This ring, which belonged to the family of Graham of Duntrune, (representative of Viscount Dundee,) has, for several years, been lost or mislaid.[297]
A memorial of Nelson is left in some half-dozen of rings. In the place of a stone, each ring has a metal basso relievo representation of Nelson, half bust. The metal, blackish in appearance, forming the relief, being, in reality, portions of the ball which gave the Admiral his 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.[298]
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 eminent professors of the University, gave him a diamond ring (with a purse full of money) as a testimony of regard and favor.[299]
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.[300]
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 arrived; and Lord Byron exclaimed, “If it contains a consent, I will be married with this very ring.”[301] It does not appear whether it was really used. Strange, if it were! and singular that his lordship, so full of powerful 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-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.[302]
A few years ago the signet-ring of the famous Turlough Lynnoch was found at Charlemont in the county of Armagh, 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 distinguishing badge of a new order of baronets and they were created to aid by service or money for forces in subduing the O’Neils.[303]
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 was engraved: “We gave gold for the freedom of our country; and, like her, wear an iron yoke.” One evening, a party had assembled in the house of an inhabitant of Breslau. Among them, was a beautiful though poor maiden. Her companions were boasting what each had contributed towards the freedom of their country. Alas! she had no offering to proclaim—none to give. With a heavy heart she took her leave. While unrobing for the night, she thought she could dispose of her hair and, so, add to the public fund. With the dawn, she went to a hairdresser’s; related her simple tale; and parted with her tresses for a trifling sum, which she instantly deposited on an altar and returned to her quiet home. This reached the ears of the officers appointed each day to collect the various offerings; and the President received a confirmation from the hairdresser, who proposed to resign the beautiful hair, provided it was resold for the benefit of fatherland. The offer was accepted; iron rings were made, each containing a portion of hair; and these produced far more than their weight in gold.[304]