My endless love thy endless love should show,

And my heart flaming, for thy diamond glow.

R. H. S.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER ONE.
1. Interest and Importance attaching to Rings; Shakspeare’s Ring; Earl Godwin. 2. Words symbolum and ungulus. 3. Ring-money. 4. Rings in Mythology; Theseus; Prometheus, Inventor of the First Ring. 5. Seals from the Scarabæus. 6. Rings in Greek Urns. 7. Judah and Tamar; Alexander. 8. Ring a Symbol of Fidelity, Eternity and of the Deity. 9. Roman Rings. 10. Rings in German Caverns. 11. Rings of the Gauls and Britons. 12. Anglo-Saxon Workers in Metal. 13. Ladies’ Seal-rings. 14. Substance, Forms and Size of Rings; Number, and on what fingers worn; Pearls; Carbuncle; Death’s-head Rings. 15. Law of Rings. 16. Order of the Ring. 17. Rings found in all places. 18. Persian Signets. 19. Value of ancient Rings. 20. Love’s Telegraph, and Name-rings; Polish Birth-day Gifts. 21. Rings in Heraldry. 22. Rings in Fish. 23. Riddle. 24. Ring misapplied. 25. Horace Walpole’s Poesy on a Ring.[9]
CHAPTER TWO.
RINGS CONNECTED WITH POWER.
1. The Ring an Emblem of Power; Pharaoh; Quintus Curtius; Antiochus Epiphanes; Augustus; King of Persia; Egypt under the Ptolemies; Roman Senators; the Forefinger. 2. Rings used in Coronations; Edward the Second; Mother of Henry VIII.; Queen Elizabeth; Charles II.; Coronation Rings; Canute; Sebert; Henry II.; Childeric; Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror. 3. King withdrawing a Proceeding from the Council by the use of a Ring. 4. The Doge of Venice marrying the Adriatic. 5. The Ring of Office of the Doge. 6. The Fisherman’s Ring. 7. Papal Ring of Pius II. 8. Investiture of Archbishops and Bishops by delivery of a Ring; Cardinal’s Ring; Extension of the two Forefingers and Thumb. 9. Serjeant’s Ring. 10. Arabian Princesses. 11. Roman Knights. 12. Alderman’s Thumb Ring.[65]
CHAPTER THREE.
RINGS HAVING SUPPOSED CHARMS OR VIRTUES, AND CONNECTED WITH DEGRADATION
AND SLAVERY,OR USED FOR SAD OR WICKED PURPOSES.
1. Antiquity of Amulets and Enchanted and Magical Rings; Samothracian Rings; Double Object in Amulets; Substance and Form of them. 2. Precious Stones and their Healing or Protective Powers: Jasper; Diamond; Ruby; 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; Cæsar; Augustus and Nero. 3. Cameo. 4. Ethelwoulf; Madoc; Edward the Confessor; King John; Lord L’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 Prussian Maiden.[148]
CHAPTER FIVE.
RINGS OF LOVE, AFFECTION AND FRIENDSHIP.
1. The Gimmal or Gimmow Ring. 2. Sonnet by Davison. 3. Church Marriage ordained by Innocent III.; and, Marriage-Ring. 4. Rings used in different countries in Marriages and on Betrothment: Esthonia; the Copts; Persia; Spain; Ackmetchet in Russia. 5. Betrothal Rings. 6. Signets of the first Christians. 7. Laws of Marriage. 8. Wedding Finger; Artery to the Heart; Lady who had lost the Ring Finger. 9. Roman Catholic Marriages. 10. Marriage-Ring during the Commonwealth. 11. Ring in Jewish 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 Mother. 21. The Ship Powhattan. 22. Ring of Affection illustrated by a Pelican and Young. 23. Bran of Brittany. 24. Rings used by Writers of Fiction; Shakspeare’s Cymbeline. 25. Small Rings for the Penates; Lines to a Wife with the gift of a Ring. 26. Story from the “Gesta Romanorum.”[192]