“The resignation of the Ducal ring,
Which he had worn so long and venerably,”
he laid aside the Ducal bonnet and robes; surrendered his ring of
office, and cried out:
“There’s the Ducal ring,
And there the Ducal diadem. And so,
The Adriatic’s free to wed another.”
The ring was broken in his presence, and as nobly as the old Doge had
borne himself, whether when strangers were before him, or when his
son was tortured in his presence, (as an awful punishment for the
yearning of a young heart for childhood’s home,) so did this great
Venetian still act. He refused to leave the Ducal palace by a private
way. He would descend, he said, by no other than the same giant
stairs which he had mounted thirty years before. Supported by his
brother, he slowly traversed them. At their foot, leaning upon his
staff, for years of age were upon him, he turned towards the palace,
and accompanied a last look with these parting words: “My _services_
established me within your walls; it is _the malice of my enemies_
which tears me from them.” The bells of the Campanile told of his
successor. He suppressed all outward emotion, but a blood-vessel was
ruptured in the exertion and he died in a few hours.
§ 6. A Pope wears a ring of gold with a costly emerald or other
precious gem set in it.
The decrees of the Romish Court consist of bulls and briefs. The
latter are issued on less important occasions than the former. Briefs
are written upon fine white parchment, with Latin letters; and the
seal is what is called “The Fisherman’s Ring.” It is a steel seal,
made in the fashion of a Roman signet, (_signatorius annulus_.) When
a brief is written to any distinguished personage, or has relation
to religious or general important matter, the impression from the
Fisherman’s Ring is said to be made upon a gold surface; in some
other cases it appears upon lead; and these seals are generally
attached by strings of silk. Impressions of this seal are also made
in ink, direct upon the substance on which the brief is written.
The author has obtained a sight of an impression of the Fisherman’s
Ring, attached to a bull or brief in the archives of the Catholic
bishopric of New-York, and liberty to copy it for publication.[131]
The impression is in ink upon vellum or fine parchment, at the left
hand of the extreme lower corner, balancing the signature at the
other (lower) corner. We are not aware that a sketch has ever before
been made public.
[Illustration: (Fisherman’s Ring)]
A “Fisherman’s Ring” was used at a very early period; and no doubt
the original device has been renewed. The reader will observe the
antique form of the prow of the boat and oar, as well as the singular
flying drapery attached to the head of the figure.
When a pope dies, the cardinal chamberlain or chancellor
(_camerlengo_), accompanied by a large number of the high dignitaries
of the Papal Court, comes into the room where the body lies; and the
principal or great notary makes an attestation of the circumstance.
Then the cardinal chamberlain calls out the name of the deceased pope
three times, striking the body each time with a gold hammer; and as
no response comes, the chief notary makes another attestation. After
this, the cardinal chancellor demands the Fisherman’s Ring, and
certain ceremonies are performed over it; and then he strikes the
ring with the golden hammer, and an officer destroys the figure of
Peter by the use of a file. From this moment all the authority and
acts of the late pope pass to the College or Conclave of Cardinals.
When a new pope is consecrated, it is always the cardinal chancellor
or chamberlain who presents the renewed Fisherman’s Ring; and this
presentation is accompanied by imposing ceremonies.
Gavazzi, who tilts at every matter which may appear mystically
Catholic, just as an excited bull runs at a red mantle, says: “The
Fisherman’s Ring now in use is most valuable, and would hardly square
with the simplicity of Peter;”[132] and he remarks, in reference to
the present Pope: “This man has on one of his fingers a splendid
ring, composed of diamonds and pearls of great price, and this ring
of $8,000 is called the Fisherman’s Ring; it symbolizes the ring of
poor St. Peter, which cost, perhaps, two cents.” Gavazzi must be in
error. A ring like that of the “Fisherman’s,” subject to be destroyed
on the death of a pope, would not be surrounded by brilliants; and
the fact that this ring is used as a signet to impress a gold or
leaden surface, or even vellum, carries with it the conviction that
it would not be encircled with precious stones and pearls; for,
independent of the chance of injury, they would impede an impression.
It is very possible that the official ring, bearing an emerald, and
which a pope wears as Bishop of Rome, might be further ornamented.
We have been favored with a sight of a ring used by the present
Archbishop of New-York, which is composed of an extra large oblong
emerald of beautiful color, surrounded by brillants. This ring is
worn on the fourth finger of the right hand.
