretended 
 extract : 
 
 " The diamond renders a man invincible ; the agate 
 of India or Crete, eloquent and prudent, amiable and 
 agreeable ; the amethyst resists intoxication ; the corne- 
 lian appeases anger ; the hyacinth provokes sleep. "f 
 
 In a scarce poem, by T. Cutwode, entitled Galthce Poe- 
 tarum^ or the Humble Bee, (1599,) the goddess Diana is 
 introduced, modestly clothing and attiring the heroine : 
 
 " And with an emerald hangs she on a ring, 
 That keeps just reckoning of our chastitie. 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 And therefore, ladies, it behoves you well ^ 
 
 To walk full warily when stones will tell." 
 
 The ancients have had a very high esteem of the dia- 
 mond, " champion of the precious stones," insomuch as 
 
 * Archaeologia, xxi. 127. 
 
 t Fosbroke's Encyclopaedia of Antiquities, p. 246. 
 
OF F I N G E K - K I>^ a S '. IQl 
 
 they have thought it to be endued with divine virtues, 
 and that if it were but worn in a ring or carried about a 
 person near his heart, it would assuage the fury of his 
 enemies and expel vain fears, preserve from swooning, 
 drive away the vanity of dreams and terrors of the 
 night and frustrate all the malign cpntagious power of 
 poisons. 
 
 According to Josephus, the high-priest of the Israel- 
 ites wore a ring on his finger of inestimable value and 
 celestial virtue ; and Aaron had one whereof the dia- 
 mond, by its virtues, operated prodigious things, for 
 it changed its vivid lustre into a dark color when the 
 Hebrews were to be punished by death for their sins, 
 when they were to fall by. the sword it appeared of a 
 blood-red color, while, if they w^ere innocent, it sparkled 
 as usual. 
 
 It is reported of the diamond that it is endued with 
 such a faculty as that if it be in place with a loadstone, 
 it bindeth up all its power and hindereth all its attrac- 
 tive virtue. Also, that if a diamond be put upon the 
 head of a w^oman without her knowledge, it will make 
 her, in her sleep, if she be faithful to her husband, to 
 cast herself into his embraces ; but if she be an adulte- 
 ress, to turn away from him. 
 
 We take the above from a quaint work, by Tliomas 
 Nicols.^ He goes on to say : " It hath been by the 
 ancients esteemed powerfull for the driving away of 
 Lemures^ Inciobos and Siiccitbos i and for the hindring 
 of contentions and to beget in men courage, magnani- 
 mitie and stout-heartednesse." 
 
 A Lapidary, or the History of Pretious Stones, with cautions for the un- 
 deceiving of all those that deal with pretious stones, (1652,) p. 51, 
 
tS)2 HISTORY AND POETEY 
 
 A species of rubj, called Balassius, or Palatius,^ is 
 said to restrain fury and wrath. There is a story of 
 this stone by ^lian.f Heraclis had cured the fractured 
 thigh of a stork. The creature flying in a dark night 
 by a palace where one of these stones lay flaming like a 
 lamp, took it up and brought it to Heraclis and cast it 
 into her bosom, as a token of the acknowledgment of the 
 favor which it had received from her in the cure of its 
 harm. Andreas Baccius, speaking of a rubine of his 
 inclosed in a ring, says that on the fifth of December,. 
 1600, he was travelling with his wife Catharina Adel- 
 mania to Studgard, and, in his travel, he observed his 
 rubine to change its glory into obscurity, whereupon he 
 told his wife and prognosticated that evil thereupon 
 would ensue either to himself or her, which accordingly 
 did ; for, not many days after, his wife was taken ill 
 with a mortal disease and died. After which, he saith, 
 his rubine, of its own accord, did again recover its 
 former lustre, glory, beauty and splendor. A perfectly 
 pure deep carmine-red ruby often exceeds in price a 
 diamond of the same size. J It has been written, that, 
 if the carbuncle be worn in an amulet (or drunk) it will 
 be good against poison and the plague, and will drive 
 away sadness, evil thoughts, terrible dreams and evil 
 spirits ; also that it cleareth the mind and keepeth the 
 body in safety, and that if any danger be towards it the 
 stone will grow black and obscure, and that being past, 
 returns to its former color again. 
 
 The jacinth or hyacinth is said to have the faculty to 
 
 * This name occurs among the ancients, because it is the mother-dwelling 
 or the palace, as it was said, in which the carbuncle or true ruby is produced 
 and dwells. Kobell, 274. + Lib. viii. de Hist. Animal. 
 
 I Kobell, f Nicols' Lapidary, 56-7, 
 
' OF FINGER-RINGS. 103 
 
 procure sleep when worn in a ring on the finger. Car- 
 danus says he was wont to wear one to the intent to pro- 
 cure sleep, to which purpose "it seemed somewhat to 
 confer, but not much." The amethyst is said, by Aris- 
 totle, to hinder the ascension of vapors ; and that this is 
 done by the stone drawing the vapors to itself and then 
 discussing them. Andreas Baccius says that it sharpens 
 the wit, diminishes sleep and resists poison. 
 
 The emerald is said to be at enmity with all impurity ; 
 and will break if it do but touch the skin of an adulterer. 
 We cannot forego l^icols' description of this stone: "The 
 emerald is a pretious stone or gemine of so excellent a 
 viridity or spring-colour as that if a man sh^^ll look 
 upon an emerald by a pleasant green meadow, it will 
 be more amiable than the meadow, and overcome the 
 meadow's glorie by the glorie of that spring of viriditie 
 which it hath in itself. The largeness of the meadow it 
 will overcome with the amplitude of its glory, where- 
 with farre above its greatnesse it doth feed the eie ; and 
 the virescencie of the meadow it will overcome with the 
 brightnesse of its glory, which in itself seemeth to em- 
 brace the glorious viridity of many springs." It is re- 
 ported of Nero that he was wont to behold the fencers 
 and sword players through an emerald as by a specu- 
 lum or optic glass and that for this cause the jewel is 
 called gemina JSferonis. According to Pausanias,'^ the 
 favorite ring of Polycrates, a tyrant of Samos, contained 
 an emerald. He was advised by Amasis, king of Egypt, 
 to chequer his continued prosperity and enjoyments by 
 relinquishing some of his most favorite pleasures ; and 
 he complied by throwing into the sea this most beautiful 
 
 Paus. viii, c, 14, 
 
104: HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 of his jewels. The voluntary loss of so precious a ring 
 affected him for some time ; but a few days after, he re- 
 ceived, as a present, a large fish, in whose belly the jewel 
 was found.* 
 
 Albertus Magnus observes : ''If you would sharpen 
 the understanding, increase riches and foresee the future, 
 take an emerald. For prophesying, it must be placed 
 beneath the tongue." 
 
 The topaz is said to free men from passions and sad- 
 ness of mind ; and that, if it be cast into boiling water, 
 it will suddenly " astonish it into coldness." 
 
 The agate is stated to be good against poisons. It is 
 reported of the eagle that it doth carry this gem into 
 her nest to secure her young from the bitings of venom- 
 ous creatures. '' If," says Albertus Magnus, " you would 
 avoid all dangers and overcome all earthly things and 
 possess a stout heart, take an agate. It causes danger 
 and opposition to vanish and makes a man strong, agree- 
 able and of good cheer." 
 
 The sapphire, according to St. Jerome, will procure 
 the wearer the favor with princes and all others, pacify 
 enemies, free him from enchantments, bonds and im- 
 prisonments and it looseth men out of prison and as- 
 suageth the wrath of God. It is reported of it that it 
 is of so contrary a nature to poisons that if it be put into 
 a glass with a spider or laid upon the mouth of the glass 
 where it is, the spider will quickly die. It is said to keep 
 men pure and, therefore, is worn by priests.;]: The Gentiles 
 consecrated this gem to Apollo, because, in their inquiries 
 
 * The Imperial Treasury at Vienna possesses an emerald valued at 
 50,000. 
 t Nicols' Lapidary, 85. | And see Kobell's Mineral Kingdom, 274, 
 
OF FINGER-EINGS. 105 
 
 at his oracle, if they had the presence of this gem with 
 them, they imagined they had their answer the sooner. 
 
 The opal is said to sharpen the sight of its possessor 
 and cloud the eyes of those who stand about him, so 
 that they can neither see nor mind what is done before 
 them ; for this cause it is asserted to be a safe patron of 
 thieves and thefts. Albertus Magnus says, " If you wish 
 to become invisible, take an opal and wrap it in a bay- 
 leaf, and it is of such virtue that it will make the by- 
 standers blind, hence it has been called the patron of 
 thieves." Nicols gives a glowing description of this 
 stone.* " The opalus is a pretious stone which hath in 
 it the bright fiery flame of a carbuncle, the pure reful- 
 gent purple of an amethyst, and a whole of the eme- 
 rauld's spring glory or virescency, and every one of them 
 shining with an incredible mixture and very much plea- 
 sure." It is reported of Nonius, a Roman senator, that 
 he had rather been deprived of his country and senator- 
 ship than part with an opal which he had from Antonius. 
 
 It is asserted of the cornelian that it causeth him that 
 weareth it to be of a cheerful heart, free from fear and 
 nobly audacious and is a good protection against witch- 
 craft and fascination. 
 
 " Chalcedony procureth victory to him that is the pos- 
 sessor of it and carrieth it about him. It is much used 
 for signets, for it sealeth freely without any devouring 
 of the wax."f 
 
 The report on jaspers is that they preserve men from 
 drowning ; and " divers do very superstitiously attribute 
 much power and virtue to them if figures, images and 
 character be engraven upon them. The effects which 
 
 * p. 86. t Nicols, 
 
106 HISTORY AND POETKT 
 
 bj this means are wrought in or for any, Andreas Bac- 
 cius doth attribute to the devil."* 
 
 We might presume that the ring of Gjges held the 
 opal or the stone known as the Heliotrope or Oriental 
 jasper; for Pliny gives the report of magicians that 
 if this gem be anointed with the juice of the marigold, 
 it will cause him that carrieth it to walk invisible. 
 
 The forget-me-not stone, turquoise or Turkey stone, 
 " ceruleous like unto a serene heaven," if worn in a ring 
 of gold will, it is said, preserve men from falls and from 
 the bruises proceeding of them by receiving that harm 
 into itself which otherwise would fall upon the man; 
 yet these virtues are said not to be in the gem except it 
 has been received as a gift. " The Turkeys," says Fen- 
 ton, in his Secrete Wonders of Nature,t " doth move when 
 there is any peril prepared to him that weareth it." Ben 
 Jonson and Drayton refer to the same superstition. 
 Rueus says, that he saw a Turchoys^ which, upon the 
 death of its master, lost all its beauty and contracted a 
 cleft, which, a certain man afterwards buying at an un- 
 der price, returned again to its former glory and beauty, 
 as if, observes he, by a certain sense, it had perceived 
 itself to have found a new master. The same author 
 says of it that it doth change, grow pale and destitute 
 of its native color if he that weareth it do, at any time, 
 grow infirm or weak ; and again, upon the recovery of 
 its master, that it doth recover its own lovely beauty, 
 which ariseth of the temperament of its own natural 
 heat and becometh ceruleous like unto a serene heaven. 
 According to the ancients, the wearing of the turquoise 
 had a most excellent quality: it destroyed animosity 
 
 * I^icols, 130. t 1569, p. 51, 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 107 
 
 and, in particular, appeased discord between man and 
 wife. 
 
 It is possible tliat Sliakspeare had in his mind the seem- 
 ing influence of the turquoise (as well as its value) : 
 
 " Tubal. One of them showed me a ring, that he had of your daughter 
 for a monkey. 
 
 " ShylocL Out upon her ! Thou torturest me, Tubal ; it was my 
 turquoise ; I had it of Leah, when I was a bachelor : I would not have 
 given it for a wilderness of monkeys." 
 
 The Arabs value the turquoise chiefly for its reputed 
 talismanic qualities; and they seek for large pieces, 
 without particular reference to purity of color. The 
 stones intended for amulets are usually set in small rings 
 of plated tin. 
 
 The w^earing of coral in a ring has been thought of 
 power to "hinder the delusions of the devil, and to secure 
 men from Incubus and Succubus.'^^^ 
 
 All remember Shakspeare's beautiful exposition of 
 adversity : 
 
 " Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, 
 Wears yet a precious jewel in his head."f 
 
 Fenton, writing in 1569, says: "There is found in 
 heads. of old and great toads a stone which they call 
 borax or stelon : it is most commonly found in the head 
 of a he-toad." They were not only considered specifics 
 against poison when taken internally, but " being used 
 in rings, gave forewarning against venom." This stone 
 has often been sought for, but nothing has been found 
 except accidental or perhaps morbid indurations of the 
 
 * Xb, 164. t As You Like Jt^ Act 2, Sc. 1, 
 
108 HISTORY AKD POETKY 
 
 skull. Liipton says,^ "You shall know whether the 
 tode-stone be the right and perfect stone or not. Hold 
 the stone before a tode, so that he may see it, and if it 
 be a right and true stone, the tode will leap toward it 
 and make as though he would snatch it. He envieth so 
 much that man should have that stone." Nicols, in his 
 Lapidary, observes :\ " Some say this stone is found in the 
 head of an old toad ; others say that the old toad must 
 be laid upon the cloth that is red, and it will belch it np, 
 or otherwise not ; you may give a like credit to both 
 these reports, for as little truth is to be found in them as 
 may possibly be. Witnesse Anselmus Boetius in Lib. 2, 
 in the chapter of this stone ; who saith that to try this ex- 
 periment in his youth, he took an old toad and laid it upon 
 a red cloth, and watched it a whole night to see it belch 
 up its stone, but after his long and tedious watchful 
 expectation, he found the old toad in the same posture to 
 gratifie the great pangs of his whole night's restlessness. 
 "Some of the toads that carry this precious jewel 
 must be very large, for Boetius says the stone is found 
 of the bigness of an egg., sometimes brownish, sometimes 
 reddish, sometimes yellowish, sometimes greenish." It is 
 reported that if poison be present, the alleged stone will 
 go into a perspiration. In connection with this sensitive- 
 ness, it may be observed that precious stones are said to 
 sweat at the presence of poison. We are told that the 
 jewels which King John wore did so in his last sickness. 
 There is no doubt, however, although Shakspeare makes 
 him cry out, " Poison'd ill fare," that John got his death 
 from unripe pears and new cider. His living about three 
 
 * First Book of Notable Things, 4to, vol. i. 
 
OP PliTGER-RINGS. 100 
 
 days from his attack, is a reasonable proof of not dying 
 by poison.^ 
 
 * This subject may allow us to mention what is called the " mad-stone," a 
 supposed antidote to hydrophobia. The following is from the New-York 
 Tribune newspaper for July 4, 1854 : 
 
 The Mad-Stone. The reference of The Washington Union to the mad- 
 stone (one of which is now in the possession of the family of the late Mr. 
 John King Churchill, in Kichmond, Va.) has drawn articles upon the subject 
 from several of our cotemporaries. The Petersburg Intelligencer has been 
 shown one, in the possession of Mr. Oliver, who resides in Petersburg, and, 
 it is said, has several certificates of cases in which it has been successfully used 
 for the bite of a mad dog. It is rectangular in shape, with parallel sides 
 and polished surfaces, traversed by dark-gray and brown streaks, and about 
 a size larger than half a Tonquay bean, except that it is not near so thick. 
 Upon being applied to the wound of the patient, says The Intelligencer^ it 
 soon extracts the virus, which, it is said, may be distinctly seen in the water, 
 into which it is repeatedly dipped during the operation. Tlie Portsmoutli 
 Globe says : " We were raised ' brought up' is, perhaps, the word in Peters- 
 burg, Va., and among our very earliest recollections is one concerning a cure 
 from hydrophobia, made through the agency of a mad-stone. The person, 
 whoever it was that was bit by a rabid dog, went to Williamsburg, in this 
 State, where it was said that a mad-stone was located, and came back well, 
 and was never troubled either with madness or its symptoms. Our next no- 
 tice of the subject was when two individuals in Petersburg were bitten by 
 mad dogs. One, we think, lived in Halifax street, and his father believing the 
 mad-stone a humbug, refused to let his son go and try it. He was seized 
 with the fits, after the usual medicinal agents had failed, and died in great 
 agony. The other visited the mad-stone still then at Williamsburg and 
 entirely recovered. The next case was this : We were travelling from Paine- 
 ville, Amelia County, to Farmville, Prince Edward County, Va., and stopped 
 at a blacksmith's house to get dinner. In the course of conversation, ho 
 said he had been bit by a mad dog, that had destroyed by its bite a num- 
 ber of cattle, sheep and hogs, and that he hastened at once to Williams- 
 burg ; that, on the way, he had suffered much from the bite, but after the 
 application of the stone, he had got relief and suff'ered none since. 'That 
 bite,' said he, laying much emphasis on the cost, ' cost me nearly a hundredL 
 dollars.' 
 
 " Such is all that we remember concerning the mad-stone." 
 
 As a pendant, we give a " slip" from the Eichmond (Virginia) Penny Post 
 for August 12, 1854. The description, if it may be so called, of the stone 
 referred to is remarkable : " as large as a piece of chalk," and "almost inde- 
 scribable :" 
 
110 HISTOEY AND POETRY 
 
 In a strange ol'd book, and from wliicli an interesting 
 article appears in " Ilonseliold Words," it is said, the 
 use of a ring, that has lain for a certain time in a spar- 
 row's nest, will procure love. 
 
 " An article whicli we inserted in the Penny Post some two months ago, 
 has elicited remarks from the press in every quarter. We know from facts in 
 our possession, that we were ' rectus in curia.'' Mr. W. Bradly, who resides 
 some half mile from the city, has left at our office the genuine Simon Pure 
 mad-stone, which can be examined by the curious. We understand from Mr. 
 Bradly that this stone has been in the Bradly family for more than one hun- 
 dred years ; and we are informed by gentlemen of intelligence from the coun- 
 ties of Orange, Green, Culpepper and Madison that they are cognizant of 
 more than fifty cures of mad-dog bites, snake and spider bites. This is a 
 most valuable discovery, and one which ought to be generally known. We 
 mentioned facts some time since, with regard to Sale's mad-stone, located in 
 Caroline County, which excited only a sneer from the press ; none are so blind 
 as those who will not see. We who write this happen to know facts con- 
 nected with this matter, and we have faithfully given them. This stone is 
 rather a curious-looking affair ; it is about as large as a piece of chalk, per- 
 fectly porous, and truth to say, almost indescribable. When applied to the 
 wound either of a snake or mad-dog bite, it will draw until all its pores are 
 saturated, then drop off, and if placed in warm water will soon disgorge and 
 then be ready for action again. We shall keep this stone in our office for 
 several days for the inspection of the curious. It ought to be purchased by 
 the city for the use of the public. We understand that Mr. Bradly will sell 
 it for $5,000 ; if it saves one valuable life, it will be cheap at double that 
 price." 
 
 In connection with this, we add a letter from the Macon Journal and Mes- 
 senger^ (August, 1854:) 
 
 A Tale for the Curious. We received the following communication from 
 Major J. D. Wilkes, of Dooly County. He is a highly respectable citizen, 
 well known to us, and we feel no hesitation in assuring the public that he 
 would make no statements which were not fully reliable. 
 " Editors of the Journal and Messenger : 
 
 " Permit me to lay before your readers a few facts which may furnish matter 
 of speculation for the curious, but may be doubted by some or ridiculed by 
 others. They are, nevertheless, strictly true. Some twelve years ago I went 
 out with a party on a deer hunt, and shot down a fine buck. While dressing 
 him, I cut up the haslet for my hounds, and in doing so, I cut out a stone of 
 dark greenish color, about where the windpipe joins the lights. It was from 
 an inch and a half to two inches long, and quite heavy for its size, although 
 
OF FINOEB-RINGS. Ill 
 
 3. That kind of fortune-telling, called Divination, 
 has held an empire over the mind of man from the ear- 
 liest period. It was practised by the Jews, Egyptians, 
 Chaldeans, Persians, Greeks and Eomans, and is known 
 to all modern nations.* 
 
 The species of divination by rings is called Dactylo- 
 mancy.f 
 
 it appears to be porous. I have heard of such stones from old hunters, and 
 that they possessed the faculty of extracting poison, and other medical vir- 
 tues, but they were seldom found. They were called beasle or bezoar stones. 
 I have been a frontier man and killed many a deer, but have never found 
 another of the same kind. I laid it by more as a matter of curiosity than 
 having any faith in its virtues. 
 
 " On the 12th ult. I had a favorite dog bitten on the nose by a large rattle- 
 snake. The dog at once commenced reeling and fell down. I was within a 
 few feet of him, and immediately (as the only remedy at hand) forced a chew 
 of tobacco down his throat. I got him home very soon and dissolved some 
 alum, but found his jaws nearly set. I forced open his mouth, and poured it 
 down his throat. I then recollected seeing in your paper of the 5th ult. the 
 description of a stone and its virtue in extracting poison, in possession of some 
 family in Virginia, which stone, I presume, was similar to the one I had taken 
 from the deer. I got a bowl of warm water and applied the stone to the place 
 bitten, and then dropped it into the water, when I could see a dirty, dark 
 green substance shooting out of it. This I repeated three times with a sim- 
 ilar result. The fourth time it seemed to show that all the poison had been 
 extracted. In less than a minute the dog got up, vomited up the tobacco, 
 and the swelling subsided immediately. In less than two hours he was per- 
 fectly well, and eating any thing that was offered him. 
 
 " Now I will not decide which of the three remedies ^the tobacco, the alum 
 or the stone cured the dog; but from the fact that he was immediately 
 cured on the appHcation of the stone, should reasonably weigh in favor of 
 tluit remedy. In the article published in your paper it is remarked that ' Wa 
 are not aware that the existence of such is known to the scientific world at 
 all,' and it is spoken of as its origin being a mystery, and wholly unknown. 
 Now, will not the above facts reveal the mystery of their origin ? I have now 
 several highly respectable neighbors who were with me when I obtained the 
 stone. I live about nine miles east of Montezuma, in Dooly County, where 
 it may be seen or the use of it obtained, by any one who may need it. 
 
 " J. D. Wilkes." 
 
 * Popular Delusions, ii. 298, 301 ; Harwood. 
 
 t Brande, iii. 329. 
 
112 HISTOEY AND 1>0ETEY 
 
 Scott, in his work on Demonology,* observes, that in 
 the now dishonored science of astrology, its j)rofessors 
 pretended to have correspondence with the various spi- 
 rits of the elements on the principles of the Rosicrusian 
 philosophy. Tliey affirmed they could bind to their 
 service and imprison in a ring some fairy, sylph, or 
 salamander and compel it to appear when called and 
 render answers to such questions as the viewer should 
 propose. It is remarkable that the sage himself did not 
 pretend to see the spirit ; but the task of reviewer or 
 reader was intrusted to a third party, a boy or girl usu- 
 ally under the years of puberty. 
 
 As to divination by means of a ring, in the first place 
 the ring was to be consecrated with a great deal of mys- 
 tery : " the person holding it was clad in linen garments 
 to the very shoes, his head shaven all round, and he held 
 the vervein plant in his hand," while, before he pro- 
 ceeded on any thing, the gods were first to be appeased 
 by a formulary of prayers, etc. The divination was per- 
 formed by holding the ring suspended by a fine thread 
 over a round table, on the edge of which were made a 
 number of marks, with the twenty-four letters of the 
 alphabet. The ring, in shaking or vibrating over the 
 table, stops over certain of the letters, which, being joined 
 together, compose the required answer. f 
 
 Clemente Alexandrino speaks of enchanted rings 
 which predicted future events such were two possessed 
 by Execustus, the tyrant of Phocis, who was able, by 
 striking them together, to know, by the sound, what he 
 ought to do and what was to happen to him. He was, 
 
 * p. 295. 
 
 t Ennemoser's History of Magic, ii. 456, referring to the 29th book of Am- 
 Boianus Marcellinus. 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 113 
 
 however, killed through treason. The magnificent rings 
 had been able to tell the time of his death, but they 
 could not point out the means of avoiding it. 
 
 Arabian writers make much mention of the magic 
 ring of Solomon.* It is said to have been found in the 
 belly of a fish ; and many fictions have been created 
 about it. The Arabians have a book called Scalcuthal 
 expressly on the subject of magic rings ; and they trace 
 this ring of Solomon's, in a regular succession, from 
 Jared the father of Enoch to Solomon.f Josephus,^ 
 after extolling the wisdom and acquirements of Solomon, 
 and assuring us that God had enabled him to expel 
 demons by a method remaining of great force to the days 
 of the historian, says : 
 
 " I have seen a certain man of my own country whose 
 name was Eleazar, releasing people that were demoni- 
 acal, in the presence of Vespasian, his sons and his cap- 
 tains and the whole multitude of his soldiers. The man- 
 ner of the case was this : he put a ring^ that had a part 
 of one of those roots mentioned by Solomon, to the nos- 
 trils of the demoniac ; after which, he drew out the 
 demon through his nostrils ; and when the man fell 
 down, immediately he adjured him to return unto him 
 no more, making still mention of Solomon and reciting 
 the incantations which he composed. 
 
 * Archseologia, xxi. 124. 
 
 t Solomon's wisdom and happiness have become proverbial ; and the fable 
 of the rabbins and the heroic and erotic poems of the Persians and Arabians 
 speak of him, as the romantic traditions of the Normans and Britons do of 
 King Arthur, as a fabulous monarch, whose natural science, (mentioned even 
 in the Bible,) whose wise sayings and dark riddles, whose power and mag- 
 nificence are attributed to magic. According to these fictions Solomon's 
 ring was the talisman of his wisdom and power. Ency. Amer., Art. Solomon. 
 
 X Johnston's Josephus, Book viii. ch. 2. 
 
114: HISTORY AND IOETKY 
 
 " And when Eleazar would persuade and demonstrate 
 to the spectators that he had such a power, he set a lit- 
 tle way off a cup or basin full of water, and commanded 
 the demon, as he went out of the man, to overturn it, 
 and thereby to let the spectators know that he had left 
 the man ; and when this was done, the skill and wisdom 
 of Solomon was shown very manifestly." 
 
 In the popular old ballad of Lamlert LinMn,^ rings 
 give proof of a terrible coming event by bursting upon 
 the fingers : 
 
 " The Lord sat in England 
 A drinking the wine. 
 
 " I wish a' may be weel 
 Wi' my lady at hame ; 
 For the rings o' my fingers 
 They're now burst in twain. 
 
 " He saddled his horse, 
 
 And he came riding down ; 
 But as soon as he viewed, 
 Belinkin came in. 
 
 " He had na weel stepped 
 Twa steps up the stair, 
 Till he saw his pretty young son 
 Lying dead on the floor. 
 
 " He had na weel stepped 
 Other twa up the stair. 
 Till he saw his pretty lady 
 Lying dead in despair. 
 
 Motherwell's Minstrelsy, vol. ii. p. 164, (Ticknor's edit.) In Chambers' 
 Collection of Scotch Ballads, this story goes under the name of Lammilsin, 
 
OF FIKGER-RINGS. 115 
 
 " He hanged Belinkin 
 Out over the gate ; 
 And he burnt the fause nurice, 
 Being under the grate." 
 
 Wo would refer our reader to a beautiful Syrian le~ 
 gend iu the *' Household Words,"* in which a ring is 
 made to play an interesting part upon the fingers of a 
 maiden, who is able to know of the good or ill fortune 
 and faith of her absent lover through its changes. He, 
 in giving it, had informed her : " If good fortune is with 
 me, it will retain its brightness ; if evil, dim. If I cease 
 to love, and the grave opens for me, it will become 
 black." Fitful changes then come and go upon the 
 ring, as the light and shadow of life accompany the 
 roving lover. 
 
 There is a like notion in the ancient Scotch ballad of 
 Ilynd Horn ;f 
 
 " And she gave to me a gay gold ring, 
 With a hey lillelu and a how lo Ian ; 
 With three shining diamonds set therein, 
 And the birk and the brume blooms bonnie. 
 * * * * 
 
 " What if these diamonds lose their hue, 
 With a hey lillelu and a how lo Ian, 
 Just when my love begins for to rew, 
 
 And the birk and the brume blooms bonnie. 
 
 " For when your ring turns pale and wan, 
 With a hey lillelu and a how lo Ian, 
 Then I'm in love with another man, 
 And the birk and the brume blooms boniiio. 
 
 Vol. ix. p. 233, t' Motherwell's Minstrelsy, vol. i. p. 187. 
 
116 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 " Seven long years he has been on the sea, 
 With a hey lillelu and a how lo Ian ; 
 And Hynd Horn has looked how his ring may be, 
 And the birk and the brume blooms bonnie. 
 
 " But when he looked this ring upon, 
 With a hey lillelu and a how lo Ian, 
 The shining diamonds were both pale and wan. 
 And the birk and the brume blooms bonnie. 
 
 " Oh ! the ring it was both black and blue, 
 With a hey lillelu and a how lo Ian ; 
 And she's either dead or she's married, 
 And the birk and the brume blooms bonnie. 
 
 " He's left the seas and he's come to the land," etc. 
 
