Rambles of an Archaeologist Among Old Books and in Old Places Part 7

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figs. 149 and 150.]

A very early ring, with an unusual pretty poesy, is in the collection of J. Evans, Esq., F.S.A., and is engraved (Fig. 148). It is of gold, set with a small sapphire, and is inscribed--IE. SVI ICI EN LI'V D'AMI--["I am here in place of a friend]." It was probably made at the beginning of the fourteenth century. Fig. 149 is chased with the Nortons' motto, "G.o.d us ayde;" and Fig. 150 is inscribed withinside with the sentence, "Mulier, viro subjecta esto." Both are works of the fifteenth century.

In Bromsgrove Church, Staffordshire, are the fine monumental effigies of Sir Humphrey Stafford and his wife (1450), remarkable alike for the rich armour of the knight and the courtly costume of the lady. She wears a profusion of rings, every finger, except the little finger of the right hand, being furnished with one. They exhibit great variety of design, and are valuable as exponents of the fashion of that day. We engrave in Fig. 151 the hands of the lady, as uplifted in prayer, with four of the rings, the full size of the originals.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 151.]

Recurring to the ancient people whose sacred records gave us the earliest knowledge of the use of rings, we may profitably devote some attention to the very beautiful rings, formerly used by the Hebrews for betrothals and weddings. The Londesborough collection furnishes us with the two fine examples engraved in Figs. 152 and 153. They are often termed "tower rings," from the figure of the sacred temple placed on their summit. In the first specimen it takes the form of a s.e.xagonal building, with a domed roof of an Eastern character; in the second it is square, with a deeply pitched roof, having movable vanes at the angles, and is probably the work of some German goldsmith. Upon the roof of the first is inscribed in enamelled letters the best wish--"joy be with you"--that a newly-married couple would command. The same words are inscribed in more richly-designed letters on the curve of the second ring. Both are of gold, richly chased, enamelled, and enriched by filigree work, and are sufficiently stately for the most imposing ceremonial.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 152.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 153.]

A third Hebrew ring of less striking appearance, but of equal or greater curiosity, is also engraved from the same rich collection, in Fig. 154.

It bears on its surface a representation (in high relief) of the temptation of our first parents, who are surrounded by various animals, real and imaginary, their joint residents in Paradise. The workmanship of all these rings has been dated to the commencement of the sixteenth century.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 154.]

We close our series with a wedding-ring, commemorative of a marriage which excited the marked attention of the entire Christian community, as a vigorous protest against monkery by that "solitary monk that moved the world"--Martin Luther. Renouncing the faith of Rome, he revoked his vow of celibacy, and completed his total severance from its creed by marrying a lady who had been once a nun, named Catharine Boren. The ring, here engraved, is that used on the occasion. It is of elaborate design and execution; a group of emblems of the Saviour's Pa.s.sion, the pillar, the scourge, the spear, and various other objects, combine with a representation of the Crucifixion, a small ruby being set in the centre of the ring above the head of the Saviour. We engrave this most interesting object of personal decoration as it appears to the eye, and also the full design _in plano_; beneath it are the names and date inscribed on the inside of the ring.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 155.]

CHAPTER III.

MODERN RINGS.

The period known as mediaeval commences with the fall of ancient Rome under the Gothic invasion, and concludes with the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453. The modern era therefore commences in the middle of the fifteenth century, during the reign of Henry VI.

As private wealth increased, finger-rings became much more ornamental; to the art which the goldsmith and jeweller devoted to them, was added that of the engraver and enameller. Fig. 156, from the Londesborough collection, is decorated with floral ornament, engraved and filled with green and red enamel colours. The effect on the gold is extremely pleasing, having a certain quaint sumptuousness peculiarly its own. Fig.

157 is a fine specimen, from the same collection, of a signet-ring, bearing "a merchant's mark" upon its face. These marks varied with every owner, and were as peculiar to himself as is the modern autograph; they were a combination of initials or letter-like devices, frequently surmounted by a cross, or a conventional sign, believed to represent the sails of a ship, in allusion to their trading vessels. The marks were placed upon the bales of merchandize, and were constantly used where the coat-armour or badge of persons ent.i.tled to bear arms would be placed.

The authority vested in such merchants' rings is curiously ill.u.s.trated in one of the historical plays on the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth, written by Thomas Heywood, and to which he gave the quaint t.i.tle, "If you know not me, you know n.o.body." Sir Thomas Gresham, the great London merchant, is one of the princ.i.p.al characters, and in a scene where he is absent from home, and in sudden need of cash, he exclaims, "Here, John, take this seal-ring; bid Timothy presently send me a hundred pound."

