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; 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.
§ 1. When Egypt is mentioned, the Pyramids rise in their sublimity—a sublimity made perfect by their vastness and mysterious age. We can fancy Abraham beholding them with awe, as, in the moonlight, they seemed to be awful and gigantic reflexes of his own tents looming into the heavens. We can imagine Alexander, rushing triumphantly on as the sun warmed and brightened their points; and Cambyses, within their shadow, horrifying the Egyptians by the destruction of their god Apis. We can hear, too, the modern destroyer, with the bombastic 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 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, Wilkinson, Vyse and Lepsius unrolling ages with the unwinding of papyrus and illuminated bandage.
Let us, however, attempt to sink these mighty mountains of man’s labor below the desert—upon which they 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 material employed, an impression of the signet-ring of Suphis had to be attached. Rings have been used for higher and holier things; but never for so vast a human purpose.
Now, bring up, once more, (through the mind’s enchantment,) the Pyramids, built upwards of two thousand years before the time of Christ, with 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 of New-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 collection to New-York for ever.[252]