 John Sterling, whose life has been written by the Rev. 
 Julius Charles Hare, composed a fiction which is worked 
 up through a supposed talismanic Onyx Ring. The hero 
 had been reading an old book on necromancy ; it caused 
 him to long to change his lot ; he appears to be able to 
 do this, through the appearance or apparition of an old 
 man. "Would you," says this figure, in a sweet but 
 melancholy voice, " in truth accept the power of ex- 
 changing your own personal existence at pleasure for 
 that of other men ?" After a moment's pause, he an- 
 swered boldly, " Yes." " I can bestow the power, but 
 only on these conditions. You will be able to assume a 
 new part in life once in each week. For the one hour 
 after midnight on each Saturday, that is, for the first 
 hour of the new week, you will remember all you have 
 been and whatever characters you may have chosen for 
 yourself. At the end of the hour you may make a new 
 choice; but, if then deferred, it will again be a week 
 before the opportunity will recur. You will also be in- 
 
OF FINGER-KINGS. 117 
 
 capable of revealing to any one the j)ower yon are gifted 
 with. And if you once resume your present being, you 
 will never again be able to cast it off. If, on these 
 terms, you agree to my proposal, take this ring and wear 
 it on the forefinger of your right hand. It bears the 
 head of the famous ApoUonius of Tyana. If you breathe 
 on it at the appointed hour, you will immediately be- 
 come any person you may desire to be," etc. The hero 
 hesitates and says, "Before I assent to your offer, tell 
 me whether you would think me wise to do so." 
 " Young man, were I to choose again, my choice w^ould 
 be to fill the station where nsfrture brought me forth and 
 where God, therefore, doubtless, designed me to work." 
 The ring is taken ; it is supposed to be at a time when 
 this same hero is in a suspense of love, and he appears 
 successively to take the form of those who are around 
 the maiden of his affections. All this, in fact, is ima- 
 gined by him while in sickness. He secures his lady 
 love ; and sees upon her finger an onyx ring like the 
 one which had appeared to have allowed of his vision- 
 ary changes. She held up her hand before his face, 
 which his first impulse was to kiss ; but he saw that on 
 one of the fingers was an onyx ring. '' How on earth 
 did you come by that ? It has haunted me as if a magic 
 Ariel were fused amid the gold or imprisoned in the 
 stone." " I w^ill tell you." And then the lady, some- 
 what lamely for the story, informs him how she came into 
 possession of it. The author acted cleverly in coupling 
 ApoUonius with this ring : for he is reputed to have 
 been a most potent magician ; not only miracles have 
 been imputed to him, but one writer dares to rank him 
 above Jesus in superhuman powers. 
 
118 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 4. Crowned heads have believed in amulets. 
 
 When Elizabeth of Poland could not induce her son 
 Andrea to leave his lustful wife of sixteen, Joan of 
 Naples, and he was determined to be and act the King 
 of Sicily and Jerusalem, she drew from her finger a 
 richly chased ring, took Andrea aside, placed it upon 
 his finger, and, clasping him in her arms, " My son," 
 she said, in a trembling voice, ^' since you refuse to ac- 
 company me, here is a talisman which I never make 
 use of but in the last extremity. While you retain this 
 ring upon your finger, neither steel nor poison can injure 
 you." " You see, then, my mother," answered the 
 prince, smiling, " thus protected, you have no reason to 
 fear for my life." "There are other deaths besides those 
 by poison or steel," replied the queen, sighing. When 
 the course pursued by Andrea had determined Joan 
 that he should be killed, her paramour B^trand d'Ar- 
 tois told her of the talisman. " !N^evertheless, he dies," 
 cried Joan. Tlie next day, and in the castle of Aversa, 
 this Queen of Naples was working, with her delicate 
 hands, a rope of silk and gold. 
 
 When conspirators flew upon him, they attempted to 
 strangle him with their hands, for it was supposed he 
 could not be slain by steel or poison, owing to the amu- 
 let which his mother had given him. Struggles and ter- 
 ror were about to allow of his escape, when Bertrand 
 d'Artois seized the prince round the body and, after a 
 desperate resistance, felled him to the ground ; then 
 dragging him by the hair of the head to a balcony which 
 looked out upon the gardens and placing his knee upon 
 his victim's breast, " This way, barons !" he cried ; " I 
 have got something to strangle him with !" and, after 
 
' -^ OF FINGEE- RINGS. ' 119 
 
 a desperate struggle, he succeeded in passing a rope 
 of sillc and gold round the unfortunate man's neck. 
 When strangled, his body was cast over the balconj. 
 Charles of Duras was the mainspring of this tragedy ; 
 and he afterwards died on the same spot, and was 
 thrown over the same balcony. Years after and while 
 Joan was a prisoner in the castle of Aversa, two Hun- 
 garian barons, in complete armor, presented themselves 
 before her, making a sign that she should follow them. 
 She rose and obeyed in silence ; but a dismal cry 
 burst from her when she recognized the place where 
 Andrea and Charles of Duras had each died a violent 
 death. Recovering herself, however, she inquired, in a 
 calm voice, why they had brought her to that place. 
 One of the barons showed her a rope of silk and gold. 
 " Let God's justice be accomplished !" cried Joan, fall- 
 ing on her knees. And in a few minutes she had ceased 
 to suffer. This was the third corse that was thrown over 
 the balcony of Aversa.^ 
 
 Patrick, Lord Euthven, a man suspected of occult 
 practices and who had been appointed of the privy 
 council of Mary, Queen of Scots, offered her a ring to 
 preserve her from the effects of poison.f 
 
 Amulet rings have been used by 
 persons calling themselves Chris- 
 tians even in, comparatively, late 
 times. Caylus gives one covered 
 with letters of the twelfth century. 
 Tlie body of the ring is simple and 
 square ; each of its surfaces is com- 
 pletely filled with characters, skilfully engraved. 
 
 * Causes dUbres (Dumas). t Strickland's Queens of Scotland, iii, 819. 
 
120 HISTORY AND POETKY 
 
 The words are barbarous and the whole is senseless 
 the name of Jesus Christ abbreviated with the words 
 Alpha, Adonai and Agla and the cross repeated appear 
 here as they frequently do upon amulets. At the end 
 of the lines, two Arabic characters are distinctly marked 
 Y. I. These sort of characters did not pass, according 
 to common opinion, from Africa to Spain until the tenth 
 century; and it was through Spain that they were com- 
 municated to other parts of Europe. Eings of the shape 
 of this one and for similar use often inclosed sprigs of 
 some herb or hair or other light substance. The present 
 one, however, is said to be solid and does not contain 
 any foreign matter. 
 
 A gold ring has been found in the palace at Eltham 
 in Kent, England.* It is set with an oriental ruby and 
 Rve diamonds, placed at equal distances round the exte- 
 rior. The interior is plain, but on the sides is this in- 
 scription : 
 
 Qui me portera exploitera 
 Et a grand joye revendra. 
 or, 
 
 . Who wears me shall perform exploits ; 
 And with great joy shall return. 
 
 From these lines it is evident that the ring has been 
 worn as an amulet ; and there is a very probable conjec- 
 ture that it may have been presented to some distin- 
 guished personage when he was on the point of setting 
 out for the Holy Land, in the time of the Crusades. 
 The inscription is in small Gothic letters, but remarkably 
 well formed and legible. The shape of the ruby, which 
 is the principal stone, is an irregular oval, while the 
 
 Archgeologia, xix. 411. 
 
OF FINGEK-RINGS. 121 
 
 diamonds are all of a triangular form and in their native 
 or crystallized state. 
 
 A ring of gold was found at Coventry in England. 
 It is evidently an amulet. The centre device represents 
 Christ rising from the sepulchre, and in the background 
 are shown the hammer, sponge and other emblems of 
 his passion. On the left is figured the wound of the side^ 
 with the following legend : " The well of everlasting 
 lyffeP In the next compartment two small wounds, with 
 " The well of comfort ^^^ " The well of grace f and after- 
 wards, two other wounds, with the legends of " The well 
 of pity ^^'^ " ^^<2 ^<^^^ rf "infierciy On the inside is an in- 
 scription in Latin which embraces the amulet, having 
 reference to the three kings of Cologne.'^ 
 
 Sir Edmund Shaw, goldsmith and alderman of Loti- 
 don, directed by his will circa 148Y, to be made " 16 
 Rings of fyne Gold, to be graven with the well of pitie, 
 the well of mercie and the well of everlasting life." 
 
 Benvenuto Cellini mentions that, about the time of his 
 writing, certain vases were discovered, which appeared 
 to be antique urns filled with ashes. Amongst them 
 were iron rings inlaid with gold, in each of which was 
 set a diminutive shell. Learned antiquaries, upon inves- 
 tigating the nature of these rings, declared their opinion 
 that they were worn as charms by those who desired to 
 behave with steadiness and resolution either in prosper- 
 ous or adverse fortune.f (By way of parenthesis : This 
 dare-devil man of fine taste, Cellini, having finished a 
 beautiful medal for the Duke of Ferrara, the patron of 
 Tasso, the magnificent Alfonso sent him a diamond ring, 
 
 * Archseologia, xviii. 306. 
 
 t Egyptian rings in the form of a shell are not uncommon. 
 
122 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 with an elegant compliment. But the ring was really 
 not a valuable one. The Duke threw the mistake 
 upon his treasurer, whom he affected to punish, and sent 
 Cellini another ring ; but even this was not worth one 
 quarter of the sum he owed him. He accompanied it 
 with a significant letter, in which he ordered him not to 
 leave Ferrara. Tlie artist, however, ran away as fast as 
 his legs would carry him, and was soon delighted to find 
 he was beyond the fury of the " Magnifico Alfonso.") 
 
 5. Ancient physicians carried signets or rings, fre- 
 quently wearing them upon the thumb, upon which were 
 engraved their own names, sometimes written backwards, 
 or the denominations of the nostrums they vended. With 
 regard to one of these seals, we find the word aromatica 
 from aromaticum^ on another melina^ abbreviation of 
 melinum^ a collyrium prepared with the alum of the 
 island of Melos.* A seal of this kind is described by 
 Tochon d' Annecy bearing the words psoricum crocodem^ 
 an inscription that 1ms puzzled medical antiquaries. 
 
 It has been suggested that the use of talismanic rings 
 as cliarms against diseases may have originated in the 
 phylacteries or preservative scrolls of the Jews, although 
 it is easy to imagine that, in the earliest days of medi- 
 cine, the operator, after binding up a wound, would 
 mutter " thrilling words" in incantation over it, which, 
 in process of time, might be, as it were, embodied and 
 perpetuated in the form of an inscription, the ring, in 
 some degree, representing a bandage.f It appears to 
 
 * Milligen's Curiosities of Medical Experience, ii. 137. 
 t Arcli^ologia, xxi. 25. 
 
OF FINGEK-RINGS. 123 
 
 US this is much further from fact than that a barber's 
 pole represents an arm with a bandage. 
 
 Amulet rings for medicinal purposes were greatly in 
 fashion with empjrics and ancient physicians.* 
 
 In Lucian's Philopseudes, one of the interlocutors in 
 a dialogue says that since an Arabian had presented 
 him with a ring of iron taken from the gallows, together 
 with a charm constructed of certain hard words, he had 
 ceased to be afraid of the demoniacs who had been 
 healed by a Syrian in Palestine. 
 
 In another dialogue, a man desires that Mercury should 
 bestow a ring on him to insure perpetual health and pre- 
 servation from all danger. 
 
 These rings were to be worn upon the fourth or medi- 
 cal finger. 
 
 Marcellus, a physician who lived in the reign of 
 Marcus Aurelius, directs the patient who is afilicted 
 with a pain in the side to w^ear a ring of pure gold in- 
 scribed with some Greek letters on a Thursday at the 
 decrease of the moon. It is to be w^orn on the right 
 side, if the pain be on the left ; and vice versa. 
 
 Trallian, another physician who lived in tlie fourth 
 century, cured the colic and all bilious complaints by 
 means of an octangular ring of iron, upon which eight 
 words were to be engraven, commanding the bile to take 
 possession of a lark. A magic diagram was to be added, 
 which he has not failed to preserve for the certain ad- 
 vantage of his readers. He tells us that he had had 
 great experience in this remedy and considered it as ex- 
 tremely foolish to omit recording so valuable a treasure ; 
 but he particularly enjoins the keeping it a secret frongi 
 
 * Archseologla, xxi. 121. 
 
124: HISTOKY AND POETRY 
 
 the profane vulgar, according to an admonition of Hip- 
 pocrates that sacred things are for sacred purposes only. 
 The same physician, in order to cure the stone, directs 
 the wearing a copper ring, with the figure of a lion, a 
 crescent and a star to be placed on the fourth finger ; 
 and for the colic, in general, a ring with Hercules 
 strangling the Nemean lion. 
 
 In the Plutus of Aristophanes, to a threat on the part 
 of the sycophant, the just man replies that he cares 
 nothing for him, as he has got a ring which he bought 
 of a person, whom the scholiast conceives to have been 
 an apothecary, who sold medicated rings against the in- 
 fluence of demons, serpents, etc. Carion, the servant, 
 sarcastically observes that this ring will not prevail 
 against the bite of a sycophant."^ 
 
 As to medicinal rings, Joannes ISTicolaus, a German 
 professor, has most unceremoniously ascribed the power 
 of all these medical charms to the influence of the devil, 
 who, he says, by these means, has attracted many thou- 
 sands of human beings into his dominions.f 
 
 Lucati has attributed the modern want of virtue in 
 medicated rings to their comparative smallness, contend- 
 ing that the larger the ring or the gem contained in it, 
 the greater the medium power, especially with those 
 persons whose flesh is of a tender and penetrable nature. 
 
 Lord Chancellor Hatton sent to Queen Elizabeth a 
 ring against infectious air, " to be worn," as the old court- 
 ier expresses it, " betwixt the sweet dugs" of her bosom. 
 
 Ennemoser, in his History of Magic, a work made 
 more visionary by the unsatisfactory additions of the 
 Howitts, gravely speaks of coming events manifestecj 
 
 * Plut., Act 4, 3. t Archseologia, xxi. 122. 
 
OFFINGER-EINGS. 125 
 
 in diseases. We have a betrothal ring in the following 
 extract :* 
 
 " In the St. Yitus's dance, patients often experience 
 divinatory visions of a fugitive nature, either referring 
 to themselves or to others and occasionally in symbolic 
 words. In the ' Leaves from Prevorst,' such symbolic 
 somnambulism is related, and I myself have observed a 
 very similar case : Miss v. Brand, during a violent pa- 
 roxysm of St. Yitus's dance, suddenly saw a black evil- 
 boding crow fly into the room, from which, she said, she 
 was unable to protect herself, as it unceasingly flew round 
 her as if it wished to make some communication. This 
 appearance w^as of daily occurrence with the paroxysm 
 for eight days afterwards. On the ninth, when the at- 
 tacks had become less violent, the vision commenced 
 with the appearance of a white dove, which carried a 
 letter containing a betrothal ring in its beak ; shortly 
 afterwards the crow flew in with a black-sealed letter. 
 The next morning the post brought a letter with be- 
 trothal cards from a cousin ; and a few hours after, the 
 news was received of the death of her aunt in Lohburg, 
 of whose illness she was ignorant. Of both these letters, 
 w^hich two different posts brought in on the same day, 
 Miss V. Brand could not possibly have known any 
 thing. The change of birds and their colors, during 
 her recovery and before the announcement of agreeable 
 or sorrowful news, the symbols of the ring and the black 
 seal, exhibit, in this vision, a particularly pure expression 
 of the soul as well as a correct view into the future." 
 
 6. Some of the finest scenes in Ariosto are brought 
 
 Vol. i. p. 76. 
 
126 SiSTOKY AND POETKY 
 
 out through a magic ring. When it was worn on the 
 finger, it preserved from spell ; and carried in the mouth, 
 concealed the possessor from view. Thus, in the Orlando 
 Furioso, where Ruggiero had Angelica in the lone forest 
 and secure from sight, she discovers the magic ring upon 
 her finger which her father had given her when she first 
 entered Christendom and which had delivered her from 
 many dangers. 
 
 " Now that she this upon her hand surveys, 
 She is so full of pleasure and surprise, 
 She doubts it is a dream and, in amaze, 
 Hardly believes her very hand and eyes. 
 Then softly to her mouth the hoop conveys. 
 And, quicker than the flash which cleaves the skies. 
 From bold Rogero's sight her beauty shrouds, 
 As disappears the sun concealed in clouds."* 
 
 The ring of Gyges is taken notice of both by Plato 
 and Tully. This Gyges was the master shepherd to 
 King Candaules. As he was wandering over the plains 
 of Lydia, he saw a great chasm in the earth and had 
 the curiosity to enter it. After having descended pretty 
 far into it, he found the statue of a horse in brass, with 
 doors in the sides of it. Upon opening of them, he 
 found the body of a dead man, bigger than ordinary, 
 with a ring upon his finger, which he took off and put 
 it upon his own. The virtues of it were much greater 
 than he at first imagined ; for, upon his going into the 
 assembly of the shepherds, he observed that he was in- 
 visible when he turned the stone of the ring within the 
 palm of his hand and visible when he turned it towards 
 
 * Canto xi. v. 6, (Eose's translation;) and see Hunt's Stories from the 
 Italian Poets. 
 
OB^ FINGER-RINGS. 1^7 
 
 his company. By means of this ring he gained admis- 
 sion into the most retired parts of the court ; and made 
 such use of those opportunities that he at length became 
 King of Lydia. The gigantic dead body to whom this 
 ring belonged was said to have been an ancient Brahmin, 
 who, in his time, was chief of that sect. 
 
 Addison, in one of his Tatlers,* playfully declares he 
 is in possession of this ring and leads his reader through 
 different scenes, commencing thus : " About a week ago, 
 not being able to sleep, I got up and put on my magical 
 ring and, with a thought, transported myself into a 
 chamber where I saw a light. I found it inhabited by 
 a celebrated beauty, though she is of that species of 
 women which we call a slattern. Her head-dress and 
 one of her shoes lay upon a chair, her petticoat in one 
 corner of the room and her girdle, that had a copy of 
 verses made upon it but the day before, with her thread 
 stocking, in the middle of the floor. I was so foolishly 
 officious that I could not forbear gathering up her clothes 
 together to lay them upon the chair that stood by her 
 bedside, when, to my great surprise, after a little mutter- 
 ing, she cried out, " What do you want ? Let my pet- 
 ticoat alone." 
 
 To have the ring of G-yges is used proverbially some- 
 times of wicked, sometimes of fickle, sometimes of pros- 
 perous people who obtain all they want. It is alluded 
 to in Beaumont and Fletcher's Fair Maid of the Inn : 
 
 " Have you Gyges' ring, 
 
 Or the herb that gives invisibility?" 
 
 The "Welsh Sir Tristram is described as having had, 
 from his mother, a mystical ring, the insignia of a Druid. 
 
 * No. 243. 
 
128 HISTORY AND 10ETRY 
 
 Let US now look particularly at the subject of cramp 
 rings. 
 
 St. Edward, wlio died on the fifth of January, 1066, 
 gave a ring which he wore to the Bishop of Westmin- 
 ster. Tlie origin of it is surrounded with much mystery. 
 A pilgrim is said to have brought it to the king and to 
 have informed him that St. John the Evangelist had 
 made known to the donor that the king's decease was at 
 hand.''-' This " St. Edward'' s Bing^'' as it was called, 
 was kept for some time at Westminster Abbey as a relic 
 of the saint, and was applied for the cure of the falling 
 sickness or epilepsy and for the cramp. From this arose 
 the custom of the English kings, who were believed to 
 have inherited St. Edward's powers of cure, solemnly 
 blessing every year rings for distribution. 
 
 Good Friday was the day appointed for the blessing 
 of rings. They were often called " medycinable rings," 
 and were made both of gold and silver, and the metal 
 was composed of what formed the king's offering to the 
 Cross on Good Friday. 
 
 The prayers used at the ceremony of blessing the rings 
 on Good Friday are published in Waldron's Literary 
 Museum ; and also in Pegge's Curiatia Miscellanea^ Ap- 
 pendix, No. iv. p. 164. 
 
 Cardinal Wiseman is in possession of a MS. contain- 
 ing the ceremony of blessing cramp rings. It belonged 
 to the English Queen Mary. At the commencement of 
 the MS. are emblazoned the arms of Philip and Mary, 
 around which are the badges of York and Lancaster and 
 the whole is inclosed within a frame of fruit and flowers. 
 
 See, however, Hospinian, referred to by Brande, vol. i. p. 151. As to 
 Edward the Confessor's curing the strvmm^ see Archseologia, i. 162. 
 
FINGER-RINGS. 129 
 
 The first ceremmiy is headed : " Certain Prayers to be 
 used by the Queen's Leigues in the Consecration of the 
 Crampe Eynges." Accompanying it is an illumination 
 representing the queen kneeling, with a dish contain- 
 ing the rings to be blessed on each side of her ; and 
 another exhibits her touching for the evil a bby on his 
 knees before her, introduced by the clerk of the closet ; 
 his right shoulder is bared and the queen appears to be 
 rubbing it with her hand. The author of the present 
 work caused an application to be made for leave to take 
 a copy of this illumination, so that his readers might 
 have the benefit of it: the secretary of the Cardinal 
 refused. 
 
 In a medical treatise, written in the fourteenth cen- 
 tury,^ there is what is called the medicine against the 
 cramp ; and modernizing the language, it runs thus : 
 " For the Cramp. Take and cause to be gathered on 
 Good Friday, at 5 Parish Churches, 5 of the first pen- 
 nies that is offered at the cross, of each Church the first 
 penny ; then take them all and go before the cross and 
 say 5 paternosters to the worship of the 5 wounds and 
 bear them on the 5 days, and say each day all much in 
 the same way ; and then cause to be made a ring thereof 
 without allou of other metal and write within it Jasper, 
 Batasar, Altrapa" (these are blundered forms of the three 
 kings of Cologne) " and write without Jh'es ]S"azarenus ; 
 and then take it from the goldsmith upon a Friday and 
 say 5 paternosters as thou did before and use it always 
 afterward." 
 
 Lord Berners, the translator of Froissart, when at the 
 
 * London Gent.'s Magaadnc, vol. i., N. S., p. 49, referring to MS. Arundel, 
 
 6^ 
 
130 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 court of the Emperor Charles the Fifth as ambassador 
 from Henry the Eighth, in a letter dated 21st Jmie, 1518, 
 writes to Cardinal Wolsey : " If your Grace remember 
 me with some crampe rynges, ye shall do a thing much 
 looked for and I trust to bestow thaym well, with Godd's 
 grace."* 
 
 A letter from Dr. Magnus to Cardinal "Wolsey, writ- 
 ten in 1526,t contains the following : " Pleas it your 
 Grace to wete that M. Wiat of his goodness sent unto 
 me for a present certaine cramp ringges, which I dis- 
 tributed and gave to sondery myne acquaintaunce at 
 Edinburghe, amonges other to Mr. Adame Otterbourne, 
 who, with oone of thayme, releved a mann lying in the 
 falling sekeness, in the sight of myclie people ; sethenne 
 whiche tyme many requestes have been made unto me 
 for cramp Eingges at my departing there and also 
 sethenne my comyng from thennes. May it pleas your 
 Grace, therefore, to show your gracious pleasure to the 
 said M. Wyat that some Eingges may be kept and sent 
 into Scottelande ; which, after my poore oppynyoun, 
 shulde be a good dede, remembering the power and 
 oper^cion of thaym is knowne and proved in Edinburgh 
 and that they be greatly required for the same cause by 
 grete personnages and others." 
 
 The mode of hallowing rings to cure the cramp is 
 found in what is entitled an " Auncient Ordre for the 
 hallowing of Cramp Eings," etc. It is amusing to read 
 of the degrading course which king, queen, ladies and 
 gentlemen had to take, each one creeping along a car- 
 pet to a cross. The account runs thus : " Firste, the 
 
 *Ib. 50, referring to MS. Harl. 295, fol. 119 i, cited by Ellis, i. 129. 
 t lb, referring to MS, Cott. CaUg. B. II. fol. 112. 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 131 
 
 King to come to the Cliappell or clossett, with the lords 
 
 and noblemen wayting upon him, without any sword 
 
 borne before hime of that day, and tlier to tarrie in 
 
 his travers until the Bishope and the Deane have 
 
 brought in the Cruciiixe out of the vestrie and laid 
 
 it upon the cushion before the higlie alter. And then 
 
 the usher to lay a carpet for the Kinge to crcepe to 
 
 the crosse U23on. And that done, there shall be a 
 
 forme set upon the carpett before the crucifix and a 
 
 cushion laid upon it for the Kinge to kneel upon. And 
 
 the Master of the Jewell house ther to be ready with 
 
 the crampe rings in a bason of silver and the Kinge to 
 
 kneel upon the cushion before the forme. And then the 
 
 Gierke of the Closett be readie wdth the booke concern- 
 
 inge the halowinge of the crampe rings, and the aumer 
 
 must kneele on the right hand of the Kinge, holdinge 
 
 the sayd booke. When that is done, the Kinge shall rise 
 
 and go to the alter, weare a Gent. Usher shall be redie 
 
 with a cushion for the Kinge to kneele upon ; and then 
 
 the greatest Lords that shall be ther to take the bason 
 
 with the rings and beare them after the King to offer. 
 
 And thus done, the Queene shall come dowm out of her 
 
 closett or traverss into the Chappell with ladyes and 
 
 gentlewomen waiting upon her and creepe to crosse, and 
 
 then go agayne to her clossett or traverse. And then 
 
 the ladyes to creepe to the crosse likewise, and the Lords 
 
 and Koblemen likewise." 
 
 In 1536, when the convocation under Henry the 
 Eighth abolished some of the old superstitious practices, 
 this of creeping to the cross on Good Friday, etc., was or- 
 dered to be retained as a laudable and edifying custom.* 
 
 * London Gent.'s Magazine. 
 
132 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 Even in the dark ages of superstition, tlie ancient 
 British kings do not seem to have affected to cure the 
 king's evil or scrofula. This gift was left to be claimed 
 bj the Stuarts. The Plantagenets were content to cure 
 the cramp. 
 
 In our own time we find three young men in England 
 subscribing sixpence each to be moulded into a ring for 
 a young woman afllicted with the cramp. 
 
 In Berkshire, England, there is a popular superstition 
 that a ring made from a piece of silver collected at the 
 Communion is a cure for convulsions and fits of every 
 kind."'^ Another curious British superstition, by way of 
 charm, is recorded : that a silver ring will cure fits if it 
 be made of five sixpences, collected from five different 
 bachelors, to be conveyed by the hand of a bachelor to 
 a smith that is a bachelor. JN'one of the persons who 
 give the sixpences are to know for what purpose or to 
 whom they gave them. While, in Devonshire, there is a 
 notion that the king's evil can be cured by wearing a 
 ring made of three nails or screws which have been 
 used to fasten a coffin that has been dug out of the 
 churchyard. 
 
 There is a medical charm in Ireland to cure warts. A 
 wedding-ring is procured and the wart touched or pricked 
 with a gooseberry thorn through the ring.f 
 
 A wedding-ring rubbed upon that little abscess called 
 a sty, which is frequently seen on the tarsi of tlie eyes, 
 is said to remove \i.X In Somersetshire, England, there 
 is a superstition that the ring-finger, stroked along any 
 
 * Brande's Pop. Ant. iii. 300, referring to Gent. Mag. for 1794, p. 433, 648. 
 lb. 598, 889. 
 t Notes and Queries, i. 349. X Ennemoser's History of Magic, ii. 48S, 
 
OF FINGEE-EINGS. 133 
 
 sore or wound, will soon heal it. All the other fingers 
 are said to be poisonous, especially the forefinger.^ In 
 Suflfolk, England, nine young men of a parish subscribed 
 a crooked sixpence each to be moulded into a ring for a 
 young woman afilicted with fits. The clergy in that 
 country are not unfrequently asked for sacramental sil- 
 ver to make rings of, to cure fiilling sickness ; and it is 
 thought cruel to refuse. f There is a singular custom 
 prevailing in some parts of Northamptonshire and pro- 
 bably there are other places where a similar practice 
 exists. If a female is afilicted with fits, nine pieces of 
 silver money and nine three-halfpennies are collected 
 from nine bachelors. The silver money is converted into 
 a ring to be worn by the afilicted person and the three- 
 halfpennies {i. e. 13id.) are paid to the maker of the ring, 
 an inadequate remuneration for his labor but which he 
 good-naturedly accepts. If the afflicted person be a male, 
 the contributions are levied upon females.:]: In Norfolk 
 a ring was made from nine sixpences freely given by 
 persons of the opposite sex and it was considered a charm 
 against epilepsy. " I have seen," says a correspondent 
 in JSFotes and Queries,^ " nine sixpences brought to a sil- 
 versmith, with a request that he would make them into 
 a ring ; but 13id. was not tendered to him for making 
 nor do I think that any three-halfpennies are collected 
 for payment. After the patient had left the shop, the 
 silversmith informed me that such requests were of fre- 
 quent occurrence and that he supplied the patients with 
 thick silver rings, but never took the trouble to manu- 
 facture them from the sixpences." 
 
 Notes and Queries, vii. 153. X Notes and Queries, vii. 146. 
 
 t Archseologia, xxi. 25. lb. 216, 
 
1S4: HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 Brande, in his Popular Antiquities,^ says : " A boy, 
 diseased, was recommended by some village crone to 
 liave recourse to an alleged remedy, wliicli has actually, 
 in the enlightened days of the nineteenth century, been 
 put in force. He was to obtain thirty pennies from 
 thirty different persons, without telling them why or 
 wherefore the sum was asked ; after receiving them, to 
 get them exchanged for a half-crown of sacrament money, 
 which was to be fashioned into a ring and worn by the 
 patient. The pennies were obtained, but the half-crown 
 was wanting the rector of the place, very properly, 
 declined taking any part in such a gross superstition. 
 However, another reverend gentleman was more pliable ; 
 and a ring was formed (or professed to be so) from the 
 half-crown and worn by the boy. A similar instance, which 
 occurred about fourteen years since, has been furnished 
 to the same work by Mr. E. Bond of Gloucester : " The 
 epilepsy had enervated the mental faculties of an indi- 
 vidual moving in a respectable sphere in such a degree 
 as to partially incapacitate him from directing his own 
 affairs ; and numerous were the recipes, the gratuitous 
 offering of friends, that were ineffectually resorted to by 
 him. At length, however, he was told of what would 
 certainly be an infallible cure, for in no instance had it 
 failed ; it was, to personally collect thirty pence, from 
 as many respectable matrons, and to deliver them into 
 the hands of a silversmith, who, in consideration thereof, 
 would supply him with a ring, wrought out of half a 
 crown, which he was to wear on one of his fingers and 
 the complaint would immediately forsake him. This 
 advice he followed ; and for three or four years the ring 
 
 * Vol. iii. p. 280, (Ellis's edit.) 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 135 
 
 ornamented (if we may so express it) his fifth or little 
 finger, notwithstanding the frequent relapses lie experi- 
 enced during that time were sufiicient to convince a less 
 ardent mind than his that the fits were j)roof against its 
 influence. Finally, whilst sufifering from a last visitation 
 of that distressing malady, he expired, though wearing 
 the ring thus exemplifying a striking memento of the 
 absurdity of the means he had had recourse to."^ 
 
 Quite recently, a new means has been contrived for 
 deluding the public in the form of rings, which are to 
 be worn upon the fingers and are said to prevent the 
 occurrence of and cure various diseases. They are called 
 galvanic rings. Although by the contact of the two 
 metals of which they are composed an infinitesimally 
 minute current of electricity (hence, also, of magnetism) 
 is generated, still, from the absurd manner in which the 
 pieces of metal composing the ring are arranged and 
 which displays the most profound ignorance of the laws 
 of electricity and magnetism, no trace of the minute cur- 
 rent traverses the finger upon which the ring is worn ; so 
 that a wooden ring or none at all would have exactly the 
 same effect as regards the magnetism or galvanism. f 
 
 Epilepsy was to be cured by wearing a ring in which 
 a portion of an elk's horn was to be inclosed ; while the 
 hoof of an ass, worn in the same way, had the reputation 
 of preventing conjugal debility. ;[ 
 
 * Lupton, quoted by Brande, says : " A piece of a child's navell string, 
 borne in a ring, is good against the falling sickness, the pain of the head and 
 the collick." 
 