John takes the ring to the trusty Timothy, saying, "Here's his seal-ring; I hope a sufficient warrant." To which Timothy replies, "Upon so good security, John, I'll fit me to deliver it." Another merchant, in the same play, is made to obtain his wants by similar means:--

"---- receive thou my seal-ring: Bear it to my factor; bid him by that token Sort thee out forty pounds' worth of such wares As thou shall think most beneficial."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 156.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 157.]

The custom must have been common to be thus used in dramatic scenes of real life, which the plainest audience would criticise. These plays were produced in 1606, and serve to show that the value attached to a seal-ring descended from very ancient to comparatively modern times.

In the Waterton collection is a ma.s.sive gold signet-ring, with the rebus of the Wylmot family quaintly designed in the taste of the fourteenth century. In the centre is a tree; on one side of it the letters WY, and on the other OT. Supposing the tree to be an _elm_, the name reads Wy-_elm_-ot, or Wylmot.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 158.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 159.]

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries religious figures were frequently engraved on rings. Fig. 158 represents a ring upon which is very delicately engraved a representation of St. Christopher bearing the Saviour on his shoulder across an arm of the sea, in accordance with the old legendary history of this saint. The circle is formed by ten lozenges, each of which bears a letter of the inscription, =de boen cuer=.

The figure of St. Christopher was used as an amulet against sudden death--particularly by drowning; for it was popularly believed that no sudden or violent death could occur to any person on any day when he had reverently looked upon this saint's effigy. Hence it was not uncommon for charitable individuals to place such figures outside their houses, or paint them on the walls. There is a colossal figure (and St.

Christopher was said to have been of gigantic stature), thus painted, beside the great gate of the ancient city of Treves, on the Moselle.

The enameller and engraver were both employed on the ring Fig. 159, also from the Londesborough collection. The hoop is richly decorated, with quaint floriated ornament cut upon its surface, and filled in with _niello_, then extensively used by goldsmiths in enriching their works, as it is still in Russia. This beautiful ring is inscribed withinside with the motto =mon cor plesor=--"my heart's delight"--and was doubtless a _gage d'amour_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 160.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 161.]

Of Elizabeth of England and Mary of Scotland, interesting mementoes are preserved in the shape of rings. Fig. 160 represents the gold signet-ring of Mary, now preserved in the British Museum. Upon the face is engraved the royal arms and supporters of Scotland, with the motto IN . DEFENS, and her initials M.R. But the most curious portion of the ring is the inner side of the seal, as shown in the cut, where a crowned monogram is engraved, which might have been an unsolved enigma, but for the existence in our State Paper Office of a letter written by Mary to Queen Elizabeth, in which she has drawn this identical monogram after signing her name. Sir Henry Ellis, who first traced out this curious history, says, "It is clearly formed of the letters M and A (for Mary and Albany), and gives countenance to the opinion that the written monogram was intended for Elizabeth and Burleigh to study; the subsequent creation of the t.i.tle of Duke of Albany in Lord Darnley ultimately opening their eyes to the enigma." Elizabeth's intense dislike to the Darnley marriage is well known, as she endeavoured to force Mary into a match with one of her own favourites, the Earl of Leicester.

The Waterton collection boasts a gem of no inferior interest in connection with this unhappy marriage. It is the ring of Henry, Lord Darnley, husband to Mary Queen of Scots. On the bezel it bears the two initials M.H. united by a lover's knot, and within the hoop the name engraved of HENRI . L . DARNLEY, and the year of the marriage, 1565. The cut, Fig. 161, shows the face of the ring with the initials; below is engraved a fac-simile of the interior of the ring as a plane surface.

Queen Elizabeth's history, and that of her unfortunate favourite, the Earl of Ess.e.x, has a tragic story connected with a ring. The narrative is popularly known, and may be briefly told. It is said that the queen, at a time when she was most pa.s.sionately attached to the earl, gave him a ring, with the a.s.surance that she would pardon any fault with which he might be accused when he should return that pledge. Long after this, when he was condemned for treason, she expected to receive this token, and was prepared to have granted the promised pardon. It came not. The queen was confirmed in the belief that he had ceased to care for her, and pride and jealousy consigned him to the death of a traitor. But the earl had, in the last extremity of despair, entrusted the ring to the Countess of Nottingham, wife of the Lord High Admiral, an enemy to the unfortunate Ess.e.x, who forbade his wife to take any proceedings in the matter, but to conceal the trust entirely, and secrete the ring. When the countess lay upon her death-bed, she sent for her royal mistress, for the first time told her guilt, "and humbly implored mercy from G.o.d and forgiveness from her earthly sovereign, who did not only refuse to give it, but having shook her as she lay in bed, sent her, accompanied with most fearful curses, to a higher tribunal." Such is the awful account of the scene by Francis...o...b..rne. Dr. Birch says the words used by Elizabeth were, "G.o.d may forgive you, but I never can." It was the death-blow to the proud old queen, whose regret for the death of Ess.e.x could not be quenched by her pride and belief in his ingrat.i.tude. A confirmed melancholy settled upon her; she died lonely and broken-hearted.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 162.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 163.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 164.]

