powerful charm. Reynard the fox boasts have been commonly employed for superof the virtues of the ring he possessed stitious purposes. Thus rings of gold with the three names that Seth brought were thought to cure St. Anthony's fire; out of Paradise when he gave his father and Marcellus, a physician who lived in Adam the oil of mercy, and tells how, the reign of Marcus Aurelius, directed the whoever bears these three names, shall patient afflicted with pain in the side to never be hurt by thunder or lightning, wear a ring of pure gold, inscribed with nor by witchcraft, nor be tempted to sin, Greek letters, on a Thursday at the denor catch cold, though he lay three win-crease of the moon. The ring was to be ters' nights in the fields in the snow, frost, and storm. worn on the right hand if the pain was in the left side, and on the left hand if the pain was in the right side. Devotional rings, with the names of Jesus, Maria, and Joseph engraved on Brand acquaints us that in Berkshire a them, were used as a preservative against ring, made from a piece of silver collected the plague. The various figures engraved at the Communion, is a cure for convulon rings all had their hidden meaning, sions and fits of all kinds. If collected Thus Pegasus or Bellerophon was good on Easter Sunday, its efficacy is greatly for warriors, as it gave them boldness and increased. A silver ring made of five swiftness in flight. Orion made the sixpences collected from five different wearer victorious in war, and Mercury bachelors, to be conveyed by the hands gave wisdom and persuasion. The repre- of a smith, who is a bachelor, will cure sentation of St. Christopher was an amu- fits. None of the persons who give the let against sudden death, particularly by sixpences are to know for what purpose drowning, and that of Andromeda concil- they are collected. A ring made from iated love between man and woman. silver contributed by twelve young woHercules strangling the Nemean lion men, constantly worn on one of the fincured the colic, and protected the com-gers, cures epilepsy. Trallian, in the batant who wore it. A copper ring with the figure of a lion, a crescent, and a star worn upon the fourth finger, was considered to be a cure for the stone. A dog and a lion together preserved the wearer from dropsy or pestilence, and the hare was a defence against the devil. A figure of the imaginary cockatrice was worn as a talisman against the evil eye. This creature was supposed to be produced from a cock's egg, and is described by Sir Thomas Browne in his "Vulgar Errors" as having "legs, wings, a serpentine and winding tail, and a crest or comb somewhat like a cock." Its eye was so deadly as to kill by a look : Say thou but "I,” [aye] And that bare vowel "I" shall poison more Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice. "Romeo and Juliet," iii. 2. In the Londesborough collection is a very remarkable ring, on which is represented a toad swallowing a serpent, which illustrates an old superstition. There is a proverb that "a serpent to become a dragon must eat a serpent," and the same metamorphosis was supposed to take place with other crawling creatures, as appears in many allusions in the poets, so that this toad may be expected to turn into a dragon. Rings composed of different substances fourth century, cured the colic with the help of an octangular ring of iron on which eight words were engraven, and by commanding the bile to take possession of an unfortunate lark. Rings made from the chains of criminals and iron taken from a gallows were once in great repute for curing divers diseases. In Devonshire, rings were made of three nails or screws that had been used to fasten a coffin, or had been dug up out of a churchyard. Lead mixed with quicksilver was used as a preservative against headache. Rings were sometimes made to enclose a herb famed for healing virtues which was cut at certain times; and Josephus relates that a man drew devils out of those possessed by putting a ring, containing a root mentioned by Solomon, to the nostrils of the demoniac. Most precious stones were formerly supposed to be endowed with medicinal properties and virtues, and among thems jasper took the lead in value, Galen himself vouching for its admirable qualities from his own ample experience. It cured fevers and dropsies, stopped hæmorrhages, baffled the effects of witchcraft, and promoted parturition. Emerald jasper was pre-eminent in these qualities, and, moreover, insured chastity and continence to the wearer, on which account ecclesiastics wore emerald rings. In T. Cutwode's "Caltha Poetarum ; or, the Bumble Bee" (1599) is the follow- She ties a necklace underneath her chin And therefore, ladies, it behoves you well A compassionate turquoise that doth tell By looking pale the wearer is not well. However, the most wonderful virtue of all was that it protected its wearer from injury from falls, so that however serious the danger the stone only broke, and the wearer escaped unhurt. Anselmus de Boot or Boethius, in his work on "Precious Stones" (1609), gives a circumstan A jasper ring, with a runic inscription tial account of his own escapes from falls translated as Raise us from dust we pray to thee; due to his wearing a turquoise ring. The toadstone, also known as crapaudine and batrachites, was considered in old times as an amulet of the greatest power. It was a sovereign remedy for many disorders, and was sometimes lent to the sick, but only on a bond for its safe return, in which its value was rated was exhibited before the Society of Antiquaries in 1824. The runes used for magical and supernatural purposes are known by the general appellation of Ram-at a very large amount. Joanna Baillie runes, that is strong or bitter runes, and in a learned paper by Francis Douce ("Archæologia," vol. xxi.), they are classed as follows: 1. Malrunes used in considering and revenging injuries. 2. Sigrunes gave victory in all controversies to those who used them. 3. Limrunes, when marked on the bark or leaves of trees that inclined to the south, cured diseases. 