 '' Annuhis frigatorius. A ring made of glass {salt) of antimony, formerly 
 supposed to have the power of purging." Gardiner's Medical Dictionary. 
 
 t Beckmann's History of Inventions, i. 40, (Bolni's edit.) 
 
 X See also Burton's Anat. of Melancholy, (1621,) p. 476 ; Browne, ch. xviii. 
 
136 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 Michaelis, a physician at Leipsic, had a ring made of 
 the tooth of a sea-horse, by which he pretended to euro 
 diseases of every kind.* Rings of lead, mixed witli 
 quicksilver, were used against headache ; and even the 
 chains of criminals and iron used in the construction of 
 gibbets were applied to the removal of complaints. 
 
 Eings simply made of gold were supposed to cure St. 
 Anthony's iire ; but, if inscribed with magic words, their 
 power was irresistible. 
 
 With regard to rings supposed to possess magical pro- 
 perties, there is one with an inscription in the Runic cha- 
 racter, on jasper, being a Dano-Saxon amulet against the 
 plague. The translation is thus given : 
 
 " Raise us from dust we pray thee, 
 From Pestilence, set us free. 
 Although the Grave unwilling be."f 
 
 On another ring, inscribed with similar characters, 
 and evidently intended for the same purpose, the legend 
 is as follows : 
 
 " Whether in fever or leprosy^ let the patient he happy 
 and confident in the hope of recovery ^X 
 
 Rings against the plague w^ere often inscribed Jesus 
 Maria Joseph or I. II. S. Nazarenus Rex Judaeo- 
 rum. 
 
 A ring was dug up in England, with the figure of St. 
 Barbara upon it. She is the patroness against storms ; 
 and it was most likely an intended amulet against them, 
 However, St. Barbara was not solely here depended 
 upon, for it has around it Jesu et Maria. 
 
 * Archseologia, xxi. 122 ; Illustrated Magazine of Art, i. H. 
 + Archseologia, (London,) xxi. 25. X lb. 117. 
 
 London Gent.'s Mag. vol. Ixxv. p. 801. 
 
OF 5'lNGEli-Rli^GS. 137 
 
 7. The ordeal of touch, by a person accused of mur- 
 der, remarkably appears in an English trial.* There, the 
 imirdered woman, at the touch of the accused, '' thrust 
 out the ring or marriage finger three times and pulled it 
 in again and the finger dropped blood upon the grass." 
 The report goes on to say, that "Sir I^icholas Hyde, 
 seeming to doubt the evidence, asked the witness, 'Who 
 saw this besides you ?' Witness. '1 cannot swear what 
 others saw ; but, my lord, I do believe the whole com- 
 pany saw it ; and if it liad been thought a doubt, proof 
 would hav^e been made of it, and many would have 
 attested with me.' The witness observing some admira- 
 tion in the auditors, spake further : ' My lord, I am min- 
 ister of the parish and have long known all the parties, 
 but never had any occasion of displeasure against any of 
 them, nor had to do with them or they with me, but as 
 I was minister, the thing was wonderful to me ; but I 
 have no interest in the matter, but as called upon to tes- 
 tify the truth, that I have done. My lord, my brother 
 here present is minister of the next parish adjoining, and, 
 I am assured, saw all done that I have affirmed.'" The 
 clergyman so appealed to confirmed the statement ; and 
 the accused were convicted and hanged. 
 
 8. Amongst the dooms or punishments w^hich JEthel- 
 birlit, King of Kent, established in the days of Augus- 
 tine, the amount of what was called hot or damages to be 
 paid for every description of injury to the person is fully 
 detailed. f The laws of King Alfred comprise, likewise, 
 numerous clauses respecting compensation for wounds 
 
 * Vol. xiv. of State Trials, case of Mary Norkott and John Okeman. 
 t Ancient Laws and Institutes of England, 8vo. vol. i. p. 13. 
 
138 HlStOUr AND POETRY 
 
 inflicted ; and the term " dolzbote''' occurs in c. 23, re- 
 lating to tearing by a dog. A silver ring was found 
 in Essex, England, inscribed with the Anglo-Saxon word 
 dolzbot^ the exact meaning of which is compensation 
 made for giving a man a wound either by a stab or 
 blow.* 
 
 9. We find a romantic story coupled with the found- 
 ing of Aix-la-Chapelle. Petrarch relatesf of Charles 
 the Great of France, that this monarch was so fondly 
 attached to a fair lady that, after her death, he carried 
 about her embalmed body in a superb coffin and that 
 he could not indeed forsake it, because, under the tongue, 
 was a gem *' enchassee" in a very small ring. 
 
 A venerable and learned bishop, who thought a living 
 beauty was preferable to the remains of a departed one, 
 rebuked his sovereign for his irreligious and strange 
 passion and revealed to him the important secret that 
 his love arose from a charm that lay under the w^oman's 
 tongue. AVhereupon the bishop w^ent to the woman's 
 corse and drew from her mouth the ring; which the 
 emperor had scarcely looked upon when he abhorred 
 the former object of his attachment and felt such an 
 extraordinary regard for the bishop that he could not 
 dispense with his presence for a single moment, until 
 the good prelate was so troubled with royal favor that 
 he cast the ring into a lake or marsh. The emperor 
 happened to be attracted to the site of the submerged 
 ring ; and, in consequence, founded upon it a palace and 
 church, which gave birth to Aix-la-Chapelle. 
 
 The Germans have a legend which they connect with 
 
 * lb. p. 79. t Mem. de Petrarque, i. 210. 
 
OF FlifGEK-KINGS. 189 
 
 what must have been this ring. It runs thus : Charle- 
 magne, although near his dissolution, lingered in cease- 
 less agony, until the archbishop who attended him caused 
 the lake to be dragged and, silently placing the talisman 
 on the person of the dying monarch, his struggling soul 
 parted quietly away. Tliis talisman is said to be in the 
 possession of Louis ]S"apoleon; but it is described as a 
 small nut, in a gold filagree envelopment, found round 
 the neck of Charlemagne on the opening of his tomb and 
 given by the town of Aix-la-Chapelle to Bonaparte and 
 by him to his favorite Hortense, ci-devant Queen of Hol- 
 land, at whose death it descended to her son. In the 
 German legend it is said to have been framed by some 
 of the magi in the train of the ambassadors of Aaroun- 
 al-Raschid to the mighty Emperor of the West, at the 
 instance of his spouse Fastrada, with the virtue that her 
 husband should be always fascinated towards the person 
 or thing on which it was.* 
 
 10. Some of our readers are lovers of operatic mu- 
 sic, and have heard Zamjpa. The placing of a ring on 
 the finger of a statue and its consequences must have 
 been gathered from a story by Floriguus. He mentions 
 the case of a young gentleman of Home, who, on his 
 wedding day, went out walking with his bride and 
 some friend after dinner ; towards evening, he got to a 
 tennis-court and while he played he took off his ring 
 and placed it upon the finger of a brass statue of Venus. 
 The game finished, he went to fetch his ring ; but Yenus 
 had bent her finger upon it and he could not get it off. 
 Whereupon, loth to make his companions tarry, he there 
 
 * Notes and Queries, i. 140. 
 
140 HISTORY Al^D POETRY . 
 
 left it, intending to fetch it the next day, went then to 
 snpper and, so, to bed ; but, in the niglit, the truly brazen 
 Venus had slipped between him and his bride, and thus 
 troubled him for several successive nights. Not know- 
 ing how to help himself, he made his moan to one Pa- 
 himbus, a learned magician, who gave him a letter and 
 bade him, at such a time of the night, in such a cross- 
 way, where old Saturn would pass by with his associ- 
 ates, to deliver to him the epistle. The young man, of 
 a bold spirit, accordingly did so ; and when Saturn had 
 read it, he called Yenus, who was riding before him, and 
 commanded her to deliver the ring, which forthwith she 
 did. 
 
 Moore has even made use of this tale. lie calls it 
 " The Ring," and uses upwards of sixty stanzas on it. 
 He seems here to have laid aside, as much as it was 
 possible for him, his usual polish and tried to imitate 
 Monk Lewis. The scene is laid in Christian times ; his 
 hero is one Rupert ; and the deliverer a Father Austin. 
 Moore says he met with the story in a German work, 
 " Fromman upon Fascination ;" while Fromman quotes 
 it from Belaucensis. 
 
 It is remarkable how often we find stories, which have 
 originated in heathen times, made a vehicle for Catholic 
 tales. The above has found its way into monkish legend. 
 
 In The Miracles of the Virgin Mary^ compiled in the 
 twelfth century, by a French monk,* there is a tale of a 
 young man, who, falling in love with an image of the 
 Virgin, inadvertently placed on one of its fingers a ring, 
 which he had received from his mistress, accompanying 
 the gift with the most tender language of respect and 
 
 * See Douce's lUust. of Shakspeare, p. 69. 
 
OF F I N G E R - K I N G S . 141 
 
 affection. A miracle instantly took place and the ring 
 remained immovable. The young man, greatly alarmed 
 for the consequences of his rashness, consulted his friends, 
 who advised him, by all means, to devote himself en- 
 tirely to the service of the Madonna. His love for his 
 former mistress prevailed over their remonstrances and 
 he married her ; but on the wedding-night, the newly be- 
 trothed lady appeared to him and urged her claim, with 
 so many dreadful menaces that the poor man felt him- 
 self compelled to abandon his bride and, that very night, 
 to retire privately to a hermitage, where he became a 
 monk for the rest of his life. This story has been trans- 
 lated by Mons. Le Grand, in his entertaining collection 
 oi fabliaux^ where the ring is called a marriage-ring. 
 
 Perhaps this last story grew out of the legend of St. 
 Agnes. A priest, who officiated in a church dedicated 
 to St. Agnes, was very desirous of being married. He 
 prayed the Pope's license, who gave it him, together 
 with an emerald ring ; and commanded him to pay his 
 addresses to the image of St. Agnes in his own church. 
 Then the priest did so and tlie image put forth her 
 finger and he put the ring thereon ; whereupon the 
 image drew her finger in again and kept the ring fast 
 and the priest was contented to remain a bachelor ; " and 
 yet, as it is sayd, the ryngeis on the fynger of the ymage."'^ 
 
 11. There is a legend of a Sir Pi chard Baker, who 
 was surnamed Bloody Baker^ wherein a ring bears its 
 part.f This Sir Pichard Baker was buried in Cranbrook 
 church, Kent, England, and his gauntlet, gloves, helmet 
 
 * Hone's Every Day Book, i. 141. 
 t Notes and Queries,vol. ii. p. 67. 
 
142 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 and spurs are suspended over his tomb. The gloves are 
 red. The Baker family had formerly large possessions 
 in Cranbrook ; but in the reign of Edward YI. great 
 misfortunes fell on them ; by extravagance and dissipa- 
 tion they gradually lost all their lands, until an old house 
 in the village (now used as the poor-house) was all that 
 remained to them. The sole representative of the family 
 remaining at the accession of Queen Mary was Sir Ei- 
 chard Baker. He had spent some years abroad in con- 
 sequence of a duel ; but when Mary reigned he thought 
 he might safely return, as he was a papist ; when he came 
 to Cranbrook, he took up his abode in his old house ; he 
 brought one foreign servant with him ; and only these two 
 lived there. Yery soon strange stories began to be whis- 
 pered respecting unearthly shrieks having been heard 
 frequently to issue at nightfall from his house. Many 
 people of importance were stopped and robbed in the 
 Glastonbury w^oods and many unfortunate travellers were 
 missed and never heard of more. Richard Baker still con- 
 tinued to live in seclusion, but he gradually repurchased 
 his alienated property, although he was known to have 
 spent all he possessed before he left England. But wick- 
 edness was not always to prosper. He formed an appa- 
 rent attachment to a young lady in the neighborhood, 
 remarkable for always wearing a great many jewels. He 
 often pressed her to come and see his old house, telling 
 her he had many curious things he wished to show her. 
 She had always resisted fixing a day for her visit, but 
 happening to walk within a short distance of his house, she 
 determined to surprise him with a visit ; her companion, 
 a lady older than herself, endeavored to dissuade her 
 from doing so, but she would not be turned from her 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 143 
 
 purpose. They knocked at the door, but no one answered 
 them ; they, however, discovered it was not locked and 
 determined to enter. At the head of the stairs hung a 
 parrot which, on their passing, cried out : 
 
 " Peepoh, pretty lady, be not too bold, 
 Or your red blood will soon run cold." 
 
 And cold did run the blood of the adventurous damsel 
 when, on opening one of the room doors, she found it 
 filled with the dead bodies of murdered persons, chiefly 
 women. Just then they heard a noise and on looking 
 out of the window saw Bloody Baker and his servant 
 bringing in the murdered body of a lady. Nearly 
 dead with fear, they concealed themselves in a re- 
 cess under the staircase. As the murderers, with their 
 dead burthen, passed by them, the hand of the un- 
 fortunate murdered lady hung in the baluster of the 
 stairs ; with an oath. Bloody Baker chopped it oft' and 
 it fell into the lap of one of the concealed ladies. As 
 soon as the murderers had passed by, the ladies ran 
 away, having the presence of mind to carry with them 
 the dead hand, on one of the fingers of which was a 
 ring. On reaching home, they told their story ; and, in 
 confirmation of it, displayed the ring. All the families 
 who had lost relatives mysteriously were then told of 
 what had been found out ; and they determined to ask 
 Baker to a large party, apparently in a friendly manner, 
 but to have officers concealed. He came, suspecting 
 nothing ; and then the lady told him all she had seen, 
 pretending it was a dream. "Fair lady," said he, 
 " dreams are nothing ; they are but fables." " They 
 may be fables," said she, " but is this a fable ?" and she 
 
144 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 produced the hand and ring. Upon this the officers 
 rushed in and took him ; and the tradition further says, 
 he was burnt, notwithstanding Queen Mary tried to save 
 him on account of the religion he professed. 
 
 12. Dumas has it* that Caesar Borgia wore a ring, com- 
 posed of two lion's heads, the stone of which he turned 
 inward when he wished to press the hand of " a friend." 
 It was then the lion's teeth became those of a viper 
 charged with poison. (His infamous fatlier, the old poi- 
 soner Alexander YL, kept a poisoned key by him, and 
 when his " holiness" wished to rid himself of some one 
 of his familiars, he desired him to open a certain ward- 
 robe, but as the lock of this was difficult to turn, force 
 was required before the bolt yielded, by which a small 
 point in the handle of the key left a slight scratch upon 
 the hand, which proved mortal.) 
 
 13. Liceto, as referred to by Maffei, gives an exam- 
 ple of a ring forming part of the Barberini collection, 
 which has engraved upon the stone a Cupid with butter- 
 flies ; and, on the hoop of it, Mei Afnores, i. e. My Loves. 
 This shows a freedom of subject that may have reference 
 to pretty plain flirting or w^antonness. A fragment of 
 Ennius, which runs thus : Others give a ring to be viewed 
 from the lijps^ is coupled with a wanton custom (in full 
 vigor in the time of Plautus) for loose characters to take 
 the hoop of the ring with the teeth and, leaving the stone 
 out of the mouth, thus invite young persons to see either 
 the figure or minute characters and who had to approach 
 very close to do it. 
 
 * Crimes C^l^bres. 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 145 
 
 14. We have heard of rings with delicate spring-lan- 
 cets or cutting-hooks, used by thieves to cut pockets be- 
 fore they j)ick them. 
 
 It is said that gamblers have rings with movable parts, 
 which will show a diminutive heart, spade, club or dia- 
 mond according as a partner desires a particular suit or 
 card to be led. 
 
 Thieves in America will often wear a ring with the 
 head of a dog projecting and its ear sharpened and still 
 further extended, so that a blow with it would cut like 
 any sharply pointed instrument. The present Chief of 
 Police in !N^ew-York is in the habit of clipping off these 
 sharp ears whenever he has a rogue in custody who pos- 
 sesses such a ring. And characters of the like class wear 
 one bearing a triangular pyramid of metal, with which 
 they can give a terrible blow. 
 
 The crime of ring-dropping consists, generally, in a 
 rogue's stooping down and seeming to pick up a purse 
 containing a ring and a paper, which is made in the form 
 of a receipt from -a jeweller, descriptive of the ring and 
 making it a " rich, brilliant, diamond ring ;" and in the 
 fellow's proposing, for a specified payment, to share its 
 value with you. 
 
 When Charles YIII. of France crossed the Alps, he 
 descended into Piedmont and the Montferrat, which 
 was governed by two Eegents, Princes Charles Jean 
 Aime and Guillaume Jean. They advanced to meet 
 Charles, each at the head of a numerous and brilliant 
 court and shining with jewels. Charles, aware that, not- 
 withstanding their friendly indications, they had, never- 
 theless, signed a treaty with his enemy, received them 
 with the greatest courtesy ; and as they were profuse in 
 
 7 
 
146 HISTOKYANDPOETKY 
 
 their professions of amity, he suddenly required of them 
 a proof : it was, to lend him the diamonds they then wore. 
 The two regents could but obey a request which pos- 
 sessed all the characteristics of a command. They took 
 off their rings and other trinkets, for which Charles gave 
 them a detailed receipt and, then, pledged them for 
 twenty-four thousand ducats.^ 
 
 15. When the Roman slave was allowed his liberty, 
 he received, with a cap and white vest^ a ring. The ring 
 was of iron.f We have not heard the origin of this stated, 
 but it appears to us it was gathered from the fable of 
 Prometheus. The slave had been fastened, as it were, to 
 the Caucasus of bondage ; and when freed from that, he 
 had, still, as Prometheus had, to wear an iron ring, by 
 way of remembrance. He was not permitted to have 
 one of gold, for that was a badge of citizenship. J How- 
 ever, vanity is inherent in bond and free ; and slaves 
 began to cover their iron rings with gold, while others 
 presumed to wear the precious metals alone.g The iron 
 rings of slaves were alluded to by Statins, who died about 
 thirty years later than Pliny. || Apuleius introduces a 
 slave, with an iron ring, bearing a device. 
 
 We all remember Moore's lines, beginning with : 
 
 " Rich and rare were the gems she wore, 
 And a bright gold ring on her wand she bore." 
 
 This was rather an Irish way of wearing a ring, on the 
 top of a snow-white wand, instead of upon a lily-white 
 
 * Crimes C6lebres, (Dumas.) f Eomcan Antiquities, by Fuss, 62. 
 
 X Blair's Roman Slavery, 97 ; and see note 50, p. 241. Pliny, xxxiii. 
 II Lacrim. Etrus., (Sylv. iii. 3,) " kevceque ignobile/errum.'''' 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 147 
 
 finger. The poet works out and polishes and varnishes 
 these verses from the following story in Warren's His- 
 tory of Ireland :* A young lady, of great beauty, adorn- 
 ed with jewels and a costly dress, undertook a journey 
 alone, from one end of the kingdom to the other, with a 
 wand only in her hand, at the top of which was a ring 
 of exceeding great value ; and such an impression had 
 the laws and government of the then monarch, Brian 
 Borholme, made on the minds of all the people that no 
 attempt was made upon her honor, nor was she robbed 
 of her clothes or jewels. Ireland may or not be changed 
 since that time ; yet the monarcli Brian does not seem 
 to have worked through moral suasion, if we may believe 
 an Irish verse-maker, who certainly uses neither the 
 delicacy of sentiment nor the polish of Moore : 
 
 " Oh, brave King Brian ! he knew the way 
 To keep the peace and to make them pay ; 
 For those who were bad, he knocked off their head ; 
 And those who were worse, he kilt them dead." 
 
 Vol. i. book X. 
 
CHAPTER FOUR. 
 
 RINGS COUPLED WITH REMAKKABLE HISTORICAL CHARAC- 
 TERS OR CIRCUMSTANCES. 
 
 1. Eing of Suphis ; Pharaoh's King given to Joseph. 2. Kings of Hannibal ; 
 Mithridates ; Pompey ; Caesar ; Augustus and Nero. 3. Cameo. 4. Ethel- 
 woulf; Madoc; Edward the Confessor ; King John; LordL'Isle; Kichard 
 Bertie and his Son Lord Willoughby ; Great Earl of Cork ; Shakspeare's 
 Signet-King ; The Ring Queen Elizabeth gave to Essex ; Ring of Mary of 
 Scotland and one sent by her to Elizabeth ; Darnley ; The Blue Ring ; Duke 
 of Dorset ; King in the Isle of Wight supposed to have belonged to Charles 
 the First, and Memorial Kings of this Monarch ; Earl of Derby ; Charles 
 the Second ; Jeffrey's Blood-Stone ; The great Dundee ; Nelson ; Scotch 
 Coronation Ring ; The Admirable Crichton ; Sir Isaac Newton ; Kean :, 
 Wedding Ring of Byron's Mother. 5. Matrons of Warsaw. 6. The -Prus- 
 sian Maiden. 
 
 1. When Egypt is mentioned, the Pyramids rise in 
 their subimity a sublimity made perfect by their vast- 
 ness and mysterious age. We can fancy Abraham be- 
 holding them with awe, as, in the moonlight, they seemed 
 to be awful and gigantic reflexes of his own tents loom- 
 ing into the heavens. We can imagine Alexander, rush- 
 ing triumphantly on as the sun warmed and brightened 
 their points ; and Cambyses, within their shadow, horri- 
 fying the Egyptians by the destruction of their god Apis. 
 We can hear, too, the modern destroyer, with the bom- 
 bastic cry to his soldiers that, from the summits of those 
 monuments, forty centuries looked down upon them : 
 they must indeed have looked down upon those who 
 
FINGER-RINGS. 149 
 
 came as locusts and were swept away like them ! And 
 as our minds enter, from the outward heat, into the cold 
 chamber of the Pyramids, we observe Champollion, Wil- 
 kinson, Vyse and Lepsius unrolling ages with the un- 
 winding of papyrus and illuminated bandage. 
 
 Let us, however, attempt to sink these mighty moun- 
 tains of man's labor below the desert upon which tliey 
 now heavily press as though they were sealing the earth 
 and bring up, amid the vast desert and in their place, 
 a single figure, bearing a signet-ring upon its finger. It 
 is Suphis or Cheops, King of Memphis, who caused the 
 Great Pyramid to be made for his monument. What a 
 speck, for such a tomb ! The monuments of man take 
 up much space. Here was a whole nation employed to 
 make one man's mausoleum. We fear that the virtues 
 which live after men could often go within the compass 
 of their finger-ring. 
 
 To every kingly order or decree connected with the 
 foundation of the Great Pyramid or with the thousands 
 of men who had to work or with the prodigious mate- 
 rial employed, an impression of the signet-ring of Suphis 
 had to be attached. Pings have been used for higher 
 and holier things ; but never for so vast a human pur- 
 pose. 
 
 IN'ow, bring up, once more, (through the mind's en- 
 chantment,) the Pyramids, built upwards of tw^o thou- 
 sand years before the time of Christ, wuth all the busy 
 centuries which have encircled them ; and looking back, 
 we can hardly think that this ring of Suphis, a circle 
 which an inch square might hold is undestroyed ! And 
 even if it be, we can scarcely believe that it is to be 
 seen within the sweep of our own observation. The city 
 
150 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 of ISTew- York holds the ring of Suphis. In the Egyptian 
 collection formed by Dr. Abbott is this ring. And if 
 exquisite work can add to its value, it has it in a high 
 degree. Beautiful in execution ; there is something 
 wonderful in its preservation ; while a species of awe, 
 seldom attaching to a small substance, seems to chill 
 our nature and we are dumb while we look upon it. 
 
 Here is the most valuable antique ring in the world. 
 This ring alone ought to be sufficient to secure the col- 
 lection to New- York for ever."^ 
 
 It may be well to copy a description of this relic as it 
 appears in Dr. Abbott's Catalogue : 
 
 " This remarkable piece of antiquity is in the highest 
 state of preservation, and was found at Ghizeh, in a 
 tomb near that excavation of Colonel Yyse's called Camp- 
 bell's tomb. It is of fine gold ; and weighs nearly tliree 
 sovereigns. The style of the hieroglyphics is in perfect 
 accordance with those in the tombs about the Great 
 Pyramid, and the hieroglyphics within the oval make 
 
 * We write at a time when a subscription is going among the inhabitants 
 of New-York for the purchase of this collection ; and already have private 
 citizens subscribed to the amount of $25,000. This tells well for republican 
 individual enterprise and taste. 
 
 The author has to acknowledge the prompt kindness of Dr, Abbott, in 
 allowing him to take impressions as well from the Suphis-ring as from many 
 others in the Doctor's collection. 
 
OF FINOER-RINGS. 151 
 
 the name of that Pharaoh of whom the pyramid was the 
 tomb. The details are minutely accurate and beauti- 
 fully executed. The heaven is engraved with stars : the 
 fox or jackal has significant lines within its contour : 
 the hatchets have their handles bound with thongs, as is 
 usual in the sculptures ; the volumes have the string 
 which binds them hanging below the roll, differing in 
 this respect from any example in sculptured or painted 
 hieroglyphics. The determinative for country is studded 
 with dots, representing the sand of the mountains at the 
 margin of the valley of Egypt. The instrument, as in 
 the larger hieroglyphics, has the tongue and semi- lunar 
 mark of the sculptured examples ; as is the case also 
 with the heart-shaped vase. The name is surmounted 
 with the globe and feathers, decorated in the usual man- 
 ner ; and the ring of the cartouch is engraved with 
 marks representing a rope, never seen in the sculptures : 
 and the only instance of a royal name similarly encircled 
 is a porcelain example in this collection, inclosing the 
 name of the father of Sesostris. The O in the name is 
 placed as in the examples sculptured in the tombs, not 
 in the axis- of the cartouch. The chickens have their 
 unfledged wings ; the cerastes its horns, now only to be 
 seen with the magnifying glass." 
 
 Probably the next most important ring is one believed 
 to have been that which was given by Pharaoh to the 
 patriarch Joseph. Upon opening, in the winter of 1824, 
 a tomb in the necropolis of Sakkara near Memphis, 
 Arab workmen discovered a mummy, every limb of 
 which was cased in solid gold ; each finger had its par- 
 ticular envelope, inscribed with hieroglyphics : " So 
 Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old ; and 
 
152 
 
 HISTOEY AND 1 O E T R Y 
 
 they embalmed him and he was put in a coiSn in 
 Egypt."* A golden scarabaens or beetle was attached 
 to the neck by a chain of the same metal; a signet-ring 
 was also found, a pair of golden bracelets and other 
 relics of value.f Tlie excavation had been made at the 
 charge of the Swedish Consul ; but the articles disco- 
 vered became tbe prize of the laborers. By a liberal 
 
 Signet of the actual size. 
 
 application of the cudgel, the scarabseus with its chain, a 
 fragment of the gold envelope and the bracelets were 
 recovered. The bracelets are now in the Leyden Mu- 
 seum, and bear the same name as the ring.;}: This signet- 
 ring, however, which was not given up at the time, 
 
 * Genesis, eh. 1. v. 26. 
 
 t Pole's Inqufry into the Phonetic Eeading of the Aehburnham Signet. 
 (Pickering, 184.1.) 
 I See Wilkinson's Manners of the Egyptians, iii. 374. 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 153 
 
 foiind its way to Cairo and was there purchased by the 
 Earl of Ashburnh.am. That nobleman having put his 
 collection of relics, with his baggage, on board a brig 
 chartered in Alexandria for Smyrna, the vessel was 
 plundered by Greek pirates, who sold tlieir booty in the 
 island of Syra. The signet in question fell thus into the 
 hands of a Greek merchant, who kept it till about three 
 years ago, when it was sold in Constantinople and pur- 
 chased and brought finally to England. It is again in 
 the possession of the Earl of Ashburnham. This signet 
 has been assigned to the age of Thothmes III. The quan- 
 tity and nature of the golden decorations existing in the 
 tomb referred to indicate it as the sepulchre of one of 
 the Pharaohs or of some highly distinguished officer of 
 the royal household ; and a calculation places the death 
 of the patriarch Joseph in about the twentieth year of 
 the reign of Thotlimes III. The signet would be an ex- 
 cellent specimen of the antique of a kind called Tabat, 
 still common in the countrv and which resemble, in all 
 but the engraved name upon this signet, the ring placed 
 by Pharaoh on Joseph's hand. The seal turns on a 
 swivel, (and, so, has two tablets,) and, with the ring or 
 circle of the signet, is of very pure and massive gold. 
 The carving is very superior and also bold and sharp, 
 whicli may be accounted for from the difficult oxydiza- 
 tion of gold above all metals. In connection with this 
 ring, it is necessary to remember what occurred when 
 " Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand and put it 
 upon Joseph's hand." " And he made him to ride in 
 the second chariot which he had ; and they cried before 
 him, Bow the knee ; and he made him ruler over all the 
 land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am 
 
154: HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 Pharaoh and without thee shall no man lift up his hand 
 or foot in all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh called 
 JoseplibS nayne Zaphnath-paaneah." The seal has the 
 cartouch of Pharaoh. And one line upon it has Leen 
 construed into Paaneah^ the name bestowed by Pharaoh 
 on Joseph. This signifies, in combination with " Zajph- 
 nath^^ either, the Revealer of Secrets^ or, the Preserver of 
 the World. 
 