Horace Walpole refers to his friend Mr. Chute’s playfully using an
expression which couples itself with the fisherman’s ring: “Mr. Chute
has received a present of a diamond mourning ring from a cousin; he
calls it _l’annello del Piscatore_. Mr. Chute, who was unmarried,
meant that his cousin was _fishing_ for his estate.”
[Illustration: (Pope Pius II. Ring Laid Flat)]
[Illustration: (Pope Pius II. Ring Two Views)]
§7. There is a massive ring extant, chased with the arms of Pope Pius
the Second.[133] It is of brass, and has been thickly gilt. It is
set with a topaz, the surface of which has lost its polish. On the
hoop of the ring are chased the arms of Pope Pius the Second, of the
family of Picolomini, the papal tiara, and this inscription, _Papa
Pio_. The stone is set in a massive square facet, carried up to a
considerable height above the finger; and on each of the four sides
is placed, in relief, one of the four beasts of the Revelation, which
were used to typify the Evangelists. Pope Pius the Second is better
known by his literary name of Æneas Sylvius. His works, which include
a History of Europe, a History of Bohemia and a long series of
letters, have passed through several editions. He was elected Pope in
1418, and died in 1464. This ring is considerably larger in size than
the rings usually found buried with bishops, and which were probably
what they received on their consecration. It must have been intended
to have been worn over a glove. It seems to have been a state ring
worn on one of those occasions when all Christendom came to receive
his benediction.
The estates and honors which composed the ecclesiastical
temporalities were considered to partake of the nature of fiefs;
and, therefore, to require similar investiture from the chief lord.
Charlemagne is said to have introduced this practice and to have
invested a newly consecrated bishop by placing a ring and crosier in
his hands.
By a Concordat at Worms, Henry V. resigned for ever all pretence to
invest bishops by the ring and crosier.
§ 8. During the times of the early British kings, it was a rule for
the monarch to invest archbishops and bishops, by delivery of a ring
and the pastoral staff. Anselm was hurried into the presence of
William Rufus, in order to be made Archbishop of Canterbury.[134] He
hesitated, because he was subject to Normandy, and the way in which
the holy men around him acted, savors very much of a portion of the
hurly-burly of a popular democratic election. When no argument could
prevail, the bishops and others who were present clapped the pastoral
staff into his hands, forced the ring upon his finger, shouted for
his election and bore him by force into the church, where _Te Deum_
was sung. This right of investiture became a serious matter of
dispute in the time of Anselm.
Miracles have been attributed to Anselm. A Flemish nobleman was cured
of a leprosy by drinking the water in which Anselm had washed his
hands; and a ship, wherein he sailed, having a large hole in one of
her planks, nevertheless took in no water so long as the holy man was
on board.[135]
From the reign of Charlemagne, sovereign princes took upon them
to give the investiture of the greater benefices by the ring and
pastoral staff.[136] Gregory VII. was the first who endeavored to
take from them this right, towards the end of the eleventh century.
Arnulph, immediately on his consecration as Bishop of Rochester,
gave the attendant monks to understand how a dream about a ring had
foretold this dignity.[137] “Arnulph being received by the monks with
all marks of respect, said to us, on the very day of his election:
‘Brethren, I had assurance given me a few days ago that, unworthy
as I am, I should soon be raised to the dignity now conferred upon
me. For as I slept one night, Gundulphus’ (who had been Bishop of
Rochester) ‘appeared to me, offering me a ring of great weight; which
being too heavy for me, I refused to accept it; but he, chiding me
for my stupidity in rejecting his present, obliged me to receive it,
and then disappeared.’ This he related to us; and we were convinced
it was no fantastical illusion which the holy man had seen in his
sleep, since, being made Bishop of Rochester, he received that very
ring, which Bishop Gundulphus, when alive, had given to Ralph, then
an abbot, but afterwards bishop.”