This ring is now in the possession of the Rev. Lord John Thynne, and three views of it are given in Figs. 162, 163, and 164. It is of gold, of extremely delicate workmanship throughout. A cameo head of the queen is cut on hard onyx and set as its central jewel; the execution of this head is of the highest order, and may possibly have been the work of Valerio Vincentino, an Italian artist who visited England and cut similar works for Elizabeth and Burleigh. It is one of the most minute but the most striking likenesses. The hoop of the ring is enriched with engraving, and the under surface decorated with floriated ornament, relieved by blue enamel. It has descended from Lady Frances Devereux, Ess.e.x's daughter, in unbroken succession from mother and daughter, to the present possessor. Although the entire story has met with disbelievers, the most sceptical must allow that whether this be _the_ ring or not, it is valuable as a work of art of the Elizabethan era.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 165.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 166.]

A ring possessing even greater claim to notice, but depending for its appropriation on its own internal evidence, is the next on our list (Figs. 165 and 166). It purports to be the seal-ring of William Shakspere, and was found March 16, 1810, by a labourer's wife, in the mill close adjoining Stratford-on-Avon churchyard. It pa.s.sed into the possession of R. B. Wheler, Esq., the historian of the town; and his sister, at his death, presented it to the museum of Shaksperian relics formed in the birthplace of the poet. It is of gold, weighing 12 dwts.; having the initials W.S. braced together by a ta.s.selled cord; the only other ornament upon the ring being a band of pellets and lines on the outer edge of the bezel.

Is it Shakspere's? It is evidently a gentleman's ring, and of the poet's era. It is just such a ring as a man in his station would fittingly wear--gentlemanly, but not pretentious. There was but one other person in the small town of Stratford at that time to whom the same initials belonged. This was one William Smith, but _his_ seal is attached to several doc.u.ments preserved among the records of the corporation, and is totally different.[136-*] Mr. Halliwell, in his "Life of Shakspere,"

observes that "little doubt can be entertained that this ring belonged to the poet, and it is probably the one he lost before his death, and was not to be found when his will was executed, the word _hand_ being subst.i.tuted for _seal_ in the original copy of that doc.u.ment."[136-]

In the great poet's will, five of his friends have bequests of memorial rings. Two are his townsmen, Hamlett Sadler and William Raynoldes, who each have twenty-six shillings and eightpence left them "to buy them ringes;" the other three being the actors ("my fellows," as he affectionately terms them) John Heminge, Richard Burbage, and Henry Condell,[137-*] each of whom has a similar sum.

Rings were at this time an almost necessary part of the toilet of a gentleman; they indicated rank and character by their style or their devices. Hence the wills and inventories of the era abound with notices of rings, many persons wearing them in profusion, as may be seen in the portraits painted at this time. The Germans particularly delighted in them, and wore them upon many fingers, and upon different joints of the fingers, the forefinger especially; a custom still followed by their descendants. The ladies even wreathed them in the bands of their head-dresses. Rabelais speaks of the rings Gargantua wore because his father desired him to "renew that ancient mark of n.o.bility." On the forefinger of his left hand he had a gold ring, set with a large carbuncle; and on the middle finger one of mixed metal, then usually made by alchemists. On the middle finger of the right hand he had "a ring made spire-wise, wherein was set a perfect balew ruby, a pointed diamond, and a Physon emerald of inestimable value."

Italy now furnished the most splendid and tasteful jewellery; the workmen of Venice exceeding all others. The Londesborough collection supplies us with a graceful example, Fig. 167. The claws support the setting of a sharply-pointed pyramidal diamond, such as was then coveted for writing on gla.s.s. It was with a similar ring Raleigh wrote the words on the window-pane--"Fain would I rise, but that I fear to fall"--to which Queen Elizabeth added, "If thy heart fail thee, do not rise at all;" an implied encouragement which led him on to fortune.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 167.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 168.]

In Burgon's life of Sir Thomas Gresham is engraved the wedding ring of that merchant-prince. "It opens horizontally, thus forming two rings, which are, nevertheless, linked together, and respectively inscribed on the inner side with a Scripture poesy. _Quod Deus conjunxit_ is engraved on one half, and _h.o.m.o non seperet_ on the other." It is here copied, Fig. 168.

In Ben Jonson's comedy, _The Magnetic Lady_, the parson compelled to form a hasty wedding asks--

"Have you a wedding ring?"

To which he receives as answer--