 A discovery of the ring of Suphis and that which 
 Pharaoh gave to Joseph appears to border on the mar- 
 vellous; and, yet, such things were and gentleness of 
 climate may allow us to suppose that they still exist, 
 while modern energy, science and learning are so laying 
 bare the world's sepulchre of the past that we ought not 
 to disbelieve at the suggested resurrection of any thing. 
 In excavations recently made in Persia, the palace of 
 Shushan and the tomb of Daniel have probably been 
 found ; and also the very pavement described in Esther, 
 i. 6, " of red and blue and white and green marble."* 
 
 2. Hannibal carried his death in his ring, which was 
 a singular one. When the Eoman ambassadors required 
 the king of Bythinia to give Hannibal up, the latter, on 
 the point of the king's doing so, swallowed poison, which 
 he always carried about in his ring. In the late war 
 between America and Mexico, rings were found upon 
 the fingers of dead officers of the latter country. These 
 opened and, it is said, a poisonous substance was disco- 
 
 * On the tomb is the sculptured figure of a man bound hand and foot, with 
 a huge lion in the act of springing upon him to devour him. No history 
 could speak more graphically the story of Daniel in the Lion's Den. 2he 
 {American) Family Christian Almanac for 1855. 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 155 
 
 vered ; and there is a notion that the owners of these rings 
 were ready to act the part of Hannibal : poison them- 
 selves rather than become prisoners. 
 
 The Komans were very curions in collecting cases of 
 rings, {dactylothecw^) many of which are mentioned as 
 being at Rome ; among these was that which Pompey 
 the Great took from Mithridates and dedicated to Jupi- 
 ter in the Capitol."^ 
 
 And Pompey's ring is known. Upon it were engraved 
 three trophies, as emblems of his three triumphs over the 
 three parts of the world Europe, Asia and Africa. f A 
 ring with a trophy cut upon it has helped to victory : 
 When Timoleon was laying siege to Calauria, Icetes took 
 the opportunity to make an inroad into the territories of 
 Syracuse, where he met with considerable booty; and 
 having made great havoc, he marched back by Calau- 
 ria itself, in contempt of Timoleon and the slender force 
 he had with him. Timoleon suffered him to pass ; and 
 then followed him with his cavalry and light-armed foot. 
 When Icetes saw he was pursued, he crossed the Damy- 
 rias and stood in a posture to receive the enemy, on the 
 other side. What emboldened him to do this was the 
 difficulty of the passage and the steepness of the banks 
 on both sides. But a strange dispute and jealousy of 
 honor which arose among the officers of Timoleon awhile 
 delayed the combat : for there was not one that w^as 
 willing to go after another, but every man wanted to be 
 foremost in the attack ; so that their fording was likely 
 to be very tumultuous and disorderly by their jostling 
 each other and pressing to get before. To remedy this, 
 
 * Fuss's Roman Antiqiiities, 435. 
 
 t Adams' Eoman Antiquities, 366, (Boyd's edit.) 
 
156 HISTORY AKD POETRY 
 
 Tirnoleon ordered them to decide the matter by lot ; and 
 tliat each, for this purpose, should give him his ring. 
 He took the rings and shook tliem in the skirt of his 
 robe ; and the first that came np happening to have a 
 trophy for the seal, the young officers received it with 
 joy and, crying out that tliey wonld not wait for any 
 other lot, made their way as fast as possible through the 
 river and fell upon the enemy, who, unable to sustain 
 the shock, soon took to flight, throwing away their arms 
 and leaving a thousand of their men dead upon the spot.* 
 
 Caesar's ring bore an armed Yenus. On that of Au- 
 gustus there was, first, a sphinx ; afterwards, the image 
 of Alexander the Great ; and at last, his own, which the 
 succeeding emperors continued to use. Dr. Clarke says, 
 the introduction of sculptured animals upon the signets 
 of the Homans was derived from the sacred symbols of 
 the Egyptians and hence the origin of the sphinx for the 
 signet of Augustus. 
 
 Nero's signet-ring bore Apollo, flaying Marsyas. This 
 emperor's musical vanity led him to adopt it. 
 
 3. When the practice of deifying princes and vene- 
 rating heroes became general, portraits of men supplied 
 the place of more ancient types. This custom gave birth 
 to the cameo ; not, perhaps, introduced before the Eoman 
 power and rarely found in Greece. 
 
 4. In the British Museum is an enamelled gold ring 
 of Ethelwoulf, King of AVessex, second King of England, 
 A. D. 836, 838. It bears his name.f 
 
 * Plutarch's T'iinoleon, 
 
 t Introduction to Englisli Antiquities, by Eccleston, 60, 61, 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 167 
 
 The tradition of Madoc, one of the last princes of 
 Powis, is kept up by the discovery of a gold signet-ring, 
 with the impress of a monogram placed nnder a crown. 
 It is supposed to be the ring of Madoc. 
 
 The ring of Edward the Confessor has been discovered ; 
 and is said to be in the possession of Charles Kean the 
 actor and that he wears it whenever he plays the cha- 
 racter of King Lear. This performer is a collector of 
 antiquities. He purchased the red hat of Cardinal Wol- 
 sey at the sale of the Strawberry Hill collection. This 
 hat was found by Bishop Burnet, when Clerk of the 
 Closet, in the great wardrobe and was given by his son, 
 the Judge, to the Countess Dowager of Albemarle, w^io 
 presented it to Horace Walpole. 
 
 King John of England is reputed to have secured a 
 ring to aid his designs upon the beautiful wife of the 
 brave Eustace de Yesci, one of the twenty-live barons 
 appointed to enforce the observance of Magna Charta.* 
 The tyrant, hearing that Eustace de Yesci had a very 
 beautiful wife, but far distant from court and studying 
 how to accomplish his licentious designs towards her, 
 sitting at table with her husband and seeing a ring on 
 his finger, he laid hold on it and told him that he had 
 such another stone, which he resolved to set in gold in 
 that very form. And having thus got the ring, presently 
 sent it to her, in her husband's name ; by that token con- 
 juring her, if ever she expected to see him alive, to come 
 speedily to him. She, therefore, upon sight of the ring, 
 gave credit to the messenger and came with all expedi- 
 tion. But so it happened that her husband, casually 
 riding out, met her on the road and marvelling much to 
 
 * Dugdale, 
 
158 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 see her there, asked what the matter was ? and when he 
 understood how they were both deluded, resolved to find 
 a wanton and put her in apparel to personate his lady. 
 The king afterwards boasting to the injured husband 
 himself, Eustace had the pleasure to undeceive him. We 
 may imagine the cheated monarch's rage and how freely 
 he used his favorite oath of, " by the teeth of God !" 
 
 Lord L'Isle, of the time of Henry YIII. of England, 
 had been committed to the Tower of London on suspicion 
 of being privy to a plot to deliver up the garrison of 
 Calais to the French. But his innocence appearing 
 manifest on investigation, the monarch released and sent 
 him a diamond ring with a most gracious message. 
 "Whether it was his liberty or the ring or the message, 
 the fact is that he died the ni^rht following " of excessive 
 
 joy."* 
 
 Tlie turquoise was valuable enough for princely gift. 
 Anne of Brittany, young and beautiful. Queen of Louis 
 the Twelfth of France, sent a turquoise ring to James the 
 Fourth of Scotland, who fell at Flodden. Scott refers 
 to it: 
 
 " For the fair Queen of France 
 Sent him a turquoise ring and glove ; 
 And charged him, as her knight and ^ove, 
 For her to break a lance." 
 
 And, in a note, he says that a turquoise ring, " probably 
 this fatal gift," is (with James's sword and dagger) pre- 
 served in the College of Heralds, London ; and gives the 
 following quotation from Pittscottie : " Also, the Queen 
 of France wrote a love-letter to the King of Scotland, 
 calling him her love, showing him that she had suffered 
 
 Burke's Extinct Peerage, " Plantagenet Viscount L'Isle," 432. 
 
OF FIN G E K-RIN G S. 159 
 
 much rebuke in France for the defending of her honor. 
 She believed surely that he would recompense her again 
 with some of his kingly support in her necessity, that is 
 to say, that he would raise her an army and come three 
 foot of ground, on English ground, for her sake. To that 
 effect she sent him a ring off her finger, with fourteen 
 hundred French crowns to pay his expenses." 
 
 Some of the trials of life which Ei chard Bertie and his 
 wife Catharine, Duchess of Suffolk, underwent,* are mat- 
 ters of history. They arose from the zeal of the Duchess 
 for the Eeformation in the reign of Edward YI. and 
 through the malice of Bishop Gardiner. The lady had in 
 her " progress" caused a dog in a rochet (part of a bishop's 
 dress) to be carried and called by Gardiner's name. They 
 had an only son Peregrine Bertie, who claimed and ob- 
 tained the Barony of Willoughby of Eresby. He was 
 sent as general of auxiliaries into France ; and did good 
 service at the siege of Paris and by the reduction of 
 many towns. His troops were disbanded with great 
 commendation; and Lord Willoughby received a pre- 
 sent of a diamond ring from the King of France.f This 
 ring he, at his death, left his son, with a charge, upon 
 his blessing, to transmit it to his heirs. Queen Elizabeth 
 wrote a free letter inviting him back to England, begin- 
 ning it, " Good Peregrine." His will is a remarkable 
 one. It begins thus : "In the name of the blessed divine 
 Trynitie in persons and of Omnipotent Unitye in God- 
 head, who created, redeemed and sanctified me, whom 
 I steadfastlye beleeve will glorifye this sinfull, corrupty- 
 ble and fleshely bodie, with eternal happiness by a joye- 
 ful resurrection at the general Judgment, when by his 
 
 * Hollingshed ; Dugdale, 
 
160 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 incomprehensible justice and mercy e, having satisfied for 
 my sinfiill soule, and stored it iippe in his heavenlye trea- 
 sure, his ahnightye voyce shall call all fleshe to be joyned 
 together with the soule to everlasting coniforte or discom- 
 forte. In that liolye name I Pergrin Bertye," etc., etc., 
 etc. He was once confined to his bed with the gout 
 and had an insulting challenge sent him, to which he 
 answered, " That although he w^as lame of his hands and 
 feet, yet he would meet his adversary with a piece of a 
 rapier in his teeth." His idea of a " carpet knight " is 
 observable in his saying, that " a court became a soldier 
 of good skill and great spirit as a bed of down would one 
 of the Tower lions." 
 
 Richard Boyle, who, by personal merit, obtained a 
 high position and is known as the " great Earl of Cork," 
 did not forget his early life. When he was in the 
 height of his prosperity, he committed the most memora- 
 ble circumstances of his life to writing, under the title of 
 " True Eemembrances ;" and we find the mention of a 
 ring which his mother had given him : " When first I 
 arrived in Ireland, the 23d of June, 1588, all my wealth 
 then was twenty-seven pounds three shillings in money 
 and two tokens which my mother had given me, viz. a 
 diamond ring, which I have ever since and still do 
 w^ear, and a bracelet of gold worth about ten pounds ; a 
 taffety doublet cut with and upon tafifety ; a pair of black 
 silk breeches laced ; a new Milan fustian suit laced and 
 cut upon taffety, two cloaks, competent linen and neces- 
 saries, with my rapier and dagger ; and, since, the bless- 
 ing of God, whose heavenly providence guided me 
 hither, hath enriched my weak estate in the beginning 
 with such a fortune as I need not envy any of my neigh- 
 
OF F1KGEE-RING8. 161 
 
 bors, and added no care or Lnrtlien to my conscience 
 thereunto."* 
 
 We have mentioned Shakspeare's signet-ring. It is 
 of gold and was found on the sixteen tli day of March 
 ill the year one thousand eight hundred and ten, by a 
 Laborer's wife upon the surface of the mill-ck^se, adjoin- 
 ing Stratford churchyard. The weight is twelve penny- 
 w^eights ; it bears the initials W. S. ; and was purchased 
 by Mr. E^ B. Wheeler (who has published a Guide to 
 Stratford-upon-Avonf) for thirty-six shillings, the cur- 
 rent value of the gold. It is evidently a gentleman's ring 
 of the time of Elizabeth ; and the crossing of the central 
 lines of the W. with the oblique direction of the lines of 
 the S. exactly agree with the character of that day. 
 There is a connection or union of the letters by an orna- 
 mental string and tassels, known commonly as a " true 
 lover's knot " the upper bow or flourish of which forms 
 the resemblance of a heart. On the porch of Charlcote 
 House near Stratford, erected in the early part of Eliza- 
 beth's reign by the very Sir Thomas Lucy said to liave 
 persecuted Shakspeare for deer stealing, the letters T. L. 
 are surrounded in a manner precisely similar. Allowing 
 that this was Shakspeare's ring, it is the only existing 
 article which originally belonged to him. 
 
 Singularly enough, a man named William Shak- 
 speare was at work near the spot when this ring was 
 picked up.J Little doubt can be entertained that it 
 belonged to the poet and is probably the one he lost 
 before his death and w^as not to be found when his will 
 
 * Biograpliia Britannica, art, Boyle. 
 
 1 1814; and see Notes and Queries, v. 589. 
 
 ij: Halliwell's Life of Shakspeare, 334. 
 
162 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 was executed, the word hand being substituted for seale 
 in the original copy of that document. The only other 
 person at Stratford having the same initials and likely 
 to possess such a seal was William Smith, but he used 
 one having a different device, as may be seen from 
 several indentures preserved amongst the records of the 
 corporation. Hal li well believes in the authenticity of 
 this relic. Mr. Wheeler, its owner, says : " Though I 
 purchased it upon the same day for 36s. (the current 
 value of the gold) the woman had sufficient time to de- 
 stroy the precious wrugo^ by having it unnecessarily im- 
 mersed in aquafortis, to ascertain and prove the metal, 
 at a silversmith's shop, which consequently restored its 
 original color." 
 
 In the Life of Haydon the painter,* we have the fol- 
 lowing letter from him to Keats, (March 1, 1818 :) "My 
 dear Keats, I shall go mad ! In a field at Stratford-upon- 
 Avon, that belonged to Shakspeare, they have found a 
 gold ring and seal, with the initials W. S. and a true 
 lover's knot between. If this is not Shakspeare's, whose 
 is it ? a true lover's knot! I saw an impression to-day, 
 and am to have one as soon as possible : as sure as you 
 breathe and that he was the first of beings, the seal 
 belonged to him. 
 
 "OLord! ^ B.E. Haydon." 
 
 Let us now turn to the ring that Queen Elizabeth gave 
 to the handsome, brave and open-hearted Devereux, Earl 
 of Essex ; and which was probably worn by him, when, 
 on his trial, he was desired to hold up his right hand, 
 and he said that he had, before that time, done it often 
 at her majesty's command for a better purpose. The 
 
 * Fart i. p. 346, (Harper's edit.) 
 
OF FINGER -RINGS. 163 
 
 story of this ring has been discarded by some authors ; 
 but we see no reason to doubt it. We take our account 
 from Francis Osborn's Traditional Memoirs on the Reign 
 of Queen Elizabeth.* " Upon this," says he, " with a 
 great deal of familiarity, she presented a ring to him, 
 which after she had, by oaths, endued with a power of 
 freeing him from any danger or distress, his future mis- 
 carriage, her anger or enemies' malice coukl cast him 
 into, she gave it him, with a promise that, at the first 
 sight of it, all this and more, if possible, should be 
 granted. After his commitment to the Tower, he sent 
 this jewel to her majesty by the then Countess of Not- 
 tingham, whom Sir Kobert Cecill kept from delivering 
 it. But the Lady of Nottingham, coming to her death- 
 bed and finding by the daily sorrow the Queen ex- 
 pressed for the loss of Essex, herself a principal agent 
 in his destruction, could not be at rest till she had dis- 
 covered all and humbly implored mercy from God and 
 forgiveness from her earthly sovereign ; who did not 
 only refuse to give it, but having shook her as she lay 
 in bed, sent her, accompanied with most fearful curses, 
 to a higher tribunal." This reads like truth ; and what 
 a picture it presents ! Mark the fury of such an over- 
 bearing, half-masculine Queen ; and, the repentant pas- 
 siveness of the dying Countess ! 
 
 Dr. Birch, in his Memoirs, says : the Queen observed, 
 " God may forgive you, but I never can." 
 
 We are inclined to believe that Elizabeth swore pretty 
 roundly on this occasion, as it is known she could ; and 
 
 * P. 92. And see Johnson's Life of Coke, p. 147 ; Hume, Horace Wal- 
 pole. The ring is said to be retained in the family of the Countess of Not- 
 tingham. 
 
164 HISTORY AKt) POETRY 
 
 that there was a violence on the occasion is even shown 
 by Dr. Birch : he says " The Countess of I^ottingham, 
 affected by the near approach of death, obtained a visit 
 from the Queen, to whom she revealed the secret ; that 
 the Queen shook the dying lady in her bed, and thence- 
 forth resigned herself to the deepest melancholy." 
 
 The melancholy continued ; and this haughty woman 
 was soon smitten ; refusing to rest on a bed, from a super- 
 stition that it would be her death couch, she became 
 almost a silent lunatic, and crouched upon the floor. There 
 sat she, as did another queen, w^ho cried 
 
 " Here I and sorrow sit, 
 Here is my throne ;" 
 
 neither rising nor lying down, her finger almost iilways 
 in her mouth, her eyes open and fixed on the ground."^ 
 But her indomitable will did not leave her in her death 
 hour. She had declared she would have no rascal to 
 succeed her; and when she w^as too far gone to speak, 
 Secretary Cecil besought her, if she would have the 
 King of Scots to reign after her, to show some sign unto 
 them. Whereat, suddenly heaving herself up, she held 
 both her hands joined together, over her head, in manner 
 of a crown. Then, she sank down, and dozed into an- 
 other world. 
 
 The Chevalier Louis Aubery de Maurier, who was 
 many y^ars the French Minister in Holland, and said 
 to have been a man of great parts and unsuspected ve- 
 racity, gives the following story of the Essex ring :f 
 
 * Pictorial History of England, ii. 693. 
 
 t Histoire de Hollande, 215, 216; and also see tlie Biographia Britajinica, 
 vol. 5, art. Deverjeux. , 
 
, OFFINGEK-RINGS. 165 
 
 " It will not, I believe, be thoiiglit either impertinent 
 or disagreeable to add here what Prince Maurice had 
 from the month of Mr. Carleton, Ambassador from Eng- 
 land in Holland, who died Secretary of State, so well 
 known under the name of my Lord Dorchester and who 
 was a man of great merit. He said that Queen Eliza- 
 beth gave the Earl of Essex a ring in the height of her 
 passion for him, ordering him to keep it, and that what- 
 ever he should commit she would pardon him when he 
 should return that pledge. Since that time, the Earl's 
 enemies having prevailed with the Queen, who besides 
 was exasperated against him for the contempt he sliowed 
 for her beauty, which, through age, began to decay, she 
 caused him to be impeached. When he was condemned, 
 she expected that he should send her the ring ; and 
 would have granted him his pardon according to her 
 promise. Tlie Earl finding himself in the last extremity, 
 applied to Admiral Howard's lady, who was his relation, 
 and desired her, by a person whom she could trust, to 
 return the ring into the Queen's own hands. But her 
 husband, who was one of the Earl's greatest enemies and 
 to whom she told this imprudently, would not suffer her 
 to acquit herself of the commission ; so that the Queen 
 consented to the Earl's death, being full of indignation 
 against such a proud and haughty spirit who chose ratlier 
 to die than to implore her mercy. Some time after, the 
 Admiral's lady fell sick and being given over by her 
 physicians, she sent word to the Queen that she had 
 something of great consequence to tell lier before she 
 died. The Queen came to her bedside, and having or- 
 dered all the attendants to withdraw, the Admiral's lady 
 returned her^ but too late, that ring from the Earl of 
 
166 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 Essex, desiring to be excused that slie did not return it 
 sooner, having been prevented doing it by her husband. 
 The Queen retired immediately, being overwhebned 
 with the utmost grief; she sighed continually for a fort- 
 night following, without taking any nourishment ; lying 
 abed entirely dressed and getting up an hundred times 
 a night. At last she died with hunger and with grief, 
 because she had consented to the death of a lover who 
 had applied to her for mercy. This melancholy adven- 
 ture shows that there are frequent transitions from one 
 passion to another and that as love often changes to hate, 
 so hate, giving place sometimes to pity, brings the mind 
 back again into its first state." Sir Dudley Carleton, who 
 is made the author of this story, was a man who deserved 
 the character that is given of him and could not but be 
 well informed of what had passed at court. The Count- 
 ess of Nottingham was the daughter of the Lord Vis- 
 count Hunsdon, related to the Queen and also, by his 
 mother, to the Earl of Essex. 
 
 The story of the ring and the relations of the Queen's 
 passion for the Earl of Essex were long regarded by 
 many writers as romantic circumstances. But these facts 
 are now more generally believed. Hume, Birch and other 
 judicious historians give credit to them. Dr. Birch has 
 confirmed Maurice's account by the following narrative, 
 which was often related by the Lady Elizabeth Spelman, 
 a descendant of Sir Eobert Gary, Earl of Monmouth, 
 whose acquaintance with the most secret transactions of 
 Queen Elizabeth's court is well known :^ 
 
 " When Catharine, Countess of ISTottingham, wife of 
 tlie Lord High Admiral and sister of the Earl of Mon- 
 
 * Biographia Britannica, art. Devereux. 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 167 
 
 mouth, was dying, (as she did, according to his Lord- 
 ship's own account, about a fortnight before the Queen,) 
 she sent to her majesty, to desire that she might see her 
 in order to reveal something to her majesty, without the 
 discovery of which she could not die in peace. Upon 
 the Queen's coming, Lady Nottingham told her that, 
 while the Earl of Essex lay under sentence of death, he 
 was desirous of asking her majesty's mercy, in the man- 
 ner prescribed by herself, during the height of his favor : 
 the Queen having given him a ring which, being sent to 
 her as a token of his distress, might entitle him to her 
 protection. But the Earl, jealous of those about him 
 and not caring to trust any one with it, as he was look- 
 ing out of the window one morning, saw a boy, with 
 whose appearance he was pleased, and, engaging him, 
 by money and promises, directed him to carry the ring, 
 which he took from his finger and threw down, to Lady 
 Scroope, a sister of the Countess of Nottingham and a 
 friend of his lordship, who attended upon the Queen 
 and to beg*of her that she would present it to her ma- 
 jesty. The boy, by mistake, carried it to Lady Notting- 
 ham, who showed it to lier husband, the Admiral, an 
 enemy of Lord Essex, in order to take his advice. The 
 Admiral forbid her to carry it or return any answer to 
 the message ; but insisted upon her keeping the ring. 
 
 " The Countess of Nottingliam having made the dis- 
 covery, begged the Queen's forgiveness, but her majesty 
 answered, ' God may forgive you, but I never can ;' 
 and left the room with great emotion. Her mind was 
 so struck with this story that she never went to bed, nor 
 took any subsistence, from that instant : for Camden is 
 of opinion that her chief reason for suffering the Earl 
 
168 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 to be executed was his supposed obstinancy in not ap- 
 plying to her for mercy." 
 
 Miss Strickland considers that the story of this ring 
 should not be lightly rejected. 
 
 There are two rings extant claiming to be the identical 
 one so fatally retained by Lady Nottingham. The first 
 is preserved at Hawnes, Bedfordshire, England and is 
 the property of the lieverend Lord John Thynne. The 
 ring is gold, the sides are engraved and the inside set 
 with blue enamel ; the stone is a sardonyx, on which is 
 cut, in relief, a head of Elizabeth, the execution being 
 of a high order. The second is the property of a Mr. 
 Warner, and was given by Charles the First to Sir 
 Thomas Warner, the settler of Antigua, Nevis, etc. It 
 is a diamond set in gold, inlaid with black enamel at 
 the back and sides.* 
 
 And now let us turn to one of Elizabeth's victims, who 
 had her talent and was her contrast : for Mary of Scotland 
 was womanly and beautiful. So charming was she in 
 the mind of the French poet Ilonsard that he tells us 
 France without her was as " a ring bereft of its precious 
 pearl."f The nuptial ring of Mary, Queen of Scots, on 
 her marriage with Lord Darnley, is extant.:]: It is, in 
 general design, a copy of her great seal, the banners 
 only being different, for, in the great seal they each bear 
 a saltier surmounted by a crown. (In her great seal 
 made when Dowager of France, after the death of Fran- 
 cis the Second, the dexter banner is St. Andrew's Cross, 
 
 * Lives and Letters of the Devereiix Earls of Essex, by the Honorable W. 
 B. Devereux. 
 
 t Strickland's Queens of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 181. 
 
 I Gent.'s Mag. vol. xxxv. p. 390 ; Archseologia, vol. xxxiii, 
 
OF FINGER -KINGS. 160 
 
 the sinister the Kojal Arms of the Lion.) The ring part 
 is enamelled. It is of most beautiful and minute work- 
 manship. An impression is not larger than a small 
 wafer. It has the initials M. B. ; and on the interior is 
 a monogram of the letters M. and A., Mary and Albany : 
 Darnley was created Duke of Albany. 
 
 A use of the arms of England by Mary came to the 
 knowledge of and gave great offence to Elizabeth and 
 Burghley ; an:l the latter obtained a copy of them so 
 used, which copy is now in the British Museum. It is 
 endorsed by Burghley, " False Armes of Scotl. Fr. Engl. 
 Julii, 1559." Th^ following doggrel lines are under- 
 neath the arms : 
 
 " The armes o? Marie Quene Dolphines of France 
 The nobillist i^adie in earth for till aduance, 
 Off Scotland Quene, and of England also, 
 Off Ireland als God haith providit so." 
 
 A letter has been discovered in the handwriting of 
 Mary herself which presents the monogram of M. and 
 A. that is upon the ring. This epistle is in French ; and 
 the following is a translation : 
 
 " Madam, my good sister, the wish that I have to omit 
 nothing that could testify to you how much I desire not 
 to be distant from your good favor, or to give you oc- 
 casion to suspect me from my actions to be less attached 
 to you than, my good sister, I am, does not j^ermit me 
 to defer longer the sending to you the bearer, Master of 
 my Eequests, to inform you further of my good will to 
 embrace all means which are reasonable, not to give 
 you occasion to be to me other than you have been 
 hitherto ; and relying on the sufficiency of the bearer, I 
 will kiss your hands, praying God that he will keep you, 
 
 8 
 
170 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 Madam mj good sister, in health and a happy and long 
 life. From St. John's Town, this 15th of June. 
 
 " Your very affectionate and faithful 
 
 " Good Sister and Cousin, 
 " To the Queen of England, '' Marie E." 
 
 " Madam my good Sister 
 " and Cousin." 
 
 The history of the ring hearing the arms of England, 
 Scotland and Ireland, (and which is said to have heen 
 produced in evidence at the trial of the unfortunate 
 Mary as a proof of her pretensions to the crown of Eng- 
 land,) is curious. It descended from Mary to her grand- 
 son Charles tlie First, who gave it on the scaffold to 
 Archbishop Juxon for his son Charles the Second, who, 
 in his troubles, pawned it in Holland for tln-ee Imndred' 
 pounds, where it was bought by Governor Yale ; and 
 sold at his sale for three hundred and twenty dollars, 
 supposed to the Pretender. Afterwards it came into the 
 possession of the Earl of Hay, Duke of xirgyll. It was 
 ultimately purchased by George the Fourth of England, 
 when he w^as Prince Pegent.* Tliis is sometimes called 
 the Juxon ring. 
 
 It appears by Andrews's continuation of Henry's His- 
 tory of Great Britain, f that Mary had three w^edding 
 rings on her marriage with Darnley : " She had on her 
 back the great mourning gown of black, with the great 
 mourning hood," (fit robes for such a wedding !) " Tlie 
 rings, which were three, the middle a rich diamond, were 
 put on her finger. They kneel together and many prayers 
 
 Willis's Current Notes for February and March, 1852, 
 t P. 184, (note.) 
 
OFFINGER-KINGS. 171 
 
 are said over them," etc., etc. Rings of Mary of Modena 
 have been mistaken for those of Mary of Scotland. 
 
 There is a ring at Bolsover Castle containing a por- 
 trait of Mary.* 
 
 A word more of Elizabeth and Mary. Aubrey says,t 
 "I liave seen some rings made for sweethearts, with a 
 heart enamelled held between two right hands. See an 
 epigram of George Buchanan on two rings that were 
 made by Elizabeth's appointment, being layd one upon 
 the other showed the like figure. The heart was two 
 diamonds, which joyned, made the heart. Queen Eliza- 
 beth kept one moietie, and sent the other as a token of 
 her constant friendship to Mary, Queen of Scots ; but 
 she cut ofiF her head for all that." Aubrey, w^io also 
 quotes an old verse as to tlie wearers of rings : Miles^ 
 mercator^ stuUus, niaritus, amator, ^liere alludes, it is 
 presumed, to a diamond ring originally given by Eliza- 
 beth to Mary as a pledge of affection and support and 
 which Mary commissioned Beatoun to take back to her 
 when she determined to seek an asylum in England. 
 The following is one of Buchanan's epigrams on the 
 subject of the ring, described by Aubrey : 
 
 " Loqtiitur adamas in cordis effigiem sciilptus^ quern 
 Maria ElizahetJicB Angl.misit :^^ (The diamond sculptured 
 into the form of a heart and which Mary sent to the 
 English Elizabeth, says :) 
 
 " Q,uod te jampridem videt, ac amat absens, 
 Hcec pignus cordis gemma, et imago mei est, 
 Non est candidior non est Iuec purior illo 
 Quamvis dura magis non image jirma tamen." 
 
 * G^ntJs Mag. for 1852, p. 407. 
 
 t Anecdotes and Traditions, published by the Camden Society, (London, 
 1839.) 
 
172 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 These lines we thus render in verse : 
 
 " This gem is pledge and image of my heart : 
 
 A heart that looks and loves, though not in view. 
 The jewel has no clearer, purer part 
 It may be harder, but is not more true." 
 
 The sentiment in this epigram must liave been ga- 
 thered from expressions made by Mary herself : for, at a 
 time when she was at Dumferline and desired and hoped 
 for an interview with Elizabeth, she received, through 
 the hands of Kandolph, a letter from the English Queen, 
 " wdiich first she did read and after j^ut into her bosom 
 next unto her schyve.'^'' Mary entered into a long private 
 conversation wath Eandolph on the subject of their pro- 
 posed interview ; and asked him, in confidence, to tell 
 her frankly whether it were ever likely to take eifect. 
 " Above any thing," said she, " I desire to see my good 
 sister; and next, that we may live like good sisters 
 together, as your mistress hath written unto me that 
 we shall. I have here," continued she, " a ring with a 
 diamond fashioned like a heart : I know nothing that 
 can resemble my good will unto my good sister better 
 than that. My meaning shall be expressed by writing 
 in a few verses, which you shall see before you depart ; 
 and whatsomever lacketh therein, let it be reported by 
 your writing. I will witness the same with my own 
 hand, and call God to record that I speak as I think with 
 my heart, that I do as much rejoice of that continuance 
 of friendship that I trust shall be between the queen my 
 sister and me and the people of both realms,, as ever I 
 did in any thing in my life." ^' With these words," con- 
 tinues Randolph, " she taketh out of her bosom the 
 Queen's Majesty's letter j and after that she had read a 
 
OF FIKGER-RINGS. 
 