Symbols of ring, staff, mitre and gloves are not used at the present
day in the consecration of archbishops and bishops of the Church
of England. The delivery of the _pastoral staff_ in the Roman
pontificate was preceded by its consecration, and followed by the
consecration and putting on of a _ring_ in token of his marriage to
the church; and of a _mitre_, as an helmet of strength and salvation,
that his face being adorned, and his head (as it were) armed with the
_horns_ of both Testaments, may appear terrible to the adversaries of
the truth, as also in imitation of the ornaments of Moses and Aaron;
and of _gloves_, in token of clean hands and breast to be preserved
by him.[138]
The episcopal ring, and which is thus esteemed a pledge of the
spiritual marriage between the bishop and his church, was used at a
remote period. The fourth Council of Toledo, held in 633, appoints
that a bishop condemned by one council and found afterwards innocent
by a second should be restored by giving him the ring, staff,
etc.[139]
From bishops, the custom of the ring has passed to cardinals, who are
to pay a large sum for the right to use a ring as such. Perhaps this
arises from the fact that cardinals and prelates do not, strictly,
belong to the hierarchy.
A bishop, like a pope, receives a gold ring, set with a green gem.
Sometimes an abbot of a convent is invested with a ring, but this is
said only to occur when he possesses a bishop’s powers.
Solid gold rings are frequently found in tombs of abbots and
bishops.[140]
In a description of the finger-ring found in the grave of the
venerable Bede, it is said, that no priest, during the reign of
Catholicity in England, was buried or enshrined without his ring.
This, however, has been questioned.[141]
High dignitaries of the Church do not appear to have restricted
themselves to a single ring. On the hands of the effigy of Cardinal
Beaufort in Winchester Cathedral, there are gloves fringed with gold
and having an oval-shaped jewel on the back; while on the middle and
third fingers of each hand are rings worn over the gloves.
[Illustration: (Bishop Bitton Ring)]
In new paving and beautifying of Exeter Cathedral in England, a
leaden coffin was found of a Bishop Bitton, who died in 1307.[142]
Near the bones of the finger was discovered a sapphire ring set
in gold, in the centre of which was engraved a hand with the two
forefingers extended in the attitude of benediction.
This extension of the two forefingers, in company with the thumb,
must have been often observed in Catholic pictures. We see it in the
painting of the Virgin and Child in the Düsseldorf collection now in
New-York.
The thumb and the first two fingers have always been reserved as
symbols of the three persons of the Trinity.[143] When a bishop
gives his blessing, he blesses with the thumb and first two fingers.
Sepulchral monuments bear witness of this fact.
Both the Greek and Latin Churches agree that the thumb and first two
fingers symbolize the Trinity.[144]
It is, however, insisted that the origin of thus using the thumb
and two fingers is not of Christian, but of heathen derivation;
for Apuleius mentions this practice as the usual one with orators
soliciting the attention of an audience.[145] Here we see another
pagan custom become a Christian one.
The hand, with the thumb and two fingers extended, is sometimes
called the “hand of justice.”[146]
Miniature hands, taking in a part of the arm, are found in Rome,
which have the thumb and two forefingers extended and the remaining
fingers closed. Caylus gives a drawing of one (two inches and nine
lines in length) which has a serpent stretched on the back of the
hand, after having surrounded the wrist, and a lizard, likewise
in relief, placed upon the arm.[147] The author we have referred
to cannot account for this peculiar disposition of the thumb and
fingers; but he considers that the thing itself was an offering, and
refers to a hole in it by which it could be suspended. But we observe
that Addison, in his Remarks on Italy,[148] says: “The custom of
hanging up limbs of wax, as well as pictures, is certainly direct
from the old heathens, who used, upon their recovery, to make an
offering in wood, metal or clay of the part that had been afflicted
with a distemper, to the deity that delivered them. I have seen, I
believe, every limb of a human body figured in iron or clay which
were formerly made on this occasion, among the several collections
of antiquities that have been shown in Italy.” This, however, does
not account for the snake and the lizard, or the peculiarity of
closing two fingers and elevating the others with the thumb; and we
are inclined to raise a question, whether the miniature hand and arm,
figured by Caylus, was not an amulet and worn as such? The position
of the fingers and thumb may here denote power, or authority and
control over noxious creatures. A Roman soldier going into Egypt
might carry such an one.[149] (This custom of offering a model of the
restored part, was common with the ancient Egyptians.[150])
Catholics kiss the bishop’s hand, or, rather, the ring which he wears
in virtue of his episcopal office.