4. Brunrunes, or fountain runes, used to insure safety at sea to men and property. 5. Hug or hogrunes were runes of the mind, and made their user excel all his companions in mental vigour. 6. Biargrunes used to protect lying-in wo men. art. 7. Swartrunes used in practising the black 8. Willurunes or deceitful letters. 9. Klaprunes were not written, but made by motions. 10. Trollrunes or devil letters were used for divination or enchantment. IL. Alrunes or alerunes destroyed the allure ments or deceits of strange women. writing to Sir Walter Scott in 1812, tells him of a toadstone ring which was repeatedly borrowed from her mother as a protection to new-born children and their mothers from the power of the fairies. In Ben Jonson's "Fox," (Act 2, scene 3), a ring of this kind is referred to : Or were you enamour'd on his copper rings, His saffron jewel, with toadstone in't! The toadstone was set open in a ring so that it should touch the finger, as one of its chief virtues was to burn the skin at the very presence of poison. It was of old supposed to be found in the heads of old toads, a belief which Shakespeare refers to in one of his most admired passages Sweet are the uses of adversity; Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, The credulous Lupton gives directions how to obtain the stone. He says an overgrown toad must be put into an earthen pot and placed in an ant's hilThe turquoise or Turkish stone was lock, when the ants will eat up the toad, supposed to have many and various good and the stone will be left in the pot. qualities that made it second only to This, he adds, “has often been proved." jasper in popular estimation. Shylock's To know whether a toadstone is true or ring that he would not have lost "for anot, Lupton says you must hold it before wilderness of monkies" was a turquoise. a toad so that he may see it. If it be This stone was believed to strengthen good the toad will leap towards it, and the sight and spirits of the wearer, to make as though he would snatch it from take away all enmity, and reconcile man you, "for he envieth so much that a man These were and wife, and to move when any peril was should have that stone." about to fall upon the wearer. This last the chief favourites of our ancestors, but quality is alluded to in Ben Jonson's many other stones and gems were highly Sejanus". prized for their qualities besides these three, thus agate rendered athletes invincible, cured the sick, and enabled its wearer to gain the love of all women. Amber was good against poison, and it is And true as turkoise in the dear Lord's ring And also by Dr. Donne st prized for its electrical qualities, and sorrow, and averted sudden death. qualities which take their name from it. When such blessings as these were supAmethyst was an antidote against drunk-posed to fall to the lot of the possessor of enness, and if the sun or moon was en- one of these precious stones, who can be graven upon it, it was a charm against susprised at the value set upon them? witchcraft. Bloodstone checked bleed- The old Greek poem on "Gems," which ing at the nose, if the words "sanguis goes by the name of Orpheus, contains a mane in te" were repeated three times full account of the magical qualities of on application. According to Monardes, stones, and the ring mentioned in the fola Spanish physician of the sixteenth cen-lowing passage from "Sir Percival of tury, the Indians of New Spain valued it Galles" (Thornton Romances) must have for this property. Carbuncle emitted been set with one of the jewels we have native light, and Martius, in "Titus An- enumerated above — dronicus," when he falls into a dark pit, discovers the body of Bassanius by the light of the jewel on the dead man's hand. Upon his bloody finger he doth wear A precious ring, that lightens all the hole, erty: On December 5, 1600, as I was travelling from Stuttgard to Calloa, in company with my beloved wife Catharine Adelmann, of pious memory, I observed most distinctly during the journey that a very fine ruby, her gift, which I wore set in a ring upon my finger, had lost once or twice almost all its splendid colour, and had put on obscurity in place of splendour, and darkness in the place of light, the which blackness and dulness lasted not for one or two days only, but several : so that being above measure alarmed, I took the ring off my finger and locked it up in my trunk. Wherefore I repeatedly warned my wife that some grievous misfortune was impending over either her or myself, as I had inferred from the change of colour in my ruby. Nor was I deceived in my forebodings, inasmuch as within a few days she was taken with a mortal sickness that never left her till her death. After her decease indeed, its former brilliant colour again returned spontaneously to my ruby. Sapphire possessed the same virtue as the bloodstone of checking bleeding at the nose. Topaz cured and prevented lunacy, increased riches, assuaged anger Siche a vertue es in the stane, Ther schold no dyntys hym dere Other things besides precious stones the rulers of the earth, and therefore need We do not always look for wisdom in not be surprised that a superstitious observance was upheld by the kings of England. Similar to the curious practice of touching for the king's evil was that of hallowing cramp rings. Every Good Friday the king hallowed with much ceremony certain rings, the wearers of which were saved from the falling sickness. The practice took its origin from a ring long preserved with great veneration in Westminster Abbey, which was supposed to have great efficacy against the cramp and falling sickness, when touched by those who were afflicted by either of those disorders. The ring was reported to have been brought to Edward the Confessor by some persons coming from Jerusalem, and to have been the same that he had long before given privately to a poor man who had asked alms of him for the love he bore to St. John the Evangelist. In the "Liber Niger Domus Regis Edw. IV." is the