 173 
 
 line or two thereof, putteth it again in the same place, 
 and saith, 'If I could put it nearer my heart I would.'"* 
 Mary's sad going to England, makes us remember 
 Wordsworth's sonnet : 
 
 " ; but Time, the old Saturnian seer, 
 
 Sighed on the wing as her foot pressed the strand, 
 With step prekisive to a long array 
 Of woes and degradations, hand in hand. 
 Weeping Captivity and shuddering Fear, 
 Stilled by the ensanguined block of Fotheringay !" 
 
 In the British Museum is a ring which belonged to 
 one whose life had been a tissue of cowardice, cruelty, 
 falsehood and weakness, Lord Darnley. If this was 
 
 Original size. 
 
 a ring he ordinarily wore, it probably was upon his 
 finger when he led the way to the murder of Riccio and 
 pointed him out to the slayers. However this may be, 
 the story goes that when Darnley was reconciled to 
 Mary and was in the house called Kirk of Field, she, 
 one evening, on taking leave in order to attend a mar- 
 riage of a servant, embraced him tenderly ; took a ring 
 from her finger and placed it upon his. It was on this 
 night that a terrific explosion was heard, which shook 
 the city of Edinburgh. Then it was that the Kirk of 
 
 * Strickland's Queens of Scotland, iii. 279. 
 
174 HISTOEYANDPOETRT 
 
 Field was blown up ; and at a little distance, in the gar- 
 den, were the dead bodies of Darnlej and his page. We 
 are not of those who believe that Mary's hand or heart 
 were in this murder, notwithstanding we read of the 
 vote of the Scotch Parliament and peruse Buchanan's 
 suggested letters from the Queen to Both well espe- 
 cially as these epistles are not forthcoming. It has been 
 said that Buchanan expressed sorrow on his death-bed 
 for what he had written against Mary. But he cer- 
 tainly was not a repentant. We have a proof of his in- 
 domitable disposition in the fact that when, at his dying 
 hour, he was informed that the King was highly incensed 
 against him for writing his books De Jure Hegni and 
 History of Scotland, he replied, " he was not much con- 
 cerned about that, for he was shortly going to a place 
 where there were few kings."* Writers who show no 
 esteem for Buchanan give him the character of an in- 
 veterate drinker even up to his death hour ; he, " con- 
 tinuing his debauches of the belly, made shift to get the 
 dropsy by immoderate drinking," and it was said of 
 him, byway of jest, that he was troubled mno inter cute 
 and not aqua inter cute (by wine hetween the shin and 
 not water hetween the slcin).\ 
 
 There is a ring known in English history as the Blue 
 Bing.X King James the First kept a constant corre- 
 spondence with several persons of the English court for 
 many years prior to Queen Elizabeth's decease ; among 
 others with Lady Scroope, sister of Robert Carey, after- 
 wards Earl of Monmouth, to which lady his majesty 
 sent, by Sir James Fullerton, a sapphire ring, with posi- 
 
 * Mackenzie's Lives and Characters. t Father Garvasse. 
 
 X Burke's Extinct Peerages, " Carey," 111. 
 
OP FINGEE-RINGS. 175 
 
 tive orders to return it to him, by a special messenger, 
 as soon as the Queen actually expired. Lady Scroope 
 had no opportunity of delivering it to her brother Robert 
 while he was in the palace of Itichniond ; but waiting 
 at the window till she saw liim at the outside of the 
 gate, she threw it out to him and he well knew to what 
 purpose he received it. Indeed, he was the first person 
 to announce to James his accession to the crown of Eng- 
 land ; and tlie monarch said to him : " I know you have 
 lost a near kinswoman and a misti'ess, but take here my 
 hand, I will be a good master to you and will requite 
 this service with honor and reward." This Robert Carey 
 wrote his own memoirs ; and therein says : " I only re- 
 lied on God and the King. The one never left me ; the 
 other, shortly after his coming to London, deceived my 
 expectations and adhered to those who sought my ruin." 
 Thomas Sackvil, Duke of Dorset, who was Lord High 
 Treasurer of England in the times of Elizabeth and 
 James L, has left a remarkably long and curious will, 
 which shows exceeding wealth and a mixture of seem- 
 ing humility, obsequious loyalty and -pride of position. 
 His riches appear to have mainly come from his father, 
 who was called by the people Fill-Sack^ on account of 
 his vast property. A great number of personal ornaments 
 are bequeathed ; and among them many rings, which are 
 particularly described. He often and esoecially notices'^* 
 " one ring of gold and enamelled bl^ck and set round 
 with diamonds, to the number of 20., whereof 5. being 
 placed in the upper part of the said ring do represent 
 the fashion of a cross." This ring is coupled with " one 
 picture of the late famous Queen Elizabeth, being cut 
 
 * CoUins's Baronage, 421, (4to.) 
 
176 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 out of an agate, with excellent similitude, oval fashion 
 and set in gold, with 20. rubies about the circle of it and 
 one orient pearl pendant to the same; one ring of gold, 
 enamelled black, wherein is set a great table diamonde, 
 beying perfect and pure and of much wortli ; and one 
 cheyne of gold, Spanish work, containing in it 48. several 
 pieces of gold, of divers sorts, enamelled white and of 
 46. oval links of gold, likewise enamelled white, wherein 
 are 144. diamonds." These rings, chain and picture are 
 to remain as heirlooms ; while particular directions are 
 given to place them in the custody of the warden and 
 a senior fellow of IS^ew College at Oxford during minority 
 of his descendants, to be kept within the said college 
 "in a strong chest of iron, under tw^o several keys," etc. 
 Tlie testator states how the ^' said rynge of gould, w^ith the 
 great table diamonde sett therein togeather w^ith the said 
 cheyne of goulde, were given to him by the Kinge of 
 Spayne ;" while the way in w^hich he obtained the ring 
 set round with twenty diamonds is thus elaborated in 
 the will : " And to the intent that they may knowe liowe 
 just and great cause bothe they and I liave to hould the 
 sayed Kynge, with twentie Diamonds, in so heighe es- 
 teeme, yt is most requisite that I do here set downe the 
 whole course and circumstance howe and from whome 
 the same rynge did come to my possession, which was 
 thus : In the Begynning of the monethe of June one 
 thousand sixe hundred and seaven, this rynge thus sett 
 with twenty Diamondes, as is aforesayed,was sent unto 
 me from my most gracious soveraigne King James, by 
 that honorable personage the Lord Haye, one of the 
 gentlemen of his Highnes Bedchamber, the Oourte then 
 beying at Whitehall in London and I at that tyme re- 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 177 
 
 mayning at Horsley House in Surrey, twentie myles 
 from London, where I laye in suche extremitye of sick- 
 ness as yt was a common and a constant reporte all over 
 London that I w^as dead and the same confidentlie affirmed 
 even unto the Kinge's Highnes hymselfe ; upon which oc- 
 casion it pleased his most excellent majestic, in token of 
 his gracious goodness and great favour towards me, to 
 send the saied Lord Hay with the saied E'iuge, and this 
 Royal message unto me, namelie, that his Highness 
 wished a speedie and a perfect recoverye of my healthe, 
 with all happie and good successe unto me and that I 
 might live as longe as the diamonds of that Kynge 
 (which therewithal! he delivered unto me) did indure, 
 and, in token thereof, required me to weare yt and keep 
 yt for his sake. This most gracious and comfortable mes- 
 sage restored a new Life unto me, as coming from so re- 
 nowned and benigne a soveraigne," but enough of this 
 fulsome praise of the coward King of Holyrood. It 
 makes us think of Sir Richie Moniplie's scene : " But 
 Tiy certie, lad, times are changed since ye came fleeing 
 down the back stairs of auld Holyrood House, in grit 
 fear, having your breeks in your hand, w^ithout time to 
 put them on, and Frank Stewart, the wild Earl of Both- 
 well, hard at your haunches ; and if auld Lord Glen- 
 w^arloch hadna cast his mantle about his arm and taken 
 bluidy wounds mair than ane in your behalf, you wald 
 not have crawed sae crouse this day." 
 
 Tliere is a ring in the Isle of Wight, shown as having 
 belonged to Charles the First of England ; and the fol- 
 lowing story is told of it.* When Charles was confined 
 
 * Hillier's Narrative of the attempted escape of Charles the First, etc., p, 
 79. And see Gentleman's Magazine, N. S., p. 28. 
 
 8^ 
 
178 HISTORY AND POETEY 
 
 in Carisbrook Castle, a man named Howe was its master 
 gunner. He had a son, a little boy, who was a great 
 favorite of Charles. One day, seeing him with a child's 
 sword by his side, the King asked him what he intended 
 doing with it? "To defend your Majesty from your 
 Majesty's enemies," was the reply ; an answer which so 
 pleased the King that he gave the child the signet-ring 
 he was in the habit of wearing upon his finger. 
 
 An engraving of the ring has been published. The 
 article itself is in the possession of a descendant of Howe's. 
 It is marked inside with the letters A and T conjoined 
 followed by E. The author cannot trace or couple these 
 letters with Charles the First ; and he is otherwise in- 
 clined to doubt the story. It is a tale to please loyal 
 readers. Charles was an intelligent man ; and he was not 
 likely, especially under his then circumstances, to have 
 given his signet-ring to a child. There is a very pretty 
 incident connected with his passing to prison, where he 
 might beautifully have left a ring with a true-hearted 
 lady. As he passed through ISTewport, on the way to 
 the Castle of Carisbrook, the autumn weather was most 
 bitter. A gentlewoman, touched by his misfortunes and 
 his sorrows, presented him with a damask rose, which 
 grew in her garden at that cold season of the year smd 
 prayed for him. The mournful monarch received the 
 lady's gift, heartily thanked her and passed on to his 
 dungeon. 
 
 It is true that Charles, when in the Isle of Wight, 
 gave a ring from his finger. But the receiver of it was 
 Sir Philip Warwick. This ring bore a figure cut in an 
 onyx ; and was handed to Sir Philip in order to seal the 
 letters written for the King by that knight at the time 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 179 
 
 of the treaty. TLis ring was left by Sir Philip to Sir 
 Charles Cotterell, Master of the Ceremonies, who, in 
 his will, (16th April, 1701,) bequeathed it to Sir Stephen 
 Fox. It came into the possession of the latter's descen- 
 dant, the late Earl of Ilchester and was stolen from his 
 house in old Burlington street, London, about seventy 
 years ago.* 
 
 Just before his execution, the same monarch caused a 
 limited number of mourning rings to be prepared. 
 Burke, in his Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, 
 mentions the family of Rogers in Lota, This family 
 w^as early remarkable for its loyalty and attachment to 
 the crown. A ring is still j)i'eserved as an heirloom, 
 which was presented to its ancestor by King Charles 
 the First during his misfortunes. Eobert Eogers of Lota 
 received extensive grants from Charles the Second. In 
 the body of his will is the following: " And I also be- 
 queathe to Noblett Eogers the miniature portrait ring 
 of the martyr Charles I. given by that monarch to my 
 ancestor previous to his execution ; and I particularly 
 desire that it may be preserved in the name and family." 
 The miniature is said to be by Vandyke. 
 
 The present possessor of this ring says that when it was 
 shown in Eome, it was much admired ; the artists when 
 questioned, " Whose style ?" frequently answered, " Tan- 
 dy ke's."t Although many doubt whether Yandyke ever 
 submitted to paint miniatures, yet portraits in enamel 
 by him are known to be in existence. 
 
 A ring, said to be one of the seven given after the 
 King's death, was possessed by Horace Walpole and 
 
 * Gent.'s Mag., vol. xli. p. 450, and ib. for June, 
 t Notes and Queries, vii. 184. 
 
180 HISTOKY AND POETKY 
 
 sold witli the Strawberry Hill collection. It has the 
 King's head in miniature and behind, a skull ; while 
 between the letters C. R. is this motto : 
 
 " Prepared be to follow me." 
 
 There is another of these rings (all of which may be 
 considered as " stamped with an eternal grief") in the pos- 
 session of a clergyman. The shank of the ring is of fine 
 gold, enamelled black, but the greater part of the enamel 
 has been worn away by use. On the inner side of the 
 shank an inscription has been engraved, the first letter 
 of which still remains, but the rest of this also has been 
 worn away by much use. In the shank is set a small 
 miniature in enamel of the King, inclosed in a box of 
 crystal which opens with a spring. At the back of the 
 box, containing the miniature, is a piece of white enamel, 
 having a death's head surmounted by a crown with the 
 date January 30 represented upon it in black. A me- 
 morial ring of Charles the First, which has a portrait 
 of the King in enamel and an inscription at the back, 
 recording the day of his execution, was exhibited before 
 the members of the London Antiquarian Society in 
 March, 1854.* 
 
 Eings, with portraits of Charles the First on ivory, are 
 not uncommon. 
 
 When the body of Charles the First was discovered 
 in 1813, (in the royal burial place at Windsor,) the hair 
 at the back of the head appeared close cut ; whereas, at 
 the time of the decollation, the executioner twice ad- 
 justed the King's hair under his cap. 'No doubt the 
 piety of friends had severed the hair after death, hx 
 
 * See Gent.'s Mag., vol. xli. p. 512. 
 
OF riNG EK-EINGS. 181 
 
 order to furnish rings and other memorials of the un- 
 happy monarch. 
 
 A noble character was James Stanley, seventh Earl of 
 Derby, who was beheaded for his loyalty to Cliarles the 
 First. 
 
 As a proof of his bravery, with six hundred horse he 
 maintained fight against three thousand foot and horse, 
 receiving seven shots in his breast-plate, thirteen cuts in 
 his beaver, five or six wounds on his arms and shoulders, 
 and had two horses killed under him. 
 
 His manliness shows wxll in his answer to Cromwell's 
 demand that he sliould deliver up the Isle of Wight : " I 
 scorn your proflfers ; I disdain your favors ; I ablior 
 your treasons ; and am so far from delivering this island 
 to your advantage, that I will keep it to the utmost of 
 my power to your destruction. Take this final answer 
 and forbear any farther solicitations ; for if you trouble 
 me w^ith any more messages upon this occasion, I will 
 burn the paper and hang the begirer."* 
 
 He was executed contrary to the promise of quarter 
 for life, " an ancient and honorable plea not violated 
 until this time." 
 
 There is a deeply interesting account of his acts and 
 deportment written by a Mr. Bagaley who attended on 
 him. The Earl wrote letters to his wife, daughter and 
 sons ; a servant went and purchased all the rings he 
 could get and lapped them up in several papers and 
 writ within them and the Earl made Bagaley subscribe 
 them to all his children and servants. This coupling his 
 servants with his children in connection with tliese death 
 tokens is charming. The Earl handed the letters with the 
 
 * Collins's Peerage, v. 68, 5tli edit. 
 
132 HISTOKY AND POETRl 
 
 rings to Bagaley and, in relation to delivering them, lie 
 used this beautiful and perfect expression " As to them, 
 I can say nothing : silence and your own loohs will best 
 tell your message.'''^ 
 
 On quitting his prison, others confined there kissed 
 his hand and wept ; but as to himself, he told them : 
 " You shall hear that I die like a Christian, a man and a 
 soldier." 
 
 He was to be beheaded at Bolton. On his way thither, 
 Bagaley says : " His lordship, as we rode along, called 
 me to him and bid me, wlien I should come into the 
 Isle of Man, to commend him to the Archbisliop there 
 and tell him he well remembered the several discourses 
 that had passed between them there concerning death 
 and the manner of it ; that he had often said the thoughts 
 of death could not trouble him in fight or with a sword 
 in hand, hut he feared it woidd something startle him 
 tamely to suhnit to a Mow on the scaffold. But," said 
 his lordship, " tell the archdeacon from me that I do 
 now find in myself an absolute change as to that opinion." 
 
 At night when he laid him down upon the right side, 
 with his hand under his face, he said : " Methinks I lie 
 like a monument in a church ; and to-morrow I shall 
 really be so." 
 
 There was a delay in his execution, for the people of 
 Bolton refused to strike a nail in the scaflfold or to give 
 any assistance. He asked for the axe and kissed it. He 
 forgave the headsman before he asked him. To the 
 spectators, he said : " Good people, I thank you for your 
 prayers and for your tears ; I have heard the one and 
 seen the other and our God sees and hears both." He 
 caused the block to be turned towards the church. " I 
 
OF FINGER- KINGS. 183 
 
 will look," cried lie, " towards the sanctuary which is 
 above for ever." Tliere were other interesting circum- 
 stances attending his execution. With outstretched 
 arms he laid himself down to the block, exclaiming, 
 " Blessed be God's name for ever and ever. Let the 
 whole earth be filled with his glory." Then the exe- 
 cutioner did his work " and no manner of noise was 
 then heard hut sighs and sohsJ^ 
 
 We are left without any account of the way in which 
 Bagaley delivered the rings ; but, imagination can make 
 a picture of a darkened and dismantled mansion, suffer- 
 ing widow and children, with terrified retainers, and 
 Bagaley standing in the midst, weary, heart-sick, tear- 
 fully presenting the melancholy remembrances and 
 realizing the truthfulness of the words of his brave, good 
 and gentle master : " Silence and your own loohs will 
 hest tell your messaged 
 
 The French woman Kerouaille, favorite mistress of 
 Charles the Second, and created Duchess of Portsmouth, 
 is said to have secured two valuable diamond rings from 
 the King's finger while the throes of death were on him. 
 The following graphic description is worth reading : 
 
 " I should liave told you, in his fits his feet were as 
 cold as ice, and were kept rubbed with hot cloths, 
 which were difficult to get. Some say the Queen rub- 
 bed one and washed it in tears. Pillows were brought 
 from the Duchess of Portsmouth's by Mrs. Eoche. His 
 Highness, the Duke of York, was the first there, and 
 then I think the Queen, (he sent for her ;) the Duchess 
 of Portsmouth swooned in the chamber, and was carried 
 out for air ; Nelly Gwynne roared to a disturbance and 
 was led out and lay roaring behind the door ; the Duch- 
 
184 HISTOFwY AND POETRY 
 
 ess wept and returned ; the Princess (afterwards Queen 
 Anne) was not admitted, lie was so ghastly a sight, (his 
 eye-balls were turned that none of the blacks were seen, 
 and his mouth drawn up to one eye,) so they feared it 
 might affect the child she goes with. None came in at 
 the common door, but by an odd side-door to prevent a 
 crowd, but enough at convenient times to satisfy all. 
 The grief of tlie Duchess of Portsmouth did not hinder 
 her packing and sending many strong boxes to the French 
 ambassador's ; and the second day of the King's sickness, 
 the chamber being kept dark one who comes from the 
 light does not see very soon, and much less one who is 
 between them aiKHhe liglit tliere is so she went to the 
 side of the bed, and sat dov/n to and taking the king's 
 hand in hers, felt his two great diamond rings ; thinking 
 herself alone, and asking liini what he did with them on, 
 said she would take them off, and did it at the same time, 
 and looking up saw the Dnke at the other side, stead- 
 fastly looking on her, at which she blushed much, and 
 held them towards him, and said,-' Here, sire, will you 
 take them?' ']^o, madam,' he said, 'they are as safe 
 in your hands as mine. I will not touch them till I see 
 hoAV things will go.' But since the King's death she has 
 forgot to restore them, though he has not that she took 
 them, for he told the story." This extract is taken from 
 a letter written by a lady who was the wife of a person 
 about the court at Whitehall and forms part of a curi- 
 ous collection of papers lately discovered at Dray cot 
 House near Chippenham, Wiltshire, England.* 
 
 Jeffreys, the bloody Jeffreys, whose greatest honor 
 was to make a martyr of Sidney, while rising in royal 
 
 * Household Words, ix. 277. 
 
OF FINGER -RINGS. 185 
 
 fav^or and when about to depart for the circuit to give 
 the provinces '' a lick with the rough side of his tongue," 
 (a favorite expression of his.) experienced a mark of 
 regard from Charles the Second. The King took a ring 
 from his own finger and gave it to this besotted wretch 
 of a chief justice. At the same time the monarch be- 
 stowed on him a curious piece of advice to be given by 
 a king to a judge : it was, that, as the weather would be 
 hot, Jeifrejs should beware of drinking too much.* 
 The people called the ring " Jeffrey's Vlood-stone^^ as he 
 got it just after the execution of Sir Thomas Armstrong. 
 Roger Korth says : " The king was persuaded to present 
 him with a ring, j^ublicly taken from his own finger, in 
 token of his majesty's acceptance of his most eminent 
 services ; and this by way of precursor being blazoned 
 in the Gazette, his lordship went down into the country, 
 as from the king legatiis a latere.^^ The Lord Keeper 
 North, who, it has been said, hated Jefii'eys worse than 
 popery,t speaks of the terror to others of the face and 
 voice of the chief justice : " as if the thunder of the day 
 of judgment broke over their heads;" and shows how 
 Jeffreys, who, by this time, had reached the position of 
 Lord Chancellor, was discovered by a lawyer that had 
 been under the storm of his countenance :+ " There was 
 a scrivener of Wapping brought to hearing for relief 
 against a bummery bond ; the contingency of losing all 
 being showed, the bill was going to be dismissed. But 
 one of the plaintiff's counsel said that he was a strange 
 fellow and sometimes went to church, sometimes to con- 
 venticles and none could tell what to make of hin^ 
 
 * Burnet ; and see note to Life of Lord Keeper North, vol. ii. p. 13. 
 t Knight. ^ P. 33, et seq. 
 
186 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 and it was tliouglit he was a trimmer. At that the 
 Chancellor fired ; and ' A trimmer,' said he, ' I have 
 heard much of that monster, but never saw one. Come 
 forth, Mr. Trimmer, turn jou round, and let us see your 
 shape ;' and at that rate talked so long that the poor 
 fellow w^as ready to drop under him ; hut, at last, the 
 bill was dismissed with costs and he went his way. In 
 the hall, one of his friends asked him how he came off? 
 'Came off!' said he, 'I am escaped from the terrors of 
 that man's face, which I would scarce undergo again 
 to save my life ; and I shall certainly have the frightful 
 impression of it as long as I live.' Afterwards, when 
 the Prince of Orange came and all was in confusion, this 
 Lord Chancellor, being very obnoxious, disguised himself 
 in order to go beyond sea. He was in a seaman's garb 
 and drinking a pot in a cellar. This scrivener came into 
 the cellar after some of his clients ; and his eye caioght 
 that face^ which made him start ; and the Chancellor, 
 seeing himself eyed, feigned a cough and turned to the 
 wall with his pot in his hand. But Mr. Trimmer went 
 out and gave notice that he was there ; whereupon the 
 mob flowed in and he was in extreme hazard of his life," 
 etc., etc. This term " Trimmer" seemed to be very ob- 
 noxious to Jeffreys. Once at the council and when the 
 king was present, Jeffreys " being flaming drunk, came 
 up to the other end of the board and (as in that condi- 
 tion his way was) fell to talking and staring like a mad- 
 man, and, at length, bitterly inveighed against Trimmers 
 and told the king that he had Trimmers in his court and 
 he would never be easy so long as the Trimmers were 
 there."* !N"orth gives the interpretation of the word 
 
 * North, 100. 
 
OF FINGER- RINGS. 187 
 
 " Trimmer," which was taken up to subdivide the Tory 
 party, of whom all (however loyal and of the established 
 church professed) who did not go into all the lengths of 
 the new-flown party at court, were so termed.* 
 
 The name of the great Dundee instantly brings to mind 
 '^^ne of the most spirited and characteristic ballads ever 
 written : 
 
 " The Gordon demands of him which way he goes 
 Where'er shall direct me the shade of Montrose ! 
 Your Grace, in short space, shall hear tidings of me : 
 Or that low lies the bonnet of Bonny Dundee. 
 
 Come, fill up my cup ; come, fill up my can ; 
 
 Come, saddle the horses and call up the men ; 
 
 Come, open your gates and let me gae free, 
 
 For it's up with the bonnets of Bonny Dundee, "f 
 
 All of this is gone ; low lies Bonny Dundee ; and the 
 untruth of what is called histoiy is all we have of 
 him. There was a ring of which a description and an 
 engraving remain containing some of Lord Dundee's 
 hair, with the letters Y. D. surmounted by a coronet 
 worked upon it in gold ; and on the inside of the ring 
 are engraved a skull and this poesy : 
 
 " Great Dundee, for God and me.' J. RexJ' 
 
 * Lord Halifax, who is described by Drydcn under the character of " Jo- 
 tliam" in Absalom and Achitophel, was at the head of the party called Trim- 
 mers ; and in his " Preface to the Cliaracter of a Trimmer^'' thus explains the 
 term: "This innocent word Trimmer signifies no more than this: tliat if 
 men are togetlier in a boat and one part of the company would weigli it 
 down on one side, another would make it lean as much to the contrary, it 
 happens that there is a third opinion, of those who conceive it would be as 
 well if tlie boat went even, without endangering the passengers. Now, *tis 
 hard to imagine by what figure in language or by what rule in sense this 
 comes to be a foult ; and it is mucli more a wonder it should be thought a 
 heresy." 
 
 t Miss Mitford's Recollections, 425, (Am. edit.) 
 
188 HISTOKY AND POETEY 
 
 This ring, which belonged to the family of Graham of 
 Duntrune, (representative of Yiscount Dundee,) has, for 
 several years, been lost or mislaid.'''' 
 
 A memorial of Nelson is left in some half-dozen of 
 rings. In the place of a stone, each ring has a metal 
 hasso 7'eUevo representation of Nelson, half bust. The 
 metal, blackish in appearance, forming the relief, being, 
 in reality, portions of the ball which gave the Admiral 
 liis fatal wound at Trafalgar. 
 
 Cardinal York, the last of the Stuart family, left as a 
 legacy to the Prince of Wales, afterwards George the 
 Fourth, a valuable ring which was worn by the kings 
 of Scotland on the day of their coronation.f 
 
 We have met with but one case where, in a college 
 disputation, the successful contestant was rewarded with 
 a ring. James Crichton, who obtained the appellation 
 of the "Admirable Crichton," had volunteered it was 
 at a time when he was only twenty years of age to 
 dispute with any one in Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, Greek, 
 Latin, Spanish, French, Italian, English, Dutch, Flemish 
 and Sclavonian ; and this, either in verse or prose. He 
 did not seem to prepare himself, but occupied his time 
 in hunting, hawking, tilting, vaulting, tossing a pike, 
 handling a musket and other military feats. Crichton 
 duly appeared in the College of Navarre and acquitted 
 himself beyond expression in the disputation, which 
 lasted from nine o'clock in the morning until six at 
 night. At length, the President, after extolling him 
 highly for the many rare and excellent endowments 
 which God and nature had bestowed upon him, rose 
 from his chair and, accompanied by four of the most 
 
 * Notes and Queries, ii. 70. t Hone's Year Book, 1022. 
 
OF FINGER-KINGS. 189 
 
 eminent professors of the University, gave liim a diamond 
 ring (with a pm*se full of money) as a testimony of regard 
 and favor. "^ 
 
 In England, during the year 1815, a tooth of Sir Isaac 
 Newton was sold for seven hundred and twenty pounds 
 to a nobleman who had it set in a ring. 
 
 The elder Kean used to wear, to the hour of his death, 
 a gold snake ring, with ruby head and emerald eyes. At 
 the sale of his effects, it fetched four guineas and an 
 half.t 
 
 On the day of the arrival of Miss Milbankes' answer 
 to Lord Byron's offer of marriage, he was sitting at 
 dinner in Newstead Abbey, when his gardener came 
 and presented him with his mother's ring, which she 
 had lost and which the gardener had just found in 
 digging up the mould under her window. Almost at 
 the same moment, the letter from Miss Milbankes ar- 
 rived; and Lord Byron exclaimed, "If it contains a con- 
 sent, I will be married with this very ring.";}: It does 
 not appear whether it w^as really used. Strange, if it 
 were ! and singular that his lordship, so full of pow^er- 
 ful superstition, should have suggested it. His mother's 
 temper had been, in part, his bane ; her marriage was a 
 most unhappy one ; the poet's father notoriously wedded 
 for money and was separated from his wife while, the 
 poet's offer, at a time when he was greatly embarrassed, 
 coupled with his own mysterious after-separation, would 
 make this ring appear a fatal talisman if it were really 
 placed upon Miss Milbankes' finger. It was in his after- 
 
 Biographia Britannica, Art. CricMon. 
 t London Gent.'s Mag., N. S., ii. p. 195. 
 X Moore's Life of Byron, vol. i. p. 458. 
 
l&O HIS'TORY AND POETRY 
 
 bitterness, in his desolate state and dissoluteness that 
 Byron called the wedding-ring " the damn'dest part of 
 matrimony." 
 
 5. In the last Polish struggle, the matrons of Warsaw 
 sent their marriage rings to coin into ducats.* 
 
 A few years ago the signet-ring of the famous Turlough 
 Lynnoch was found at Charlemont in the county of Ar- 
 magh, Ireland. It bears the bloody hand of the O'Neils 
 and initials T. O. The signet part of the ring is circular 
 and the whole of it silver. O'Neils had been kings of 
 Ireland and were also Earls of Ulster. The symbol of the 
 province of Ulster was a bloody hand. Fergus, the first 
 King of Scotland, was descended from the O'Neils. 
 King James the First made this bloody hand the dis- 
 tinguishing badge of a new order of baronets and they 
 were created to aid by service or money for forces in 
 subduing the O'^eils.f 
 
 During the years 1813, 1814 and 1815, when Prussia 
 had collected all her resources, in the hope of freeing 
 herself from the yoke which France had laid upon her, 
 the most extraordinary feelings of patriotism burst forth. 
 Every thought was centred in the struggle ; every coffer 
 was drained ; all gave willingly. In town and village 
 altars were erected, on which ornaments of gold, silver 
 and precious stones were offered up. Massive plate was 
 replaced in palaces by dishes, platters and spoons of 
 wood. Ladies wore no other ornaments than those made 
 of iron, upon which w^as engraved : " We gave gold /or 
 the freedom of our country / and, like her, wea/r am^ iron 
 
 Beattie's Life of Campbell, ii. 287. 
 t Dublin Penny Journal, 208. 
 
