I have also to thank the publishers of this work for the liberal manner in which they have illustrated the text. Many of the engravings are from drawings taken from the gem-room of the British, and from other museums, and from rare and costly works on the Fine Arts, not easily accessible to the general reader. Descriptions of rings without pictorial representations would (as in the case of coins) materially lessen their attraction, and would render the book what might be termed ‘a garden without flowers.’
In conclusion I will adopt the valedictory lines of an old author, who writes in homely and deprecatory verse:
FOR HERDE IT IS, A MAN TO ATTAYNE
TO MAKE A THING PERFYTE, AT FIRST SIGHT,
BUT WAN IT IS RED, AND WELL OVER SEYNE
FAUTES MAY BE FOUNDE, THAT NEVER CAME TO LYGHT,
THOUGH THE MAKER DO HIS DILIGENCE AND MIGHT.
PRAYEING THEM TO TAKE IT, AS I HAVE ENTENDED,
AND TO FORGYVE ME, YF THAT I HAVE OFFENDED.
CONTENTS.
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| [I.] | Rings from the Earliest Period | [1] |
| [II.] | Ring Superstitions | [91] |
| [III.] | Secular Investiture by the Ring | [177] |
| [IV.] | Rings in connection with Ecclesiastical Usages | [198] |
| [V.] | Betrothal and Wedding Rings | [275] |
| [VI.] | Token Rings | [323] |
| [VII.] | Memorial and Mortuary Rings | [355] |
| [VIII.] | Posy, Inscription, and Motto Rings | [390] |
| [IX.] | Customs and Incidents in connection with Rings | [419] |
| [X.] | Remarkable Rings | [457] |
| Appendix | [499] |