following entry: "Item to the kynge's offerings to the crosse on Good Friday out from the countyng-house for medycinable rings of gold and sylver delyvered to the jewel house xxvs." The practice was discontinued by Edward VI., but in the previous reign Anne Boleyn sent some rings to a Mr. Stephens, with the following letter:-"Mr. Stephens, I send you here cramp rings for you and Mr. Greg Ruby, E merald, At the time of O'Connell's agitation in ory and Mr. Peter, praying you to dis- Ireland rings and brooches were set with tribute them as you think best." Gal- the word Repeal thus: vanic rings are still worn, and are believed to cure rheumatism. We need only mention in passing such rings as were used for scientific and practical purposes, viz., meridian, solar, and astronomical rings, and at once treat of those which are connected with the af Ruby, A methyst, In one of these rings belonging to a gentleman the lapis lazuli dropped out, and he took it to a working jeweller in Cork to be repaired. When he got it back, however, he found topaz in place of the lapis lazuli, and therefore he told the workman a mistake had been made. No mistake," answered the jeweller, "it was Repeal; let us repeat, and we may have it yet." Names are sometimes represented on rings by the same means; and the Prince of Wales on his marriage to the Princess Alexandra gave her as a keeper one with the stones set so as to represent his familiar name of Bertie, as follows: fections. Inscriptions upon rings are now comparatively rare, but in old times they were common. It is supposed that the fashion of having mottoes, or "reasons" as they were called, was of Roman origin, for the young Romans gave rings to their lady-loves with mottoes cut on gems, such as "Remember," "Good luck to you," "Love me, and I will love thee." In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the posy was inscribed on the outside of the ring, and in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it was placed inside. In the year 1624 a little book was published with the following title: "Love's garland; or posies for rings, handkerchiefs, and gloves, and such pretty tokens that lovers send their loves." Some of these mottoes have become pretty well hackneyed in the course of years, thus the Rev. Giles Moore notes in his journal under the date 1673–4, “Bought for Ann Brett a gold ring, this being the posy - 'When The French have precious stones for this you see remember me.'" In some all the alphabet with the exception of f, cases instead of words the stones are madek, q, y, and z, and they obtain the words to tell the posy by means of acrostics, thus Souvenir and Amitié by the following to obtain Love the following arrangement means Beryl, I acinth, E merald. The fyancel or wedding ring is supposed to have originated at Rome, where it was usually given at the betrothal as a pledge of the engagement, and its primitive form was that of a signet or seal ring. 397 My songs they be of Cinthia's prayse, The practice of the wife wearing the be- | Quoth she, as a token of love you this take, trothed ring after marriage, and the hus- And this as a pledge I will keep for your sake. band the wedding ring, has been a comExeter Garland. mon one in Germany. The betrothed Among the Italians of the fifteenth and and wedding rings of Luther have been sixteenth centuries it was usual for ladies preserved safely in his native country, to give their lovers rings which contained The first is of gold elaborately worked their portraits, and were made with the with the various symbols of the Passion fede or two hands clasped. It was usual of the crucified Saviour, as the spear, the also for lovers to wear the rings given to hyssop, the rod of reeds, the dice, &c., them by their mistresses on holidays, as and the whole is surmounted with a ruby, we find ́in “England's Helicon " (1600) — the emblem of exalted love. Inside are the names of the betrothed pair, and the date of the marriage (Der 13 Junii, 1525). This ring was presented by Luther to Catharine Boren at the betrothal, and was worn by her then and after the marriage. The workmanship is very elegant, and it has been supposed that it was designed by the great reformer's friend Lucas Cranach, but the design was by no means an uncommon one. A gold ring was found in Coventry Park, near the Town Hall, in the autumn of 1802, by a person digging potatoes, on which was represented the Saviour rising from the sepulchre with the hammer, ladder, sponge, and other emblems of his passion by him. Five wounds were shown, which sented the wells of everlasting life, of mercy, pity, grace, and comfort. This was an amulet, and inside were inscribed the names of the three kings of Cologne. The wounds of Christ were often engraved upon rings, and Sir E. Shaw, alderman and goldsmith, directed by his will (circa 1487) that sixteen rings should be made of fine gold with representations of the wells of pity, mercy, and everlasting life, and given to his friends. repre The interchanging of rings was a prominent feature of the ancient betrothing ceremony, but appears not to have taken place at the marriage. When Proteus leaves Julia in the "Two Gentlemen of Verona," the lovers exchange rings Julia. - If you turn not, you will return the When this ring Parts from this finger, then parts life from hence : then be bold to say, Bassanio's dead! Imogen gives her husband Posthumus a ring when they part, and he gives her a bracelet in exchange. "Although," he says, "my ring I hold dear as my finger, 'tis part of it;" yet he gives it up to lachimo to test the virtue of his wife. In Beaumont and Fletcher's "Cupid's Revenge," a lady describes a man's presents to his mistress Given earrings we will wear! Sometimes the man gave a ring to his Wear both them, for both of them are thine. In Spain the gift of a ring is looked upon as a promise of marriage, and is considered sufficient proof to enable a girl to claim her husband. In the fifteenth century love rings occur with the orpine (Telephium), commonly called Mid |