O^ FINGER-RIKGS. 191 
 
 yoheP One evening, a party liad assembled in the house 
 of an inhabitant of Breslau. Among them, was a beau- 
 tiful though poor maiden. Her companions were boast- 
 ing what each had contributed towards the freedom of 
 their country. Alas ! she had no offering to proclaim 
 none to give. Witli a heavy heart she took her leave. 
 While unrobing for the night, she thought she could dis- 
 pose of her hair and, so, add to the public fund. With 
 the dawn, she went to a liairdresser's ; related her simple 
 tale ; and parted with her tresses for a trifling sum, wliich 
 she instantly deposited on an altar and retui-ned to her 
 quiet home. Tins reached the ears of the officers ap- 
 pointed each day to collect the various offerings ; and 
 the President received a confirmation from the hair- 
 dresser, who proposed to resign the beautiful hair, jDro- 
 vided it was resold for the benefit of fatherland. The 
 offer was accepted ; iron rings were made, each contain- 
 ing a portion of hair ; and these produced far more than 
 their weight in gold.^ 
 
 * The Deatli Warrunt, or Guide to Life, 184^ . (London.) 
 
' CHAPTER FIVE. 
 
 RINGS OF LOVE, AFFECTION AND FRIENDSHIP. 
 
 .c The Gimmal or Gimmow Eing. 2. Sonnet by Davison. 3. Cliurcli Mar- 
 riage ordained by Innocent III. ; and, Marriagc-Eing. 4. Eings used in 
 different countries on Marriages and in Betrothment Esthoniu ; the Copts ; 
 Persia; Spain ; Ackmetchet in Eussia. 5. Betrothal Eings. 6. Signets of 
 the first Christians. 7. Laws of Marriage. 8. Wedding Finger ; Artery to 
 the Heart; Lady who had lost the Eing Finger. 9. Eoman Catholic Mar- 
 riages. 10. Marriage-Eing during tlie Commonwealth. 11. Eing in Jew- 
 ish Marriages. 12. Superstitions. 13. Eings of twisted Gold-wire given 
 away at Weddings. 14. Cupid and Psyciie. 15. St. Anne and St. Joachim. 
 16. Eush Eings. 17. Eings with the Orpine Plant. 18. Ancient Marriage- 
 Eings had Mottoes and Seals. 19. The Sessa Eing. 20. Eings bequeathed 
 or kept in Memory of the Dead : Wasliington ; Shakspeare ; Pope ; Dr. 
 Johnson; Lord Eldon; Tom Moore's Mother. 21. T\iq ^\).\^ Powhattan, 
 22. Eing of Affection illustrated by a Pelican and Young. 23. Bran of 
 Brittany. 24. Eings used by Writers of Fiction ; Shakspeare's Cymbe- 
 line. 25. Small Eings for the Penates. 26. Story from the " Gesta Eorna- 
 norura." 
 
 1. One of the prettiest tokens of friendship and 
 rtfTection is what is termed a Gimmal or Gimmow Eing. 
 It is of French origin. This ring is constructed, as the 
 name imports, of twin or double hoops, wliich play with- 
 in one another, like the links of a chain. Each hoop 
 has one of its sides flat and the other convex ; and each 
 
 is twisted once round and sur- 
 mounted witl> an emblem or 
 motto. The course of the twist, 
 in each hoop, is made to corre- 
 spond with that of its counter- 
 
FINGER-RINGS. 193 
 
 part, so that, on bringing together the fiat surfaces of the 
 hoops, these immediately unite in one ring.^ 
 
 This form of ring is connected with the purest and 
 highest acts of friendship ; it became a simple love to- 
 ken ; and was, at length, converted into the more serious 
 sjponsalium annulus^ or ring of affiance. 
 
 The lover putting his finger through one of the hoops 
 and his mistress hers through the other, were thus sym- 
 bolically yoked together; a yoke which neither could 
 be said wholly to wear, one half being allotted to the 
 other; and making, as it has been quaintly said, a joint 
 tenancy. 
 
 Dryden describes a gimmal ring in his play of Don 
 Sebastian ;f 
 
 " A curious artist wrought 'em 
 With joints so close as not to be perceived ; 
 Yet are they both each other's counterparts ! 
 (Her part had Juan inscribed ; and his had Laydor ; 
 You know those names were theirs ;) and in the midst 
 A heart divided in two-halfs was placed. 
 Now if the rivets of those rings, inclosed, 
 Fit not each other, I have forged this lie, 
 But if they join, you must for ever part." 
 
 Gimmal rings, though originally double, were, by a 
 further refinement, made triple and even more compli- 
 cated, yet the name remained unchanged. 
 
 Herrick, in his " Hesperides," has the following lines : 
 
 "the jimmal ring or true-love knot. 
 " Thou sent'st to me a true-love knot ; but I 
 Return 'd a ring of jimmals, to imply 
 Thy love had one knot, mine a triple-tye." 
 
 * Hone's Every Day Book. 1 1690, p. 122. 
 
 9 
 
194 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 A singular silver giniinal ring was found in Dorset, 
 England ^ the legend Ave Maria is partly inscribed on 
 each moiety and legible only when they are united.* 
 
 A beautiful enamelled ring of this kind which belong- 
 ed to Sir Thomas Gresham, is extant.* It opens horizon- 
 tally, thus forming two rings, which are, nevertheless, 
 linked together and respectively inscribed on the inner 
 side with a Scripture posy : quod. devs. conjvnxit {what 
 God did join) is engraved on one half and homo non 
 SEPARAT, {let not man se^arate)^ on the other. The ring 
 is beautifully enamelled. One of the portions is set with 
 a diamond and the other with a ruby ; and corresponding 
 with them, in a cavity inside the ring, are or rather were 
 within the last twenty years two minute iigures or genii. 
 The workmanship is admirable and probably Italian. 
 
 The reader who may be curious to know more about 
 the gimmal ring, and the probable derivation of the 
 word Gimmal^ is referred to a learned and interesting 
 article by Kobert Smith, Esq., in the London Archseo- 
 logia, vol. xii. p. 7. 
 
 It is possible that Shakspeare was thinking of gim- 
 mal rings, some of which had engraven on them a hand 
 with a heart in it, when (in the Tempest) he makes Fer- 
 dinand say to Miranda " Here's my hand " and she an- 
 swers " And mine, with my heart in it." 
 
 2. Coupled with the love of youth for maiden, we 
 have one of the most simple and perfect of old English 
 sonnets (by Davison) \X 
 
 * GenL'a Mag. for 1852, p. 640. 
 
 t lb. vol. XXXV. N. S. 390 ; Burgou's Life and Times of Sir Thomas Gres- 
 ham, i. 51. 
 X Poetical Rhapsody, 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 195 
 
 " PURK AXD ENDLESS." 
 
 " If you would kiiotu the love which you I bear, 
 Compare it to the ring which your fair hand 
 Shall make more precious, when yoit shall it wear : 
 So my love's nature you shall understand. 
 Is it of metal pure ? So endless is 7ny love, 
 Unless you it destroy with your disdain. 
 Doth it the purer grow the more 'tis tried ? 
 So doth my love ; yet herein they dissent : 
 That whereas gold, the more 'tis purified, 
 By growing less, doth show some part is spent ; 
 My love doth grow more pure by your more trying, 
 And yet increaseth in the purifying." 
 
 As far back as the fifteenth century a lover wore his 
 ring on the last or little finger."^ 
 
 3. It is said that Pope Innocent the Third was the 
 first who ordained the celebration of marriage in the 
 church ; before which, it was totally a civil contract ; 
 hence arose dispensations, licenses, faculties and otlier 
 remnants of papal benefit.f Shelford :j: observes it came 
 with the Council of Trent. The Council sat within the 
 Bishopric of Trent, Germany, from the year 1545 to 
 1563. 
 
 But the ring was used in connection with marriage 
 before Catholic times. The Greeks had it. We find 
 from Juvenal that the Komans employed the ring. 
 There was commonly a feast on the signing of the mar- 
 riage contract ; and the man gave the woman a ring 
 {annulus pronubus) by way of pledge, which she put 
 upon her left hand, on the finger next the least : because 
 
 * Polyglot Dictionary, by John Minshew, (1625,) art. Ring-Finger. 
 
 t Reflections on the Causes of Unhappy Marriages, etc., by Lewis, p. 84. 
 
 X Shelford on Marriage, 17, 31. Sat. VI. verse 27. 
 
106 
 
 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 of the suggested nerve running to the heart.* The ring 
 was generally of iron, though sometimes of copper and 
 brass, with little knobs in the form of a key, to represent 
 that the wife had possession of the husband's keys.f 
 Roman keys attached to a ring for the finger are not 
 uncommon.:]: The ring is at right angles 
 to the axle and, therefore, it could only 
 be used for a lock which required very 
 little strength to turn it or as a latch- 
 key. It may be a question, whether these 
 were not rings used on marriages ? 
 
 Maffei gives a gem, upon which is engraved only the 
 two Greek words AeANACI HICTIC, in English, Faith 
 immortal^ which he considers as intended to be set in a 
 betrothal ring in some one of those rings which lovers 
 gave to their beloved, with protestations of eternal con- 
 stancy, as a tacit promise of matrimony. Some Eoman 
 nuptial rings had inscriptions, as Ama me ; Amo te ; Bo- 
 nam vitam, etc. Among other rings found at Pompeii 
 were some which are considered to have been wedding- 
 rings. One, of gold, picked up in Diomed's house, had 
 a device representing a man and woman joining hands. 
 Another, was a double gold ring, in 
 which two small green otones were set. 
 There is no evidence that the ring 
 was used by the Egyptians at a mar- 
 , I'iage.l 
 
 '^:::^^^.^..^.,^.f::W On the authority of a text in Exo- 
 dus, wedding-rings are attempted to 
 
 * Macrob. Sat. VII. 15. 
 
 t Wilson's Archseological Dictionary, art. Bmg. 
 
 X Archaeological Album, by Wright, p. 138. 
 
 Illustrations of Ancient Art, by TroUope, p. 49. If Wilkinson. 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 197 
 
 be carried as far back as the Hebrews.^ Leo of Mode- 
 na, however, maintains that they did not use any nup- 
 tial ring.f Selden owns that they gave a ring in mar- 
 riage, but that it was only in lieu of a piece of money 
 of the same value which had before been presented. It 
 probably was ring-money or money in the shape of a ring, 
 (of which we have before spoken.) 
 
 4. The common use of the ring in different countries, 
 when betrothment or marriage takes place, is remarkable. 
 
 In Esthonia, a province of the Russian empire, where 
 the girls consider marriage the one great object to be 
 coveted, attained and prepared for from the earliest dawn 
 of their susceptibilities, they spin and weave at their 
 outfit, frequently for ten years before their helpmate is 
 forthcoming : this outfit extends to a whole wardrobe 
 full of kerchiefs, gloves, stockings, etc. When they have 
 formed an acquaintance to their liking, the occasion hav- 
 ing been usually of their own creating, they look forw^ard 
 with impatience to the moment of the proposal being 
 made. But there is one season only, the period of the 
 new moon, when an offer can be tendered ; nor is any 
 time so much preferred for a marriage as the period of 
 the fall moon. The plenipos in the business of an offer 
 are generally a couple of the suitors' friends or else his 
 parents, who enter the maid's homestead with mead and 
 ])randy in their hands. On their approach the gentle 
 maiden conceals herself, warning having been given her in 
 due form by some ancient dame ; the plenipos never make 
 a direct announcement of the purpose of their mission, 
 but in most cases tell the girl's parents some story about 
 
 * Ch. 35, V. 22. t Uxor Ebraica, Lib. ii. ch. 14. 
 
198 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 a lamb or an ewe which has got astray and they desire to 
 bring home again. The parents immediately invite them 
 to drink, vowing that they know nothing of the stray 
 creature ; if they decline to drink with them, it is a sign 
 either that they have no inclination for the match or that 
 their daughter has whispered them " her heart has no 
 room for the youth in question." But if all are of one 
 mind, the parents set merrily to work on the mead and 
 brandy and give the suitor's envoys free license to hunt 
 out the stray lambkin. When caught, she is also expected 
 to taste of the cup ; and from that moment the bride- 
 groom becomes at liberty to visit his bride. He makes 
 his appearance, therefore, a few days afterwards, bring- 
 ing presents of all kinds with him, together with a ring, 
 which he places on the maiden's finger as his betrothed.* 
 
 The Copts have a custom of betrothing girls at six or 
 seven years of age, which is done by putting a ring upon 
 their finger ; but permission is afterwards obtained for 
 her friends to educate her until she arrives at years of 
 discretion.f 
 
 In Persia, a ring is among the usual marriage presents 
 on the part of the bridegroom.:]: 
 
 It is said that in Spain every girl who has attained 
 the age of twelve may compel a young man to marry 
 her, provided he has reached his fourteenth year and she 
 can prove, for instance, that he has promised her his hand 
 and given her to understand that lie wished her to become 
 his wife. These proofs are adduce d Ijefore an ecclesias- 
 tical vicar. A present of a ring is considered sufiicient 
 proof to enabVe the girl to claim lier husband. If the 
 
 * Kolil's Eeminiscences. 
 
 t Hamilton's Marriage Kites, p. 188. % lb. 194. 
 
OFFINGER-EINGS. 199 
 
 vicar pronounces the marriage ought to take place, the 
 youth, who has been previously sent to prison, cannot be 
 liberated until after the celebration."^ 
 
 Dr. Clark, in his Travels in Eussia, describes the mar- 
 riage, at Ackmetchet, of Professor Pallas's daughter with 
 an Hungarian General according to the rites of the Greek 
 Church. After ascertaining as to ties of blood between 
 them and voluntary consent, a Bible and crucifix were 
 placed before them and large lighted wax tapers, deco- 
 rated with ribbons, put into their hands. 
 
 After certain prayers had been read and the ring put 
 upon the bride's finger, the floor was covered by a piece 
 of scarlet satin and a table was placed before them w^itli 
 the communion vessels. The priest having tied their 
 hands together with bands of the same colored satin 
 and placed a chaplet of flowers upon their heads, ad- 
 ministered the sacrament and afterwards led them, thus 
 bound together, three times round the communion table 
 followed by the bride's father and the bridesmaids. 
 During this ceremony, the choristers chanted a hymn ; 
 and after it was concluded, a scene of general kissing 
 took place among all present, etc. 
 
 5. The betrothal of a young couple was formerly at- 
 tended with considerable ceremony, a portion of which 
 was the exchange of rings. Shakspeare alludes to this 
 in the play of " Twelfth Mght ;" 
 
 " Strengthened by the interchangement of your rings." 
 
 We have a Bimilar thing in " Two Gentlemen of 
 Verona /"f 
 
 Bourgoing's Travels through Spain. t Act 2d, sc. 2d. 
 
200 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 Julia. " Keep this remembrance for thy Julia's sake." 
 
 Proteus. " Why theu we'll make exchange ; here, take you this." 
 
 [Givi7ig a ring. 
 Julia. '' And seal the bargain with a holy kiss." 
 
 This betrothing, affiancing, espousal or plighting troth 
 ])etween lovers was sometimes done in cliiirch with great 
 solemnity ; and the service on this occasion is preserved 
 in some of the old rituals.* 
 
 The virgin and martyr, Agnes, in Ambrose, says: 
 " My Lord Jesus Christ hath espoused me with his ring." 
 
 This interchangement of rings appears in Chaucer's 
 " Troilus and Cresseide :" 
 
 " Soon after this they spake of sondry things 
 As fitt to purpose of this aventure, 
 And playing enterchangeden of rings 
 Of whom I can not tellen no scripture. 
 But well I wot, a broche of gold and assure 
 In which a ruble set was like an herte, 
 Creseide him gave, and stacke it on his sherte."f 
 
 In Germany, a loving couple start on the principle of 
 reciprocity and exchange rings. This is not done at the 
 time of the marriage ceremony, but previously when 
 the formal betrothment takes place, which is generally 
 made the occasion of a family festival. The ring thus 
 vised is not called a wedding ring, but Trau ring, which 
 means ring of hetrothal. A particular ring does not 
 form part of the ceremony of marriage. Royalty, how- 
 ever, appears to go beyond the common custom of the 
 country, even in a marriage. At the late marriage of 
 the Emperor of Austria, the Prince Archbishop of 
 Vienna, who performed the ceremony, took rings from 
 
 * Douce, 24. t Book iii. 
 
OF F INGE K- KINGS. 20l 
 
 a golden cup and presented tliem to the angust couple, 
 M'lio, reciprocally, placed tliem on each other's finger ; 
 and, while either held the hand of the other, they re- 
 ceived the episcopal benediction. 
 
 In the early Christian Church a ring of troth, the 
 amiulus 2>romibus, was given by the man to the woman 
 as a token and proof of her betrothment. 
 
 Pope Nicholas, A. D. 860, in the account w^hich he 
 gives of the ceremonies used in the Eoman Church, 
 says : " In the espousals, the man first presents the 
 woman whom he betroths with the arrse or espousal 
 gifts ; and among these, he puts a ring on her finger."^ 
 This ring, which may be traced back to the time of 
 Tertullian, appears to have come into the Christian 
 Church from Roman usage ; although the Oriental ring 
 of betrothment may have been the origin of both. 
 
 According to the ritual of the Greek Church, the 
 priest first placed the rings on the fingers of the parties, 
 who afterwards exchanged them. In the life of St. 
 Leobard, who is said to have flourished about the year 
 580, written by Gregory of Tours, he appears to have given 
 a ring, a kiss and a pair of shoes to his afiianced. The ring 
 and shoes were a symbol of securing the lady's hands and 
 feet in the trammels of conjugal obedience ; but the ring, 
 of itself, was sufficient to confirm the contract.f 
 
 It would seem that, on the ceremony of betrothal, the 
 ring was placed on the third finger of the right hand ; 
 and it may be a question, whether the beautiful picture 
 by Kaffaelle, called Lo Sposalizio^ should not be con- 
 sidered as an illustration of espousal or betrothing and 
 
 The People's Dictionary of the Bible, art. Rings, 
 t Deuce's Illustrations of Sliakspeare, p. 69. 
 
202 HISTORY AND tOETKY 
 
 not a marriage of the Yirgin. Mary and Joseph stand 
 opposite to each other in the centre ; the higli priest, 
 between them, is bringing their right hands towards 
 each other; Joseph, with his right hand, (guided by the 
 priest,) is placing the ring on the third finger of the 
 right hand of the Virgin ; beside Mary is a gronp of the 
 virgins of the Temple ; near Joseph are the suitors, who 
 break their barren wands that which Joseph holds in 
 his hand has blossomed into a lily, w^hich, according to 
 the legend, was the sign that he was the chosen one.* 
 
 The same circumstance, of placing the ring on the third 
 finger of the right hand, is observable in Ghirlandais's 
 fresco of the " Espousals" in the church of the Santa 
 Croce at Florence. 
 
 There is certainly some confusion as to the hand on 
 .vhich the marriage-ring was placed. However, in re- 
 ligious symbols of espousal, the distinction of the right 
 hand w^as certainly kept. In an ancient pontifical was 
 an order that the bridegroom should place the ring 
 successively on three fingers of the right hand and leave 
 it on the fourth finger of the left, in order to mark the 
 difierence between the marriage-ring, the symbol of a 
 love which is mixed with carnal afiection and the epis- 
 copal ring, the symbol of entire chastity.f 
 
 The espousal became the marriage-ring. The espou- 
 
 * The beautiful arcliitectural design in this picture is said to be copied, but 
 very much improved, from a picture by Perugino, the master of Eaffaelle. As 
 the latter had a genius beyond copying and as Perugino made use of the talents 
 of his pupil, it is fair to suppose that Eaffaelle composed the building and 
 afterwards claimed its outline by inserting it, with improvament from reflec- 
 tion, in his own painting, Lo Sposalizio. The general form and proportions 
 are to be found in Brunelleschi's design for the octagon chapel of the Scho- 
 lari annexed to the church Degl' Angeli at Florence. See Kugler's Hand 
 Book of Painting, by Eastlake, p. 332. t Maitense, ii. 128. 
 
OF FINGEK-KINGS. 203 
 
 sals consisted in a mutual promise of marriage, which 
 was made by the man and woman before the bisliop or 
 presbyter and several witnesses; after which, the articles 
 of agreement of marriage (called tabulcB matrimoniales) 
 w^hich are mentioned by Augustin, were signed by botli 
 persons. After this, the man delivered to the woman 
 the ring and other gifts : an action which was termed 
 mbarrhation. In the latter ages the espousals have al- 
 ways been performed at the same time as the office of 
 matrimony, both in the western and eastern churches ; 
 and it has long been customary for the ring to be deli- 
 vered to the woman after the contract has been made, 
 which has always been in the actual office of matrimony.* 
 According to Clemens Alexandrinus, the ring was 
 given, not as an ornament but as a seal to signify the 
 woman's duty in preserving the goods of her husband, 
 because the care of the house belongs to her. Tliis idea, 
 by the by, is very reasonable, as we shall hereafter show, 
 when speaking of the ritual of the Church of England. 
 The symbolical import of the " wedding ring," under 
 the spiritual influence of Christianity, came to comprise 
 the general idea of wedded fidelity in all the width and 
 importance of its application.f 
 
 6. The first Christians engraved upon their seals sym- 
 bolical figures, such as a dove, fish, anchor or lyre.;!: The 
 rings used in their fyancels represented pigeons, fish, 
 or, more often, two hands joined together. Clemens of 
 Alexandria, who permitted these symbols, condemns not 
 only the representation of idols, but also of the instru- 
 
 Palmer's Origines LUur(/icce, vol. ii. p. 214. 
 t Bishop Jeremy Taylor's " Wedding Ringy 
 X Fosbroke's Encye. of Antiquities, p. 250. 
 
204 HISTORY AKD POETRY 
 
 ments of war, vases for the table and every thing repug- 
 nant to the strictness of the Gospel. 
 
 A ring, when used by the church, signifies, to use the 
 words of liturgical writers, integritatem Jldei, the perfec- 
 tion of fidelity and is fidei sacramentum, the badge of 
 fidelity.* 
 
 7. The canon law is the basis of marriage through- 
 out Europe, except so far as it has been altered by the 
 municipal laws of particular States.f An important alte- 
 ration was made in the law of marriage in many countries 
 by the decrees of the Council of Trent, held for the 
 reformation of marriage. These decrees are the stand- 
 ing judgments of the Komisli Church ; but they were 
 never received as authority in Great Britain. Still the 
 ecclesiastical law of marriage in England is derived from 
 the Eoman pontiffs. It has been traced as far back as 
 605, soon after the establishment of Christianity there.:!: 
 
 Marriages in the Episcopal Church are governed by 
 the Eubric. This term signifies a title or article in 
 certain ancient common-law books. 
 
 Eubrics also denote the rules and directions given at 
 the beginning and in the course of tlie liturgy, for the 
 order and manner in which the several parts of the office 
 are to be performed. 
 
 Statutes of the English Parliament have confirmed 
 the use of the rubric inserted in the part of the Com- 
 mon Prayer Book relating to the marriage ceremony. 
 But prior to the British marriage acts, a case arose where 
 no ring was used according to the Common Prayer Book. 
 
 * Notes and Queries, ii. 611. 
 
 1 1 Dow, 181 ; 2 Hagg. C. E. 70, 81. 
 
 X Hallam's Middle Ages, ii. 286, et seq. ; Shelford on Marriage, 19, 20. 
 
OF FINGER-EINGS. 205 
 
 A then Chief Justice {C. J. Pemberton) was inclined 
 to think it a good contract, there being words of a present 
 contract repeated after a person in orders.* 
 
 The rubric directs that the man shall give unto the 
 woman a ring, laying the same upon the book ; and the 
 priest, taking the ring, shall deliver it unto the man to 
 put it on the fourth finger of the woman's left hand. 
 And he says, " With this ring I thee wed, with my body 
 I thee worship and with all my worldly gifts I thee 
 endow." These words are best explained by the rubric 
 of the 2d of Edward YI., which ran thus :f " The man 
 shall give unto the woman a ring and other tokens of 
 spousage, as gold or silver, laying the same upon the 
 book ; and the man, taught by the priest, shall say, 
 ' With this ring I thee wed, this gold and silver I thee 
 give;'" and then these words, "With all my worldly 
 goods I thee endow," were delivered with a more pecu- 
 liar significancy. Here the proper distinction is made, 
 the endowment of all his goods means granting the cus- 
 tody or key and care of them. It will be seen that the 
 word " endow" is kept apart from the positive gift of 
 pieces of gold and silver. It has been said that the an- 
 cient pledge was a piece of silver worn in the pocket ; 
 but marriage being held sacred, it was thought more 
 prudent to have the pledge exposed to view by making 
 it into a ring worn upon the hand.:]: 
 
 The Christian marriage-ring appears, in its substance, 
 to have been copied from the Roman nuptial ring. It 
 was, according to Swinburn, of iron, adorned with an 
 
 * Poulter V. Cornwall., Salk. 9. 
 t Burns' Eccl. Law Marriage. 
 X Athenian Oracle, No. xxvi. 
 
206 HISTOKY AND POETRY 
 
 adamant ; the metal hard and durable, signifying the 
 dm-ance and perpetuity of the contract. Howbeit, he 
 says, it skilleth not at this day what metal the ring be 
 of, the form of it being round and without end doth 
 import that their love should circulate and flow continu- 
 ally. 
 
 In the Roman ritual there is a benediction of the ring 
 and a prayer that she who wears it may continue in per- 
 fect love and fidelity to her husband and in fear of God 
 all her days.* 
 
 / 
 
 8. We have remarked on the vulgar error of a vein 
 going from the fourth finger of the left hand to the 
 heart. It is said by Swinburn and others that therefore 
 it became the wedding finger. The priesthood kept up 
 this idea by still keeping it as the wedding finger ; but 
 it was got at through the use of the Trinity : for, in the 
 ancient ritual of English marriages, the ring was placed 
 by the husband on the top of the thumb of the left hand, 
 with the words, " In the name of the Father ;" he then 
 removed it to the forefinger, saying : "In the name of 
 the Son;" then to the middle finger, adding: "And of 
 the Holy Ghost ;" finally, he left it, as now, on the fourth 
 finger, with the closing word " Amen."f 
 
 As to the supposed artery to the heart. Levinus Lem- 
 nius quaintly says : " A small branch of the artery and 
 not of the nerves, as Gellius thought, is stretched forth 
 from the heart unto this finger, the motion whereof you 
 may perceive evidently in all that affects the heart of 
 woman, by the touch of your forefinger. I used to raise 
 
 * Burns' Eccl. Law, art. Marriage. 
 t Notes and Queries, iv. 199. 
 
OF FINGER-KINGS. 207 
 
 such as are fallen in a swoon by pinching this joint and 
 by rubbing the ring of gold with a little saffron : for, by 
 this, a restoring force that is in it passeth to the heart 
 and refresheth the fountain of life unto which this finger 
 is joined. Wherefore antiquity thought fit to encompass 
 it about with gold.""^ 
 
 By the way, a correspondent, in a British periodical, 
 suggests : that a lady of his acquaintance has had the 
 misfortune to lose the ring finger, and the question is 
 raised whether she can be married in the Church of 
 England ! ?t 
 
 In the "British Apollo" it is said that, during the 
 time of George the First, the wedding-ring, though placed 
 in the ceremony of the mariage upon the fourth finger, 
 was worn upon the thumb.J 
 
 The use of the ring has become so common in England 
 that poor people will not believe the marriage to be 
 good without one ; and the notion also is that it must 
 be of gold. At Worcester (England) on one occasion, 
 the parties were so poor that they used a brass ring. 
 The bride's friends indignantly protested that the ring 
 ought to have been of gold ; and the acting ofiicer was 
 threatened with indictment for permitting the use of such 
 base metal. 
 
 In another case of humble marriage, the bridegroom 
 announced that a ring was not necessary. The woman 
 entreated to have one. The superintendent of the poor 
 took part with the woman and represented how the ab- 
 sence of it would expose her to insult ; and he, kindly, 
 hesitated to proceed with the marriage until a ring was 
 
 Hone's Table Book, t Notes and Queries, v. 871. 
 
 t Vol. i. p. 270. 
 
208 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 produced. The man yielded at last and obtained one. 
 The woman's gratitude brought tears into her eyes. 
 
 9. In Roman Catholic marriages, with the priest in 
 pontificals, go two clerks in surplices. The latter carry 
 the holy- water pot, the sprinkler, the ritual and a little 
 basin to put the ring in when it is to be blessed.* After 
 the pair have clasped hands and the priest has by words 
 joined them together, he makes the sign of the cross 
 upon them ; sp'rinkles them with holy water ; blesses the 
 wedding-ring and sprinkles it also with holy water in 
 the form of a cross, after which he gives it to the man, 
 who puts it on the wedding-finger of the woman's left 
 hand. 
 
 10. The supposed heathen origin of our marriage- 
 ring had well nigh caused the abolition of it during the 
 time of the Commonwealth in England. The facetious 
 author of Hudibras gives us the following chief reasons 
 why the Puritans wished it to be set aside : 
 
 " Others were for abolishing 
 That tool of matrimony, a ring ; 
 With which th' unsanctify'd bridegroom 
 Is marry'd only to a thumb, 
 (As wise as ringing of a pig 
 That us'd to break up ground and dig,) 
 The bride to nothing but the will, 
 That nulls the after-marriage still."t 
 
 11. The author of the present essay found a diffi- 
 culty in getting a correct account of the use of the ring 
 in Jewish marriages ;:]: although there is an exceedingly 
 
 * Hamilton's Marriage Kites, etc., 125. 
 
 t III. ii. 809. X See Hamilton's Marriage Eites, etc., 178. 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 209 
 
 learned and interesting decision in relation to one in the 
 English Ecclesiastical Keports.^ He applied to a pro- 
 fessional friend of the Jewish persuasion, who obtained 
 the following interesting particulars from one of our best 
 Hebrew scholars :t The nuptial rite among the Jews con- 
 sists of three distinct acts which together form the regu- 
 lar marriage ceremony. 
 