In the earliest ages bishops sealed with rings; but from the ninth
century they had distinct seals.[151]
It is said that formerly bishops wore their rings on the forefinger
of the right hand.[152]
When a bishop receives the ring at his consecration, the words used
are: “Receive the ring, the badge of fidelity, to the end that,
adorned with inviolable fidelity, you may guard, without reproach,
the Spouse of God, that is, the Holy Church.”
§ 9. At the English Law Bar, there is a distinction among the
barristers. Those called Serjeants are of the highest and most
ancient degree, and judges of the Courts of Westminster are always
admitted into this venerable order before they are advanced to the
Bench.
The ceremony of making a serjeant is or rather was a very imposing
and expensive one. Connected with this ceremony, the serjeant had to
give a great dinner, “like to the feast of a king’s coronation,” and
which continued seven days, and he had to present gold rings, bearing
some loyal motto, to every prince, duke and archbishop present, and
to every earl and bishop, lord privy seal, lords chief justices,
lord chief baron, every lord baron of Parliament, abbot and notable
prelate, worshipful knight, master of the rolls, every justice, baron
of exchequer, chamberlain, officer and clerk of the courts, each
receiving a ring, convenient for his degree. And a similar token was
given to friends.
These rings were delivered by some friend of the new serjeant’s and
who was of the standing of barrister. He was called his _colt_.
Whitlock says, when the new Serjeants counted, their _colts_
delivered the rings.[153] Why they are thus called is not very
clear: “_colt_,” according to Shakspeare, is a young foolish fellow.
In 1 _Modern Reports, case 30_, we have a hint of “short weight.”
“Seventeen serjeants being made the 14th day of November, a daye
or two after Serjeant Powis, the junior of them all, coming to the
King’s Bench bar, Lord Chief Justice Kelynge told him that he had
something to say to him, viz.: that the rings which he and the rest
of the serjeants had given weighed but eighteen shillings apiece;
whereas Fortescue, in his book _De Laudibus Legum Angliæ_, says, ‘The
rings given to the chief justices and to the chief baron ought to
weigh twenty shillings apiece;’ and that he spoke not this expecting
a recompence, but that it might not be drawn into a precedent, and
that the young gentlemen there might take notice of it.”
We consider the matter about serjeants’ rings sufficiently curious
and interesting to allow of our adding extracts from Fortescue and
Cooke:
“But this you must understand,[154] that when the day appointed
is come, those elect persons, among other solemnities, must keep
a great dinner, like to the feast of a king’s coronation, which
shall continue and last for the space of seven days, and none of
those elect persons shall defray the charges growing to him about
the costs of this solemnity with less expense than the sum of four
hundred marks; so that the expenses which eight men so elect shall
then bestow, will surmount to the sum of three thousand and two
hundred marks, of which expenses one parcel shall be this: Every of
them shall give rings of gold to the value of forty pounds sterling
at the least; and your chancellour well remembreth, that at what
time he received this state and degree, the rings which he then gave
stood him in fifty pounds. For every such serjeant, at the day of
his creation, useth to give unto every prince, duke and archbishop
being present at that solemnity and to the Lord Chancellour and Lord
Treasurer of England a ring of the value of 26_s_. 8_d_.
“And to every earl and bishop, being likewise present, and also to
the lord privy seal, to both the lords chief justices, and to the
lord chief baron of the King’s Exchequer a ring of the value of 20_s_.
“And to every lord baron of the Parliament, and to every abbot and
notable prelate and worshipful knight, being then present, and also
to the master of the rolls and to every justice a ring of the value
of a mark; and likewise to every baron of the exchequer, to the
chamberlains and to all the officers and notable men serving in the
king’s courts rings of a smaller price but agreeably to their estates
to whom they are given.
“Insomuch that there shall not be a clerk, especially in the Court
of the Common Bench, but he shall receive a ring convenient for his
degree; and, besides these, they give divers rings to other of their
friends.”
