Rings were probably the first ornaments ever worn, though in the
earliest ages they had a meaning far beyond mere adornment. The
stories of Judah and Tamar, of Pharaoh and Joseph, of Ahasuerus and
Haman, show that as pledges of good faith, as marks of favor, and as
tokens of authority, they were the recognized symbols. The fashion was
an Eastern one, for the Jews were familiar with it before their
sojourn in Egypt; indeed, it may have been one of those primeval
customs which Shem, Ham, and Japhet saved from the wreck of an earlier
world. Certainly the people of Syria and the lords of Palestine and
Tyre used rings in the earliest times; and it is remarkable that they
bore the same emblem which ancient Mexican rings bear,--the
constellation of Pisces. As an ornament, however, the ring is least
important; it is an emblem. The charmed circle has potency and
romance.
Great faith in all ages has been placed in charmed rings. Greeks
and Romans possessed them, and the Scandinavian nations had a
superstitious faith in such amulets; indeed, as chronicles declare,
it is hard to compute how much William was indebted for his
victory over Harold to the influence of the ring he wore, which had
been blessed and hallowed. As curative agencies, rings have also
played a curious part. Until the Georgian era, rings blessed by the
King or Queen on Good Friday were thought to control epilepsy and
other complaints, and something of this secret power is still
acknowledged by the superstitious, who wear around their necks rings
or coins that have been blessed. Rings have also been agencies for
death, as well as for life. In all ages they have been receptacles
for subtle poisons, and thus Hannibal and Demosthenes armed
themselves against an extremity of evil fortune.
In the life of the English Queen Elizabeth, rings had an extraordinary
importance. She was notified of her ascension to the throne by the
presentation of Mary's ring. The withholding of the ring sent by Essex
caused her to die in a passion of remorse and re-awakened affection;
and no sooner was the great struggle over than her ring was taken from
her scarcely cold finger and flung out of the window to Sir John
Harrington, who hastened over the Border with it to the Scottish James.
There are some curious traditions regarding the stones usually set in
rings. The ruby or carbuncle was thought to guard against illness. The
sapphire was the favorite of churchmen, and was thought to inspire
pure desires. Epiphanes says the first tables of the Law were written
on sapphires. The emerald bestowed cheerfulness and increased wealth.
The opal was said to make a man invisible, the jacinth to procure
sleep, and the turquoise to appease quarrels between man and wife.
Things are much changed, however, since heathen sages and Rosicrucian
alchemists defined the qualities and powers of gems. We have
commercial "rings" now, which laugh emerald ones to scorn as means of
procuring wealth. If the opal could make a man invisible, it might be
popular on the first of a month, but we have better narcotics than the
jacinth, while the elaborateness of our women's toilets gives husbands
manifold opportunities of peace-making, quite as successful as the
turquoise.
The Jews first used it in marriage. For this purpose they required it
to have a certain value, and to be finally and fully purchased. If it
was bought on credit, or taken as a gift, its power was destroyed. The
Christian Church early adopted the custom of the marriage ring. It was
placed first on the thumb, in the name of the "Father;" then removed
to the first finger, in the name of the "Son;" to the third with the
name of the "Holy Ghost;" and the "Amen" fixed its place on the
fourth.
Rings were also the emblem of spiritual marriage and dignity as early
as the third century. In the Romish Church the Episcopal ring is of
gold set with a rich gem. The Pope has two rings, one bearing the
likeness of St. Peter, used for ordinary business; the other bearing a
cross, and the heads of both Peter and Paul, and the reigning Pope's
name and arms. It is used only for Bulls, and is broken at the death
of the Pontiff; and a new one given by the city of Rome to his
successor. These rings of spiritual office were frequently worn on the
thumb, and when the tomb of Bede was opened in May, 1831, a large
thumb-ring was found where the right hand had fallen to dust.
The ring has been used not only for carnal and spiritual weddings, but
also for commercial ones. For six hundred years the Doges of Venice
married, with a gold ring, the Adriatic and its rich commerce to their
city on the sea. As an emblem of delegated or transmitted power, the
ring has also played a remarkable part in human affairs. Pharaoh and
Ahasuerus in Biblical records are examples. Alexander transferred his
kingdom to Perdicas with his ring. When Caesar received the head of
Pompey, he also received his ring, and when Richard the Second
resigned his crown to Henry of Lancaster, he did so by giving him his
ring. The coronation ring of England is of gold, in which is set a
large violet ruby, carved with the cross of St. George. The custom of
engraving sacred emblems upon rings for common wear was angrily
reproved by so early a sage as Pythagoras; and this heathen's delicacy
about sacred things is commended to the notice of those women of our
own day, who toss the holy symbol of our faith around the toilet
tables, and wear it in very unconsecrated places.
However, I have said enough to prove that the ring upon our finger is
a link between us and the centuries beyond the flood. We cannot escape
this tremendous solidarity of the human race. We are part of all that
has been, and the generations that follow us will look back to us and
say, "They were our fathers, and we are their heirs, and lo, we are
all one!"