 1st. The religious act Kidushin^ consecration, by which 
 the husband that is to be melcadesh consecrates that 
 is to say, sets apart from all other women and inhibits 
 to all other men the woman who, by that act, becomes 
 his wife. 
 
 The ceremony is performed in manner following. A 
 canopy is raised under which the bridegroom takes his 
 stand. The bride is brought in and placed either at his 
 right hand or opposite to him. The officiating minister 
 pronounces the initiatory nuptial benediction, after which 
 he receives from the bridegroom a ring that must be 
 of a certain value and the absolute property of the 
 bridegroom, purchased and paid for by him and not 
 received as a present or bought on credit. After due 
 inquiry on these points, the minister returns the ring 
 to the bridegroom, who places it on the forefinger of the 
 bride's right hand, while at the same time he says to her 
 in Hebrew : " Behold ! thou art mekudeshetJi consecrated 
 unto me by means of this ring, according to the law of 
 Moses and of Israel." The bride joins in and expresses 
 her consent to this act of consecration by holding out her 
 right hand and accepting the ring ; which^ after her 
 
 * Lindo V. Belisario^ 1 Haggard's Consist. Keps. 217. 
 
 t And see Morgan's Doctrine and Law of Marriage, Adultery and Divorce, 
 I, 97, et seq.^ pnd particularly note x. at p. 103. 
 
210 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 Imsband has pronounced the" formula constitutes her 
 his lawful wife ; so that, even though the marriage should 
 not be consummated, neither party is thenceforth at 
 liberty to contract another marriage, unless they have 
 previously been divorced according to law : and if the 
 woman were to submit to the embraces of another man, 
 she would be guilty of adultery. 
 
 The law which enjoins "consecration" requires that 
 the symbol of the act should be an object made of one 
 of the precious metals gold or silver and of a certain 
 value. But though the law does not insist on or even 
 mention a ring, yet the custom of using a ring has, dur- 
 in_g very many centuries, so generally prevailed to the 
 exclusion of all other symbols that the words " by means 
 of this ring " have been incorporated in the formula of 
 consecration. In the greater part of Europe and in 
 America the ring is usually of gold ; but in Eussia, 
 Poland and the East the poorer classes use rings of 
 silver. 
 
 2d. The civil act Ketubah, written contract : As soon 
 as bridegroom and bride have completed the act of con- 
 secration, the officiating minister proceeds to read the 
 marriage contract, a document in Hebrew characters, 
 signed by the bridegroom in the presence of two compe- 
 tent witnesses by which the husband engages to pro- 
 tect, cherish and maintain his wife ; to provide her with 
 food, raiment, lodging and all other necessaries ; and 
 secure to her a dowry for the payment of which the 
 whole of his estate real and personal stands pledged. 
 
 "When this document has been read, the minister pro- 
 nounces the closing nuptial benediction, and a glass is 
 broken in memory of Jerusalem destroyed, (see Psalm 
 
OF FINGEK-RINGS. 211 
 
 cxxxvii.,) which completes the ceremony. The psahn 
 here referred to is that most beautiful one, beginning, 
 " By the rivers of Babylon," and ending with what has 
 immediate reference to the destruction : " Happy shall 
 he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the 
 stones.""^ 
 
 3d. But all the time these religious and civil acts are 
 being performed, the young couple have likewise before 
 their eyes and above their heads the emblem of the 
 moral act Hhupah^ cohabitation or living together by 
 themselves under one roof This is the purpose for which 
 the canopy is raised over them; beneath which they 
 ought, by right, to stand quite alone though generally 
 the minister and parents or nearest friends also find room 
 under it. 
 
 These three distinct acts religious, civil and domes- 
 tic to constitute marriage according to the regular form 
 Ilhupa ve Mdushin^ require ten adult male witnesses. 
 But so binding is the act of consecration, that if it wxre 
 performed privately, without the knowledge of parents 
 or assistance of minister and solely in the presence of 
 two competent witnesses who hear the man pronounce 
 the formula "Behold thou art consecrated unto me," etc., 
 and see the woman accept the ring, this proceeding, how- 
 ever irregular and reprehensible, constitutes a marriage 
 perfectly valid in the eyes of the law. 
 
 Larpent, writing from France, but imbued with an or- 
 dinary English prejudice, which is apt to ridicule unfa- 
 miliar things and lose sight of reasons for customs, blurts 
 out this : " I have been to the Jew's wedding. The cere- 
 mony consists principally of singing and drinking and 
 
 * Verse 9. 
 
212 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 blessing in Hebrew. There must be something Jewish, 
 however, as usual, and that is concerning the ring, which, 
 as soon as produced, is shown round to all the rabbis 
 near and some elders, etc., and to the sponsors, to be 
 sure it is really gold or otherwise the marriage is void ; 
 and the true old clothesman-like way in which they all 
 spied at the ring was very amusing. Nearly the last 
 ceremony is the bridegroom's smashing a wine-glass in 
 a plate on the floor, with an idea that he and his spouse 
 are then as difficult to separate as it would be to re-unite 
 the glass. The gentleman showed gallantry by exerting 
 all his force and looking most fiercely as he broke the 
 glass."* 
 
 The handing of the ring from the minister to some one 
 of the persons present has a reason broader than that 
 which Larpent is pleased to assign, as we consider we 
 have shown. We confirm it by saying, that the Jewish 
 law requires, at the time of marriage, that a valuable 
 consideration should pass from the bridegroom to the 
 bride. This consideration is represented by the ring, 
 which, therefore, must not be of less value than the 
 minimum fixed by the law. And as this value has to 
 be ascertained and attested, which cannot be done by 
 less than two witnesses, the officiating minister or Kabbi, 
 after making the inquiries required by law, examines 
 the ring and hands it to the presiding officer of the syna- 
 gogue, (a layman, who is supposed to know more about 
 the value of gold or silver than a Kabbi,) who also ex- 
 amines and hands it back to the minister ; and these two, 
 the minister and the officer of the synagogue, then wit- 
 ness that the article is of that value which the law re- 
 
 Larpent's Private Journal, 663, 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 213 
 
 quires. We say this advisedly ; and can add as positively 
 that the ring is never handed round to third pei'sons. 
 
 At a marriage to which the author was invited a 
 marriage between a Jewish merchant and the amiable 
 daughter of a learned Eabbi in New- York the usual _ 
 course was not departed from. The father of the bride, 
 who officiated, received the ring from the bridegroom, 
 ascertained that it was the young man's own property 
 lawfully acquired, examined and then delivered it to the 
 president of the synagogue. He, also, examined and 
 handed the ring back to the minister, who, finally, per- 
 formed the ceremony. 
 
 12. Some married women are so rigidly superstitious 
 or firm that they will not draw oiF their wedding-ring 
 to wash or at any other time : extending the expression 
 " till death do us part" even to the ring.* 
 
 And there is a superstition connected with the wear 
 of the ring, worked into this proverb : 
 
 " As your wedding-ring wears, 
 Your cares will wear away." 
 
 13. Gold- wire rings of three twisted wires were 
 given away at weddings ; and Anthony Wood relates of 
 Edward Kelly, a " famous philosopher" in Queen Eliza- 
 beth's days, that " Kelly, who was openly profuse beyond 
 the modest limits of a sober philosopher, did give away 
 in gold- wire rings (or rings twisted with three gold wires) 
 at the marriage of one of his maid servants, to the value 
 of 4:,000."t 
 
 * Hone's Table Book! 
 
 t Fosbroke, 249 ; Hone's Table Book. 
 
214 
 
 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 14. A gold ring has been discovered in Eome, which 
 has the subject of Cupid and Psyche cut into the metah* 
 We give an enlarged illustration of it. Psyche is figured 
 
 more ethereally than she generally appears upon gems. 
 
 The lower portion of this emanation seems to partake of 
 
 the delicate plumage of the butterfly ; and the whole 
 
 prettily illustrates the soul. There is a strong contrast 
 
 between these figures ; and we are inclined to think the 
 
 designer intended it. While Psyche is all that we have 
 
 said, the other form comes up to XDolman's theatrical 
 
 Cupid : 
 
 " Fat, chubby-cheeked and stupid." 
 
 Byron observes that the story of Cupid and Psyche is 
 one uniform piece of loveliness. 
 
 15. The meeting of St. Anne and St. Joachim at 
 the Golden Gate is a favorite subject. f The Nuns of 
 
 * Caylus, iii. 313, PI. Ixxxv. 
 t Hone's Every Day Book. 
 
OP FINGEE-RINGS 
 
 ^15 
 
 St. Anne at Rome show a rude silver ring as the wed- 
 ding-ring of Anne and Joachim. 
 
 16. A wicked trick upon weak and confiding women 
 used to be played by forcing upon their finger a rush 
 ring : as thereby they fancied themselves married.* 
 Richard, Bishop of Salisbury, in his Constitutions, Anno 
 1217, forbids the putting of rush rings or any of like 
 matter on women's fingers. 
 
 De Breveil says,t it was an ancient custom to use a 
 rush ring where the necessity for marriage was apparent. 
 
 17. Rings occur in the fifteenth century, with the 
 orpine plant {Telephium) as a device. It was used because 
 the bending of the leaves was presumed to prognosticate 
 whether love was true or false. The common name for 
 orpine plants was that of midsummer tnen. In a tract said 
 to be written by Hannah More, among other superstitions 
 of one of the heroines, " she would never go to bed on 
 Midsummer Eve without sticking up in her room the 
 well-known plant called midsummer men, as the bend- 
 ing of the leaves to the right or to the left would never 
 fail to tell her whether her lover was true or false." The 
 orpine plant occurs among the love divinations on Mid- 
 summer Eve in the Connoisseur 4 " I likewise stuck up 
 two midsummer men, one for myself and one for him. 
 Now if this had died away, we should never have come 
 together ; but, I assure you, his blowed and turned to 
 mine." 
 
 18. Marriage-rings, in the olden time, were not, as 
 
 See Donee's Illust. of Shakspeare, 194. 
 t Antiquities of Paris. \ No. 56. 
 
216 
 
 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 now, plain in form and without words.'^ Some had a 
 seal part for impression.f A ring of this kind was 
 ploughed up in the year 1783 on Flodden Field. It was 
 of gold and an inscription upon it ran thus : " Where 
 are the constant lovers who can keep themselves from 
 evil speakers ?" This would have been a relic for Abbots- 
 ford ; but Dryburgh Abbey has the wizard ; and a stran- 
 ger is in his halls. 
 
 A Roman bronze ring has been discovered of singular 
 shape and fine workmanship, which appears to have been 
 intended as a token of love or affection.^ 
 
 The parts nearest the collet are flat and resemble a 
 triangle from which the summit has been cut. Its 
 greatest singularity is an intaglio ploughed out of the 
 material itself, representing the head of a young person. 
 Tlie two triangular portions which start from the table 
 of the ring are filled with ornaments, also engraved hol- 
 low. Upon it is the word YIYAS or Mayest thou live. 
 
 19. In the year 1845, an interesting ring was found at 
 Sessa, (the Suessa Auruncofum of the ancients,) situate 
 
 * Herrick, in his Hesperides, speaks of "posies for our wedding-ring." 
 t London Gent.'s Mag. vol. Iv. 0. S. p. 89. 
 X Caylus, ii. 812, PI. Ixxxix. 
 
/ 
 
 OF FINGER-RINGS. 217 
 
 in the Terra de Livaro, Kingdom of N'aples. We here 
 give the original signet. A drawing of the same with its 
 outer edge, which, as it will be seen, contained the name 
 of an after owner and the outer ring, with its religions 
 maxims along its edge, appears in the Archaeological 
 Journal.*^ The stone which forms the signet is of a deep- 
 red color and, . apparently, a species of agate. In the 
 centre are engraved two right hands joined together, 
 with the following letters above and below, C. C. P. S., 
 I. P. D. Our cut is somewhat larger than the original. 
 
 ,,. --. Judging from thew^orkman- 
 
 ,y'' ' ^ ship of the signet, it is be- 
 
 , lieved to have been executed 
 , in the period between the 
 , reigns of Severus and Con- 
 / stantine or, in other words, 
 about the middle of the third 
 
 **^*^ _'--'"' century. The interpretation 
 
 of these letters must be left to conjecture. It would 
 appear, however, to have been regarded as an object of 
 value or interest at a later period, wdien it was set in 
 gold for the person whose name appears round the stone 
 in capital letters, which are to be thus read : 
 
 > SIGILLY- THOMASII- DE- EOGEKTIS- DE- SUESSA- 
 Sigillum Thomasii de Eogeriis de Suessa. 
 
 On the outer side of the hoop of the ring are two 
 other inscriptions, also in capital letters. The first 
 reads : 
 
 ^> XPS- YINCIT- XPS- REGNAT- XPS- IMPERA- 
 
 Chrisl/as vincit, Christus regnat^ Christies imperat. 
 
 * No. 82. 
 
218 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 And the second : 
 
 > ET- YERBU: CARO: FACTU: E: ET ABITAUIT: INOB- 
 
 Et verhwn caro factum est et hdbita/vit in nobis. 
 
 The workmanship of these inscriptions is exceedingly- 
 good and the letters well formed and sharply cut. It 
 will be remarked that in the first legend on the hoop the 
 letter T. in the word Imjpevat is omitted for want of space ; 
 and in the second, for the same reason, not only the final 
 TYi^ as usual, is twice suppressed, but the word est is given 
 in the abbreviated form of e ; several letters are joined 
 together ; the aspirate is omitted in habitamt / and the 
 letter n is made to serve for the final of in and the 
 initial of nobis. As to the date of this ring, it may, 
 very probably, be ascribed to the thirteenth century. 
 There can be no doubt that the owner, Thomasius de 
 Eogeriis, must have been a member of the ]S"eapolitan 
 family of Eoggieri. The legend upon the ring, Christus 
 vineit, Christus regnat^ Christus imjperat.^ is found, also, 
 in the series of Anglo-Gothic gold coins from the reign 
 of Edward III. of England to that of Henry YI. 
 
 We have been favored with the perusal of a presenta- 
 tion copy of the article (in the Archaeological Journal) and 
 from it have taken the above explanation. This copy 
 was sent by the possessor of the ring, George Borrett, 
 of Southampton, England, Esquire, to Isaac E. Cotheal, 
 of New- York, Esquire ; and it has, interleaved, (with the 
 addition of a wax impression,) the following MS. note : 
 " The Abbe Farrari, a priest attached to the Church of 
 Sta. Maria in Comedia, (also called the Bocci della 
 Yenite,) submitted it to some members of the Propa- 
 ganda at Eome, 12th April, 1845, who described it as 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 219 
 
 follows : Christus vincit, Christus regnat^ Christus im- 
 ferat^ et verbum caro factuin est^ et habitavit in nobis. 
 Sigillum Thomasii de Bogeriis de Suessa : Christ con- 
 quers, Christ reigns, Christ commands and the Word 
 was made flesh and dwelt in us. The seal of Thomas 
 de Rogeriis de Suessa. 
 
 " The veritable signet of Cicero {i, e.) the coral in the 
 centre of the ring only. There were members of the 
 Propaganda who thought it resembled some impressions 
 attached to documents in the Vatican of the Roman 
 Governor in Judea, ' Pontius Pilate,^ The gold setting 
 is supposed to be about the eighth or ninth century by 
 some dignitary in triumph over the pagan philosopher 
 or governor." 
 
 Notwithstanding what is thus said, we are strongly 
 under the impression that it was a mystical ring or one 
 worn in remembrance of a marriage. Upon marbles 
 and gems which illustrate the marriage ceremony, the 
 bride and bridegroom are represented with their respec- 
 tive right hands joined. In Montfaucon^ (and figured also 
 in Maffei) is a gem which has marital symbols and among 
 them a ring and the clasped right hands; and, in the 
 same work, (Montfaucon,)f we find a ring precisely in the 
 form and of the size of the Sessa ring, with right hands 
 disposed in exactly the same manner and also letters 
 above and below the emblem. The words there are : 
 
 PROTEROS 
 VGIAE 
 
 Proteros and Hygie ; and Montfaucon says, "Cela 
 marque pent etre le mariage contracte entre les deux." 
 
 Tom. III. p. II. PI. cxxciv. 
 
 t Supplement, Tom. III. PI. LXV. p. 174. 
 
220 HISTOEY AND POETKY 
 
 Addison, in his Dialogue on Medals, says : " The two 
 hands that join one another are emblems of Fidelity ;" 
 and he quotes (Ovid's Met. lib. iv.) : 
 
 " Inde Fides dextrceque data" 
 
 (Thence faith and the right hand joined.) And also 
 Seneca (Hurc. Fur. lib. iv.) : 
 
 " Sociemus animos, pignus hocfidei cape, 
 Continge dextram." 
 
 (Let us unite souls, receive this pledge of faith, grasp 
 the right hand.) 
 
 We can hardly imagine a more perfect token of love, 
 affection or friendship than this of right hands clasped 
 and the names of giver and receiver. We commend it 
 to loving friends and jewellers. 
 
 This joining of right hands appears upon ancient 
 English marriage-rings. Here is one, with its motto, 
 The JSazarene : 
 
 A silver wedding-ring, dug up at Somerton Castle, 
 Lincolnshire, has a poesy very common in former times : 
 
 " I love you, my sweet dear heart. 
 Go I pray you please my love."* 
 
 There is a marriage gold ring of the time of Ei chard the 
 Second of England, having a French motto, translated. 
 Be of good hearty and bearing the figure of St. Catharine 
 with her wheel, emblematical of good fortune, and St. 
 Margaret, to whom Catholics address their devotions for 
 safe delivery in childbirth. f The author has seen an old 
 
 Gent.'8 Mag. vol. Ixxv. p. 801, 927. 
 t lb. vol. Ix. 0. S. 798, 1001. 
 
OF FINGER- KINGS. 221 
 
 American ring, in the possession of a young man, whose 
 grandfather presented it on his wedding day to his wife. 
 It has a piece of jet set in it and is cut into raised an- 
 gular facets. On the inside is engraved : 
 
 " First love Christ, that died for thee , 
 Next to him, love none but me." 
 T. A. G. 
 
 John Dunton, a London bookseller and who is men- 
 tioned in the Dunciad^ describes, in his autobiography, 
 his wedding-ring : as having two hearts united upon it 
 and this poesy : 
 
 " God saw tliee 
 Most Jit for me:' 
 
 This would not seem to have attached to his second 
 wife ; for she left him and wrote in one of her letters, 
 " I and all good people think you never married me for 
 love, but for my money." 
 
 Dr. John Thomas, who was Bishop of Lincoln in 1753, 
 married four times. The motto or poesy on the wedding- 
 ring at his fourth marriage was : 
 
 " If I survive, 
 I'll make them five." 
 
 This Eev. Dr. John Thomas was a man of genial 
 humor. He used to tell a story of his burying a body ; 
 and a woman came " and pulled me," said he, " by the 
 sleeve in the middle of the service. ' Sir, sir, I want to 
 speak to you.' ' Prythee,' says I, ' woman, wait till I 
 have done.' ' No, sir, I must speak to you immediately.' 
 ' Why then, what is the matter ?' ' Why sir,' says she, 
 * you are burying a man who died of the small-pox next 
 to my poor husband, who never had it,' " 
 
222 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 19. Heroes, philosophers, poets indeed, men of all 
 classes leave remembrances in the shape of rings. The 
 will of Washington contains this : "To my sisters-in-law 
 Hannah Washington and Mildred Washington, to my 
 friends Eleanor Stuart, Hannah Washington of Fairfield 
 and Elizabeth Washington of Hayfield, I give each a 
 mourning ring of the value of one hundred dollars. 
 These bequests are not made for the intrinsic value of 
 them, but as mementoes of my esteem and regard." 
 Shakspeare bequeathes such tokens to several friends 
 among them, to his brother players, whom he calls " my 
 poor fellows" " twenty shillings eight pence apiece to 
 buy them rings." Pope bequeathed sums of ^ve pounds 
 to friends, who were to lay them out in rings. This great 
 poet was no admirer of funerals that blackened all the 
 way or of gorgeous tombs : " As to my body, my will is 
 that it be buried near the monument of my dear parents 
 at Twickenham, with the addition after the words Jllius 
 fecit of these only, et sihi : Qui obiit anno IT- cetatis ; 
 and that it be carried to the grave by six of the poorest 
 men of the parish, to each of whom I order a suit of 
 gray coarse cloth as mourning." 
 
 The affection which Dr. Johnson bore to the memory 
 of his wife was a pretty point in his heavy character : 
 " March 28, 1753. I kept this day as the anniversary of 
 my Letty's death, with prayer and tears in the morning. 
 In the evening I prayed for her conditionally, if it were 
 lawful." Her wedding-ring, when she became his wife, 
 was, after her death, preserved by him as long as he 
 lived with an affectionate care in a little round wooden 
 box and in the inside of which he pasted a slip of paper 
 thus inscribed by him in fair characters : 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 223 
 
 " Eheu ! 
 
 Eliz. Johnson 
 
 Nupta Jul. 9", 1736, 
 
 Mortua, eheu ! 
 Mart. 17", 1752."* 
 
 Husbands can love, where friends may see nothing to 
 admire : Mrs. Johnson has been summed up as " per- 
 petual illness and perpetual opium."f 
 
 Lord Eldon wore a mourning ring for his wife. In 
 his will we find this : " And I direct that I may be 
 buried in the same tomb at Kingston in which my most 
 beloved wife is buried and as near to her remains as pos- 
 sible ; and I desire that the ring which I wear on my finger 
 may be put with my body into my cofiin and be buried 
 with me."t 
 
 The last gift of Tom Moore's mother to him was her 
 wedding-ring : " Have been preparing my dear mother 
 for my leaving her, now that I see her so much better. 
 She is quite reconciled to my going ; and said this morn- 
 ing, 'JS'ow, my dear Tom, don't let yourself be again 
 alarmed about me in this manner, nor hurried away from 
 your house and business.' She then said she must, be- 
 fore I left her this morning, give me her wedding-ring 
 as her last gift ; and, accordingly sending for the little 
 trinket-box in which she kept it, she, herself, put the 
 ring on my finger. " 
 
 The poet Gray was the possessor of trinkets ; and, 
 perhaps, we may refer these to the " effeminacy" and 
 " visible fastidiousness" mentioned in Temple's Life, 
 (adopted by Mason.) In his will, the poet gives an 
 
 * Bosweirs Johnson, 280, (Murray's ed.) t Piozzi. 
 
 X Twiss's Life of Eldou, Moore's Diary, 173. 
 
224 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 amount of stock to Richard Stonehewer, and adds : 
 " and I beg his acceptance of one of my diamond 
 rings," while to Dr. Thomas Wharton he bequeaths 
 500 and, " I desire him also to accept of one of my 
 diamond rings." He bequeaths his watches, rings, etc., 
 to his cousins Mary Antrobus and Dorothy Comyns, to 
 be equally and amicably shared between them. 
 
 21. On the 1st of March, 1854, the ship Powhattan 
 sailed from Havre for ]^ew-York, with two hundred and 
 fifty passengers. ]^ot far from Barnegat Inlet she became 
 a wreck, so complete that not a vestige of her reached 
 land. The passengers were seen to cling to the bulwarks 
 and, then, drop oif by fifties; her captain, through his 
 trumpet, could be heard to implore attention to them; 
 while the sea crushed and dashed all to death on the 
 fretted beach. The clothing of one of the victims, who 
 was not more than twenty years of age, showed her to 
 have belonged to the wealthy class of Germans. She 
 was beautiful even as she lay in death dabbled with 
 sea-weed and scum. Upon her fingers were two rings ; 
 one, plain and the other had a heart attached to it. 
 They were marked P. S. and B. S. 1854. This we 
 gather from a fleeting newspaper. While the mind 
 sighs as it leaves the corpse to its shallow, seaside, fo- 
 reign and premature grave, a curiosity is awakened by 
 the rings and the attendant emblem. The date shows 
 them to be very late gifts. Were these tokens of affec- 
 tion from brother and sister for one heart might well 
 do for both and who placed them upon that now cold 
 hand, then glowing with an affection that throbbed from 
 under those rings? Or, was this young creature on her 
 
OF FINGEK-RINGS. 225 
 
 way to her youthful husband, who had come before and 
 built up a home and whose betrothal was shown in the 
 hearty while the plain ripg had made them one before God 
 and the church and who was watching for her and, in 
 fancy, had, through day dreams and in night watching, 
 fancied the vessel sweep into port and the hand, that 
 lovingly wore his gifts, wave a recognition ? It may be 
 that father and mother were the donors, with a blessing 
 and a prayer and the added almost certainty of thought 
 that she who received with a last kiss, would long sur- 
 vive parents to reverence the tokens, hallow their me- 
 mory and think of Fatherland ! Oh, how much of fact, 
 of poetry, of sadness may crowd around a little ring 1 ! 
 
 22. We can hardly meet with a prettier token and il- 
 lustration of aifection than is to be found upon an ancient 
 silver ring. It has a pelican feeding three young ones 
 from the life-current oozing out of her breast ; with the 
 words : Their Mother. There is but little doubt that 
 this was one of three rings given by a mother 
 to her three children. The pelican is made an 
 emblem of charity ; and Hackluyt, in his 
 Yoyages, speaks of the ^^ Pellicane!'^ " which 
 is fain to be the lovingst bird that is, which 
 rather than her young should want, will spare her heart- 
 blood." In no form or fashion could a mother's love 
 have been more beautifully and permanently displayed 
 pure as the metal, perfect as the emblem. It makes 
 us feel that love is indestructible ; that it came from 
 Heaven and returns thither. IS'o matter what may have 
 been the sorrows, the cares and the long-suifering of that 
 mother ; no matter though her heart dances no longer to 
 
226 HISTOitYANDPOP:TRY 
 
 the music of her children's voices ; no matter what were 
 the earthly trials of those loved children ; no matter 
 though their home-nest has been torn down or that the 
 snow of the world covers where the wings of the parent 
 bird were spread ; no matter though the grave has taken 
 all, save this illustration of a divine emanation : we feel 
 that such love could not die and the throbbing from the 
 poet's soul comes upon our memory : 
 
 " Oh when the mother meets on high 
 
 The babe she lost 
 
 Hath she not then, for pains and fears, 
 
 The day of woe, the watchful night, 
 For all her sorrows, all her tears, 
 
 An overpayment ot delight !"* 
 
 23. This love between mother and child, from its un- 
 dying purity, is always a pleasant thing to trace and to fol- 
 low. In the Household Words^\ a work in which there is 
 more of usefulness, pleasure and beauty than in any other 
 modern book, a ring plays a pretty part in a ballad of the 
 youthful knight. Bran of Brittany. He was " wounded 
 sore," and " in a dungeon tower, helpless he wept in the 
 foeman's power." 
 
 " find a messenger, true to me, 
 To bear me a letter across the sea. 
 A messenger true they brought him there. 
 And the young knight warned him thus with care : 
 Lay now that dress of thine aside, 
 And in beggar's weeds thy service hide, 
 And take my ring, my ring of gold, 
 And wrap it safe in some secret fold, 
 * A gold ring, bearinor a pelican feeding her young, was found at Bury St, 
 Edmunds, England. (Gent.'s Mag. xxxix. 532, N.S.) The crest of the house 
 of Lumley, Earls of Scarborough, is a pelican in her nest feeding her young, 
 t Vol. viii. p. 179, 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 227 
 
 But, once at my mother's castle gate, 
 That ring will gain admittance straight. 
 And ! if she comes to ransom me, 
 Then high let the white flag hoisted be ; 
 But if she comes not ah, well-a-day ! 
 The night-black flag at the mast display.''^ 
 When the messenger true to Leon came, 
 At supper sat the high-born dame : 
 With cups of gold and royal fare, 
 And the harpers merrily harping there. 
 I kneel to thee, right noble dame ; 
 This ring will show from whom I came. 
 And he who gave me that same ring. 
 Bade me in haste this letter bring. 
 Oh ! harpers, harpers, cease your song ; 
 The grief at my heart is sharp and strong. 
 Why did they this from his mother hide ? 
 In a dungeon lies my only pride ! 
 quick make ready a ship for me, 
 This night I'll cross the stormy sea." 
 
 The ballad goes on to show how young Bran, from 
 his bed, at morn, at noon, at vesper, asked the warder 
 whether he saw a ship ; and when, at last, the warder 
 says he observes one, he couples it with the falsehood 
 that the color of its flag is black. 
 
 " When the downcast knight that answer heard, 
 He asked no more, he spake no word. 
 
 * Has not the idea of this hlacJc flag hcaw taken from the black sail referred 
 to by Plutarch in his life of Tlicscus? When the latter was to go with the 
 Athenian youths to attempt the destruction of the Minotaur, a ship was pre- 
 pared with a black sail, us carrying them to certain ruin. But when Theseus 
 encouraged his father ^geus by his confidence of success against the Mino- 
 taur, he gave another sail, a white one, to the pilot, ordering him, if he brought 
 Theseus safe back, to hoist the white ; but if not, to sail with the black one 
 in token of his misfortune. When Theseus returned, the pilot forgot to hoist* 
 the white sail and iEgeus destroyed himself. 
 
228 HISTORY AND POETEY 
 
 He turned to the wall his face so wan, 
 
 And shook in the breath of the Mighty One !" 
 
 The mother touches the strand ; hears a death-bell ; 
 asks of a gray-haired man ; speeds wildly to the tower : 
 
 " At the foot of the tower, to the gaoler grim, 
 She sobbed aloud and she called to him : 
 ! open the gates (my son ! my son !) 
 open the gates (my only son !) 
 They opened the gates ; no word they said : 
 Before her there her son lay dead. 
 In her arms she took him so tenderly. 
 And laid her down never more rose she V 
 
 Tlie ballad then describes an oak, with lofty head, 
 whereon the birds gather at night : 
 
 " And amidst them comes ever croaking low, 
 With a young dark raven, an aged crow. 
 Wearily onward they flap their way 
 With drooping wings, soaked through with spray, 
 As they had come from a far countrye ; 
 As they had flown o'er a stormy sea. 
 And the birds they sing so sweet and clear 
 That the waves keep very still to hear. 
 They all sing out in a merry tone, 
 They all sing together save two alone. 
 With mournful voice ever croaking low, 
 Sing, happy birds ! says the aged crow, 
 Blest little birds ! sing, for you may. 
 You did not die from home far away/'' 
 
 How this noble ballad would have stirred the hearts 
 of the authors of " The Lay of the Last Minstrel " and 
 of " Christabel " ! 
 