“And on Tuesday, May 10,[155] in the second week of the term, the
said Sir John Walter being of the Inner Temple, Sir Henry Yelverton
of Grayes Inne and Sir Thomas Trevor of the Inner Temple, with the
benchers, readers and others of those Inns of Court whereof they
respectively had been, being attended by the warden of the Fleet and
marshall of the Exchequer, made their appearance at Serjeants Inne
in Fleet street, before the two chief justices and all the justices
of both benches. And Sir Randolph Crew, chief justice, made a short
speech unto them, and (because it was intended they should not
continue serjeants to practise) he acquainted them with the king’s
purpose of advancing them to seats of judicature, and exhorted them
to demeane themselves well in their several places. Then every one
in his order made his count, (and defences were made by the ancient
serjeants,) and their several writs being read, their coyfs and
scarlet hoods were put on them, and being arrayed in their brown-blew
gownes, went into their chambers, and all the judges to their several
places at Westminster, and afterward the said three serjeants,
attyred in their party-coloured robes, attended with the marshall and
warden of the Fleete, the servants of the said serjeants going before
them, and accompanied with the benchers and others of the several
Inns of Court of whose society they had been, walked unto Westminster
and there placed themselves in the hall over against the Common Pleas
bar.
“And the hall being full, a lane was made for them to the barre;
(the justices of the Common Bench being in court) they recited three
several counts, (and several defences made to several counts,) and
had their writs read. The first and third by Brownlow the chief
prothonotary, and the second by Goulton the second prothonotary. And
Sir John Walter and Thomas Trevor gave rings to the judges with this
inscription, ‘_Regi Legi servire libertas._’ And Sir Henry Yelverton
gave rings whereof the inscription was, ‘_Stat Lege Corona_,’ and
presently after (they all standing together) returned to Serjeants
Inn, where was a great feast, at which Sir James Lee, Lord Treasurer
and the Earl of Manchester, Lord President of the Council, were
present.”
§ 10. Arabian princesses wear golden rings on their fingers, to which
little bells are suspended, so that their superior rank may be known,
and they, themselves, receive in passing, the homage due to them.[156]
§ 11. The insignia of honor peculiar to the Roman knights were a
charger, furnished at the public expense, a golden ring and a certain
place in the theatre.[157] The senators also wore golden rings.[158]
§ 12. We read of:
“---- an agate stone
On the forefinger of an alderman;”
but cannot discover whether an alderman in Shakspeare’s time
wore a ring in connection with his office. We however find this:
“Grave persons, such as aldermen, used a plain broad gold ring
upon the thumb.” It may be that Shakspeare was not thinking of an
alderman whose duties were attached to a mere city, but of the
earl or _alderman_ of a whole shire, to whom the government of it
was intrusted. Such a person, from the authority he possessed,
might have worn a ring of power in former times. The word had the
same signification in general as senator. By Spelman’s Glossary
it appears there was anciently in England a title of _aldermannus
totius Angliæ_; and that this officer was in the nature of Lord Chief
Justice of England.
It will be seen that there is an incorrectness in Mercutio, a
Veronese and in Verona, referring to an alderman. Knight, in his
edition of Shakspeare, sees this and proposes that we read, instead
of alderman, _burgomaster_. It has been observed that in whatever
country Shakspeare lays the scenes of his drama, he follows the
costume of his own.[159]
In a portrait of Lady Ann Clifford, the celebrated Countess of
Pembroke, she wears a ring upon the thumb of her right hand.
The mention of this lady will, at once, call up Ben Jonson’s epitaph
of the “wise, fair and good,” and excuse us for quoting:
“That is a touching pillar planted on the road between Penrith and
Appleby, in the year 1656, by Anne, Countess Dowager of Pembroke,
to commemorate her final parting with her mother on this spot, on
the second of April, 1616. The inscription declares that Anne of
Pembroke gave four pounds to be annually distributed ‘upon the stone
hereby’ amongst the poor within the parish of Brougham. Well, after
forty years of troubles--and troubles that must have cost the ‘pious
Pembroke’ many a bitter hour--it is pleasant to think of the daughter
returning to consecrate it. Four pounds a year could not do much
good, you may say, to the people of Brougham: but it may consecrate
the spot in years of scarcity by the thanks of people sorely pressed;
and the spirit of tenderness which dictated the bounty is something
to think of every year.”[160]
In a polyglot dictionary published in 1625, by John Minshew, under
the article _Ring Finger_, it is said that rings were worn on the
thumb by soldiers and doctors.
A thumb-ring would not seem to be always connected with a dignity, if
it is to be judged of through its inscription or bearing. A massive
thumb-ring of brass, strongly gilt, was formerly in the collection of
the late Marquis of Donegal. Its motto, within side, was in quaint
Latin, (_Cauda piera meleor cera_,) which may be rendered in this
jingle:
When God does send,
The times shall mend.[161]