 24. Authors of fiction, from early times, have made 
 
OF FINGER-RINGS. 229 
 
 use of rings for their scenes. Shakspeare not unfre- 
 quently introduces them; indeed the most interesting 
 portion of Cymbeline is worked up through the wager 
 of a ring as to the. honor of the heroine. Imogen, in 
 taking leave of Posthumus, says : 
 
 " Look here, love ; 
 
 This diamond was my mcfther's ; take it, heart ; 
 But keep it till you woo another wife, 
 When Imogen is dead. 
 
 Posthumus. How ! how ! another ? 
 You gentle gods, give me but this I have, 
 And sear up my erabracements from a next 
 With bonds of death ! Remain thou here, 
 
 {Putting on the ring,) 
 While sense can keep it on." 
 
 And he, then, exchanges for it, " a manacle of love," a 
 bracelet, placing it upon her arm, that " fairest priso- 
 ner." lachimo induced Posthumus to wager this ring, 
 which he esteemed " more than the world enjoys" 
 but it is unnecessary to go further : for who has not read 
 Shakspeare ? 
 
 25. Poman iron rings, wrought with much care and 
 having precious stones, but minute enough for a child, 
 have been found. One or two of them are mentioned and 
 illustrated in Caylus,* who, no doubt rightly, 
 considers they were intended for the finger of a 
 domestic deity or household god. 
 The Pomans clung to their home deities; and this 
 is the best part of their character. One of the most 
 beautiful of the antique draped figures, cut upon a 
 signet, represents a woman contemplating a household 
 
 * Vol. ii. 310, 814. 
 
230 HISTORY AND POETRY 
 
 god,^ " a symbol of that domestic affection which the 
 ancients, exalted almost blamelessly, into an object of 
 divine homage. "f 
 
 It was on this particular gem that Croly wrote these 
 charming lines : 
 
 " Domestic love ! not in proud palace halls 
 Is often seen thy beauty to abide ; 
 Thy dwelling is in lowly cottage walls, 
 That in the thickets of the woodbine hide ; 
 With hum of bees around, and from the spring, 
 Shining along thro' banks with harebells dyed ; 
 And many a bird to warble on the wing, 
 When morn her saffron robe o'er heaven and earth doth fling. 
 
 ! love of loves ! to thy white hand is given 
 Of earthly happiness the golden key ! 
 
 * It has been called Calphurnia consulting the Penates on the fat of Caesar, 
 t Dagley's Gems, p. 6. 
 
OF FINGER-EING8. 231 
 
 " Thine are the joyous hours of winter's even, 
 When the babes cling around their father's knee ; 
 And thine the voice that, on the midnight sea. 
 Melts the rude mariner with thoughts of home, 
 Peopling the gloom with all he longs to see. 
 Spirit ! I've built a shrine ; and thou hast come ; 
 And on its altar closed for ever closed thy plume !" 
 
 Gifts of rings by lovers have always been common ; 
 but the intimate relation between husband and wife 
 brings toils, duties and sacrifices which generally charm 
 off ordinary love tokens. It is comforting, however, 
 when the husband can look to the past, to the present, to 
 the future with sentiments like those embraced in the fol- 
 lowing beautiful lines in connection with the gift of a ring : 
 
 " TO MBS. , WITH A RING. 
 
 " * Thee, Mary, with this ring I wed,' 
 So, sixteen years ago, I said 
 Behold another ring for what ? 
 To wed thee o'er again ? Why not ? 
 With that first ring I married youth, 
 Grace, beauty, innocence and truth, 
 Taste long admir'd, sense long rever'd 
 And all my Mary then appeared. 
 If she, by merit since disclosed, 
 Prove twice the woman I supposed : 
 I plead that double merit now 
 To justify a double vow. 
 Here then to-day (with faith as sure. 
 With ardor as intense and pure. 
 As when amidst the rites divine 
 I took thy troth and plighted mine) 
 To thee, sweet girl, my second ring, 
 A token and a pledge I bring. 
 With this I wed till death us part 
 Thy riper virtues to my heart ; 
 
232 HISTORY AKD POETEY 
 
 Those virtues which, before untried, 
 The wife has added to the bride ; 
 Those virtues, whose progressive claim, 
 Endearing wedlock's very name, 
 My soul enjoys, my song approves, 
 For conscience' sake, as well as love's. 
 For why ? They show me hour by hour 
 Honor's high thought, affection's power, 
 Discretion's deed, sound judgment's sentence, 
 And teach me all things but repentance."* 
 
 And there is a charm and gentleness about the fol- 
 lowing lines which Dr. Drennan addressed to his wife, 
 with a gift of a ring : 
 
 " Emblem of happiness ! not bought nor sold ; 
 Accept this modest ring of virgin gold. 
 Love, in this small, but perfect, circle trace ; 
 And duty, in its soft but strict embrace. 
 Plain, precious, pure, as best becomes the wife ; 
 Yet firm to bear the frequent rubs of life. 
 Connubial life disdains a fragile toy. 
 Which rust can tarnish and a touch destroy ; 
 Nor much admires what courts the general gaze, 
 The dazzling diamond's meretricious blaze, 
 That hides, with glare, the anguish of a heart, 
 By nature hard, but polished bright by art. 
 More to thy taste the ornament that shows 
 Domestic bliss and, without glaring, glows, 
 Whose gentle pressure serves to keep the mind 
 To all correct ; to one discreetly kind 
 Of simple elegance the unconscious charm ; 
 The holy amulet to keep from harm. 
 
 * We do not know who is tlie author of these lines. They appeared 
 anonymously in the Gentlemen's Magazine (London) for 1780, vol. 1. Old 
 Series, 337, and it is merely said that they are by the " writer of lines on 
 presenting a knife and verses on a former wedding day." 
 \ 
 
OF FIKGER-EINGS. 233 
 
 To guard, at once and consecrate, the shrine 
 
 Take this dear pledge : it makes and keeps thee mine. 
 
 26. There is an interesting story in the Gesta Roma- 
 norum^ (indeed the whole work is full of pleasing mat- 
 ter) entitled the judgment of Solomon. It is often 
 represented in that illumination which in the ancient 
 manuscripts of the French translation of the Bible by 
 Guiars des Moulins is prefixed to the Proverbs of Solo- 
 mon, although the story itself does not occur in that 
 Bible. It appears to have been a great favorite in the 
 middle ages ; and w^as often related from the pulpit. A 
 king, in some domestic difference with his wife, had been 
 told by her that one only of her three sons was a true 
 offspring, but which of them was so she refused to dis- 
 cover. This gave him much uneasiness ; and his death 
 soon afterwards approaching, he called his children to- 
 gether ; and declared, in the presence of witnesses, that 
 he left a ring, which had very singular properties, to 
 him that should be found to be his lawful son. On his 
 death a dispute arose about the ring between the youths 
 and it was at length agreed to refer its decision to 
 the King of Jerusalem. He immediately ordered that 
 the dead body of the father should be taken np and tied 
 to a tree ; that each of the sons should shoot an arrow 
 at it and that he who penetrated the deepest should have 
 tlie ring. The eldest shot first and the arrow went far 
 into the body ; the second shot also and deeper than the 
 other. Tlie youngest son stood at a distance and wept 
 bitterly; but the king said to him : "Young man, take 
 your arrow and shoot as your brothers have done." He 
 
 * Douce'B Illustrations of Shakspeare, 549. 
 
234 FINGER-BIKGS.. 
 
 answered, " Far be it from me to commit so great a crime. 
 I would not for the whole world disfigure the body of 
 my own father." The king said : " Without doubt you 
 are his son, and the others are changelings : to you, 
 therefore, I adjudge the ring." 
 
 Here the author closes his " Dactylotheca" or casket 
 of rings. 
 
 Metaphorically speaking, he fears it has been discovered 
 that he does not wear a ring of power / and that no tal- 
 ismanic ring is in his possession. And it may be that 
 some constrained position in which the writer has kept 
 his readers, will allow them to desire the use of cramp 
 rings for relief. If so, he would willingly " creep to 
 cross" to succor them : provided the ending of this essay 
 did not answer that purpose. 
 
 One thing the author will hope ; and it is this : that his 
 readers and he have fashioned the interesting token of 
 friendship a gimmal ring / and if it be so, then they will 
 pass from this work with the idea that they have one part 
 of such ring, while the writer may proudly hold to the 
 other, until some future essay shall bring author and 
 friends and the twin hoops of the gimmal together again. 
 With sucli a token upon his hand, he can waive a farO' 
 well. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abraxas stones, 95. 
 
 Ackmetchet, marriage at, 199. 
 
 Agate, its supposed magical and medi- 
 cal powers, 104. 
 
 Agnes, St., priest placing ring on 
 finger of statue, 141. 
 
 Alilstan, ring of, 89. 
 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, ring connected witli 
 the founding of, 13'8. 
 
 Alderman's tnumb-ring, 90. 
 
 Alexander's ring, 20, 66, 156. 
 
 Amethyst, its supposed magical and 
 medical powers, 100. 
 
 Amulet-rings found at Eltham, 120; 
 at Coventry, 121 ; in antique urns, 
 121 ; worn by physicians, 122 ; Dano- 
 Saxon amulet, 136; amulet against 
 storms, 136. 
 
 Andrea of Sicily and Jerusalem, 118. 
 
 Anglo-Saxon rings and workmen, 25. 
 
 Anne, Countess Dowager of Pem- 
 broke, 91. 
 
 Anne of Brittany sends ring to James 
 IV. of Scotland, 158. 
 
 Annulus pronub'us, 201. 
 
 Anseim, investiture by ring, 4; and 
 his miracles, 81. 
 
 Antiochus Epiphanes, ring of, 66. 
 
 Apis, sacred Egyptian bull, 32. 
 
 Arabian princesses, wearing rings with 
 little bells attached, 90. 
 
 Archbishop's investiture by ring, 80. 
 
 Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, 126. 
 
 Arnulph's dream about a ring, 81. 
 
 Artery, supposed, in the fourth finger, 
 47, 206. 
 
 Augustus, ring of, 67, 156. 
 
 Bagaley's account of Stanley, seventh 
 
 Earl of Derby, 181. 
 Baker, Sir Eichard, 141. 
 Balassius, (Kuby,) 102. 
 Belt, ring in the form of, 37. 
 
 Bertie, Eichard, receives diamond ring 
 from King of France, 159. 
 
 Betrothal rings : Grecian, 196 ; in Es- 
 thonia, 197; among the Copts, 198; 
 ceremony attendant on betrothal, 
 199, 201; betrothal rings in Ger- 
 many, 200. 
 
 Bishops, investiture by ring, 80, 83; 
 sealed with rings in early times, 85. 
 
 " Blood-stone" of Jeffreys, 184. 
 
 Bloody Baker, 141. 
 
 "Blue Eing," 174. 
 
 Borofia, Caesar, his poisoned ring, 144, 
 
 "Bot,"137. 
 
 Boyle, Eichard, (Great Earl of Cork,) 
 160. 
 
 Brand, Miss v., her vision, 125. 
 
 Bran of Brittany, 226. 
 
 Brian Borholme, 147. 
 
 Britons, rings worn by, 24, 25. 
 
 British Museum, rings in, 34. 
 
 Bronze rings, seldom used by Egyp- 
 tians, 26. 
 
 Bronze ring, widening by pressure, 
 37. 
 
 Bucentaur, the galley used on the Doge 
 marrying the sea, 73. 
 
 Bull (Apis) on a ring, 32. 
 
 Bvron, his mother's wedding-rinff, 
 189. ^ ' 
 
 C. 
 
 Caesar's ring, 156. 
 Caius Marius, 26. 
 California ring presented to President 
 
 Pierce, 43. 
 Cameo, its origin, 156. 
 Canute, King, discovery of his tomb, 
 
 body and ring, 70. 
 Carbuncle, 29. 
 Cardinal's ring, 83. 
 Carey, Eobert, Earl of Monmouth, 
 
 takes the " Blue Eing" to James on 
 
 Queen Elizabeth's decease, 174. 
 Catacombs of Eome, 39. 
 Cats cut upon Egyptian rings, 38. 
 
236 
 
 IKDEX. 
 
 Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, 49. 
 
 Chains of criminals made into rings to 
 cure diseases, 136. 
 
 Chalcedony, its supposed magical 
 power, 106. 
 
 Charlemagne, story connected with 
 founding Aix-la-Chapelle, 138. 
 
 Charles I., supposed ring of this mo- 
 narch given to a bov, 1 77 ; his ring 
 used by Sir Philip 'Warwick, 178; 
 mourning rings of this king, 179; 
 his hair used for rings, 180. 
 
 Charles IL, Duchess of Portsmouth 
 takes diamond rings from his hand 
 when on his death-bed, 183. 
 
 Charles VIII. of France, 145. 
 
 Charm rings, 93. 
 
 Cheops, ring of, 149. 
 
 Childeric, his tomb, body, ring, 71. 
 
 Christians, rings of early Christians, 
 39, 40. 
 
 Christians wearing talismanic rings, 
 119 ; symbolical figures on the rings 
 of early Christians, 203 ; Christian 
 marriage-ring copied from Komans, 
 205. 
 
 Coffin-nails or screws made into rings 
 to cure king's evil, 132. 
 
 Collar, pliable ring in the form of, 37. 
 
 College of Navarre, gives ring to 
 Crichton, 188. 
 
 Commonwealth of England, inclined 
 to abolish the ring in marriages, 
 208. 
 
 Convulsions cured by silver rings, 132. 
 
 Copts, betrothal ring used by them,198. 
 
 Coral, its supposed magical power, 107. 
 
 Cork, Earl of, 160. 
 
 Cornelian rings found near the Pyra- 
 mids, 26. 
 
 Cornelian, its magical and medical 
 powers, 100, 105. 
 
 Coronation rings, 67. 
 
 Council of Trent, in relation to mar- 
 riage, 195, 204. 
 
 Cramp rings, 128. 
 
 Cranmer usin^ the ring of Henry VIII. 
 before the Council, 72. 
 
 Creeping to cross, 130. 
 
 Crichton (the Admirable), ring given 
 to him by the College of Navarre,188. 
 
 Criminals, chains of, made into rings 
 to cure diseases, 136. 
 
 Croly's lines on a gem representing a 
 woman contemplating a household 
 god, 230. 
 
 Cupid and Psyche, on a Eoman signet, 
 214. 
 
 Cupid with butterflies, on a ring, 144. 
 
 D. 
 
 Daetylomancy, or divination by rings, 
 
 111. 
 Dactylotheca, Eoman name for cases 
 
 containing rings, 22, 155. 
 Dano-Saxon amulet, 136. 
 Darnley's ring, 173. 
 Death's-head rings, 30. 
 Devereux, Earl of, ring given by Queen 
 
 Elizabeth to, 162. 
 De Vesci, King John's bad conduct 
 
 towards the wife of, 157. 
 Diamond, 41 ; on swivel in ring, 49 ; 
 
 its magical and medical powers, 
 
 100, lOi. 
 Divination by rings. 111, 112. 
 Doge marrying the sea, 73 ; his ring 
 
 of office, 75. 
 " Dolzbote," 138. 
 Domestic deities of the Eomans, small 
 
 iron rings used for, 229. 
 Drennan, Dr., his lines to his wife with 
 
 a ring, 232.' 
 Dschemid, said to have introduced the 
 
 ring, 16. 
 Dundee, ring in memory of the great 
 
 Dundee, 187. 
 
 E. 
 
 Edward, St., rin^ of, 128. 
 Edward the Confessor's ring, 157. 
 Egyptians, their rinp, 17, 21, 26, 27, 
 
 34, 35; on what fingers worn, 47, 
 
 48 ; no evidence that they used a 
 
 marriage-ring, 196. 
 Eldon, Lord, desired his ring to be 
 
 buried with him, 225. 
 Eleusinian mysteries, rings given to 
 
 the initiated, 96. 
 Elizabeth of Poland, talismanic ring 
 
 given by her to her son Andrea, 118. 
 Elizabeth, Queen, medicinal ring sent 
 
 to her by Lord Chancellor Hatton, 
 
 124; ring given by her to Essex, 
 
 162; her death, 164; ring given by 
 
 her to Mary of Scotland, 168. ^ 
 Elk's horn, piece of, worn in ring to 
 
 cure epilepsy, 135. 
 Emerald, its supposed medical and 
 
 magical powers, 100, 103. 
 Epilepsy cured by wearing ring, 133, 
 
 135. 
 Essex-ring, 162, et seq. 
 P^sthonia, betrothal rings in, 197. 
 Eternity, ring an emblem of, 21. 
 Ethelw'oulf, ring of, 156. 
 Etruscan rings, 35, 36. 
 Evil eye, charm-rings to act against it, 
 
INDEX 
 
 237 
 
 Execustus, his two enchanted rings, 
 112. 
 
 F. 
 
 Fingers on which rings are worn, 45, 
 46, 67, 86, 202 ; finger for betrothal 
 ring, 201, 202; finger for wedding 
 ring, 206. 
 
 Fish, rings found in, 59. 
 
 " Fisherman's King," 77. 
 
 Fits, cured by ring, 132, 133. 
 
 G. 
 
 Gallienus frightening a dishonest jew- 
 eller, 57. 
 
 Galvanic rings, 135. 
 
 Gambler's rings, 145. 
 
 Gauls, rings used by, 24. 
 
 German betrothal ring, 200. 
 
 Gesta Bomanorum^ story from, 233. 
 
 Gibbet, iron from it made into rings 
 to cure diseases, 136. 
 
 Gimmal ring, 192. 
 
 Gimmow (or Gimmal) ring, 192. 
 
 Godwin, Earl, 11, 12. 
 
 Gold rings, generally used by the 
 Egyptians, 26 ; Eoman gold rings, 27. 
 
 Gray bequeaths his rings, 220. 
 
 Greeks, inscriptions on their rings, 36 ; 
 had the wedding and betrothal ring, 
 195, 196. 
 
 Greek urns, rings in, 18. 
 
 Gresham, Sir Thomas, his gimmal 
 ring, 194. 
 
 Gyges, ring of, 126. 
 
 Hand, on which hand rings arc worn, 
 45, 47 ; with thumb and two fore- 
 fingers extended, 83. 
 
 Hannibal's ring, 154. 
 
 Hathaway, Anne, lines to, (note,) 11. 
 
 Hatton, Chancellor, sending medicinal 
 ring to Queen Elizabeth, 124. 
 
 Hebrews, wore a number of rings, 49 ; 
 as to their using a marriage-ring, 
 196-7. 
 
 Heliogabalus, never wore the same 
 ring twice, 46. 
 
 Henry IT. of England, his tomb, body, 
 ring, 71. 
 
 Heraldry, ring in, 58. 
 
 Herbert^s enigma, 62. 
 
 Household gods of the Romans, small 
 iron rings for, 229 ; Croly's lines on 
 a gem representing a woman con- 
 templating a household deity, 230. 
 
 Hyacinth, its supposed medical and 
 magical powers, 102. 
 
 Hynd Horn, ballad of, 115. 
 
 I. J. 
 
 Indian Brahmins, 95. 
 
 Innocent 111. ordered the celebration 
 ofmarriage through the church, 195. 
 
 Inscriptions on Greek and Roman 
 rings, 36. 
 
 Investiture by ring and staff, 80, 81, 82. 
 
 Ireland, diamond found in, 41. 
 
 Iron, rings of, 26, 27, 94, 229 ; iron 
 from gibbets made into rings to cure 
 diseases, 136 ; iron rings containing 
 the Prussian maiden's hair, 191. 
 
 Ivory rings worn by the Egyptians,27. 
 
 Jacinth, its supposed medical and 
 magical powers, 102. 
 
 James IV. of Scotland, receiving a 
 turquoise ring from Anne of Brit- 
 tany, 158. 
 
 Jasper, its supposed superior healing 
 and magical powers, 99, 105. 
 
 Jeffreys and his "Blood-stone," 184. 
 
 Jewish marriage, and use of ring at it, 
 208. 
 
 Joan of Naples, 118. 
 
 John, King of England, his bad con- 
 duct in relation to the wife of De 
 Vesci, 157. 
 
 Johnson, Dr., his care of his wife's 
 wedding-ring, 222. 
 
 Joseph, ring given by Pharaoh to, 66, 
 151. 
 
 Judah and Tamar, 20. 
 
 Kean the elder, his ring, 189. 
 
 Kerouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth, 
 takes two diamond rings from the 
 hand of Charles 11. when in his 
 death-throes, 183. 
 
 Key, ring with a key attached, 196. 
 
 King's evil cured by ring made from 
 coffin-nails or screws, 132. 
 
 Kings of Scotland, ring used at their 
 coronation, bequeathed by Cardinal 
 York to Prince Regent, 188. 
 
 Lacedemonians, as to their inventing 
 
 seal-rings, 17. 
 Lambert Linkin, ballad of, 114. 
 Law of rings, 50. 
 Lawyers in Rome, clients presenting 
 
 them with rings, 23. 
 Lines with a ring, 232. 
 L'Isle, Lord, 158. 
 Lituus, 23. 
 
 Louis IX. of France, 58. 
 Love's Telegraph, 54. 
 
238 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 M. 
 
 Mad-stone, (note,) 109, 
 Madoc's ring, 157. 
 Magnet in a ring, 31. 
 Marriage, 
 Church 
 
 195 1 mail iwo'^ '7 / 
 
 Marriage-ring, Grecian and Koman, 
 195 l96 2i6 ; used at Ackmetciiet, 
 199'; marriage-rings had inserip- 
 
 Pallas, freed-man of Claudius, ring of, 
 
 19. 
 Papal ring, 76, 78. 
 Pearls, 28. 
 Pelican and young upon a rmg, 225. 
 
 et in a rmg, 31. , 4.1 ^ Pelican and young upon a rmg, 225. 
 
 age, its ceremony through Uie p^^^^.^^^^ Anne, Countess Dowager 
 ii^ch, ordained bv Innocent III., 1 . g^^ 
 
 ; marriage at Ackmetchet, 19 J. 1 pej-^jans, their seal-rings, 52, 67; 
 o.o_r;n(T Grecian and Koman, \ v^- i^^^^^^ri -mahp^ n T^rftse.nt of a 
 
 199 ; marriage-riug u^^- oT- 99A Pliara 
 
 tions, others a sealing part, 21o. 220, 
 
 9.9.1 : ancient one of silver with in- , p^^^. 
 
 ierct, , 
 
 presented to, 43 
 
 bridegroom makes a present of a 
 
 ring, 198. ^ ^ ^^ 
 
 Pharaoh's ring given to Joseph, 66, 
 
 221 ; ancient one of silver witn in- ^ pj^ j^j^ans' rings, 49, 122. 
 scription, 220. . . i Pierce, Franklin, ring from California 
 
 Mary, Queen of Scots, talismamc ring ' .. .^ 
 
 ary, (^ueen or ocots, xausmuuiv. xxi.g , presented to, 43. 
 
 offered to her by Lord Ruthven, 119 ; p.^ Albert, anecdote of, 49. 
 
 her nuptial ring, 168, 170; portrait pj^^^ ^^ ^ ^^^ of^ 79. 
 
 of Mary in a ring at Bolsover Castle, pwue-rings, 136. 
 
 171 ; a ring (one portion) sent to p^j^g^^ carried in ] 
 
 ; Poison carried in rings, 38, 154. 
 
 her by Queen Ehzabeth, 171. Pompeii, marriage-ring found at, 19b. 
 
 :atilda, wife of the Conqueror, her p^^^J^^yg ^.j^g^ 155. 
 tomb, body, ring, 71. . Pope\ ring, 17, 78. 
 
 :atrons of Warsaw, part with their p^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ bequeathed nngs^ 222. 
 ducats for Polish p^^^jglain rings worn by the Egyp- 
 
 Matr . 
 
 rings to coin into 
 
 struggle, 190. 
 Medicinal rings, 122, 123, 124, 136 
 Mei Amot-es, upon a ring, 144. 
 Mexican officers' rings, 154 
 
 tians, 27. -, . i 
 
 Portsmouth, Duchess of, her taking 
 
 diamond rings from the hand ot 
 
 Charles II. in the death throes, 183. 
 
 the first 
 
 ring, 10, 10. 
 . Prussian maiden and the sacnhce ot 
 under the influence of precious , j^^j. j^^ir, 190. 
 
 stones, 56. Puritans set against the wedding-ring, 
 
 Moore, his mother's gift of her wed- ^ 208. 
 ding-ring, 223. I 
 
 N ^ 
 
 Name-rin^s 55. ' ' Eichard II., directions in his wiU, 71. 
 
 Navarre, 'College of, gives ring to Riddle on a ring, 62. 
 
 Crichton, 188. : Ring-droppmg, 145. 
 
 Nelson, memorial rings of; 188. | Ring-money, 13. _ 
 
 Nero's rincr 156. ' Roman Catholic marriages, 208. 
 
 Nottincrham, Countess of, and her con- Roman flute players, nngs worn by, 
 
 nectimi with the Essex ring, 163. j 23. ,-o ;vpn to bv 
 
 Newton, Sir Isaac, his magnet-nng, Roman lawyers, rings given to, oy 
 
 31 ; his tooth set in a ring, 189. | clients, 23. . . _ 
 ' : Roman urns, rings in, 19. ^ 
 
 O. ' Roman rings, 36 ; marriage-nngs, 195. 
 
 O' Neils of Ulster, and Turlough Lyn- Roman senators and their rings, 66. 
 
 noch, 190. . Roman slave, 146. 
 
 Opal, its supposed medical and magi- Roman knights, 24, 66, 90. 
 
 cal powers, 105. 
 Ordeal of touch, 137. 
 Order of the Ring, 51. 
 Orpine plant, inserted in rings, 215. 
 
 P. 
 
 Palatius, (Ruby,) 102. 
 
 Ruby, its supposed medical and mag- 
 ical powers, 102. , ^ ^ 
 
 Rubric, marriage m the Episcopal 
 Church governed by, 204, 205. _ 
 
 Ruthven, Lord, offers talismamc nng 
 to Mary, Queen of Scots, 119. 
 
 Rush-rings, 215. 
 
INDEX 
 
 239 
 
 s. 
 
 Sackvil, Duke of Dorset, ring given to 
 him by King James, 175. 
 
 St. Anne, ring of, 214. 
 
 Samothracian talismanic ring, 94. 
 
 Sapphire, its supposed medical and 
 magical powers, 104. 
 
 Scarabseus, form of seal, 17. 
 
 Sea-horse's tooth, Michaelis's medical 
 ring made of, 136. 
 
 Seal-rings, when first used by ladies, 
 26. 
 
 Sebert, his tomb, body, ring, 70. 
 
 Serjeants at law, their rings and the 
 ceremony relating to their presenta- 
 tion, 86. 
 
 Sessa, ring found at, 216. 
 
 Shakspeare's signet-ring, 10, 161 ; be- 
 queathed rings to his brother play- 
 ers, 222. 
 
 Shoes, rings with shape of soles of 
 shoes, 24, 
 
 Signets with Sanscrit inscriptions, 17 ; 
 importance given to signets in Eng- 
 land, 53. 
 
 Size of rings, Egyptian, 31, 32, 33. 
 
 Slave, Roman, 146. 
 
 Solomon's magic ring, 113. 
 
 Sonnet, by Davison, 195. 
 
 Sore cured by touch of ring-finger, 
 132, 133. 
 
 Spain, the power of a ^irl to compel 
 marriage when a ring has been 
 given, 198. 
 
 Stanley, seventh Earl of Derby, his 
 character and last gift of rings, 181. 
 
 Statues, rings on, 22, 23, 24. 
 
 Sterling's story of the " Onyx King," 
 116. 
 
 Storms, amulet against, 136. 
 
 " Sty" on the eye cured by rubbing 
 with wedding-ring, 132. 
 
 SuharrJiation^ the delivering of ring 
 and other gifts, 203. 
 
 Substances from which rings are form- 
 ed, 26. 
 
 Suphis, ring of, 149. 
 
 Simolk, Duchess of, 159. 
 
 Symbolum^ a term used for a ring, 13. 
 
 Syrian legend, 115. 
 
 T. 
 
 Talismanic rings, 93 ; their form, 96. 
 
 " Thee, Mary, with this ring I wed," 
 231. 
 
 Theseus, 14. 
 
 Thieves' rings, 145. 
 
 Thumb-rings, 90, 91, 92. 
 
 Toad-stonC; 107. 
 
 Topaz, its supposed medical and magi- 
 cal powers, 104. 
 
 Tm-M (betrothal) ring in Germany, 200. 
 
 Trent, Council of, 195, 204. 
 
 Tristram, had a mystical ring, 127. 
 
 Trophy, emblem on rings, 155. 
 
 Turlough Ljy^nnoch, his ring, 190, 
 
 Turquoise, its supposed medical ar-'. 
 magical powers, 106 ; turquoise ring- 
 sent by the Queen of Louis XII. ia 
 James IV. of Scotland, 158. 
 
 U. V. 
 
 Unguhis^ Oscan word for ring, 13. 
 Urns, rings in Greek urns, 18. 
 Urns, rings in Eoman urns, 19. 
 Value of some rings, 54. 
 Venus, story of placing ring on brazen 
 
 statue of this goddess, 139. 
 Virgin, the, story of placing ring on 
 
 finger of statue, 141. 
 
 W. 
 
 Walpole's poesy upon a ring, 63. 
 
 "Warsaw, matrons of, give their wed- 
 ding-rings to be coined in aid of the 
 Polish struggle, 190. 
 
 Warts, taken away by ring touching 
 them, 132. 
 
 Warwick, Sir Philip, intrusted with 
 use of the ring of Charles I., 178. 
 
 Washington bequeathed rings, 229. 
 
 Wedding-ring touching wart to take 
 it away, 132; rubbing on "sty" to 
 cure it, ib. ; Grecian and Eoman 
 wedding-rings, 195, 196: ^old-wiro 
 rings given away at weddings, 213, 
 215 ; ancient silver ring, 220. 
 
 Wliistle connected with a ring, 38. 
 
 Wire rings of gold given away at wed' 
 dings, 213. 
 
 Wound cured by touch of ring, 133. 
 
 Y. 
 
 York, Cardinal, his bequest of the ring 
 used by kings of Scotland on their 
 coronation, 188.. 
 
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